The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 4, 1896, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1896. 21 BEAUTIFUL SONNET, BY AN ENGLISHWOMAN OF SCANT FAME, BUT RARE TALENT IN BELLES LETTRES The dedication of & book often forms an ber volume, “The Color of Life,” and | g it inscribed to Coventry Patmore might | piace her among that literary set s0 prevailing just now in London. This surmise would be stfll further confirmed observing that the dedication of Francis pson’s end of the century volume of | verses 15 to “Wilfred and Alice Meywell.” The | k of the Vigo-street publishers on the | page of Mrs. Weywell's little crushed- | et us hope that ' —in itself con- A goedly com- peny are those writers of “The Bodley Head,” who are conjured up by the very men- tion of the name. Le Gailienne comes first by g the earliest books sent out has evolved from the little bookshop established in Vigo | n Mathews and named “The Bod- | ley Head honor of the founder of Oxford’s | library, into the now distinguished publishers ave achieved tne difficult art of making pay. This has been chiefly accom- | hed by choice and limited editions and the | g fad for owning or speculating in the | | ban Gale has been perticularly fortu- | nate in this respect. Great prices have been | paid for some of his early editions. He has | been called the “Watteau of poetry.” Inspite | of which fact he is said to be over six feet tall and & mighty football player at Rugby, where he is & master. His personality seems ngely at variance with the artificial dainti- ness of his verse. Lord de Tabley, through The Bodley Head, gained the fame he had been cheated of in Before his death he had the gratifica- tion of seeing his hitherto nnheeded poems read and talked of on every side. That sweet Frances Wynne, whose slendor, 1I's yolume, “Whisper.” Le Gellienne teils us o charmingly in “Sandra Belloni’s Pine. second-h street by poetry pl wood,” also made her entrance the litersry world from Vigo W. B. Yeats, Jobn Davidson, Cosmo Monkhouse, Richard Garnett, and many more | belong to the same good fellowskip. Francis Thompson has, perhaps, won more fame than any other with his strangely powerful poems; e Rossetti’s, spiritual, yet tinged with a | t of earthiness. Thelrs is not only a beaven d identity,” buta heaven of con- tinved—if sublimated—senses as well. Francis Thompson hes made—with the ex- | ception of his poems—a miserable faflure of | his life on earth. He has taken what remains of & wreck to a remote monastery in Wales. | His “Hound of Heaven,” written from his own | deepest experience, hauntsthe reader witha | 80! of “con s Thompson brings us | our starting-point, for obserying his | ation we leszn with interest that Mrs. | weil herself once bore the name. We are | to wonder whether the regard that prompted the inseription was brotherly rather n literary. However that may be, it was as Alice Thompson that Mrs. Meywell first gave her poems to the world, a very unheeding and vee world, as it proved. Nearly all readers of books are familiar with the great picture, entitled “The Rollcall,” ch so touched the heart of England that ng painter, Elizabeth Thompson, was iowed by a mob of people thronging to a glimpse of her face whenéver she went street. The grim pattros of the com- on—that straggling Tow of men answer- in: the namecall after the battle—is known to all. Tha sincerity of the treatment. the ¥ suggested tragedy of war, compel in | ator that ache in the throat which s from feelings ofoundly moved. .led with | or for this picture, saw the birth ofa d modest volume of poems by the work, reserved, recluse d 10 the general public s quite lost sight of in the other’s s. For all this Alice Thomp- he 0 & short time after this became Alice A few was still the “poets’ poet.” when that general outflow nor poetry began, & new edit vell’s poems was issued by the Vigo- together with a volume of X fe.” ollowed only & fow months ago nd volume of essays called “The ow, the eritics have told us aise of these two books that we oach thelr reading with some trepid When one is informed by no unweighty suthority that th deserve to be ranked with the « cism” and the “Stud- ies of the Renaissance,” one, as an admirer of Mathew Arnoldand a lover of Walter Pater, feels inclined to argue the point beforehand. When one has for long found much mental sustenancein the vigorous thought end fine irony of Mr. Arnold, and pored with an ever- increasing affection over the subtieties and the beauties of Mr. Pater's style, one does not s0 easily put & stranger cheek-by-jowl on the shelf with them. Excessive prsise is almost as blighting to the fresh enjoyment of a book 8s excessive disparagement. The formerantag- onizes, while the latter may lead to a pleasant voyage of originel discovery. Still we listen with re more tells us thet Mrs. Meywe. her writings that singularly rare attribute of her sex—true distinction. and after—not the first reading but the second or third—we come very nearly to agree with what Mr. Patmore and silthe others have said in her honor. She dis- tinguishes proudly in the use of words, as one who feels the noblesse oblige of a birthright of tters. We find no turgid mtterance here, no exaggeration. Instead, s calmness which reveals & latent power, a dignity of reserve which shrinks from qver emphasis. After reading her we almost hesitate to quote Mr, Sharp’s high praise of her sonnet, “Renounce- ment,” or his mention of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s opinion that it 1s.“one of the three finest sonnets ever written by women.” She has herself made us feel thatsuperlative ap- proach vulgarity. We are quite certain that she would herself never indulge in sweeping generalities. One feelss curiosity, by tbe Way, as to whose Mr. Kossettf’s two other sonnets were. One his sister Christina’s and the other Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s one would hazard a guess. I question whether most of us would care to exchange any of the finest of the sonnets “from the Portuguese” for this of Alice Meywell’s, besutiful as it 1s. I must not think of thee; strong, 1 shun the thought that lurks in all delight, The thought of thee, and in the blue heayv- en’s height, And 1n the sweetest passage of a song. Oh, just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng “=is breast, the thought of thee waits, hid- #rr et bright, ‘But I must never, never come in sight; I must stop short of thee the whole day long. But when sleep comes to close each difficult t when Mr. Pat hes gained in and tired, yet day, When night gives pause to the long watch 1 keep, And all my bonds I needs must loose apart, I must doff my will as raiment laid away, With the first dream that comes with the first sleep, I run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart. The sonnet form never touches the heart quite so nearly as the lyric, yet the beauty and passionate tenderness of this are revealed in the re-reading. We mever getthq bestot Alice Meywell in the first glance. Her thought, If _we would not miss it, compels an answering teflection, In her essay, “The Womsn in Gray,” we fina | essay on ¢ | trees, tnere is another growth that feels the | not of. | marsh. To the strong wind they bend, show- | rushes, more strongly tethered, are swept into some thoughts on the “woman question,” ex- pressed with what dignity and potency! She calls our atiention to the fact that women, by some unaccountsble reason, are beld to “de- | rive from their mothers and grandmothers and men from their fathers and grandfathers,” instead of the “participation of man and woman in their common heritage” being con- fessed. s *Long generations of subjection are, strangely enough, held to excuse the timor- | ousness and the shifts of women to-day. But the world, unknowing, tampers with the | courage of its sons by such a slovenly indul- | gence. It tampers with their intelligence by fostering the ignorance of wome H “Thou art my warrior,” said Volumnia. “I | help to frame thee. Shall a man inberit his mother's trick of speaking or her habit or attitude, and not suffer something against his will from her bequest of weakness, and something against his heart from her be- quest of folly? From the legaciesofan un- | lessoned mind a woman’s hefrs—male—are not | cut off in the common law of the generations | of mankind. Brutus knew that the valor of | Portia was settled upon his soul.” And of this particular “woman in gray,” who is so largely a creation of to-day, she writes: “She had learnt the difficult peace of sus- ponse. She had learnt, aiso, the lowly and seli-denying faith in common chances. She had learnt to be content with her share—no | more—in common security, and to be pleased | with her partin common hope. For sil this, it mey be repeated, she could have had but small preparation. Yetno anxiety was hers, 10 uneasy distrustand unbelief of that human | thing—an aversge of life and death. To this courage the woman in gray had attained with & spring. Mrs. Meywell shows her critical power in the Eleanora Duse.” “Grass” is one of the most charming of the sketches. Herob- | ervation of nature is sympathetic and un- hackneyed to a degree, as may be seen from iollowing, from “‘Rushes and Reeds”: “Taller than the grass and lower than the implicit spring. * * * Ours is a summer full of voices, and therefore it does not so need the sound of rushes; but they are most sensi- tive to the stealthy breezes and betray the passing of a wind that even the treetops know Sometimes it is & breeze unfelt, but the stiff sedges whisper it along a mile of ing the silver of their somber little tassels as fisn show the silver of their sides turning in the pathless sea. They are ungnimous. A field of tall flowers tosses many ways in one warm gale, like the many lovers of a poet Wwho have thousand reasons for their love; but the a single attitude again and again at every re- newal of the storm.” On the whole Alice Meywell may well be- come one of the most intimate of our literary friends. GRACE 8. MUSSER. PROCESSES OF REASONING. THE 2 METHOD OF DARWIN., By Frank mer: Chicago, A. C. McClurg & C sishers. " For sale by A. M. Robertso price $1. As a rule, says this author, scientific men are 5o deeply engrossed in their investigations that they rarely undertake to discuss method, | isattempt to anaiyze the method em- loyed in the biological sciences arose from the belief that the airect study of scientific method, as it is illustrated by the works of the accepted masters, is worthy of far more atten- tion than is usually accorded to it. “The logi- cal processes involved and the nature of the difficulties met with in scientific investigation are thesameas in the practical affairs of life. The funaamental processes of reasoning are the same everywhere; and it cannot but be helpful to study those processes as they are ap- | plied by master minds in fields where preci- sion of method 1s peculiarly essential” Mr. Cramer’s reason for selecting Darwin's works es a basis for an analysis of scientific method were, namely: *(1) The desire to confine the discussion to the writings of s single author, in order to concentrate the reader’s attention upon a model; (2) the fact tnat Darwin’s works cover a wide range of subjects, and can | be read and understood by those who have had | only & moderate amount of scientific training; | and (3) above all, the fact that Darwin’s in- vestigations, and. the reasonings based upon them, have furnished the biological sciences with their domingfit principles.” Some of the most important ‘logicsl processes have been selected, and Darwin’s applications of them illlustrated in such « way as to confine the whole disecussion within the narrowest possi- ble limits. Mr, Cramer Is one of the able young men of Stanford Uriversity, and his book will doubtless give rise to much discus- sion in scientific circies. THE KELMSCOTT CHAUCER The devotion of British publishers to Chaucer is undiminished, a fact evidenced by the issuance of the Kelmscott edition of Chaucer’s works, that “wellof English unde- filed.” The great printing-house in the Up- per Mall, Hammersmith, London, from which the edition takes its name, devoted two rull made from this production, the cost belng really enormous. Just 100k at Sir Edward Burne-Tones' | tllusurations. People would gladiy pey a high price for an engraving after this master, but in our Chaucer they have eighty-six, which are prac- ticelly proots, as the number Is limited and the last copy as good as the first. The ordinary coples are issued in half-ho lund, but a specially designed bloding has been executed in white pigskin, which costs £13. Inside the skin are oak boards, and the whole design is stamped by hand, a work which occupies a man six days, Formerly many books were bound In_this material, which is more Aurable than morocco or cal By permission of Mr. William Morris the Chronicle publishes onevof the drawings by Burne-Jones, the subject being “The Blasts of Zolus,” as set forth in Chaucer’s ‘‘House of Fame,” Book III, of which the following is an extract: God werkes shall yow noght availe To bave of me good fame as now. But wite ye what? T graunte yow ‘That ye shall bave s shrewed fame Ana wikked Joos and worse name, Though ye good 100s have wel deserved. Now g0 your wey, for ye be served; And thou, dan Folus, let see! Tak forth thy trumpe anon, quod she, That is ycleped Scalunder light, And blow bir 100s, that every wight Speke of hem barm and shrewednesse In stede of good and worthinesse. For thou shalt trumpe all the contraire Of that they had don wel or faire. The entire edition having Leen taken in England and copies being already at & pre- mium above the original $100 price, itis not likely that any of these volumes, in some ways the richest ever issued from any press, will be seen in America for a great many years. “Evenings on the Highway of Worlds” is the title of a book containing two lectures written by Frank Perkins, a mechanical en- was a short story, “It,” which won a prize in Vienuna in 1882. The volume before uswas his first novel and it appeared in 1886. It cannot be regarded as a greatnovel, buton the score of realism it is remarkable in some chapters. The author describes, with un- doubted accuracy, many of his own actual ex- periences. It was certainly a test of the author’s skill to have handled such material as that upon which “Lou” is based in sucha manner as not to have excitea ridicule. “Lou’” is the story of a young Nubian slave, bought in a market-place of Cairo by & French marquis and man of the world, who takes him esavalet to Paris. Lou is & simple child of nature, with a great capacity for affection. He loves his master and next after him the master’s dog, Zeppa. The Nubian boy and the dog make the acquaintance of Lili, the rogu- ish daughter of & shoemaker who mistreats her. Lili tries to teach the Nubian boy to love ner, but she disappears just as her lessons are beginning to be understood. Lou’s master suicides, and he then overhears Count Cabrera and another intimate of the Marquis discuss- ing which one shall succeed to the ownership of the Nubian and which to that of the dog. Lou and Zeppa flee and run right into a mena- gerie, and their connection with it forms the comedy feature of the book. Soon again they become outcasts. Footsore and starving, they reach a fair near Paris, where Zeppa loses his freedom forstealing a piece of meat and Lou is turned out upon the highway. All seems dark, when suddenly he encounters Lili again, .now a diva with a host of admirers and among them the Count Cabrera. She takes up the Nubian, makes a place for him in her household and tries to make a Parisian of him, but he still remains the simple savage and her devoted slave. Cabrera and other suitors of Lili (now called Mira) grow jealous, A fair is held at Mira’s house and everything that can be suggested is offered at auction. Drawn by Sir E. Burne-Jones. years to the prodnction of this volume, and the mechanical production is probably unsur- passed by anything ever put together in book form. The lilustrations are by Burne-Jones, who is eccounted the foremost artist of the country in such work. Spesking of this book, a member of the publishing firm said to an interviewer of the London Chronicle: far as the printing is concerned I belleve that no modern book can compete with it. The volumes of the fifieenth century are in some re- spects perfect, but no medieval work was pro- duced with so much ornament combined with plctures by first-class artists. The paper for this edition of Chaucer, which is entirely of linen, was specially made in Kent. There are 554 pages in the book, which 1 printed in “Chaucer type” 1n black and red. Thirteen copies have been printed on vellum, of which only elght were for sale s £146 each. Of paper coples at £20 there were 425 The eatire edition, T may add, was sold months ago. Very little profit, it any, however, can be ERLAINE WROTE ONE BOOK TOO MANY AND WILL NOT GET A L UXEMBOURG MONUMENT A few short months ago the sentiment in France had almost assured for the memory of Paul Verlaine & monument in the Luxembourg side by side with those of Alfred de Musset and Theodore de Banville. A few short months, however, has witnessed a material change in public opinion there with reference 10 “the beggar poet,” and to-day it is said to be quite certain that the statue of the author of “Ganymede” and “Amies” will never figure in that high company. In literature itseems to have been Verlaine’s misfortune to have wnt- ten one book too many. The posthumous issue of thet book—*"Invectives”—has roused op- position to the proposal in guestion among those who on the morrow of Verlaine's death had generously agreed to overiook the seamy side of his private life and the indefensible nature of a portion of his work in considera- tion of the real beauty of some aspects of his talent. “Invectives” has not yet reached us, but an Eastern eritic sets it down as ¢ ‘a sadly poor book, & sorry, good-for-nothing book. in which it would be hard to hunt up one line that deserved printing, It contains. abuse of the men and women who played a part in Ver- laine’s troubled existence, abuse of his wife, of his fellow men of letters, many of them his benefactors; of the magistrates who had occa- sion to sentence him, of the doctors who kept him alive. The abuse is of the lowest order, scurrilous, witless and couchéd in doggerel verse. The volume would be bencath notice but for the efféct its publication has had.” In the tace of all this it is rather interesting to note that the London Spectator, in & review of “Invectives,” applies to the author the term, “the greatest Loet in France.” Of the volume, which has cnused the altered feeling in Verlaine’s native country the harshest thing this reviewer says is that “the book is packed with material of offense, and perhaps it wouid have been better to publish it before death had made reparation impossible.” The book, it would appear, is really welcomed by the reviewer, as “it completes the character of the peet-" “Born with an exquisite talent for verse—a talent which neither poverty nor misfortune has impaired—Verlaino was also born into a modern, Jogical world with a careless habit of the gypsy. He found itperpetually impossible tosquare nis temper with hissurrouadings; his books were an example and & delight to a whole generation, but he remains the feckless beggar of the middle ages. Though he gave far more than his contemporaries could repay his life was a long experience of poverty and neglect; and, worse than all, the ungenerous curiosity of his friends, corabined with his own imperturbable candor, convinced the ignorant that he was & monster, to whom all the vices were familiar. Thus he wandered from cafe 10 cafe, from hospital to hospital, the greatest poet in France; and his poverty is another proof that genius can hardly be translated into bread and butter. “He was denounced for a scoundrel by those who knew the habit of his life better than his poems, end the truth is, he was but a child or asavage. And being child or savage, he was always & gentleman. Petulant, capricious, ir- regular, he preserved amd his inevitable squelor & strange and simple refinement, which the literary tourist could never sp- preciate. To the end he retained a boyish faith in the near approach of wealth. ‘Iam popular in England and America,’ he once said, ‘and that means I shall make money.’ Of course the money was never made, but the eternal hopefulness was its own reward. Dur- ing the last days of his life, says rumor, he was occupied in covering the squalid furniture of his squalid room with gold paint, and there is & terrible pathos in the vague hope of ag- grandizement which prompted this amiable diversion. That such a man should be misun- derstood was inevitable, and yet Verlaine committed no crime,save one which he ex- piated in prison, to justify the monstrous aspersion which moralist and sentimentalist have cast upon his character. “‘To the ignorant his name is & synonym for impropriety, but, if you put aside a single vol- ume—'Parallelement’—tners is not one of his works which could offer the slightest affront to & proper modesty. And where in modern literature shall you find & daintier set of im- pressions than ‘Romances sans Paroles,’ a more delicate expression of love than ‘La Bonue Chanson,” or a nobler piece of devotion than ‘Sagesse’? That he resented the misap- preciation in which his own recklessness had helped to involve him there was no proof un- il to-day. But in his ‘Invectives’ he makes clear his own sensitiveness and attacks all those who have patronized his poetry and de- famed his life. The book is packed with ma- terial of offense, and perhaps it would nave been better to publish it befors death had made reparation impossible. None the less, it completes the character of the poet and shows that for all his simplicity he fiercely resented the infamy of his eneml d the lamentable indiscretion of his preteided friends. Among the victims of his invective are journalists, erities, doctors, magistrates and anarchists. His hatred of professional literature is digni- fied in its sincerity. ‘I hate,’ says he, ‘all that savors of literature.’” THE BLASTS OF AEOLUS. gineer and a well-known member of the order of 0dd Fellows ot this State, who has de- voted much of hislife to the study of astron- omy, though not claiming to be an astron- omer. His book is instructive, contains a number of novel ideas and furnishes food for reflection to those who are interested in the study of the movements of the planets and stars, Published by the author, Odd Fellows’ Hall, this City. STORY OR SOUTHERN LIFE. A _TOWER IN THE DESERT. By Virginia D. Young Boston: The Arena Publishing Com- ny. For sale by the trade; cloth, $1 25; paper, 0 cents. This is a story of Southern life which {llus- trates the wide-reaching influence for good which even those in humble positions can exert in uplifting and broadening the vision of others, when prompted by unselfishnessand nobility of purpose. Incidentally the great work accomplished by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union is empbasized, and the rapid broadening of woman's ideals and con- ceptions in the South is suggested. The char- acters are admirably drawn, the author pos- sesses a strong vein of humor and has a keen eye for the comedy as well as the tragedy of life. It is a most exeellent book for the young, especially young ladies, although all lovers of wholesome stories of real life as it exists to- day, free from feverish unreality, willfind it enjoyable. A POPULAR SCIENCE WORK. SCIENCE SKETCHES. By David Starr Jordan. New and enlarged edition. Chicago; A. C, Mc- Clurg & Co., publishers. For sale by A. M. Rob- ertson; cloth, prics §1 60. As Professor Jordan in the preface to the volume before us, it is made up ofsketches reprinted from various periodicalsand coming under the general head of popular science. Most of the articles have been freely retouched since their original “sppearance. The book corresponds in part to the first edition of “Sei- ence Sketches,” published in 1887. Eight of the articles are the same, being printed from the same plates with a few verbal changes. For certain others of the first edition—the ac- counts of ‘‘Agassiz at Penikese,” “The Fate of Iciodorum,” “The Story of a Strange Land” and “How the Trout Came to Califgrnia”— articles writien since 1887 have been substi- tuted. Professor Jordan ranks very high as a popular-science writer. He clothes his sub- jects in garbs 8o attractive as to readily inter- est and even delight readers whether or not they are familiar witk the technical science of the matter treated. THE CHARIOT. By EMILY DICKINSON. Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; ‘The carriage held but just ourselves And immortality. ‘We slowly drove, ke knew no haste, And 1 had put away My labor, and my leisure, too, For L1s elvility. ‘We passed the school where children played, ‘Thelr lessons scarcely done, ‘We passed the fields of grazing graln, ‘We passed the setting sun. ‘We paused before a honse that seemed A swelllog of the gronnd: The roof was scarcely visible, ‘The cornice but & mound. Since then 'tis centuries, but each Feels shorter than the day 1 first surmised the horses’ heads ‘Were toward eternity. A GERMAN REALIST. LOU. By Baron von Roberis. Translated_trol or Jessie iaynes. New York: the G 1 American Pablisuers’ Corporation. Edmund Gosse says that at this moment Baron von Roberts is one of the most active and most popular novelists of Germany. Though not 8 young man, he is young as an author, and as he has English and French blood in him, he is set down as another in- stance of the frequency with which. talent is displayed by men of mixed race. The Baron 1s 51 years old and led a military life until about 1886, wnen, his ;rueall in literature in. duced him to lay ddwn'the sword and join the | army of the pen. His first remarkable effort Copyright. By permission_of William Morris. On Cabrera’s suggestion the Nubian is sold. When the truth is made known to Lou his heart is broken and he rushes out of the house. He wanders along the street till he comes upon Zeppa harnessed to a cart and be- ing beaten. He releases the dog by force ana isabout to escape when he is run over bya van. He is taken to a hospital, where he dies of his injurfes. In his deliritm he calls for his dog aund it is brought to his bedside. A Sister of Charity tries to make him understand about heaven, but he wants to go to Zepva's heaven, not to a heaven where there are peo- ple. Learning of his death the Countess Ca- brera, a prey to remorse, had s fine monument erected to Lou’s memory. All the inseription it bore was in three letters—L-0-U.” TOO LATE. By EMILY DICKINSON. Delayed till she had ceased to Xnow, Delayed tiil fn its vest of snow Her loving bosom lay. An hour behind the fleeting breath, Later by just an hour than death— Oh, lagglng yesterday. Could she have guessed that it would be; Conld but a crier of the glee Have climbed the distant hill; Had pot the bliss 50 slow a pace— ‘Who knows but this surrendered face ‘Were undefeated still? ©Oh, 1f there may departing be Any forgot by victory In ber imperial round, Show them this meek, appareled thing, That could not stop to be a king, Doubttul 11 it be crowned! INSTRUCTION FOR NURSES. PRACTICAL POINTS IN NURSING. By ¥mily A. M. Stoney. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, publisher; 450 pages; clothbound, price $1 75. This is a comprehensive and exceedingly valuable work of its kind. Itis intended for nurses in private practice and contains rules for feeding the sick, recipes for invalid foods and beverages, weights and measures, dose list, and a full glossary of medical terms and nursing treatment. The authoress isa gradu- . ate of the Training School for Nurses at Law- rence, Mass., and superintendent of the Train- ing School for Nurses at Carney Hospital, South Boston, Mass. In popular language and in the shortest possible form is explained the entire range of private nursing as distin- guished from hospital nursing, and it is attempted to instruct the nurse how best to meet the varfous emergencies of medical and surgical cases when distant from medical or surgical aid, or when thrown on the nurse’s own resources. The discussfons in the book, being based on a series of lectures delivered ‘before the Carney Training School for Nurses, will, it is suggested, serve as a textbook for student nurses and a useful teaching-book for those occupying positions as teachers in training-schools, and the volume may prove interesting to the “home” nurse who wishes to comprehend something of the purposes of the different methods adopted in nursing treatment. A LOVER'S SACRIFICE THE PRICE HE PATD. By E. Werner. Chicago ana New York: Rand, 8lly & Co., pablishers. Paper; price, 50 cents. A love story this, containing & brave, noble suitor for the hand of a baron’s daughter; heartless father, who sways a daughter's will and cruelly banishes the hero from the pres- ence of the girl; and a heroine who is Jed t0 doubt her Jover’s sincerity and who adds to his pain, through years of bitter trial, till the author brings the baron’s daughter and suitor together again to make amends for bygone sufferings 1n weddea bliss. The hero, however, had sacrificed the fairest promises of his youth and young manhood through his devotion to the girl, and that was the price he paid for the happiness that came to him as the last. A SENTIMENTAL NOVEL. ew York: Indermere CHRISTINE. By Adeline Sergeant. American Publishers’ Corporation. Serles No. 23; price 50 cents. This is a reprint of a novel that is considered one ot the suthor's best works. It is a love- story and there are some very chapters init. For the sentimentalitis the kind of & book that will afford pleasure. NOVEL BY A MAN WHO IS BETTER KNOWN AS A HUMORIST THE STATEMENT OF STELLA MABERLY. B F. Anstey. New York: D. Appleton & Co. lizr sale In LL:I’I City by William Doxey, Palace Hotel. Price $1 26. It is one of the misfortunes attendant upon the writer of & humorous book that he is for- ever after expected to remsain a humorist. If he should venture into other fields of litera- ture the public feels itself hurt and aggrieved and is seldom willing to give credit where credit is due. The reception accorded to Mark Twain’s “Joan of Arc” last year will be remem- bered as a case in point. Up to the time that Mr. Clemens confessed to the authorship its sales were remarkably good. Then came the announcement that the creator of Tom Sawyer had appeared as a writer of historical fiction. The public thereupon assumed an injured air, made unkind remarks about *going out of his line,” and sales fell off, They wanted the gen- ial Mark to remain a humorist, not to enter into competition with Macaulay. These preliminary remarks are timely in view of the publication by Messrs. Appleton of a new book by F. Anstey. This author’s name is one with which to conjure to the younger generation of readers both in Eng- land and in the United States. What healthy minded youngster is there who could help 1sughing heartily at the adventures or mis- adventures of Paul Bultitude Esq., merchant wof Mincing Lane, City,” as narrated in ““Vice- Versa”? How screamingly funny is that scene in the raflway carriage, when the magnate, reduced to the proportions of an ordinary schoolboy, gravely offers the head master & cigar, with some valuable suggesions touch- ing the Japanese camphor crop. And then there is that other of Mr. Anstey’s humorous books, “Tinted Venus.” Can one recall with- out a laugh the perplexities of the poor cock- ney barber who sets in motion the mystic machinery that brings a Grecian damsel to life? The latest of Mr. Anstey’s books is entitled, “The Statement of Stella Maberly.” It is a powerfully written work slightly reminiscent of “Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde,” but differing from anything heretofors pemned by our author. A shortsummary of the tale will in- dicate this: Stella Maberly, who makes the “statement” of which the book is composed, is introduced to the.reader as a schoolgirl whose parents are well-to-do. Bhe possesses a peculiar tempera- ment, and at school becomes the chum of Evelyn Heseltine. Upon leaving school Stelia finds home unbearable, owing to the fact tha her father has remarried and her stepmother is uncongenial. Unfortunate speculation has somewhat reduced her father’s circumstances, and Stella decides to go to Surrey as the com- panion of her old schoolmate, who, since leav- ing school, has been “finished” on the Conti- nent. During her stay abroad Evelyn has met and received attentions from a neighbor, Hugh Dallas, who subsequently calls upon her. Stella promptly falls in love with him, thus complicating matters somewhar. Her pecu- liar temperament exhibits itself in the form of a jealousy of her schoolmate who had prior claim to Dallas’ affections. Oue night, after a severe tiff with her companion, Evelyn is not feeling very well, and, being troubled with insomnia, her aunt, on the ad- vice of Stella, administers chloral. The arug takes effect, but not before Evelyn has writ- ten s hurried note to Stella saying that Dallas is in love with the latter, and that his visits to Evelyn have really been for the purpose of see- ing her companton. Stella is stricken with remorse. She has passed a sleepless night, and before daybreak goes to Evelyn’s room. The girlish figure before het 1s u corpse. By intent if not in facta murderess, she calls upon her friend, and after edopting remedial measures is rewarded by seeing the eyes open and the cheeks flush. Wild with delight, she confesses all, praying for forgiveness. To her horror she discovers that while the being before her hps the form of Evelyn Heseltine some mysterious agency has implanted into the body characteristics entirely foreign to her. From the simple- minded, innocent girl, just out of her teens, she has become a fiend incarnate. Itis at this stage that the resemblance to Dr. Jeky! and Mr. Hyde is the most noticeable. The newly created Evelyn Heseltine possesses two natures—her own, sweet, angelic almost in its purity; the other devilish, cruel, intrigu- ing. The fact of Anstey’s work resembling Stevenson’s notwithstanding the descriptive writing at this point is really striking. Itis dramatic, intense. If it be a copy, the copy is worthy of the original, and surely this is praise. The conclusion of the story tells of the union of Hugh Dallas with Evelyn Heseltine, that estimable lady rightly supposing a mar- riage with her companion’s ideal to be the re- finement of torture. Dallas soon finds that Evelyn is not the simple schoolgirl he imag- ined her tobe. She worries him into iliness, and the book comes to an end with the strang- ling of the fiend by Stella Maberly and the death of Dallas by means of a pistol wound self-inflicted. Returning to our original proposition, we must confess to a slight feeling of disappoint- ment at the turn taken by Mr. Anstey's genius. ‘With due deference to his own good judgment, he is somewhat out ot his element. Most as- suredly he is at his best as & humorist, and it is probable that hovel-readers will use the same means of convineing him of the fact that they employed in the case of his contempo- rary, Mr. Clemens. Nevertheless our first statement still holds that the book under re- view is & remarkable one, well and powerfully written. E. ONTENTS OF SOME OF THE NEW MAGAZINES. THE CENTURY, Among the contents of the October Century are several articles bearing upoa topics that are now prominently before the public. “A Study of Mental Epidemics,” by Boris Sidis, is ascientific and suggestive paper of contempo- raneous interest. Another article of immedi- ate interest is a paper on John P, Hale, “A Presidential Candidate of 1852,” by his asso- ciate on the Free-Soil ticket, the Hon. George W. Julian. A paper ““About French Children,” their education, training, manners and nature, by Th. Bentzon (Mme, Blanc), is pro-, fusely illustrated by the noted delineator of children, Boutet de Monvel. Professor Sloane brings his life of Napoleon to a conclusion in strikingly illustrated chapters on the battie of Waterloo and the exile to St, Helena, and the Hon. John A. Kasson in ‘‘Open Let- ters' places & high estimate on the character of the work, “Glave in the Heart of Africa’ is the third paper from the journals and photographs of the late E. J. Glave, and is de- veted to the better knmown region between Lakes Bangweolo and Tanganyiks, where he had his roughest experiences and witnessed the baleaguerment of the last slavers’ strong- hold in the territory of the Congo Free State. HARPER'S. 3 Magazine contains the first in- stallment of Mr. du Maurier's long-expected novel, “The Martian.” The opening scenes are 1aid in a boys' school in Paris in the early fiftice, and the hero is introduced at the very beginning of his career. It seems not unlikely that Mr. du Maurier, following the example of Fielding and Thackeray, will attempt in “The Martian” to portray the character of & man in the same catholic spirit in which “Tom Jones” and “Pendennis” were created. Of one thing there can be no doubt. The story has all the spontaneity and charm of “Trilby” and “Peter Ibbetson,” and the author's rela- tion to his reader is as cordial and confidential as only Mr. du Maurier knows how to make it. A fine mew portrait of the author of “The Martian'’ is the frontispiece to the number. Frederic Remington relates some of his ex- periences in hunting “The Blue Quail of the Cactus” as be found this game in Northern Mexico. Samuel H. Scudder describes ‘*Some American Crickets,” with illustrations of in- teresting varieties, and Judge Walter Clark contributes ‘A Recovered Chapter in Ameri- can History,” describing the ill-starred expe- aition of England and her American colonies against Cartagena in 1740. SCRIBNER'S. The October number of Scribner’s Magazine is strong in American subjects of immediate interest, including in its contents a powerful and satirical essay by E.L. Godkin on “The Expenditure of Rich Men”; a broad and thoughtful discussion of the great problems that underlie “The Government of Greater New York,” by Colonel F. V. Greene; a paper on the way in which “The New York Working-Girl” has organized to take care of herself; a sym- pathetic essay on the work of Olin Warner, the eminent American sculptor who recently died; and a description of the picturesque and romantic features of the lighthouse system slong the North Atlantic coast. The Ameri- canism of this number in subjectand in ane tnorship is its most pronounced feature. It is a notable fact that there is not a single foreign contributor on the literary side of the number except Mr. Barrie and his remarkable serial. REVIEW OF REVIEWS. The Review of Reviews continues its ad- mirable record of the Presidential eampaign. In the July, August and September numbers the Republican, Democratic and Populist con- ventions were reviewed, together with the careers of the nominees. In the October num- ber the movement of the ‘“sound-money” Democrats, culminating in the Indianapolis convention, receives similar attention. No other publication in the country offers in a single number such a wealth of political por traiture, or so wide arange of cartoon illustra- tions. Every noteworthy phase of the canvass 18 fuliy and impartially® presented. Material is gathered from every source and carefully digested, THE FORUM. The October Forum contains, under the eap- tion “What Free Coinage Means,” four note- worthy articles on the silver question: ‘Com pulsory Dishonesty,” by Hon, Benjamin Har- rison; “Free Coinsge and Life Insurance Companies,” by John A, McCall, president of the New York Life Insurance Company ; “Free Coinage and Trust Companies,” by kdward King, president of the Union Trust Company, and “Free Coinage and Farmers,” by John M. Stahl, secretary of the Farmers’ National Con- gress. General Harrison’s paper is an ex- tremely veluable contribution to the dis. cussion. Itis probably the plainest, clearest, most powerful and most convincing argument against the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 that has yet appeared. ST. NICHOLAS. The October issue of St. Nicholas is a very full number, the table of contents including more than thirty countributions. The frontis- plece is a characteristic drawing by George Wharton Edwards, illustrating a poem, “Katrinka,” by Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge. A story of the good old days in Sherwood Forest, entitled, “George o’ Green and Robin Hood, and written by Caroline Brown, tells ot a sturdy swineherd who overcame most of the outlaw band at their own sports. “A Vege- table Ogre,” described by Eustace B. Rogers, is the wila fig tree of the West Indies which kills the tree that gives shelter to its soeed. Charles G. D. Roberts, in ‘The Fire on the Water,” writes of the exciting scenes that followed the wrecking of an oil train on & Canadian railway. “The Horses of the Castle,” by Tudor Jenks, is a tale of the olden times with a modern application. J, L. Sticht of the United States navy describes some “Historie Military Powder-Horns” that were carried in the Colonial and Revolution- ary wars. These were rudely engraved with patriotic rentiments or with maps of routes through the wilderness. “The True Story of Marco Polo,” which Noah Brooks is telling for young readers, gives an account of the buila- ingof the famous palace in Xanadu thatin- spired Coleridge’s poem. OUTING. Outing for October isa most readable num- ber, and carries many fine illustrations. A strong, complete story of the old South by the brilliant pen of Sara Beaumont Kennedy will please all readers. Other notable features in- clude “Football,’”’ by Walter Camp; “Trotting Road Teams and Their Drivers,” by E. B. Ab- ercrombie; “A Day on the Uplands,” by Ed W. Sand “Bacing Schooners,” by R. B. Burchard; “Bear-hunting in British Colume- bis,” by W. E. Cofin, and “American and Eng lish Boats and Oars,” by Charles Mellen, LITERARY NOTES. Professor John C. Van Dyke has edited a col« lection of twenty biographical and critical monographs on the most famous of modern French psinters, written by their American pu. pils and admirers—in each case an American artist chosen because of his knowledge and gym. pathy with the painter of whom he tes. The book, to be called “Modern French Masters,” will be published in October by The Century Company, and will contain a great number of {llustrations of the best work ofthe great French painters. Stone & Kimball announce for publication & yolume of clever sketches entitled, “Urban Dialogues,” by Louis E. Shipman. There are t0 be six full-page iliustrations by C.D. Gibson. *'Grip,” a new novel by John Strange Winter, is to be issued simultaneously in this country and Europe on October.1l. The American edition is to be made by Messrs. Stone & Kim- ball. Peter 8. Newell, whose unique illustrations for “A Houseboat on the Styx” and in the back pages of the magazines have marked him 2s an artist of striking individuality, hasmade a book called “'A Shadow Show,” which is something like the Topsy Turvy books whieh Mr. Newell issued several years ago. Several new novels are on The Century Com- pany’s list to be published during this month, They include “The Metropolitans,” & satire of New York society, by Jeanie Drake, author of “In Old Bt.Stephen’s”; “The Wonderful ‘Wheel,” & romance of Louisiana, by Mary Tracy Earle, and a Dutch-Indian novel, *“Gold,” by a new writer, Annie Linden. Miss Julia Magruder will publish this fall ‘with Herbert 8, Stone & Co. of Chicago a vol- ume of short stories called “Miss Ayr of Vir- ginia.” Miss Magruder is the author of “The Princess Sonla” and “The Violet,” stories which bave had a large vogue, “The Growth of the French Canadian Race in America” is the subject of a monograph b, Professor John Davidson of the University v. New Brunswick, recently published by the American Academy of Political and Social Seience. A valuable economic study on the effects of “Uneertainty as & Factor in Production” has lately been issued by the American Academy of Political and Bocial Science. The author is Professor Edward A. Ross of the Stanford Unie versity. A short novel by M, Zola has just been pub- lished in Paris in the “Lotus Bleu" library. The story is entitled ‘Mme. Neigeon,” and it is to be illustrated by M. A. Calbet. The first part of the new nistorical atlas of Europe, which is being Issued by the Oxford Press, will be ready this autumn. R. L. Poole, the general editor of the atlas, is having the assistance of historical authorities like Pro- fessors Bury and York Powell