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

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 1896. 23 ANOTHER TALE OF GALIFORNIA SOGIETY BY A NATIVE. “The Quicksands of Pactolus,” a Novel. Stories of California life are becoming nu- merous. We are rapidly acquiring quite a presentable quantity of literature concerning men and women and the way we live here. That the quality is not equal to the quantity ving. It is easier to produce get genius. Nevertheless in ater books on the subject there is a dis- to b count given of o manners and morals. If ere is not more of genius there is at least aore of truth. Writers have begun to study fornia conditions seriously and are no ger content to use them simply as a means of dispiay 111n the productions of sensa- ions or We have now quite & num- at aim to give a true account f California society, and if they have not al- making a vivid and life- ave at least made something One o of these more serious studies of California life is the newly published novel, T ksanc y Vachell, who is, we believe, himself a Californian. Certainly, he writes as one *to the manner born,” and if his story is not wholly satisfying as & work of art, it has at least the merit of being sympathetic aud of showing & fair degree of appreciation of the real manhood that 1s found even in those classes of California people who have been t often the subjects of ridicale or denun- )y facile scribblers who have thought selves cultured by mocking at rything of the Western type. The story, as may be inferred from the title, th the temptations, the difficulties dangers which surround those who ave acquired wealth too rapidly to acquire t the same time an understanding o its iful uses and the fine art of fitly managing In the stream of Pactolus there are quick s as well as sands of gold, and itnotin- ¥ happens that in getting the one ious or ambitious men fall into the er. That illustrations of such a theme can ound many times repeated in California ety goes withcut saying, and there can be uestion. therefore, that both the tale and the moral are fairly enough characteristic to tly considered representative of Califor- to show then ev Ho the rabundance of con- iracters describe themselves . and explain their motives in flow of talk from the first Very few scenes are de- heppened. Nearly ne personage in the g it to another. This excess of gives the book som and ologue o dramatic form, but does not give it vitality or intensity. In fact the infrequently drags, and the reader glad of a change, even it were € more than a descrition of a mansion, Iroom or a bit of California scenery by of the book are the excellence of itself asa s events probable ), the val of the characters sence of eny attempt to repre- onaires.as vulgar parvenus, our rls as tomboys, and our average Citi- tters. There isenough reu ce in the story to inc atinue reading it despite the some carisome talk and aiter all can be essily fair, however, 1o add that sonversations are not tedious. Some of g by the swingof an at- hings, and othess have e of truth concerning our ss leaders and are therefore 2 on that account. occupied meinly with the af- n of Rufus Barrington, & who lives in one of the palaces on 1and who delights in the posses- of money mainly for the power it gives m. Proud of his children, but too absorbed his ambitious schemes to give much atten- to them, he contents himself with being eral with his money on their behali and their own way. 1 be independent. He regards it as American principle that each indi alshould stand for himself and “hoe his ow.” Itisin the narration of the thin; he two sons and_dsughter of the mil aire did in hoeing their own row, and the the daughter and one of the sons rade of it, thet the story consists. The hero of the story is the younger son, Dick 1gton, who at the beginning of the book es bome from Harvard animated by lier- ambitions and cultured up to a Boston iard ot meorality, from which height he nes to look down with some condemna- pon the means and methods by which sther manages to give other men experi- ile he accumulates money. Given an t position in his father’s bank, he gets ight into the schemes of the old million- and finds them by no means in accordance n be. In one instance Dick finds that his father, | ¢ acting as the director of a railway com- v, lets contracts to himself asa constructor of the road and makes enormous profits out of the jobs. This condition of affairs perplexes Dick. “Father,” he says, “‘I don’t understand ebout you being your own contractor. Can a stee make money out of his own trust?” this question, after some parrying. the onaire answers: )t easy 1o explain. ppreciate You have not been through the mill. hing of what I have had to contend th. Goodlord! when I stop and think of what and my friends have done I am amazed. We saved this country from secession! Without our East-and-West road the conflicting interests of the vast countries lying east and west of. the Missouri would have culminated in civil war. You may smile, but I firmly betieve it. s and itis true that we made pots of money, but we played for a big stake. We risked all we had ard was commensurate.. All safd and Looking back I can Yon would not under- and our re we saved the country. sec nothing to rezret. Inall my deals I have re- ed my self-respect. You can put this down as ‘A man who loses his self-respect can 4rdly hope to be successtul. He must believe in rrington expanded his broad chest and course, he continued, I have told you again \gain that 1 do not pose as a philanthropist, Jougn Ihave done my share in thatline, too. 1tion the people. The an Eut you m: of my friends very properly said, is a damned | fool. ~You prate of tnelr interests. Let | (hem look out for their intcrests. They wield the power. They can confiscate every | twe have if they choose to use that power. lain of bribery and corruption, and co What rot! The responsibility uaturally | « with them. Let them bexiu at the bottom and punish beir gutter po'iticians. No, no, my decr boy, YOU MUSL cODSen. AL YOUT e to take coriain thin:g on trust. Yon must believe in me. vill be conceded that these words are not 1iairly put into the mouth of & character in- ded to represent & type of the millionaires of San Francisco. Nor is there anything else 2 of Rufus Barrington that counld be ered & caricature of either the manners made men and leaaing citizens. Bar- rington’s eidest son, Henry, and his son-in- Jaw, Heoctor Desmond, are also fairly repre- tative of the gilded youth of our naiive e one gives elf to speculation the other to dis on. Both come to 1, but Henry is aved from ruin by a bold of his brother Dick, while Hector goes his profligate way and is lost. Helen Barrington will not be accounted a picture of the typical or the ideal California zirl. There is nothing eecentric in her curves our sel 8 F £ nct improvement in the quslity of the ac- | of Pactolus,” by Horace An- | | nor gaudy in her coloring. She is reckless, | passionate, independent of spirit and given to hoemng her own row, but otherwise is not dif- ferent from the lay figures that serve for women in most novels whether of East or West. This character is one of the least satis- factory in'the story, which by the way is not a novelty in novels, for there are few writers in any country who can make a good lifelike pic- ture of 8 woman who is not conventional. The moral of the story is mainly in the wrecked life of Helen. Not until that ruin | came, says the author, “did Mrs. Barrington | throw off those grosser vapors which had ob- scured so long the lightof a sweet, simple soul. Not till then did Rufus Barrington reap the | harvest of his own sowing and realize that his | daughter's act was largely the logical conse- quence of her accumulation of his own | | materialism and cynicism. The iconoclast | | had broken many an idol and at last his own. | | The lesson was learned and the inevitable | question followed—a question he was not pre- | pared to answer: ‘At whose door were these fruits to be laid?’ | The story cannot be rated as & strong work, but it is full of promise. The author is evi- ‘dcmly serious in his study of California life and aims to picture the truth. He has done enough in this book to encourage the expects- tion that he will do much better in another, and give usa novel of San Francisco society that | [ the cultured people of California will not hesi- | i | | tate to recommend to the most fastidious critics of the East or of Europe. Henry Holt & Co.] Jox: | 5 The Care and Culture of Men. | | Under the title of “The Care and Culture of | | Men” President Jordan of Stanford has pub- | lished & volume containing a series of articles | | and addresses dealing with the ceneral sub- | ject of higher education. The greater number | oralizings of some | Itisin fact a | losophy of life that young peo- | Harvard ideas of what business ought | e motives which govern my | Uncle ‘Sam helped | ople, as one | 1—say my stoul- | % 3 the responsibliity on—say my SEORM | ;0 pere are six stories in the volume at | e morals of some of the most eminent of | and the more important of the papers are ad- | dresses delivered before universityites, but some of them are treatises on various educa- | tional subjects which have been published heretofore in magazines and reviews. he scope of the series can. be fairly esti- | mated from the titles of the leading addresses which are as follows: “Th “The Value of Higher ucation,” Evolution of the College Currieulum e Nation’s Need of Men,” “The Care aud Culture of Men,” ““The Scholar in the Community,” *‘The Scholar and the tate,” *“The Higher Education of Women,” ience and the Colleges” and “‘The Proces- sion of Life.” The general tone of all these discourses is that of a scientific optimist. President Jor- n is not blind to the defects in our seeial g m nor to the cerruptions that manifest ves in our politics. He points these in and sgain, in order to em- educated men to have m i however, cannot come until the people really desire taem. We shall have such lead- ers when we seek men to represent our highest convictions and not merely ou in- terests. That such leaders will be sought for before long Dr. Jordan strongly maintains, for ashe says, to doubt it would be to despair of the Repu blic. | that learning may be advanced, but that th advancement of learning may lead to purer attained through the effc reformers. He is too firm a disci; philosophy of evolution to expect that men can be changed by a change of statutory enact- ments. He looks for the improvement in the | conditions of Nation to come largely | through the influence of men of worth anl culture, and takes as the motto of hie volume the saying of Emerson, “The best political economy is the care and culture of men.” Thi text furnishes the theme for most of the art cles in the volume, but there are severel relat- ing to the course of study pursued in our col- leges and to questions of educational method that will be found almost equally interesting. The volume is dedicated simply “To Jane Lathrop Stanford, sufficiently significant of the author’s mental attiude toward the world to be worth study in this connection: | 1 know a castle in the heart o spain, | Builded of stone as if to stand for aye, ‘With tile roof red against the azure sky; For skies are bluest in the heart of Spain. S0 fair a castle men build not again. Neath its broad arches, in its courtyard fair, And through its cloisters, open everywhers; I wander as I will in sun or rain. Its inmost secrets unto me are known For mine the cestle is. Nor mine alone— "Tis thine dear heart to have ana hold alway, *Tis all the world's likewise as mine and thine, For whoso passes through its gates shall say, *I dwelt within this castle—it is mine.” the The Under Siae of Things. Love affairs in West Point society take up the greater part of Lillian Bell’s new novel, | “The Under Side of Things,” and her endeavor | seems to be, ina way, to picture society behind the scenes as well as in front of them; to de- scribe its pains and heartaches as well as it fleeting pleasures. Alice Copeland’s father is & member ot the board of visitors to West Point, and she accompanies him and her mother to the military post. admired and flattered by the elegant Senator Cobb, and her motheris inclined to the idea that a marriage with the Senator would be the very making of Alice in the social world. But there isa young artilleryman at West Point named Gordon Councilman, who lays siege to Alice’s heart, and there is a maiden named Kate Vandevoort, who is the embodiment of wisdom and goodness, whose in- fluence is given In Gordon’s behalf, and whose aid brings victory to Gordon. M-s. Copeland, always disagreeable, strenuously | objected to this match, but Alice and Gordon marry in spite of her. Aftera few years Alice’s bappiness dies when Gordon loses his life nursing nhis men during a yellow fever epi- demic. The story of her widowhood is pa- thetic. In one part of the story the author | accounts for the adult sense of humor and the cynieism in certain children in the fact that | “ithey had been parties from their babyhood'to the marital unhappiness of their father and mother, and the constent companions of clever but unwise grown people, who openly manner which could not fail of impressing the | duilest intellects” [New York: Harper & | Brothers. Forsale by A. M. Robertson; price $125.] Wessex Tales. A fine new edition of Thomas Hardy's ““Wessex Tales” has been received. Since demand for his earlier works has been increas- that came to the author’s knowledge. In ©An Imaginative Woman'™ Mrs. Marchmill | fell in love with Robert Trewe, a man she | never saw. Trewe died and Mrs. Marchmill mourned for him. After her death her hus- band found a resemblance between his young- est child and the photograph of Trewe; and, believing his wife had been unfaithiul, dis- carded the child. “The Withered Arm” rests on & most quaint superstition connected with | witcheraft and & most horrible cure for the be- witched. In “Fellow Townsmen is an oddchain of circumstagges whicl operated to separate a man and woman during their lives, despite the fact that they loved each other. *‘The Distracted Preacher” was the Rev. Mr. Stock- | His plea for higher education is not merely | and closes with a sonnet | There, Alice fs | discussed social problems before them in a | Hardy wrote ‘‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” the | hand, and they are generally based on facts | ; AN ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR A MODERN ART POSTER, BY A «GALL " ARTIST. °F 1896, . TEN MINUTES WITH THE POETS | CIRCUMSTANCE. | Where shall thy wing find rest for all its might? oy | Where shall thy lidiess eve, that scours the night | Trusting a golden hour I set my sail Grow blank in utter death? Where meliow winds prevail: When shall thy thousand years have stripped thee | | 1 was alone upon tne waters wide: No dear companion uestied at my side: urrents beat agalnst my shallop frail: not stem the tide. Invuinerable spirit of the air, And seal th nt-breath? Not till thy bosom hugs the icy wave, Not till thy palsied limbs sink in that grave, Caught by the shriekin: blast. And hurled upon (he ses with broad wings locked, On an eternity of waters rocked, Defiant to the last ! CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. A hand invisible, but firm and bold, | | My fixed helm controlled; On, on I drifted to a glowing land, Wherein the air was fraugnt with odors bland; ‘The ripples slid in many a shining fold Along the sloping sana. | Peace made her nest within a sheltered hower; | The forests were irr flower; A GOSPEL OF AUTUMN, And there I heard a voice, with heart elate, A winning voice, prophetic, like a fate— A voice that blesied with me the happy hour | That bore me to my mate. | CHARLES WARREN STODDARD. —— BALBOA. Across these leaves of goid, Under the autumn sun, What solemn gospels a 1 read them one by one. unrolled! Behola how small a bud, render. and frail, and brief, But nourished by the tree’s sweet bloo” 1s brought to perfect leaf! Balboa salled a thousand leagues of sea, | Pierced forest depths and scaled the mountain | | high, | With his small band, beneath a torrid sky; | And when alone he reached the summit, he With hands uplifted ana on bended knee, | saw the Pacific spread before his eye. His lips gave utterance to one glad cry: “In God's name, for Spain’s king, do I ciaim thee!” Behold how frail a bough, Its pliable, slim frame Quite stiffened with the frost, is now In leaiage, all aflame! Lo! as the prophet heard 01 0ld, I clearly hear rom every burning bush God's Word Outspoken to mine ear! CHABLES WARREN STODDARD, He was the highest type of pioneer: He conqyered obstacles by strength of will, And though beset with difficulties, still With a brave heart, he toiled on without fear, And having faith e won. Through well or ill, Thus we must Iike Balboa persevere. —HENRY COYLE, In Orphan’s Bouquet. THE ALBATROSS, The swelling bud of yesterday The blushing rose is now: And music-breathing mernings sway The heart, from every bough. Time cannot age thy sinews, nor the gale Batter the network of thy feathered mail, Lone sentry of the deep! Among the crashing caverns of the storm, | With wing unfettered, 10! thy frigid form Is whirled in dreamless sleep! Ob, it is well to hear June sing 1ts praise above—below, ‘While all the arching heavens ring And hearts and waters glow. —JAMES RILEY, In Orphan’s Bouguet. OF TO-DAY. COUNTRY MEETIN’-HOUSE. I want to go to meetin’ once jist like I used to do At Salem, when the world was fresh an’ earth seemed bloomin’ new; | I want to meet the plain old folks 'at always gath- ered there, An’ smelled the clover in the fields a-sweetenin' all the air, While hitched (o shade trees and the fence the lazy horses stood. fur away the raincrow sent his warnin' through the wood; 1 want 0 hear the only cholr—the congregation— sing The 807 g5 as sweet as Miriam sung, 'at made the welkin’ ring! Aw’ I want to go to Salem once, an’ stand around the | door, | A-shakin’ hands with them whose hands I mar not grapple more. 1 wonder if the Grifiln girls are stil! as falras | t en— With eses as blue as larkspurs wus s-growin’ in the glen? 1 wonder ef the roses grow out where my mother sleeps, An’ef the cricket through the night his lonely vigll keeps? would there rise, ef T was near, within my memory’s ear, voice in such sweet tones as now I somehow never hear? Her Iwant to g0 to meetin’ once among the well- known way An’ watch the brooklet smilin’ back when sun- beam Kiss its face; AN’ hear the winds where niggerheads an’ fron- weeds grow tall, An’ across the fields the orioles in meller'd voices | call! An’ then when all is said an’ done, an’ Death shall whisper low, 1do not think I'd mind it much, but ruther long t0 go Ef near old Salem T could sleep—hushed sigh an’ laugh an’ prayer— Though dead, right happy still to know that I was sleepin’ there! —Memphis Commercial Appeal. toms. “The Withered Arm,” originally pub- | pays Lydia the moneyshe demands to keep | liched in Blackwood’s Magazine in 1888, is ac- | the child us her own and preserve the | knowledged a strong story, but itis, in addi- | secret of its true relationship, Homor is tion, & horrible one. [Naw York:~Harper & | haunted by the fecling that she has done | Brothers, puolishers. For sale by A. M. Rob- | & deep wrong. After much suffering on ac- | ertson; price $1 50.] count of the secret, Honor is made aware that | R — | her husband knows about the chila n Lydia's | Th- S:a's of the Mighty. | care. Then the child is brought to the Ormth- The full title of this dramatic tale is “The | waite household, where the truth comes from Seats of the Mighty; Being the Memoirs of | its oWn lips. Honor’s babe had really died in Captain Robert Maray, Sometime an Officer in | 118 infancy and Lydia had imposed on her in | the Virginia Regiment and Afterward of Am- | her heartless greed for gold. Thus the clouds herst's Regiment.” The scene of the story is | 1it 8Way and the last scene shows Sir Gregory Iaid in Quebec at the time immediately pre.| Ormthwaite and his fair ‘“‘;\_Y“Peffec_!}yhanpy ceding the capture of the great Canadian “g contented couple. [New York: Harper stronghold by the British. The author, Gil- | & Brothers, publishers. For sale by A. M. Rob- bert Parker, has inserted some faithful histori. | €Ftson; price $1.] cal elements, thereby giving more strength and vividness to his fiction. While s hostage among the French forces at Quebec Robert Ma- ray fallsin love with a French gentleman’ | with an unusually fine number of 250 pages. daughter, Alixe Duvarney. He unfortunately | As a handbook of information on all current gives offense to a high offictal of the city, who | questions in politics, international relations, therenfter sceks an excuse to make Maray suf- | science, etc., it is exceedingly valuable to | fer. Suddenly the news of Braddock’s defeat |every one who wishes to post himself on any and death reaches Quebec along with some | topic. It is not confined in itsreview to United papers found on one of the prisoners written | States matters, but covers the world. The by Maray and containing muen information | present number (first quarter, 1896) opens with | | concerning_the fortress of Quebec. Captain | an exhaustive nccount of the discovery of | Maray is therefore arrested as & spy and he | X rays by Professor Rontgen. Among other undergoes long captivity. Alixe is faithful | prominent topics exhaustively reviewed are through it all and when her lover's doom | the near-Eastern and far-Eastern political sit- seems nigh she secretly weds him in prison | uations, the work of Congress, the bond sale and then plans his escape, together with that | tariff and reciprocity and the progress of sci- of other British captives. Maray and his com- | ence, art, education, music, drama, religion. panious are just in time 1o join the attacking | There are sixty-five illustrations, portraits, forces of General Wolfe and_guide the English | mupg, ete. [Buffalo, N. Y.: Garretson, Cox & forces up the heights to the Plains of Abraham. | Co,, publishers; A. S. Johuson, Ph.D., editor; After the vietory over General Montcalm's |'§1 50 a year; single number, 40 cents.] forces Maray and his bride are reunited, the AT T latter having been an inmate of aconvent The book contains many thrilling incidents and en- chrips the reader’s interest from beginning to end. The volume containsillustrations of peo- ple, places and events of the time to which the story relates. [New York: D. Apvleton & Co., publishers. For sale by Doxey ; price $1 50.] Current History. “Current History” begins its seventh year The Industrial Army. Fayette Stratton Giles is the author of a book, “The Industrial Army,” which discusses certain proposed means of relieving and elim- inating poverty and crime. He remarks that “‘these means are intended to conter upon the individual economic and locative freedom, personal freedom and equality of opportunity, and through these to achieve a higher civiliza- tion and a greater human happiness, conse- quent upon the proposed attainment of & higher moral, mental and physical devglop- ment of the individual.” The author endeav- ors to show in detail that, without un- just or harmful curtailment of indi- | vidual liberty or industrial {reedom, an equitable and attainable form of nuity, or & co-operative savings fund, may be devised and maintained by feasible and | since her husband’s disappearance. Honor Ormthwaite. The author of “Lady Jean’s Vagaries” has sketched a noble woman in the heroine of her new story, “Honor Ormthwaite.” Honor Clay, separated from her worthless husband aud leaving her baby with her cousin, Lydia At- | kins, becomes a servant for a farmer’s wife. | Here she meets Gregory Ormthwaite, & wealthy | member of Parliament, who falls in love with her. Her husband, Job Clay, is dead, and she dale, who went down into the West of Engiand | end fell in love with Lizzie Newberry. The | bus been led to believe that her child also has result was, he broke the law and became a | passed away. She marries Gregory and then smuggler. In these stories, especially in the | Lydia comes to her to tell her that her child is last, which is the longest, the author finds | alive. This thought preys upon her and in much humor in the peasants and their cus- | order to avoid disgracing nher husband, Honor just individual equivalents rendered, which shall guaranteé and furnish upon demand to each acquitted member of society, reasonable material comforts during the term of his natpgal life. “This end may be attained by a limited period of co-operative industrialism, to be preceded by a preparatory modification of socialogical and economic conditions, in har- mony with liberty and justice.” [New Yor Baker & Taylor, publishers; 12mo, cloth, 175 | pages; price $1 25.] Godey’s Magazine. The June number of “Godey’s Magazine” is full of good summer reading. It begins with a vivid account of the annual snake dance of the Moquis of Arizona,and among its other features are: “The Beauty of Mary Stuart,” an interesting comparison of the accounts and pictures extant of the unhappy Queen of Scots; and a critical article on “The Art of Julia Mar- lowe Taber,”” tte actress. These and the fashion department have a particular attrac- tiveness to the fair sex. A fitting proportion of fiction is given. “A Constantinople Abduc- tion,” by Clarence Herbert New, and Leon Mead’s “The Belle of the Dinner,” are particu- larly fine. > A New England Book. Under the title “What They Sav in New Engtand” Clifton Johnson has collected an in- teresting variety of signs, sayings and super- stitions which are or have been current in the New England States. The volume was begun with the ides of collecting for private enter- tainment the remnants of folk lore which are in constant use in many New England house- holds. Not only was the number found to be remarkable, but, according to the compiler, the amount of belief still held in them is as- tonishing. While the majority of these say- ings have a foreign ancestry, they have been changed materially in many instances by being given a peculiarly local twist. For con- venience the matter is classified under numer- ous headings, such asmoney, luck, warts, tea grounds, snakes, love and sentiment, weather, etc., each of which is introduced by an appro- printe design. [Boston: Lee & Shepard. For sale by William Doxey; price $1 50.[ The Bound Century. The half-yearly volume of the Century Maga- zine, just completed (November, 1895-April, 1896), is & gem of beautifully executed typog- raphy and a veritable mine of good literature. This last volume contains, in addition tomany other valuable features, & good installment of Professor Willlam M. Sloane’s ‘“‘Life of Napo- leon,” bringing the reader down as late as the farlure of the Spanish campaign. This, as well 2 7 EXPERIMENTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRIGULTURE. Professor Hilgard’s Annual Report. One of the larges. and most valuable | the poll perhaps is the bracketing of M.Zola volumes, from a practical standpoint, issued | along with Kant, Humboldt and Spinoza with as the other valuable matter contained in the Century, is richly il'ustrated. Some good verse is also presented to ‘he notice of the reader. [New York: The Centary Company. For sale by all bookstores.] in California this year is Frofessor Hilgard’s | recently published “Report of work of the ag- ricultural experiment stations of the Univer- | sity of California.” This illustrated book of | 481 octavo pages is sent free to every citizen | of California who applies for it, and it repre- | sents an enormous amount of energetic and | successful experimentation. The reviewer has | been told by many farmers, fruit-growersand | home-builders in various parts of California | that for their requirements these large annual | reports, edited, and in great part written, by Professor Hilgard, are by far the most useful volumes published in the State. Their repu- tation elsewhere is also very high, and deserv- edly so. The present volume shows how wide & | range of work is being carried on, not only at | Berkeley and at the various experimentand | forestry stations, but all over California, at | Farm Institutes and various other associa- | tions of viticulturists, iruit-growers, dairymen | and farmers generally. This is a particularly important side of the work and does much to popularize the entire university and bring its best men into closer relations with the people. Regent Reinstein’s recent suggestion that at | least fifty meetings should be held annually in | different parts of the State outlines a most de- | sirable policy, and this volume well illustrates | the wealth of practical knowledge possessed by Professor Hilgard and his staff of able asso- ciates. In the velume under consideration listsof the station-workers and of the courses inl agri- culture offered by the university are tollowed by Professor Hilgard’s general review of the work of the year, always an interesting re- | sume, and quite essential to the full under- standing of the body of the book. Nextcomes about 200 pages of reports from the agricul- tural and viticultural laboratories ut Berkeley. It would be impossible to condense into & paragraph the extent and range.of thisdivi- | sion, which must be of interest to many hun- dreds of land-owners, embracing as it does re- ports upon soils and waters irom many dis- tricts not hitherto studied, studies upon alkall | and alkali soils, fertilization of land, foods, fodder stuffs, sugar beets, California fruits, cansigre, etc. The second main division of the volume, written by Professor Woodworth, is devoted to entomology and plant disesses, nearly forty | pages in all. In these days, when there areso | many exaggerated and ignorant statements | put forth in this field, these simple, reliable chapters are especially valuable to horticul- turists. | The third division, some thirty pages, con- tains a very timely peper on the preparation of fruit specimens for exhibition, & paper on the Russian thistle and & paper on timber physics, the latter illustrating part of the for- estry work of the university. The fourth division is devoted to the culture work of the central station, the four sub-sta- | tions and the two forestry stations. About 150 ; pages are occupied with these topics, which to | many readers will seem one of the most immedi- | ately interesting portions oithe volume. Every line tells of hard, honest and useful work done in this field by the entire staff, from the work- men and foremen of the outlying stations to Professor Hilgard and his colleagues at Berke- ley. Excellent business management, capable and persistent experimentation, carefully in- | te1preted results of value to every department | of agriculture are shown by these close- packed pages, upon the greenhouses and | central station grounds, the botanic garden, the new plants of the 8 votes each. H. A. Hinkson has finished a novel of life at Trinity College, Duplin. It is called “0°Grady of Trinity,” and will be published by Messrs. Lawrence & Bullen of London. They also an- nounce a story by a lady writer, Miss Rossa. The title is ““An Unconventional Gir’ Probably the next volume in the “Keynote Series” will be thatby the Hon. Mrs. Henni- ker, which she entitles “In Scarlet and Grey.” The volume will mmelude a story, “The Specter of the Real,” which was written in collabora- tion with Thomas Hardy. George Horton, the United States Consul at Athens, has written a nistorical story of Greece, which Fisher Unwin will publish in London, under the title, “Constantine.” The late shocking disaster at Moscow has given an immediate interest to the English translation of M. Lebon's psychological study of a crowd, which has been issued under the title “The Mind of the Crowd.” Charles M. Harvey, associate editor of the 8t. Louis Globe-Democrat, wil! publish in July a book on the ‘‘Republican Convention, St. Louis, July 16, 1896,” with a complete history of the Republican party and a survey of National politics since the party’s foundation, etc., and illustrations. The work will be issued by the I. Haas Publishing and Engraving Com- pany, St. Louis, Mo. Messrs. Harper & Bros.’ plans for publication during the mext two months include: “The Silk of the Kine" a novel, by L. McManus, dealing with the eviction of Romen Catholics in Ireland 1n the seventeenth century; “Mrs. Gerald,” by Maria Louise Pool; “Love Is a Spirit.” by Julian Hawthorne; ‘The Pith of Astronomy” (without mathematics), the latest facts and figures as developed by the giant telescopes, by Samuel G. Bayne; ““Tales of Fan- tasy and Fact,” by Brander Matthews; “Rick Dale,” a story for young people, by Kirk Mun- roe; “With My Neighbors,” & number of plain talks to plain people on familiar and homely subjects, by Margaret E. Sangster; “A Story of the Heaveniy Camp-Fires,” by “One With a New Name” ; “Shakespeare, the Boy.” by Wii- liam J. Rolfe, Litt.D.; and “‘Hurpers Diction- ary of Classical Literature and Antiquities,” edited by Professor Harry Thurston Peck. In the Overland Monthly for June W. H. Mills' exhaustive discussion of the question of Japanese competition in manufacturing goods for the market has awakened a wide- spread intereston this coast, which would be the section of the country most affected. A short time ago a book was published which attempted to prove that Marshal Ney was net shotin 1815, but escaped to America and be- came a schoolmaster in North Carolina, where, asalleged, he lately died. To set at rest all doubts in this matter a cousin of Mme. Ney, who is now living in America, contributes to the July Century a family record of Ney's exe- cution, written by Mme. Campan, who was the aunt of Mme. Ney and the author of the “Me- moirs of Marie Antoinette.” McClure’s Magazine for July will have an illustrated paper by Cleveland Moffett, show- ing the exact status, at the present moment, of the horseless carriage, and indicating the im- mense revolution that impends in travel and traflic, now that the horseless carriage has passed the experimental stage. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps will publish in Mc- Clure’s Magazine for July her recollections, which are very intimate and interesting, of Longfellow, Whittier and Holmes. The Peter Paul Book Company of Buffalo an- nounces that it will soon publisk “The Diary vear | of a Peculiar Girl,” by George Austin Wood- (such as modiola and Australian salt bush) the | Ward. The imaginary writer of this diary is new vegetables and fruits, the routineand | the sister of an Episcopal clergyma special work at the various sub-stacions. It | would be & good thing for Caiifornia if more | | of these experiment and forestry stations could | be establishca in other parts of the State where the soil and climnte are widely different from | t: - so1 and elimate of any of the stations now | in existence. It is very evident that every one | of these stations, while benefiting the whole | State, is of especial value to the districtin which it is situated. Lack of space forbids further review of this report, which is a credit to the university. In fact, we shoud be inclined to say that work of this honest, capable sort has more than a local | significance, and is an honor to California and the Pecific Coast, gaining recognition in scien- | tific circles over the United States and Europe, | and doing a really invaluable service in mak- | ing the resourcesof our State known abroad. The indefatigable workers of the university’s | agricultural department are packing their | successive annual renorts so full of facts that | no land-owner can afford to be without them. | As we said at the beginning, the booksare sent without charge to those who will use them. Any farmer who has in his library the | entire series of State University Agricultural Department bulletins and reports, and uses them understandingly, will be greatly helped in his business, J | North American Review. That standard magazine, the North Ameri- can Review, opens this month with a suggest- ive and practical articie by Andrew Carnegie, entitied **The Ship of State Adrift.” The Hon. L C. Parker of Arkansas discusses foreibly the topic, *“How to Arrest the Increase of Hom cides In America,” while “The Outlook for Si ver” is skillfully portrayed by no less an au- thoricy than Dr. Otto Arendt, the acknowl- edged leader of German bimetallists. The sixth and concluding installment of “The Fu- ture Life and the Condition of Man Therein,” by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, is contained in this number. Among theshorter articles ably treated are: “The Loyal West,” by Senator H. M. Teller of Colorado, and “Other Presidents That Might Have Been,” by Joel Benton. Poker Stories. This readable volume is intended to give a real insight into American character as re- vealed by the great American game. Every- body, whether a devotee of the game or not, likes a good poker story, and each in this col- lection is a *‘gem.” The stories have been col- lected and edited with the greatest discrimina- tion, and are admirably arranged under the following cnapter headings: ‘‘Stories Told of Statesmen,” 'Mississippi River Stories,” “Stories Told From the Effete East,” “Stories From the Wild and Woolly West,” Coast Stories,” “Stories of War Times,” iesof High Stakes,” “Superstitions and Hoo- doos,” **Told at the Ananius Club,” ete. There is hardly a dull page in it from the preface— where the author refers to the remark of Tombstone Thomas, ““that his partner was the luckiest man he ever saw, as he once held five aces and only got shot in the leg” —to the last page of the volume, where it is told how Billy Emerson, the minstrel, and friend of King Kalakaus, used to say to his endman: “When will three aces beat four kings?”’ The endman having given it up, he would explain that he held the three aces, and against him were the king of clubs, the king of diamonds, the king of hearts and King Kalakaua. [New York: Francis P. Harper, publisher; paper cover, 50 cents.] LITERARY NOTES. Plebiscites of the ‘‘best book” order do not seem to appeal to the Russian mind. The Westminster Gazette tells us that M. Lederle, & Russian editor, recently sent out a circular to some 2000 more or less eminent persons in various walks of life, with the request that they should state the hundred authors whom they most admired, Only eighty-six replies were received, and of these fifteen were ex- planatory of their writer's refusal to comply Here are some of the figures: Pushkin 40, Turgeneif 37, Shakes- peare 33, Lermontof 32, Tolstoy 30, Gogol 28, Goethe 26, Sir Walter Scott 24, Byron 19, Homer 18, Dostoiefsky and Schiller 17, Heine with the request. it is begun in her twentieth year, aud covers a period of sixteen years. She isof a decidedly intellectual turn of mind, and, unlike most girls, cares but little for society, in the broader sense of the word. Much of the contest is pre- sented in a crisp, parrative form, which carries the reader on to the end. The book contains a faithful portrayal of such characters as we all meet in the rounds of evervday life. Many very attractive ana beautifully {llus- trated articles are given in Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly for July, and also several excellent short stories. The leading feature is a description of General Robert E. Lee's part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancel- lorsville, written by Colonel John J.Garnett of the Confederate States Artillery, and form- ing the sixth paper in the magazine’s great “Lee Series.” The article is profusely illus- trated with portraits and battle scenes. In “A Glimpse of Dungeness” Frederick A. Ober describes the burial-place of ‘“Light-Horse Harry’’ Lee. Another feature of this number is an arucle on **Colonial Homes of Virginia,” by Virginia Cousins Mavo, accompanied by more than a dozen picture: Neglected Colds mark the beginning of every Spring-time, and only too often they are the beginning of the story of which Con- sumption is the end. Scott’s Emulsion of Cod-liver Oil with the Hypophosphites will soothe a cough, heal the inflamed mem- branes, and restore the parts to a healthy con- dition. It will do this promptly and perma- nently if taken in time. An ounce of prevention is a bottle of Scott’s Emuision. Don’t ex- TO-DA stitutes when you can get Scott’s Emulsion for a few cents more. RADWAY’S PILLS, Purely vegetable, mild and reliable. Secure Co; plete digestion and absorption of the food, cangs healthy action of the Liver and renderthe Sowels and Dante 13. The most interesting result of uatural in their operat on without griving