The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 14, 1896, Page 23

church, In avery short time he finds that these letters avail him nothing. Dela Choue is laughed at as a visionary and all the dignitaries of the Vatican are hostile EMILE Z01A’S NEW BOOK.. “Rome” Is an Eloquent Work of Fine Senti- ments. | Product of a Materialist in Thought and a Realist in Art. He Found in the Eternal City Only the Vanity of Life Which Vexes the Spirit. The first thing to be said of Zola's Rome is it is an eloquent book. Itabounds with long-sustained passages of fine senti- ments expressed in fine phrases. As a rule the characters do not talk, but de- claim; they do not converse, but deliver orations to one another. The work, there- fore, is a distinct departure from the pre- vailing form of novel-writing, in which all conversation is made short, choppy and | realistic, and is a return to the form which | prevailed fifty years ago in England when under the influence of Bulwer and Disrael1 the heroines and heroes talked like poets | or philosophers and poured forth their thoughts in that impassioned prose which | gave to the novel something of the charm | of poetry while detracting from its | dramatic force. | The second thing to be sald is that while | the book has the form of a novel and is | clothed in the garments of romance, it is | by no means to be classed with the liter- ature designed to amuse the leisure hours of the reader. Itislessa work of fiction than a serious study of the conditions of life to-day in that wohderful city which wears the triple honor of being the sur- viving capital of the ancient world, the capital of the Catholic church and the cap- ital of regenerated Italy. The scove of the work includes an attempt to depict | every phase of its politics, both clerical | and national; of its social life, both high | and low, and its architecture, both ancient | and modern. In such a work eloquent | writing was of course a necessity. Tue | modern style of novel could in no wise | adequately deal with the magnitude of the | ther:e. It is hardly necessary to say the stuay is not one of true appreciation. A material- ist in philosophy and a realist in art, there | i= no faculty of Zola’s mind in complete sympathy with any aspect of Rome, and without sympathy there can be no right appreciation of anything. The attitude of Zola toward Rome is disclosed in the fact that bis hero goes to the city full of hopes | and faith and comes away bereft of all of them. It isa story that records the van- ishing of illusions. It is evident, there- fore, that from the outset Zola studied Rome with an eye Lostile to its influences, and found in it only that vanity of life which is the vexation of the spirit. The value of the study lies in cthe fact that bowever unsympathetic it may be, it | was made by a keenly critical mind out of | impressions gained on the spot by one of th utest observers of human life now living, and has been set forth by a master in the art of fiction. It isa description of Roman life from the standpoint of one who saw it only from the outside, but nevertheless it is a description that re- veals in the movements of the men and women no little of the spirit thatanimates them from within. Itwill justly take rank among the great books of the day, and in | the eloquence of many of its passages the reader will find sufficient beauty of thought and grace of phrase to compensate ina large measure for the lack of beauty and grace in the conception of the story as a‘ whole. | Pierre Froment, a young. priest who, after an experience at Lourdes, had nearly i lost his faith in the church, was taken up | in Paris by a priest engaged in the work of caring for the poor. Enlisted asa helper 1n this work of charity, Froment grows to regard the church of Rome as a mighty power dedicated by God to the | task of caring for the weak and suffering, and bringing about in the world a reign of love and belpfulness that would put an | end to the sin, the suffering and the | wretchedness that now prevail in it by rea- son of the hard burdens imposed upon the | poor the strong and the powerful. Under the influence of this faith Fro- ment writes & book, in which he maintains that an economical question is invariably | hidden beneath each religious revolution, | and that upon the whole the everlasting | evil and the everlasting struggle has never been aught but & conflict between the rich and the poor. Jesus himself appearsasa claimant of the rights of the poor. His church, therefore, must be a church | which stands for the poor against the | greeds, the prides, the sensualities 5nd; the corruptions of the rich. Froment asserts that the time has now come when the church must once more come forward as the champion of the people. The world has reached a cmis} out of which there can come but one of} three things—an absolute despotism of wealth, the anarchy of mad revolution or a fraternal socialism. Froment appeals to Rome to take the lead in the spiritual work of reconciling men sand nations to the coming of a reign of love. Without making a direct atiack on dogma he ad- vocates an enlargement of religious feeling freed from rites and absorbed in the one satisfaction of human charity. The book is denounced at Rome and Froment goes to that city to defend it. There he finds himself immersed in that whirlpool of ambition, intrigue, passion, politics and clericalism that makes up the | jife of Rome as it eddies back and forth | between the conflicting capitals of the | Vatican and Quirinal. | g The story soon | becomes crowded with characters varying | in ail degrees of rank from the Pope to | street beggars. The principal figures are | Cardinal Boceanera, a type of the| proud aristocracy of Rome; Cardinal | Sanguinettai, a ‘type of one of| those strong, seli-made men who rise | from low degree to high rank in the | church and who are more ambitious of its power than the old princes of Rome them- selves; Monsignor Nani, a Jesuit, tvpe of those diplomatic leaders of the church who are willing to concede much to the | powers of the world in order to gain much from it; Count Prada. type of the heroes who fought with Garibaldi for the redemp- tion of Italy; Count Luigi Prada, his son, an ardent Royalist and type of the young men who wish to make Italy a great na- tion; Signor Bacco, one of the great spec- ulators who reaped sudden fortunes out of the rebuilding and improvement of Rome, and last but by no means least, Benedetta and her cousin, Daria Boccanera, whose Jove story forms the romance of the work and infuses it with the passion, the mys- tery and the tragedy that are forever asso- ciated with all ideas of romance in Italy. Froment carries to Rome lfi:g.terx of in- troduction from a certain Vicomte de la Choue, & French enthusiast ior the old re- ligion and Christian socialism, and an in- dorsement of his book by Cardinal Berge- rot, one of the leaders of the Gallican | work to the French cardinal. He is_about to ive way in despair when Monsignor Nani takes him up. The young priest soon finds that Nani's influence gains him access everywhere. He obtains interviews with the highest dignitaries and from these he arrives at last at a true under- standing of the spirit that animates the pontificate. It is known that when Zola went to Rome to study the city he sought an interview with the Pope and was re- fused. It is also known that the poten- tates of the earth do not snub genius with impunity. What picture of the Pope Zola would have drawn had he been re- ceived we eannot tell, but certainly the one he has drawn can hardly be accounted more than a caricature. He thus describes | Leo as he appeared seated upon his throne to receive a large concourse of pilgrims coming from all quarters of the world to protest against the occupation of Rome by the Italian Government: With the papal eap on his head and the red cape edged with ermine about his shouiders, he retained in his long white cassock the rigid sacerdotal attitude of an idol venerated by 250,000,000 of Christians. Against the purple background of the hangings of the baldic- chino, between the wing-like drapery on either side, inclosing, as it were, a brazier of glory, he assumed real majesty of aspect. He was 1o longer the feeble old man with the slow, jerky \uli and the slender, scraggy neck of a poor ailing bird. The simious ugiiness of his face, the largeness of his nose, the long slit of his mouth, the hugeness of his ears, the conflict- ing jumble of his withered features dlsBP- eared. In that waxen countenance you only istinguished the admirable, dark, deep eyes beaming with eternal youth, with extraordiuary intelligence and penetra- tion. And “then there was a resolute bracing of his entire person,a consciousness of the eternity which he represented, & regal nobiiity born of the very eircumstance that he Wwas now buta mere breath, a soui set in so pellucid a body of ivory that it became visible as though it were already freed from the bonds of earth. And Pierre realized what such 2 man must be for the devout and dolent crea- tures who came to adore him from so far and who fell at his feet awestruck by the splendor of the powers incarnate in him. The account given of the mind of the Pope is not more flattering than that of his ersonal appearance. According to Zola e0 has had but little personal experience with the world and ‘almost no direct knowledge of the aims, sentiments and aspirations of the people of this genera- tion. He says of the Pope: ¥or eighteen years now he has been shut up | in the Vatican," isolated from the rest of man- kind and communicating with the nations solely through his entourage, which was often most unintelligent, most mendacious ana most trescherous, Moreover, he was an Italian — & superstitious and despotic high fi—bound by tradition, subjected to the nces of race environment, pecuniary con- siderations ,and political necessities; not to eak of his great pride—the convietion that he ought to be implicitly obeyed in all things as the one sole legitimate power on earth. Therein lay fatal causesof mental deformity, of errors and gaps in bis extraordinary brain, though the latter possessed many admirable qualities, quickness of comprehension and patient stubbornness of will, and strength to draw conciusions and to act. Of all his pow- ers, however, that of intuition was ainly the most wonderful, for, was it not this alone which, owing to his voluntary imprisonment, enabled him to divine the vast evolution of humanity at the present day? .He was thus keenly conscious of the dangers surrounding bim, of the rising tide of democracy and the boundless ocean of science which threaten to submerge the little isiet where the dome of St. Peter’s vet triumphed. And the object of all his policy, of all his labor, was to conquer 50 that he might reign, In the contemplation of the Pope upon his throne Fromeat felt a renewal of the faith that was in him that the church would come forward as the defender of the rights of the people and the consoler of their sorrows. He was now sanguine that if he could bring his book directly to the attention of the Pope it wouid receive his sanction. Froment had found that much—in fact, most—of the opposition to his book arose not from a dislike for the itself, but from a desire on the part of the Italian cardinals to strike at Cardinal Bergerot by condemn- ing a book which he had publicly approved. Froment expected to knd the Pope free from this jealousy of the French prelate. In his interview with Leo, how- ever, all these hopes were disappointed. This was the supreme digillusion, and Froment seemng clearly the folly of his dream of a purely spiritual church ever being evolved out of the conditions of the Papacy, consentea to withdraw his book and repudiate 1t. This was what the Jesuit Nani had foreseen, and it was that Froment might arrive at that knowledge and be freed from his enthusiasm, he had obtained for him access to the Pope. The picture given of new Italy is hardly more sympathetic than that of old Cath- olicism. Aeccording to Zola, the Royal- ists, on entering Rome, were carried away by a mad desire to make Italy a great na- tion at once, without waiting for it to grow. They ignored thefact that in mak- ing a kingdom of Italy they couid not make at the same time an Italian people. With the lower classes sunk in ignorance and sloth, the aristocracy stricken with poverty and divided between the court | and the church, the new Government has | had nothing to appeal to save the middle | classes, and these are animated more by | greed and self-interests than by patriot- ism. It would have been wisdom under.these circumstances for Italian statesmen to have waited until a national society and a national spirit could have been evolved before seeking to_make their country po- litically great. They did not do that, however, but engaged in those alliances which alienated Italy from bher natural slly, France,and imposed upon her the heavy burden of a military organization whicn has nearly reduced her to bank- ruptey. It wrsin the work of rebuilding Rome, however, that Zola sees the clear- est manifestation of the madness of new Italy. Inspeaking of this craze and the ruir. which followed, he tells us: Elsewhere, in Paris for instance, new dis- tricts have been erected and embellishments have been carried out with the capital of the country—the money saved by dint df thrift. But in Elcx?ne all were built on the credit sys- tem, eithér by means of bills of exchange 8t ninety days, or—and this was chiefly the case— by borrowing mouey abroad. The huge sums sunk in these enterprises is estimated at a milliard, four-fifths of which was French mone; The bankers did everything. The French ones lent to the Italian bankers at 314 or 4 per cent, and the Jtalian bankers accorm:. modated the specnlators, the Roman builders, at 6,7 and even 8 per cent. And thus the disaster was great indeed when France, learn- ing of Italy’s alliance with Germany, with- drew her 800,000,000 francs in less than two years. " The Italian banks were drained of their specie, and the 1and and building companies, being likewise compelled to reimburse their loans, were compelled to apply to the banks of issue—those privileged to issue notes. At the same time they intimidated the Government, threatening to stop all work and throw 40,000 artisans and laborers starving on the pave- ments of Rome if it did not compel the banks of issue to lend them the five or six millions of paper money which they needed. And this the Government at last did, appailed by the possibility of universal bankruptey. Natur- ally, however, the millions could not be paid back at maturity, as the newly built houses found neither purchasers nor ténants, and so the great il began, heaping ruin upon ruin, That was how a mere municipal crisis became & frightful disaster—a whole milliard unk to no purpose, Rome disfigured, littered with the ruius of the gaping and empty dwell- ings which had been prepared for the five or six hundred thousand inhabitants, for whom the city yet waits in vain. That these pictures of the church and of Italy will be displeasing both to patriots and to churchmen goes without saying. They, however, are not the only ones who will find the work unsatisfactory either as | a philosophical study or as a work of art. While there are many passages in it full of beauty and while some of the characters are both noble and gracious, the book as a whole lacks the impress of truth—even of that kind of truth wnich is known as realism. Zola in Rome was clearly out of his element. His pictures of life there have none of the vividness which animates those he has drawn of life in Paris. Even in that romance of Benedetta and Dario, which is woven through the work and which by becoming mixed up with the in- trigues of two powerful cardinals, strug- gling for the Papal throne, ends with a tragedy, harcly suflices to give a dramatiz interest to the book. There are some things which materialism cannot compre- hend—some things realism cannot make THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 1896. IRIE, IO LT Ernest Peixotto’s Design for the Latest Publication of the Decadents, Le Petit Journal dez Refuzeez. THE LITERARY CALLING. It was—attend my simple lay— A scrivener young and green, ‘Who sent a little tale unto A monthly magazine. And while his hopeful heart beat highy He made his little boast, How fame and weaith were bound his way And by return of post. It was a scrivener gray and worn Who read a little screed, Composed in ornamental type, And very neat indeed; And murmured while he smole & smile That spread from ear to ear, My tale has been accepied. and In due time will appear?” 1t wasa scrivener old and bent Whose heart was filled with glee, The while his children’s children stood And listened &t his knee. It was a newly published tale He read with simple joy: The self-same simple lictie tale He scribbled when a boy. Years passed away; one day a check Arrived. but, be it told, It was a blithe executor Who changed it fnto gold. 80 ply your pns, ye folks who write With elegance and ea And happily you may benefit Your unborn legate —Pick-Me-Up. et ) TO A SLEEPER. Night, and great peace about thy doors, Night, and great stars above thy head, Night, and gray mist across thy moors, Plenty todo! There's no end to the work —_— Sleep on thy lips and on thine eyes— O tender eyes and (oving lips— Sleep. filled with gen low replies To doubts that gave the day eclipse. Silence and sleep and perfect rest, A breathing stiliness, that is all; While, scattered over brow and breast, The brok en moon-flecks glide and fall. For thee the night 1s brimmed witn peace; Surely God’s hand upon thee laid Shall fill thy life with sweet incr-ase 0f love that maketh not afraid— Shali round thy life unto a sphere Of growing light and fragrant days, And gather to thee, year by vear, Increasing store of love and praise, | Yea, God who made 80 pure & thing Shall guard th v to the end, | And, at the la:t ingathering, | Remember me, who was thy friend. | —Pall Mall Gazette. | AN IMPENITENT. | That Duty holds up ter perform. But they's Suthin’ thet sorter compels yer ter shirk When the weather gits showery an’ warm, Though [ miss the rewards 1 kin siog at my task While my hat to the toiler k aoff, Fur I somehow gits all the enjoyment [ ask A-puttin’ things off. I know thet the reckonin’ sometime'll come Aw’ PIl mebbe do more'n my share, So’s ter average up.iu the general sum, But I re'ly can’t say ez I care, For I scarcely believe thet with work all complete An’ no one ter chide ner tec scoff, I'd find the enjoyment of rest nigh ez sweet TEN MINUTES WITH THE CURRENT VERSIFIERS. IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER. My father died when I was all t00 ¥ oung, And he too old, too crowded with his care ¥orme to know he gnew my hot, fierce hopes— Youth sees wide chasms between itself and age— How could [ think he, t0o, had lived my life? My dreams were all of war. and his of rest. And sohe sleeps (please God), at last at rest, And it may be, with soul refreshed, more young Than when he left me for that other life— Free, for a while at least. from that old care, The hard, relentless torturer of his age ‘That cooled his youth and bridled all his nopes. For now I know he had the longing nopes, The wild desires of youth, and all the rest Of my ambitions, ere he came to Age, He t00, was bold, when he was free and young— Had | but known that he conld feel. and care! How could I know the secret of his life? Inmy own youch I ree his early life So reckless, and 50 full of buoyant hopes. 1 see him jubilant, without a care, The days too short, and grudging time for rest— He kuew the wild delight of being young— Shall T too, know the calmer joys of age? His words come back, to mind me b? that age | When lovingly he watched my broadening'life— And, dreaming of the days when he was young Smiled at my joys, and sharea my fears and hopes. His words still live, for in my heart they rest, Too few, not to be kept with jealous care! An. little dia T know how he could care! That in my youth lay joys to comfort Age! Not in this world, for him, was granted rest, But, as pe lived in me, a happler lite, He prayed more earnestly to win my hopes Than ever for his own when he was soung! He once was young; I, too,must fight with Care; He knew my hopes, and I must share his Ace; God grant my life be worth y, too, of Rest! Hotel; price $2 50.] Jorx McNAUGHT. HIS HONOR AND A LADY. 1 The title of this pleasing and wall-writ- ten storv by Mrs. Everard Cotes (Sara | Jeannette Duncan) is comprehensive and | most appropriate. John Church is one of Her Majesty’s commissioners in India, who does his work with so little ostenta- | tion that the Home Government does not | get a proper estimate of the man. His chief secretary is Lewis Ancram, who poses as Church’s strongest friend, while at the same time he is secretly plotting to unseat the commissioner. Now Ancram isan admirer of Mrs. Church, who is partic- | ularlv friendly to the secretary because | she supposes him to be her husband’s | champion. Church dies and Ancram steps | into his official shoes. He could not be | sufficientiv grateiul to John Church for dying—it was a circumstance upon which | be congratulated himself frankly, an acci- aent by which he was likely to benefit so vastly that he could indvige in no pre- tense of regretting it on altruistic ground. Before leaving Calcutta for England, Mrs. | Church refuses to see the commissioner, but the Hon. Mr. Ancram is only gratified at the refusal, as it fills out his idea of | the woman, which is a most deli- cate one. He writes luxurious let- | ters to the widow, full of imaginative | touches, and Mrs. Church is charmed with their tone. Honors descend thickly upon Ancram’s head, and finally he visits Eng- land with the object of making Mrs. Church the sharer 1n his rare fortune. But that lady has been put in possession of letters and papers that give evidence of Ancram’s intrigues against the late John Church, whose name Ancram had sought | to-drag down in the public prints. So when iia Lordship arrives at the Church mansion, he is coolly received. He learns | that Mrs. Church had only been in love with ‘‘her ideas of him,” and, at parting, Mrs. Church bids him a formal and last farewell. On his return to Calcutta, Sir Lewis Ancram informed an inquiring | friend that ‘‘he had the highest admiration for the wife of his late honored chief, but the world is wrong in thinking that 1 ever made her a proposal of marriage, nor have I the slightest intention of doing so.” LNew York: D. Appleton & Ce. For sale y Doxey ; price $1 50.] A WINNING HAZARD, Mrs. Alexander is a very successful writer of society stories, and her recent novel, “A Winning Hazard,” is up to her usual standard of excellence. Kate Carey is the daughter of people who are reduced to hard straits financially, and she exerts herself to retrieve some of their lost for- tune. She becomes secretary to a wealthy business man and bachelor, who forms an affection for her, but Kate is in love with a poor young man named Dick Travers. She gets Dick to agree to a plan to go to South Atrica and make a grand play for fortune. Dick 1s about to start, when he accidentally hears that the Carey family is in distress at the rich bachelor’s unexpected death. He runs back to comfort them, and to his astonish- ment learns that Kate has been made residuary legatee of a vast estate by her deceased emuvloyer. Dick doesn’'t go to Africa, and there is no need to say that, with riches enough at commmand to place the family back in its old social position and make themselves envied, Dick and Kate *lived hnygily," etc. [New York: D. Appleton & Co. For sale by Doxey; price 50 cents.] | | | studies in the history of the United States. Thirteen of these siudies are contained in | the book of 335 pages, nine of the essays | having previously appeared, at different | times, in Eastern magazines and periodi- cals. The history of the Monroe doctrine | is lucidly given. “The Third Term Tr dition’’ makes profitable reading, as it | shows that popular sentiment has been | strongly against a third term for the Na-| tion’s chief executive since Jefferson, at the close of his second term in 1807, made | this famous statement: “If some | termination to services of the | chief magistrate be not fixed by the | constitution or supplied by practice, his{ office, nominally for vears, will in fact | become for life, and history shows how | easily that degenerates into inheritance.” | Mr. McMaster voices the idea that what | we want is “‘a strong Government of the people by the people,” and not *'a Govern- | ment of the people by a strong man,” and | the | hence ‘‘we ought not to tolerate anything | which haseven thesemblance ot heredity.” To the consideration of the advocatesof a third term for Cleveland he commends ! Jefferson’s doctrine that ‘‘in no office can | rotation be more expedient.” Among the - essays in the book | which will be read with more than | ordinary interest in this great campaign | year are: ‘A Century of Constitutional Interpretation,” A Century's Struggle for Silver’” and “Is Sound Finance Pos- sible Under Popular Government?” [New York: D. Appleton & Co. For sale by William Doxey ;. price $1 50.] ouUT OF A SlLil‘:R FLUTE. The appearance of a volume o1 poems by Philip Verrill Mighels will recall to Pacific Coast readers memories of the young au- thor's gifted father, Harry Mighels, who for years was engaged in journalism in California and Nevada, and who in the meantime produced many verses and fugitive sketches of more than orainary literary merit. The present book is of interest to Western people from the fact that many of the themes are drawn from tke writer’s experiences in his early life on the Pacific Coast. Young Mighels ex- presses the keynote of his life in the “Dedication to Ella” on the first leaf of his volume: My soul through births apd deaths processioned on. he progress way, ambition-spurred; but, oh, It glides so swirtly you brought the dehon, And made white-lilied aspirations grow ! The book is of four divisions, including quatrains, sonnets, rondeaux and miscel- laneous verses. There is in most of Mr. Migheis’ productions a tinge of mysticism, but not a particle of the so-called spirit of the literature of decadence. A notable frag- ment, at least it may be a part of a noble oem yet to be written, is “The Obelisk in Jentral Park.” The sonnet, “Stone and Soul,” written on seeing the picture of Napoleon before the Sphinx, is another characteristic utterance of the promising young author. In lighter vein we have “The Night We Traded Rings,” and te establishes himself as a rival to Eugene Field in the ex(;uisile little verses, “Whe; Baby Smiles.” [New York: J. Selwin Tait & Sons. Forsale by Wiliam Doxey. ] LIFE OF CYRUS W. FIELD, It will profit the boys of to-day, and of all the days to come, to read and study the life and work of that typical Ameri- can, Cyrus W. Field. His greatest work, the Atlantic cable, has rendered his name immortal, and, in the volume at hand, his daughter, Mrs. Isubella Field Judason, who has written the biography, gives Night in my city of the dead. Ez puttin’ things off. ~Washinrton Star. | —The Larky clear in the forms of art—snd amongl WITH THE FATHERS. |one of the best accounts in print those things we safely sav are the new | S B of the ways and means whereby hopes which animate Italy and the old | Thisis the titie of a volume of essays by | the cable to Europe came to be faith which sustzins Catholicism, all of | John Bach McMaster, professor of Ameri- | laid. Mrs, Judson also describes the share which are inseparably bound up with | can history in the University of Pennsyl- | her father had in developing the elevated | the fortunes and the fate of the Eternal | vania. The essays, in fact, are a series of | ailroad system in New York City. The City—Rome. [For sale by Doxey, Palace | ! 3 story is replete with lessons of the reward of unbending perseverance. Among the | letters to Mr. Field, which the work con- tains, is the famous one from Hon. William E. Gladstone on the Civil War in the United States. per & Brothers, publishers. A. M. Robertson; price $2.] ICEWORK, PRESENT AND PAST. For sale by The latest addition to the International | cientific Series is a 300-page volume on | ‘‘Icework, Present and Past,” by T. G. Bonney, professor of geology at Univer- | sity College, London. It bad been that sclentist’s experience that, although sep- arpte papers, and even comprehensive books, upon ice and its work are numer- ous in our mother tongue, to say nothing of other languages, a difficulty often at- tends the student. They seem to be writ- ten, in most cases, more with a view advo- S cating some particular interpretation/of | the facts than of describing the facts them- selves. As regards these, it appears not seldom to be tacitly assumed that they must have some particular significance, from which it follows, as an aimost inevitable result, that thie hypothesis of one writer becomes the theory of his suc- cessors. Accordingly, in the work beiore us, Professor Bonney has endeavored to give greater prominence to those facts of glacial geology on which all inferences maust be founded. The book contains nu- merous illustrations and maps. [New York: D. Appleton & Co. For sale by William Doxey; price $1 50.] THE CRAZIEST THING YET, Le Petit Journal dez Refuzeez—meaning in English not a journal of refuse, but of refused manuscripts—is the very oddest and craziest thing in art and literature that the cult of decadence has yet origi- nated. We have reproduced the poster and book plate for the new journal, which Ernest Peixotto confesses to have de- signed. Where it prints black in this re- production will be in green ink on the poster, except for the background, which will be in vivid purple, while the ring of goops, the border and the lettering will be in yellow, making quite a startling effect, that shows what an artist can dream after a very late supper. James Marion IIis the cuief editor and Gelett Burgess is a responsible accomplice. WILD POPPIES. A volume of verse by Grace Hibbard, a California writer, has been received. Itis dedicated to the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and especially to Califorma Commandery. Many of the pieces are patriotic, and not a few relate to scenes and incidents of the Golden State. The following will serve as a fair example of Miss Hibbard’s poetry: COMPENSATION. Dark clouds rolled over the sky, And but one star could I see: I cried in my wild despair. “Let the bright star shine for me!” But the purple clouds rolled on And hid the star from my sight; When lo! where the clouds had been The fair moon was shining bright. Buffaio, N. Y.: Charles Wells Moulton* publisher.] THE FOLLY OF EUSTACE. A small book containing three stories by Robert 8. Hichens, author of “An Imagin- ative Man” and “The Green Carnation.” | Thomas Slater's advertisement on page 8. [New York: Har- | 1t appears to us that these stories have seen the light of day hefore this. This is true of one of them in particular, “The Collaborators,” which appeared in Lip- pincott’s, if we mistake not. It must be said, however, that these ex- amples of fiction are well and powerfully written. The{ are designed with the in- tention of holding the reader’s attention, and they have succeeded admirably in so doing. The stories lose nothing in the re- publishing, and surely this is/praise, in- deed. [New York: D. Appleton & Co. For sale by William Doxey; price 75 cents.] TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL In this work, compiled by the editor of ‘““Interscholastic Sport’” in Harper's Round Table, the intention has been not to con- vey information to the layman of sport, but rather to aid and instruct the young athlete who is so situaced that he cannot secure the personal training and instruc- tion available to those who live in large cities or who attend schools and colleges where physical instruction forms part of the regular work. Many notable athletic events are illustrated from instantaneous photographs, and careful exvlanations of the methods of leading athletes of the day are given. The book also contains chap- ters full of good suggestions on bicycling for men and bicycling for women. [New York: Harper & Brothers, publishers. For sale by A. M. Robertson; price $1 25.] CUBA Al\:; THE CUBANS. 4 This is a translation from the Spanish of Raimundo Cabrera by Laura Guiteras. The book has special interest for American readers at the present time, viewing the relations which exist between the United States and the combatants, the mother country and her colonists. The orignal work was published in 1887 and ran through eight editions in the Spanish, commanding attention at the hands of legislators in the two countries. THE UTILITY AND BEAUTY OF DRAWING. A little pamphlet bearing the above title has reached this office. Itis from the | pen of Florence D. Jackson of Haywards, Cal. This lady was formerly principal and instructor at the Woman’s Institute of Technical Design. She has devoted much time to the study of her subject, and with od result, judging by the short essay before us. LITERARY NOTES. The Peter Paul Book Company of Buf- falo will publish June 20 a “Dictionary of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Tonawanda and Vicinity,” with maps and illustrations. Encouraged by the success in England of Stanley Waterloo’s novel, “A Man and a Woman,” Messrs. A. & C. Black have just published an edition for England of **An 0dd Situation,” by the same author, | with an introduction by Sir W. Besant, which is_likely to give rise to more or less acrimonious discussion. The American edition of the latter has just been issued by Way & Williams, Chicago. The frontispiece of the July Scribner’s is from a painting by Walter Gay. The Mr. Gay’s cousin, the well-known author of “Day and Night Stories,”” T. R. Sulli- van. Stephen Crane’s ‘‘Maggie, a Girl of the Streets,” has just been published by the the Messrs. Appleton. The book was rinted, but never published before. Mr. fiowells, who has been Mr. Crane’s liter- ary godfather, says that itis the best thing that he has written. The story has been revised and recast since it was first printed and is altogether new, so far as the public is concerned. M. Bernard Lazare of Paris, who 1s en- gaged just now in a lively polemic joust with Edouard Drumont, the celebrated anti-Semite, 1s at work on_a novel to be called “Les Porteurs des Torches.”” This will be the author’s first important contri- bution to fiction, though he is well known as a writer on sociai, political and eco- nomic subjects. His novel, which will be ready for the autumn season, will reflect M. Lazare’s views on the matter of social reforms. M. Lissagarey has almost finished a his- tory of the French commune, based on the official Communist records, which were long supposed to have been de- stroyed, but were found some time ago. French professors of English seem dis- osed to write poetry. The example of Stephane Mellarme is weli known. M. A. Angeilier, professor of English at Lille University, is about to follow in the foot- steps of hit colleague, His first volume of verse, ‘A I’ Amie Perdue,” will soon be out. Charles Vermaitre, the author of a num- ber of books dealing with special aspects | of Parisian life, has ready a popular ac- count of Old Paris. The volume is to be called ‘“‘Paris Historigue.” The third volume of P. de ia Gorce’s history of the Second Empire is to be issued this month. John Ashton’s book on the manners, fashions, customs and life of the reign of | ‘William IV will be issue:l by Messrs. Chap- man in London this morth. The first volume in the Wolseley series of military translations is now being pre- pared in England and should be ready | soon. It is the letters on strategy written | by the late Prince Kraft Hohenlohe-Ingel- fingen. Anthony Hope will bring out in the au- tumn, through the F. A. Stokes Company, a series of short stories, “The Heart of | Princess Osra.” | _Bret Harte’s new story and Jerome K. | Jerome's latest piece of fiction have both | been secured by the Ladies’ Home Journal for immediate publication. Secretaries Olney and Carlisle recently consented, for the first time since they held office, to be photographed seated at their desks. The pictures were, taken at | the' request of the Ladies’ Home Journal, and will be used to_illustrate ex-President Harrison’s article describing the workings of the State Department in the July num- ber of that magazine. “A Cycle of Cathay,” by Dr. W. A. P. Martin, late Pra!idcnt of the Imperial Tungwen College, Japan, which was to have been issued during April, has been delayed to admit of the insertion of much additional matter and will appear early in the autumn. It is a record of the impor- tant movements in Chinese affairs during the past sixty years, as they could be known only to one in high official position. There will be about seventy-five illustrations, many of them from native drawings. The book will be issued by the Fleming H. Revell Company, which announces also a “'Life of Robert Whitaker McAll”’ An expurgated eaition of “Tom Jones’ is in course of preparation by Mrs. J. M. Fielding, the wife of the novelist's grand- son, and will soon be pul ‘hed in Lon- don. A biographical sketch of Fielding will ucomfimgethe story. Messrs. Herbert 8. Stone & Co. of Chi- cago are preparing for immediate publica- tion a translation from the Italian of Ga- briele d’Annunzio entitled ‘‘Episcopo ana Company.”’” D’Annunzio is the best-known and undoubtedly the most gifted of mod- ern Italian noyelists, and his work has been the sensation of the last few yearsin France and Italy. The translation has been done by Myrta Leonora Jones. Mr. Henry M. Blossom's book, shortly to be published by the same house, will be called *‘Checkers: A Hard-Luck Story.” Mlle. Taine, only child of the historian, has been married in Paris to M. Paul Dubois, son of the late director of the School of Fine Arts. She was brought up as a Protestant, but was married in a Ro- man Catholic church. Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. wiil publish “My Literary ,” by Kate Sanborn, an amusing and picturesque account of ani- mals in literature. Messrs. Harper & Bros. published this week the following novels: ‘*‘The Under Side of Things,” by Lilian Bel!, *‘Jerry the Dreamer,” va Will Payne, and ‘‘Honor Ormthwaite,” by the author of “Lady Jean’s Vagaries’; and new editions of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” and Hardy’s ‘“Wessex Tales.” Kalamazoo, Mich., is famous for celery, See picture suggested a remarkably dramatic | story which appears in this number by | RUSSIA IN CALIFORNIA. Once the Czar Laid Claim to Part of the Golden Coast. He Had a Stronghold at Fort Ross, in Sonoma County. An Interesting History of the Early Russian Settlements in This State. Every student of American history knows that by ukase in 1822 the Emperor of Russia asserted his ownership of the whole northwestern coast of America, from Bering Sea southward to 51 degrees north latitude, and warned all foreigners not to come within 300 miles of the coast, and that this country's protest and the negotiations which followed resulted in the line of demarcation being fixed at 54 deg. 40 min. That is Alaska’s southern boundary to this day. Not so well known, however, are the facts with reference to the daring oceupation by the Russians of the terri- | tory of California in the early years of the present century. Hon. R. A. Thompson of Santa Rosa has treated the latter sub- ject at length and with much detail in his paper, just published, entiiled ‘‘The Rus- sian Settlement in California, Known as | Fort Ross; Founded 1812, Abandoned | 1841. Why the Russians Came and Why They Went.” Mr. Thompson has per- formed a work of no little importance to this State in a historical sense. He shows that, when the re- gion north of San Francisco Bay was occupied by order of Alexander Baranoff, the bold and energetic head of the Russian-American Fur Company, it was undoubtedly Baranoff’s intentiou to hold it against its then owners for all time, “and his succassors would have done so, | but for the timely promulgation in 1823 of | the Monroe doctrine, which gave notice to all the world that no occupation of Ameri- | can territory by European powers would | be tolerated bv the United States.”” Al- | though the Russian settlement in Califor- | nia was not mentioned in the agreement of 1824 with reference to the 54.40 parallel, still it involved the abandon- ment of such territory and put an end to any farther encroachments in California. In 1811 the Russian agents fixed upon a site for a fort and settlement, and it was called Fort Ross. ‘“‘As to the exact orig- inal meaning of the word Ross,” says Mr. Thompson, “there seems to be a dif- ference of opinion; butit is vertain that the people of the Volgza were formerly | called Rus, and the Russians generaily | were calied the people of Ross, and the country is yet called Rossia, or Russia.” Fort Ross is in Sonoma County. In | 1812 it was a fortified village, and in the fort twelve cannon were mounted, but the number of cannon was afterward in- creased to forty. The investizations by the Spanish authorities in 1813 and_the results are narrated, and the story of Fort | Rossis carried down to the time when the Mexicans asserted themselves in 1840, and as the latter refused to cede any territory to Russia, Governor Wrangell of Ross sold the fort and it was abandoned in 1841, One of the purchasers was General John A. Sutter, #ho afterward disposed of his interest (1845) to William Benitz, who had purchased the site as part of a Mexican land grant. The old settlement is now the property of G. W. Call, who preserves, as best he can, the old buildings and such relics as are not perishable. During all those eighty-three years the little - belfry and dome of the Russian chapel at Ross have stood bravely facing the heavy win- ter storms. The wmm&&rs are partly decayed. Of the apple- planted by the original settlers some fifty are alive and bear apples every year. This is all that is left of a place that once boasted 400 o souls. [~anta Rosa: Sonoma Democrat Pubtishing Company, publishers.] TARTARIN ON THE ALPS. This is a new edition, and a very hand- somely illustrated one, of an old hook by Alphonse Daudet. To those who are familiar with the adventures of that re- doubtable Munchausen-like individual Tartarin of Tarascon little need be said to introduce this further account of his ad- ventures. The book under review is every bit as lively and quite as entertain- ing as was the former one. The work of | translating the present edition has been admirably performed by Henry Frith, while the pictures are drawn by Aranda, De Beaumont, Montenard, Myrbach and Rossi. |New York: Macmillan & Co. For sale by William Doxey; price $L.] SUNSET PASS, The war stories of Captain Charles King, 80 realistic and thrilling, find a widening demand as the author’s merits come to be more generally recognized, and new editions of bis earlier novels are therefore being- turned out to satisfy the popular appetite, ‘‘Sunset Pass, or Running the Gantlet Through Apache Land,” first published six years ago, bas just appeared in the series of Iilustrated American Novels. For exciting adventure, daring exploits and hair-breadth escapes this story is close up to the front in the ranks. [New York: American Publishers’ Cor- poration, publishers. For sale by Doxey; price 50 cents.] NEW TO-DAY. l6 Gives Fres Beautiful articles richly decorated. Also white poreelain and china ware. 3 cups and saucers, 3 plates, 1 vegetable dish, 1 salad bowl, 1 bowl, 1 meat dish, 1 honey dish, Custards, mustard pots, cream pitchers, 8 table tumblers, butter dish, Bugar bowl, berry dish, rose bowls, Celery and olive dishes, knives, Forks and spoons, 6 berr{ dishes and A large lot of other useful dishes. YOUR CHOICE FRER With Each Pound. 5°c TEAS, any kind. Coiima Pure Spices, Colima Baking Powder, —_—AT— , (reat American Fmporting Tea (i, MONEY SAVING STORES: 1344 Market st. 146 Ninth st. 2510_Mission st. 218 Third st. 140 Sixth st. 2008 Fillmore st. 617 Kearny st. 965 Market st. 1419 Polk st. 3906 Sixteenth st. 521 Montgomery ave. 104 Second st. 333 Hayes st. 3259 Mission st. 52 Market st. (Headquarters), S. F. ‘Washin; st. 616 E. Twell n P-blgt: e. 0:1 Brnd‘v’:‘.’y‘.hO‘le_. 1355 Park st., Alameda. 105, ar