OCR Text |
Show BOOK NOTICE- j The Mi v-.tr els ov tiik Mavk. By j J. G. H.dltuul. New York: Sen brio r, ! Arniitr.i'ig & Co , 17-1. Suit, hae: Jam Dwyer. Priec l-'0- ; There are few American vriiters who have .y )ualy earned literary ' fume as Holland, ur witn win mi it has I been so largely a growing quality. I Ami yet his genius is of the homely I kind. He may bj ter.ued the- artist of nature. He iuw depicttd more vividly and simply the helmets ar.d allectiuns uf common life than perhaps per-haps any other modern poet. He deals little with tho conventionalities of society, but studies man ar.d woman in (heir general type.i and natural groupings, bringing to the surface the t-oul of things. By tliU ' process he never ainid too high or fills jtoo low to attract attention. He ipcaks ulikc to tho poor and the rich, the humble and haughty, the unlettered unlet-tered and the scholar. ''The Minstrels of the Munsu" is a story of American life. A NurLhern clergyman marries a southern girl, and brinyj her to the home prepared for her. Tho picture is oueofa real love match. Her problem is the method ot retaining that loyo in all its truth and streggth. At lirtit she fancies alio must share his labors and educate herself up tj his standard. But she soon becomes undeceived as to this idea, and discovers that To bo li'rio Philip was to bi .'.nothor 1'htlip only Iojj! To win hiJ wit in foil dojri Would boir lo hitn bt nuihicKnois From on a no wiser grow 11 than ho. So Mildred determined to bring Philip only her own life: Whro Philip ff d eho would not feed; Whoro l'hilip went sho would Dot ko; 1 lis bo.-ku bo road nbe would not roaj, And livo her teparn'o life, and, st iittvo s.le sapplmi to nco: hia ceod. Mildred thus had hit the true secret se-cret of married life, and she did not attempt to ape the manners or the conversation, or to mingle in the special work of her husband. She i imply did the best work in woman's sphere that alio was capable of. Some noisy women of tho day may wisely read such verses as these: Nor wives lot mftidons, wnak cr brare, Can staii'l and Uoo tho imblie ft aro, Ana win lbs plaudits that thoy cuto, And stem tbo hid! on thut thuy dare. And modi at truth atd boauty ivo. No woman in hor soul U aha w ho uDg3 to 1 oiuo ubovo the roar Of mot toy muk: tudoT, and bo The idol of whos loe t thoy i our Thswiaoof thair idolatry . The Btory ends with an episode of our great civil war, Ln which the saintly qualities of true womanhood shine out brillian tly. |