The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 1, 1895, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1895. 21 The editor of the Saturday Press, the which he incorrectly styles “The Au ' Guild,” for its action in publish- ing Miss Coolbrith’s peems through an Eastern house, He assails the consi: ency of “raking together a pile of Califor- nia‘dollars wherewith to purchase a Bos- ton inscription for the cover of a Califor- | nia book,” and with a logic which he would repudiate were it applied to the marketing of prunes and potatoes, which are the more legitimate subjects of his editorial opinionings, questions the right of a book so published to be called a “California book.” This self-appointed de- fender of California’s literary honor fur- ther asks: What, by the way, is a “California book?” | Is 1t chieffy & book that cannot get published in other ways than by subscriptions of Cali- fornia coin? ita bo hat cannot get pub- established firms, whose busi- to_ publish _bo If so, what > bave we tha world of letters s California boo nd if the world of does not need California books, how oruia books serve any creditable pur- * * k *k X 4 Probably no move for the advancement of California’s interes social, literary or mercial, has ever come ce unattended by the brayings of the uncomprehending. The Guild of Letters of course, to come in forits share of apprehension, but one would hardly look for it to come from this source. Be- e his cav gers, C ne to send their products to an Eastern market, to be disposed of through Eastern commission-houses, would the Press editor’s bucolic fancy question the right of those products to claim th 1jec- an? Thereare certain commer- hat apply to poetry, as well as to potatoes. commodities must be put upon the market by those whose business it isto handle em for this purpose. Umnfortunately, however, poetry suffers in the marketing from a misapprehension on the part of some that it is not one of the necessaries of life. There are probably not three ¥ of verse in America to-d: c d a publishing-house willing to ur take the publication of his verse and t to the sale of the book for remunera- tion. Publishers say this frankly and are not ashamed. Volumes of verse do not command a ready sale. That even publishers may be at times in error is evidenced by the fact that the en- tire edition for this coast of Miss Cool- brith’s poems was exhausted within a fortnight after the book reached San Fran- | cisco. It has, in fact, had the most unpre- cedented success of any book of verse that has been published of late years. * kX kX In this connection it may be of interest to state something of the way in which ongs From the Golden Gate” came to be published. It was not “by subscriptions of California coin.’ mor by the ‘“raking together of California coin.” The California of letters consisted originally of balf a dozen cultured men and women, who desired to do something to further the cause of letters on this coast. By one of th.is coterie the juestion of publishing Miss Coolbrith’s poems was laid before the others, and the problem of meeting the expe was solved by the simple process of on while the others undertook to make the necessary business arrangements attend- ant upon finding a suitable publisher and bringing the book before the public. In due course of time, but only after all arrangements bad been ! completed and these members of the guild had undertaken the publication, at their own risk, an associate membership was established, which promises to become an honor to Californian culture. The manuscript was sent East, partly from a very laudable desire on the part of the guild to make' their venture under the very best auspices possible, partly to com- mand for it that Eastern market which could scarcely be reached by them with the facilities at hand upon this coast. They did not send Miss Coolbrith with the manauseript. She still remains with us, an honor to artistic California,and her poems, redolent of the hills and valleys, the streams and forests of this great State, which she has so loved and sung, speak for California art East as well as West of the Rockie! 0% THE BOOK MART. The booksellers report a lively trade for the week. Popular books of the hour maintain a steady demand, and new pub- lications are read with avidity. * Kk ok K K In the oldest cities of the East no greater interest is manifested in current litera- ture, i * ok ok KK The latest works of the popular authors ere awaited with impatient expectancy, and quite frequently the local dealers are unable to meet the first demand made on them by our extensive reading classes. 5 * k k k Kk Strange to say, “Chimmie Fadden’s” successor, from the pen of Townsend, “The’ Daughter of the Tenements,” is having 4 very poor sale. The admirers of Mr. Townsend’s work predictea a great success for his second novel, and the book- sellers prepared to meet the demand by laying in large stocks. The apparently in- explicable lack of popularity of “The Daughter of the Tenements” is attrib- uted to the price at which the book is placed, for ii has merit. Readers who are willing and able to pay 50 cents for a novel into promi- | shrewd constituents, the Gran- | and one of these is that both these | e member writing a check therefor, | |are numbered by the thousand, while | » of the State Grange, assumes an at- | those who read §1 75 books are limited to | Max Nordau is the latest writer to furnish ide of disapproval toward the Guild of | the hundreds. 'f the publishers had given | examples of this familiar truth. He had | the literary world “Chimmie Fadden's” successor in a 50-cent edition the sale | would doubtless have been as large. There can be no other reason, for “The Daughter of the Tenements,”’ though differing wide- ly in style from the author’s first book, is | equally as good. * k k k X Among the new books of the week not cluded in the review columns are: “The | il Hizhwayman,” by Elizabeth Phipp Train; ‘A Three-Stranded Yarn,” by | Ciark Russell; *“Oakleigh,” Ellen Douglas Deland; ‘“Dorothy and other Italian tories,”” Constance Fenimore Woolson; Sorrows of Satan,” Maria Corvette; “People We Pass,”’ Julian Ralph. | * *k kX X | One of the leading sellers of the vrr‘ek,i following close on the heels of ‘“‘Bonnie Briar Bush” and ““The Day by MacLaren, and ** of Aujd Lang Prisoner Syne,” he of Zenda by Hope, is “The Red Cockade,” by Weyman. | v | the j * *x *x * % | 1t is interesting to note that the two | | books most popular with the reading pub- | lic during the past vear have also fur- ed the mat 1 for” two of the most vs, “Trilby” and “The P’ They Lave been almos a run at the hands of the it not quite equal to v vogue. The subtle quali- e not, and could not be, ni popular pi of Zenda. much of uati ner as lely is almost certain the p would success. It would hardly be in- e, in fact,fo a person unfamiliar with the novel. | * % kX kX % The same criticism does not apply to the «Prisoner of Zenda.”” Those who are not the book will find the crities, one of vivid in- ard Rose, who dramatized | the novel in collaboration with Mr. Hope, | is already known as a successful dramatic author. * * * *x * | Anthony Hope1s but 32 years of age, th one or two notable exceptions uthors of the present century have fe attained tne same degree of celebrity and at his years. His first novel, | published at his own inancial failure. tion, however, has made st recepti At that | ng law, and looked ou | the profession as his career in life. He | | wrote simply for amusement. His second | | book, “Father Stafford,” published in | | 1890, 'was not a success financially. Some | | of his subsequent short | attention, but the reading publi | The Prisoner of Zenda” before ac- | | edg his inherent and pre-eminent | | genius as a novelist. | * k kX k *x Mr. Hope, one of the leading literary | journals says, has had several flattering | invitations to make a lecturing tour in America. He has declined thew all, and thereby shows remarkably good taste and | jud=ment for one so young and successful, t took a year to revive the sale of Dickens’ works after his lecture tour. * *x k *x Kk | H.Rider Haggard’s new novel, “Joan | { Haste,” to which reference was made last | i | popularity | ““A Man of Mark, expens i | Its recent publicat | amends for its fi time he was practi week, is a wide departure from that versa- | tile author’s usual style. Critics claim | that it would make a vi interesting | dramatization. The main incidents would | have a fine scenic effect on the boards. x kX kK ‘ At a dinner of the Authors’ Ciub in| { London, given in honor of Mr. Haggard, | | Sir Walter Besant regaled the members | | with some_ pleasant observations on his | three favorite books. He said: ‘“The first | | of these is Zola’s ‘I'Assommoir.” The | second is ‘She,’ which I read in a single | night. It was impossible while the book was in my band to take my eyes from a The third is ‘The Light That These three books simply seized ‘Written by different authors, yet all me. have the same firm grip—by which I mean that if 1 becin them you simply have to go on with them.” * k k k Kk Just at present the bookmen on both sides of the big pond are watching with interest the experiment being made by French suthors in publishing their own writings. If it shouwld ;l.mve successful many of the copyright and other problems which confront the author will have been dissolved. A EURICE QUINCE. A prettier piece of pure old-fashioned realism was never contributed to Ameri- can literature than “Eunice Quince,” by’ Danl Conynzham. It is a New England romance. The scene is not laid in the lat- ter part of the last century or the early part of this; that field has been overwell tilled. While being old-fashioned the story is of the present day, and the inter- est, therefore, is less of the epitaphic than the living character. Queenston, a small village not far from Boston, settled in the latter part of the seventeenth century and but little changed in size and general ap- pearance since its birth, is the theater of the leading events in the narrative. Itis one of those old-fashioned hamlets of which there are many to be found to-day, not only in New England but in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio and some of the Southern States. The inhabitants were born and reared there as their fathers and grandtathers before them. While the worlfi outside has undergone many trans- formations Queenston remains unchanged. A picture of one of these old towns is readily suggested to the mind’s eye. The stirrihg events of the year are limited to an occasional marriage, birth or death, and when a new family takes up its abode within the quiet precincts something like a genuine sensation ensues. To many the memory of such an old town causes a moisture of the eye and a flutter of the heart. Euni is a typical » Quince, the heroine of the story. New Englnnd maid of the gen- 3 teel class. She has had a course at one of | lived since little children. | the sudden interest awakened in the works | of the authoz. | society and is in 1mminent danger of be- , of Sentiment” Dr. Ma: ! the son of a wealthy New York business of the probable feclings of “Sister Lou,” a worthy Belgravian matron, calied upon to introduce her quaint little sister-in-law to her dear 5 friends. However, Mr. Holland does not really make us follow his Japanese wife into the London fog. He only shows us a part- ing glimpse of her, watching the rrecm‘ling shores of Japan from the deck of the outgoing steamer, and asking her English husband “if England is like Japan.” We are left quite free to believe that Mousme died on the voyage home; that her flower-like spirit fluttered back to her own lovely laud, and that “the butter- fiy with a heart” never lived to be impaled upon any long pin_of British propriety, there to writhe and die piecemeal. The little volume is goiten up in style as dainty as its contents, but the publishers have spoiled a pretty effect by placing their im- print, like a patent-medicine firm's adver- tisement, along the rail of the quaint Japanese balcony that adorns the front cover. [New York: Macmillan & Co. For ! sale at the Popular Bookstore, San Fran- cisco. Price, 75 cents.] st OTHER TIMES AND OTHER SEASONS. Lawrence Hutton, the genial reviewer for Harper’s Magazine, has somewhere— must have, judging by some of the books he has put out—a sort of mental cache, in which he has stored certain curious col- lections of out-of-the-way knowledge from which he draws from time to time for the amusement and edification of the less erudite. The present little volume com- _—_ prises fiftezn essays, in which Mr. Hutton The old saying, *‘Nothing succeeds like | traces the origin of some of our modern success,” receives new illustrations every | games and customs, and the beginning of day. Even bygone failures are not inire- | te observance of some of the days we quently clothed with an appearance of | “gone of the essays are very interesting. having deserved to succeed, when seen | Devotees of ‘‘the gridiron” "will be in- through the light cast by some notable | terested to note that the Greeks and success of him who made the failure. Dr. | Romans played football. and that as far the old-established and prim seminaries in Boston, and, after a season in New York, returns to her New England home a short time before the death of her muiden aunt, with whom she and a younger brother had She has a lover—a *‘city chap’’—and in their court-; ship is centered much of the romantic in- terest of the tale, though not all. In the daily history of the little village and its doings the readen is made familiar with the loves and sorrows of its simple house- holds, and when one lays the book down at the end of the chapter it is like bidding adieu to pleasant friends with whom one has spent a lazy, happy summer away from the rush and_turmoil of the busy city. [Lovell, Coryell & Co., New York.] THE COMEDY GF SENTIMENT. written several books before his work on | “Degeneration” appeared, and now that it | has attracted the attention of the world, his early efforts are being republished, translated and put forward to share in One of these early works translaied and recently issued in this country is “The Comedy of Sentiment,” a story of an _ad- venturess who seeks to dupe into marriage a good-hearted and learned but not very strong or clear-headed professor. The ad- venturess, who is living on the edges of ing pushed out by reason of her free and easy conduct, has little difficulty in en- ng the professor in an intrigue and ng him so involved with her that he it no easy task to extricate himself. e book is about as ‘‘degenerate’ as any of those which Nordau bas maue his fame by denouncing. The woman is ious, the man is a fool; her passion is sis morbid. Realism might be j fication of such a study were it not that realism itself is sacrificed in the end in order to satisfy conventional mo- rality by saving the weak man from the wiles of the wicked woman. If the other early works of the author are like this, Nordau will profit nothing by having them republished. At best they can be sold only on the reputation he has made ! by his famous book on ‘‘Degeneration,” | and they will detract from that reputation | diatribist. 1t will be news to most that in the minds of all who read them. ancient legend speaks of Joan of Arc as In *The Comedy of Sentiment'” there is | tannis player, and that women pr in fact hardly a zenuimncly ar - | fighters are not a_fin de siecle institution. There is neither wit, pathos nor pa . There is a readn v on golf anc f there was any charm of literary y William Le Quenx. 583 Master Philip Stubbes, in ms ie Abuses” was as bitter in his denunciation of the game as any modern o back as “‘Anato! e and if t traditions, and another on transportatio: style in the original, 1t has been lost in the | beginning with the first transport of whi translation. From beginning to end it is | we have any record, and which w but little more than a police court record | called Noah’s ark. Boatraces, tobacco, of the attempt of an adventuress to en- | coffee, M iood Friday and the Fitth trap a respectable citizen, though of course | of November are some of the other it is written with more elaboration than is | essays, and the closing one, on Christm usually given toaccounts of such attempts, Like all realistic stories it claims to teach a moral, but as in this case the moral is the old familiar one *‘avoid bad company,’ it was hardly necessary to w' able novel to inculeate it. day, gives a great deal of interesting i fo@nation concerning this most popular of holidays. [New York: Harper & Bros. Price 75 cents,] | PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN SOCIOLOGY. York and Chicago: F. Tennyson Neely. | Price, $1 50.] ‘ Earnest Christian workers will appre- ciaie this new work. It contains the ve latest thoughts on this subject. Dr. W | bur F. Crafts is an acknowledged authority | on any subject to which he gives his mind. .‘Thc volume before us discusses present problems on the basis of the latest facts | and figures. The first part of the book is | mostly occupied with the lectures which | the author delivered in February of this | year before Princeton Theological Semi- | nary on invitation of the faculty, whose DOLLY DILLEYBECK. The title of James L. Ford's latest novel is rather misteading. Dolly Dillenbeck is the hero and not the heroine of the ro- mance. There is a forcible lesson con- tained in the record of Dolly’s career, but that is about all. Asa novel it falls short of the standard of literary excellevce es- tablished by Mr. Ford's former works, and it 1s lacking in moving interest, | walified ind & P 3 but in the study of character development “l"‘l 18 tHeChany "ris"';;{'.‘ of the fairness, the author has Dolly is | thoro ness and ability shown in the hown his power. v is | lectures is given in the form of introduc- i tory letters. These lectures discuss tem- | perance, Sabbath reform, gambling, purity, | civil service, ballot reform, municipal re- form, educa , immigration, divorce, man. His mother has notions pe- culiarly her own about the training of their only child, and in conse- uence he is k i ig! i duencs Tne d.;*kné\f‘_f;&,xe‘;‘ ok conetr, | woman suffrage and all the other social tutes the average schoolboy’s stock in problems, not separately butin their rela- trade at 15. When Dolly is 18 he is as | tions to each other as varts of one great problem, which is presented from the ignorant as most boys half his age, and on < ;& the death of his father and mother a few | Standpoints, first, of the church; second, { of the family and education; third, of years later he is wholly unqualified for th : ird Yosition be is called on to il as the sole | capitaland labor; and fourth, "of citizen- heir to a large estate. The consequences | SPiP- These lectures are illustrated. may be foreseen. As the natural result of | . One Of the valuable features of the book his mother’s early and misguided training | 15 the abundant indexes, including a Bible he becomes the prey of unscrupulous men, | 12deX, un index of modern authors quoted, who help him to dissipate his foruune and | 21 index of places sociologically considered, sive him in exchange what Holmes says is | # a very full topical index which is both ar more valuable than the ‘cackles of | 3/Phabetical and analytical. that old hen experience’”’—her real eges. ‘ PATRICIA. But ruin foliowed inevitably on the heels of excess. Tne story leaves a bad taste. George H. Richmond & Co., publishers, | yjuria St. Felix has followed her story, “Two Bad Brown Eyes,” with a sequel, “Patricia,” and the sequel, like the first New York.] | story, deals with the shady side of life. SHOULD WOMEN VOTE? T Between the two there is, however, this There have been many novels of late | ¢ 3 dealing with international marriages, and | difference. In “Two Bad Brown Eyes” now a new one appears discussing that| V¢ 3T¢ told of a wicked woman’'s plan snbjectiin eonnsctionwith i i flfO‘ avenge herseif on her seducer by sk question of | bringing” about the ruin of his daughter. emale suffrage. The book bears as a title | In the sequel we have a story of the the question, ‘“‘Shall Women Vote?” and | woman’s repentance and her effort to purports to be written by “A Bachelor.” | atone for it. She succeeds in getting the The general method of treatment is satiri- | deceived eirl safely married to the man cal, but there are many passages of a more | Who had ruined her, but the result is by serious and earnest nature. The scenes of | N0 means satisfactory, and after a short the story are laid in, Newport, Vassar, married life, full of disappointment, the Rome and the Santa Cruz Mountains. | POOT girl commits suicide, and so ends the { The incidents are few and simple. An |tale. ‘Tt is not a pleasant story, nor a Italian nobleman named “Prince Co-5trong one, and will be pleasing only to lombo” makes a_visit to Newport for | those who like their light literature to be very light indeed. [“Patricia,” Marie St. Felix, New York: The Merriam Company. Price in paper covers, 50 cents.] FROEBEL'S “HOTHER PLAY.” Kindergartners and those having in charge the education and training of chil- dren will welcome this translation in Ap- pleton’s International Education Series of the mottoes and commentaries of Fried- rich Froebel’s “Mother Play.”” A number of the poems in the book have been trans- lated by Emily Huntington Miller and new music has been composed for them by noted Knglish composers. The quaint illustrations, prepared under Froebel's supervision, have been rwrodund from the beautiful edition of Wichard Lange, now out of print and not easy to obtain. The mother communings and mottoes have bezn rendered into English verse by Henrietta R. Eliot, while the prose trans- lations are by Susan_E. Blow, who also adds an interesting introducbofiy treatise on the philoso h%ol Froebel. [New York: D. Appleton g 0. For sale by Doxey, San Francisco. Price, $1 50.] THE FLOWER OF ENGLAND'S FACE. This is the attractive and poetic title given by Julia C. R. Dorr to a pleasant little volume of sketches of travel in England during the Queen’s_jubilee year. The party of which Mrs. Dorr was one sought rather to bring away a few well-re- membered and clearly defined impressions than to ‘“take in’’ ‘everything, and her sketches form a readable record of those the purpose of winningz the hand of an American beiress, and there is very nearly duped into a marriage with a Boston giri, Miss rosis Blackstone, who passes for a rich woman, by paying the newspapers .to advertise her as such in their social columns. Escaping from this woman, the Prince meets a California girl, 3 graduate of Vassar, and marries her. The couple live in Rome fora time, but the Prince soon develops into a drunkard and gam- | bler, and the Princess, in order to save | herseli from his bad treatment, takes | her child and returns to America to | claim the protection of her father. The | euthor'sargument is that American women are so fond of titles they are not fit to vote in a republic. The story is merely a cketch, and while there are some clever things in it, there is very little of force or vivacity either in the characters or in the pictures of society. [“8hould Women Vote?’ By A Bache- lor. New York: Paul Morse, publisher. Price, cloth covers, 75 cents.] MY JAPANESE IDYL. There is something so ethereal, so little of this earth, about this charming idyl of Clive Holland’s that the idea of its ever having any other setting than thatafforded it in chrysanthemum land strikes chill- ingly upon the mind. Itis quite painful to think of poor little Mousme transported to England, to run the gantlet of half a dozen_ insular brothers and sisters in-law. One is prompted to echo with dismay, rather than in amusement, the startled ex- clamation of Kotmasu, the Anglo-Japanese student, “‘Imagine Mousme inthe Strand !’ It hurts the sense of artistic unity, And one has, moreover, an uncomfortable sense ] write freshly and entertainingly of so thoroughly bewritten a subject as English travel, but a clever, cultured woman cai always see and record things worth read- inz of, and this is what is done in the pres- ent work. [New York: Macmillan & Co. For sale by the Popular Bookstore, San Francisco. ~ Price, 75 cents.] THE LEGEND OF AULUS. Mr. Doxey is to be congratulated upon the exceeding beauty of form in which he has put out this little volume of poems by Flora Macdonald Shearer. In point of fact it is one of the most beautiful books of the season. The printingis by Murdock, from type procured by Doxey expressly for this work, and the title page is an ex- ceedingly artistic design by Gelett Bur- gess. The book is tastefully bound in one of the new English cloths so popular this season, with full gilt side and back in original and appropriate design. This much for the architectural features of this venture from a Californian pub- lisher. Of Miss Shearer’s verse, it may be said that it is worthy of its environment. The basis for ““The Legend of Aulus” is to pe found in the Gesta Romanorum, from which so many of our English poets have drawn themes and inspiration, and Miss Shearer has given us the tradition in easy, stately and often picturesque, albeit some- what bookish verse. Her song has, in fact, to a marked degree this bookish note. Her lines are classical, correct and pleas- ing, even when one detects in them a slight reminder of the midnight oil, strange and not unwelcome amid the wayward pipings of our more untrammeled bards. There is great beauty in many of her con- ceptions, as in the stately sonnet, ‘‘Wake Not the Gods’': Wake not the dreadful gods: we say thelr sleep Will last unbro'cen through the centuries; But should we err, assuredly for these Our haleyon days we shall be inade to reap A bitter harvest. Over us shall sweep The wrath which 1o oblation may appease, Since it mislikes them that their slaves. should seize One hour wherein they may forget to weep. For this, for this the gods are envious, Never for them the unforeseen delight, The uncertain rapture which must have an end, Yet, while it lasts, illumes the world for us, The summer lightning of life's stormy night, When soul draws nigh to soul, and friend meets friend. In “Vale Atque Vale” we get a bit of the singer's philosophy, which, however, strikes a hopeless note that is not always present in her song: For me, I never knew the way "o gain the crowns of life— A chance spectator of the fray, A watcher of the strife. And so it is not hard for one With naught to lose or win, To mark the secting of the sun And see the night begin. _One turns from this with a feeling of re- lief to the rather stern admonition to Cali- fornia that closes her fine sonnet to the Golden State: And yet, beware! much gold can dull the train, Can clog the springs of fancy and destroy “The soul wi h 5’0 and subtlé alchemy— A baser race may rise 1o live for gain: Piuful dullerls may thy spoils enjoy, And thou, thyself, be but a mockery. In all there are less than a score of poems in the volume, but they are full of promise. We may vet look for greater things from the writer of the beautiful voem, ‘“To Robert Louis Stevenson,” whichi, more than_any of the others, rises to the heights of life itself—which is even greater than art. [San Francisco: Wil- liam Doxey, publisher. For sale at the bookstores. | THE TAND OF FATE. This is Kate Lilly Blue's first attempt at book-makiag. As the author in her pre- face saysshe hastwo brothersinourarmya critic takes up the volume with some trepi- dation for fear of the personal consequences. But really Lilly Blue ought to have some- body tell her for the sake of her second at- tempt that such gers as ‘‘a sneer frozen on his mustached lips, a look of strong surprise fixed forever on his features,” do not move in the first literary society. There isin fact a great deal too much of that heavy mustache in the book. It penetrates everywhere, coupled often with young women in Nile green mulle and pink and gray tea gowns. The tale has a large per- centage of tragedy in it and is of the gen- eral style of the to-be-continued-in-our- nexc rns that appear in flash weekly journals. The author should remember that in the picturing of living flesh and blood veople, with all their hopes and fears, it is not abhsolutely necessary at im- portant crises to note that the heroine wore a_crimson tea gown trimmed with black fur. Itisa naavy romance, so the author says. It certainiy will give theme for gossip in the idling moments of ward- room sociability. [Charles H. Kerr & Co., Chicago. For sale by the San Francisco News Company.] AMONG THE PUEBLO INDIANS. This is an exceedingly handsome vol- ume of travel sketches among a very in- teresting people. The travelers and writers, Carl and Liljan Westcott Eickmeyer, are evidently pedple of culture and also capi- tal amateur photographers. The book 1s profusely illustrated from photographs taken by the authors and the pictures are for the most part well reproduced. They constitute, however, the chief interest of the book. Of the three travelers, the Eick- meyers and the camera, the latter seems to have been by far the best observer. At all events it 'has recorded its observa- tions in a far more entertaining way than either of its human companions has succeeded in doing. It is rath- er a curious circumstance that two bright youne people traveling by prairie schooner through a comparatively un- known and genuinely romantic region should have produced so commomplace a record of their journey. Their work reads like a guide-book with none of the pleas- ant experienced touches that even guide- book literature sometimes manages to ex- exhibit. One feels an entire absence of human sympathy between the writers and their surroundings and turns ever with re- lief from the dull, statistical pages to the speaking pictures- which really make the book. [New York: The Merriam Com- gnn}c For sale at the Popular bookstore, an Franciscg. Price $175,] Frsletd] UNDER A MYSTIO SPELL. A collection of short stories by Harold Leslie, published in Griflith’'s West Coast Literature series. This is an occasional issue of booklets, edited by Lorenzo Sosso and Frederick L. Griffith. There are five tales in the book, none of them more than mediocre, nntlalidenling the mysterious. “Under a Mystic Spell’isa rather sll|§ mixture of love and pseudo-occultism, an none of the stories appear to Lave any particular motif beyond the author’s in- terest in, and rather superficial knowledge of, Eastern mysticism. [San Francisco: Griffith Publishing Company, 1035 Howard street. Price 50 cents. For sale by Payot, Upham & Co.] YELLOW BEAUTY. This is a story about cats, by Marion Martin. The scene is laid in San Fran- cisco. It is ostensibly for children, but older peovle will enjoy the tale. It has six full-page half tones, reproduced from paintings by Mme. Henriette Ronner, the most famous_living painter of cats; also forty-two uni?ll: etchings in the text. |Published by Laird & Lee, Chicago; illu- minated cover; 50 cents.] AS THE WIND BLOWS. A pleasing story, by Eleanor Merron, who has won for herself no small measure of fame on the stage, as well as with her ven. ‘‘As the Wind Blows” is a tale hing- ing upon the complications arising from a impressions. It is somewhat difficult ml secret marriage, which proves, after all, to FAC-SIMILE OF THE COVER OF FLORA MACDONALD SHEARER'S NEW BOOK. [Designed by Bruce Porter.] have been illegal. While not a strong tale, it is a very well told one, and marked throughout by a certain high and well- sustained dignity, that is both attractive and unusual. The publishers have, more- over, produced in it & very pretty piece of bookmaking. [New York: Lovell, Coryell & Co. For sale by Doxey, San Francisco. Price, $1 25.] MAGAZINES. The Land of Sunshine. The December number of Charles F. Lummis’ Southwestern magazine, The Land of Sunshine, will contain a charac- teristic and charming chapter of reminis- cences by Jessie Benton Fremont, besides contributions by Grace Ellery Channing, Joaquin Miller, Charlotte Perkins Stetson and others. A paper on Coahuila dances and folk-songs (with the music) by D. P. Barrows, one by the editor on some of the curiosities of our word-adoptions from Spanish America and a description by Ed- mund D. Sturtevant of the Aristolochia gigas Stuctevantii, or pelican flower (a blossom a foot wide and eighteen inches long), with illustrations never before pub- Jished, are among the other attractions. The contents of the magazine will be, as always, purely Southwestern in topic, and the illustrations unusually lavish and handsome. Public Opinion. The Thanksgiving week edition of Pub- lic Opmion is called the “book number,” but whyfore is not obvious. Itisa bright and breezy journal at all times, covering a wide field in its writings—including litera- ture. The present issue is no exception. There are a number of highly interesting papers, treating a variety of subjects, though books receive but little if any more attention than usual. The articles under the following heads are able and instruc- tive: ‘“American Affairs,” “Foreign Af- fairs,”’ “Civics,” ‘‘Sociological,” *‘Scien- tific,”’” “Religious,” “Letters and Art,"” “Miscellany’ and ‘‘Business and Finance.” St. Nicholas. The Christmas number of this ever pop- ular juvenile publication is filled from cover to cover with stories and sketches appropriate to the season. They are bright and beautiful in their Christian Christmas sentiment, and_the younger readers will find much to whet their Santa Claus anti- cipations. Among the contributors are such well known names as J. T. Trow- bridge, Helen E. Craig, Harriot Brewer Sterling, R. F. Bunner, Sarah Orne Jewett; and letters to young friends from the late Robert Loujis Stevenson. ¥ Seribner's Magazine. Scribner's for December is replete with interesting matters. The stories are by some of the best known authorsand the other papers are on interesting topics originally treated. Brander Matthews, Frank R. Stockton, Joel Chandler Harris, George - Meredith and Henry Van Dyke are among the contributors, and their names alone would be_sufficient to insure the interest of the Christmas number. The art work for this month is unusually fine. The studies are from Alma-Tadema, the commentator being Cosmo Monkhouse. The Literary Digest. The November number of this literary jouraal is unusually replete with enter- taining and instructive matter. Under the head of "Tc?ics of the Day” many of the questions of absorbing interest are dis- cussed, and the literary department is ably edited. 1t is a valuable publication for the literary student. Channing Calendar. The Channing Auxiliary of San Fran- cisco hasissued a charmingly illustrated calendar for 1856. LITERARY NOTES. The second number of the Zenda Series of stirring fiction isnow issued by J. Selwin Tait & Soas. It is by David Malcolm, author of “A Fiend Incarnate,” and is entitled “Fifty Thousand Dollars Ran- som.” Ittellsof the amazing adventures of John Granger, a New York merchant, and holds the attention of the reader from the first paragraph to the last. Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. will soon publish & new book of travel under the title of ‘‘Algerian Memoirs,” by Fanny Bullock Workman and William Hunter ‘Workman. Itisan interesting account of a bic{cle tour in the soring of 1894, extend- ing the entire length of Aligeria, from Oran and Plemcen on the west to the Tunisian frontier on the east, and south over the mountains to the desert. “The Invisible Playmate; A story of the Unseen,” by William Canton, is “just issued by J. Selwin Tait & Sons. Thisisa story which will touch the neart of every reader, for there is no one so far removed from superstition but has some chord in his nature which will respond toit. The book has made a great sensation in Lon- don, and Andrew Lang says it is one of the most remarkable books which he has ever read. Jerome K. Jerome has written a series of short stories for the Ladies’ Home Journal. They will be published during the ensuing few months under the caption of “Stories of the Town.” Mr. Jerome portrays weli- known types or characters 1n these stories, the first of which he calls “Blase Billy.” The series is interesting from the fact that it constitutes the first short steries that Mr. Jerome has ever written directly for an American periodical. Mr. George Saintsbury, formerly of Mer- ton Colle&e, Oxford, who has just been nominated by the crown to the chair of hrhetoric and English literature in the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, made vacant by the resignation of Professor David Masson, has completed his volume on ‘‘Nineteenth Century Literature,” which contains some of his most brilliant work. The difficul- ties, not alone of generalization and classi- fication, but also of selection and propor- tionment, are infinitely greater in the case of writers of our own century than in that of earlier writers; yet Mr. Saintsbury has emerged very successfully from his diffi- cult task, and has produced a work well fitted to nphold its author’s rank among the greatest of living critics. BOOKS RECEIVED. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF ScIENCEs, second series, volume V, part 1, issued November 18, 1895. CRrICKET, A CHILD's SToRY, by Elizabeth Westyn Timlow, illustrated by Harriet R. Richards. Cloth, 16mo, 323 pages, price $1. Estes & Lauriat, Boston, publishers. Eusice Quince, a New England romance, by Dane Conyngham. Cloth, 362 pages, $125. Lovell, Coryell & Co., New York, publishers. Tuae Mixvte MAN oN THE FRONTIER, by the Rev. W. G. Puddefoot, A.M., field sec- retary of the Home Missionary Society. Cloth, 12mo, 326 pages, illustrated, $1 25. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., publishers, New York and Boston. BULLETIN DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, by Car- roll D. Wright. Issued from Government Printing Office; 110 pages. Poor’s DIRECTORY OF RAILWAY OFFICIALS oF THE UNITED STATES; 620 pages. DorLy DiLLessEcK, by James L. Ford. Published by George H. Richmond, 12 East Fifteenth street, New York; 16mo, 392 pages; illustrated; $1. ELFIE AND THE KATYDID, by Frances V. and Edward J. Austin. Published by the Merriam Company, 67 Filth avenue, New York. For sale by Johnson & Emigh. Desserts _FoR EVERYBODY'S TABLE; amphlet, 32 pages. Dodge Book and gtauonery Company, 107 Montgomery street, San Francisco. Boy's LIFE OF GRNERAL GRANT, by Thomas ‘W.XKnox. New York: The Merriam Com- pany; $150. SEVEN Lecrures oN Propmecy, by H. Farnsworth. z Tue Brie Bow Mysrery, by I. Zangwill. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co.; 50 cents. Nuesery ErHics, by Florence Hull Win- terburn. New York: The Merriam Com- pany; $L. TARTARIN OF TARASCON, by Daudet. New York: T. Y. Crowell & Go.; $L. Caicaco Pueric Works—Report of the chief engineer, with the Mayor’s message. TopicAL, OutLINE OF HISTORY OF THE U~itep States, by Elizabeth T. Mills of Martinez, Cal. Published by the author; paper, 25 cents. NEW TO-DAY. Read ANNIE LAURIE'S BOOK The Little Boy Who Lived on the Hill. : Hiusirated by Swinnerion. Mailed postpaid on receipt of ONE DOLLAR, by WILLIAM DOXEY PUBLISHER 631 MARKET ST. SAN FRANCISCO