The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 14, 1897, Page 23

“cases, with paper .abel and sund-paj - the (wopence-farthing but the cost of the paste, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, 1897 MARCH 14, 23 A CHILD OF THE JAGO. A _CHILD OF THE JAGO—By Arthur Morrk son. Chlcago: Herbery &, Stone & Co. For sals Inthis City by William Doxey, Palace Hotel Trice $150. N A Child of the Jago,” the author of ‘Tales of Mean Streets” has written a b striking study of life asit is lived in the poverty-stricken portion of the East End o London. The Jago, it should be premised, i that distr.ct bounded on the south by Bethnal Green road and on the west by the High street, Shoreditch. These geographical data, ind.cating the scene of the story, are suffi. | cient to guarantee something realistic, nndl Zere we have it. Sordid poverty, filth, crime—these form the | component parts of much of Mr. Morrison’s 8% wat €0 baye been cxnecten EET racter portrayed by him is not over-| Iy ugly it is unstable as water. Our | athor is most happy in his Josh Perroit, in Dickey, hisson, i Aaron Weech, in the Rann and the Learys. When he comes to describe | the parson. the small tradesman, the swell | thief, he approaches perilously near a failure. Clearly Mr. Morrison’s forte isnot in describ- ing the ways of the “hupper suckles.” The student of sociai conditions in large cities will find much of value in “A Child or the Jago,” for what is true of London can be made to apply with equal force to Paris, New York, Sydney or San Francisco. In each of thesé cities, cited at random, can be founda | Jego, overcrowded, disease-infested, germ- breeding, where vice and poverty are daily engaged in a bitter struggle for supremacy, where nightly the cry arises O God! that bread should be so drar And flesh and blcol so cheap. In London at least the area of these Jago dis- tricts is gradually becoming more and more | circumscribed. The Saffron Hill of to-day is Dot what it was when it numbered among its | chiefest residents the Ariful Dodger, Charles | Bates, Bill Sykes and Fagin. So with the | Shoreditch Jago, whose complete anninilation | will only be & matter of a few years, thanks to the capitalists who see & sure source of inter- estin the four per cent dwellings, and none to the theorizers und dreamers of better social conditions. This brings us to what is the dominant note of the book under review. Mr. Morrison spares 1o pains to make it ap- parent that he has a vast contempt for those persons, lay and ciericel, who seem to think that a considerable portion of their mission in lile is 10 visit the poorer quarters of their | cities in order to “2meliorate the condition” of the denizens thereof. Itis a singular fact that the efforts of these Eminently Respectables usually erystallize in a lecture upon some ebstruse ethical or philosophical subject. A Dall is hired, and hendbilis are fssued to the effect that “Mr. So-and-So will deliver a lecture on The Renaissgnce. Tea and cake free.” A number of the Eminently Respectables are | 1S certainly a novel skit. on the platform to leud tone to the proceed- ings. The submergad tenth are also there in force, but not for the purpose of hearing a | eulozy of Savonarola. They come attracted | by the mercenary clause, ““tea and cake free,” and at the close of the lecture the Eminently | Respectables depart, fully convinced that they | have participated in another exhibition of | prectical philantbropy, and inwardly thank- ing Goa that they are not like unto these men. The author of “A Child of the Jago” has no | compunction in holding these Semi-Divinities up to ridicule, and with justice. What the in- habitant of the Jago wants is bread, not phil- osophy, and it were mockery to offer the as- piring East Ender the Higher Life, the Greater Thoug! the Wider Humanity, and other | rediant abstractions in the comparative de- gree, when soup, meat or coal tickets would sootne his soul in a more satisfactory manner. It1s needless for our author to point out that any fmprovement in the lot of the Jagoite which may heve been effected in recent years is not by any means due to the efforts ot mis- guided dabblers in philanthropy. None who have studied the prob.em can doubt that the solution is yet far off, thut most of the schemes put forward to “civilize” the poorer classes are aismel failures. And the reason for this is not hard to find. Those of the so-called lower classes who are gifted with the most ordinary common-sense, and whom ‘it is desired to reach, object, and properly 80, to the airs of superiority affected | by the aforesaid “Eminently Respectables,” who condescend to p.ace themselves in the | position of mentors. Here is an extract from one of the earlier chapters ot “A Child of the Jago” which nicely illustrates these facts. | The scene 1s the opening of a new elub, which | Mr. Morrison felicitously calls the “East End Elevation Mission and Pansophical Institute.” “Tlie chairman of the committee is speaking: He (the chairman) rejoiced to see that day | whereon jhe helping hand of ihe West was 50 un- mistakably made apper-nt in the East. He re- julced alsoto find himself in the midst of 0 ad- Tnirably typical an assemblage—so reoresentative, if he might say 80, of that great l.ast .nd of Lon- Gon, thirsiing and crying out for—ior elevation; for that—ah—elevation w ich the more fortunately | circamstanced den zens of—0f o:her piaces had =0 nunificentiy—laid on. The people of the Kast d bad been sadly misrepre-entrd—in popular period cals and in—in other ways. The East Eoa, he was convinced, was not so biack asit was patutea [Appianse.] Hebad but (o look arout | bim—et ceiera, et cetera. He questioned whether 80 well conducted, morally given and respectable a | ga hering could bs bronght together in auy West End parish wi h which be was acquainted. It was his most pleasant duty on this occasion—and s0 on and so forth. This may appear the exaggeration of & novel: ist, but reference to the files of any news- paper will show that such delightful conceits are perpetrated every day in the year. In the +ease cited one 1s almost gratified to note that the speaker was rewarded for his patronization oy Dickey Perrott, who *‘clicked” his massive Ruhter. No; the West does not and never did under- stand the East, and, given present conditions, never will. As Mr. Morrison says, the in- stitutions for the manufacture of the Superior Person from the Jago raw material are sup- portéd in London *by people whn know less of that part than of Asia Minor.” This is liter- slly true, and the coliege-bred philanthropist 1s Inughed at for his pains, Who then is the benefactor of the poor in big cities? Let the author of ““A Child of the Jago” answer. Itis the man w00 builds tenement-houses (even as & means of investment) rather than he who erects “institutes” ; soup kitchens rather. than mission hells, snd who gives bread and meat | 2nd coal before lectures on evolution. i In 8 book like the one before us no writer could avoid touching upon the sorely vexed matterof “sweating.” Here is ‘4 paragraph that should afford food for thought to the Eminently Re pectables: ‘Then there wss a8 more lucrative employment stilh, but one to b+ looked for at intervals only: one not to be counted on at all, in fact, for it was a prize and many sought after it This was (he making of match-boxes. For makinz 144 outside nd the same number of trays to slide {nto them—a gross o complete boxes, or 288 pleces In all—on: cot twopence-farthing: indeed. for a speclal size one éven got a farthing a gro s more: and all th- wooa and lal wnd the sand-paper were provided frev 80 that the fortunate operative lost nothi g out of and the string .0f tyinz up the boxes into regular nimbered batches, and the time employed In feiching the work and taking 1 buck sgain And ifse en gross were Lo be got, and could be doue in & da-—and it was really not very difficule for the skiliful hand wko kept at work lon- enouga—the day'sincome was one and threcpence three far- thing, essexpenses; still better than the shiris. Lut the work was bard 10 gels A Whe public- | of 50 much crime ia th - Jazo. | notwittstanding it spirited manufacturers complained, people wonld buy Swedish matehes; whereas, if people woud support home in ustries and buy no maiches but theirs, they would be abie to order many twopence- farthing’s worth of boxes more. Twopence-farthing, four and one-half cents, for making one gross of match-boxes! And the Semi-Divinities marveled at the presence In the face of hese figures one can see reason in the remark ddressed to Dicky Perrott (the “Child of the Jago”) by Beveri , an inhabitant thereof. The oid man iudicates a trio of sweil burglars, well dressed and bedizened with diamonds, who are entering & saloon togethe: ow, Dicky Perroit, you Jag> whelp, look at them—look hard. Some day. it you're clever— cleverer (han any one in the Jago now—it you're only scou :arel enough, and brazen enough, and lucky enough—one of a thousand—maybe you'll be like them: bursilng witn high liviag, drunk when you like, red and pimply. There it is—that's your alm in life—ihere’s your patiern. Learn to ead and wr-te; learn all you can: learn cunding: Spare nobody and stop at nothing, and perhaps—" he waived his nand toward the Bag of Nalls., “I's the best the worid has for you, for the Jago's go you, and that's the only way out, except jail and the galiows. So do your devilmost, or God belp you, Dicky Perrott—though He won't, for the Jago's got you” ! ““A Child of the Jago” is a realistic work of fiction. There are in it some passages of wondrous power that it is no stretch of the imagination to deseribe as worthy of Dickens, The picture of the murder of Aaron Weecn, the hypoeritical receiver of stolen goods, and those portraying the scene in court at the trial of Josh Perrott and his subsequent execution, the death of Dicky—all are painted with & mas- ter hand. Mr. Morrison knows whereof he writes, and writes it. His novel, without obtruding a moral, could well serve as & textbook to the student of soclology and crimonology. His sympathies are manifestly with the class of which he writes, and he plainly suggests through the medium of a firsi-class work of fiction the methods which must be applied to remedy the allied diseases of poverty and crime. He burrows beneath the art.ficiality of the osten- tatious charity dispenser, and with dart-ike pen shames or ridicules him off his pedestal. A Child of the Jago” will do for Shoreditch what Mr. Zangwill did tor Petticoat Lane. It will perpetuate its memory while assisting practical men, not idealists, in their effort to bring the suffering East Ender to a cleaner life. EMANUEL EL7AS. THIS IS A GOOD ONE. | THE BARBAROUS BRITISHERS—By H. D. Traill. John Lane, Bodiey Head: Loudon aad New York. lorssle by William Doxey, Palace Hotel City. Price 50 cents. The author of this tale assertsat the very start thatit isa tiptop movel, and this is the truth. If strietly speaking it is not a novel it 1t is a satire on the style of some mocern novels, and seems to It be aimed particularly at Grant Allen treats chiefly of -the topic of taboos, aud in much as marriage is the king of taboos in the | estimation of certain rebels, who consider life &s miserably weighed down upon by the tyr- anny of the taboo relgn, the subject of free love must be mainly deait with; and it 1s done with a delicacy of refined but scathing sar- casm which will compel both the devout and the wicked to laugh. The style of the story is perhaps the spiclest purity it is possible to write. There are many modern stories written as it were holily, but the whoie effect of them is debauching, wheress this tiptop novel is written with a debonair deviltry that is posi- tively scintillating, and yet the whole effect is | morally elevating, because it tears the domino from the master—sin, playing the role of su- perior intellect. When witis used in so good & cause it is doubly enjoynbie and commendsble. Perhaps many & weak woman who has been srguea into departure from high ideals by the clever and plausible taik of some apostie of liberty, of enlightened and advanced thought, might have saved herself for higher things if she had ever had tue rich absurdity of this apparently Dious persuesion x-rayed to her vision in Traill's witty way. ‘here is somewhere a golden mean between prudery and indelicacy, and perhaps this amusing novel goes as far toward being risque without beiny corrupt- ing a8 is ever safe. CHIROSOPHY. | PRACTICAL PALMISTRY—By Comte C. de Saint-Germaln. Laird & Lee, Chicago. Cloth $1, paper 25 cents. | The author of this book is the president of the American Chirological Society, and the work is intended to so simplify the art of reading character and fate by the shape of the bandsand the linesin the palms that it may be acquired to & considerable degree of perfec- | tion by any one who will take the trouble to read the work carefully. The writer refers to Balzec and Buiwer Lytton for confirmation of his claim that paimistry is an honest science, having been brought into much disrepute by charlatans. It is probable that a work by the president | of the Chirological Society, & man who has given twenty-five vears’ study to the art of | readivg the lines written by nature on the hand, will be eagerly read by those who are interested in that science. FOR BIBLE STUDENTS. THE LIFE BEAUT FUL By James O. EBlakely. Los Angeles, Cal. (loih, 80 cents. This is & little bouk of thirty-two pages, and is intended to be an aid to the study of the life of Christ. It is called an outline harmony of the gospels, and it has &n outline chart of the journ.yings, principal events and teach- ings of Jesus, showing at a glance their rela- tions as to time and place. There is along iist of the chief historical events in hislife and the principal topics discussed by the great Teacher, with reference to the verse and chap- ter where they may be found. The hope of | the author is 1o help the young to clearer | views of"the fundamental facts in the history, and o stimulate them and their teachers in the attainment of better results in histori- cal and spiritual Tesearch than have hitherto been obtained. WORSHIPERS OF ODIN. THE SENTIMLENTAL VIKINGS—By R._V. Risiey. Jobn Lune, The Bodiey Head: New York and London: price $1. For sale by Wik liam Doxey, Palace Hotel, ity. Perhaps the world will never tire of hearing tales of the bold Norscmen. Every once in a while we like to recur to those poetic ac- counts of sives full of daring courage and wild revelry. Again and again we like to have renewed and made more vivid our mind pleture of those great fierce-bearded men fond of perilous roving and who felt the same strong joy in battle as in love and feasting and martial minstrelsy in their great halls. To merely mention the name of Viking is to summon up vistons of gleaming battle- axes, of deep draughts drunk witn deep de- light, of courage that would dare to the utter- most for vengeance or for woman’s love, This coliection of Norse tales by Risley has the same wild music and martial ring to it that always accompanies Viking stories when they are well told. GERTRUDE. ATHERTON'S BOOK. It Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, who a few years ago traced a meteoric line across the peaceful firmament of American letters, has been for- gotien she will be brought vividly to mind by S P/ N B RN interesting likenesses of garden of the Lanfranchi Palace. i his younger and more romantic days. Lol 4 HE above portraits and silhouette of Lord Byron are reproduced from drawings which appeared in “The Sketch” of recent issue, which contains a number of new and the poet. The silhouette was cut by Mrs. Leigh Hunt at Pisa in 1822. Byron was wont then to sit in such a manner in his riding dress in the In this silhouette he is presentad in striking contrast to the likeness of him in the principal portrait printed above, which was reproduced fromsa full-length oil paintine by Sanders, painted fn 1807, when Byron was in the full flush of his wonderful manly besuty. From the silhouette it is evident that Byron, toward the close of his life, cared little or nothing for his personal appearance, of which he thoughta great deal The portrait painted by Sanders is doubtlessly the best likeness of Byron ever depicted upon canvas. Itis now the property of Lady Dorchester of England. The picture showing Byron in Albanian dress was reproduced from a half-length por- trait produced by Philiips and exhibited st the Royal Aczdemy in 1814 under the title “A Nobleman in the Dress of an Albanian,” when it attracted a great deal of attention. called “Patience Sparhawk and Her Times,” and it more then makes up for her long siience. It is said to be far and away the most remarkable piece of work Mrs. Atherton has done. Patience Eparhawk is a Californla girl, who marries and comes to New York, where she lives a life of reckiess gayety, in the narrative of which various aspects of New York society. are «epicted with graphic realism and unquestionable clever- ness. The heroine experiments & bit in husbands and passes through the most varied and startling experiences, including a trial for murder of her first husband and & narrow escape from the electrocuting chair. Husband number two arrives just in time to save her, which, of course, relieves the reader, though if agood judge of character, he may conclude that Patience might better have remained in the chair and taken her fate et once. Mrs. Atherton knows how to teil a story and she has got into this new novel a great deal of story very eftectively told. It will find plenty of readers. Mrs. Atherton is living now in England and declares it to be her intention not to return to America. But *‘Patience Sparhawk” will soon be here and it will fill the gap. A LAWYER'S LOVE. A BACHELOR’S BRIDAL—By Mrs H. Lovett Cameron J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadel- ghis Forsle’ by A. M. Roberison, ost a.reet, ity. Price 60 cents. The bughelor in this case is a middle-aged lawyer who has his sympathies aroused by the troubles of a beautiful young lady. She is very wealthy and her guardian has planned 10 have her marry his son, who is dying with consumption. The idea of the mateh 18 of course abhorrent to the healthy and handsome young girl. Her guardian having exhausted persuasion in vain resorts to imprisonment and starvation to compel her consent. She escapes to the apartments of the iawyer and begs his friendly assistance, The bachelor epdeavors (o extricate her from her difficul- ties and soon falls under the spell of her charms. FANTASTIC AND ARTTSTIC. THFE YELLOW BOOK, volume XTI. New York: John Lane, the Eodley Head. For sale by Wik iiaw Doxey, Palace Hotel, City, Price -1 50. The laiest number of the Yellow Book is as usual filled with attractive short stories and sketches with embellishments 1a the way of pictures. odd, original and artistic. The frontispiece is a pencil portrait of Miss Evelyn Sharp, and one of the best things in the book is 8 fairy story by her which isa strong con- trast to the usual style of fairy stories. Henry James contributes an article on the well-worn subject of the love affair between the novel- 1st Georges Sand and Alfred de Musset. At the c.ose of his remarks be wonders “how the graceless facts do, after all, confound & new novel of hers shortly forthcoming from the press of John Lane, says Book News. Itis thomselves with the beautiful spiric” The editor, Henry Harlaod, has & pretty, short story ealled “The Flower o’ the Clover,” in which he makes us acquainted with a delightfully hearty and generous girl whom be cleverly compels the resder to forgive for a youthful indiscretion. In “Alexander, the Ratcatcher,” Richard Garnet gives a comic reason why Pope Alexander the Eighth ordered a solemn service and conducted a procession for the weal of the soul of his wickeG predec:ssor, Alexander the Sixth. There is some good poetry-in the volume and & number of amusing sketche: SHORT STORIES. MISB ARMSTRONG'S AND OTHER CIRCUM- STANCES. By John Daviison. New Yor Stone & K mball. For sale by Wililam Doxey, Paince Hotel, City. Price 51 25. Miss Armstrong, who is an enthusiastic young girl, makes up her mind that she will make circumstance rather than be controiled by it. She divides people into two great classes—those who are ‘“circumstances” with- out knowing it and those who are conscious of the fact. When she first starts out to cause things to happen she meets with ignominfous defeat, but in the end she did become the cause of a very live eircumstance, though the performance was of a character altogether dif- ferent to what she had planned. The expla- nation of how itall happencd can only be en- joyed by reading the author's skilled narra- tion. “Among other good things in the book 1s an account of a visit to an anarchists’ meet- ing and a conversation with some of their leaders. Their talk is full of destructive threats, but the conclusion of the writer is that such meetings are as harmless as church soirees. Anarchy, he says,is the exaggeration of the idea of liberty, just as socialism fs an exaggeration of the idea of equality. IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. IN THE BLUE PIKE—By George Ebers. New Yorke: D Appleton & Co. Pr.ce 40 cents. For sale oy A. M. Robertson, Post street, City. The clever author of “Cleopatra” and “An Egyptian Princess,” who 18 80 good at giving us clear conceptions of the manners of distant. historic periods through the medium of his romances, has produced in this little book = picture of German life in the sixteenth cen- tury. It tells the story of a strolling rope- dancer’s love for a magistrate o strange that people would have doubted her sanity had she told 1t to them. The book 18 a reprint in paper covers. TALE OF REVENGE AND FORGIVENESS GRIP—By John Btrange Winter. ball, New York. Price $1 25. MHsm Doxey, Palace Hotel, City. “The ‘celérity of action in this story is ad- mirable. The author telis something fairly good in & Datural manner. A bold young Englishman, with his regiment in Ireland, learns that his English sweetheart has engaged herself to & French Count; vows vengeance, gives up his commission and goes 10 Paris to study French and fencing, snd walt an oppor- Stone & Kim- For sale by Wil- | and Life. D BYRON IN 1822 tunity to pick a quarrel with the Count and challenge him. Succeeding events, wherein amang other things the Briton seeks the life of his successful rival, result in effectually re- moving from the disappointed lover's heart all desire to 1njure his old sweetheart’s hus- band. VERSES IN DIALECT. WITH THE BAND—By Robert W. Chsmbers. Etone & Kimball, N+ w York. For sale by Wil liam Doxey, Pa.ace Hotel, Cl Price $125. The band referred to in this title is that which furnishes music to the soldier boys, and the verses in dialect depict the rough romance of the private solaier’s lif, They are humor- ous and of the Kipling order. Some of these poems originally appeared in Truth, Vogue There are few not done in dialect. Of these, “Springtide,” which is a question to & maiden aud her answer, is perhaps the best thing in the whole volume. There are halfa dozen prose sketches writien after the manner of the old Hebrew prophets. FAITH CURE. GOD'S LAWS OF HEALING—By John Eller. Uakland, Cal. This book is evidently written by anin- tensely religious man, who has strong faith in the Bible but not much in doctors of medicine or doctors of divinity who indorse them. He denounces the use of alcohol and morphine in doctors’ prescriptions “in place of the only remedies laid down in God’s word. When per- sonal faith fails to cure,” he says, “then let them call for the elders of the ehurch 5nd anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, and the praser of faith shall save the sick.” The suthor gives specific directions for curing rheumatism by the laying on of hands. THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE. TATTERLY —By T. Gallon. New York: D. ‘Appleton & Co. For sa'e by Wiliam Doxey, Palece Hoiel, City. Price 50 cents. A young artist struggling for fame and for- tune and & young orphan-girl, who gives him her hearty friendship, are the persons in this book who interest us, as does the money-grub- bing uncle of the young man, by his power to spoll other people’s happiness. Tatterly is the servang and obsequious admirer of the money- grubber, whose charactet is drawn with much skill SR MISTAKEN CHOICE. DR. DARCH'S W1FE—By Florence Warden. Peter Fenelon Collier, New York. Paper, 25 cents. This story of the Fortnightly Library of February 18 is study of unrequited love. A young doctor passes by the opporiunity 1o win a noble woman who loved him and would have made his life happy, and finds unhap- plness in & unfon with an unprincipled beauty who fascinated him. Hellas, Hail! Little land so great of haart, ’Midst 2 world 50 abject grown— Must thou play thy elorious part, Hellas, glorious y alone? Shame on Europe’s arms, if she Leave her noblest work to thee! While she slept her sleep of death, Thou hast dared and thou hast don Faced the Shape whose dragon breatn Fouls the splendor of the sun. Thine to show the world & way, Thine the only deed to-day. Thou, fn this thy starry hour, Sittest throned all thrones above. Tkou art more than pomp &nd power, Thou-art liberty and love. Doubts and foars in dust bo trod: On, thou mandatory of God ! Who are these would bind thy hands 2 Knaves and dastards, none beside. All the just in all the lands Hail thee biest and sanctified— Curst, who would thy triumph mar, Be ne Kauser, be he Czar. Breathing hatred, plottiog strife, Rending beanty, blasting joy, Loathsome round the tree of life Coils the worm we would destroy, Whoso smites yon Thing Abhorred, Holy, holy is his sword. Foul with slough of all thipgs 11, Turkey ifes ftl sick, men say. Not 50 sick but she hath still Strength to torture, spoll and slay | O that ere this hour be past, She were prone in death at last! Kings, like lackeys, at her eall Raise her, lest in mire she reel. Only through her final fall Comes the.hope of human weal. . Slowly, by such deeds as thine, Breaks afar the light divine, Not since first thy wine-dark wave Laughed in multitudinous mirth, Hath a deed more pure and brave Flushed the wintry cheek of earth, ‘There is heard no melody 5 Like thy footsteps on the sea. Fiercely sweet as stormy springs, Mighty hopes are blowing wide; Passionate prefigurings Of a world revivified; Dawning thoughts, that ere they set Shail possess the ages yet. Oh, that she were with thee ranged, Who for all her faults can still In her heart of hearts unchanged, Feel the old heroic thril She, my land, my loved, mine own— Yet thou art not lelt alone. All the powers that soon or late Gain for man some sacred goal, Are copartners in thy fate, Are companions of thy soul. Unto thee all earth snall bow: These are heaven and these are thou. —WiLLtax WaTsoN in London Chronicle, HERE AND THERE. ~ Charles Reade once gave a recipe for writing novels to a young novelist now well known. It ran thus: “Mske’em laugh; make ‘em ery; make 'em wait.”” The Queen of Ecgland has accepted s specially bound copy of *The Book of the Pil- grimage,” the authoritative record of the visit of the American Congregationalists to Eng- land and Holland last summer, and Sir Arthur Bigge has through the American Embassador conveyed her Majesty’s thanks to the domors. The story of Browning’s unpleasant experi- ence in a country hotel has been revived. The poet was kept awake one night by strange moanings, sichs and subdued mutterings. He sent toinquire what was the matter and was informed that his sufferings were caused by members of the local Browning Soclety. They met in the next room to his. It1s reported that Ian Maclaren’s works are being translated into French. It is enough to dislocate one’s tongue to think of it. How Scoten dialect will look in French seems a matter teyond ordinsry flights of imagina- tion. Dr. Watso:’s stories have knocked in vain at the gates of English. No one has yet been able to give a good English version of his stories. The Robert Louls Stevenson memorial com- mittee recent.y met in London. Itwas agreed, we understand, that the memorial should take some form of sculpture, the particular form to be decided by the amount subscribed. Meny are in favor of a statue, but it is felt thatafter Lord Rosebery’s strong pronouncement against this there mignt be a aifficulty. No appeal will be made to the public untils pretty complete organization shall have been formed. It is hoped to raise the sum of $25,000. . This little clipping from the Bookman, should serve as & warning to that ably conducted jonrnal. A gentleman writes: I find in the January Bookman (page 406) the expression “the most hyocephalous Briton,” but I do not find *hyocephalous” In any dictionary. ‘WL you kindly tell me what it means? To which responds the “able editor: Pigheaded. We thought it more polite to put it in that way. r Not really! Ouida’s new novel, which will be published by & London firm, will represent a reversion to her earlier style, betraying less of the in- fluence of Tolstol than her last few books have done. The principal character emigrates to America, and there acts on the advice that has passed into a proverb, +‘Get money, hon- estly if you can, b1t get money.” He eventu- ally becomes & millionaire, and he and his wife attempt to buy their way into English society, thereby providing Ouida with occa- sion to unburden herself of a considerable amount of scathing carcasm. The book is said to be an unusuaily clever one, and em phaticaily up to date. A new feature, and ome of some value, has been added to Book News, published by John Wanamaker of Philadelphia. Thisis a short note by the author of each advertised novel, stating its raison d etre. Thus we have one from Miss Emma Wolf of this City, putting forward her object in writ- iug “The Joy of Life,” recently reviewed mn these columns: Beyond the desire of making my story Interest- ing, my only thouht fa writing “The Joy of Lite” W (o contrast the materialist with the idealist— and to express the bellef that because we are hn- nan we cannot expect to grasp the sweet sanity of life which is permitted us, unless we combine with the lev el-heacedness of tue one the nobliity of the other. Eaxa WorLr. San Francisco, Cal, February 6, 1697, “Ido not doubt,” saysa writer in the Lon- don Daily Mail, “that the warmth of public interest in its appearance, no less than the im- portance of the subject, will make Richard R. Holmes’ personal life of Queen Victoria one of the first books, if not the first book, of the new year. The fact that the Queen will personally examine and correct the work during its progress gives it & guarantee of accuracy which of itself invests the book with a high value. The many illus- trations will include several portraits of her Majesty not hitherto known to the general public.” Queen Victorias book will be pub- lished in America by the Century Company. There will 100 coples on Japanese paper at $50, and 600 on fine paper at $15. Both edi- tions are strictly 1imited and no more will be printed. An ainusing incident in literary history oc- curred recently in conrneetion with Dr. Paul Carus’ story, “Karma.’’ The little tale orig- inally appeared 4n the Open Court, and hav- ing struck there the fancy of Ccunt Leo Tolstol was translated by that author into Russian. Everything Tolstci publishes is im- mediately turned into French—and so was ‘Karma.” A gentlemsn who was scouring the literary main in search of booty for English markets, lighted upon the little eraft which now bore the name of Tolstol on its stern, and towed it into pert at the office of the *‘Intern; .tional,” & monthly magszine in Chicago, but three doors from the ““Open Cotrt,” Here the story was translated back into English and ap- peared in the November num It was not until recently, long after the appearance of the Japanese edition of “Karma,” that the error was discovered. Zola doubts whether he will write a book about London. He says: “If I were todoany” thing in that way it wou!d be based on what I saw of London’s great waterway, the Thames, which has been the source of all the wealth, power and grandeur of the capital of Eng: land. Whoever has not seen the Thames can- not explain the greatnessof London, whose heart and pulse it is. Ishould certainly be attracted by the Thames in anything Imight be induced to write. I do not know the people, however; they sre perfect strangers to me. I was comparatively at home in Rome, you know. It was to me as the south of France, where I wasbrought up. Icould en- ter {ato the spirit of a kindred Latin race, to which I partly belong; but England is differ- ent. That bit of seething water, the Channel, between us and Albion,is an abyss—a gulf which separates the two countries. morally as well as materfally. No! 1 really think thatI can do nothing deep with England, any.more than I can with America, whose peopie are asking me to visit them. I would take years tostudy these countries, and I am no longer young.” Brander Matthews keeps on repaying in their own coin the British eritics who have so much to say about Americanisms. Here are some of his latest collection of Briticisms as chronicled by him in Modern Language Notes (Baltimore): The Daily News (London) speaks of an arbi- tration committee, consisting of ““one mem- ber, one Venezuelan and one co-opted (chosen conjointly).” Thomas Hardy speaks ofcertain buildings “having the liny (clearly outlined) distinctness of architectural draw- | ings.” Matthew Arnold wrote that London was not livable-in on a certain occasion. The London Chronicle speaks of an explorer’s having negotiated (iraversed)a certain pass. The Fabian Socfety has coined proprietariat in antithesis to prolelariat. Andrew Lang tells of persons who “took in (took or sub- scribed for) the Edinburgh Review.” Mat- thew Arnold notes the unwellness of one “Dicky.” 3 Professor Matthews speaks of tho London Bookman as being ‘‘almost as {1l written as the London Athenmum, in either of which literary Journals the collector of solecisms can almost LITERARY NOTES. Mr. Bret Harte has just written a new poem of the “Truthful James” order, entitled *‘Free Silver at Angels.” Mr. Kipling has completed a new short story of about 12,000 words, to which he has given the title of “Slaves of the Lamp.” Anna Katharine Green has just completed 8n arrangement for the serial publication of her new story, “The Bronze Hand.” Lord Rovert’s book of reminiscences ran through several editions in England within s fortziight after its publication. In ““The Well-Béloved,” soon to be published by the Harpers, Thomas Haray is reported to have turned from the problem novel to his earlier method and to have produced an idyllic love story. T. Y. Crowell & Co. have in press a revised edition of Cary’s version of Dante’s “Divina Commedia,” together with Rossetti’s transla- tion of the “Vits Nuovo,” edited by Profassor L. Oscar Kuhns, of Wesleyan University, with explanatory notes and introduction. The work will be {llustrated. Olive Schreiner’s new book, which Messrs. Roberts Bros. of Boston are bringing out, sets forth the writer's views concerning South African politics by & method that is sald to be not only daring, but somewhat startling. A feature of the book is & photogravure repro- duction of a photograph of the irregular exe- cution of native spies in the recent wa essrs. Charles Scribner's Sons’ new and forthcoming publications include ‘America and Americans,” as viewed by an anonymous French writer; the second volume of Edmond Stapfer's “Life of Chris¥’; “Martha Washing- ton,” by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, in the series of Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times, and “A Wandering Scholar in the Le- vant,” by Professor D. G. Hogarth of Oxford University. The Macmillan Compsny having caught the attention of “The Jolly Sailor Man” and all who love the sea by pubsishing “On Many Seas,” the Dest sea story pubiished for many a year p or, we fear, to come, chooses this favorable moment to issue a book of short stories en- titled “The Port of Missing Ships and Other Stories of the Sea.” It is evident that the firm’s reader knows a good sea story when he sees it, and the book contains two besides the one which gives itits title. They are called ““The Story of & Second Mate” and “The Skip- per of the Nancy C.” The past few years have been notable in lit- erature for the rise of women writers. In this country some of the best of the current literary work, especially of fiction, is beiag done by women. Among these Mrs. Eva Wilder Brodhead is rapidly taking a conspic- nous place, and it is thought that Mrs, Brod- head’s new novel, “Bound in Shallows, which the Harpers are soon to bring out, will 2dd to the reputation she has already won. It 1s said o be & careful reproduction of Ken. tucky life and to contain sccurate studies of character and situations of drematic interest. Beginning with the 1ssue of March, 1897, the London Studio will publish an American edi- tion. This will appear simultaneously with the English edition, from the ofice of John Lane, 140 Fifth avenue, New York. It will be identical with the Studlo, excepting a cover destgn by Will H. Bradley and a supple- ment devoted exclusively toc American art, which will be conducted by Ernest Knauftt, editor of the ArtStudent. The Studio easily holds & chief place among the European mag- azines of art and has circulated extensively in this country. Another book announced for publication by the Macmillan Company is entitied ‘“Book Sales of the Year 1896.” The author is Temple Scolt, and the volume contains a detailed description of all the most im- portant books sold at auction, with the names of the purchasers and the prices realized, with complete indexes of uames and subjects, & general iniroduction and notes. A similar volume was published last year and met with a very welcome recep- tion from bibliographers, book collectors and booksellers. The size is to be small quarto, printed un antique laid paper, Chiswick Press, and the edition is limited. The March number of the mew monthly Open Court is unusuaily instructive. The Gifford lectures of Professor Tiele, the great Dutch theologian, now in progress at Glasgosw, are reporied. Professor Fiamingo of Romo writes on “The Next Papal Conclave,” giving gossip that surrounds the death and elections of Popes. Dr. Paul Carus has two illustrated articleson “The Religion of Anclent Persin” and on “Norse Mythology.” Dr. F. L. Oswald, in his #Ordeal of Cannon Fire,” dwells on the destructiveness of modern war and its moral; Rector Low of Canada continues his delight- | ful theological causeries; while there is an abundanc: of book reviews snd notes upon current topics. The March Month contains a paper on tha Authors’ Club, by Rossiter Johnson, one of its members. The illustrations of this paper in- clude a picture of the club’s picturesque birthe place in New York,and reproductions of its bookplate and of the colophon of its “Liber Seriptorum.” The frontispiece of the nume ber is & portrait of Henrik Ibsen drawn by H. Reuterdahl, accompanying s review of the Norwegian piaywright's latest drama, “John Gabriel Borkman.” Among the numerous other illustrations we notice repro- ductions of the late George au Maurier's first and last drawings in Punch, of some charac- terisiic sketches by Thackeray, and of the pictures of the prize-winners at the recent ex- bibition at the Carnegie Art Galleries in Pittsburg. A paper on “Literature's Losses in 1896" contains portraits of Paul Verlaine, William Morris, George du Maurier and Mrs. Stowe; and the remaining illusira- tions include portraits of John 8. Sargent, the new Royal Academician, and Miss Martha Morton, tho author of the successful “Fool of Fortune,’” produced by W. H. Crane this seus son. A few months ago, says the Bookman, Arthur ‘Waugh, in his London letter to the Critic, con« tradicted the statement that Hall Caine, Mr. Crockett and Ian Maclaren each contemplated writing a “Life of Christ.” Observingthat An- drew Lang, in the Illustrated London News, now makes the same statement, we may as well say,on the best statement, that they are both wrong. The facts are they have been stated. Those by Ian Mac- laren and Mr. Crockett will, we understand, see the light first in serial form, and atno very distant date. The life which is being written by Hall Calne may be looked for within two years. - Hall Caine has long been engaged on this 1ife, which is expected to be a remarkable production. He has always ap. peared reluctant to talk about the book lying unprinted in his desk; but something of the uthor’s intentions may be gathered from ‘what he said toan interviewer nearly three ‘years ago. I have written a book,” he said, “that will contain, in my own judgment—if that is worth anything—the best literary work I have ever done. The subject has mastered and moved me more than any other, and some of the passages dealing wita the chief events— Gethsemane, the crucifixion, etc.—are, in my judgment, ahead of anything else of mine,”