The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 18, 1897, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 18, 1897. 23 THE WEEK’S NEWS IN THE LITERARY WORLD NEGLECT OF ENGLISH CLASSICS. hat nobody in these o know everything. now!ledge, with no sense pat we have never heard of this or hat we have not read such and such there are certaln immortal men s snd ceriain currently famous or cts of which ali should be aware. ,it seemed rather shocking that d) man of middle age ¥, though he had heard ege, thought it was *“in Eng- aud did not know that 1t is well understood crowded days can ¢ that, 8 booi n A great Hary was s people gave a legitimate hin bis second ity acknow! of Bryn Mawr, and A whol great Kastern v 1ad never he 1001, or in 8 Wester heard of Sara It was almost as bad as one of " who had wett. Walpole's Miss Berr: reard of Landor. New York o & striking article by the president of n university, in which he related a senior classes. nyson, culled from them allusions, and asked the meant. The ig s pitifal “Jephthah's Daughter, Ajalon,” noue of He took the words of Ten- ural cluss wlh rance of >earls before “*Miriam." swine, “Joshua ucated” your A lady has recer Napoleon, “written when ali gentle ward E. Hale alinde; in sow with all his classmates 1ug during his college day edge of the old Englisk sidered a part ot the necessar man of culture. © have changed all this. The repository of general information and general literature common to all educated p , instead of growing large ms to dwindle. I refined homes can be quoted without recogn by vou:.g people of college age, lines cation to the Ocean,” from the Twenty-third Psalm and the fiith chepter of Isaian, those gems of the world’s poetic literature. All o1 these works and a hundred others uld be household words in every lami acquaintance with White tephen Crane and Kipling can atone for ignorance o these old immortal compositions. Read both the old and the new if you can, and see to it that they are tamiliar in your homes; but if canzot know both kinds by all means take the old. ND—By Alice Wilkinson sale by all booksellers. “My W Husband,” a new publication by Alice Wilkinson Sparks, seems to be & very successful study of 1n ¢t grammar and a arming disregard of all tofore been in force in the spelling of the glish language. It is & very exceilent pie of the excuseless literature now belng ered upon & defen ouid read if 1 mO one want: iags who persis nus ever s to read. Just why in thrus: ablished must be due to the commitiees are no I irst one was pt that vigil s Husband” is so much worse hat has come to hand fora such a labored attempt ch a deplorab! nity that ansfer a thought of what we using it. by a decent respect for the “Prompted opinions of mankind” is the besding of the chapter. to have plac ter we wo Had the author the good taste d itat the end of the lastchap- have conceded that the lady had u consideraiion. m goin’ to write & book. It haint nothin’ it's ben sort of necessity that is the beginning of the ple of all. W to quote more— is almost as unsn rable as why she wrote the book, and both these questions pale beside the query as to what could have induced a self-respecting publishing-house to allow their name to ap- pear upon it. In T, besides calling her work rrilling above-mentioned , also &t it is & “touch of nature.” ure dished up to us 1n this style : le. Nature so totally disguised, and without a hintof art or a flavor of com- on sense, is not only liable 1o give one a of mentsl indigestion, b doubtiul of the writer’s hor er genuine or otherwise, we deplore the taste of it. ely it 1s about ti vaiting | cando in their crowding t. ¢ specimens of what Aareé moments of sanity market. We are sur- of misspelled words ar, and weary with puz- the vap:d herocs whose ouly claim to recognition is their ability to speak broken English and marry a girl— one can do and not make much disturbance over it either. A USEFUL WORK. A LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST L KRATURE— Edition de Grande Luxe. Ne York: The Intervational Society. This is an age of concentration and of time- saving. Any medium for the economy of la- bor, time or space can be assured of a hearty reception at the hands of the busy American. More particulariy is it the case when applie to the so-cailed luxuries or ilfe, to which we ere loth to devote the time seiaside by the more leisured people of older countries. So has it been in the matter of reading. "he res of iness, alweys and unavoidably coupled with a sedentary occupation, leave the man of affairs littie inclination for that diversity of reading which “maketh a full man.” ers a moltiplication of books upon all sub- s that is really remarkable. During twelve months ending D:cember 31, 1896, for example, 20,000 new books were received at the review desk of a New York newspaper, and these did not include new editions of standard works. Hence the problem natur- ally urises, How is one to keep pace with that vhich is the choicestand best in the world's literary output? “Some books,” said Lord Ba- con, “are 10 be tasted, otners (0 be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Acting on this plan, some literary notabilities on (115 continent have devised a work entitlea “A Library of the World’s Best Literature,” and Luxe) have been received at THE CALL e. The work when completed will consistof forty-five volumes. Iis title, “A Library of the World's Best Literature,” is strictly de- Ecriptive. To quote irom the preface 10 the first volume: *It means that what is offercd to the reader is taken from the best authors, and is fairly representative of the best litera- ture and of all literatures. It may be impor- tant hisiorically, or because at one time it ex- pressed the thought and leeling of a nation, or because it has the character of upiversel- r because the readers of to-asy will find The ity, it instructive, entertaining or amusing. Work aims to suit a great yariety of taste: thus to commend itsell asa housebold com- ion for any mood and sny hour.' editors of the work under review are cs Dudley Warner, Hamilton W. Mabie, L. Gilbert Runkle and George Henry Warner— men of light and eading in the literary world. And it must not be imagined that the quotations contained in the work represent the opinions and prejudices of four men. named Cambridge in Massa- | Independent printed not | ain literary experience ot his with one of rd & Lee, publishers. Eor the rulcs that bave less public, which no be were so inclined, and | these Mrs. Sparks has spelled | the beginning, which is about all one can | ne that writers begin to | of which any | Added to ihis, there has been in late | he | e first volumes of which (in the Edition de | | An advisory council has been added, so that | under | there 15 employed the sober judgment of al- ‘ most s many minds as have assisted in the | preparation of these yolumes. | Piefixed to each selection is an essay bya i specialist, containing notes critical, interpret- ve and biogruphical. This is indced a most | valuable feeture of the library, making it in a | way representative of the scholarship and wide judgment of our own time. To the reader desi- | rous ot extenaing his requaintance with a par- ticular author, these essays are especially use- ful. guide to assist him 'n making his choice of books from @ library. In the volumes before us we note that the | classic writings, or those which by com- mon consent and approval are accepted asstandard, have been given the preference | over modern productions and contemporary | literature, which is still on trial. In modern literature the output of is given the largest space. Typographically and as a specimen of the bookbinder's art the work under review is all that cou.d be wished. A word should be said in praise of the illustrations, which are really well done. Fac-simile reproductions of famous | documents, often accompanied by rubricated initials, are also features of the new venture. Altogether the Library of the Worid’s Best ‘Literature can be recommended to those not | overblessed with the time necessary for deep study but who are willing todevotea frequent | spare hour in communion with the classic or the best contemporary writers of literature. MR. HOWELLS AS AN OPTIMIST. 1 those reviewers who have caviled at the stent pessimism’ in Mr. Howells’ later work, particuiarly in his essays, should be con- irouted with his able and tellingarticle in the July Harper's. “The Modern American M 2% | Mr. Howells calls his masterly analysis of our attitude towsrd ourselves and the rest of the worid. He shows how the results of the Civil War and the sudden upspringing of our gigan- tic commercial interes:s combined to make us believe until comparasively recently that “ail thet was ours was good; if not apparently good, then really good. «It {s easy to say how our vainglory began, but it is not so easy to say how it began to vanish, or why. But whatever Eurove may think to the contrary, we sre now really a modest people. The National attitude is self- critical, and if the standards by which we try ourselves are not those of Europe, but are | largely derived from wiihin ourselves, they are none ihe less severe and noue the less “In fact, our present danger is not that we shall praise ourselves too much, but that we shall accuse ourseives too much, and blame ourselves for effects from couditions that are the conditions of the whole world. But if this | is better than to rest content with our condi- | tions because they seem to be ours alone, if it | issometimes & good thing to recognize that we are socially and economically sick, 1t is | 2150 & good thing to know that we have in our | own political system the power of recupers- | | tion egaiust the cniversal disorder. | “No one really doubts the sdequa Republic to any imaginab! ergencey; or if there Is here and there whose heart mis- | gives him, he has nothing to sugge tin place |o In a completer scnse than we always realize, it is the Republic or nothing forus, In cy of the the same completer sense there is no past for | ere is only a fuiure. Something thatis untried may serye our turn, but nothing | that nas been tried and failed will serve our | turn. | *We may not think the Republic is the best thing that can ever be, but we feel that it is | the best we can have for ti.e present and that | anything better must be something more lived to perpetrate others after | rather than something less of it. 1t isin no overweening mood of optimism thatwe t the Republic to save . There arealmost as few mere optimists as mere pessi- mists among us. Question those who seem to | be the one or the other and you find that at the Bottom of their hearts they have the same | aoubts, the same hopes. The blandest apii. | mistdees not deny that there are a good many screws loose; the bleakest pessimist does not affirm that there is no means within our | there is any meuns outside of demoeracy. “We trust the Republic with itself —that is, we trust one and we trust one an- other the mostimpticitiy when we affirm the | mi { half is plunging the whole of us in irreparable ruin. That is merely our way of calling ali to the duty we owe to each. It is not a verv dig- | fied wey, but the entire Nation is in the juke, &nd it is not 5o mischievous as it might seem. ¥ and by, probebly, we shall change it. should certainly chan itin tke presence of | any vital danger; for one reeson, because we | should then be all of one mind in devotion to the Republic.” | itisavery clear and vigorous note that Mr Howells strikes in the following: | “On the threshold of a new century, the yor- | tal of the future, we see more clearly than | ever that America is the home of work, of en- deavor, of 1he busy effort in which man loses | the heavy sense of s¢if as he can in no pleas- | ure, and tastes the hapyiness of doing some- t making something, creating some- | thing. Our problem is how to keep the chance | of tnis frec to all; how to find work for ali; | how to render drones impossible, either rich | s or poor drones, voiuntary or involun- | ARTISTIC HCME PRODUCT. | THE MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA—By Laura |~ Bride Powers. ~an Fraucisco: William Doxey, | atthe sign of The Lark. For ssle in this Clty by William Doxey, Palace Hoel. Told in language whose picturesque grace well befits the romantic subject is this record of the establishment of civilization and the teaching of the worship of God on _these West- ern shores by the brave and pious Spanish priests. It is an inspiration to read of the courage, persistence and heroic self-abnega- ion with wkich the old padres sought to lift a race from degradation to righteousness and | the stable happiness of industrial skiil. They | well deserved to have thelr memory perpetu- ated by such lovingly appreciative tributes as | this eloquently written and beautifully illus- treted little history pestows. Every home on the Pacific Const should have the story of brave endeavor in its library, ard every youth and maden shou'd be urged to read of that effort, prompted by a noble religious faith, to | save ana upliit a race. The anthor designed | this work as a “plea for the missions,” hoping that such interest might be roused aswould leed to thepreservation of the picturesque | ruins as heiriooms. One ot these she apily calls the Melrose Abbey of the West. S0 much taste has been displayed by Mr. Doxey in getting up this exquisite specimen | of the beokmaker's art that his “sign of The | Lars” promises some day to rival the famed *Bodley Head” of John Lane. A FALSE WIFE FORGIVEN. ONE MAN'S VIEW — By Leonard Merrick. Chicazo and New York: Herbert 8. Stone & Co. For sale i1 this City by Wiiliam Doxey, Paiace Hotel. Price $1. The one man’s view referred to is the opin- ion thatan untrue wife should be pardoned and taken back if she wishes to return. Her- iot, a successful lnwyer, begs Mamy Cheriton, & YOUNg Woman wilh an absorbing ambition 10 become & great actress, to be his wife. After | she has failed in her efforts to gat on the stage she consents, but her iceling for ber lord is oue of respect rather then love. A few years iater the woman meets a man she does love and eloves with him. After the death of her paramour the husband takes the wife back to his home and hearth. We all know what different aspects things present from aiffering points of view, and this | subject of forgiving & wife has been occasion- ally handled so cleverly as to make the reader feel, at least while he was absorbéd in the story, that this was the nobler part for a truly strong man to act, but this book fails to take | one to that height. No doubt there are two | classes of men who forgive—the larger class because they are far baser than the averags of mankind, and a very limited class of rare spirits because they are stronger and more tenderly loving. Here as elsewhere it is true that sometimes circumstances alter cases, and acase can be so presented by a sympathetic writer #s to meke us sympathize with a hus- the necessury editorinl supervision | Employed as an index, they serve as a | ingland and America | democrecy of tightening them egsin, or that | we | | band for pardoning his wife. This story a 1 lempls to make cut such a case, but in our opinion it fails, THE BEST SUMMER BOOKS. The summer girl 0f'97 is not allowing her- self to fall behind the times in reading any more than she is in dress. The socicty maiden bound for the seashore has, besides her filmy garments and vari-colored hammock, a per= tect library of prettily and oddly bound books. | The literary-looking person does not surpass in the choice of these books either. Tne day when wilaly romantic tales between brilliant covers of flashily iliustrated paper was the be- setting sin of the majority is passed, and now | the demand for the latest books from standard pubiishers and well-known writers amounts | almost to a crush. ***The Martian,’ by Du Maurier, has been out only & few days,” said Mr. Doxey this week; “but we have had all we could do to supply | the demand. With the spparent death of | “Trilby,” efter its author’s demise, we fencied that the popular eye would lose sight of | everytiing he might have done. To the con- trary, ‘The Martian’ was no sooner out than it {had a big run. Then James Lane Alleun’s | | ‘Choir Invisible’ is very popular with the | reading public at present, ana that, together ‘Quo Vads,’ bLas sold with Sienkiewiecz's heavily all summer. *‘Besides hese three, which seem to be the most read, we sell a lot of Anthony Hope's ‘Phroso’ iska, by Marie Corelli; ‘The { Mutable Many,’ by Robert Barr; Conan Doyle’s ‘Uncle Bernae,’ Bentrice Harraden’s “Hilda Strafford’; 'O the Face of the Waters,’ by Flora Anna Steele; ‘Flames,’ by Robert §. Hichens; ‘Houseboit on the StyX,’ by John Kendrick Bang: Womun's Partin & Revo- lution,’ by Mrs, Jonn Hays Hammond; Kip- | ling’s ‘Seven Seas’ Hardy’s ‘Well Beloved,’ and ‘Equality,’ by Bellamy., William Dean Howelis' ‘Landiord at Lion's Head” has a steady eale, though not such a heavy one. | ‘Pink Marsh,’ Ade, and ‘A Trein Robbery,’ by | Ford, are read by some. It is strange, too, but | the call for the paper editions of Omar Khayyam has beer very heavy lately. We are all out of them now and have had a num- ber of requests since the last copy was sold.” “Considering the length of time it has been out, ‘The Martian’ has had the most exten- sive sale,” said Mr. Robertson, “and it it con- tinues, as it bids fair to do, we shall not be able to supply the demand. The sale of books has been good this summer, that is, the sele of popular books, not of standard work Such writers as Hope, Doyle, Gilbert Parker, Allen, Bangs, Crawford and Bellamy are very | pobular.” With the exception of “The Pursuit of the | followed to the present day in America. | C. P. Huntington, John Jacob Astor, W. W. antiquity are described and depicted from economic, financial and artistie points of view. Then follows the next oldest c.vilization, and the next, and so on, as the historic tiread is Throughout the book are the most authentic portraits of men and women great in the | world’s history. Persons associated with the wealth of nations; not those who are and have been the simple possessors of wealth, but who have added to the earth’s store of riches by great accomplishments, whether they them- selves have or had fortunes or not. In the subscription book for this work ap- pear the autograph signatures of the Emperor of China, Emperor of Japan, Count Ito, Khe- dive of Egypt, Shah of Persia, Sultan of Tur- key, Prince of Weles, Princess Louise, Emperor of Germany, Emperor of Austris, Czarina of Russia, Queen of Holland and many lesser royal lights. Then come President Faure ot France, Duke of Westminster, Duke of Marlborcugh, Earl Rosevery, Mar- qats of Exeter, Lady Ranaolph Chureh- hill, and so on througn a long list of titles, Following these are kings aud lords of finance, with Baron Rothschild, William K. Vanderbilt, J. Pierpont Morgan, Astor, Bradiey Martin, Marshall Field, and a long list that & most exhausts the very Limited edition of ““The Book of Wealth,” Only 400 copies Will be printed, nearly all of which have already been subscribed for a: $2500 a copy for the first—Cygne Noir—-dition of 150 copies, in ten sections, and at $1000 a copy for the sccond edition of 250 copies, in the same number of sections. Each section will be bound in golden silk cloth. The cover of each section in the first edition will bear | an original water-color sketch by a well-known artist, set 10 a frame formed by the silk cloth. A VIGOROUS REPROOF. We do not know the name of the gentleman who writes in the New York Critic over the pseudonym *The Lounger,” but we would esteem it a privilege to shake him by the hand. Helsa man after our own heart and | we would that there were moreof his ilk con- | nected with the American press, From a recent issue of Vogue, a third-rate “society’” sheet, The Lounger ciipped the | foliowing exquisite plece of comment: 'he latest photograph of Queen Victoria, duly approved by the august lady herself, is a pitiable sight. ‘The poor creature! was the | involuniary ejaculation of a sympathetic | woman on seeing a proof of the portrait in an | for the first time. lish periodical. The elderly sad face | d out with a diadem aud other jewels, | the unsymmetrical body most unbecomingly | parts performed therein by Wallace,*Darwin, Huxley and Spencer. The book might have been appropriately entitled “The Evolution of Evolution.” The pioneers of evolution lived in Greece 600 years before the Christian era. In Ionia was born the idea that nature worked by fixed laws and the earliest school of scien- tific speculation was founded by Thales. There are some fine pictures of scientific men in the book—Darwin, Spencer, Huxley and ‘Wallace among the number. ASTONISHING NEGATIONS. CONSTITUENTS OF THE UNIVERSE—By John K. Atwood, San Diego, Cal James Ed- wurd Friend. A very little book of some three-score pages which attempts the immense task of over- throwing many of mankind’s long acceptedthe ories of the universe. The affiimations of the volume are few, the denials many. Some of these denials are remarkable es daring depar- tures from both theological and scientific or- thodoxy. The author tells us there is no de- sign in the universe and therefore no great designer. Thereis no first cause, if indeed there is any cause, there is no ether, no such things as inertia or gravi'ation, no weight, no chemical affinity, no cohesion nor solidity, no attraction of anv kind, and no laws of nature. The aflirmations are that time, space | and motion account sufficiently for all pnen- omena and that there is nothing but these three essentials, Many of the denials seem merely a disagreement sbout the terms by which we shall call different phenomens, BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. MAUDE—PROSE AND VERSE—By Christina ) Rossettl. Ch'cago: Herber: Siome & Co. Fo 8.1e in this City by Wiiliam Doxey, Palace Hotel- Price $1. This little book, which iz a tale for girls, was written by Christina Rossetti in 1850, when she was about 19, and is now published It will be read with interest by mans mereiy because of the name on the title page. A pre‘sce by her brother states that the purpose in delineating Mauce wes to exhibit what Christina Rossetti regarded as defects in her own character and life. The prose of the book is of much simplieity. The verse, which s mostly verysad or very re- ligious, is beautiful both in rhythm end senti- ment. A REPRINT. PINK MARSH—B; George Ade. Chicazo and New York: Heibort -tone & Co. For sale in this Clry by William Doxey, Palace Hotel. Price $1 5. A number of short humorous sketches, {llus- trating negro character, are here given by one The above portraits of Mr. and The mother of the brilliant novelist died athletic. Mr: in Edinburgh several weeks ago. *“In her Pictorial, *“she was thoroughly wrapped up in all that concerned her distinguished son. s t led her to criticize many of the portraits of her son, saying that ‘most likenesses made poor Louis more of an invalid than he was,’ and pronouncing in favor of the Samoan photograph taken in his riding clothes, which showed him robust and ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'S PARENTS. Thomas Stevenson are reproduced from the current issue of the Book Buyer. later years,” says a writer in the Scots’ It was the mother’s instinct which | Houseboat,” by Bangs, and Gilbert Parker's “Pompy Tarilettes,” the list of th: most salable books at Robertson’s was identical with that of Doxey's. “Everybody wishes to read the latest book, but the demand for most of them is short lived. Beatrice Harraden's ‘Hilda Strafford’ is not generally liked, although it is read widely,” he said. “But Miss Harraden is a popular wrlter and everything she writes will be read as long as her ‘Ships That Pass in the Night’ is remembered.” At Johnson & Emigh’s, the Emporium book- store, the summer sale has been slightly dif- ferent. *Besides Henry 8 enkiewiecz's ‘Quo Vadis, Allen’s ‘Choir Tovisible’ and Bellamy’s ‘Equality’ ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’ hes had a heavy saic, especinily since the Lyceum Com- pany bas been hee. ‘The Wisdom of Fools,” by Margaret Deland, ‘A Rose of Yesterday,’ by Marton Crawford, ‘The Honorable Peter Ster- ling,’ by Paul L. Ford, ldiers of Fortune,’ by Richard Harding Davis, and ‘The Seats of the Mighty,’ by Glibert Parker, have been our best-selling books, and: the demand has been heavy this summer.” The summer sale at the San Francisco News Company was not materislly different from that of the other booksellers. “Cuba in War Time,” by Richard Harding Davis, had been liaving a heavy sale, but since the first excite- ment of the war had subsided there had been comparatively little call for it. “A Noble Haul,” by W. Ciafk Russell, “‘Bob Covington,” by Gunther, “Odd Folks,” by Opie Reid, and “The Ape, the ldiot and Other People,” by Morrow, were also popular books of a slightly different tone with a good sale. THE BOOK OF WEALTH. “The Book of Wealth,” by Hubert Howe Ban- croft of San Francisco, Cal, setting forth the resources of the world in print and victures, will be completed this year. The work was beguu six years ago. Itwill bein ten sections, making in all about 1000 folio pages with about 3000 illustrations, produced through the highest pictorial art, *‘restoring as fer as possible in the limited space all that is best worth preserving in the world.” Each sec- tion, besides 100 pages oi text and illustra- tions, contains ten plates in fac-simile ofl and water colors, original etchings and photogravures. Among these are “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” Thomas Moran; “Windsor Castle,” G. H. McCord; “The Tuileries in the Time of Louis XIV,” W. Gran- ville Smith; “The Acropolis Restored,” C. Y. Turner; “The Taj Mabal,” C. A. Vanderhoff, and “Square of St. Mark, Venice,” E.Ben- venuto. The other ninety-four are by no less worthy artists. The first chapter of the first section opens with a drawing by E. H. Blashfield, represent- ing 8 Chaldean goddess dispelling chaos. Then beging in text and fllustration a history of the dawn of civilization, The uations of loaded down with elaborate draperies. Any- , thing less regal itisnot possible to imagine, and it seems almost an cutrage on the dignity of a human being to attempt to make a spec- tacle of such & physical wreck. Diadems and royal robes assort ill with sge, disfigured features and figure. Tradition says, ‘she wept to wear a crown.” Those who respect her many sterling qualities are disposed to grow pathetic over her being made a show of in her unattractive old age.” And “Lounger” administers & sharp rap on the knuckles to the writer of the above in the following well-turned paragraph: “The shoemaker should not go beyond his last. The function of such a journel as Vogue 18 10 print fashion-plates, sometimes with the names of the wearers of the gowns beneath them, and sometimes with the names of tne makers; to tell counter-jumpers how to behave when they find themseives in the same ele- vator with ladies, and to teacn ‘chappies’ how to suck the heads of their canes, and how to address their men-servants, if their fathers have made enough money by honest labor to leave them in a position to bave their trousers ironed insicad of ironing them themselves. Nothing coula be farther f:om its function than to criticize & queen or tell her how to dress. What makes such varagraphs as these doubly offensive is the fact that they are usu- ally written by people who would grovel in the mire for the privilege of kissing the hem of Victoria's plainest gown. Is it good ‘Amer- icanism,’ by the way, to twit an old lady on her loss of beauty, and call her a ‘poor crea- ture’ when all the world is uniting to do her deserved honor?” BOTANY MADE INTERESTING. THE PLANT WORLD, ITS ROMANCES AND REALITIES—By Frank Vincen:, M.A. New York: D. Appleion & Co. kor sale in this City by Willlam Doxey, Palace Hotel. Price §1. An interesting number of Appleton’s series of home reading books is this litule work on botany. It consists of a number of choice and attention-awakening extrac's from writings about tne vegetable kingdom by many authors. Such features are selected as are strikingly instructive, picture:que and ro- mantic, and they are well calculated to arouse enthusiasm in students to pursue the sub- jects further. The book thoroughly accom- plishes its object of making botany enter- taining reading. SCIENTIFIC. PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION FROM THALES TO HUXL Y—By Edward Clodd. New York: D. Appleton & Co.” For sale in this City by Wii- liam boxey, Palace Hote. Price §1 50. We are told iu this volume that although the theory of evolution as we define 1t is uew the speculations which made it possible are at least twenty-five centuries olds It teils the story of the origin of the 1des, of its long ar- rest, of its revival in modern tmes and of the who has closely studied the darky and his language. “Pink Marsh” is a sort of court jester of a barber-shop. The book is a reprint of & series of sketches that first appeared in the Chicago Record. It is abundantly illus- trated with fuli-page cuts, drewn by JohnT. McCutcheon, which are more humorous than the text. AN ODD GIRL. THE BEAUTIFUL MISS BROOKE—By Z. Z. New York: D. appleton & Co. For sale in thi: Ciey by William Loxey, Puiace Hoiel. Price, 81 Louts Zangwill has here described an American girl, who, while perhavs possible enough, we trust was not meant as a trpe of toe siyle of young women our American cus- tom of dispensing with chaperons has pro- duced. Miss Brooke is a sweet girl in some ways, but while growing is somewhat too free in dispensing kisses to the boys she liked, end this habit is carried into mature life. The author hus portrayed a rather complex speci- men of womanhood, and the final expisnation of her life and motives will surprise the reader, producing in him s strange mingling of dislike and admiration for her character. One is compelled to approve of her for not be- ing very much worse than she is. SPIRITUALISM. MEDIUMISTIC EXPERIENCES OF JOON BROWN, THE MEDIUM OF THE ROCKIES Kor swle in this City at the Fiice 50 John Brow u. - office” of the Philosophical Journal. cents. One of the old ploneers of this State, who was for a long time a trapper of the Rocky Mountains, has herein told a strange story of | spiritualistic experiences. He seems to have possessed the power to leave his body and visit djstant scenes. On these trips he was ac- compsanied by, and seemed largely under the guidance of, a spirit. Sometimes this spirit would leave him for considerable perivds when it was undesirable to communicate knowledge beyond human ken. The medium had the gift of prophecy about many concerns, and repéatedly proved it while in the moun- tains, where his fellow-trappers were about to kil him for a wizard. John Brown also had the gift of healing by the laying on of hands. The story 18 told with solemn earnestness and every appearance of sincerity. A REPRINT. GEORGIAN SCENES—By A Native Georgian. New York: Harper & Brothers. For sale in this City by A. M. Robertsou, Post street. Price $150. This is & new edition of a collection of sketches which were much read and com- mented on in the South years ago. It tells of humorous characters and incidents in the first half cencury of the Republic. The dialect of the country people of Georgia is accurately presented. One of the best storfes recounts a ght between two gountry bullies, HERE AND THERE. The Emperor Francis Joseph has made Maurus Jokai a life member of the Hungarian House of Maguates. The Schiller Stiftung in Germany distributed last year more than 12,000 marks among the indigent families of authors, Thomaes Nelson Page, who is working on & long novel, has sailed for the Mediterranean and will remain abroad until the autuma. Zangwlll is responsible for the statement that Oliver Echreiner, of “Trooper Peter Halker of Mashonaland”” fame, is of Jewish origin. The British and Foreign Blind Association propose printing in embossed type a volume containing Dr. Nanser's story of his explora- tions. It is estimated that Nansen will clear a round $150,000 from his book. There are German, Freuch, Dutch and Bohemian trats- lations. Ian Maclaren wiil give one or two religious books to his publishers before long. His latest | novel is called “The House by the Houff,” and will first appear as a serial in England. Miss Annie Alden, dsughter of Mr. Alden of the firm of Harver & Brothers, read the manu- seript of “Trilby” for the firm, pronounced on its possibilities and advised its acceptance, F. Marion Crawford, who has before this given public readings from his novels, is next winter to deliver a series of lectures upon Italian art, at the same time reading from his novels, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell’s serial story, “Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker,” which has been run- ning in the Century megazine, will be pub- lished in book form by the Century Company in the autumn, Edna Lyall has two novels almost ready. Oue is a seventeenth century story, after the iashion of “In the Golden Days,” and the | other a tale now appeering in serial form, en- titled *‘Wayfaring Men. A “Kailyara” version of the Song of Solo- mon s about 1o be issued by a North country firm of publishers. A verse in the last chap- ter will read, we understand, as follows: “Mony waters canna slochen luv’, neither can the spates droon it; gin a man wad gie a’ the hsudin’s o’ his hoouse for 1uv’, they wad be althegither scorned.” There have been many authors as exacting as Herbert Spencer, but few as frank. Itis told of the Spencer of two or three years ago: “He has conceived en intolerance of remarks of a commonplace and unfruitful character and ha§ brought with him an apparatus which he could at pleasure slip over his ears and which spared him the pain of auricular contact with less giftea mortels.” The tomb of Robert Louis Stevenson, on Mount Vaen, has been completed finally, after two years of patient labor. In design it is exe tremely simple—a plain block of concrete, sar- cophagus shaped, resting on a platform of the same material. The tab.etsare on each side of the block. Oae is inscribed with the beauti- 1ul* Requiem,” which Steyenson wrote many years ago, aud the other bears a verse irom “Ruth” in Samoan. A curious thing has happened in the matter of criticism of Mr. Stephen Crane’s “The Third Violet.” American reviews and newspapers, | a.most without exception, have dismissed the | book as either bad or unimportant. The Eng- | lish reviewers almost universally welcomed it | as momentous and judged it good. Is this an aitempt on tae part of the London critics to boister up their claim of having “discoyered” “The Red Badge of Courage " Mr. Hall Caine contradicts the report thatat the Maax general election he wouid endeavor 10 secure & seat for Peel in the House of Keys. in a letter just published he says: *‘It may save further troubleif I say at ouce thata seat in the House of Keys would be an honor and pleasure entirely bevond my possibilities, because as & man of letters I have a large and exacting constituency already which demands all my time and much more than allmy en- By | Mr. Kipling has written & letter to David | Christie Murray on the subject of the criti- cisms from his pen which have been running in a London paper. Mr. Kipling hopes the time wiil come when hefwiil be able to write “a real novel—not & one-volume or a two- volume, but a real, decent three-decker.”” He considers that no man on this side of 40 at the | earliest has secreted enough observation—not to say thought—to write a novel, which, in spite of all they say of the short story, is in his opinion the real vehicle. “Independent firing by marksmen is & pretty thing, but itis the volley firing of a full batialion that clears the frout.” “When 1 was out West,” said a business man quoted in Hardware, ‘‘a young man reg- | 1stered at the hotel and proceeded to make things lively. The first night he played poker with the landlord and cieaned him out: the next night he came home drunk and whipped the cabman; the third night he went up and down the halls singing at the top of his voice and daring the chambermaids to come out and embrace him. In the morning they asked for the key ot his room and gave him his bill He looked it over, and then said, With sur- prised pathbos, ‘Don’t you make any discount to ministers? " ‘When Justic McCarthy began “A History of Our Own Times'’ be wasso well known as a journalist and novelist of ability thatore of the London publishers is said to have made a contract with him for the work. Before finish- ing it, however, Mr. McCarthy had become very conspicuously ideutified with the home- rule cause, then very unpopular in Engiand, and on his offering the manuseript for publi- cation it was rejected on the ground that a history of England written by an Irish Nation- | alist would not sell. Mr. McCarthy at once 100k the work to the house of Chatto & Win- dus and received for it twice the sum he had previously agreed to accept! It isreputed to be the most popular history published since Macaulay’s “England” appeared. A six-year-old girl in Chicago has written a bock of poems, and an enterprising Western publisher will bring it out with an eye to supplying the demand that always arises for anything ofa “record” nature, says the Phila- delphia Press. In one place in the book the «youngest poet” breaks out with the following verse: The flower that bends down to the earth Will s00n zo back 1o God, But never again will it return The same as it was plod. In an apparently much-needed footnote the author explains that “this poem, which came into the head quick and sudden, doesn’t make sense, because the word ‘plod,” which rhymes so nicely with God, doesn’s mean what I want it to.” This embarrassment is not confined to the juvenile poet. A London periodical recently offered a prize for the best collection of unintentionally amus- ing aavertisements. Here is a part of one list. It embodles illustrations of the cutious effect which the misplacing of a comma, or of a word or two, often has upon the meaningofa sentence: «“Annual sale now going on. Don’t go else- where to be cheated—come in here.” “Vanted, a room for two gentlemen about thirty feet long and 320 feet broa A lady wants to sell her piano, as she is go- ing abroad in a strong iron frame.’” “Lost, & collie dog by & man on Saturday an- swering to Jim with a brass collar around his neck and muzz ed.” Wanted, by a respectable girl, her passage to New York, willing to take care of children and a good tailor.” «‘Respectable tailor wants washing on Tues- day.” ‘M. Brown, furrier, begs to announce that he will make up gowns, capes, ete., for ladles out of their own skins.” *‘A boy wanted who can open oysters with a reference. “Bulldoz for sale, will eat anything, very fond of children.” ‘'Wanted, an organist and a boy to blow the LITERARY ' NOTES. S. R. Crockett’s next story is to be called “The Red Axe.” The first British edition of Maris Corelli’s naw society story, ‘“Jane,” will consist of 15,000 copies. “The Romance of a Midshipman,” by W. Clark Russell, will be published in September by R. F. Fenno & Co. A new book by Tolstoy is to be published. 1t is a study of the relationship between the sexes. The work is taken from a Giary kept by the author. Leonara Huxley is making good progress with the biography of his father. The book is awaited with great interest. The Appletons will pubifsh it in this country. D. Appleton & Co. will publish in August, in their Town and Country Library, “A Colonial Free-Lance,”” an Americen historical novel, by C. C. Hotchkiss, author of ‘“In Defiance to the King.” Hutchinson & Co. will publish shortly a new nove!, entitled “Father Hilarion,” by K. Douglas King, the author of ‘“The Scripture Reader of St. Mark' The story depicts the struggle between asceticism and human pase sion. Grace Denlo Litchfield, who left a very pleas- ant impression some years mgo with her “Knight of the Black Forest,” has written a novel of life in Washington. It is called “In the Crucible,” ana will be published this summer, Israel Zangwill’s novel, “Dreamers of the Ghetto,” need not be looked for until the au- tumn. His brother, Louis Zangwill—better known as *'Z. Z.”—has written a story that 13 about to appear under the title ‘A Nineteenth Century Miracle.” Herbert S. Stone & Co. announcs that they will publish the next new novel by Harold Frederic, the author of “The Damnation of Theron Ware,” and that they have in prepa- ration a new novel by Henry Seton Merriman, author of “The Sowers,” ete. The collective edition of Rudyard Kipling’s works will be published in England by the Macmillans. In accordance with Mr. Kip- ling’s wish the text will be identical, in selec- tion and arrangement, with the Scribners' edition now in course of publication. Sarah Grand’s new novel will be & study of & womau’s life from the cradie to the grave, She Lias refused & handsome offer for the pub- lication of the work in serial form, because she thinks a book has greater justice done it when it is presented straight to the reader. “Impressions of Turkey,” by Professor W. M. Ramsay of Aberdeen, is announced for early publication by the Putnams. New vol- umes to appear in the Hudson Library are “The Ways of Life,” including two storfes by Mrs. Oliphant, and “Margot,” by Sidney Plck- ering. Lee & Shepard have just fssued a timely pampllet entitied “The Hawaiian Incident; an Examination of Mr. Cleveland’s Attitude Toward the Revolution of 1893, by J. A. Gil- lis. They have also just ready *The Genesis of Shakespeare’s Art; n Study or tis Sonuets #n0d Poems,” by Edwin james Dunning. A new historical romance by Levett Yeats isannounced by the Longmaus for publicas tion this month. It iz called ‘“The Chevalier d@’Aurfac,” and is said to be worthy of the author of “The Honor of Savelli.” A new novel by Edpa Lyall, entitied ‘‘Wayiaring Men,” is promised for August by the same publishers, In their Hudson Library the Putnams will issue soon a nmew volume by Mrs. O.iphant entitled *The Ways of Life” and comprising two stories, “The Wonderful History of Mr. Robert Dalyel” and “Mr. Sanford.” Anotber forthcoming volume in the Hudson Library will e “Margot,” by Sidney Pickering, the author of “The Romance of His Picture.” Robert H. Sherard’s new novel, “Uncle Chris- topher’s Treasure,” is laid at Blarritz and deals with the singular adventure that befell an Eoglishman or letters, whose physical courage was as great as his moral courage was small. Mr, Sherard is now engaged on a story describing literary types of London and Paris, t0 be called “Lord Zennor’s Experiment.” 014 Times in Middle Georgia’ is the title of a volume of skeiches by Richard Malcolm Johnston, which the Macmillan Company will shortly publish. The same house announces n work by Professor Clarence M. Weed, called “Life Histories of American Insects.” It is & popular treatise on entomology which is said to stand almost alone in its class, since the study of peculiarly American insects has had few textbooks. Most people now kuow that Maxwell Grey, whose novels have been published in this country by the Appletons, is a lady whose name, off her books, is Miss Tuttiett. She is engaged on a story which may come to b placed beside her “‘Silence of Dean Maitland, The title is a good one, namely, “The House of the Hidden Treasure.” Half of the story is written, and we may look for it about next Easter. A sumptuous book announced by the Lippin- is_“Picturesque Burma, Past and Pres- ent.” Tt is a full repository of history, man- ners, costumes, landscape, domestic and pub- lic life and religious forms, and does for this side of the Orient in a practical way what Kip- ling’s pen has done in an artisde way. There are promised ten exquisite photogravures of living types, two maps and 100 charming il lustrations besides. The cover design follows a fragment of Orfental tapestry and completés an elegant and useful work. The Macmillan Company announces still another valuable handbook under the title 'An Outline for the Study of Citr Governs ment,” by Delos H. Wilcox, PE.D., of Colum- bia College. The author holds that the city problem is the key to the immediate future of social progress in this country, and he offers for the first time & systemstic outline for the study of the whole municipal field, indicating the chief problems in order with facts and 1liustrations sufficient as a basis for intelligent interest and a guide to the sources of further information. Dodd, Mead & Co. announce & new and uni- form edition of the works of Hamilton W. Mabie, each volume to contain a frontisplece in photogravure. They will publish in Octo- ber a work entitled “American Book Clubs,” with accounts of all known publishing book clubs in America, and descriptions and colla- tions of their various publications, prepared by A. Growoll, managing editor of the Pub- 1ishers’ Weekly; also the volume for 1897 of “American Book Prices Current.” They have in press “The New England Primer,” edited by Paul Leicester Ford. The volume will con- tain transeripts of title pages, collations and descriptions of all known editions, with repro- duetions in fac-simile of a large number of title pages, illustraiions and specimen pages of the text. In addition Mr. Ford has prepared a most interesting account of the origin and history of the “Primer.” For variety of talent, for unflagging zeal and industry, for character and public spirit, there is perhaps no living American wno stands more conspicuous than Edward Everett Hale. Clergyman, historian, story- writer and editor—and in each capac- ity a Qistinguished success—he has passed his whole life in doing work that his in one way or another exerted a beneficent influ- ence. And now, in his seventy-fifth year, he is bringing out through Harpers a new vol- ume of siories entitied “‘Susan’s Escort, and Others.”” Though in theminds of his friends in Boston, where he wes born, Dr. Hale is al ways associated with one of the leading- Unitarian churches of the eity, of which he has been pastor for more than thirty years, it is as a writer that he is best known to the world. Few stories have had so exiraordinary a popuiarity as ¥ Double, and How He Undid Me,” published in 1859, and “A Man Without & Country.” which first appeared anouymously in 1863; and the influerce ex- erted in the developmentof systematic charity by Dr. Haie's book, entitled “Ten Times One Is Ten,” notonly in America Lut all over the world, has rarely been equaled in literature,