The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 19, 1896, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 19, 1896. 23 THE TROUT IN LABRADOR Glorious Fishing in the Hudson Bay Region “The Ouananiche and Its Canadian Environment.” E. T. Chambers A Book That Hunters and Anglers Will Liove—A Plea for the Preservation of the Forests A book which will certainly prove of great interest as well as of value to sportsmen of our Eastern States and of the eastern proy- inces of Caneda is ~The Ouananiche and its Canadian Environment.” by E. T. Chambers. It contains an account of the fishing waters of the Province of Labrador, the principal game fish in them, and some delightful descrip- tions of fishing trips and incidents, The region in which the ouananiche, a game species of salmon trout, flourishes and has its sole abiding place, is the great peninsula which reaches from Hudson Strait on the north to the St. Lawrence on the south, and from Hudson Bay oo the west to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic on the east. This vast territory is fully 1000 miles from east to west and 1200 miles from north 1o south. The region abounds with magnificent lakes and rivers, is almost wholly unexplored and affords for fishermen the best sporting grounds in the world from the time the ice breaks up in May to the beginning of fall. The recent construction of the Quebec and Lake St.John Railway has opened up & rich and promising section of the country to tourists and anglers. As a consequence it is stated that a trail 300 miles long trom Quebec into these magnificent wilds is now as fre- quent an occurrence as was one of thirty miles from the same city little more than a decade ago; while camping and exploring parties in quest of adventure and sport have penetrated by portege and canoe to the great Lake Mis- tassini. some 250 miles from Lake St. Joha go- ing toward the north. From a comparatively smail corner of the territory traversed by this trail there could be taken the total areasof the Adirondacks, the Rangeleys and Yellow- stone Park, and as yet nota third of this im- mense fish and game preserve has been traversed by tourists or sportsmen. The Labrador Peninsula is so completely un- explored that even its largest lakes and rivers have not been even approximately surveyed to their full extent. Mistassini is the only large lake north of Quebec that had been sur- veyed up to 1894, and this was found to be above 100 miles inlength. Eastward of that Jake there was found in the same year an in- land body of water larger stiil. The Low ex- pedition, which discovered this lake, was also the first to explore the great falls of Hamilton River, which are said to excel those of Niagara and to be the finest in the world. The work before us, however, is not an ac- count of the exploration of Labrador and Northern Quebec. It is a sportsman’s book and contents itself with merely suggesting the immense possibilities of the country for those who delight in camping out, hunting and fish- ing. Itis time, therefore, to turn from a con- sideration of the country itseli to its fish, and particularly to the ouananiche, from which the book takes its title. The ouananiche is the salmon found in the ‘waters of Northern and Eastern Canada. Care- ful observation tends to the belief that it very seldom descends to salt water. Itis found in the fresh waters of Lake St. John all the year around. Strangely enough, however, it is not found in any lakesor rivers that empty into Hudson Bay, but only In those which flow to the St. Lawrenceor the Atlantic. It is claimed that the ouananiche, which is frequently caught weighing from eight to ten pounds, is the gamest fish of its size in the world, and offers the finest sport that anglers know. Other geme fish of these waters are brook trout, of which five species have been taken at one time in a single net on Hamilton River; the lake trout, which grows to an enormous size, one having been taken which weighed twenty pounds; the Marston trout, & mewly discovered Labrador fish over which snglers grow enthusiastic; the onitouche, a species of chub which attains & weight of six pounds, rises freely to the fly and fights like a Trojan; the white fish, which 15 more easily taken in Labrador than in the great lakes; pickerel, pike and turbot, & species of fresh water cod, which grows to an immense size in Lake St, John and is described ss being very good eating. The game of the country includes bear, moose, Caribou red deer, and almost innumer- eble quail, partridges, snipe, black ducks, teal and sheldrake. Moose, exceptinlocatities remote from railroads, are getting scarce. Caribou are said to be fairly plentiful in the entire Saguenay and Lake St.John country, while bear are liable to be encountered at any time and therefore even on fishing trips the sportsman is warned to take his gun with him. The rivers of the country are broken by in- numerable rapids and waterfalls, and there- fore are mavigable only by light birchbark canoes, which can be carried around the falls, or packed from one river or lake to another. The pleasure of canoeing is put down by Mr. Chambers as one of the delights of a hunting or fishing trip in the Labrador country. Of this pleasure he sveaks many times with a genuine enthusiasm, and says: “Itis an experience that none should miss to run the rapids of the Grand Decharge, the Peribonos, orthe Ashuspmouchounan. The sen- sation, as the frail craft glides almost with imperceptible velocity down a steep incline of smooth water, or dips into the hollow of & great sea, is thrilling in the extreme. Now it seems that the crest of a huge wave is about to breek over the side of the canoe; the next in- stent the birchbark is lifted sideways out of. the hollow. Then again the bow is asparently upon the point of being submerged, when the canoeman in front cuts off the head of the breaker with his paddle. Here, in a very dan- gerous place where two currents violently collide, or in the very vicinity of a whirlpoo), the guides, resting upon their peddles, boid back the canoe in the middle of a heavy rapid, until & propitious moment soproaches for darting by the temporar{ly averted danger. There, both men are struggiing for very life, strain- ing every muscle to wrench the canoe outof & current that would dash it upon a rock, or forcing it against the treacherous, smooth rapid that carry it down over yonder water- fall. For a while they seem to be making no headway. When one lifts his paddle a little high, it is evident that the canoe is losing ground. Even for the bravest it is an exciting moment. No swimmer could struggle success- fully againsy that awful tide. But one false stroke and all would be over. Experience and endurance triumph in the end, and never yet, when the injunctions of guides have been ob- served, hes any serious aceident occurred to sugler or tourist in ‘the Canadian environ- ment ot the Ouananicie.” ” Well, indeed, does Charles Hallock say that there is an exhilaration in canoe-voyaging which pertams to no other kind of locomotion enjoyed by man. The angler who penetrates these regions must of course rely largety upon the Indis natives for guides and boatmen. These as & rule are suid to be relisble, trustworthy and: thotoughly skillful in their work. Mr. Cham- bers, who has evidently had much experience with them, speaks of them with high praise, Describin, Torests )“.g‘l:;‘:r skill as guides through the o A%ian never loses his way in the woods, Delng always able to find his Toad over a foute Through red by him, and also to penetrate €4 foresis ‘that he has mever seen, if only another Indian shows him the course in = rough draft upon a piece of bark. Even those of them who cannot write display marked ability in communicating with each other in the woods. They telegraph by means of smoke, andit isastonishing how far off they can scent it—always for a long time before they can see it or could hear a sound from its vicinity. If they expect to be followed by another party they stick a piece of wood in the ground upon a portage, slanting it in the direction in which they are traveling. Those who find it will know by its degree of inclination whether or not they who planted it are traveling hur- riedly. If it be in summer a small bough or piece of shrub is fastened to the stake, and by the extent to which it has become withered those who fina it will know when it was placed there. If a hunter, as very often happens, has to make a detour or remain behind his squaw insearch of game, she will occasionally indi- cate the route she has taken by sticks placed in the ground, to which she has attached & small portion of her skirt.” Mr. Chambers, like a true woodsman, writes sseloquently of the forests as of the game they shelter. He makes an earnest plea for the preservation of the great forests of the north. “Surely,” he says, “‘it becomes every true lover of the woods to raise his voice ‘Wherever the opportunity offers for their pre- servation. Settlers and others in this new world are too apt to regard s forest tree as an enemy. ‘Cutitdown’isthe battle cry. ‘Why cumbereth it the ground?’ I would that all such would bear in mind the quaint remark by an old writer on forest trees quoted by Evelyn, ‘Trees and woods have twice saved the world, first by the ark, then by the cross, making full amends for the evil borne by that tree in Para- dise by that which was borneon the tree in Calvary.’” After that quotation it is not surprising to see Mr. Chambers pause in his narrative long enough to give us this outburst from an oid and once familiar song: A Iife in the woods for me, A camp by the crystal stream, Where all is fresh and free And pure as a maiden’s dream; Where the birds their revels keep And the deer go bounding by: Where the night breeze rocks to sleep With its sweetest lullaby. Some notice is due to the form in which the work has been published. It is a most ex- cellent plece of bookmaking and while the copy before us makes no pretensions to an edi- tion de luxe it is nevertheless so beautifully illustrated with picturesque views of rivers, rapids and forest visias s to be & volume attractive for its beauty as well as for its conmtents. It will undoubtedly lead mdny people to make the trip to the fisherman’s paradise, and even those who cannot go will find no better pleasure than in making the acquaintance of the Ouananiche through these delightful pages. [New York: Harper & Bros. For sale by Rob- ertson, 126 Post street; price $2.] JoHN MCNAUGHT. JOAQUIN MILLER Defects Noted and Virtues Praised in the Work of the Poet of the Sierras Ellen Burns Sherman in the current number of the New York Critic has a lengthy criticism and eulogium of Joaquin Miller's poetry. It is the leading article in the issue of July 11 of that strong literary paper. Miss Sherman says that if the records of the past are to be trusted there was in Mr. Miller’s case something more than the usual polite apathy with which a genius is sometimes tolerated by hisown kin and country. The extravagant praise of the English critics, who blazoned Joaquin's name with glory about twenty years ago, “seemed to induce an allopathic treatment of the poet in his own land.” She decisres that Milter's countrymen have heartlessly ignored his claim to high rank asa poet and that nine out of ten well-read people in this country know positively nothing of Miller's poetry. “In all of Mr. Miller's longer poems,” says the writer in guestion, “there are a certain largeness and grandeur in keeping with the region which has inspired his song. His pic- tures are all large canvas size, while our East- ern poets have painted little panels, and ine stead of the giant forests and rivers have given us pictures of & single posy or a dainty etching of & secluded frog pond.” * Miss Sherman discusses both the defects and virtues of Joaquin Miller’s earlier verses, and asserts that “one finds in Mr. Miller’s shorter Iyrical poems s knowledge never learned of schools, which may well silence the eritic who would teach him the rules of rhythm.” The concluding paragraph of the article is as fol- lows: “It haraly seems possible that any candid reader of Mr. Miller's poems will deny that our kindred across the water have leaned to virtue’s side more than ourselves in their enthusiastic praise ot Mr. Miller. Far from resenting England’s appeciation of him, sim- ply because it would give him a higher rank on our poet roll than our own country would concede, we should acknowledge trans-Atlan- tic applause with some show of grace, if there is a chance for any at this late da; We have not so many poets who can write like Mr. Miller that we can afford to letone of them pass into oblivion by our neglect. If such meglect finds exvlanation in causes re- lating to the man rather thun the poet (a point ‘upon which the present writer has no definite information), it still seems hardly generous or just to make no commutation of sentence to a man whose early environment might have made sn ou 1aw of one with a far more sluggish pulse than Mr. Miller’s. Baut, even if we are minded to review the poet’s life, we may safelyfollow the spirit of his own stanzas on Burns: In men whom men condemn as 1il I find 80 much of goodness still. In men whom men pronounce divine 1 find so much of sin and blot, 1 hesitate 10 draw aline Between the two, where God has not. Referring editorially to Joaguin Miller’s lat- est book of poems, “Songsof the Soul,” the Critic pays this rare tribute: #1¢ will always be more or less of a mystery to those of us who belong to the aftermath generation why our seniors have allowed a poet like Mr. Miller to be so neglected. Same of us, who have had the good fortune to dis- cover him accidentally, caunot get over a fecl- ing of righteous indignatior that our teachers and instructors should have fed us so long on thedry scholastic husks garnered from every clime but our own, while never a stanza of Mr. Miller's poems was set before us. How- ever, we will try to forget the perverse and un- toward conduct of our forebears in the glad- ness with which we weicome a new volume of poems from the Poetof the Sierras. Perhaps Mr. Miller has purposely waited so long for a secoud generation foreordained to know and cherish him. If so, we think, he has not waited iu vain, for his ‘Songs of the Soul’ will surely bring about a Miller renaissance which we hope will make the unwittingly ignorant look up his other volumes of verse. “The same originality and freshness of thought and imagery which characterized his earlier poetry appear in this new collection. But there is a marked improvement in its metrical structure. In the longest poem of the book, ‘Sappho and Phaon,’ stanza after stanza moves along with the rippling glide of a canoe in still water, and everywhere we find new tokens of the poet’s old passion for nature: 1 somehow dreamed, or guessed, or knew That somewhere In the dear earth’s heart ‘Was warmth and tenderness and true Delight and all love's nobler part. “Whether it be of mountain, sea, river or the dark enfolding night that Mr. Miiler sings we catch always the same rare and tender melody. Listen to his song of the twilight: 1love you, Jove you, maid of night, Your perfamed breath, your dreamtul eyes, Your haly silences, your sighs : Of matchless longing: your delight When night says, Hang on yon moon’s horn “Your russet gown, and rest till morn. ol Now perfumed Night, sad-faced and far, Walks up the world in somber brown. Now suddenly a loosened star Lets all her zolden hair fall down, And Night is dead Day’s coftin-iid, ‘With cords of gold shot through the pall. “gimply to quote him, is the highest praise to be rendered a poet who can write like this. When we give a rose to & friend, we do not In the Castle of Dusseldorf on the Rhine There was a grand masquerade ; The waxlights were gleaming, the dancers danced, And gayly the music played. The beautiful Duchess was dancing, too, And loudly she laughed and long ; The beau who danced with her was supple and slim, Gallant and graceful and strong. A mask of black satin he wore on his face, From whence he merrily gazed; Like a naked blade, from its sheath half drawn, His eye on the Duchess blazed. The light-hearted throng was happy and gay . Whenever the two danced near, And Carl and Louisa applauded them With many a clap and cheer. The trumpets chimed in with a clanging tone, And the viols droned away Till at last the dance had come to an end And the music ceased to play. ‘1 pray that your Highness will let me go, For I must hie home apace”— The Duchess laughed loud, *“You cannot go hence Till I have looked at your face.” % ' “1 pray that your Highness will let me go, For my face would startle thee ;" The Duchess laughed loud, ‘I have never a fear, And thy face | fain would see.” ““] pray that your Highness will let me go, For darkness and death are mine ;” The Duchess laughed loud, *‘You cannot go hence Till I see that face of thine.” Urge never so much with his grewsome hints, He could not dissuade the dame ; And quickly, at last, she clutched at the mask, . And off from his face it came. “The Headsman of Bergen, it is! it is!” The horrified people cried ; The Duchess sank back, with fear in her face, And fled to her husband’s side. erman ni'fiéfi\?@\i“@'\fi@’ _uciug H.a.nu 00 s R — s eete by The Duke he was wise, and he wiped out the stain, And placed the Duchess at ease; He drew forth his sword from its scabbard and said, “ Down, fellow, upon your knees ! “ By a stroke of this sword I make you a knight, g And with knightly honors endow ; As you are a headsman, your name shall be Sir Headsman of Bergen, I vow.” So the headsman became a nobleman then— My Lord of Bergen, pardi— A haughty old race, it thrives on the Rhine, In a marble tomb sleeps he. hand him, with it, a botanical analysis of the flower.” Verily, America at large is awakening to a just appreciation of California’s favorite bard. Know'edge Up to Date. A small work of uncommon interest and value is *The Living Topics Cyclopedia,” which now costs, complete to date, the small sum of $1. Itisa unique publication, and its free specimen pages are worth sending for. Its latest issue gives the most important facts “up to date,” concerning, among hundreds of other important subjects, such titles as Cuba, Cur- rency (s “living tople,” indesd), Debts, Na- tional and foreign; East Africa, Egypt, Elec- | tricity, England, Engineering, France, German Empire, Gold, Greece; also concerning the States Delaware, Flerida and Georgla. In gen- eral, the object of the work is to answer the questions you would seek to solve by consult- ing your cyclopedia were it “up to date,” which no cyclopedia is or possibly can be, be- cause of its magnitude and cost. “The Living Topics,” being & small work and treating only of “living” topics, is continually in process of revision, & new edition being published every month. After you have paid for one edition you are allowed to purchase later ones within a year thereafter at about one-third price, and thus keep your knowledge “up to date” at trifling cost. Address the publisher, John B. Alden, 10and 12 Vandewaterstreet, New York. The Overland. In the Overland Monthly for August Rounse- velle Wildman, the editor, contributes under the hesdingof “We:l-worn Trails'” a beauti- fully illustrated article on the Yosemite and Big Trees, while Theodore S.Solomon, the Overland’s author-explorer. continues his pop- uler articles on the “Unexplored Regions of the High Sierrss,” and Mrs. Robinson hasa sketch, “The Lost Arrow,” which has to do with the customs and conditions of the Yo- semite Indians before the arrival of the white man, thus making a distinetively Sierra num- ber for the magazine. Beginning with the August number the new educational depart. ment is placed in the hands of a practical Gator, Blofessor A. D. Coffe. © il Dr. Hubert Pi is revising his work on LITERARY NOTES Mrs. Harriet Stowe's Last Essay Was a Letter to the Public Beecher Stephen Fiske, who probably knew Dickens as intimately as did any American, has been induced %o write of “The Personal Side of Dick- ens’ for the September Ledies’ Home Journal. Mr. Fiske often spent seasons with the famous novelist at Gad’s Hill, and his article will de- scribe the incidents of these visits, Dickens’ home life, his methods of working, and his pastimes. It will possibly surprise Dickens' friends to learn through Mr. Figke that a con- siderable portion of his l{brary was made up of dummy books, which, however, offered the author a target for some of his delighttul satire 1in giving them tities, and efforded his guests great amusement. Hon. John W. Foster will entertain Li Hung Chang in September, when the latter visits the United States on his return from the corona- tion of the Czar. General Foster is an intimate friend of the Viceroy, and it will be remem- bered that he served as his confidential ad- viser during the peace negotiations with Japan. For the August number of the Century Gen- eral Foster has written & sketch of the life and character of Li Hung Chang, whom he ranks, us did General Grant, among the greatest men of the century. The last thing written by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, only a few days before her death, was a loving acknowledgment to the public for fond remembrances and tokens and expressions of affectionate esteem, on her eighty-fifth birthday, which she sent to the Ladies’ Home Journal. In the next issue of this magazine it will be published in fac- simile. It reflects the beautiful nature of the gifted authoress, and by ber death has become Der last message to the American public. 8. R. Crockett's “The Grey Man” will be pub- lisbed in London early in September by Fisher Unwin, who is preparing a first edition of ““The Art of Musi for & new edition, will appear shortly. gy 25,000 coples. Cassell & Co. will publish in the early autumn a fine art memorial edition of Mrs, Beecher Stowe’s immortal work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” with upward of 100 original illustra- tions by the Scandinavian artist, Jenny Nystrom-Stoopendaal. “The publication of Dr. Byington’s “The Puritan in England and New England” has ‘been postponed until the autumn. The author is & member of the American Society of Church' History. A third edition of “The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth” has been issued. Bennett Burleigh hes written an account ot his travels in Ashantce and Madagascar, which Fisher Unwin will publish. The book is en- titled “Two Campaigns.” Mr. Gladstone’s new book has just been pub- lished by Henry Frowde. In the first part of the book, which, as & whole, is entitled, “Studies Subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler,”” Mr. Gladstoné treats of Butler's metiod and its application to the Seriptures, of Butler'scensors, of his mental qualities, of points of his positive teaching, of his theology, celebrity, influences, ete. The main portion of the second half deals with the question of “A Future Life,” with a history of opinion thereon. Herbert Spencer is completing for autumn publication the third volume of “The Princi- ples of Sociology,”” which is to include “Pro- gressive Institutions,” “Industrial Institu- tions!’ and “Ecclesiastical Institutions.” The last mentioned has slready been 1ssued in «part” form. In the first volume of this great work are included “The Data of Sociology,” “The Inductions of Sociology” and “Domestic Institutions;” and in the second “Ceremonial Institutions and Political Institutions.” Mr. Spencer in the winter proposes to revise ““The Principles of Biology.” Among the important scientific books pub- lished by the Macmillan Company is a trans- lation of Professor von Zittel's “Textbook of Palmontology,” by Dr. Charles R. Eastman, Ph.D,, of the Mugeum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. Rudyard Kipling is now putting the last touches on a 50,000-word novel, dealing with the Gloucester fishermen and their life on the Great Banks. It is written from close personal study of the scene and the people. It is Ameri- can in its characters and its plot seafaring and adventurous. It breaks entirely new ground. The title is ‘‘Captains Courageous.” There has been alively competition for the serial rightsof “Captains Courageous.” They have been securea for the United States by the £.8. McClure Company, and publication of the novel will begin in the November number of McClure's Magazine. George W. Cable has not published & short story since ““The Taxidermist,” several years 8go. In the fiction number of Scribner’s he breaks his long silence with one of the most artistic that he has ever written, entitled “Gregory’s Island.” George W. Vanderbilt has imported from Europe what is considered to be the most val- uable library on forestry in the world, for his Biltmore estate. The little book on his mother, which J. M. Barrie has just finished, and which is to be published by the Messrs. Scribner under the title of ““Marget Ogilvy,” is not a biography in the ordinary sense, but gives aspects and inci- dents in his mother’s life i the style which Mr. Barrie’s readers know, keeping close throughout to facts. In the opinion of the London Bookman, “it is perhaps the most beautiful and exquisite piece of work he has yet accomplished.” Messrs. Harper & Bros. have published *‘Mrs. Gerald,” & novel, by Maria Louise Pool, with illustrations by W. A. Rogers; a new edition of “‘Life on the Mississippi,”’ by Mark Twai and “Love Is a Spirit,” by Julian Hawthorne. Dr. Eugene Coleman Savidge, author of “The American in Paris,” will spend his summer in Europe, where he will seek European perspec- tive for his new work on the American revolu- tion. Lady Burton, in her will, appointed as her literary trustees W. A. Coote of the National Vigilance Society and Minnie Grace Plowman, who are to continue the publication of her husband’s works; but she forbids any one to print a single immodest word, aud she espe- cially charges her literary trustees not to issue, or allow to be issued, one coarse word in connection with her late husband's works. They are to publish her autobiography, upon which she had been engaged. Vierge (who is called the father of modern illustration) has made twenty-five drawings to | accompany the opening installment of A. F. Jaccaci’s amusing and picturesque narrative, ‘On the Trail of Don Quixote,” which begins in the August (fiction) number of Scribner's. Tt will be continued through two more num- bers, with abundant illustrations by Vierge. Among other books announced by the Mac- milian Company is a translation of a book by A. P. Tyerskoy written in Russian under the title of “Sketches from the United States of North America.” Readers of the Nation will remember a letter published a few weeks ago from Dr. Leo Wiener of the Boston Conserva- tory, in which he alludes to this author as ‘‘the Russian Bryce.” The titles of some of the chapters include: “Ten Years in America,” ““The Presidential Campaign of 1892,” “My Life in America,” ‘Letters,” “The World’s Fair,"” ete. A popular edition of the verse of Walt Whit- man is to be published by Messrs. Putnam in London. THE REASON WHY The Hero i.xcses Faith in God and the Bible and Gropes in the Darkness Those who are ‘‘groping about” in a ‘‘maze of error and uncertainty” left by early re- ligious teachings; who are ‘‘driven to think, powerless to decide,’’ fearful even of their own thoughts—have a 365-page novel written for their special benefit by Ernest E. Russell. The author expresses his conviction that it is the “honest course, the proper, safe, patriotic, hu- | who falls heir to a fortune. mane course from the standpoiut of the high- est public good,” for men who have become convinced of the untruth and evil effects of any religious or political or social tenets, to come out and say what they think, to the end that all mankind may the sooner reach the truth that leads to the noblest life. To that end Mr. Russell, so he says, has written the “story of fact and fiction,” entitled “The Reason Why.” learned from the book. Paul Granger, the hero, loses faith in God and the Bible and spends much of his time in the effort to make others think as he does. He tries his hand at pelitics, but makes a failure of 1t. He thinks re- ligion is superstition, and finds society full of diseases, religious and political, and his rem- edy is a condition of co-operation,wherein “ifa | man work not neither shall he eat,” and where | “luxurious idleness shall not ride upon the shoulders of patient toil.” Mr. Russell devotes bout 365 pages to the diseases, shortcomings and errors of humanity and one paragraph to remedies. It is hard to see where the book will assist anybody who is “‘groping about in the maze of uncertainty.” And while the au- thor may be honest in the convictions which he expresses through the mouth of Paul Granger, he certainly doesn’t shine as a writer of a “‘purpose” novel. The book is 8 tiresome affair, as may well be imegined. It is to be hoped that everybody who thinks he is right and that all who think otherwise are wrong, will not: follow Mr. Russell’s ex- ample and rush into print about it. It would bring sbout confusion and might precipitate another holy war, & thing to be deprecated. Paul Granger was evidently intended to typify those who are ““driven to think, powerless to decide.”” There might be something attractive about & hero who was able to think and to decide, and thus be of a little real use in the world. The book gives never a pointer, unless the co-operation idea be the pointer, on how to “reach the truth that leads to the | noblest life,” and the author doesu’t satisiy uson the score of what the noblest life really is. [New York: Ernest E. Russell, publisher; price, $1.] The Iron Pirate. In & new vpreface to his novel, “The Iron Pirate,” Max Pemberton takes occasion to re- mark that he is able to answer those critics of the first edition who disputed the scientific ac- curacy of the theory which would seek to drive aship by the gas-engine. Professor Kennedy, he says, has now admitted not only the possi- bility, but has proclaimed the probability of gas as & marine motor in the future. “The Iron Pirate” is a ship run by gas motor, and in its career of piracy in the nineteenth cen- tury it wages war against the telegraph, steam and the navies of the nations; eseap- ing from tight situations by marvelous bursts of speed. We have gasoline launches in this country in considerable number, and they are avery common sight speeding through the waters of San Francisco Bay. What is being done so successfully on a small scale can doubtless be done on a large scale, and before the next century is very old the trip from New York to Queenstown may be made in about half the time now required for the voy- age, all through the agency of the gas engine | and gas motor. work above mentioned is in the Globe library series 242. [Chicago: Rand. McNally & Co., publishers; paper, price 50 cents.] Seven Times Around Jericho. The drink question is one that never downs. The tariff and financial issues may drown its voice with oratorical thunder in big campaign years, but the temperance revivalist will come up smiling when the election is over, and will be heard as clea-ly as ever when the political firing has ceased. People who are at a loss for discourses on the temperance question while the platforms are occupied by the brilliant representatives ot contending National parties, have an opportunity to get the benefit of the most recent discourses on temperance themes in “Seven Times Around Jericho,” printed in & book of 184 pages, and being the most stir- ring public lectures of Rev. Louis Albert’ Banks, D,D., pastor of the Hanson Place M. E. Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. The book is espe- cially commended to pastors of churches, who will find a weelth of suggestions for temper- ance sermons. Dr. Banks is also the author of “The Saloon-keeper’s Ledger,” a book that commanded wide attention in religious and temperance circles. His new work is a worthy addition to the literature of a good cause. [New York: Funk & Wagnalis Company, pub- lishers; price, 75 cents.] Messrs. Stone & Kimball wi'l bring out in the fall the College Year Bcok, giving not only the names and addresses of all professors and" in- structors of American colleges, but the chief statistics in regard to each and a complete table of the Greek letter and other societies as well as collegiate athletics. There is nothing new to be | The present edition of the | MAMMON IS NOW THE KING A Galifornia Journalist Discusses Social Problems - He Would Limit the Amount of Inheritance to Only $200,000 Ernest McGullough's Useful Book on Street Laws of Galifornia. Robert Barr's Mystery Romance Although this book assumes the formof & ‘connected treatise, dealing with problems of the day, it is really a collection of complete es« says, considering, from the point of view of an earnest thinker, a good many of the guestions that are at present engaging public attention. The writer is George A. Harrison, editor of the El Dorado County Republican of Placerville, in this State, and his editorial training is evi- dent in a certain clearness and facility of style that leaves the reader in no manner of doubt as to the author’s meaning, whether convinced by his logic or not. Mr. Richardson declargs in the opening of his book that “in this. the closing decade of the nineteenth century, reckoned from the earth-visit of a forgotten Christ, Mammon is king of the civilized world.” He affirms the civilized world to be in bondage to this tyrant, and there are probably few thougntful persons who will feel inclined to dispute the assertion. It is & question, however, whether wholesale diatribes against existing insiitutions are pro. ductive of any real good. The American pub- lic hes had a deal of scolding of late years at the pensof writers upon economics, ana the result has been to awaken a widespread and deep-reaching discontent that, thus far, does not seem to have awakened any very intelli- gent effort at bettering things. Trusts, com« petition, the desire ior wealth, disregard for human rights, the tyranny of capital, the op« pression of labor—all these evils come in for energetic condemnation, but the main theme upon which the author expends his thought ig the question of the inheritance of wealth. Mr. Richardson would limit the amount of money or property which & man. may inherit | from his ancestors. He contends that inherite ance, beyond a modest amount, is & funda- mental wrong which should be abolished. He does not make it quite apparent why, if a man has a right to bequeath any of his property, he may not bequeath it all in any chosen direc« tion, but he bases his condemnation ot inher- itance upon two main principles—namely, the right of every human being to & fair oppor- tunity to labor, ana the wrong involved in all claims to wealth that are not based upon some form of productive effort. The inherit- ance of wealth, he claims, violates both these principles, as the person who inherits no wealth does not start upon & level with him While there is much between the covers ot | Mr. Richardson’s book that will interest and instruct the reader, the book, as a whole, does not rise far above the diatribe. The author does little more than thresh over again the straw of arraignment over which so many flails have recently been swung. His scheme to establish equality of opportunity among men by limiting the amount of wealth inherit- able by a single person to $200,000 and giving the courts power peremptorily to set aside has very little to recommend it to students of po- litical economy. He also advocates compul- sory education and restriction of the liquor traffic, but the chief value of his book to tha general reader will lie in the chapters wherein he has given a clear and comprehensive expo- sition of the essential features of the various movements through which men have, from time to time, sought to right economic wrongs. Communism, anarchism, socialism, and all the theories growing out of these, have evi- dently received his careful attention. The book is pleasingly written and Mr. Richardsone has the rare merit of keeping his subject al« ways in hand. “From Whose Bourne.” Robert Barr has given the world & novelty in the way of mystery stories in his new work, “From Whose Bourne.’”” It is a romance in ‘which spirits living in the world beyond the grave as well as persons in this world are per- plexed in their efforts to unravel the sccretof a death by poisoning, and being well told has more than ordinary interest for readers who delight in mysteries. William Brenton, & citizen of Cincinnati, feeling himself indisposed aiter a dinner party at his house, goes to his room, and after taking a slight dose of medicine goes to bed. in a short time he is conscious of what he considers to be a dream, in which he appears to be stand- ing in his room and looking down upon his dead body on the bed. It develops that this consciousness was by no means a dream. Brenton was really dead. His spirit was taken { in charge by a denizen of the other world and duly instructed in the conditions of life be- yond the grave. He was informed that how- | ever much he might be interested in the per- | sons and business he left behind on_earth ha | could no longer communicate with the one nor | affect the other. Devotedly in love with his wife Brenton in spirit form lingered about the city where he | had lived, and thus learned that he had died | by poisoning and that his wife was arrested on | the charge of having murdered him. Then | begins the double play to unravel the mystery. In the land of spirits Brenton meets. a._spirit who has formerly been & Chicago newspaper man, and the two by thought transference suc- ceed in interesting a bright reporter in the ! case. Furthermore they obtain the assistance of the spirit of Vidoeq. The reporter on eartl and the detective in ghostland differ in their- | judgments as to the guilty party, but agree that the Cincinnati detectives are wrong in suse pecting the wife. To those who are familiar with mystery stories it goes without saying that ail the guesses are wrong, and while the solution is & | little bit improbable, it 1s not enough so to | mar the effect of the tale. The story is short. | and can be read easily on a summer. holiday,, [New York and London: Frederick A. Stokes Company.] The Vrooman Act. The consulting engineer of the Merchanta' Association of San Francisco, Ernest McCul- lough, has written & book entitled “The Vroo man Act,” giving the forms and proceedings under the street laws of California. The au- thor has been a practicing engineer in this City for nine years, and for the past three years has been Street Superintendent and Town Engineer of Sausalito. The volume is the result of his experience and study of the workings of the Vrooman act, under which all street and sewer work is done.n California municipalities. Directions are furnished as to the proper proceedings to fmprove streetsand s to the proper recording, posting, advertis- ing, ete. Forms are given which have stood the test of the Supreme Court and sample pages of books of record are shown. A digest of Sue preme Court decisions is given atthe end of each chapteron the subject of which each chap- ter treats. The digest enables attorneysto quickly look up references. The book will be of service to all parties who have to dealin any manner with the improvement of streets and laying of sewers in the streets of the towns and cities of California. “The street law of this State,” as the publishers observe, “is not the plainest thing in the world, and the prac- tice given in the work is that followed by the oldest cities in the State and in accordance with Supreme. Court. decisions.” [San Fran« cisco: Edward Denny & Co., publishers. In cloth binding, $2; sheep (1aw) bindipg, $3.]