The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 9, 1897, Page 23

FrTTS . THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 9, 1897 23 A NEW ESSAY IN DIDACTIC FICTION. TROOPER PETER HA' KET OF MASHONA- LAND—By Olive Schreiner. Boston: Roberts Bros. For sale by William Doxey, alace Hotel. Tus: how f or is justified in making dactics is still an open wil probably never be closed nry Ward lives and writes, Humphry Ward may write stories political or polemical, the same ainly be conceded to other Mr: roaso ok, “Trooper P er Halket of Mashona- t be noticed as fiction, though mands the concession that no child more innocent than Mme. Schreiner al art of fiction. rth of sort of story she has given re casily passed upon than is the of its justification. It s doubtiul if reat ethical nder he story guise thatcould not tter and more broadly taught by ct treatment of the subject itself. f fiction is such as to preclude and one-sided view of the t treats, when these are of ide its realm. The vehicle is , its limitations too rigidly de- it of the broad, general view sidering great questions. Had & nar to give world & truth aoout the present situ- Africa, 1t is probable that have listened to her. is well known residence in the country of es are enough to secure her a The au- e wr 1d a consideration that will never 1 to “Trooper Peter Halket,” whose vs of the African situation are at first those gnorant E: lad, mot yetof age, an eighteen months before had d Mashonaland.” we find him scting from of a man who has spent & 1 terrors of the veld, the African plai starved and frozen, and cen the same man since,’” according to dict of his comrades in arms, who be expected to know that during who *‘has owed him that the despised Afri- atives were his brethren, and sent him ssion for their rescue. the limitations of fiction draw 1d fast lines about the task to which e. Schreiner has set herselt, and the main of the siorv, which is justice to the Afrl- n. is lost sight of in the inevitable specula- ver the artistic unities of the Christ , as sketched by the suthor. Sucha g of themes is always delicate and rous. Dangerous because our concep- tions of the divine must necessarily be in- ventive rather than imaginative, and the line tween sublimity and absurdity is so faintly fined as to be easily crossed. Fortunately for her readers, the author keeps well up on the right side of this line,and vet. while we may not truly measure the great- ess of any work or movement by apparent re- there is, in view of the story’s weakness, hing almost grotesque in the spectacle e machinery which she has set in motion on the action of her narrative. The tion into it of Cecil Rhodes and Dr. s but one of the many artistic blun- at characterize the book asa work of Soalso the reproduction as an illus- to ¢he story of & photograph represent- up of white men watching three ne- ses hanging from atree is an offense against decencies which not even earnestness ef ose can jus s only work of fiction that adverse ¢riticism applies 10 the book. Olive Schreiner is a woman who has toucned life at many points, and gathered from it a real message vorld. has insight and sympathy, e power to make her readers think and o s, moreover, a certain quality in her work thatarouses There is much of the same fine “Trooper Peter Halket'” that holds us this remmns, 8s well, much of the the one-idesed intensity that charac- ne story of an African Farm.” 1t ssible that she regards all English- Africa as oppressors and brutes, yet there is little In the book to relieve this gloomy impression. less and inconclusive. contains no word of hope or cheer. cannot but recognize that the author has spoken out of a sense of hurt justice and in be- halfof the weak. As with all of Mme. Schreiner’s work the roi teaching is individual and tnternal than ontward and general. She sums up in the parting words of the divine stranger at Peter Halket's campfire: “It is not the act but the wili that marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest creature. The siagnant pool is not less poisonous droj for drop than the mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who'has desired to be and accomplish what this man has been and accomplished is as Yhis man, though he have lacked the power to perform.” LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS. CHESTEKFIELD'S LETTERS. SELECTED. New York; Maynard, Merrill & Co. Price 25 cents. The above is the latest publication of May- nard’s English classic series, and has been compilea by Henry H. Belfield, Ph.D., the girector of the Chicago Manula Training School. It contains some forty-eight of the petter known of Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his son and godson. which have served to render him famous 8s an exemplar of the «Suaviter In modo, fortiter in re.” The let- ters are preceded by a short introduction and biographical sketch, in which appreciative reference is made 1o the Earl’s able adminis- tration as Lord Licutenant of lreland. The volume is neatly printed and very fuily su- notated. STAGE GOSSIP. IFE OF LAURA KEENE—By John Cres- Ll he. Philadeiphia: The Rogers Publishing Company. A very poorly edited work is this life of the noted actress. Jt reads as if a mass of matter had been turned over to the printer to fling together in & hurry, and let orderly arrange- ments, capticns and introductions be, 0 a large extent, omiited as superfiuities. Never- tlieless whosoever delves deep into the book wiil find treasures of interest therein to repay bim for his trouble. Leura Keene had many diligently cultivated talents as actress, artist, manager, editor and lecturer, which make tne records of her life worth examining. had a very imperious nature, and mingled with her greatness were some frailties of temper which are smusing, especially when ¢ gossip about them involves the names of r noted siage people. Joe Jefferson gave an_entertaining account of & quarrel he had with the irascible footiight queen, but shows at the same time that he had & sincere liking for her. Among innumerable tiffs with her professional collesgues was an excepiionally amusing one, in which the well- Oliver Schreiner's latest | esson was ever taught to | her reputa- | ; who on that night was | of horror the Christ visited Peter’s | high | ms” and other of her best work, but | The story itself is hope- | From first to last it | Yet one | | known actor Sothern, who created the roll of | Lord Dundreary, figured as the otber principal. | She “got mad” with him at & renearsal and be- | 520 to rate him soundly in her dressing-roow, whither he had been ordered. Sothern said, “Stop, Laura; stop justa minute”; and ad- | vancing to the lignt he deliberately turned it down. “What do you mean by that, sir?” she raged. “Ob, nothing; but you have always Dbeen 50 lovely to me that I can’t bear to look upon your beautiful face when you are ina passion.” It is interesting to note that Laura Keens told this story herself. STORY OF UNSELFISH LOVEN | MI8S ARCHER ARCH Burnnam. Boston and, Miffin & Co. Price $1 285. A very pretty story of four people who are willing to sacrifice their own happiness at the | demands of honor, but who are saved from the | necessity of 5o doing by a lucky and unusual | combination of circumstances. To us poor | humans 1t would seem a pity that lite cannot | always be arranged with such a felicitous out- | come. The tangle of love and friendship in which the young people find themselves is very painful while it endures, but happily tnere results a joyous extrication for all. Miss Archer Archer is a Virginia girl, of a family proud of its blood. She 1s represented as | charming and lovable, and the woman with whom her love affairs get mixed up is s Phil- | adelphian of very different manners and speech. The way the ice gradually thaws be- | tween these two representatives of North and South is very eleverly toid. It is noticeable that Miss Archer is made to | use & style of English rather more provincial than would probably be employed by a girl of | her social station. This is particularly true in | regard toauci expressions as I reckon,"which | in type are apt to give an impression of 1lliter- scy. Owing to difficulity in rendering her Southern speech it takes the reader several chapters 1o learn to admire Miss Archer, and probably this would be a couuterpart of an actual experience if one accustomed only to the Northern accent was thrown in the com- | pany of Southern girls. Miss Burnham is | happy in her sketches of Virginia negroes. R — By Clara Louise w York: Houghton, SERIOUS FICTION. THE WISDOM OF FOOLS—By Margaret Deland. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifilin & Co. | Price 81 25. Some very deep probiems sre tsken under consideration in the four short stories con- tained in this book. In onme of them called “The Law and the Gospel” the wisdom or foliy | of trying to keep alive the hereditarily im. moral is discussed by the narration of how s | young woman with a philanthropic bins | saves & wanton from death by her care and money. The beneficiary of her bounty re- | forms till she fully recovers her health and spirits and then immealately suffers a moral relapse. In her second fall she drags down a promising young boy, who is the idol of his widowed mother. A physician in the story arzues with the philanthropist that she should have let the wanton die of neglect and used all the force providence granted her in helping the virtuous. Pros and cons are force- fully put, and the author leaves the problem unsolved, unless we are to consider the title of the story as indicating the biss of the writer’s mind; that the physician represents the law and the philanthropist the gospel. The principal story in the volume is called “Where Ignorsnce Is Bliss’Tis Folly to Be Wise,”and in itis much argument as to whether a man should or should not confess the sins of his early life tothe woman he is engaged to marry. The principal characterin the story, who is a pastor and presented asa thoughtful man, holds that the human soul is essentially solitary, and that there must be reserves—ex- cept with the Deity. Unless justice and repa- ration demand it, confession is a flabB¥ vanity | and isunhealthy for the mind. The woman to whom he is engaged differs from him, hold- | ing that silence would be accepting respect and love under false pretenses. The story is cleverly told and the author presents no an- swer to her riddle, preferring to let the reader | puzzle it out. ODD AND MYSTERIOUS. DEVIL'S DICE—By Willlam Le Queux. Chicago and NewYork: Rand, Meaally & Co. Bound in & cover artistically hérrible, the reader might expect to find sometning wetrd within the pages of this book and he will not | b2 disappointed. The hero tells his siory in the first person, of three years during which | he trod veritable via dolorose. Ye: through 1t all he had moments of supreme joy be- cause of his love affalr with a mysterious | woman, who was compellea for years to im- | personate the wite of another man. The love | of this woman eanbles the victim of bitter- ness, anxiety and doubt to pass through his long trouble into happiness, The slory is well written. { A REISSUE. TWO STRANGE ADVENTURES—By Kinahan Cornwallls. New York: ¥. Tennyson Neeiy. Price 25 cents. A reprint of & very commonplace story, for- merly published under the title of “A Marvel- ous Coincidence.” Here is a bit of deseription taken from it: *“Her complexion haa once been pink and white, but the white had grads uslly changed to thatof a bamboo walking- cane and the red toalight bay. She had a long squiline nose 8 little pinched at the end, and a mouth a little 100 suggestive of the open- ing in a letter-box to be considered haud- some.” FOR THE TOURIST. THE SOUVENIR AND GUIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO—By Fredenc M. DeWitt. Pnb- lished by Frederic M. DeWitt, San Francisco, Cal. Price 50 cents. A vers nicely got up little book of 144 pages descriptive of this City and illustrated by about twenty engravings. There is & short historical sketch and a birdseye view of the business canter of San Francisco. It will en- sble & stranger to quickly learn the prineipal points of interest ana to appreciate San Fran- anding in the commercial worid. IN TRILBY’S HAUNTS. A BACHELOR OF PARIS—By J. W. Harding. New Yeork: F. Tennyson Neely. Price 50 cents. This is a reprint of & story published under the name of “An Art Failure.” It deals with the well-worn subjeet of artists’ struggles, loves and adventures in the Latin Quarter in Paris. Du Maurier and others have mace the ground famous, and this book is merely the working over of material that hes been used before. It is fairly well written, and the futile struggle of the hero to paint something which would be recognized has its pathetic side. A REPRINT. PRINCE SCHAMYL'S WOOING—By Richard Henry Savage. Cl 0 and New York: Rand, McNally & Co. Price 25 cents. This is a reprint of Richard Henry Savage’s familiar and populsr novel, whose chief in- epiration was the Russo-Turkish War of 1878, It fairly bristles with exclting adventures and wili doubtiess enjoy & new lease of life in its present form. The credit for exposing the misdeeds of Cecil Rhodes in South Africa and the rottenness of the Kaffir mining excitement in London be- longs to Olive Schreiner, a woman of genius, who was born at a little missionary station in Cape Colony. She made a great hit over ten years ago with a novel entitled “The Story of an African Farm,”published under the pseudonym of Ralph Iron. " In the story of her life she says that she was a big giri before she had ever seen a town or any ot the ordinary evidences of civilization. But she knew South Africa tnoroughly, and when she came to woman’s estate she saw many instances Her father was a Dutch missionary and her motber was an Englishwoms: book of allegories called **Dream: of the cruelty to the blacks as well as of injustice to the Boers. she seems to have all the imgination of a recluse and a mystic, but she appears aiso to have some good common-sens Kuffir mining shares she sounded the warning that brought the gambling to a sudden stop and that nine-tenths of the South African mines listed on the London Mining Stock Exchange were undeveloped, and that many did not even consist of a hole in the ground. Her onslaught was so sudden and so over- whelming that Barney Barnato and the other agents of Rhodes were nearly swep off their feet. Recently she has been carrying on & campaign in Cape Colony Which has for its object the enlistment of the women in ner fight against Rhodes. She married a member of Parlisament named Kronwright, but as he regards her as the more prominent member of the family he has considerately added her name to his, and now they are known as Mr. and Mrs. Kronwright-Schreiner. speeches, writing articles and carrying on what South Africa has named a “petticoat” campaign, with the help of hez husoand and women in South Africa, to keep Cecil Rhodes out of the governing busivess. There are a few newspapers to assist her. The editors call Rhodes & villain aud & tyrant. Rhodes before his down{all bothered them by not psying any attention to them. They did not own many shares went wild over the rapid sdvance in the nearly created a panic. of mining stock. Mrs. Schreiner believes that Rhodes is largely responsible for the present state of affai: He 15 enslaving the poor and making the rich more rich. She deplores thatin this new country, where socialism should be feasible, the conditions in the old natioms are resulting. To her the idea that one man should simply own such an enormous smount of the virgin soll and of mineral wealth, which belongs as much to one man She gave the facts and fignres prov OLIVE SGHREINER. nother, is atrocious and not to be endured. AN\ This she followed with & for when London She is now engaged in making He has made money the god of South Africa. AMERICA’S BOOK MARKET. For s score of years the United States has been berated for the inequality of its copy- right laws and the injustice done thereby to foreign—that is, British—writers. The result fathata law was passed which operates to give the English writer a great advantage over the American author without securing ade- quate equivalent. The American author’s work must be published first in England, or simultaneously in England and the United States, to obtain a British copyright, while the British writer can publish nis work at home and wait a year {or offers and opportunities to publish it in the United State As a result, the American market has been overcrowded with English work and the American author has been shut out of fair competition in the home market. This condi- tion has been intensified by the Anglo mania which has come to pervade every department of American thought, except scientific inves- tigation and material invention. The wor- ship of things English has been carriedto such an extent as to become as serious » ques- tion in American literature as in American manufacture. The American buys English goods of all sorts, from cloths to books, in preference to American omes, because they are not American. The Englishman reverses this rule; he buys English goods and English books because they are Engiish. The only w ay for an American author to get an Ameri- can audience is to get an English market first. American llterature, like American whisky, is thought to be afflicted with *‘raw- ness” until it has been across the sea. This was curiousiy illustrated in the case of Stephen Crane’s “Red Badge of Courage,” an utterly impossible picture of an impossible man in an impossible battle, which was sup- ofea to represent the experience of & vol- unteer soldier in our Civil War. As the lead- ing character was & climacteric coward, who bad nothing to do in battle except scrutinize his own sensations; as it was a battle with- out purpose or discipline, conaucted mainly as s pyrotechnic display, and culminated in an inconceivable coward being converted into the most insouciant fighter by an impnssible contact with an impossible skeleton, it took the fancy of the English people as a reslistic picture of the American volunteer soldier. As soon as it received English approval, our American press began to boom it, until this product of a fancy whose nearest approach to the realism of battle is the sensations which sccompany the exploit of “painting the town red” seems likely to take rank as the Ameri- can literary ideal of the American volunteer soldier. Happy is the veteran who died child- loss before this slushy daub came to stand in American appreciation for the soldier; before palpitating cowardice assumed “the badge of courag A still more recent exposition of this result of the unfortunate tendency of our people s found in an experiment made by the Book- man, in which the immense preponder- ance of British over American works sold by booksellers is shown by reports from fifty leading dealers. Commenting on this, the Academy (Londou) “They are worth study, for they show the hold which British Dbooks have obtained over the American read- ing public. And the wonder grows that & nation of esger readers should be depending 50 largely for its entertainment upon the writers of another nation, even allowing for the unity of speech that exists between Eng- 1and and America. Never, certainly, has one country supplied anotner with new literature at the rate and in the volume that England is supplying the United States. Never has one country fastened on and studied the current literature of another country with the gener- ous eagerness of America buying the litera- ture of England. Observe, we are speaking strictly of current literature. The devotion of Americans to our classics is devotion to what is their own. The astonishing thing is that American readers look to England for ephemeral as well s classical literature. Over thers the book Of the hout and tne book of the century are alike English. One understands why Shakespeare has not been ousted by an American genius; but why is there s0 much room for Ian Maciaren and Mr. Barrie? Why, moreover, is no literary happening in London, no bubble reputation, noquarrel of author and publisher, no rival ries of editors, no personsl peculiarity of a second-rank writer too remote or trivial to be paragraphed with gusto in New York, Boston ana Philadelphia? We write broadly—not forgetting American writers, but rather re- membering them with® compassion. For surely the lists printed by the Bookman,com- pel compassion for the American story-writer who remains in Ameica. Ah, but how sel- dom he does remain thers! Henry James and Marion Crawford and Harold Frederic and Bret Harte and Mark Twain and John Oliver Hobbes are all in Europe!” The men named, & well as many others of our writers, have learned that the road to American favor lies through English ap- proval. It is not American suthors alone who are to be pitied, but the American people.— Albion W. Tourgee, in the Chicago Times- Herald. A HOME_POET. SKETCHES IN PROSE AND VERSE—By Anita Ciprico Black. San Francisco: Press of H. 8. Crocker Company. A very neatly got-up little volume with wide pages. o bound that they lie open in the sensible way that invites reading. The sketches are by & writer of this City and are well composed. Oue of them is a story of the old Mission Dolores. Here is a sample of verse from her “Querie: 1t we have prayer, And God is there, W hy despair? Then wherefore grieve 1t we beileve? Why not retrieve The errors past? MINING CAMP STORIES. PINE VALLEY—By Lewls B. France. New York: The Century Company. Price $1 25. Half a dozen well-told stories about miners in Colorado, well illustrated with views of Pine Valley and Bald Mountain, Mr. France is good at portraying the tenderness and nobleness that oiten underlie the rough ex- teriors of men of much toil and littie educa- tion. The first tale relates how a big fellow in amining camp is taking care of a baby, and then goes back 1o explain how it came into his possession. IN A QUEER COMMUNITY. PERFECTION CITY —By_Mrs. Orpen. New York: D. Appleton & Co. - For saie in_this City by William Doxey, Falace Hotel. Price 50 centa. This little story tells of an attempt at com- munityJife on the prairies, and how a. sweet young woman tried+it, not through favor of the theories of socialism, but because she loved a man who was a member of the society. This throws her into contact with & number of o0dd characters, whose portrayal is the book’s main purpose. HERE AND THERE. Sir Walter Besant has had the grip, butis now convalescent. He fs revising his new story, “*A Fountain Sesled,” which Chstto & Windus will publish. Ouida’s last fiction is called “The Massa- renes,” and Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. are the publishers. It has to do with a duc! aud & pork-butcher, and the pig-man is an American, who is s greatswell. It word from Washington can be credited, Mrs. Grant has written the home story of her life with her illustrious husband. But whether the matter is to be published at once or after her death is not known. It was Thackersy who wrote at Athens in 1845: “I swear solemnly tha: I would rather have two hundred a year in Fieet street than be King of the Greeks, with Basieus written before my name round their beggarly coin.” Ibsen’s honors came late to him. He hi just celebrated his sixty-ninth birthday. Ii| there was any difference between lbsen and his son-in-law, Bjornson, there was a recon- ciliation on thid’ occasion. On his seventieth Dirthday a Berlin publisher will issue a superb, edition of Ibsen’s work: Mr. Bryan (there is but one Mr. Bryan) is go- | ing to give his first book to the world. Its title is “The First Batile,” and in England Sampson Low, so it is reported, wili be the publisher. It is Mrs. Bryan who writes a sketch of her husband, and the bulk of the volume will be made up of Mr. Bryan's speeches, Captain Mahan’s “Life of Nelson” is a liter- ary event in England, the publishers of the English_edition (Messrs. sampson Low & Co.) having in process of manufacture a large new edition. In this eulogy of the greatest of naval heroes the Englishman is forced to ac- cept “Barbor” without *u’ and “splendor” bereft in thesame wav, but your Briton will get used to all that before very long. > Most of us know of M. Victorien Sardou’s early studies. He was to have been & doctor, and his means were so restricied that he gave lessons in Greek and Latin at 20 cenis & ticket. Sardou was ‘also a bookseiler's back, and mude translstions. Itis stated that for one job he undertook, over which he labored for three weeks, working most of his time in the National Library, he was paid 32 francs— that s, less than $6 50. Once the printer took the liberty of correct- ing a line of Cowper's, and the poet wrote: “There is & roughn2ss on a plum which nobody who understsnds fruit would rub off, though the plum would be much more polished with- outit. * * * Iwillonlyadd thatIwishyou to guard me from all such meddling, assuring you that I always write as smoothly as I can, but that I never did, never will, sacrifice the spirit oF sense of a passage to the sound of it.” In connection with the death of Dr. Brewer an interesting fact is recorded by the London Literary World concerning his “Guide to Sci- ence,” which well illustrates the speculative nature of book publishing. Dr. Brewer orig- inally offered’ the work to Messrs. Jarrold of Norwich, England, for £50, who refused the offer, but afterward agreed to issue it ons royaity of a penny in the shilling for the copy- right. A little later Dr. Brewer offered £4000 to get back his rights in it. His yearly income from royalties on the book has been s good deal more than the modest £50 for which he offered it at first. Mr. Harris, who was so dread fully mixed about Charles Sumner. Is wriggling all he knows how to get out of the snarl. His explanation is that he did not mean Uharles Sumaner, but Charles A. Sumner of California—and who might Charies A. Sumner be? Tne foregoing is from the New York Times, usually accurate and well informed. Query: Who is “Mr. Harris?” Or perhaps our contem- porary refers to the pessimistic Hawels? And for information as to “Who might Charles A. Sumner be,” the Times might turn to Lan- man’s Blographical Annals of the Civil Gov- ernment of the United States (edition of 1887), page 485, Are literary people so singularly constructed that their habits or fads shouid be particu- larly signalized? What does it avail us to know that Smith had & mania for accumu- lating old slippers, or that Jones collects tops and marbles, or that Robinson’s entire leisure is devoted to the finding of mus- tard spoons? Suppose the favorite recre- ation of Miss Augelica 1a to play blind man’s buft or copenhagen, or Miss Eudoxia to turn handsprings, or that the historian Williamson eats a pound of mint-stick every twenty-four hours? What can an intelligent public care sbout such things? *This ‘ere wild man,” said the prorietor of the side- show, “devours, ladies and gents, ten pound of raw onfons sprinkled with red pepper every blessed mornin’ as a happetizer before his regulsr bre'kfus’ of seven bucketfuls of sheep’s trotters and tripe. He's & very ex- pensive animal as to his boardin’.” Some weeks azo the Academy gave a por- trait of Walter Savage Landor, with a sketch of his life, and received later a letter ad. dressed to “Walter Savage Landor Esq3” which read: “Sir: We are very anxious tw include your portrait in our ‘SBeries of Celebrities,’” and should be very pleased if you could kindly grant us a sit- ting for the purpose at your convenience, especialiy as only a few minutes will be required. We shall be happy to take you any time that you may be able to appoint, and we will, of course, send copies of the por- traits for your Inspection before making use of them in any way. We are, sir, yours faith- fully, —.” Not long ago a journal gave some space to the description of a fine §ddle attributed to Stradivarius. A few days atter- ward the paper received a letter from New Jersey, which ran as follows: “Mr. Editor: Youdid not print Mr. Stradivarius’ address, and I have looked all over your paper for his advertisement. If he will send me a violin on trial, he might find a cash customer.” There is an old Spanish maxim which reads, Seldom lend your horse to a sailor, never to Frenchman, and ss little as you can to any- ‘body else.” As to obliging a friend with a book the wisdom of the proverb holds equally good. Mr. Arthur L. Humpnrey in the Private Library formulated certain rules regarding books and their treatment, brought forth one might say by “dire exverience.” Here are some of the principal ones: “Do not bite your paper- knife until it has the édge of asaw. Do mot cut Dooks except witha proper ivory psper- knife. 1t is ruination to a good beok not to cut it right through into the cor- ners. Do not turn the leaves ot books down; particularly do mot turn down tne leaves of books printed on plate paper. If you are in the habitof lending books do not mark them; these two habits together constitute an act of indiscretion. It is better o give & book than tolend it. Never write upon a title page or half title; the blank fly- leaf is the right place. Books are neither card racks, crumb baskets nor receptacles for dead leaves. Books were not meant as cush- 1ons, nor were they meant to be toasted before » fire.” LITERARY NOTES. Homely bits of human nature and philos- ophy are embraced iu “A Bundle of Rushes,” by Franklyn W. Lee, which has been issued from the press of the Rush City Post, Rush City, Minn. “Hearts,” a collection of love rhymes, will follow. Dodd, Mead & Co. announce for early publi- cation “The Personal Life of Queen Victoria,” by Miss Tooley, to be fully fllustrated. They also have nearly ready a new book of charades to be entitled “The Green Guess Book”; ““The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton,” with por- traits and other illustrations, and ‘‘The Treas~ ure of the Humble,” by Maurice Maeterlinck. Oscar T. Shuck has in press a valuable work which he calls “The Historical Abstract of €an Francisco,” but which fs nothing less than a oyclopedia of the City, its arts, industries and people. It will be printed on fine paper and well fllustrated. The first vclume, covering the letters A to H inclusive, will be issued about Mav 1. The work will be in three volumes, at $2 50 & volume. Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons will be the American publishers of Mr. Giadstone’s “La- ter Gleanings, Theological and Ecclesiastical,” andof the “‘Concordance of the Greek Testa- ment,” adited by the Revs. W. F. Moulton and A.S. Gedden. They announce also that Rich- ard Harding Davis’ “Soldiers of Fortune” will be published in book form in the latter part of May. Ian Maclaren contributes to the May nume ber of the North American Review a most at tractive paper entitled simply “Henry Drum- mond.”” As the fellow student of Professor Drummond at Edinburgh University, and a life-long friend, these memoirs of one of the most brilliant men of our day from the pen of the author of *‘Beside the Bounie Brier Bush” areinvestea with a charm and value peculiarly and unapproachably their own. Mrs. Hays Hammond's account of events at Johannesburg during the Jameson raid will be published shortiy in this country and Eng- land by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. Mrs. Hammond calls the volume ““A Woman's Part iua Revolution.” It consists mainly in ex- tracts from a diary which she kept with great diligence during the period described. The particular interest of the book is that it will give us & woman's view of Johaunesburg dur- ing the rising and afterward. On the question of how to save the fur seals the Review of Reviews takes the ground that President Jordan’s recommendations should be heeded at once, and that, without waiting for England’s sanction, the United States should absolutely prohibit American citizens from engaging at any season of the year in the taking of seals in the open sea. The Review alsourges that, if other means fail, to make pelagic sealing uuprofitable, all the young female seals on the Pribilof Islands should be branded in such & manner as to make their fur valueless. The females being thus protected, the herd would main tain itself. The Macmillan Company have scored ane other success in their new book entitled *“The Port of Missing Ships and Other Stories of the Sea,” of which a second edition is already on the press. The first in the book is the strange story told in a hospital by the oniy survivor of a midocean collision between the Atlantic, & big steam packet, and the Nucleus, & full- rigged ship. Neither vessel was ever heard from until through the broken revelstions of this dying ssilor. In strong contrast is the tale of the racing ships whose captains were rivals in the eyes of their owner's daughter— her favor promised to the winning man. No less interesting, yet different from either, ig “The Story of & Second Mate.” The cover de- sign is also worthy & word of notice, being quite out of the ordinary. The May Month will contain portraits of Mr, and Mrs. Richard Henry Stoddard and their son, Lorimer Stoddard (the dramatizer of “Tess”), Ferdinand Bruetiere, Mme. Blanc, Henry B. Fuller, the Chicago novelist; our new Embassadors to Engiand, France and Ger- many, John Hay, General Horace Porter and Dr. Andrew D. White—a portrait of Embassa« dor Hay, taken especially for The Month, forme ing the frontispiece; Henry Drummond, ex- Postmaster-General Willlam L Wilson, who has been elected president of Washington and Lee Uhiversity; Oliver Optic, Nelson, Captain Mahan (whose “Life oi Nelson” is re- viewed by Admiral Luce, U. 8 N. Alfred Austin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Dvorak, Lafcadio Hearn, Austin Dobson, Maurus Jokal, Dr. Bourinat and Frederick Walker (the origi« pal of du Maurier’s “Little Billee”), besides reproductions of the May magazine posters and other illustrations. Special featnres in Current Literature for May are illustrated articles in addition to the presence of pictures in some of the regular de« partments. In the Editor's Symposium in the May number of Current Literature Mr. Cable gives his readers more of patriotism than of mere literature, “Crete and Cuba,” *The Patriotism of Ideas” and “Cosmopolitan Patri- otism” being some of the subjects he discusses, Hamilton W. Mabie continues his series of literary essays with an interesting paper on the “Growth of Historical Study,” and F. M, Hopkins, in his department of American Poets of To-Day, writes this month of Louise Imogen Guiney,and quotes from her works, The fiction in the May number of Current Lit- erature, aside from the clever selections in the Sketch Book, is represented by extracts from the much-talked-of recent publications, Ibsen’s play, “John Gabriel Borkman,” and Olive Schreiner’s “Trooper Peter Halket of Maghona~ land.” A special articie has also been cone tributed to the magazine on the political and. religious questions involved in Miss Sehrei- ner’s book. Besides the many interesting spe- cisl articles the May number of Cyrrent Lite erature has its regular departments filled ag usual with the best current verse and prose, The May isse’ of Godey's Magazine is notae Dble for many special articies of timely inters est. The leading contribution is “Washington Favorites,” by Carolyn Halstead, and gives a brief sketch of the prominent soclety ladies of the capital. The photographs which accom- pany the article are very attractive. Followe ing this is an srticle on “Power Boats,” which discusses the gas engine and electric-yacht question in & very interesting manner. This article is illustrated with many pictures, and is unigue among magazine papers. “A Eulogy of the Vaudeville’ covers the recent develop- ments which have marked the dramatic stage and calis attention to much that is worth cone siGering. The article 15 illustrated with pice tures of prominent actors. «“American Literary Diplomats” tells of the promineat journalists and literary men who have heid foreign office under the Government, It is illustrated fully and is quite sugges- tive at this stage of our National and political development. The leading fiction piece of the issue is “A Florentine Rose,” by Anna W, Young, an intensely dramatic tale. There are six other stories in the issue aud five excel- lent poems. Among the noteworthy articles of general interest are papers on ““American Lacemaking,” tMushroom Hunting,” “Church Music” and “Amateur Bookmaking,” all finely islustrated, and the first of Grace E. Drew's series on “The Decoration snd Furnishing of the Modern Home." ssempge e