[Review of The Conjure Woman]

Many readers will recall a quite unusual story by Mr. C. W. Chesnutt called "The Wife of His Youth," published in the "Atlantic Monthly" last summer–a novel and intensely interesting study of negro character. The volume of short stories by Mr. Chesnutt just issued under the title The Conjure Woman is in another vein. The tales all relate stories of "hoodoo," "conjuring," or "goophering," told by a delightful old darkey of the Uncle Remus type, who is shrewd enough to use his marvelous tales for his own personal ends. The humor is contagious and genial; the dialect is as soft and smooth as is Mr. Joel Harris's; and, all in all, the stories are among the most amusing we have seen for some time, while they give a rarely excellent insight into negro life and character. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.)