So ends the history of a day unforgotten in the memories of the men and
women, young and old, for whom it chanced to be life's turning-point.
Looking back into the full, past years through which the fight has been
fought, most of us still know one day and hour in which the tide of
battle turned; we see the faces that rose up against us, and those that
stood beside us in the struggle; we hear the words spoken which cheered
us to the great charge, or turned our hearts cold and our daring to
fear; even our bodily hearts, handfuls of wandering atoms of which not
one is left in us from those times, answer the deep memory and beat
loud, or fail, as those other atoms did in the decisive instant when one
blow more meant victory, and one blow less, defeat.
Helen's last letter to her husband came back to her like a ghost, after
many weeks, when she was going over Harmon's papers. There it lay,
unopened, as she had sealed it, full of the words that had seemed to
cost her life--the promise to pay a debt not justly owed, which no man
could claim now. She burned it unread, for she knew every line of it by
heart. To read it, even to glance at the writing, she thought, would
rouse some pride in her for what she had done and stir a sort of
gladness in her soul, because the man was dead and she was safe from him
forever. She would not let herself feel such things. Unconsciously she
had fought with herself for a principle, not, as most of us do, for the
intimate satisfaction of having done right, which is in itself a reward,
an object, and an aim for ambition, and therefore not wholly unselfish,
not wholly noble, though often both high and worthy.
Right, as we understand it, is the law for each individual, the
principle is for all mankind; and as the whole is greater than any of
its parts, so is the principle greater than the law. The law says,
"Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." But
the Blood which was shed for all men required of man no lawful avenging.
Moreover, law and all forms of law are only deductions made by the
intelligence from the right instincts of the people's heart. Laws which
are evolved out of existing circumstances, backwards, as it were, to
correct bad results, are rarely anything more than measures of
expediency and have not much lasting power. They are medicines, not
nourishment for humanity--a cure for the sick, not a rule of life for
the sound and whole.
When such enactments of law-givers tend against those impulses which
spring from the roots of human feeling, taking into consideration the
happiness of the few and not the good of the many, they are bad
medicines for the world. The instant, quick release by divorce from all
troubles, great and small, between man and wife, is no better than that
other instant, quick relief from bodily pain, which is morphia, a
material danger no longer at all dim or shadowy.
We are a cowardly generation, and men shrink from suffering now, as
their fathers shrank from dishonour in rougher times. The Lotus hangs
within the reach of all, and in the lives of many "it is always
afternoon," as for the Lotus Eaters. The fruit takes many shapes and
names; it is called Divorce, it is called Morphia, it is called
Compromise, it is designated in a thousand ways and justified by ten
thousand specious arguments, but it means only one thing: Escape from
Pain.
Soft-hearted and weak-nerved people ask why humanity should suffer at
all, and they hail every invention, moral or material, which can make
life easier for the moment, as a heaven-sent blessing. Why should we be
uncomfortable, even an hour, when a little dose of poison can create a
lazy oblivion? That is the drunkard's reasoning, the opium-eater's
defence, the invalid's excuse. It is no argument for men who call
themselves the world's masters.
Civilization and Progress are not the same thing. We have too much
progress and too little civilization nowadays. Progress is omnivorous,
eager after new things, seeking above all to save trouble and get money.
Civilization is eclectic, slow, painstaking, wise, willing to buy good
at the price it is worth. Civilization gave us marriage, in respecting
which we are above animals. Progress is giving us divorce, wholesale,
cheap, immoral, a degradation beneath that of those primitive peoples,
who make no promises and break none, who do not set up right as a
fashion and wrong as a practice, the truth for the ensign and the lie
for the course.
Helen Harmon's existence turned out happily in the end. She was
fortunate at last, before the love of life was gone. But for the
accident of her husband's sudden death, she would have had to face her
cruel difficulties to death's solution; and with her character she would
not have been defeated, for she had on her side the accumulated force of
all womanliness against the individual evil that was her familiar enemy.
Far should it be from the story-teller to draw a moral; furthest of all,
that false moral that makes faith and truth and courage get worldly pay
for their services--servants to be hired as guides and porters to
happiness. In Helen's case it chanced that she got what she wanted.
Fate had spent its force against her, and peace was with her thereafter.
Even "poor Archie" found his vocation at last. The day that had meant
so much to many had brought him a sort of awakening of mind, an increase
of reason and a growth of character. His one strong instinct became a
dominating force. He would save life, many lives, so long as he had
strength. Sylvia would never care for him, of course; he said to
himself that she should at least see what he could do. He remembered
with constant longing the wild delight he had felt when he had brought
the little child safely to the deck of the ferryboat on the North River,
and when, bruised and bleeding, he had stopped the bolting horses in the
New York street.
He unfolded his plan to the colonel first, because he was a man, and
must understand; then he told his mother. There was nothing to be said
against it, except that it was dangerous. He had made up his mind to
join a Life-Saving Station on the coast. It was the one thing he could
do, and he knew it.
"Of course," he said, with his elementary philosophy, "if I get drowned
the first time, there won't be anything gained. But if I can help to
save a few people before that, it won't matter so much, you know. It'll
be like money, when you get something for it."
The rude bravery of the argument brought a look into Wimpole's eyes
which had not been there for a long time. Helen had a lump in her
throat.
"But if anything should happen to you--" she began, and stopped.
"Well, then," answered Archie, "I suppose I'd go to heaven, shouldn't I?
And that would be all right, just the same."
And thereupon he began to whistle thoughtfully. It was very simple in
his eyes, and very desirable. Life seemed to him to be man's first and
greatest possession, as it is. For him, its possibilities were small,
but he had a dim perception of its value to others, whom he called
"clever" in wholesale distinction from himself. It was worth having,
worth keeping, and worth saving, for them, at the risk of his own.
As for Miss Rachel Wimpole, as soon as she heard of Harmon's death, she
knew that her brother would marry Helen. She had systematically
disapproved of his life-long devotion to a woman beyond his reach, while
she had involuntarily respected in him the same unchanging faithfulness
which had guarded her own heart against everything else for so many
years, a little stronghold of no great importance to the rest of the
world, but which held all that was most dear and precious to her. So
here and there, in the chaos of the middle ages, some strong, poor
gentleman, a mere atom in the wide Holy Empire, may have kept his small
castle and his narrow acres of meagre land against all comers.
When Harmon was dead and gone, Miss Wimpole's disapprobation instantly
disappeared, and she never at any time afterwards seemed to remember how
she had felt about the matter during so many years. Wimpole approached
her with some diffidence, and she met him with genuine enthusiasm. She
was one of those rare people who can make others vicars of their
happiness, so to say, whose place has been long darkened by sad clouds,
but who see the sunshine far away on another's land and are glad for
that other one's sake.
It is a sign of our times that a man whose fancy leads him now and then
to make a story of characters almost ideal, should feel as if he owed
his reader a sort of apology for so far disregarding the common fashion.
There must always be a conflict between the real and the ideal, between
what we are told is knowledge and what our hearts tell us is truth,
between the evil men do and the good which is beyond their strength, but
not above their aspiration. And therefore the old question stands
unanswered: Do most people wish to be shown what they are, or what they
might be? In order to avoid the difficulty of replying, fashion comes
forward and says to-day that art is truth, and infers that art must be
accurate and photographic and closely imitative.
What has art to do with truth? Is not truth the imagination's deadly
enemy? If the two meet, they must fight to the death. It is therefore
better, in principle, to keep them apart, and let each survive
separately with their uses. Two and two make four, says Truth. Never
mind facts, says Art, let us imagine a world in which two and two make
five, and see whether we can get anything pleasant, or amusing, out of
the supposition. Let us sometimes talk about men and women who are
unimaginably perfect, and let us find out what they would do with the
troubles that make sinners of most of us, and puzzle us, and turn our
hair grey.
Matter, says the mystic, is the inexhaustible source and active cause of
all harm. Imagination can be altogether free from matter. That is what
we mean by the ideal, and men may say what they will, it is worth
having. A man must know the enemy against whom he is matched, if he
hopes to win; he must know his adversary's fence, his thrusts and feints
and parries. Truth will give him that knowledge. But beyond the enemy,
and beyond victory over him, there is the aspiration, the hope, the aim
of all life--and that is the ideal, if it is anything at all worth
hoping; it is transcendent, outside of all facts and perhaps of any
attainment, and only the imagination can ever tell us what it may be.
Yet those who guess at it, dwell on it and love it, and it comes to be
the better part of their lives. The world holds two great classes of
mankind, artists and truth-seekers. There are millions of artists,
there always have been, and there always will be. One in each million,
perhaps, is born with the gift of creation and knows the tools of his
trade by instinct, and works with them, as soon as he is old enough to
think. The rest are not less artists, because they are not producers.
They have the same aspirations, the same longings, the same tastes,
though they are not makers, as he is; and when he has finished his work,
they look at it with eyes like his, and enjoy even more perfectly than
he, for they see the expression of a thought like their own, while all
that he could not express is hidden from them and does not disturb their
satisfaction. Art for art's sake, if such a thing could be, would mean
that the one man would work just as hard to give his imagination a
shape, even if the rest of the million were not there to understand him.
But he knows that they are all living and that the ideal for which he
labours is divine to them all, whether he fail or whether he succeed.
THE END
* * * * *
TAQUISARA.
BY
F. MARION CRAWFORD,
_Author of "Saracinesca," "Pietro Ghisleri," "Katharine
Lauderdale," "The Ralstons," etc._
Two Volumes. 16mo. In Box, $2.00.
"Mr. Crawford once more shows that mastery of his art which entitles him
to rank among the very foremost of living novelists.... The interest of
the reader is at once compelled, while there is enacted a drama as dark
and terrible as some legend of the Medici or the Borgias, and so
exquisite is the art of the narrator that the reader's interest is never
suffered to relax.
"'Taquisara' the Sicilian, the Princess Veronica, and the invalid
Gianluca are characters drawn with the power and poetic feeling that Mr.
Crawford's readers know so well."--_New York Sun_.
"The plot needs no telling; it is one of Mr. Crawford's best, and the
scene, Naples, and the mountain country back of it, united with the
characteristics and temperaments of the Italian people, give the noted
author splendid opportunities to realize his best work. Mr. Crawford
continues to reap fame with every novel that comes from his
pen."--_Boston Budget_.
"'Taquisara' in vigor of language and sustained interest of plot easily
ranks with Mr. Crawford's best work, which, by the way, is quite as good
as the best by any living writer."--_Oneonta Herald_.
"'Taquisara,' as its name indicates, is another of Mr. Crawford's
happily told stories of Italian life, and must find many admirers. Here
the author is at his best. He knows his Italy--who could have read his
'Casa Braccio' and not been conscious of it? In this last novel the
interest is unflagging, and all the imaginative charm and literary force
which belong to the author are to be found."
CASA BRACCIO.
BY
F. MARION CRAWFORD.
WITH THIRTEEN FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS
BY CASTAIGNE.
Buckram. 2 vols., in box. $2.00.
PRESS COMMENTS.
"Mr. Crawford's latest novel, 'Casa Braccio,' may not improbably come to
be regarded as the supreme masterpiece in fiction--of the English tongue
at least--that has appeared since 'Daniel Deronda.' Its breadth of
human emotion, its vividness of individualities, its splendor of
coloring, all entitle this novel to a lasting place in the literature of
fiction."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_.
"Mr. Crawford has won success in two different fields of fiction. In
this, his present work, he combines these fields, and wins a greater
success than ever. There is but little question that 'Casa Braccio'
will prove to be the great novel of the year."--_Boston Daily
Advertiser_.
"We are grateful when Mr. Crawford keeps to his Italy. The poetry and
enchantment of the land are all his own, and 'Casa Braccio' gives
promise of being his masterpiece.... He has the life, the beauty, the
heart and the soul of Italy at the tips of his fingers."--_Los Angeles
Express_.
"Admirably strong and impressive."--_Boston Beacon_.
"From all points of view 'Casa Braccio' is the most artistically
finished, dramatic, and powerful work Mr. Crawford has produced."--_New
York World_.
"The people who are fond of prating about the thinness of American
novels should read 'Casa Braccio,' for it is rich in all the qualities
that go to make up a good story.... It is safe to say that any one who
reads one or two of Crawford's stories will extend his acquaintance with
this singularly versatile and charming writer."--_San Francisco
Chronicle_.
THE RALSTONS.
A Sequel to "Katharine Lauderdale."
BY
F. MARION CRAWFORD.
2 vols. 16mo. Cloth. $2.00.
PRESS COMMENTS.
"The interest is unflagging throughout. Never has the author done more
brilliant, artistic work than here."--_Ohio State Journal_.
"It is immensely entertaining; once in the full swing of the narrative,
one is carried on quite irresistibly to the end. The style throughout
is easy and graceful, and the text abounds in wise and witty reflections
on the realities of existence."--_Boston Beacon_.
"The book is admirably written; it contains passages full of
distinction; It is instinct with intensity of purpose; the characters
are drawn with a living touch."--London Daily News.
"Mr. Crawford's new story, 'The Ralstons,' is as powerful a work as any
that has come from his pen.... Harmonized by a strength and warmth of
imagination uncommon in modern fiction, the story will be heartily
enjoyed by every one who reads it."--_Edinburgh Scotsman_.
"As a picture of a certain kind of New York life, it is correct and
literal; as a study of human nature, it is realistic enough to be
modern, and romantic enough to be of the age of Trollope."--_Chicago
Herald_.
"The whole group of character studies is strong and vivid."--_Literary
World_.
"Mr. Crawford's pen portraits are wonderfully vivid. His analysis of
motive is keen and subtle. His portrayal of passion, be it love or
avarice, is most graphic."--_Boston Advertiser_.
UNIFORM EDITION
OF THE WORKS OF
F. MARION CRAWFORD.
12mo. Cloth. Price $1.00 per volume.
KATHARINE LAUDERDALE
The first of a series of novels dealing with New York life.
"Mr. Crawford at his best is a great novelist, and in 'Katharine
Lauderdale' we have him at his best."--_Boston Daily Advertiser_.
"A most admirable novel, excellent in style, flashing with humor, and
full of the ripest and wisest reflections upon men and women."--_The
Westminster Gazette_.
"It is the first time, we think, in American fiction that any such
breadth of view has shown itself in the study of our social
framework."--_Life_.
"It need scarcely be said that the story is skilfully and picturesquely
written, portraying sharply individual characters in well-defined
surroundings."--_New York Commercial Advertiser_.
"'Katharine Lauderdale' is a tale of New York, and is up to the highest
level of his work. In some respects it will probably be regarded as his
best. None of his works, with the exception of 'Mr. Isaacs,' shows so
clearly his skill as a literary artist."--_San Francisco Evening
Bulletin_.
PIETRO GHISLERI.
"The imaginative richness, the marvellous ingenuity of plot, the power
and subtlety of the portrayal of character, the charm of the romantic
environment,--the entire atmosphere, indeed,--rank this novel at once
among the great creations."--_The Boston Budget_.
SARACINESCA.
"His highest achievement, as yet, in the realms of fiction. The work
has two distinct merits, either of which would serve to make it
great,--that of telling a perfect story in a perfect way, and of giving
a graphic picture of Roman society in the last days of the pope's
temporal power.... The story is exquisitely told."--_Boston Traveler_.
"One of the most engrossing novels we have ever read."--_Boston Times_.
SANT' ILARIO.
A sequel to "Saracinesca."
"The author shows steady and constant improvement in his art. 'Sant'
Ilario' is a continuation of the chronicles of the Saracinesca
family.... A singularly powerful and beautiful story.... Admirably
developed, with a naturalness beyond praise.... It must rank with
'Greifenstein' as the best work the author has produced. It fulfils
every requirement of artistic fiction. It brings out what is most
impressive in human action, without owing any of its effectiveness to
sensationalism or artifice. It is natural, fluent in evolution,
accordant with experience, graphic in description, penetrating in
analysis, and absorbing in interest."--_New York Tribune_.
DON ORSINO.
A continuation of "Saracinesca" and "Sant' Ilario."
"The third in a rather remarkable series of novels dealing with three
generations of the Saracinesca family, entitled respectively
'Saracinesca,' 'Sant' Ilario,' and 'Don Orsino,' and these novels
present an important study of Italian life, customs, and conditions
during the present century. Each one of these novels is worthy of very
careful reading, and offers exceptional enjoyment in many ways, in the
fascinating absorption of good fiction, in interest of faithful historic
accuracy, and in charm of style. The 'new Italy' is strikingly revealed
in 'Don Orsino.'"--_Boston Budget_.
"We are inclined to regard the book as the most ingenious of all Mr.
Crawford's fictions. Certainly it is the best novel of the
season."--_Evening Bulletin_.
WITH THE IMMORTALS.
"Altogether an admirable piece of art worked in the spirit of a thorough
artist. Every reader of cultivated tastes will find it a book prolific
in entertainment of the most refined description, and to all such we
commend it heartily."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette_.
"The strange central idea of the story could have occurred only to a
writer whose mind was very sensitive to the current modern thought and
progress, while its execution, the setting it forth in proper literary
clothing, could be successfully attempted only by one whose active
literary ability should be fully equalled by his power of assimilative
knowledge both literary and scientific, and no less by his courage and
capacity for hard work. The book will be found to have a fascination
entirely new for the habitual reader of novels. Indeed, Mr. Crawford
has succeeded in taking his readers quite above the ordinary plane of
novel interest."--_Boston Advertiser_.
MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX.
"We take the liberty of saying that this work belongs to the highest
department of character-painting in words."--_Churchman_.
"We have repeatedly had occasion to say that Mr. Crawford possesses in
an extraordinary degree the art of constructing a story. His sense of
proportion is just, and his narrative flows along with ease and
perspicuity. It is as if it could not have been written otherwise, so
naturally does the story unfold itself, and so logical and consistent is
the sequence of incident after incident. As a story 'Marzio's Crucifix'
is perfectly constructed."--_New York Commercial Advertiser_.
KHALED.
A Story of Arabia.
"Throughout the fascinating story runs the subtlest analysis, suggested
rather than elaborately worked out, of human passion and motive, the
building out and development of the character of the woman who becomes
the hero's wife and whose love he finally wins, being an especially
acute and highly finished example of the story-teller's art.... That it
is beautifully written and holds the interest of the reader, fanciful as
it all is, to the very end, none who know the depth and artistic finish
of Mr. Crawford's work need be told."--_The Chicago Times_.
PAUL PATOFF.
MR. ISAACS.
A Tale of Modern India.
"The writer first shows the hero in relation with the people of the East
and then skilfully brings into connection the Anglo-Saxon race. It is
in this showing of the different effects which the two classes of minds
have upon the central figure of the story that one of its chief merits
lies. The characters are original, and one does not recognize any of
the hackneyed personages who are so apt to be considered indispensable
to novelists, and which, dressed in one guise or another, are but the
marionettes, which are all dominated by the same mind, moved by the same
motive force. The men are all endowed with individualism and
independent life and thought.... There is a strong tinge of mysticism
about the book which is one of its greatest charms."--_Boston
Transcript_.
"No story of human experience that we have met with since 'John
Inglesant' has such an effect of transporting the reader into regions
differing from his own. 'Mr. Isaacs' is the best novel that has ever
laid its scenes in our Indian dominions."--_The Daily News, London_.
DR. CLAUDIUS.
A True Story.
"There is a suggestion of strength, of a mastery of facts, of a fund of
knowledge, that speaks well for future production.... To be thoroughly
enjoyed, however, this book must be read, as no mere cursory notice can
give an adequate idea of its many interesting points and excellences,
for without a doubt 'Dr. Claudius' is the most interesting book that has
been published for many months, and richly deserves a high place in the
public favor."--St. Louis Spectator.
"To our mind it by no means belies the promises of its predecessor. The
story, an exceedingly improbable and romantic one, is told with much
skill; the characters are strongly marked without any suspicion of
caricature, and the author's ideas on social and political subjects are
often brilliant and always striking. It is no exaggeration to say that
there is not a dull page in the book, which is peculiarly adapted for
the recreation of student or thinker."--_Living Church_.
TO LEEWARD.
"A story of remarkable power."--_Review of Reviews_.
"Mr. Crawford has written many strange and powerful stories of Italian
life, but none can be any stranger or more powerful than 'To Leeward,'
with its mixture of comedy and tragedy, innocence and guilt."--_Cottage
Hearth_.
A CIGARETTE-MAKER'S ROMANCE.
"It is a touching romance, filled with scenes of great dramatic
power."--_Boston Commercial Bulletin_.
"It is full of life and movement, and is one of the best of Mr.
Crawford's books."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette_.
"The interest is unflagging throughout. Never has Mr. Crawford done
more brilliant realistic work than here. But his realism is only the
case and cover for those intense feelings which, placed under no matter
what humble conditions, produce the most dramatic and the most tragic
situations.... This is a secret of genius, to take the most coarse and
common material, the meanest surroundings, the most sordid material
prospects, and out of the vehement passions which sometimes dominate all
human beings to build up with these poor elements scenes and passages,
the dramatic and emotional power of which at once enforce attention and
awaken the profoundest interest."--_New York Tribune_.
GREIFENSTEIN.
"'Greifenstein' is a remarkable novel, and while it illustrates once
more the author's unusual versatility, it also shows that he has not
been tempted into careless writing by the vogue of his earlier books....
There is nothing weak or small or frivolous in the story. The author
deals with tremendous passions working at the height of their energy.
His characters are stern, rugged, determined men and women, governed by
powerful prejudices and iron conventions, types of a military people, in
whom the sense of duty has been cultivated until it dominates all other
motives, and in whom the principle of 'noblesse oblige' is, so far as
the aristocratic class is concerned, the fundamental rule of conduct.
What such people may be capable of is startlingly shown."--_New York
Tribune_.
A ROMAN SINGER.
"One of Mr. Crawford's most charming stories--a love romance pure and
simple."--_Boston Home Journal_.
"'A Roman Singer' is one of his most finished, compact, and successful
stories, and contains a splendid picture of Italian life."--_Toronto
Mail_.
THE THREE FATES.
"The strength of the story lies in its portrayal of the aspirations,
disciplinary efforts, trials, and triumphs of the man who is a born
writer, and who, by long and painful experiences, learns the good that
is in him and the way in which to give it effectual expression. The
analytical quality of the book is excellent, and the individuality of
each one of the very dissimilar three fates is set forth in an entirely
satisfactory manner.... Mr. Crawford has manifestly brought his best
qualities as a student of human nature and his finest resources as a
master of an original and picturesque style to bear upon this story.
Taken for all in all it is one of the most pleasing of all his
productions in fiction, and it affords a view of certain phases of
American, or perhaps we should say of New York, life that have not
hitherto been treated with anything like the same adequacy and
felicity."--_Boston Beacon_.
CHILDREN OF THE KING.
A Tale of Southern Italy.
"A sympathetic reader cannot fail to be impressed with the dramatic
power of this story. The simplicity of nature, the uncorrupted truth of
a soul, have been portrayed by a master-hand. The suddenness of the
unforeseen tragedy at the last renders the incident of the story
powerful beyond description. One can only feel such sensations as the
last scene of the story incites. It may be added that if Mr. Crawford
has written some stories unevenly, he has made no mistakes in the
stories of Italian life. A reader of them cannot fail to gain a
clearer, fuller acquaintance with the Italians and the artistic spirit
that pervades the country."--M. L. B. in _Syracuse Journal_.
THE WITCH OF PRAGUE.
A Fantastic Tale.
ILLUSTRATED BY W. J. HENNESSY.
"'The Witch of Prague' is so remarkable a book as to be certain of as
wide a popularity as any of its predecessors. The keenest interest for
most readers will lie in its demonstration of the latest revelations of
hypnotic science.... It is a romance of singular daring and
power."--_London Academy_.
"Mr. Crawford has written in many keys, but never in so strange a one as
that which dominates 'The Witch of Prague.' ... The artistic skill with
which this extraordinary story is constructed and carried out is
admirable and delightful.... Mr. Crawford has scored a decided triumph,
for the interest of the tale is sustained throughout.... A very
remarkable, powerful, and interesting story."--_New York Tribune_.
ZOROASTER.
"The field of Mr. Crawford's imagination appears to be unbounded.... In
'Zoroaster' Mr. Crawford's winged fancy ventures a daring flight.... Yet
'Zoroaster' is a novel rather than a drama. It is a drama in the force
of its situations and in the poetry and dignity of its language; but its
men and women are not men and women of a play. By the naturalness of
their conversation and behavior they seem to live and lay hold of our
human sympathy more than the same characters on a stage could possibly
do."--_The Times_.
A TALE OF A LONELY PARISH.
"It is a pleasure to have anything so perfect of its kind as this brief
and vivid story.... It is doubly a success, being full of human
sympathy, as well as thoroughly artistic in its nice balancing of the
unusual with the commonplace, the clever juxtaposition of innocence and
guilt, comedy and tragedy, simplicity and intrigue."--_Critic_.
"Of all the stories Mr. Crawford has written, it is the most dramatic,
the most finished, the most compact.... The taste which is left in
one's mind after the story is finished is exactly what the fine reader
desires and the novelist intends.... It has no defects. It is neither
trifling nor trivial. It is a work of art. It is perfect."--_Boston
Beacon_.
MARION DARCHE.
"Full enough of incident to have furnished material for three or four
stories.... A most interesting and engrossing book. Every page unfolds
new possibilities, and the incidents multiply rapidly."--_Detroit Free
Press_.
"We are disposed to rank 'Marion Darche' as the best of Mr. Crawford's
American stories."--_The Literary World_.
AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN.
THE NOVEL: What It Is.
18mo. Cloth. 75 Cents.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY,
66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.