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Show i """ ' REVIEWS OF BOOKS B ? WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, ".rite irfe of TJislory. L5v Jose pi i toiprnr VM Cliamborlin. Published by Hie Henry j' Ij AltenuiH Company, l.Jhilado.Iihia. . ji Thore is no doubt of lho entcrlain-: entcrlain-: y xnfi nature ot' this work. Wo can all ft indulge ji: speculation, and. in fact, wo 3 jj do judulpo in speculation from lime to . ' j time, considering what mipht. iavo. hap- -m ; a .poned if certain loading ovents in the PI I liistorv of tho world hud turned out Wf otherwise- than they did. Tho spceuln- Ji ,t lions induced in "herein turn' upon 1 Iwentv-fcwo proposition?, viz.: ''It! II 1 Thcnustoe.les iM Not Beaten Aristidcs tii an Athenian Election;" 'Tf tho 4' floors Had Won the JSnttlo of Tours;" I i 'If Kins Elhollred of England Ilad Xot Mnrricc'1 tho Korman limnia:' "If fist Columbus Had Kept Tlis Straight Uit'f Courso Westward:" '"'IjbQuccii liliza-toih liliza-toih oP. .England "Had Left a Sou er MM DnuphtcrVJ "If tho Philharinonia Hud mft yal Givon Coneerhs a I. "Vicoira: " ''If Mh the Spanisdi ArmaiLa Had Sailed at Its Mil Appointed Time:'"' "If Champlain Had W Tarried iu Plvraonth Bay:'-' "Tf mfl Charles T. Ilad Accepted the Kingship IwjS of Virginia;' ' "'Tf Admiral Penn Had ill T'crsiatccl in Disowning His Sou Wil- IJf Jiani;'-' "If the Boy.Georpo Washing-1 fm u ton Had ' JJccomo a British idship- Iff I; man;" IS7S Alexander Hamilton Had II Kv Kot Writtrui About; the Hurricane; ' f iij -Tf ljafa.ve1.to Had Held the French f: tX lloiRn of 'Terror in Check;" "If Gil- F 12 Wr .Livingston Had Not Voted New !'3 York Into the Union;" "If the Pirate J h .loan Lafitto Had Joined th'o British at Rjl Now Orleans:" "If .lames MacDon-tu:1 MacDon-tu:1 Had Not Closed tho Gates of Hugo- M U jnont Castle;" "If Abraham Lincoln's Father Had -Moved Southward, Not Ki Northward:"' ""If Skipper Jennings Pff Had Nor. Jtose.uod Certain Shipwrecked Mm Japanese;" "If Orsiui's Bomb Had Not Failed to Destroy Napoleon ITT.;" Pi. . ''If Presidont James Buchanan Had Ml I Enforced rJie Law in November. VM. I860;" "If the Confederates Had iiirt, Marched on Washington Aftor Bull fU l?un:" "If tho Confederate States Had M: Purchased tiro ISast Indian Company's Fleet in 1S6L" Mr: Cliamberlin has made some vory mv inloresling speculations on all of these Pjl: points. At the fame tinio if all these 2-15" ''ilnncs had in rued out differontly then yj f. there would haA o been minor Hwitch- boards upon wWch other "ifs" could i J have accumulated, indulging- in yet. fur- SjJ ' ther and indeliaite speculation. This 'ft,: sort of thine, iu fact, forms an endless idiaiu whereby from one "if" you j . J'l': might c'olve a hundred "others. And : M' there is no end to the original "ifs. " r ij: ProbabJy. however, this old world I ! (' I would havo dragged on about tho same in any ease. Mr. Cliamberlin, however, how-ever, has taken many minor ovents for his suppositions. Ho might well have speculated on what might, have hap-, pencil if the Persians had beaten the j Greeks at Marathon or afterwards at Salamis; or if the Greeks had been victorious at Syracuse; or if Hannibal Hanni-bal had conquered Homo, or t ho Turkx Vienna. There arc many largo pivotal events that might be speculated upon in (he same way, by imagining what; might have been if tho result had been different. But it may bo doubled if any reverse would have much retarded re-tarded the world !s progress and the development of our Christian civilization. civiliza-tion. Probahly no rovers.il would huvo niacin any very great dilYorcnce in the history of humanity. And if there had bi5en a reversal iu each case, then somebody some-body could havo written such a work as this and speculated whether tho actual things having happened that are inontioucd iu this book, what might luoYe been the result. Humanity, as a" matter of act. digs along pretty much to suit itself, without much regard re-gard to the personalities, the incidents, or tho occasions. It. is absolutely impossible, im-possible, foi instance, to imagine the United States under tho control either of Spain, Franco, or Great Britain, no matter what might havo occurred if England had not; beaten tho French in Canada, if .tho Spanish had. noL been ousted from Louisiana and then the French bought off in their turn by tho United States. This was a land devoted de-voted to freedom from the lirst, and would "have boon a free land in any euntingency and under all circumstances. circum-stances. And .so any general speculation specula-tion is vain as to "what might have .followed in case what did not happen had in "fact happened. Tn no ease would it' have made very material difference dif-ference iu the forward inarch of the human race. And yet Mr. Chamber-' Chamber-' lin has here treated us in excellent vein to a series of very ingenious speculations. specula-tions. A TERROR OF THE AIR. Tho Flying Death. By Famuel Hopkins Adnmc. Illustrated by C. 15. lUnoau-)cy. lUnoau-)cy. Published by Tho .McCIure Company, Com-pany, New York. Mr. Aams always manages to bring into his stories some tremendous phenomenon phe-nomenon and to work it out to its unexpected un-expected termination. There is. in this book an aecouut of one of the imaginable survivals of a prehistoric age in a life that combines tho bird and the reptile, in tho enormous CI-!,-!-!-t--!-tM!-i-IMr ! ptoranndon, aptly called the tiger ot tho air. a tremendous reptile-bird of prey. Ita victims in this book arc a sailor, a .juggler, and it is guilty of various forum of dcslructivo mischief. But it is not until the conclusion Hint tho mystery is solved. All through the book this mysterious death forco shows its presence only in the effects of its visits, and these" arc of the most enormous enor-mous significance. Great things are done slaughter committed, destruction visitci) without auy seeming possible cause. Consternation ensues upon these visits and a superstitions awe is developed de-veloped that is natural in Iho prosence of an invincible opponent who not only cannot bo reached, but whu cannot even be definitely dclincd or located. .It is a stirring story indeed, well worthy of tho co-author with Stewart Edward White of "Tho Mvsterv," a story printed last year In The Salt Lake Tribuno. a story which also had for its central motif a tremendous forco of chemical and radial action as exhibited in a science ship on the Pacific ocean. The peril surrounding the actors in this later work, while not so universally devastating as iu "Tho Mystery," arc still gruesome and terrible enough to awakon tho profoundest astonishment and terror. Tho author has conceived an ingenious theme, and has certainly worked it. out iu realistic fashion. A LADY ON ICE. Vlrslnic. By lirnost Oldmoadow. Published Pub-lished by Tho IMcCIurc Company, New-York. New-York. This is a story of mystery, partly j French and partly PJuglisli. There is a .young lady who is involved in certain love affairs, and whom it was necessary, neces-sary, it appears, to havo those concerned con-cerned believe to bo dead. There was. accordingly, a mock funeral, (hen tho lady was packed in ice and conveyed to an English bpngalow. whero a young English gentleman with plenty of money, with a great, capacity for loving, lov-ing, and' with no prior attachment, was living. Ho had obtained something of a repute as an archaeologist, by reason of certain excavations of an old Roman villa ho had made on tho neighboring neighbor-ing ground. And under pretense of the archaeological fraternity, tho man iu charge of this ice-packed lady approached ap-proached (ho young English gentleman. gentle-man. Matters went, along in due course between the girl and tho Englishman, Eng-lishman, but llnally there was an attempt at-tempt at interference, an escape, a tracing, a final confession, and an unloosing un-loosing of man' twisted skeins. The author has certainly made an intorest- itig stojy of it. and has kept the interest inter-est going from lirst to last. It is a story agreeable to read, with sufli-oient sufli-oient uncertaintities in tho story itself to lure the reader on. And tho stylo of the writer is also a distitict attraction attrac-tion id itself. . COMPLICATED CRIMINALITY. The Blnck Ua. By Louts Joseph Vance. With Ulustrnlloiifl b- Thonuus ropnrty. Published bv The X"obb.s-Merrlll Company, Com-pany, Indianapolis. This, like the author's former story, "Tho Brass Howl." is made 'up of ingenious in-genious complications in roguery. There is involved here a certain black bag which is supposed to contain a princely inheritance in valuable jewels. Iho one in whose custody this "bag is on the opening of the story is a depraved character, going under the uame of Calendar, Cal-endar, who is dining with his daughter in a restaurant in London. A young American artist who has .just hcavd of the break-up of his firm's business by the earthquake and fire in San Francisco Fran-cisco has come away from Paris and is about to depart for home. He happens to be dining in the same restaurant with Calendar, who a short while belong be-long had visited the young American, Philip Kirkwood. with" a sort of indefinite indefi-nite proposal with a rascally tlavor upon h and was incontinently dismissed. Kirkwood is approached in the restaurant restau-rant by Calendar and is given the custody cus-tody of the daughter, because, Calendar Calen-dar explained, ho was himself about to be arrested, as soon aa he left Lho house. Kirkwood undertakes the custody of the girl, and immediately his trouble begins. be-gins. The London police nab him as lie goes out, but. on being convinced thai he is not. Calendar, lot him go. Ho lakes tho girl to the theater and then leaves her near a deserted house on a street in darker London. But ho was not. contented to leave her so, and made his way back to the house. To get iu ho had to thresh a man on guard, and after lie got in he had to nearly kill another fellow before ho could get to the girl. He finally gets Iht. though, and the two, sho having obtained the bag, make their escape. Thon the girl is lured away from Kirkwood while he is in a sort of confederate's house waiting wait-ing for the girl's father. All sorts of trouble and misfits come on; Calendar appears, upbraids his pari nor for making mak-ing thcsneak. There is a trip to Holland; Hol-land; Kirkwood upbraids Calendar and his partner on board a filthy ship in tho harbori obtains possession of the black bag. gets the girl, and they make their escape. They are followed, however, how-ever, and finally fall into tho hands of an old friend of Kirkwood 's, who, in the opening chapter of I his story, had offered him money aud any aid that might bo necessary. This man's name is Hrentwick. The final elopement, the pursuit, the discovery of the real villain, vil-lain, and (he straigliteuing out of the rcl.iti-ms of the girl, all form a very in tois ting and satisfactorily told epi-sode-.-It is certainly a lively book, in which adventure. the shadow of crime, ruffianism, and in a sense a portion of the nether world uppers to "be deliberately delib-erately sought for exposition. The whole is a fabric vorv ingeniously woven and mighty entertaining to read. . INGENIOUS MYSTIFICATION. Tin; Maslstrato's Own Capo. 13v Baron Pille KoK'.'nkramz. Publlribeil "by The . McCluro Company, New York. This is n sort of detective slory divided di-vided into three portions. The Introduction. Intro-duction. " j Murder and an Arrest;" First Part, "The InvcHtigation; " Second Sec-ond Part. "The Trial" and "Conclusion." "Conclu-sion." The "Murder" and "Arrest" are. told about in a way that foreshadows fore-shadows the interesting deveelopmenta that follow in the work. Tho Investigation," In-vestigation," is of the usual plausible kind, very elaborate, apparently convincing, con-vincing, and yet, as developed in tho final part, absolutely misleading. The "Trial" is also misleading in part, but most absorbing in details and results, re-sults, in 'which the great detective wins his own case. And then tho conclusion conclu-sion is that he has done enough for one life, and intends lo retire. It is a most interestingly writ ton story, in which the author has shown decided power and attractiveness of style. jV detective story, with plonly of mystery in it, ingeniously cous'trucled. and with the incidents and actions plausibly plausi-bly interwoven and dove-tailed, is always sure of readers, for tho human hu-man mind delights in such puzzles and their working out and unraveling. And this is one of tho most ingenious stories of the kind that we have seen for a long time. It is sure to be popular, and it deserves lo be. ORCHARD'S GRUESOME STORY. TIip Confessions and .Aiitoblosrraphv of Harry Orchard. Illustrated with Photographs. Pho-tographs. Published by Tho McCluro Company. New York. This is the story, iu amplified form, tliAt was told by "Harry Orchard when he was on the stand in this Haywood trial nt Boise last year. The photographs photo-graphs of Orchard carried iu this work do not make him out a bad-looking fellow fel-low at. all. Rather he looks as if he might bo a sort of rough and-ready ex-horter ex-horter and good fellow: but the' portrait por-trait of Steve Adams is distinctly foxy. There is a portrait also of Detective James McParland which shows a faco ff strength and determination. Governor Gov-ernor Peabody is shown as au alert, w:?U-appearing man. There is n picture of tii 'Executive Board of the Western West-ern Federation of Miners in 1005;" a picturo of the "Two Steuncnberg Bombs;" and a portrait of Frank Steu-uenberg. Steu-uenberg. The contents embrace a sketch of Orchard's early life in Ontario; On-tario; of union rule in tho Coour d'Alenes; of the blowing up of the Bunker Hill .mill: of life at Cripple Creek, and the big strike of 1903; of tho coming of the militia to Cripplo Creek; of the explosion in the Vindicator Vindi-cator 'mine; Orchard's first visit to headquarters; the alfooipe to assassinate assassin-ate Governor Peabody; the shooting of Lyte Gregory, the blowing up of the Independence depot; the trip to San Francisco rind the blowing up of Fred .Bradley; the first bomb for Governor Peabody and other bombs for street work; and the set bombs for Judges Goddnrd and Gabbcrt; the start fitter ! Governor Steuncnberg and his asr.as- j sination; Orchard 's 'experience in tho jail and penitentiary; and, finally, a I chapter devoted to the reasons why he j wrote this book-, these reasons being I to ease his conscience and to do right. , It is a horrible story altogether. The i jury found it absolutely incredible. Wc i arc inclined to believe, however, that I the most of it is true, and especially that Orchard tells truly whht. ho. in fact, did in all the outrages that ho tells about. It is a ghastly sort of book, but it is one for which there will undoubtedly be a very large demand, j THE DEATH OF "OUIDA." Springfield Uepublieon, January C. ' "Ouida," tho novelist, for more than I forty-tlvc years known under that pen j name, died yesterday iu Italy, at Vinreggio. wliore her residence had been for a long time; and, it. is paid, in distressing pqverty. This was most unjust to a very "honest and humane woman, whose writings had indeed gone out of fashion, but who had been of no small consequence in the world j through hor writings for entertainment, and also for children and for humanity toward our lesser fellows of the. animal ani-mal world, especially in her autngu- , nism to vivisection, ' which she justly' hated as brutalizing man by tho torture tor-ture of tho little animals for merely curious purposes, after experiment; had proved all it could. It is the most hateful hate-ful aspect of science. As a writer of fiction, sho produced many novels of a peculiar passionate fervor and force which were regarded is highly improper in those early days, but as compared with books written since wore, as mild as skimmed milk. These stories had their fine qualities, and all of them were readable. read-able. "Strathinore," "Chandos," "Under Two Flasrs," "Tdalia." "Tri-cotrin." "Tri-cotrin." "In a Winter Citv," "Wanda." "Wan-da." "Pipistrello." "Motlis," "Princess "Prin-cess Napraxiue," are a few titles out of some fifty between 1SGL5 and 1901. Interspersed among the novels, which in later years lost their questionable flavor, were such exquisite thiugs as "A Dog of Flanders," "Two Little-Wooden Little-Wooden Shoes." "Tho Silver Christ," "Street Dust." Tu her later years sho was constantly constant-ly wriling against the desecration and ruin of old historic monuments in Italy, against the merciless outrages of scientific investigations on tho lit- ( o creatures of God. aniliaZHV showing a deep and tender UuJ-MT It .as lamentable that b C Jl MlCJl quired from her large o t, X? f JWKll a sufficient sun, to sustain'- lifiMBlV Italian Minister of Instruction 'llmW-peatedly 'llmW-peatedly within recenf v rl i tfW moneys which had been i" ffi her a. I, and yet she ,;,d 'T, 'AhUjP since last, summer, refuse ions, preferring h'er pov TtvSjWJS then, a fund gathered by M MUl1 who naturally entertained n iJsKSk for her .older predecessor. aSP,M!IS$ p'jculiarit es was a irreat fa D dogs; and she n, jinfffid SSMS depriving llcrsf,f of tb ' "fj.)mmt: life to feed I hem. She had &l,cB lendout 0 her xtLmff in whose anus she expired Sim !2r becomo blind in one eve -in.t .t'fktf was bi.dly nfi'ectcd: U'mnx- lJ'VWfeTf that some of toxoTlnhJSjMW$ days are exaggerated, as that .ffijH during the last few months of hlK5i compelled to sleep out of dooi ffiSftl of inability to pay Tor a m-Z'uKtS bTheadta Her name was Louise do a foilT J-rench by ancestry liritish Jv being a native of rturv St vVi,,-?rWB born there about LS40, and , fifflB old. Her pseudonym. " Ouiili"' sSH , derived from her childish nmnnht.'jTB of "Louisa," She had' f fljgH and a perteivid t e m po rani cut &9H gave character to her ball&! nove s. In. the way of litciir? tug there is not much to be-cSM tor her work but. ns uforofcUd?EM deeply engaged sympathies for hn'mf!l treatment of animals compelled at!H respect for her endeavors in thrlnl halt, which, were characteited hv-Mmm sonal devotion as well as writing H |