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Show "THE VIRGINIAN," A FRANK CRITICISM. (By Jack Itoylo ) "The Virginian" is as appetizing an intellectual meal as a venison steak broiled over a camp Are and eaten in the open air would be to an appetite surfeited with a steady diet of troubles and patti de foix gras. After the deluge of books given over to the dissection of nasty and unclean emotions of degenerate and morbid minds, which center about a pale blue heroine, a passion flame colored hero and a villain who is a villain simply because he wears a red undershirt and pink socks, it is refreshing re-freshing to get hold of a story that takes one out of the hothouse atmosphere and sets one down in I the clean mountain air among characters and events which can bo understood by a healthy, clean minded person. In the Virginian, the cowboy, hero of the story, Mr. Wister has portrayed a character that is delightful. de-lightful. He is a man, this cowboy, rough and uncultured un-cultured in a way, but straightforward and with a deep knowledge of human nature and an alarming alarm-ing sense of the eternal fitness of things. Above all he is a man. At times he is possessed of a very devil of mischief and recklessness, but written on his character as plain as an electric sign are his sense of humor, steadfast devotion to duty and his earnest love of his sweetheart. His wit and naieve I humor are delicious, his philosophy goes deep into the heart of things and his quaint mode of expression expres-sion brings them out like a magnifying glass. The greatest beauty of the book is that it is real. It takes you right out into the mountains to a little cattle town and makes you feel that the people in it are alive and that you would like to meet them all. Mr. Wister's style is as simple and unostentatious as his hero. He never drags in verbose pages of description which seem to say, "See my cultured diction and wonderful command of English!" but he makes you see what he wants you to see, and you don't have to strain your eyes, either. It is a surety that the story of how the Virginian Vir-ginian gets rid of his objectionable bedfellow, the shuffling of the deck of babies at the frontier dance; his wrestle with sin in conjunction with the hide-bound and untactful clergyman will leave a pleasant taste in the mouth of the reader that will take lots of degenerate twaddle to take away. Of course "The Virginian" has faults, plenty of them, but they are like the faults of a dear old friend that are so overshadowed by the virtues that you come almost to love them. And indeed "The Virginian" is a book worthy to become the friend of any man. The Century company of New York has been getting out an unusually large number of biographical bio-graphical books this season which have taken a high rank among the works of standard authors. John G. Nicolay has condensed his own and Mr. Hay's famous "Arbaham Lincoln" into one volume, making it an abridgement of the two exhaustive ex-haustive works. Prof. John Bach McMaster has written a life of Daniel Webster, which is a terse yet comprehensive compre-hensive story of a striking career with special reference ref-erence to his political life struggles. Bishop Potter has published in book form the results of his observations during his visit to the East, just at the close of active hostilities in the Philippines and the Boxer atrocities in China. It is called "The East of Today and Tomorrow." "The Story of Athens," by Howard Crosby Butler, But-ler, profusely illustrated from photographs and drawings, deals with historical incidents during the wars, and the figures of men and women to whom Athens owes most in commerce, literature and politics. The Century's great art book this year is Timothy Tim-othy Cole's "Old English Masters," with historical notes by John C. Van Dyke. This work follows the famous engraver's "Old Italian Masters" and "Old Dutch Masters." Mary Adams' "Confessions of a Wife," leads the new fiction of this house. Mrs. Ruth McEnery Stuart's new story, "Napoleon Jackson: The Gentleman Gen-tleman of the Plush Rocker," is illustrated by Edward Ed-ward Potthust and is well written and a welcome addition to literary fiction. "Alladin O'Brien," by Gouverneur Morris, is a new edition best described as an old-fashioned story of two men in love with the same girl, the date of the story being during the Civil war. It is amusing and full of quaint interest. Among the saleable books published by the "Century company none have found nor will find a heartier welcome among the lovers of art in dramatic lines than James H. Stoddard's "Recol- lections of a Player" and Salt Lake City readers j ! should be early purchasers of this sweetly-quaint Ij Sip y lfl story since the gifted author was so recently with I ( UH them in the "Bonnie Brier Bush." 1 - f 'l Jm The autumn list of the Lathrop Publishing li'l'' "'JH company is very strong in fiction. Julian Ralph's 14 f''"H "The Millionaires" is strong full of realisms of llrl''B the twentieth century and handled with masterly II Li 'B effect in its dealings with the shortcomings of men 1 ' i H and women of today. lj, nH In "Eagle Blood" James Creelman, the war cor- I j' V i 'H respondent, gives us a stirring story, full of life ll'i 'B and action, and written in the author's best vein. 1 'j j8 Clara Morris' "Stage Confidences" deals with ll-!; ' iB stage lore from a behind the scenes standpoint s ' 'I 'l and is interesting and true to life. lii'lf - "'H "Dante and His Time" by Karl Federn, which j1 JH has just been published by McClure, Phillips & I ! -i' ' H Co. of New York contains many illustrations ill' I K giving a picture of the poet as a figure in the po- I;; I 'jB litical, literary and social life of fourteenth cen- I i r ' "iH tury Florence. 1 1 jj1 ! H The same publishing firm is giving the pub- i fB lie a novel of the American turf by W. A. Fraser, lij ( jK 'entitled "Thoroughbreds." The author was in years I l' j'lJlB long past a race track man, the owner of several ly'i v'iH goers and later a manufacturer of the now famous 1 l' t! j B "Chicago Road Cart." Through all his ups and f $?'''? 'B downs in his silvery years, surrounded by peace I v, fR and plenty the genial Billy Fraser has found time II VJB to give to the world the result of his own and his 1 jr ! ', iM associates life experiences on the American tracks. jjr ; 'H Frederick A. Stokes company, New York, have 1 i,lViM just turned out from their presses "Come With Me 1 aO-jrlfH Into Babylon," by Josiah M. Ward, a story of 1 Hj's 'JH Babylonish times during the captivity. The story I ftiiTl'lfMf is woven around the loves of a young Jewess who 1 P J$M has fled from captivity and Belan Q. Ephesian cap- ; !J rljB tain of Nebuzaradan, who has stolen the sacred I fp!JHj amulet of Bel from the great god's image in the ! Q f: JB temple. The story is well written and follows j 'tj Nl'fH somewhat the lines of "Ardath" without the lat- I ';. t ''" H ter's mysticism. The author is an ardent Assy- ' jj fmk riologist and explorer and has devoted many years 1 t t fHj to the studies of the peoples with whom his book f I Ml jilK deals in picturesque and thrilling style. 1 ff'H "The Scott Country," by William Shillinglaw 1 f tjk'iiv Crockett, will be published this month by the Mac- 1 j?feiR Millian company. It tells the story of the famous j i'l 1H borderland of Roberick Dhu and the historic and j , ' jfK romantic spots made undying to readers of Wal- j ft; !H1 ter Scott's matchless tales of the lochs and dunes j I ffiljM" of old Scotland. n i fit U hB |