The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 11, 1896, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1896. SOME OF THE CARTOONS THAT GEORGE DU MAURIER DREW FOR “PUNCH’ BEFORE From ““Society Pictures.” Copyright by the Charles H. Bergel Company. Chicago. ON THE BOULEVARD—A SOCIAL DIAGNOS!S. Fair Visitor. Dollars and Cars.” “There’s that lovely M. le Baron (an ezperienced obscrver). Woman again. Iwonder whoshe 1s?” “Madam, I tink she must be a English Duchess, because she is ver pretty, she dress vell, she speak sroo her Nose. she say ‘You bet,” and she talk abou? ALARMING SCARCITY. First Young Suwell. Seeond Ditto. Third Ditto. “Awl—Going anywhere?” “Nol!—Asked to ten ‘Hops’ to-night! The Idea has completely floored me!” “By Jove! I've been thinking of letting myself ont at Ten Pouuds a Night, 2 Fellow might recoup himself for a bad Book on the Derby.” SCENE—CLUB SMOKING-ROOM. Host. 21 'HE WROTE “TRILBY" THINGS ONE WOULD WISH TO HAVE EXPRESSED DIFFERENTLY. “Yes; but it’s rather Bare, just now. before you’re back, Old Man!” PICTURES OF . | CGHILD-WORLD | The Hoosier Poet’sl New Book % James Whitcomb Riley Tunes His Lyreto the Old-Time Memories James Whitcomb Riley's new book will be stmultaneously in this country and in land to-morrow. “A Chila-World” is its Unlike Mr. Riley’s previous books, this ne is nota collection of poems buta con- tinuous narrative in verse of child-lore, old- home delights and happenings in the early 1ife of the author. The opening lines in the volume thus de- scribe the old homestead: But very hopeful Indiana town— looking squarely down eet and the main hig hway The upper stor: TUpon the main From east to west—historic in its day, Known as the Nationa! rcad—oid-timers all | Who linger yet will happily recall 1t as the scheme and handiwork as well As property of Uncle Sam, and tell f its tmportance. “long and long afore | roads wuz ever dreamt of! Furthermore reminiscent firs inhabitants | make that old road blossom with romance | Of snowy caravans, in long parade : 0Of covered vehicles, of every grade From ox-cart of most primitive design | ‘To Conestoza wagons, with their fine Deep-chested, six-horse teams in heavy gear, High hames chiming bells—to childish ears And eye entrancing as the glittering trala Ot some sun-smitten pageant of old Spatn. * [ S . Beside the wood-house, with broad branch es free, Yet close above the roof, an apple-tree Known as the “Prince’s Harvest’—Magic phrase! That was s boy’s own tree, in many ways!— 1ts girth and height = eet both for the caress Of his bare legs and his ambitiousness; | Islified, with & light ineffable— And love’s fond service and reward thereof, Restore her thus, O blessed memory— Throned in her rockiog-chair, and on her koee Her sewing—her work-basket on the floor Beside her; springtime through the opea door Balmlly stealing in ana all about The room; the bees’ dim hum and the far shout And laughter of the children at their p! And neighbor children from across the Calling in gleeful challenge—save alone One boy whose volce sends back no answering tone— The boy, prone on the floor, above a book Of pictures, with a rapt, ecstatic 100k— Jven as the mother’s, by the selfsame spell, As though her senses caught no mortal cry, But heard, instead, some poem going bv. What could be more realistic and natural than his lines on the soundsin the homeon a summer da Blent with all outer sounds, the sounds within— In mild remoteness falls the household din Of porch and kitchen: the dull jar and thump Of churning; and the “glung-glung™ of the pump, With sudden pad and scurry of bare feet Of little outlaws, in from fiela or street: The clang of ket le—r sp of dsmper-ring And bang of cooks:ove door—and everything That jingles in a busy kitchen lifts Its individual wrangiing voice and dritts in sweetest tinny, €oppery, pewtery tone Of music hungry ear has ever known In wiidest famished yearning and concelt THRONED IN HER ROCKING-CHAIR. 0Ot youth, to just cut 10ose and eat and eat! * » . * - . ® The swooning-sweet aroma haunting all And then its apples, bumoring his whim Seemed just to fairly hurry ripe for him— Even 1 | June Impetuous as he, 1 hey dropped to meet him, half-way up the tree. | And, O, thelr bruised sweet faces, where they | fell ¢ | And ho! the 1ips that feigned to */kiss them well!” Mr. Riley since he became renowned bought back this house from the strangers into whose FRONTISPIECE OF “‘A CHILD-WORLD.'’ | hands it had passed, and the improvements made by them have taken from it much of its early quaint appearance. It has been remod- | eled, but not restored—only as the artisthas | restored it in the frontisplece. Not a great | aistence away is the “Old Swimmin’ Hole" | and other scenes almost as familiar to the reading public as to the poet himself. At this | old homestead Mr. Riley introduces the reader | 10 “A Child-World” and the deliciousnessof The liquid, dripping songs of orchard birds— The wee bass of tae bees— With lucent deeps of silence afterwards; The gay, clandestine whisperings of the breeze And glad leaves of the trees. Before the poet makes you acquainted with those around him in his childhood he leads you about the premises and points out cher- isned spots: The old woodhouse with its old workbench and tools, “The children’s vain possession by pretense.” And then you ac- company him to the stable-yard and enjoy with him the striking humor in the gambols of acolt: Home in his stall “Old Sorrel” munched his hay And oats and ccrn, and switched the flies away, 1n a repose of patience good Lo see, H An earnest of the gentlest pedigree. With half pathetic eye sometimes he gazed Upon the gambols of & colt that grazed Asound the edges of the lot outside And kicked at.nothing suddenly, and triea To act grown-up and graceful and high-bred, But dropped k’whop! and scraped the buggy-shed, Leaving a tuft of woolly, foxy halr Under the sharp end of a gate-hinge there. Then, all ignobly scrambiing o his feet, And whinneying a whinney 1ike a bleat, He would vursue himseif sround the lot Ana—do the whole thing over, like as not! The old-home life and “the five happy little Hoosier chaps inkabiting this wee world” are delightful child studies. Riley's descrintion of them displays more than ever his rare insight into the habits and minds of children. At times in his previous verse he seems to have reached the acme of tender affection, touching exquisitely on the love of mother #nd child, for instance. But it is not recalled that he has ever before brought the mother into & poem in such sweet fashion as in this chain of childhood stories: | The Mired Man sniffs injthe orchard air | To note the sun minately and to—sneeze, | awkward, overgrown youngster is primarily sn | | artisan, & manufacturer of toy-wagons, bows | | pecked at them, but what are the critics to say | the frosty s tudio of the dooryard this work of | with eyes made of walnuts and whiskers The hcuse—upstairs and down—porch, parlor, hall And sitting-room—invading even whers And pauses in his pruning of the trees A happy portrayal in the new book is thatof Noey Bixler, one of those lads who can do just anything possible for a boy to do, doing all those things which make & boy overwhelm- ingly popular with his companions. This and arrows, stilts and the like, with which he | delights his little friends. The mysteries of | | the woods and the depths of the creeks are | no mysteries at all to him. He is a wonderful | 1ad, knowing so much and doing so much, and | yet destitute as to any musical taste—he can | only “whistle bass.” Mr. Riley evidently ap- preciates the boyhood law of compensation. | Who ever knew a lad, otherwise giited, that | could whistle well? Noey Bixler's pucker- music is regarded as “phenomensally un. meiodious” by Cousin Rufus, who knew notes, | while Uncle Mart vouchsafed that: Noey couldn’t whistle *Bonny Doon,” Even; and, he'd bet, couldn’t carry a tune 1t it had handles to it! The creative hand of Noey at last brings him great messure of fame; his masterpiece in snow is praised in song, the apprentice poet of the town honoring the work with a “pane- gyric scroll of rhyme.” It was an artist indeed that painted grapes so natural the birds of the boy who makes a snow men “so fierce and sassy” that the children haa to “git ust to him” before they ceased to be airaid? In sculptured snow evolves itself faster than any swone ever chased by Grecian chisel, yet the processes are none the less fascinating because they merely produce & snow man—finished off wrought of buggy cushion stuffin’, But the oid Snow Man— What & dublous delight He grew atlast when spring came on And day$ waxed warm and bright— Alone he st all kith and Kin Of snow and ice'were gone. * & * O hero of a hero’s make!— Let marble melt and fade, But never you—you old Soow Man That Noey Bixler made! NOEY BIXLER'S ENOW MAN. While any day that gave the children Noey was notable aud dear, the narrative records his advent one day when the two little boys, Johnty and Bud, garbed as for a holiday, were going back to Noey’s house with him: # ® & ® Andby the time that each Had one of Noey’s hands—ceasiog their speech And coyly anxlous, in their new attire, To wake the comment of their mute desire— Noey seemed rendered voiceles:. Quite a while They watohed him furtively. He seemed to smile As though he would conceal it; and they saw Him look awsy, ana his 1ips purse and draw 1n curious twitching spasms, es though he might Be whispering—while in his eye the white Predominated strangely. Then the spell Gave way, and his pent speech burst audible: “They wuz two stylish litile boys and they wuz mighty bold ones, Shrined in her sanctity of home and love, Had two new pairs o' britches made out o’ their daddy’s old ones|” NAPOLEON'S FEMALE SPY John TJrowbridge on Electricity The Rambles and the Playmates of a Ghild, as Told in Verse in “Her Book” A CONSPIRACY OF THE CARBONARIL By Louise Muhlbach. New York: F. Tennyson Neely, publisher. For sale by Emporium Book Department; cloth, price 75 cents. After the first dimming of Napoleon’s star at Aspern, May 22, 1809, the leading members of the Society of the Carbonari, generals and sol- diers who stood close to the Emperor aud some of whom attended his councils, resolved to free France from a cesarism that had bzen forced upon her and to effect the removal from the world of the man whom theydenounced in secret as the “scourge of their native land.” After the lost battle of Aspern, Napoleon slept for twenty-two nours in the very midst of the conspirators, who during that time were en- gaged in discussing the question of the Em- peror's successor. Their opportunity to carry out their designs thus passed, and Napoleon’s star was soon in the ascendant again at Wa- gram. Again the Carbonari planned the Em- peror’s destruction. It seemed that their plot could not fail. Just as the blow is about to be struck, the conspirators are unmaskea and dfs- armed, and some of them sent to the execu- tioner. Napoleon knew everything. The mis- tress of one of the conspirators turns out to have been a spy in the pay of the Emperor. She receives half a million francs for the in- formation concerning the intended killing of Bonaparte, but offers back the fortune to save the man among the Carbonari whom she love d For her sake the lover’s lite is spared. Leo- nore, the spy, becomes his wife and goes to abide with him in prison , within the walls of which she dies, while the husband is not re- leased until long after Waterloo. The story has some historical foundation. It contains some strong scenes and some highly dramatic passages. The translator is Mary J. Safford. THE SUN'S GIFT TO EARTH. WHAT IS _ELECTRICITY? bridge, S.D. New YOrk: By John Trow- D. Appleton & Co., puolishers. For sale by William Doxey; cloth, price $1 50. This {s another valuable contribution to the International Scientific series. The suthor is a lecturer on the applications of science to the useful arts at Harvard University. In the book belore us, containing over 300 pages, he seeks to give the general reader an idea of the present direction of investigation in the sci- ence of electricity. In his preface the author states that, being often asked the question, ““What is electricity?” he has endeavored in this volume 10 give in a popular manner the views up to date of scientific men in regard to the matter. “According to modern ideas the continuance of all life on earth is due to the electrical energy which we receive from the sun; and physics in general can be defined as that subject which treats of the transforma. tions of energy. I have therefore prese nted the varied phenomena of electricity in such & manner that the reader can perceive the physicist’s reasons for supposing that all space is filled with a mediem which transmits elec- tro-magnetic waves to us trom the sun,” AN AUTHOR'S LITTLE PLAYMATE W. V. HER BOOK and Various Verses. By Wil- liam Canton. New YOrk: Sione & Kimball, publishers. There is much pleasure for old as well ns young in the perusal of “W. V. Her Book."” The reader cannot help falling in love with the commonpiace little body in Whose society the author revels: “for, after all, she is merely the average healthy, merry, teasing, delightful mite who tries to take the whole of life at once into ber two diminutive hands.” She wants to know all about everything that her happy, eager eyes light upon, and expresses her glee and wonderment, as new objects meet her view, in guaint and pretty terms of phrase. After following this child through her ram- bles and play, and listening to her innocent speculations, to the words she freely coins and to the quotations she has equipped herself with,one may appreciaté the author’s sym- pathy for less favored mortals: “Oh, you who are sad at heart, or weary of thought, or irri- table with physical pain, coax, beg, borrow or steal & fouror five year old, and betake you to blowing bubbles in the sunshine of your re- clusegarden.” The verse of “Her Book” em- braces some sweet fancies. In addition to the songs of childhood’s fairyland, there are verses (some of them very clever) covering a | variety of themes. AN EXCELLENT BOOK. SWEETHEART _TRAVELERS, By 8 R. Crockett. NS: ‘YOI‘K AudFLonuon: F. A, Stokes Company, publishers. or sale by Wi Doxey; cioth, price 81 75. il This 1s a child’s book for children, for women and for men, as Mr. Crockett tells us in his own happy way. The modesty of the author of “The Stickit Minister” leads him to under- value his own merits,when, forinstance, he de- clares that be ‘‘cannot give these yagrom chronieles their right daintiness.” We do not have to go very far into the book before we are made positive that be has done that very thing. The chromnicles are “full of the glint of spring flowers when they are wet and the sun shines slantways upon them; full of freshen- {ng winds and withdrawing clouds, and abov all, the unbound gladness of children’s laughter.” The book should be well patron- ized coming on the Christmastide. Some of the papers first appeared in fugitive form several years ago, and the author was induced to put them together in one volume by those elders who hud “‘never quite been abie o put away childish things.” “‘Sweetheart Travelers’’ are father and little daughter, and they go hand in hand through & world of golden de- lights, and their story is told inimitably well Achild witl be better in every way for havin read it; so will an elder person, Itis pure and elevating; there is something good in every line of it, and its charm holds from beginning to end. Besides beicg handsomely printed on heavy paper the book is profusely illustrated with drawings by Gordon Browne and W. H. C. Groome. USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY — By John Munro. New York: D. Appleton & Co., pub- lishers’ For sale by Willlam Doxey; cloth, price 40 cents. In Appleton’s Library of Useful Stories this is the latest volume, and its author is a promi- nent English authority on the subject of which he treats. In asimple and interesting manner he discusses the electricity of friction, of chemistry, of heat and of magnetism, elec- trolysis, the telegraph and telephone, electric light and heat, electric power and the minor uses of electricity. There are 172 illustra- tions in the book, which contains 185 pages. The work has been altered o as to adapt it to the practical requirements of American readers. A STUDY IN PINK. BIJOU'S COURTSHIPS. From tne French of “Gyp.” New York: F.Tennyson Neely, pub- lisber. For sale by Emporium Book Depart- ment; cloth, price 75 cents. If you want an insight into the manners and customs of Parisian society, if you like a smart, racy, gossipy style and have further- more & taste for light satire and don’t mind an occasional episode of a nature character- istically French you will hardly be displeased with Gyp's latest novel as translated by Katherine Berry di Zerega. There is the va- riety of light comedy and heavy tragedy in this story of the love affairs of a beautiful girl with a sunshiny marriage for a conclusion. The book is gilt-topped with a pink rose design onthe cover. The illustrations are by S.B. Aspell. IN THE DAYS OF THE PRETENDER. DENOUNCED. By J. Bloundelle-Burton. New York: D. K. Appleton & Co., publishers; paper, price 50 cents. Here is presented another strong picture of life in France and England during the days of the Pretender. The story is told in a popular and interesting manner. The hero loves a refugee from England whom he has met in France, but is prevented from marrying her through the intrigues of & man who succeeds in winning her through deceit. She, learning of the deception, ana the husband fearing that she would return to her old love, de- nounces him to the English authorities as a Jacobite and enemy of the King, but the hero escapes and the denouncer meets the just deserts of his treachery. Messrs. Laird & Lee, the Chicago publishers, have issued & new edition of Wilkie Collins' “The Woman in White” at the popular price of 50 cents, Miss Marion Hill has written a short serial for girls, *“June’s Garden,” which will appear in the new volume of 8t. Nicholas, beginning with the November number. Miss Hill is a young 8an Francisco girl and is the daughter of Barton Hill, the well-known Shakesperean actor and stage manager. ROMANCE OF AN OLD WORLD James Gowan's Jale About Mars The Story of an English Miller and Some Glassic Myths of the Celt DAYBREAK—A Romance of an Old World, By James Cowan. New York: George N. Rich- mond & Co., publishers. Considering the recent successes of Alvan Clark & Sons in casting larger object-glasses than was once thought possible, and their assertion that they can place no limit to the size these glasses may attain in the future, the author wonders if it is presumption to believe that “the day will dawn when this world will know whether Mars or Venus is inhabited.” We are taken on a balloon trip to Mars, where & race of people is found in g far more ad- vanced state of civilization and society than is the case on our terrestrial planet. One of the pleasant peculiarities of the Martian character is an entire absence of dis- agreeable curiosity. The Martian race is hignly developed physically, mentally, spirit- ually, and the reader learns how the high standard was reached through the application of wisdom to the lessons of ex- perience. It is learned that Mars has, far back in its history, suffered from the same in- dustrial, political and social troubles that now are felt upon the earth; but Mars has over- come all these difficulties, a settlement being reached by the people turning over all busi- ness, industrial and professional, to the gov- ernment, going Mr. Bellamy several points better. The author believes in the habitabil ity of other worlds, and this volume hintsata possible solution of the question of whether the earth alone, among all the planets of the heavens, was chosen by God for the peculiar honor read of in the gospel story. The visitors from the earth iearn that Mars has a history of asavior quite like the Christ of our own planet. Simply to suit the purposes of his story the author has made the analogy be- tween the earth and Mars quite close, such analogy, however, not being a matter of his belief. The situations are exaggerated to re- lieve the book of dullness. AN ENGLISH COUNTRY TALE. AT THE GATE OF THE FOLD. By J. 8. Fletcher. New York: The Macmillan Com: pany, publishers; cloth, price $1 25. A rare, good story this, far beiter than the a N ) HOMESICK % LOVE the woodlands when the light is breaking, Within the pearly cloudlets far away, And the sweet birds, their cozy nests forsaking, (\’éL In softest love-notes tell of new-born day. I love the forest lone, when noon is reigning Within the boundless, deep blue dome above, And rippling rills, halfjoyous, half<complaining, Sing on in Nature’s melody of love. But ah, at eve, as day’s last light is fading, As shadows dark oerspread the sunset dome, As night-veils fall, the land with darkness shading, My heart grows sad, I call in vain for home. ?Tis then, when warbling birds have hushed their singing And hastened homeward to their cozy nest; When Nature's bells their requiems sad are ringing, For day’s last light, soft dying in the west; When, through the twilight air so hushed and stilly, ‘The cricket’s voice proclaims the day is done; When droops her head in rest the virgin lily And bright-cyed stars come twinkling one by one— Ah, it is then that thoughts of home steal o’er me, As lone I watch the lingering daylight die; #Tis then that strange, wild fancies rise before me, With every changeful cloud that passes by. For see, each wildwood child at home is slumbering, “The fox in hole, the little bird in nest,” While I alone, the cruel, dark hours numbering, Beneath a fair but foreign sky must rest. And through the night how oft from sleep I waken, . When all is hushed and twinkling worlds shine bright; In sleep, in waking, lonely and forsaken, ¥ For home ¢’er longing. Oh, the cruel night! The night, oh, restless night ! though stats are shining And fair Diana’s bower is bright and gay; For far-off lands my homesick heart is pining, And longing for the dawn of genial day. Home, home, sweet sacred spot, for thee I'm sighing, Had I but wings, o’er boundless, moaning sea Id fly, as earth *mid dreams is lying, Nor pause to rest till I had flown to thee. EBG average novel of the day, and its chief inci- dents would make a drama that would appeal very strongly to the popular heart. The miller of the parish, crossed in love, becomes furious in his rage on the day when his suc- cessful rival, the gamekeeper, weds the village smithy’s daughter. He is attacked by brain fever, and the kind nurse who attends him with all the care of a mother for her babe learns to love him for virtues that outweighs his faults. On his recovery he one day shoots afox that has ravaged his henroosts, and upon being berated by the gamekeeper for the of- fense against the Squire, speaks in severe and even threatening terms to the fellow. One night the gamekeeper is stabbed in the back by an unknown, and prejudice condemns the miller as the criminal. His name is cleared, however, by the confession of a dying poacher, who admits having knifed the gamekeeper to satisfy an old grudge. The village then hastens to make amends for wrongful treat- ment of the miller. The nurse was instru- mental in getting the confession, and the miller weds her, and in the sunshine of the happiness that follows their union the shadows of the past are forgotton. CELTIC LEGENDS. THE WASHER OF THE FORD. By Fiona Macleod. New York: Stone & Kimball, pub- lishers; cloth, price $1 25. The legendary moralities and barbaric tales presented in this volume will command atten- tion, not only because they are worthy of itin a literary sense, but because the author has endeavored to illustrate what has been for hundreds of years a characteristic of the purely Celtic mind—an apparent complexity arising from the gralting of Christianity on paganism. It is held that to this day there are Christian rites and superstitions which are merely a gloss upon asurviving antique pa- ganism. The titular plece is the keynote of the book as well as the before-mentioned char- acteristic of the Celt. In the passage of pa- ganism the old myths were too deep-rooted in the Celtic mind to vanish at the bidding of the cross. “The Washer of the Ford,” as the au- thor remarks, might well have appeared to a single generation—now as a terrible and som- ber pagan goddess of death; now as a symbolic figure in the new faith, foreshadowing spirit- ualsalvation and the mysteryof the resurrec- tion. There are fifteen legends in the book and every one of them is rich with imagery and with the natural poetry in which Celtic tradi- tion abounds. In crder that Arthur Morrison’s new book, “A Child of the Jago,” may be issued this autumn a new plan for its serial publication has been adopted. The first thirteen chapters will appear in the New Review. The re- mainder of the book will be given to the pub~ lic for the first time when the story appears in book form. Mr. Morrison is known as the author of “Tales of Mean Streets,” which crit- ics everywhere acknowledged as the most pow- erful stories of slum life written in recent years. The new novel is in character like his former success, but is the result of more care- ful work. The author thinks it the best writ- ing he has ever done. The American publish. ers are Herbert 8. Stone & Co., Chicago. On the first of June there were in existence in Paris 2291 periodicals of all kinds, classified as follows: Eight hundred monthlies, 669 weeklies, 137 dailies, 287 with no fixed date of publication. The others are semi-weekly, etc. France as a whole, including the colo- nies, 1ssues 3566 periodicals, of which 336 are dailies, “Genius and Degeneration,’”” by Dr. William Hirsch, is the title of an important work which will be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co. Dr. Hirsch’s ecute and sug- gestive study of modern tendencies was begun before ‘‘Degeneration” was published, with the purpose of presenting entirely opposite deductions and conclusions. The appearance of Dr. Nordau's famous book, with its eriti- cisms upon Dr. Hirsch’s position, enabled the latter to extend the scope of his work, which ‘becomes a scientific answer to Dr. Nordau, al- though this was not its purpose originally.” Tt should be read by every intelligeni person who wishes to understand the spirit of his time and the lessons which history teaches the psychologist. Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. announce for early publication the first volume of the great historical work which has occupied the ener- gies of Edward Eggleston for the greater part of the last sixteen years. The general title is “A History of Life in the United State: the first yolume—*The seginners of a Na- tion”—dealing with the causes and motives of thé seventeenth century migrations. The October Philistine has a prose sketch by Stephen Crane, wherein is told how a cer- tain baby boy, bow-legged and bareheaded, wearing a greasy dress “marked with many conflicts like the chainshirt of a warrior,” toa- dles froman alley up on to a fashionable street and steals & toy wagon from a baby in frills. It was a great time! William MeclIntosh hasa pithy argument on “The Literary Sweatshop.” Charles G. D. Roberts has a fine poem pleading for light and good nature. But the “Side Talks” are the'best the magaszine has had for months. They occupy sixteen pages and make up just hali of the booklet. They are very full of pepper sauce. On the completion of the compositors’ work at the printers’ of Ian Maclaren’s new book, “Kate Carnegie and Some Ministers,” the author wrote in the following terms to the manager of the office: “As this (batch of proofs returned) completes the tale, would you kindly convey to the compositors my sin- cere appreciation of their skill? Would you also distribute the inclosed trifie among the men who ao my work, that they may smoke a pipe extra to soothe their nerves after de- ciphering my handwriting?"” The volume of coilected sketches by Archi- ‘bald Forbes, to be issued soon by Messrs, Mac- milian, will be called “Camps, Quarters and Casual Piaces.” It consists of papers which have already appeared in the magazines, and which, to judge from the success that has at- tended simflar trevious volumes by the same author, are likely to find many readers in a more permanent form. Norway has abolished the study of Greek and Latin in her public high schools, which means the total abolition of classical educa- tion in that country. A new translation of Shakespeare into French by M. Jules Lermina, with illustra. iions by Robida, is shortly to be published in Paris. It will be extremely literal, the trans- lator’s intention being to enable his readers to read Shakespeare as he wrote it, through the medium of another language, ‘“Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” will be published this month. Guest. **Well, good-by, O1d Man!—and you've really got a very nice little Place herel” I hope the Trees will have Grown a good bit IN A CLOUD OF SORROWS John Oliver Hobbes' New Book Woes of an Early Marriage and the Sunshine That Game at the End THE HERB-MOON. By “John Oliver Hobbes.’”” New York: F. A. Stokes & Co., publishers. For sale by Emporium Book Depariment; cloth, price 81 25. This talented author has given us a charm- ing book in her fantasia, “The Herb-Moon.” Rose Arden’s life, with its cloud of sorrow that the sun of happiness is destined to dis- pel; that lifeand its woes that came to her with an early marriage, which was soon to be cheated of iis illusion by a husband’s cruelty and to be followed by a dreadful occurrence that would remove him from the path of her years; then the life of quiet days, sewing and belping others; the new love that crept into her heart, nestled and staid there in silence; the new love that she sought in vain to bury forever; the long-time love, too, that the country folk were wont to jest about, ap- peals strongly to the reader’s sympathy and admiration; while in Robsart’s.career the warmest interest is aroused—Robsart, the hero, who redeems his family name, wins distinction on the battleflield and in Parliament, and, despite op- portunities to marry youth, beauty anda riches at the height of his fame, turns to Rose, the true woman, and lifts her up beside him to be his wife, envied of those who dreamed that he would choose for a bride none other than “a brilliant-looking woman with a presence.” The story is full of good, healthful morals. One even wishes it were longer. And, asto the meaning of the herb-moon, it is explained by Susan, the housekeeper, early in the book, when, referring to Mr. Robsart, she remarks: “When he marries I hope it will be stralght off, without shilly-shally. For there’s nothing so wearing as the herb-moon.” “The herb-moon?” repeated Rose, stupefied. “Ayel that’s my name forone of those long courtships. Adam and 14id all our courting in a fortnight. That's why we are happy. This walk- ingout with each other year In and year ont till your nerve is gone and you are sivk with talking ‘Wwas never to my taste, nor to my mother’s before me. 'Tisn’t natural, and I'm all for nature, I am.” But the herb-moon only served to make stronger and deeper and higher the love that finally crowned the lives of Robsart and Rose Arden. The story is told in simple and besu- tiful style. A VOLUME OF ESSAYS. WITH MY NEIGHBORS. By Margaret E. Sangster. New York: Harper & Bros., publish- ers. For sale by A. M. Hobertson, San Fran- cisco; price $1 25. The articles which form this volume were originally published either in the Congrega- tionalist or the Christian Intelligencer. They consist of short essays on homely topics relat- ing to everyday life, and the lessons sought to be conveyed are oiten illustrated by some pithy anecdote. In addition to the “talks” as the author calls these little essays, she has reprinted—by request—some of her poems. Among the most characteristic of these talks are “Tuckered Out,” in which there is a pro- test against the incessant drive of people who are too busy; “Mother-brooding,” the ability mothers have of seeing when a daughter is un~ happy and of silently comforting her; “So- clety Girls,” in which there is a strong plea for the real usefulness of those who are supposed to be devoted to fashion; ‘‘A Chnild’s Savings Bank,” warning parents of the danger of arous- ing the spirit of cupidity; three papers on the relation of mistress and maid, a topic always timely and interesting in American homes, and “The Care of the Care-Taker,” a strong plea for those who care for invalids. The Rev. John Watson (Ian Maclaren) will gafl on the Germanic on September 18, to begin his American lecture tour. Dr. Watson 1s booked for fifty-four lecturesin this country. Marion Crawford has written a new story es- pecially for The Century. It iscalled “A Rose of Yesterday,” and it will begin in the Novem- ber number and run for six months. The story opens in Lucerne, and while it is entirely sep- arate in interest some of the personages that appear in it will be familiar to readers of “Don Orsino.”” It is wholly romantic in character. Mr, Astor's magazine, the Pall Mall, wiil shortly publish verses by an American poet, George Edgar Montgomery, on two British themes, *England” and “Queen Victoris.” Mr. Montgomery, by the way, is writing a series of New York poems for Harper's Weekly., A few of these have been published. Others to follow immediately are “Fire Island” and “Fifth Avenue.”” These verses will be col- lected later in & book. They are in a vein of serious poetry, yet realistic. Among the subjects for essays which the University of Berlin offers prizes for the season of 1896-97 is: “Robert Burns, the hundrddth anniversary of whose death has just been cele- brated, was, notwithstanding his great origi- nality, influenced in a variety of ways, as regards both the form and contents of his poems, especially by the popular lyrics of his home and Scotch imitators of them, like Ram- say and Ferguson, but also by Pope, Young, Goldsmith, Ossian, etc. The writer of the dis- sertation is expected to trace these influences 10 their source and describe them chronologi- cally, emphasizing everywhere the additions made by Burns himseif.” . The fact that the first edition of “The Grey Man,” amounting to no fewer than 35,000 copies, has been subscribed before the novel is published, shows that 8, R. Crocketts popus larity isstill in the ascendant. Very seldom indeed is so large a first edition printed. Howard Pease, who has been termed by Lon- don crities the “Northumbrian Kipling,” has just completed a volume of stories called “The White-Faced Priest.” A fairy tale in prose and verse by S, J. Adair- Fitzgerald, entitled “The Zankiwank and the Bletherwitch,” will be issued shortly.