The Inter Ocean from Chicago, Illinois • Page 7

BOOKS AND MEN WHO MAKE THEM A Human Document: Helen Keller's Story of Her Life. "CONJUROR'S HOUSE" Stewart E. White's Story of the Hudson Bay Wilderness. Ish ana's kldrr the Re-' vlewe Lllrrarr Xotes and Uo-al HooUa Received. It la the fashion nowadays to-speak of tertain kinds of books as "human documents." The term is much abused.

But here is one which is in truth a human document, and a most marvelous one "The Story Ct My Helen Keller Mark Twain once said that the two most Interesting characters of the nineteenth century were Napoleon Bonaparte and Helen Keller. Doubtless Mark said it because he thought It sounded well, but he hit pretty close to the truth and, as a matter of fact, Helen Keller is more interesting to most people than Xapoleon. The reason is that the case of the blind and deaf and dumb girl comes close to us all. A HELEN KELLER, MISS SULLIVAN, AND JOSEPH JEFFERSON. (From "The Story of My Life," by Keller.

Doubleday, Page ft Co.) It touches our sympathies, awakens our wonder, and somehow seems to touch close Upon the mysteries of life. Put In a technical way, the career of Helen Keller presents a problem of intense physical and psychological Interest, As most readers know, Helen Keller was born a healthy and normal child. Intelligent and possibly precocious. At the age of 19 months an illness acute congestion of the stomach and brain left her deaf and blind. She soon became dumb also.

When she was 7 years of age her systematic education began. Now, the age of 22, she is the only well-educated deaf and blind person in the world. She writes acharming letter either by hand or on a typewriter. She knows several languages and speaks French and German. She has been through college.

She understands speech by putting her fingers to the speaker's lips or through the finger language. She speaks well, and only the other day she made a public address in behalf of the She reads, as do all the blind, with her finger tips from raised symbols. Her personality is charming. She Is healthy and physically attractive. She has a good memory and remembers people by the mannerisms of their handshakes.

She has keen sense of humor and gets off many Jokes and witticisms. She is brave and plucky'and persevering. She gets enjoyment out of music and out of her sense of smell. She has good good humor. Imagination, and quick sympathy, and she is altogether sane and admirable.

It is likely that she is the purest-minded human being la existence; the world to her is what her own mind is. Life, Kdorallon, and Personality. The editor, Jchn Albert Macy, says in his preface that this book la in three parts. The first two.Miss Keller's story and the extracts from her letters', form a complete account of her life as far as she can give It. Much of her education' she cannot explain herself, and, since a knowledge of that la necessary to an understanding of what she has written, it was thought best to supplement her autobiography with the reports and letters of her teacher.

Miss Anne Manefield Sullivan. The addition of a further account of Miss Kelter's personality and achievements may be unnecessary; yet it will help to make clear some of the traits of her character and the nature of the work which she and her teacher have done. For the third part of the book the editor is responsible, though ail that is ralid in it he owes to authentic records and to the advice of Miss Sullivan. Part in twenty-four chapters, is "The Story of My Lift written by Helen Keller. She begin her story by saying: It Is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life.

I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation In lifting the veil that clings bout my childhood like a guldun mist. The uuk tit writing an uioi.i.rriUy is dlffleult one. Wben I try to cliuwify my earliest impressions find that fart and fancy louk alike across the years that' link the put with Um present. The Woman paints the child's experiences in har own fantasy. A few impressions stand out vividly from the first years of my life; but "the shadows of the prlHon-houv are on the rest." besides, many of the Joys and sorrows of childhood have lost their poignancy: and many Incidents of vital tmrortance in my early education have been for-trotten In the excitement of great discoveries.

In order, therefore, not to be tedious. I shall try to sreeent In a series of sketches only the episodes that seem to me to be- the most Interesting and Important. It appears that Helen Keller was born June 27. 1SS0. in Tuccumbia.

a little town in north-era Alabama. The original Keller, her great-great-grandfather, was a Caspar Keller, a native of Switzerland, who settled in Maryland. A singular coincidence is that one of her Swiss ancestors was the first teacher of the deaf In Zurich, and wrote a book on the subject of their education. Her grandmother Keller was the daughter of Alexander Moore, an aid of Lafayette, tha granddaughter of Alexander Epotts wood, an early colonial Governor of Virginia, and a second cousin of Robert E. Lee.

Her father, Arthur H. Keller, was a captain la the Confederate army, and her mother, Kate Adams, waa bis second wife. Oa her mother's side Helen is related to Dr. Edward Krerett Hale, who has always shown an affectionate Interest In her welfare. Pwpll aad Of course, the little girl had some communication with her loving parents and those around her, but this Intercourse waa very limited.

She says: Meanwhile the desire to express myself crew. The few signs I used became less and less adequate, and my failures to males myself understood were invariably followed by outbursts of passion. I felt as If Invisible handa were holdlnir me, and I made frantic efforts to frea myself. I struggled not that stniKKllnr helped matters, but the spirit of resistance was strong within me; I generally broke down in tears and physical exhaustion. If my mother happened to be near I crept into her arms, too miserable even to remember the cause of the tempest.

After awhile the need of some means of communication became si urgent that these outbursts occurred dally, sometimes hourly. The necessity for a teacher tor the triply-afflicted girl was seen, and after much effort the guiding spirit of her life was secured. Miss Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Indeed, the story of Helen Keller without Miss Sullivan is Hamlet with Hamlet out. Miss Sullivan was born at Springfield.

Mass. Very early in her life she became almost totally blind, and she entered the Perkins institution Oct. 7, 1880. when she wss 14 years old. Later.

her sight was partially restored. She was obliged to begin her education at the lowest and most elementary point; but she showed from the very start that she had in herself the force and capacity which Insure success. In 1886 she waa graduated from the Perkins institution. When Captain Keller applied to the director for a teacher, Mr. Anagnos recommended her.

She was further aided by the fact that during the six years of her school life she had lived in the house with Laura Bfidgman. It was Dr. Howe who, by his work with Laura Bridgman, made Miss Sullivan's work possible; but it was Miss Sullivan who discovered the way to teach language to the deaf-blind. It must be remembered that Miss Sullivan had to solve her problems unaided by previous experience or the assistance of any other teacher. Her pupil's wonderful attainments command general admiration; but only those who are familiar with the particulars of the grand achievement know that the credit is largely due to the Intelligence, wisdom, sagacity, unremitting perseverance, and unbending will of the instructress, who rescued the child from the depths of everlasting night and stillness, and watched over the different phases of her mental and moral development with maternal solicitude and enthusiastic devotion.

A Red-Letter Day. Of (he arrival of Miss Sullivan Helen says: The most Important day I remember In all ray life Is the one on which my teacher. Anne Ma nu 11 THE INTJEB OCEAN, MCXSDAX MOKNEStG, 3IABCH 23, 1903. souaauDg-tine. ana yeu waitea wiua oeaiiKi for something to happen? I was like that shin com peas or soondlnc-ltn and had no way of knowing how near the harbor was.

"Light Oivs me light was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of lova shone on me In that vary hour. I felt approaching footsteps. I atretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother. Some one took It. and I was caught up and held close In the arms her who had come to reveal all tilings me.

and. more than an tnings eise. Helen was a mischievous little glrL She watched her chance 'and locked her new teacher In her room and hid the key. Nor h.n ahu had hid It. Her father had to Uke Miss Sullivan out through) 1 1 1 a window and down a laaaer.

worse mu, Helen was a domestic tyrant, and all the household obeyed her sljghtest wish. She had a strong will; and there waa no way for Miss Sullivan to appeal to her affection of sympathy or childish love of approbation. Her teacher waa shut off from the usual approaches to a child's heart. Helen would or wouldn't, and there was an end of It. Here is a sample contest between teacher and pupil: I had a battle royal with Helen this morning.

Although I try very hard not to force Issues, I She nut. neien uue her handa In our plates and helps herself, and Whn in Olpnei mim pwasru bi- takes out whatever he wants. Thla morning a In env fftlskts. bM would nox lex wr iru. persisted, and a contest of will followed.

NJ rally tne tamny was muvu k. v-awwim iimr. and Dro me room, .1 ceded to eat my breakfast, though the food al- ire- ASS tnat TlOOlr. most cnoKea me. tieieu kicking and screaming and trying to pull my chair from under me.

She kept this up tor hair an hour, then got up to aes what I was doing. I let her see that I was eating, but did not let ner put ner nana in me piie. slapped her every time she did It. Then she went all round the table to see wm mned bewilder ed. After a few minutes she came back to her place ana uk Waa ffmre I VS to eat ner Dreaai- wuu her a noon.

which sh threw on the forced her out of the chair and made her pick in mttnr her back In It up. iiiet.ii a. su. t.Ai, ehn. amnnn in her hand.

compelling her to take up the food with it and put it in ner nwum. m. and finished her breakfast peaceably. Then we i. ben naa anoxner iuie she had finished she threw it on the floor and ran toward the door, rinaing iram, to kick and scream ail over again.

It was another hour before I succeeded In getting ner napain folded. Then I let her out Into the warm sun shine and went up to my room ana mrew on ths bed exhausted. I had a good cry and felt better. I suppose I shall have many such battles with the little woman berore she learns inr tmir two essential things I can teach her obedience and love. To complicate matters, her parents were distressed to see her cry and were for yielding everything for the sake of peace.

But, after a long and serious talk with the parents. Miss Sullivan and her pupil were established by themselves in a little house near the family residence. Thereafter it was only a question of time. The BeKianlna; of Light. Curiously enough, "the "word that Helen remembered longest after her affliction was water, yet Miss Sullivan could not teach her the difference between "mug" and "water" until she let the water run over Helen's hands.

Helen says of that great day: We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which It was covered. Some one was drawing water, and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled Into the other the word water. Aral slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers.

Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the' mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that waa flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave It light, hope. Joy. set It free.

There were barriers still, it Is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the new sight that had come to me.

On entering the door remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled With tears, for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and aorrow. I learned a great many new words that day.

I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, aister, teacher were among them words that were to make the world blossom for me. "like Aaron's rod. with flowers." It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was. I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived over the Joys It had brought me. and for the first time longed for a new day to come.

Naturally one cannot follow up the details of this marvelous story. It must be read and studied to be appreciated. One can but pick out here and there a bit. Here is Helen's first letter, written with a pencil three months and a half after Miss Sullivan had spelled the first word into her hand, to her cousin Anna? (TUSCUMBIA, June 17. 1887.) hMen write anna george will give heien apple slmpson will shoot bird Jack will give helen stick of randy doctor will give mlldred medicine mother will make mlldred new dress (No signature.) Here, by way of contrast, is a letter written to Dr.

Edward Everett Hale, which was read by Dr. Hale at the celebration of the centenary of Dr. Samuel Gridiey Howe, at Tremont Temple, Boston, Nov. 11, 1901: CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 10.

lUOl. My teacher and I expect to be present at the meeting tomorrow In commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of. Ur. Howe's birth; but I very much doubt if we shall havs an opportunity to speak with you; so I am writing now to tell you how delighted I am that you are to speak at the meeting, because I feel that yon. better than any one I know, will express the heart ft-It grscltuda of those who owe their education, their opportunities, their happiness to him who opened the eyes of the blind and gave the dumb lip language.

Sitting here In my study, surrounded by my books, enjoying the sweet and Intimate companionship of the great and the wise, I am trying to realise what my life might have been if tr. Howe had falld in the great tank Ood gave him to perform. If he had not taken upon himself the repomlbillty of Laura Brhjgman's education and her out of the pit at Acheron back to her human Inheritance, should I be a sophomore at college today who can eayT liut It Is kiie Ui epJi-uUlti about what nilgai have been In 1 t' if -4 1 tt I 1 1 hi HELEN KELLER AT THE AGE OP T. 'Tha Story of My Life," by Helen Keller. Doubleday, Page A Co.) field Ku 111 van.

eame to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the Immeasurable contrast between the two lives which it connects. It was the Sd of March. ISoT, three months before I was 7 years old. On the afternoon of that eventful day I stood tm the porch, dump, expectant.

I guessed vaguely from my mother's signs ud from the hurrying ts and fro In the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch and fell on my upturned face. My fingers lingered almost itrnnsrlouKty on the familiar leaves and blosrams which hsd Just come forth to greet the sweet southern sprina. I did nut know mhat the future held of marvsl or surprise tor me. Anger and bitterness bad preyed upon me continually tot weeks and a deep languor had succeeded this passionate struggle.

Have tu ever ln at sea In a donne fr.g. hen It seeuic'l if a tanicilfle white darkueM shut yuu iu. uud great siiip. leu an aiijLwua, aured way toward the shore with plummet and connection with Dr. Howe's great achievement.

I think only those who hare escaped that death-la-life existence from which Laura Bridgman waa rescued can realise how Isolated, how shroodsd in darkness, how cramped by Its own Impotence. Is a soul without thought or faith or hops. Words are powerlesa to describe the desolation of that prison-house, or ths Joy of the soul that Is delivered out, of Its captivity. When we compare the needs and helplessness of the blind before Ir. Howe began bis work, with their present usefulness and ladependenoe.

we realise that great things have been done In our midst. What If physical conditions have bulit up high walls about us? Thanks to our friend and helper, our world lies upward; the length and breadth and the sweep of ths heavens are ours! It Is pleasant to think that Dr. Howe's noble deeds will receive their due tribute of affection and gratitude In the city which waa the scene of his great labors and splendid victofiea for human-It-. With kind greetings. In which my teacher Joins me.

I am affectionately your frtendi HELEN KELXR. Happy la Affllcttoai. Here are several touching extracts, taken almost at random: It seems to me that thre la In each of us a capacity to comprehend the Impreaalona and emotions which have been experienced by mankind from the beginning. Each Individual has a subconscious memory of the green earth and murmuring waters, and bllndneaa and deafness cannot rob hlra of this gift from past generations. This Inherited capacity la a sort of sixth sense a soul ansa which sees, hears, feels, alt In one.

Is tt not true, then, that my life with all its limitations touches at many points the life of the vtorld lieautlfulT Everything has Its wonders. even darknsss and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be In. therein to be content. coraetimea. it is true, a sense of Isolation enfolds me Uke a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life's shut gate.

Bayond there Is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter. rate, silent, pitiless, bars the way. Fain would I question bis Imperious decree; for my heart is still undisciplined and passionate; but my tongue will not uttar the bitter, futile words that rise to my line, and they fall back into my heart Uke unshed tears, fe Hence sits immense noon my soul. Then comes hope with a smile and whispers. "There is Joy in self-forgetfulness." 8o I try to make the light In others' eyes my sun.

the music In others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my Happiness. In a word, literature is mr Utopia. Here I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book friends, Thy talk to me without embar rassment or awkwardness. The things I have learned and the things I have been taught seem of ridiculously little importance compared with their -targe tovsa and heavenly charities." The book Is well illustrated with photo graphs and facsimiles', and there Is an index.

(New York: Doubleday. Page Co.) "COXJIROR'S HOISE." Romaaee of the Free Forest lr Stewart Edward White. Stewart Edward White's "The Blazed Trail" was so distinctly a success and such good reading withal that his admirers will naturally take up his new story. "Conjuror's House," with feelings of mingled expectancy and hesitation. For "The Biased Trail" Is a good deal of a book, and it Is given to few authors and especially to few young authors to be always at their best.

Moreover, no one could readl the story of Harry Thorpe without feeling a personal interest in his creator, and personal Interest makes the reader sensitive about the performance of his literary In this case, however, there Is no cause for hesitation. Mr. White's admirers need feel only expectation. For the performance is a good one. They will enjoy "Conjuror's House" from the first page to the last.

Yet the new book is a very different one from the other, and In this Mr. Whit has shown both literary and common sense. In this way be has avoided the comparisons that his admirers fear it would he necessary to make. The difference between "The Blazed Trail" and "Conjuror's House" may be illustrated by a reference to two of Weyman's books that every one knave: "A Gentleman of France" and "Under the Red Robe." The first named is a somewhat pretentious work carried out on a corresponding scale. The second is a story pure and simple, told for the story's sake; and with no.

waste of time or space. Both are equally good la their way; the difference is one of method. Mr. White's story takes its title from Conjuror's House, a Hudson's Bay post of the Hudson's Bay company. "Beyond the butternut, beyond the maple, beyond the white pine and the red, beyond the oak.

the cedar, and the beech, beyond even the white and yellow birches, lies a Land, and in that Land the shadows fall crimson across the snow." That is the land of bis story. But why "of the Free Forest?" Well, that takes us back to the oldi days. Over two centuries ago the Hudson's Bay company pushed up Into this wilderness till Its strong arm stretched north to the Arctic and west to the- Pacific. In time the company came, to be a living thing and waa served with a loyalty that stopped at no sacrifice. No country, no state, no leader received worship so devoted.

The Nor'west-ers, the company of the XY, Astor himself, could not compete with It because they were not so served. In time the great charter from the King ran out and the monopoly was a monopoly no longer. In time came the railroad and the free trader, and competition at its very- doors. Yet one region still remaiped cut off from the outside world, and life at Hudson'a Bay waa exactly the same as it was two centuries ago. And there the company made its last stand for the monopoly that It bad come to regard almost as a divine right.

The forest was free, but woe to the free trader who entered. The free trader enters, but he does not stay long. He and his goods are seized and he is told to leave the country. He is given a few provisions, but no weapons. He starts on the journey, but he never emerges to reach civilization.

Nobody gives any ordera, nobody knows anything, but the Journey is never finished, and this fatal Journey is called "la Longue Traverse." So here we have Conjuror's House, and the head factor of all this region Galen Albret absolute lord, feared, loved, obeyed by all its human creatures. When he went from home he traveled In almost medieval state. When he stopped at home men came from far and near to receive his commands. And this man of feudal power has a daughter. Virginia, the princess of all this power and ceremony.

Young, handsome, her heart untouched, romantic. Ignorant of "la Longue Traverse" and all the darker side of life that the legend Implies, she loves her father as the best of men. Enter Ned Trent, a free trader, caught in the act, and after two warnings. He Is sentenced to be sent on "la Longue Traverse." Knowing well what this fatal journey means, he determines to escape bis fate by meana of the factor's daughter. Young, handsome, magnetic, he captures her heart.

But love touches him. loo, and so he cannot put the girl to so mean a use. But the girl learns of "la Longue Traverse" and Its meaning, gives h.lm her own rifle, and bids him go to meet her at Quebec In August. Landed in aafety across the river by the girl herself, he swims back and faces recapture to say the words he should have said but had taken for granted. He ts re captured and the factor learns that his own daughter has proved a traitor both to him and to the company.

Here ts surely a situation dramatic enough, exciting and complicated enough to satisfy the most exacting. But there is no anti-climax. The situation is worked out logically to Us legitimate end-but to know the end you must read the book. (New York; McClure. Phillips Co.) Mi.LE.

JILIE DE I.ESPIXASSE. A Popalar Edition ef the Letters of the Noted Freaeh Woma n. Hardy. Pratt Boston, who published a year ago the "Letters of Mile, de Lea-pi nasse," have taken advantage of the present discussion over Mrs. Humphry Ward's Lady Kose uaugater to puousn a popular I edition of these famous letters of passion.

I The volume contains. In addition to the let- ten. notes upon her life and character by D'Alembert. Marmontel. and de Gulbert.

and an introduction by C. A. Salnte-Beuve. Katherln Prtscott Wormeley Is the Julie-Jeanne-Eleonore de Lespinasse was born. In 1732.

She died In 1778. Without name, fortune, or beauty she created for herself the salon most In vogue at an epoch which counted many of great brilliancy. Her death was regretted, but it Is doubtful if her fame would have survived had It not been for ths publication In 1809 of her letters. With the publication of these letters the world learned to know Mlle.de Lespinasse In a new light. Dying young, of a broken heart, ah waa the victim of a great passion.

Her letters are a "curious and memorable monument to passion," says Salnte-Beuve. They were written to the Comte de Gulbert. and they were published by De Gulbert's widow. The friends of the dead woman protested In vain to the widow and the publisher In the name of morality and decency but everybody read the letters. Today posterity.

Indifferent to personal considerations, sees only the letters and classes them with the other Immortal "testimonies or passion." Soon after "Lady Rose's Daughter" began to appear in Harper's. American critics called attention to the fact that Mrs. Ward's novel was practically a rewriting of the atorr of Julie de Lespinasse transplanted to modern London. Mrs. Ward hss since admitted her indebtedness and has suggested that the observant reader will find sufficient acknowledgment of that Indebtedness in her book.

However that may be. the following brief outline of Julie de Lespinasse 'a career will show how closely Julie le Breton follows her model: Julie de Lespinasse was the natural daughter of a woman of rank, the Comtesee At her mother's death she was left with no resources save those of her own character and a pittance of 100 crowns a year. She was suffering humiliating treatment aa a quasl-governess when discovered by Mme. du.Deffand, who engaged her as companion on the promise that she would make no claim on her mother's family. Mme.

du Deffand, one of the brilliant women of her time, was now nearly blind, imperious, and tyrannical- She was proud of her salon. of her sway over the distinguished men who frequented It, such as Turgot. the noted statesman, and D'Alembert. whom she befriended! and regarded as specially her own. At first she was grateful for the assistance of Julie in entertaining them.

But Julie soon fascinated and won to herself Mme. du Def-fand's habitues; she received them unknown to her protectress; the latter discovered the treachery, as she called It. and turned Jurfe out ol her house. The habitues, notably D'Alembert and Duchesse de Chat 1 stood by Julie: they clubbed together and provided her with a -home, which the Duchesse de Luxembourg furnished. D'Alembert had long loved Julie; but she fell in love with a military man, De Gulbert, and not only used the power and Influence she had acquired in Mme.

fu Deffand's salon to get his work crowned by the French academy, but gave him all the passion of her soul. He loved her, but never sought to marry her, and he secretly engaged himself to an heiress. Julie never dreamed of blaming him for marrying for money; she regarded it as a means of advancement. De Guibert persisted in holding Julie bound to him. She saw through him; she felt his shallow nature; she was torn between her desire to break from him and her willingness to accept the situation and her fate.

Here lies the passion of the story. Substitute Julie le Breton for Julie de Lespinasse, Lady Henry for Mme. du Deffand, Montressor for Turgot, Delafield for D'Alembert, the Duchess of Crowborough for the Duchesse de Luxembourg. Wark-wortb for De Gulbert, the nineteenth century for the eighteenth, and modern London for Paris, and the parallel Is complete, save for the new ending that Mrs. Ward has put to her story.

H'XDER THE HOKE." A Roma ace by Frederick Isbaau, Aathor of "The Strollers. Frederick S. Isham, who is pleasantly remembered as the author of "The Strollers," will make new friends by his second book, "Under the Rose." The two books are very different. The first one was a picture of the life led by wandering theatrical people in America a few generations ago. The new one Is a romance of the old France of Francis the France of the court Jester, of love and laughter and adventure.

The story opens in a royal castle of Francis, where the jesters and buffoons, philosophers, and poets of the dignitaries have organized a court of their own. Here na meet FREDERIC The Bobbs (Author of "Under the Rose. RabelaH and Clement Marot and Triboulet, the misshapen dwarf of Francis, who proudly wears the crown of the King of the Jesters. There, too. Is that anomaly of the times, the female Jester.

In this particular case she Is the young and handsome and mysterious line the favorite of Princess Louise. who Is the young and beautiful cousin of the Queen and the ward of tne rung. into title mnrt of mad-cana enters a new fool, the gift of the Duke of Friedwald to the Princess Louise, now, tnis uuke or Friedwald is a powerful noble In the train of Charles V. of Germany. Charles and Francis and the Duke and Princess have been cor- NOW POLITICAL NOVEL The Spoilsmen PRICE $1.50 A story of municipal politics, the scene of which is laid in Chicago.

While not attempting to depict actual con-ditions in any particular locality, the author shows a state of affairs common to practically all large cities. The political methods employed, however, are in most instances taken from the actual experiences of men who have served the public in some capactt or other, while the stories told of some of the characters are literally true. Chicago Evening Post. characters are obviously suggested by certain actual figures in local politics, and while the conditions he depicts are general in large cities in the United States, they will be unusually familiar to local readers Ned Bell, the 'Old of political boss; Bill Ryan, his lieutenant; 'Rainbow the alderman, are likely to be and other of the story are traceable to their prototypes." AT ALL BOOKSELLERS L. C.

PAGE COMPANY, Boston responding, with -the result that the Duke and the Princess are to wed. The Jester has been sent by the Duke to amuse the Princess until he can come in person and claim her as his bride. The new fool Is a shapely youth with a nimble wit and a strong srm. The first stands hinf In good stead with the King and the second makes of Triboulet a malicious and persistent enemy. Before very long we discover several things by way of preliminary to the stirring action to follow.

We get a bint that the new Jester is quite a superior kind of a fooL We also see that the female jester is a very nice sort of a girl and has acquired a carefully concealed Interest in the Duke's jester. We also see that the beautiful Princess Louise is a good deal of what we moderns would call a flirt, and is not at all averse to amusing herself with the Duke's jester until his master shall arrive. The fool, poor fool, is evidently very much In earnest. Then enters upon the scene the Duke of Friedwald. a burly fighting man.

bold and bluff. Strangely enough, the jester does not greet him with any great show of affection, and the master wastes no endearments upon his fool. That night the two men have a little seance of their own. It then appears that the Duke is not the Duke at all, but Louis of Hochfels, a bold, bad robber baron, who owes allegiance to neither Francis-nor Charles. He has Intercepted the correspondence and has come to marry the Princess and carry her off before the Duke can arrive.

The jester decides to keep his knowledge to himself, inasmuch as Francis 'would not be likely to believe his charge against Louis, and to fly to Charles. But be Is caught Just as he Is leaving, and ends op In a convenient dungeon. Here Louis nearly puts an end to him, besides making aa -astonishing discovery as to his Identity. If It had iiot been for the faithful Jacqueline, who nursed him back to life, there would have been bo more story. In the meantime the Impetuous and diplomatic wooing of the false Duke has been successful, and when the Jester comes back to life and health the fair and fickle Princess Is the bride of the robber baron.

Then the jester determines to make his way back to the court of Charles. Jacqueline, for good and sufficient reasons of her own, insists upon going with bim. and under the circumstances he can hardly say her nay. Then begins a new story, for the Jester with the folle de la reine as its heroine. It is a very pretty story, too.

It Is a story of dangers, adventures, desperate situations, and hair-breadth escapes, shared by a chivalrous young man and a winsome maid. It Is the old, old story, which no man's lips shall weary uttering, and of which no woman's ear shall tire. In this story there Is a surprise about the S. ISHAM. Merrlll Co.

Photograph by Hayes ft Co.) glrl for the jester, and later an equally great surprise about the jester for the girl. Finally they reach Charles. Then the bold robber baron gets his deserts at the hands of the jester. At the climax the scene shifts back to the court of Francis, and here there Is a succession of surprises and a bappy ending which yon must guess, or read the story. "Under the Rose" Is a romance, pure and simple.

It is romantic as a romance of those romantic days ought to be. There are bold knighta and fair ladies, pomp and glitter, jesting and feasting, a king and an emperor, the fantastic atmosphere of a court given over to pleasure and interwoven with READY 7 It all a charming love story, sympathetlcallv and poetically told. And when one reads romance what more can one ask? (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrlll company.) "MARTY. A Story- of Leaden Life, by Jaa Straage i later. Mrs.

Arthur Stannard. who writes under the familiar pen name of John Strange Winter, has produced in "Marty" a story of London life that lings true enough, but Is based on a phase o'f the British character that seems odd Indeed to the American reader. Marty, the heroine. Is a type of what would be called In London "the lower middle classes." Her widowed mother, after beginning life as a lady's maid for "the Duchess of Yorkshire," uses for business purposes familiarity with the "higher upper classes." These classes have a habit of marketing the costly gowns they have-worn a few times. These gowns are in demand by the "upper middle classes." who buy them in.

a confidential way. Marty's mother throve so that her family seemed to be living on its income, gather than from, a confidential trade in second-band clothing. Then Marty appears. Marty, after coming home from a genteel boarding-school, attends a ball in a gown once worn by a duchess. She wins the heart of George1 Etherington.

who is a government clerk with a salary of $3,500. He belongs to the upper middle classes on his father's side.twhlle on his mother's side he is third and fourth cousin to an indefinite number of swells. He carries the day against his father, his mother, and every one else except his haughty sister, who has bought from Marty's mother a gown made for a peeress. Marty begins to realize that -even a genteel boarding-school education cannot remove all the differences be tween the lower middle and the higher middle In France during her wedding tour Marty bears her husband described as a very swagger young fellow who has done, the foolish thing of marrying a very common sort of young woman. So Marty, leaving ber husband a pathetic note, hides away as teacher In a convent.

Of course her husband gets detectives and turns the world upside down in vain. But Providence throws husband snd wife together at last and brings the wife to her proper state of mind to enable ber to bear with equanimity her rise from the lower middle class to the higher middle class. (Philadelphia. J. B.

Lipplncott company.) ASSYRIA LETTERS. A Volume of Great Valae la the Sta-- deal. The University of Chicago Press has published In connection with its Decennial Publications a volume entitled. "Assyrian and Babylonian Letters." by Robert Francis Harper, professor of Semitic languages and literatures In the University of Chicago. The work of which this volume forms a part was undertaken in 1891.

upon the advice or Dr. Budge, keeper of the department of Egyptian and Assyrian sntiquitles of the British museum. The plan Is to collect and arrange according to the names of the scribes all of the letters in the Kouyunjik collection of the British museum. The text alone when complete will occupy sixteen or eighteen volumes and the transliterations, translations, and glossary at least as many more. The text is printed In the cuneiform type 6f Messrs.

Harrison St Son of London. The value-of these letters to students of Assyriology is not easily overestimated. They frequently supplement valuable details and in some Instances are the only source of information In regard to Important events. They cast much light npon the administrative methods of the Assyrian government and upon the practical workings of the state religion; and although with a few exceptions of an" official character they furnish valuable Information concerning Assyrian and Babylonian life and customs. From the standpoint of philology they constitute a rich mine yielding a wealth of material to be found in no other collection or class of cuneiform texts.

At first, owing to the superior attractions of the historical, religious, grammatical, and lexicographical, texts, the letter tablets were little studied and it Is only within the last fifteen years that they have had their due share of attention. To Dr. Harper belongs the credit of conceiving and carrying into execution the plan of publishing a complete corpus of Assyrian and Babylonian letters, thus making the whole mass of these interesting texts available for study. LITERARY ROTES ASD GOSSIP. Items of Iatereat from the WorlU of Letters.

It Is estimated that Mrs. Humphry, Ward received from the Harpers $25,000 for ths serial rights in "Ladry Rose's Daughter." It Is also estimated that from royalties on the book she will receive five time that amount, making In all 1160,000. Miss Grace Lathrop Collin, whose volume of short stories has Juit been published by the Harpers under the title of "Putnam Place." is a Smith college girl, who was graduated In 1896 with the degree of B. L.n She was born in Elmira. N.

and spent her girlhood in Ithaca, where her father was a member of the faculty of Cornell University Law school. Later she studied at Columbia university, taking the degree of M. A. ialS09, after which she traveled abroad. Mif Collin has written stories and essays since her sophomore year at Smith.

Dora Greenwell McCaenney, author of.