The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 8, 1897, Page 23

HE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUS 1897. 8, 23 BELLAMY’S NEW BOOK. QUALITY—By Edwa N ¥y 3 D. Appleton & Co. 1-:3;32‘1:;-“3’6:6}?‘” o The author, who made himself famous ten years ago by writing “Looking Backward,” will probably double that fame by the produc- tion of this new work, which is modeled eo closely on the plan of the former book that it might, as a companion story, have appropri- ately been called *‘Looking Forward.” Both volumes are realiy a most opumistic looking forwerd for us of the nineteenth century, for the stories are written as a sort of prophecy of the viewpoint of one living in the year 2000 aund looking backward from n reslized earthly paradise upon the missry and the imperfect social conditions of the present time. Equality” was a happy selection for the title of the new bool Mr. Bellamy's theory of the only thorough dy for present social ills, Itis a thoughi- dious, clever work, and whether or not 1e accepts his suggested cureall as a safe exit om the wretchedness clajmed to be the re- of present social arrangements, it will be d interesting. ery page bears evidence that the author isan ardent lover of the human race. He is no wild enthusiast, begging a busy world to Pay attention to half-matured thoughts, but eaks from & full mind. Every idea advanced Las been carefully considered from all points, end aiter ten years of ripering in his own mind it is now given to the world fully | matured. An able attempt has been made to forestall adverse criticism by giving an in- telligible and fair answer to almost every ob- | jection that could be thought of. He has | made himself familiar with the arguments of the politica! economists and brings forward a counter to each one of them reasonable enough 1o set people thinking. No doubt many who have be to all socielistic schemes W these arguments, lay aside convinced s to admit tha vet solved, and that it whether the | | | 1 long opposed reading | s0 far | the book e p: m is ne s an open questio theories of Christian social may not be ct as to the solution of ou culties, The astonishingly rapid advauc in poiitical power of the Socialistic party of Germar ificient slone to make this book of world-wide interest. It is not mprobable | that within another decade socialism v upon us as ore of the liv. t of issues, and | those who do not bel 11t will have to rouse themseves most energetically to put it & Back- | in the | been a | e social on, | pro- ¥” is a sequel to *Loo! he character most prominen r book, Julian West, who had millionaire under the t is continued in this ples h we are expected by an phetic imagination to read as ed n | the happy Utopia to be achieved after another hundred years o g man resuscitated a hypnotic ructed b the new wonderfully chang, vanced world and the were brought about. There is but a bare ttre depend & number of essays ical econ- own into conversational form. In thread, however, there is a distinet | t e, suggested rather than | elaborated, in the love of Julian West for | Edith, whols the great-granddaughter of the | woman he had lovea in his lize before he took his hypnotic nap of a hundred years. One poetic paragraph in which this love is alluded | to will show how 1ily the impression is produced by bs socialistic lectu ught her 1 ad- | hist of ory on which br back ing her by the very when all | else had dis: ed at the he eyes. | Why not? What youth b often been ited in his dreams by m ideals fairer han walk on earth, he has | for and for days been 7 the g memory of their half-remembered faces more fortunate than they, had baf- | fled the jealous warder at the gates of sleep snd brought my queen of dreamland lian awakes to re happy change that look out upon is that his country has been | transformed by a sweepingly radical “Great volution” into the “Kepublic of the Golden Rule.” This revolution, had been blooc brought sbout by the force of public o merely. The nation coliectively willed it and the thing was done. It was justasif theold social order had been brougat to trial before | some great and equitable rizd, con- | demned and executed. Tk rdinal feature of the reform was the abolition of private capitalism, the profit system, rents and inter- | est, In their place was substituted collective | control of all industries by the people through their Government, an equal annual division | of all products to every memberof society, free access to the land, the use of all surplus sccumulations, now called capital, for the general good, and the legal pronibition of ac- | cumulations of wealthin private hands. No | one reading a brief outiine of the reforms | suggested by Mr ny could guess how plausibly he presents his case in the 400 pages of his book. The revolution was a sort of ey i i capitalist was not confiscated, b success of the co-operative nat itslowly lessened in val > point, and the wealthy class gradually aware of the wisdom of the change and w 1y ecquiesced in it. For o that their children wer from want and degrada private capitalism, and one of the chief incentives for tion of large fortunes, The coll the country is shown to be &t stimulus to ambition and industry than the | old strugg.e for an exclusive and specific por- tion of it. | Notonly in material welfare but in ethics | the new order is argued to have produced | vast improvements. In the nineteenth cen- we had the alternative of profiting by | el 1 1ot pietured as sudden. i ut by the great onel industries | on urn 1s had always been e recumula- tury an unjust system or being its victi “Ou consciences were completely bedeviled by a economic system which seemed a hopele muddle that nobody could see through, orset | right, or do right under.” With the leisure ob- | teined by systematized industry and the sav- ing of the waste formeriy caused by destruc- tive competition all the people make great ad- vance in education, and cuiture becomes uni- versal. In order that liberty may be perfectly pre- served there is provision made for those who do.not like the new socialistic arrangements togo out in regions set apart for them,and live the old life of individual struggle for a living or wealth; but nome are found in the year 2000 fools enough to surrender their ad- Tantages as citizens of the Republic of the Golden Rule. The argument that only & very small part of the great wealth pow possible for indlvidual attainment is due to any one'’s single skill or industry, but is created by the energy of the community, is forcefully put. Tne last thing Mr. Bellamy does is to write & chapter called “The Book of the Blind,” in which he replies to the objections usually urged against socialistic remedies. This is well done, but of course will not satisfy all. The belief that the world is a_severe training- school, deliberately intended for the moral development of human souls, often under ter- rible siress of temptation or suffering, would have largely to be abandoned if this new Utopia is ever resiized. Men therein couid only cultivate the virtues of prosperity. Shakespeare's conception of how stanch man- hood is developed in the wind and tempest of fortune's frown would have to give way. There would certainly be little opportunity in the new regime for the exercise of either faith or of courage and endurance in the moral sense. Conservatism will in multitudes of high places bar Bellamy’s book from serious con- sideration. But the thought is so fair that all will hope it may some day in & measure be re- alized and that his saying may prove true: *“Thegolden rule in i1s social application is as truly the secret of plenty as of peacs.’’ ——————— Ix Press: “Wila Flowers of California.”” Doxey publishers ok i ard in one word it tells | | recall & single character in allt Dickens’ novels | | former; | tat | of them young Oxford Fellows interesied in CHARLES DANA GIBSON. The remarks of a contemporary critic upon | the work of an arust in whom all America is interested are quoted below. All readers of books ana lovers of America and American | types follow Charles Daca Gibson's. career | with interest: “Word comes from London with seeming authority that Allen, the publisher et Orping- ton, in Kent, whose name the average reader knows only on the title pages of costly vol- umes by Ruskin, is meditating a new edition of Dickens, and that he has engaged Phil May, | the English carfeaturist, and Mr. Gibson, the | American illustrator, to make pictures for it. | Mr. Gibson and his work are probably better | known in England now than they were two or three years ago, when a solemn British essay- ist wrote of him as Charles Gibson Dana; but it is u bit surprising that an English pub. lisher—even the fastidious and finical Mr Allen—should have come over sea to find an | illustrator, and for Dickens’ novels. Most | surprising of a1l, perhaps, is his choice of Mr. | Gibson for the task. “Presumably the firstduty of the illustrator | of & tale is to portray its personages as mE author has conceived them and its incidents | | ashe has set them forth. Of course, if the illustrator is Worih his salt, his own tempera- | ment and methods will appear in his work, but he is in duty bound to keep them 8s sub- | ordinate as he can to the author's. Now,if ' ever an illustrator ran persistently to types of | hisown, he is Mr. Gibson, and the long suc- cession—one dare not say of how many years— of his drawings in Life has made them very familiar. They have even added to the lan- guage the phrase, ‘The Gibson gir’—a nota- le unfairness to the Gibson youth, the in- creasing length of whose marvelous legs, as hough to keep pace with her height, deserves like distinetion. His young men and maidens are comely, wholesome, otten charming and often well drawn; but they have long been variations on one or two themes that have taken form and sulstance as much out of his own imsgination and habit as out of life. His overfed fathers and acid dowagers come much mearer thereto. Moreover, even when Mr. Gibson went to Paris and to London and drew the men &nd the women that be saw about him there, it was easy to see his own types struggling, perhaps unconsciously, be- | reath, and now that he is back again at regu- ir work at home, he has returned to them, though with a surer and finer hand, heart and soul “Heretofore,when he has made pictures fora | povel or & tale, the physical traits of its per- | sonages, even in the text, have closely fol- | lowed the Gibson formul, <o that the author— usually Mr. Devis—and the illustrator met | more than half way. It is hard, however, to | that suggests quickly and persuasively the | Gibsonian youth or maid. Steerforth in ‘David Copperfield,’ verhaps, comes closest to the but nis heroines are too thoroughly feminine in body and in mind to approach the | latter. Fancy a Gibsonian Dora or a Agnes Summerson. With his elderly Gibson will have fairer prospectof success. | To approach Dickens' personages anew, as if | a manuscript and not the hundredth reprint | lay before him, isno mean opportuniiy for | any illustrator, and Mr. Gibson is not unde- | serving ofit. In his case, besides, the remote- nesaof some of his types from the new ma- | terial and the inevitable struggle between the | two promise t0 make the experiment unusu- | l 1 ally interesting.” = ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN. NULMA—By Mrs. Campbell-Praed. New York D Appleton & Co. For saie In this City by Willism Doxey, Falace Hotel. Price 50 cents. | Astudy of two women who were married | and loved men other than their husbands. | One of these tempted wives proved frail and | the other true. Althoigh in the last chapter | the contrast between the Lwo women is sharply drawn so as to point u moral in favor of legal | { ties, the bulk of the book is given over to re- cording illegitimate love and the sentiments | | and arguments of those who held love as su- pre se m even over duty. Therefore the book | 1s rather a pandering to ignoble senti- | It is built on the old worn foundation of 50 many commonplace novels. | A MINOR QUEST. | QUEST OF THE GILT-EDGED GIRL hard de Lyrienne. London and New York: Lene, The Bodley Head. For sale in this | City by Willlam Doxey, Palace Hotel. Price 50c. This second number of the Bodley Booklets intended s a sort of playful satire on that el®nt story, “The Quest of the Golden Itisa bright £00d nits is an {mi- s style ln the chapter “how Carrie Morelli and I killed the critic.” There are several good bits of parodied verses. The little volume makes fairly amusing, frothy reading, but in clever- ness is far benind the pace set in the first number of the Bodley Booklets by Max Beer- bohm, A DISCONTENTED WIFE. TTA’S MARRIAG New York: by 50 cents. This story of English life cont five char- acters of considerable interest. Merfetta marries into vast wealth and gaius a title and & worthy man for & husband, but with petty perverseness secks for reasons of discontent. In this mood of blindness to her own good fortune she willfully puts false constructions on what is going on around her, and nar- rowly escapes the disgrace of running away from home and husband with a scoundrel. There is a pleasing contrast in the character her husband’s sister, Laay Betty, who, like many other women, resolves not to marry, and does. NEW SAYINGS OF CHRIST. While working on the edge of the Libyan desert, in the neighborhood of Oxsrhynchus, one of the chief centers of early Christianity, end a flourishing city even ‘in Roman times, Bernard P. Grenfell aud Arthur S. Hunt, both THE Toh By 1,” by Richard L» Gallienns. the fairl 11 skit, and amon n of Marie Corre wherein is tol —By W. D. Appleton & C Will.am Duxey, E. Norris. Torsale in this Palace Ho.el. Price of original research, discovered in the rubbish heaps of the town a large quantity of papyri, mostly Greek, ranging in date from the first to the eighth century. Among these was one fragment of capital importance—no less than a collection of Logia or Sayings of Our Lord, some of them famil- iar in their diction, others wholly new. For reasons connected mainly with the evidence of the handwriting the two scholars have de- cided that the date of the papyrus is some- where between the limits 150 and 300 A. D. should thelr conjecture be justified the im- portance of these Logia in their bearing on the gospels can hardly be overestimated. The fragment in question, which is only #ix inches long and less than four inches wide, is reproduced in facsimile in a little book giving the text of the Logia and an accountof the adiscovery of the papyrus, published for the yptian exploration fund by Henry Frowde. The number of sayings or “verses” on the papyrus is cight. Unfortunately numbers four and eight cannot be aeciphered. Number ong is similar to the passage in Matthew about *‘the mote in thy brother's eve.” The second declares that Jesus said that none who do not ““fast to the world” can find the kingdom of God, and “except ye keep the Sabbath ye shall notsee the Father. It is suggested that “fast from the world” might be a better translation. With the reference to the Sabbath one may compare the *“Iam not come to destroy the law but to fulfill” and *'the Sabbath was made for man and not man jor the Supbath” of the New Testament. The touching third saying we are permitted to quote in extenso: “Jesus saith, I stood in the midstof the world, aud in the flesh was I seen of them, and I found all men drunken, and none found Iathirst among them, and my soul grieveth over the sons of men, because they are blind in their neart.”” This recalls St. John’s words; “Jle was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” The fifth of the Logia is not complete, but exceedingly interesting and likely to attract great attention. Itdeals with the omnipres- ence of Christ, and golng beyond 1h¢ promise. N EDWARD BELLAMY. “Iam with you alwayseven unto the end of the world,” speaks of his presence in inani- mate nature. He is 10 be sought not only in the rocks but—“Cleave the wood and there am I.” The sixth and seventh “verses’ are variants | ot much interest on the recorded words of our | Lord about a prophet being without honor In | his own country, a physician not working cures where he is well known, the city ona high hill and the house built on a rock. It may be added that sayings fourand eight, | which are still undeciphered, are believed on the evidence of words and made out to be new. It 15 well known been singularly fruitful in literary treasures, There were, says the London Daily News, the | instructive but far from attractive verses of Herondas. There were the precious jottings from Aristotle’s notebook on the States of Grecc. There are the fragments of Bac- chylides, the contemporary and perhaps the gypt has of late years | rival of Pindar, which have not yet been col- | lected in & book. Butall these sink into ip- | signiticance beside sentences which purport to have come from the mouth of Christ him- sell. Itseems that Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, after handing over to the Egyptian Govern- | ment 150 of the most complete rolls, brought to this countrv upward of 280 boxes of papyri. These are written in Greek, Latin, Coptic and Arabic, and they date from the first to the eighth or minth century. The majority con- sists of contracts, letters, wills, accounts and other official and private documents. But there is also an unusual proportion containing classical and Christian literature. Until a thorough examination and a comparative study has been made it is impossible to enu- merate the contents. But apart from the Logia herewith published the discoverers have | already identified some fragments of the Gospel of St. Matthew, containing most of the first chapler, written in a third-century hand. In the departmeut of classical literature, besides portions of Homer and Aristophanes, Thucy- dides and Demosthenes, there are five stanzss in Sapphic meter, which may probably be ascribed to Sappho herself, and part of a chronological work dealing with the latter half of the fourth century B. C. The new *Sayings” will shortly be issued in this'country by Henry Frowde of New York, at an extremely moderate price, thus enabling them to be placed at the disposal of the stu- dent not too well supplied with money. ENTOMOLOGY. INSECT LIFE—By John Henry Comstock. New York: D. Appleton & Co. For sale in this City by Wiliiam Doxey, Palace Hotel. Price $2 50. A book designed as a guide for teachers and students, as well as others interested in cut- of-door life. The author is & professor of ento- mology in both Cornell and Leland Stanford Junior universities. The needs of the begin- ner in the study of insects have been kept carefully in view. The work is amply fllus- trated with unusually clear cuts. The only writers, says the “Lounger” in the Critie, whom Eunglish critics seem to consider typically American, are Mrs. Gertrude Ather. ton and Stephen Crane. No American who has any respect for his country’s literature can read with patienZe the praise bestowed by certaln Englisn papers—the Athenzum and the Academy among others—on Mr. Crane's 1atest story, “The Third Violet.” Ithink that these papers take delight in picking out our most commonplace, Yulgar books to praise for their “Americanism. They call them «racy’’ and say that they are the sort of books American asuthors should write, instead of those that show cultivaticn and a decent regard for grammar. What have such bar- barians as we to do with literature? Letus describe American life as the English believe it to be—then they will applaud. They would praise cowboy poels, they abuse Mr, Lowell (as the Athensum did recently), and they would no doubt pat us on the back for Blind Tom, while they would let Mr. MacDowell’s ‘musical geniusgo unnoticed. In other words, they only care for things American when they are *“reakish.” No one can accuse me of Anglophobia, but I must admit that I lose patience when I see such a book as Mr. Crane’s “Third Violet” singled out for unqual- ified praise in England. The book is ealled there n genuine American product, but “The Scarlet Letter,” “The Sketch-Book,” ““The Con- duct of Life,” “Hiawatha,” “The Biglow P: pers,” *The Luck of Roaring Camp,” etc.— these are English! ————— “EQuaLity,” by Beliamy, aj Dgzey'sm * THE AUGUST MAGAZINES. | Scribner’s. | The fiction number of Scribner's Magazine | has had a wonderful record for a decade It has made the reputations new writers and increased in which the old oues are held. This issua sustains the well-earned reputation. It contains six complete short storles by of many the esteem | ! | R. Stockton, | it appeals to many kinds of taste, for they are, respectively, a railroad story, a story of chila. hood, a farcical tale, & patheticstory, a fight- ing story and a new-journalism story. The fiction number aims not oniy at the best work of famous authors and {llustrators, but, first of all, at thoroughly entertaining stories. Kipling's raiiroad story, .007, is | a brilliant piece of work (uo matter who its author). It has to do with American loco- motives fn & New York roundhouse, and on an American railway. When the engines speak they ‘‘talk United States.” It is a part of the longed-for “Song of Steam,” | mentfoned in “McAndrews' Hymn.” Kip- | ling has shown, in his brief residence here, that America is full of romantic subjects if her authors will only see tnem. Henneth Grahame reveals anew bitof the Golden Age of childhood in *Its Walls Were of Jasper’—an jmaginative boy’s story of the pictures in an old volume. Maxfield Parrish has made a series of pictures that fully carry out the boy’s ideas. Frank R. Steckton, “the Edison among humor- ,” never invented a funnier idea than The Buller-Podington Compact,” and Peter Newell has reveled in its opportunities for humorous illustrations. The new journalism has found its chronicler in Jesse Lynch Wil- liams, whose “‘Stolen Story” is as far removed from the conventional nmewspap:r story as iy the famous “Gallegher,” which also made its appearance in a fiction number of Scribner’s, This number is marked by the beginning of what has been calied the most original mag- azine idea for many years—*The Workers; An Experiment in Reality.” In these fascinating papers Walter A. Wyckoff, a young university graduate and student of local problems, will tell his actual experiences while earning his entire living for two years as an unskilled la- borer. There is no vrofessional philanthropyin this narrative. Mr. Wyckoff was met and re- ceived by the workingmen as one of them- selves—for in every sense he was one—and he asked no odds of fate. For the first time the American workingman appears in literature, as neither an economic unit nor a sensational problem, but & human being very much like other people. The narrative has all the sim- plicity and charm of a real piece of literature, Frank Leslie’s. A special fiction number is Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly for August. There are seven complete stories, all illustrated, and all are bright and clever. But the number is not given up entirely to fiction. There is an at- tractively illustrated paper entitled “A Grandee of the Fields,” in which Martha McCulloch-Williams chais entertainingly of tobaceo, its history and cuitivation. The Uni- versity of Virginia is the subject of an article by Richard Heath Dabney, forming the tenth paper in this magazine's popular series on American Universities and Colleges; it is il- lustrated with good portraits and views. Har- vey Rowell describes “Summer Logging in Wisconsin”; there is a most inter- esting account of & visit to Japan, under the title, “In the Land of the Mikado,” by Dr. J. Simms, with capital half- tone cuts; Colonel Alexander E. Sweet tells of an exciting German student duel of which he was 8 witnes: easts of Burden” is the sub- ject of an article by the well-known traveler- author, Frederick A. Ober; tne department for young people contains & paper on stamp- collecting and the continuation of Horatio Alger's serial. Then there, are illustrated poems, talks about books, comments on pic- tures and the Leslie portfolio. Current Literature. Current Literature was never better than in its present Augustnumber, Mr. Cable’s Edi- tors Symposium is fuller than ever and gathers as original contributors at its board Clinton Scollard, who poiuts out in an inter- esting way the peculiar indebtedness of many British and American poets to the classic Greeks, and Thomas Davidson, who treats of how to realize practically that 1desl “Unity of Edueation” of which he wrote in the July uugpber, Mr, Cablg bimsell takes larger part in Rudyard Kipling, Kenneth Grahame, Frank | Bianche Willis Howard, Molly | lotters alzeady | EI1I0F eawell and Jesse Lynch Williams, and | this editorial department than before,touching | upon “Female College Dramatics,” and upon Best Short | | the late discussion on the *Ten | Poems,” ana telling a pleasing personal rem- | iniscence of the Confederate cavalry leader, General Forrest. The same periodical has an admireble account of Scribner’s Magazine and i its editor-in-chief, Edward L. Buriingame; s | humorous originai paper, ‘‘On Behalf of Cam- els,” by & writer new to many—Hugh Wake- | field—and an interesting notice, also original, of the three Darwins—Charles, the greatest scientist of the Victorian era, his grandfather FErasmus, the great physiologist, and George Darwin, second son of Charles, foremost au- | thority in the study of tides and on the won- | derful astronomical theory of tidal frictions. Portraits of the three Darwins, the sculptor | St. Gaudens, Mrs. O iphant, Mr. Burlingame, | Abbey, painter and illustrator, and a number | of other mnotables enliven the ts great mass of selections from the best liter- ature of the period and hour is exception- aliy comprehensive, Century. The Miasummer Holiday Century Is a “travel Hudson River from the Bartholdi Statue to | Albany, presented in a series of large iilus- trations by Andre Castaigne, accompanying a | Cook. Otheriilustrated trayel articles include “A Journey in Thessaly,” by Professor Thomas Dwight Goodell of Yale, setting forth in a picturesque way the scene of the recent fight- ing between Turk and Greek, and particularly the wonderful monasteries of Thessaly; “The Alaska Trip,” by John Muir, an account of the wonders which one may expect to see in tho thirteen days’ trip from Tacoma; “Down 10 Jave,” by Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, suthor of “Jinrikisha Days,” setting forth the au- thor’s typical experiences in this fresh field; two articles on Norway by Horace E. Scudder and the late Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, dealing with a land which is more and more coming into the range of the tourist; ‘On Margate’s Sands,” a second paper, written and illus- trated by the Pennells, in the group on *Lon- don at Play,” and dealing with one of the most popular English watering-piaces. In ad- dition to the serials, Dr. Weir Mitchell’s revo- | lutionary tale, “‘Hugh Wynne,” and Gen- eral Horace Porter’s anecdotal papers, «Campaigning With Grant,” and Mrs. Catherwood’s vivid story, “The Days of Jeanne d@’Are,’” all of which are illustrated, there isa second installment of Mrs. Pope’s seasonable extravaganza, “Up the Matterhorn in & Boat. Out-oi-doors is also reflected in sn apprecia- tive article by Hamilton Wright Mabie on John Barroughs, of whom there is a frontis- picce porirait. There are also two complete stories by Margaret Sutton Brisco and Gouver- neur Morris Jr.; two short articles, “Charac- teristics of Jenny Lind,” by Henrli Appi, and “What Jenny Lind Did for America,” by Fanny Morris Smith, with portraits of the charming singer; lastly, a paper of secret history en- titled,““Controversies in the War Department,” by Lieutenant-General John M. Schofield, giv- ing unpublished facts relating to the impeach- ment of President Johnson. St. Nicholas. There 1s a wide variely in the contents of the August number of St. Nicholas. Charles Thaxter Hill, the artist who has written a number of articles about the New York fire department for this magazine. contributes a sketch of ‘‘Peter Spots”—fireman. Peterisa dog belonging to one of the engine companies in New York, and he is as enthusiastic a “fire- man'’ as any one in the department. A. Hyatt Verrill tells of ‘‘Some Common Bees and How They Live,” Among the ingenious insect homes that the writer describes are those made by the carpenter-bee and the leaf-cut- ting bee. Mr, Verrill also tellsof the bee that makes himself an uninvited guest in the home of the bumblebee. A paper by Gustav Kobbe is “On the Grand Banks and Klsewhere.” Mr. Kobbe writes of the nardy Nova Scotian and Yankee, and of their methods of eatching cod and halibut. “My Musical Mouse,’” as de- scribed by Albert Bigelow Paine, wasa wild little mouse that was charmed from its hole and tamed oy i(s irresistible love of music. A story for little girls is *Priscilla’s Fairy God- mother,”” by Gertrude Halladay, ana it con- tains a hint for parents who have to take their children on & wearyiug railway journey. An old-fashioned fairy story is 'widdledetwit,” by Martha Fiuley. The three serials increase in interest as they near their ends. There are many verses aund jingles in the number, in- cluding two longer poems by Rev, FelixT. O'Neill and Elsie Hill | to deliver a series of lectures upon Italian art, HERE AND THERE. Gerard Wallop is the name of the secretary of the British National Society for the Preven- tion of Cruelty to Children. Bibles and prayer-books are necessities ac- cording to an English county vourt decision, and must be paid for by the husband when the wile obtains them on credit. | | | | | | | | Asmall civil-list pension has been granted by the English Government to the widow of Charles Dickens the younger. Mrs. Dickens is said, is in very straitened circumstances. F. Marion Crawford, who has before this | given public readings from his novels, s next | winter to branch out into a new field. Heis | at the same time reading from his novels. Frank H. Munsey will establish his magazine in England and the interests of his publica- tion will be taken care of in London. There are sixty pages devoted entirely to English | matter in the foreign Muusey’s Magazine. Preparations for Mr. Barrie’s comedy are | being pushed ahead in London, but it is un- | likely that it will be seen before the middle of | October. Many important additions will be | made to the company for Mr. Barrie's play, which involves a long cast. | Mr. Howells, according to a current story, wrote to an applicant for his autograph: { “Have you bought my last book?” The young man who wanted the autograph replied: “I havenot. Iwant to sell your autograph in order to getenough money to buy it.” George Ebers, the novelist and Egyptologist, received, on the occasion of his sixtieth birth- day, a specially printed volume entitled Zgyptica, and containing seventeen essays by tormer pupils of his, among them six who are professors of Egyptology at German univer- sities. Stories about the ignoranre of clerks in bookstores are always going the rounds of the papers. A new oneis abouta St. Louis clerk who recommended books simply from the knowledge of their titles. This led him to | speak highly of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House” as juvenile reading. Dr. Samuel Smiles, whose literary work synchronises with the Queen’s reign, spends half the year in his London home in Pem- broke Gardens, Kensington. The other six months have been generally spent by the vet- eran autbor in traveling abread or in visiting localities in Britain connected with the book he may have in hand. “The Christian,” Doxey’s. Harn CAINE's ex- pected in a few days. b Messrs. Appleton snnounce that Abraham Caban’s romance of eest side New York, “Yekl,” that created such & stir & few months ago, has been republished in England and has aroused a like interest there, a number of the | edition NOTES AND NEWS OF THE LITERARY WORLD. LITERARY NOTES. Longmans, Green & Co. will publish shortly the fourth and last volume of the *‘Life of Dr. ¥,” by the late Canon Liddon. 's “Margaret Ogilvy”’ the Messrs. Scrib- ner reportas in its twentleth thousand and ntimental Tommy” asin its thirty-fifth. Macmillan & Co. will publish late in the fall the biography of Tennyson, by his son. The statement recently made that Harper & Bros. had secured the American rignts was incor- rect. It will be remembered that “The Fourth Napoleon” was held over from lastspring to the coming autumn for publication. 1Itis now announced that certain chapters of the work have been suppressed in its present form. These would probably have been interesting reading to the followers of current Conti- neatal diplomacy and the histories of royal families. A. Murdock & Co. 532 Clay street, San | Francisco, Cal., and Lemcke & Buechuer of ew York will issue, in a limited edition, the “Memorials of William Cranch Bond, Dir:ctor of the Harvard Observatory, 1840-59, and of His Son and Successor, George Pnillips Bond,” drawn from the family papers, with fllustra- tions by Professor Edward S Holden of the Lick Opservatory. Messrs, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. offer & new popular price of Lieutenant-Col- | onel T. A. Dodge’s *‘A Bird’s Eye View of the Civil War.” All the important campaigns and | the leading characteristics of army command- ersare contrasted. In this mew edition the Iatast War Department publications have been carefully studied, and there are not less than forty-seven maps and battle charts with a glossary of military terms. The - New Amsterdam Book Company of New York esnnounces the publication of “Women Novelists of Queen Vicloria’s Reign.” The late Mrs. Oliphant contributed to this volume, and the other writers are Mrs. Lynn Linton, Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Mac- quoid, Mrs. Parr, Mrs. Marshall, Charlotte M. Yonge, Adeline Sargent and Edna Lyall. An important book to be Issued by the same pub- lishers is “Lady Hamilton and Lord Neisox,” by John Cardy Jeffreson. In the current issue of the Chap-Book is to be found the conciusion of Henry James' novel, “What Maisie Knew.” ~T.e story was originally planned as a noveletie, but the poseibilities of his subject were only fully dis- closed to Mr. James after be began the work of composition. The book, which will be issued in the autumn, is likely to be considered one of his most important works and oue of the notable contributions of recent years to the study of child life. | The editor of the American Monthly Review of Reviews, in his aepartment entitled “The Progress of the World” discusses harvest minent English pavers having given it ex- tended notices and in most cases the warmest commendation. magazine. | number,” and it opens with a panorama of the | paper on “The Lordly Hudson,” by Clarence | i Possibly every man who could write beyona | the pothook stage has manufactured his play. ! Some one has started the story that Mr. Glad- | stone had in early youth written a drama, the i title of which was, “The Retreat of the Ten | Thousand,” and the piay had been rejected by | every manager in the United Kingdom. An- | other yarn is that Mr. Gladstone wanted at one time to appear on the boards. Herbert Gladstone, having been questioned as to the | acting business, said it was nonsense, but in | regard to the play said that might have been | possible. Anyhow, he implied that he would look into it. “The Revue des Deux Mondes’ is the most sucoessiul periodical in the world in obtain- ing literature from crowned heads, and heads that are likely some day to be crowned. Queen Elizabeth of Roumania sent the editor a mnovel; the late Queen of Holland sent | historical studies revised by Renan; the Comte de Paris sent an article on English trades - unions; the Duc d’Aumale sent fragments of his forthcoming ‘‘History of the Condes,” and Prince Henry of Orleans nar- | | | i and trade prospects, the mew tariff, the coal strike, American annexation policies, our diplomacy on the seal ques- tion, Japan snd Hawail, British interests in Canada, European politics, anc many other timely topics. In connection with matters on the Klondyke goldfields an excellent map of Alaska is published. In thesame departe ment appear interesting views of important British colonial capitals. | Many will be interested in the announce- ment that an authoritative Life of tne late | Charles Haddon Spurgeon is now in course of | preparation. It should be an Interesting book. Mr. Spurgeon himself had made some progress with an autobiography and this will form the basis of the book. For many years before his death Mr. Spurgeon was accompanied on many oceasions by an amanueasis, who made it his duty to teke a shorthand note of casual | conversations in which the great preacher en- gaged. These will furnish much racy mate- rial for the new book. Mrs. Oliphant has left behind her some lit- erary remains, mainly autobiographical, which Messrs. Blackwood intend to publish at | a suitable time. According to the Athenmum, | | Jrn(ed pages of his adventures with M. Bon- | valat in Thibet. In a genealogical way the funniest thing on record is that Menelik, Negus of Abysainia, insists on his descent in a straight line from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. If this were questioned the august Negus would have your head cut off, or if you hinted that there was a bar sinister some. where you might be impaled. There is, how- Noe, who show on their family blazon the Atk and that most adventurous voyager, Noah, and they claim that veteran seaman as their remote ancestor. The most effectively busy of contemporary English playwrights is Arthur Wing Pinero. He commenced dramatic writing in 1881, and “The Magistrate' was his first comedy. Since that time he has given us a whole series of successful pleces. Mr. Pinero was born in London in 1855. When he was 19 he became an actor; | ing marked talent as a dramatist, he left the | stage, after seven years' experfence. Mr. Pinero now lives at Hamilton terrace, ia the northwest of London. He is genial and soci- able, and his acquaintance with celebrated people is wide. He is & member of the Gar- rick and Beefsteak clubs of London, a golf enthusi: plays cricket, and rides the bicycle. The difference between English and Ameri- can newspaper methods is remarked upon by Richard Harding Davis in the course of an in- terview printed in the Sketch of London: «“American papers are too fond of advertis- ing what they're are going to doanddon’t make the paper advertise itselfl. One journal on the other side, which was sending myseif and an artist to Cuba, dwelt for weeks on the fact that they'd chartered a steamer for us, eniarged on our efforts to cross the gulf, nearly drowned us and made us ridiculous. All tnis nonsense was run 1o the exclusion of real Cuban news and pictures. What the London Times wants from me is a story to the point, directly about the special subject; a story which will be read and which will create in- terest without artifical and irrelevant sensa- tion, That’s as it should be." The handwriting of Mrs Oliphant seems to have been even worse than thatof the late Dean Stanley. In the Scottish Typographical Circular, just issued, reference is mads 1o the deceased novelist, and it is said that the re- grets of the printers who iiad to deal with her ticopy” will be of ‘a mixed description’: “They are not likely to echo the longing of Tennyson for the ‘toucn of a vanished hand.' We recall many a sad picture of groups of weary comps, stralning eye and brain 1n the allmost impossible task of eatching a word whereby to bring sense and order out of the array of almost straight lines which the good lady was in th: habit of using in lieu of words. Naturally guesswork figured largely in the process. But it took time, and time to the piece compositor, whe is usually the vic- tim of this matter, means bread.” Among present-da; ‘bad writers” Cun- inghame Graham has for some time had an unenviable notoriety. A lady who has a country place in Ross Val- ley and is undecided how she shall name it has applied for aid In her dilemma to—of all places—the Smithsonian Institution in Wash- ington. In & recent interview Professor Otis | time ago I received a letter from the lady telling me thatshe desired a name for her country seat in Marin County, Cal She wanted & name taken from the Indian lap- guage. 1 wrote her that as there were some fifty-eight Indian languages and more than 200 dialects I would like her to be more spe- cific. I alsosuggested thatshe select a name from the language of one of the Indian tribes of Calitornia. Shereplied that she would pre- fer to have a California name, and would ac- cept any but one from the Digger Indians, to whom she appears tojhave an antipathy. She wants & name indicating ‘mountain rest,’ ‘mountain retreat,’ or something else of that kind. Ihave been going over our books and dictionaries and will find her the name.” AriEx's “The Choir Doxey’s. ‘Invisible.” - | ever, a nob.e family in France, the Counts of | but, develop- | T, Mason of the institution said: “Some | she had finally revised for the press the whole of the firsi volume of the history of the famous | publishing firm and magazine for which she | wrote so much, and she had in hand the | proofs of the second volume when her last ill- | ness overtook her. Since Aytoun’s death | Blackwood’s Magazine has lost no contributor | so regular and indefatigab'e. A personal life | of her Majesty which Mrs. Oliphant had com- | pleted shortly before her death will be issued by Messrs. Cassell. Students and lovers of Omar Khayyam will receive with interest the aunouncement that H. 8. Nichols, 3 Soho square, London, will shortly publish a photograpnic fac-simile of | the Rubaiyat in the Bodleian library, from which Edward Fitzgerald made his earliest studies of the subject. The photographs will be accompanied by a trapscript of the manu- script into modern Persian type, and by a lit- eral translation and copious notes by Edward Heron-Allen. The decoration of the volume will be executed by Miss Ella Hailward, whose editton de luxe of Coleridge’s *“Raven” is now being issued by the same publisher. | The Macmillan Company anncunces an- other important contribution to the history of France in “The Household of the Lafay- ettes” by Edith Sichel. It consists of a series of papers, with illustrations, dealing with such topics-as **Before the Revolution.” “The Eve of the Terror,” “Arrest,” “The Prisons of the Revolution,” “Emigres and Captives,” Lafayette and Napoleon” and “Before the End.” A number of portraits iliustrate the book and aid in making real the charecters which pass across its pages. It is one of the most entertaining and probably more in- structive than most of the volumes of memoirs which through a personal interest throw side lights on history, strong if some- times somewhat colored with prejudice. Brentano’s of New York aunounce for im- | mediate publication “Letters to an Unknown, by Prosper Merimee; translated, with a pref ace, by Henri Pene du Bols. The translator writes: “IfIknew the name of the Unknown 1 would not tell it; but Ido not know. Iam not deprived of the charm of the mystery which these letters make one appeciate in- tensely. They are lixe life, Zor the best gift of life is the idea which it gives of something not in life. Prosper Merimee was a temiliar of the court of Napoleon IIL He wrote for the Empress tales which he signed with her name as her jester. six months after his death the rioters among the Communists set fire to his apartments. % This is why there are no letters of the Unknown.” Thisis the most complete trans- lation of these charming letters, which have evoked the aamiration of so many readers, both in the original and in previous render- ing into English. The prefsce acquaints one intimately with the writer and his period. G. P. Putnam’s Sons have just published a volume of “Impressions of Turkey During Twelve Years’ Wanderings,” by Professor W M. Ramsay of Aberdeen University, which will prove valuable as a guide to those who are in- terested in the political situations of the East; also, ~The Ways of Life,” two stories, by Mrs. Oliphant. Tbey have in preparation ‘“John Marmaduke,” a historical novel of the time of Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland, by Semuel Harden Church, author of “The Life of Crom- well”; “Life of Ambroise Pare,” a biography of the great French surgeon, by Stephen Paget, who gives a graphic description of Paris in thesixteenth century; “Some Colonial | Homesteads and their Stories,” including such famous landmarks as Brandon, Westover, | Shirley, Marshall House, Van Courtland Manor, Jumel House and others by Marion | Harland. “The Story of the Palatines,” by | Rev, Sanford H. Cobb, who in this work fur- nishes an important chapter in colonial his- tory; and “Chronmicles of Tarrytown and Sieepy Hollow,” by Edger Mayhew Bacon of Tarrytown, who furnishes both a history and a guidebook to the famous old town. “The | Fall of the Sparrow,” by M. C. Balfour, will bs one of the early volumes in the Hudson Library. It is said to bea novel of unusual power and ireshness, with some very charms ing sketches of child life. l ParxMAN's works, edition de luxe, tweniv volumes, Wm, Doxey, agent, *