Stories of Old New Spain

One of the greatest good fortunes that can be— fall a romancist is to have a locality, an epoch, and an apprehension all his own. This fortune is given to Mr. Thomas A. Janvier. Mexico in its earlier days of American exploitation, and viewed by a man of romantic temper and practical habits of mind, affords large scope for tragedy, comedy, humor, fancy, realism, and all else that makes the variety and power of fiction. Mr. Janvier's work is now and then a trifle melodramatic and improbable in its events. But we hold that the glory of romance is to idealize without contradicting truth; and Mr. Janvier shows Mexican life, with all its picturesque contrasts, in an atmosphere of artistic verity uncommunicable by statisticians or personally-conducted excursionists. Of the various stories in this volume, none has greater charm than the tenderly humorous sketch of San Antonio of the Gardens; the story of the dear old monks who cherished the cat, delivered to him homilies against the dove-eating instinct, and feared, in their tender consciences, that their vow of poverty might be broken in keeping a lame donkey. Other stories, as "Ninita," "Pancha," and "The Flower of Death," are tragedies of the love of passionate Mexican girls for the blond Americans. "Saint Mary of the Angels " is a strong narrative of love contending with duty, and re-enforced by death. Mr. Janvier's stories will be deservedly popular; brilliant, vigorous, full of spontaneous sentiment, they appeal to the desire for the marvelous and the veritable together—the combination that opens the ears of the hearers of stories, and holds them to the end. –The Literary World: A Monthly Review of Current Literature, Vol. 22