The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 23, 1896, Page 21

N FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1896 21 T T A N A A A AN AR A AAAANAA AR A A N a morning journal of February 6 is | 3 quotation from the Chicago Inter | Ocean headed ‘‘Bret Harte's Calamity Jane,” in’which are several errors. | ] The young woman scout, who, accord- | ing to the Chicago paper, furnished Mr. Harte with the heroine of the “Luck of Roaring Camp,” was born in 1852, one year later than the aate of “the Luck,” there- fore could not have been his mother. “Cherokee Sal” is what Harte calls his | heroine, and she was not an Indian fighter, nor did she assist in lynchings. She was simply “a very sinful woman,”” yet not too | sinful to be crowned with motherhood. | Harte’s story, to which the Inter Ocean re- | fers, was published in 1868, when General Crook was doing some of his hardest cam- | paigning, and Calamity Jane was only 16 vears of age. About that number of years had passed since the conditions had ex- isted in the mining districts to furnish the novelist with such material as is ascribed to Roaring Camp. ¢ mention of Harte's most famous tory in tuis irresponsible way had the effect to recall some almost forgotten facts | concerning the productions of writers al- ready being supplanted by i for favor, some v, garded as curiosities of our local literature. | Mrs. C—, an early Californian, was | once telling me anecdotes about literary | and other people belonging 1o the State’s | ranspired in the course | on that she had now and | ared in print in those in- | Amang other things she | series of letters to a sisterin | the East whi on account of their vivid | res of California life, had been pub- 1 later in the Pioneer Magazine, | L was begun as early as 1854 1| d to see them and was granted the | ege. Taking them home with me 1| 1t an afternoon in their perusal, find- | then herself app teresting t had writ e fLem most entertaining reading. | were entitled “California in 1851 '1852,”" and were under the signature irley.”’” So muchby way of preface. | he interest of the papers was not alto- | T in the general facts or the author’s Ithough that was elegant and of a which inspired confidence as well invited admiration. I made a discov- in the very first number which greatly tickened my curiosity as weil, and I be- fully satisfied before I closed the volumes that the lettersof Mrs. C were the foundation on_whicn were built Bret.| Harte's “Luck of Roaring Camp” -and “*Outcasts of Poker Flat.” | Without debating an’suthor’s right to | build on another’s foundation—though ideas are said o be property—I *rise to explain’ the grounds of my convictions by quoting first from Shirley’s correspond- ce. In her description of Rich Bar, a ing camp on the American River, she Empire Hotel was built by a company of ers as a residence for two of those un- s who make & trade—a thing of barter Boliest passion when sanctified by t ever thriils the wayward heart of o the lasting honor of the miners, ation proved a failure, usand men, many of whom had s absent irom the softening | , and the sweet. | | sous of gr their sanctifi virginal lilies of thei y with contempt or p those, oh 50 earnestly to be compassioned pembers of a class, yone of which the tenderest words that Jesus poke were uttered, left in a few weeks, tely driven away by public opinion. sappointed gamblers sold the house to nt proprietors fore few Lundred dol- One of the three women at the Bar when Mrs. C. came there was the wife of the landiord of the Empire. Her two | weeks’ old babe had been ushered iuto‘ the world with- the help of one of the other women who had | no sooner heard the child’s first cry than she was taken with the pangs vresaging a similar trial and compelled to | return to her own cabin, where her'chiid was born without the sympathetic pres- ence and aid of any woman friend. Mean- i he first mother, whose husband was ill, was ministered to by a miner | who lodged in the house, his services | peing limited to providing bread and tea morning and evening. For two days the | babe, which luck was strong and ive miner, re- | ceived no attention, remained unwashed | and undressed until the mother was able, | y slow stages,” to administer a bath v healthy as became a prospe and put on the first tiny robe. These were | the unadorned facts a rs. C. learned | them from the landlady of the Empire. | That they proved full of suggestion to a writer of fiction is notat all remarkable. Whatever of commonplace there was in the incidents Harte very skilifully re- moves, as follows: Cherokee Sal, a coarse, and, it is to be feared, inful woman, * * * wasat that time | y woman in Roaring Camp, and was | just at that time lying in sore extremity when | she needed most the mimistrations of her sex. It will be seen elso that the situation was novel. Deaths were by no means uncommon, but & birth was & new thing. He makes one man go to the help of the woman, while “two hundred stood with- out.” Of course, to make the story dra- matie, she dies, and the miners have the babe on their hands and make it their mascot. Cherokee Sal was only another name for a large, coarse, loud-voiced, but nota bad girl—one of the four women in Rich Bar after Mis. C.’s advent. The miners called Ler “Indiana,” but only because she came irom that State; still, the title was sug- yestive. Thus, by mixing up the elements ound in Mrs. C.’s first letter, a story was evolved from facts which gained its pseudo author a worldwide reputation as an im- aginative writer. bk‘lut itisin the “Outcaste of Poker Flat” that the lead struck by Harta in Mrs. C. letters is most evident. The five-mile-long hill leading down to the camp is a distine- tive feature in_the letters; ‘it is also a strong point in the description of the journey made by the outcasts in a Novem- er storm. The place where they en- camped was referred to more than once in the letters as a “beautiful grove of oaks’’; but the difference between July and No- vember in the mountains made all the difference in the aspect of the place. In this story the banishment of the depraved men and women was ordered by a vigl- lance committee. Mrs, C.'s account of the expulsion of gamblers and courtesans also relates that An Englishman, the owner of a house of the vilest description, a person who is said to ave been the cause of all the troublesof the attempted to force his way through the ¢ of armed men which had formed on each of the street. The guard very properly d to let him pass. In his drunken fury ried to wrest & gun from one of them, being accidentally discharged in the , inflicted & severe wound upon a Mr. and shattered in a most dreadiul man- ne thigh of Senor Pizarro, a man of high i and breeding, a porteno of Buemos This mgmfu accident recalled the to thelr senses, and they began to act less like madmen than they had done. They elected a vigilance committee, and au- thorized persons to go to the junction and ar- est the suspected Spaniards, [This refersto the primary cause of excitement—a quarrel be- tween Spanish and American -miners.) The first act of the committee was to try & Mexicana Who bad been foremost in the fray. She had Ways worn male altire, and on this occasion, ermed with a pair of pistols, she fought likea very fury. Luckily, inexperienced in_the use of firearms, she wounded no one. She was scutenced to leave the Bar by daylight. * * *| | proprieg {to her simple narrative becomes \\\}3\,\§.fl‘41!l}//:‘// Z OOKS.. and ) ooRmake The pext day the committee tried five or six Spaniards. Two were sentenced to be whipped; the remainder to leave the Bar that evening. Harte's story introduces the act of ban- ishment thus: Poker Flat was experiencing a spasm of vir- tuous reaction quite as lawless as any of the &cts that had provoked it. A secret committee liad determined to rid the town of all improper persons. This was done permanently in re- gard of two men who were left hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable characters. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is but due to the sex, however, 10 State that their im- was professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment. * * * A party of armed men accompanied the de- ported wickedness of Poker Flat to the outskirts of the settlement. Twowomen wentwith him. Their terrible ascent of the narrow trail, ith a precipice on one side and a rocky cliff one or two thousand feet on the other, their detention by snow until food | was exhausted, the humanity and even love exhibited by the gambler Oakhurst toward the unhappy woman he was forced to abandon to her fate, are all in Harte's happiest vein. Yet even in this he 1s somewhat of & copyist, if not a plagiarist, for everywhere in the letters of Shirley the gentlest spirit is manifested toward erring humanity. The charm it imparts in the hands of the fictionist a touch of high art—one which Harte was wise enough always to6 maintain. The coincidences 1 have referred to are certainly worthy of remark, Further of Mrs. C.’s letters, I find this suggestion of.Tuaquin Murrietta, the hero of C. H. Miller's first literary venture, whence he-obtained his pen name of Joa- | quin Miller. Speaking of the men who were condemned to be whipped at Rich Bar, Shirley says: One of these unhappy persons was & very gentlemanly young Spaniard, wno Implored or death in the most moving terms, * * '~ Finding all his entreaties disregarded he swore : ( 4 the benefit to us of printing it, for it lay on bis hands for a long time, or until Bret Harte achieved a great prominence among Californians, and then it seems he must | have asked him to edit it, for it appeared in print with his name as editor.” . ‘““And you were not consulted ?"’ I asked in amazement. No. *‘Well, tell me about it,” I exclaimed, eager for this remarkable curiosity of lit- erature. Mr. Harte _“There is no_more to tell. simply appeared as editor and as the pre- sumable compiler. Our names were not | mentioned in connection with it.” . “And you received neither credit nor income from it?" “It always passed as Harte’s collection. I do not know as much credit could attach toit,and 1 do not suppose it more than | paid its expenses, even with his name to float it.” 4 “You are very charitable,” I grumbled; then I walked about the room rather fast | for a few minutes to exhaust the propel- | ling force in my feet. 2 | o Equity is a roguish thing,” quoted Mrs. C. “Equity is according to the conscience of him that is chancellor.” | “Yes,” Iretorted; ‘“Iagree with Sancho Panza, that ‘every one is as God made him, and oftentimes a great deal worse ' " Fraxces FunLer Vicror. IS POLITE SOCIETY POLITE? | _ That famous leader among women, Mrs, | Julia Ward Howe, has collected a number | | of her gapers which were written for her | popular audiences and which were read in | many parts of the country before the | hysical weakness of old age caused a | cessation of the work of the authoress in | the lecture field. “With the burthen of increasing vears,” says Mrs. Howe, “the freedom of locomotion naturally tends to diminish, and I mnst he thankful'to be read Lwhere I bave in other days been heard. 1 friends, neglect their near relations, and utterly ignore their poor ones. Here Mrs, Eowe deals » stroke at a certain class of modern novelists: Romance is full of such shameful action; and let me gay nere, In passing, that in my opinion romance oiten wears off our horror of what is wicked and heartless by showing it as a permancnt and recognized element of so- ciety. This js the reverse of what it should do. Butin these days it so excoeds its office in the hunt after the exhausted suseeptibilities of a novel-reading public that it really thumps upon our aversion tovice until it wears it out. N otw e s R T e I have heard on good authority that people of wealth and position in our’ large cities sometimes deposit their aged and helpless par- ents in asylums, where they may have all that money can buy for them, but nothing of what gratitude and affection should give the: How detestablesuch a course is I need notsay; my present business is 1o say that it is far from polite. With reference to the concealment and disregard of real connections which involve real otligations, this is said in the way of advice: Ii you are rich t e up your poor relations. Assist them at least to find the way of earning a competence, Use the power you have to bring them within the sphere of all that is re- fining. You can embellish the world to them and them to the world. Do so, and you will be respected by those whose respect is valuable. On the contrary, repudiate those who really belong to you and the mean world itself wiil laugh at you and despiseyou. Itlscleverand cunning enough to find ‘out your secret, and when it has done so, it will expose you piti- lessly. Of men who, away from home, are an- noyed at the very thought of their own parentage; of the young man at college, whose sister may be working in a factory to keep him there, and who blushes with shame at the thought of his relationship, Mrs. Howe says: Oh, shame upon the man or woman of us who i5 guilty of such behavior as this! These relatives are people to be proud of, as we should know if we had the heart to know what i good and loyel. Even were it not so, were your relative a criminal, never deny the bond of nature. Stand beside him in the dock or at the gallows. You have illustrious prece- dents for such association in one whom men worship, but forget to imitate. Here is a little picture of what we term polite society : Polite society hases itself upon exclusions, In this it partly appeals to that antagonism of our nature through which the desire to possess someth{ng 1s greatly gzerated by the diffi- culty of becoming possessed of it. 1f every one can come to vour house,no one, you think, will consider it a great object of desire to go there, Theoriesof supply and demand come in here. People would ghadly destroy things that give piessure in order to enhance their value in the hands of the few. The justifiable side of exclusion is choice, the selection of one’s associates. Society may decree that those who come of a certain set of fa s; that those who have a certain education, and, abovs all, a N ) i ANY JULIA WARD HOWE. [From a volwme of her essays.] a most solemn oath that he would murder every American he should chance to meet alone, and as heis & man of the most daunt- less courage, and rendered desperate by & burning sense of disgrace which will cease onlyd,_\vllh his life, he will doubtless keep his wor In_ another place is this hint of Mark Twain’s *“Jumping Frog' : “We stopped at night at a rancho where they had a tame frog. You cannot think how comical it looked fio}ming about the bar, quite as much at home as a tame squirrel would have been,” For the preservation of these ‘‘fliesin amber” the so-called early writers of Cali- fornia should have been willing to ac- knowledge their indebtedness to the yet earlier ‘““cniel” who took notes with so much discrimination, and out of which they have drawn to themselves the recog- nition and remuneration accorded to orig- inal inventors. Somethiug of this sort I said when I re- turned the volumes to Mrs. C., who only smiled deprecatingly, as .if she had said, YTt 15 useless to demand justice in a worsld overned chiefly by injustice.” Then the tk reverted to poetry,and 1 made a com- ment on the contents of a little volume called “Oulcrofipingzs." remarking that the eaitor, Bret Harte, had not included among the early poets a certain lady, of whom A. D. Richardson, when he was out here, said she had written finer poems than any contained in Harte’s collection, and he wondered that there was nothing of hers in his book. ““That omission T can account for,” was the reply. “The writeryou mention was not on the coast at the time the compila- tion was made, so she could not come in among the ‘Outcroppings’ of the earliest period of California poets.” “But,” I said, ‘‘she was here to my knowledge when the book was published.” “Very true; but the book was compiled before her advent, as I happen to know, because myself and another writer, whose nom de plume was ‘Red Ridinghood,’ put the contents together. It was a little venture of ours, which we placed in the hands of Mr. Roman, then a large book- seller, to publish, I suppose he doubted shall be glad indeed if it may be granted to these pages to carry the message which I myself have been glad to bear—the mes- sage of the qocd hope of humanity, de- spite the faults and limitations of indi- viduals. That hope casts its light over the efforts of vears that are past and gilds for me with ineffaceable glow the future of our race.” “Is Polite Society Polite? and Other Essays” the new volume is styled. The book is replete with wholesome, common- sense ideas and merits careful perusal. In fact, the name of its authoress will com- mand for it the :‘nuideralion to which its genuine wmerit wifl prove its title. Observing the shortcomings of what we term society (wherein there are many peo- ple whose behavior is guided by no sin- cere and sufficient rule of conduct), Mrs. Howe asks, ‘‘Are these people what they should be?”’ and then endeavors to answer the question. As toa proper definition of politeness, she says: What shall we accept in the ordinary sense of men as politeness? Shall we consider it g | mere suriace polish—an attitude expressive of deference, corresponding to no outward grace of good feeling? Will you like to live with the | person who, in the great world, can put on fine manners, but who, in the retirement of home, manifests the vulgarity of a selfish | heart'and an undisciplined temper? No, you will say; give me for my daily com- panions those who always wear the best man- ners they have. For manners are not like clothes—you can mend them best when you have them on. Mrs. Howe then observes that sincerity is_ the best foundation upon which to build the structure of a polite life; that affecta- tion of deference carries its own contradic- tion with it; that flattery is, in itself, an offense against politeness, and that it is of- tenest administered by persons who are already suffering the intoxication of van- ity; and that tge tone of society is lo ered by a low view of the conduct and na- tures of those who are made the subjects of discussion. The world’s social recogni- tion does not affect all people in the same mwanner. One passes the ordeal unscathed, but for one such unspoiled world-faverite there are twenty men and,women who, at the first lift of fortune,sforsake ,their old e AN STk certain income, shall associate on terms of equality. With this decree there comes to foolish human nature a certain irrational desire to penetrate the charmed circle. The attempt to do this encounters resistance, there is pushing in and shoving out—coaxing and wheedling on the'one hand, and cold de- nial or reluctant assent on the other. So a | fight is perpetually going on in the realm of fashion. Those not yet recognized are always crowding in. Those first in occupation are endeavoring to crowd these out. In the end perseverance usually conquers. But neither of these processes is lite— neither the crowding in nor the crowding out —and this last especially, as many of those who are in were once out, and are trying to keep other people from doing what they them. selves have been very glad to do. * "% x There is an obvious advantage in society’s possession of a recognized standard of propri- ¢ty in general deportment; but the law of good breeding should nowhere be merely for- mal, nor should its application be ‘;)xmy and captious. The externals of respectability are most easily aped wheu they are of the perma- nent and stereotyped kind, and may be used to conceal gross dépravity; while the constant, fresh, gracious inspiration of a pure, good heart is unmistakable and cannot be success- fully counterfeited. Mrs. Howe says that young persons should be desirous of learning from older ones what should and what should not be aone on the ground of general decornm and good taste. In her youth she asked counsel of her elders. Nowadays a grand- mother must ssk her granddaughter whether such or such a thing is to be con- sidered ‘‘good form,” to which thelatter will often reply, ““Oh, dear! no.” The authoress declares that among the traces of its original barba?ism that society keeps is lack of respect for labor, wherever that lack exists,and itis deemed very incon- sistent too tbat those who must be intel- lectually looked np to should be so- cially looked down upon. Again, as to good manners: One result of our not being well instructed w the nature of politeness is_that we go to the rong source to learn it. People who have béen modestly bred think they shall acquire manners by consorting with the world’s great ;«mplei and in this way often unlearn what r MARCEL PREVOST. [Reproduced from the Bookman.] people & desire to know what is perfectly and beautifully polite. And I feel sure that more knowledge in this direction would save us fran; tl.hu vulgarity of worshiping rank and wealth. Who have been the Pulite spirits of our day? Ican mention two of them—Mr. Longfellow and Mr. Emerson—as persons in whose pres ence it was impossible to be rude. Butour young people of to-day consider the great for- tunes rather than the great examples. * * * Where worldliness gives the tone to charac- ter it aorrupts the source of good manners, and the outward polish is purchased by the in- ward corruption of the heart. The crucial experiment of character is found in the transition from modest competency to conspicuous wealth and fashion. Most of us may desire this, but I should rather say, dread it. T have seen such sweetness and beauty impaired by the process, such relinquishment of the genuine, such gradual adoption of the false and meretricious. Mrs. Howe asks that, in the new world of society, we shall lay aside altogether the theory of human superiority as con- ferred by special birth or fortune and rec- ognize in all people human right, capacity and dignity. Having adopted this equal human platform, and with it the persuasion that the society of good people s always good society, let us or- ganize our circles by real tastes and sym- pathies. Those who love art can follow it to- gether; those who love business, and science, and lheologfi'. and belles-lettres, can group themselves harmoniously around the object which especially atracts them. The authoress does not think the man- ners ot so-called polite society are so polite to-dav as they were a half-century ago, and she remarks: Young women of fashion seem to me to have lost in dignity of character and in general tone and culture. " Youngmen of fashion seem to regard young ladies with less esteem and defer- ence, and a general cheap and easy standard of manners is the result. On the other hand, outside this charmed circle of fashion, I find the tone of taste and culture much higher than I remember it to have been in my youth. I find women leadin nobler and better_lives, filling larger an higher vlaces, enjoying the upper air of thought where they used to rest upon the very soil of domestic care and detail. So the com- munity gains, although one class loses, and tkat, remember, the class which assumes to give to the rest the standard of taste. There are six other essays in the volume, which is finely printed on heavy paper, and which contains an excellent portrait of the venerable Mrs. Howe. [Lamson, Wolffe & Co., publishers, Boston and New York. For sale at all bookstores.] Among the younger generation of con- temporary French writers of fiction, Mar- cel Prevost isone of the most successful and interesting, although he is, perhaps, the least known by the reading public, particularly outside of his own country. This seeming paradox 1s explained by the fact that M. Prevost is entirely a “new” man, and tbat, with one exception, his books bave not been translated. I bave not been able to gather any bio- graphical data concerning this author, writes Arthur Hornblow in the February Bookseller. The latest (1892) edition of Vapereau’s Dictionnaire des’ Contempo- rains does not mention him, although this work is supposed to, and, as a rule, does contain a biographical notice of every pub- lic man in France. 1t would seem, there- fore, that previous to 1892 M. Prevost had not attracted any attention as a writer. I have heard vaguely that he was educated to be an engineer, but preferred the pur- suit of letters and made his literary debut in the columns of a Paris newspaper. His earlier books, ‘“‘Le Scorpion’” and ‘‘Chonchette,”” had no marked success, although both volumesran through several editions. It was his third novel, “Mlle. Jaufre’” (1890), that first entitled him to be ranked among the makers of .good litera- ture and first acquainted the public and the critics with his name. The best book that Marcel Prevost has yet written is uuquestionubly “La Confes- sion d’'un Amant’’ (Lemerre, 1891). It has not had with the public the remarkable success that attended the publication of “Lettres des Femmes,” hut large sales are not always a guarantee of a book’s intrin- sic worth. Ferdinand Brunetiere, who in the French literary world holds a position analogous to that occupied in England by Andrew Lung, discusses ‘“La Confession d’un Amant'’ at considerable length in his “Essais surla Litterature Contemporaine.’’ He writes: “No one will regret reading this book, and M. Marcel Prevost must take care that his next novel does not fall below ‘La GConfession d’'un Amant’ -in literary quality. THE OVERLAND’S NEW COVER. Rounsevelle Wildman is giving his best efforts to the proper development of the Overland Monthly. The March number of this magazine has a cover by Boeringer that is sufficiently characteristic of the Pacific Ceoast to please a represeatative committee from the Bociety of Pieneers. It represents an Indian in standing pos- ture, holding in his hands the talismanic insignia of the aboriginal medicine man. The page is furtber embellished with rep- resentations of Indian pottery and caiv- ings. For several months the Overland’s covers have been devoted to Indian scenes, the cover for February being by L. May- nard Dixon, well known to regders of THE Cary by his excellent work in these col- umhs, mtrodncixfi‘ the idea of the passing of the buffalo. e theme of the tragedy is well carriea out. The recent exhibition of the S8an Fran- cisco Arts and Crafts receives considerable attention, particularly that section devoted to posters. There is also an article on the modern poster craze, with illustrations, including one of THE CALL’S posters. The Overland consistently sticks to its motto, namely, that it is a Western magazine, de- ‘voted to Western subjects and interests, THE CHILD VOICE IN SINGING. ‘This book, by F. E. Howard, Supervisor of Music in the Public Schools of Bridgeport, Conn., is very timely, in view of the fact that vocal music is now almost universally taught in our public schools, and that thou- sands of teachers are required to give daily drill in singing, who, while well equipped ‘they already know of **good”” manners instead of adding to their knowledge. * * = I wish that I could oiteuer see in our young % - in other respects, are for various reasons vlaced at considerable disadvantage in teaching music. There is also a strong tendency in the Episcopal church to re- place the quartet and chorus choirs with surpliced choirs in which boys sing the soprano, hence organists and choir- masters will welcome a treatise which helps to clear away the difficulties attend- ant upon trasining boys’ voices. The author lays great stress ufion the physi- ological characteristics of the child voice, and draws sharp contrasts between it an; the adult woman’s voice. He claims that the rough, strident tone so commonly heard from children is a misuse of the voice and productive of harmful physical effects and that it also deadens musical sensibility. We recommend it to the at- tention of teachers, singers and others. (Published by Edgar S. Werner, New York; bound in cloth, $1.] ALDEN’S LIVING TOPICS - OYCLO- PEDIA. This is a unique publication which will be appreciated by readers who wish to keep track of the world’s progressin all important lines of activity and knowledge. It deals with such items as one would nat- urally look forin a first-class eyclopedia were it up-to-date. The average reader probably inquires more about things touching the past three years than con- cerning the preceding three centuries. To pics are treated in alphabetical order, and as often as the alphabetis covered a new series will begin and the same course be resumed. Each bound volume contains an appendix, kringing all important mat- ters preceding close up to the date of pub- lication. Volume one, just issued, covers from Abbas to Boysen, is in excellent, handy form and the price is 50 cents. John B. Alden, publisher, New York. AN EXCELLENT ENAVE. This is the title of a new novel by J. Fitzgerald Malloy author of “A Modern Magician,” and it is issued as No. 40 of the Belmore series by Lovell, Coryell & Co., New York. The scenes are laid in Eng- land and the book deals with English so- ciety. The exclusive set fall over each other for a season to honor a man who seems to outshine his fellows, but who turns out to be a deep-dyed villain in clever disguise. The crimes he committed are laid at the door of an innocent and honest man, whom society cast out and shunned until the real criminal was un- masked in the very midst of the charmed circle. The innocent man triumphs in the end, but has learned to value sotiety’s fealty and favors at their proper worth, Paper covers; price 50 cents. PATRIOTIC QUOTATIONS. The Whittaker & Ray Company of this | City have published a neat little volume of “Patriotic Quotations,” combiled from original sources by Harr Wagner, editor of the Western Journal of Education. Over 200 authors are represented in the work, which is designated for use the public schools. The book appears to be a very good thing from which to_select memory lessons for pupils. The price in boards is 40 cents; paper covers, 25 cents. The Woman’s Manual. Harriete R. Shattuck’s work, *The Woman’s Manual of Parliamentary Law,” has been revised and enlarged, and the sixth edition, more clear and more elabo- rate than the eatlier ones, has been issued by Lee & Shepard, Boston. The volume is handsomely gotten up, and the price, cloth-bound, is 75 cents. The book is re- plete with practical illustrations especially adapted to women’s organizations. LITERARY NOTES. The complete novel in the March issue of Lippincott’s is‘*‘A Whim and a Chance,”’ by William T. Nichols. It turnson a cir- cumstance peculiar but not without prece- dent in real life, the effort to find clews to property which has mysteriously disap- ared with the owner’s deatn. Clare E. obie sketches sharply and not admiringly the portrait of “A Labor Leader.’’ Otfier short stories, both agreeably light, are “Mis’ Pettigrew’s Silver Tea-set,” by Judith Spencer, and “‘Henry,” by Mary Stewart Cutting. Miss Elizabeth Phipps Train’s new story, “Madame of the lIvies,"” will shortly be issued in serial form. Miss Train made a hit last year with ‘A Social Highway- man,” and there will be considerable in- terest in her forthcoming work. . * Father Stafford’ is regarded as the best story that has been written by Anthony Hope. It is now being dram- matized, and will soon be presented on the stage by a ;;:ominenc star, possibl E. Sothern or Nat Goodwin. This worl is issued in Neely’s Prismatic Library, buckram, gilt top, 75 cents. d Very few people realize how populara flower the carnation has become. The consumption each winter in New York exceeds fifteen millions of cut flowers. The culture of carnations witl be explained in Scribner’s Magazine for March by J. H. Connelly. The illustrations are to be printed in color. E Godey’s Magazine for March is filled with matter that is timely, beautiful and interegting. Perhaps the most absorbing are two biographical articles; one *‘ The Life of Cecil Rhodes,” and the uther called ‘“The Senorita of the Sword,” being descriptive of Jaquarina, the Spanish- American swordswoman who has defeated the cracks of the United States and English armies, and who will represent America in the Olympic games this sprine. The edition of the works of Bishop.But- ler, upon which Mr. Gladstone has for some time been engaged, will be published during the spring by the Clarendon Press. W. H. Mailock, whose ‘“Labor and the Popular Welfare’” aroused so much inter- est, has written a new volume of essays, in which hLe discusses such topics as the distribution of wealth (controverting the principles laid down by Karl Marx), the minimum of humane living, wages, the products of work, and the census and the people. An interesting little book has just been ublished, called “German Songs of To- ay,’”’ and edited, with an introduction and_literary notes, by Alexander Tille, Ph.D., lecturer on the German language and literature in the University of Glas- BOW. The twenty-seventh bound volume of the Critic for July-December, 1895, com- Slezing the paper’s fifteenth year, reviews 27 books, American, English'and foreign, the total for 1895 being 1733, which would seem to cover the field pretty thoroughly. . A new literary magazine to be published in New York is’ entitled “The Parisians.” Its ucofig will be to present a compendium of the best literature of the France of to- day without confining itself to this sphere. _The salo of the Oxford Bible for teachers has reached the enormous number of over 2,000,000. The Oxford Press é)ublishes seventy-eight editions of the Bible and ninety editions of the prayer-book. The Clarendon Press is about to issue a collection of the traditional hymns of the ancient Gaelic church in Scotland, by Mr. Alexander Carmichael of Edinburgh. Under the title ‘“Congressional Cur- rency” A. C. Gordon has presented an outline of the Federal money system of the United States and a statement of the imh?ortnm acts of legislation concerning it. any persons are still living who re- member the widely scattered lithographs representing the Arkansaw Settler, whose lack of hospitality to a traveler is trans- formed by his visitor’s ability to play the famous backwoods tune. These crudely drawn lithographs confront the reader of the March Century, in which Professor H. C. Mercer of the University of Penn- sylvania gives an account of hisresearches “On the Track of ‘The Arkansas Trav- ‘| eler.’”? Dr. Le Bon, author of several works on psychology, is about to publish an impor- tant work entitled “The Psychology ot Socialism,” dealing with the subject under three heads: firstas a faith, second as an economic conception, and thirdly as a philosophic eonception. Justin McOarthy has a three-volume novel and a collection of short stories in hand, both books being promised for this year. Professor Garner's name has become famillar in connection with his study of the monkey tribe and their“hnfigngfi." He has just finished a book on his last visit to West Africa, and it will be pubes lished in London this spring. G. B. Grinnell’s “Story of an Indian” is to be published in England soon. The Britons are developing a taste for Ameri- can literature. Mrs. Emily Crawford, the well-known Paris correspondent, contributes to the March Century a biographicad sketch of Alexandre Dumas the elder. “‘Sunrise Storfies” is the title of a book that makes the elevated pretension of en- abling the reader to obtain a view of Japanese habits of thought, and of the princi(})]es of philosophy and religion em- bodied in their literature. It was col- laborated by Tozo Takayanagi and Roger Riordan, and will be issued by Scribner’s, Bret Harte has just completed a manu- script of a new story, to which he has given the title of “Two Americans.”, He will soon publish a new volume of poems. Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. will issue both volumes. Professor I. Zangwill, in the Critic, says that “the most striking feature of the American humorist is his sameness; he serves up daily the same old jokes, and his merit chiefly consists in his inexhaustible ingenuity in dressing them up afresh. England, according to Voltaire, has many religions, but only one sauce. America has only one joke, but many sauces. This one joke is the tenacity of the young man’s attentions to the daughter of the reluctant father. England has several leading jokes —all equally frequent and equally un- amusing—the masher, the mother-in-law, and the endless epic of the latch key.” LIVED TO CAST HIS VOTE. Pathetic Incident of the Contest forSen- ator From Kentucky. Seven hours after voting for the man of his choice before the Democratic Senatorial caucus Isaac Wilson, Representative from Nelson County, passed calmly from the exciting scenes of earth. Truth seldom tells a tale of such noble loyalty to a friend and comrade as that which was exhibited by the dead legislator. He was brought to the capital upon a dying bed, realizing that he would never rise from it again and expressing only the one desire that he should live long enough to do something toward the success of his friend, Senator Blackburn. A Mr. Wilson died at 5 o’clock this morn- ing mn nis room at the Capital Hotel, and surrounded by the relatives who had been summoned by telegraph. A year ago he weighed 175 pounds, but his corpse is a mere shadow, & wasting disease of the stomach having slowly eaten his life away. There were strong objections on the part of his family and of Senator Blackburn, but he was determined to come at all haz- ards. He knew and said that the hard trip would shorten his life, but he declared that he preferred to take the risk and help his friend. After he was brought here last Monday one of the first callers was Senator Black- burn, who fought side by side with him for four years. The Senator was dewl{ moved and expressed regret that Mr. Wila son_had not listened to his request and re- mained at home. Tt was believed that he would die in a day or two. have no fear of dying, Senator,” he said, “and you must not think that you will fail to receive my vote in the caucus, for I am determined to live until it is held, and shall exert every force of my nature to keep the breath within my body until Senator Fulton bhas cast my proxy for you. Then Ishall resign myself to the inevitable.” Mr. Wilson hung between life and death, the end being expected at any moment, but he insisted that he would be alive to cast his vote, which was done last night. Senator Fulton, a life-long friend, re- turned to the room and assured him that the vote of Isaac Wilson had been cast for J. C. 8. Blackburn. He closed_his eyes and sank rapidly to his death.—Fra Tt Dispatch to Louisville Courrier Journal. —e Strange Things Going On! All the Folks Surprised ! Mem.—A man pounded his finger; lost fifteen minutes’ time, curing it. Another got a whack square in the . eye. He was docked one hour's pay—could then see out of it and went to work again. Still another had sat up nights with Felons, tried cocaine and opium, but the agony had got there first and would not yield. Finally his wife, who had cured her tender feet, gave him a pointerand Hubby’s Agony Found a Master, For he says he “Was Asleep in Ten Minutes.” No “Royal Purple” After either accident. MiTcHELL'S Magrc Lotiox did the business for & them all. Money in Your Pocket To have it around, for nobody knows when or where the Lightning Is Going to Strike. Any Druggist can get it for you— 25¢, 50¢ and $1. Be sure and read the directions.