The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 19, 1897, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER -19, 1897. 23 A PAGE OF LITERARY NEWS FROM ALL SOURCES HE claim advanced by certain of the better class of critics, both in this country and in England, that ! the trend of the latter day novel- | istis to nature and to the home- | ier phases of life, seems after all about to be realized. With this retarn there also ippears to be a marked de:ire for a return to simvlicity both in plotand in construc- | The time has arrived when to make | uccess of a story it is rezarded as abso- | y essentisl that the author shall have | aclear, pungent style, free from what is termed highfalutin’ and witha moral not too cbtrusively expressed. Stories which come under this categery can always be | sure of readers, and it is right that this should be so. For what is the purpose of | much of the reading that is undertaken | in these times of limited leisure, if 1t is | not to divert thought into lighter chan- nels, to give some relief from the high | vressure consequent upon the struggle for | existence which is so prominent a feature | of our daily lives? | The reader of to-day desires to be | used. Little time or inclination has | Le for the perusai of deep polemical or | didactic novels. They weary him by rea- son of the fact that they cause his brain 1o work after its work should be done. | With the few hours which he can devote to the pursuit of recreation, he prefers that his orain lie almost fallow; that it b= | not sown with the seed that will fructify ep thought. Hence the return to s baving the spirit or sentiment of ral life. We are led to these remarks by the pub- | cation from the pressof Messrs. Apple- 7 of a uniform edition of Hamlin Gar- | nd’s works. Mr. Garland started writ- | ing at a time when the polemical, sex g n, erotic novel was in the height of | & popularity. As a result he was mis- nderstood by the critics, willfully or | norantly, it is not the province of ¢ is to inquire. His work was consid- red too tame, too pastoral. But the time came when the novel-with-a- purpose ceased to attract, and those | same critics who were so quick w' condemp, returned to the work of a new Western writer, tofind in it new beauties. To-day Hamlin Garland is recognizad to be the foremost exponent of Life in the | d: Middlc Western States of this continent. | His writings are read apprec in every part of America, not only for the ality they possess of photo hic ac- racy, but for the delicately subtle man- which his themes are handled. It there is one dominant expression e than another present in Mr. Gar- d’s work it is confirmatory of Presi- v Garfield’s sparkling epigram that coats of arms that existin the | States are shirt sleeves. Particu- | nifest in his short stories, a vol ch is before us as we write. It entitled **Wayside Court- ships,” and the title expresses clearly the of the tales contained therein. crisp and direct, and the t to which we have made erence is prominent in m all. ide Courtships,” if it is not to be e ed one of tihe ereat books of the nevertheless ses attractions sown that will make it a pleasant companion to the man who reads fiction for its own sake and for the purpose instit g a comparison between riters 1n this branch of literature, In Ve impli rm. No ob- ity lies its ¢ meaning in tories of the coun- | with the love ate, of the humble farmhand. or semi-urban beok-canvasser. You | ce up for perusal any of the stories ned within the covers of *Wayside ships.” Given your hero on the t. page, and within the ten following you may be in possession of the name of | heroine whom he will evenlually‘ marry and with whom he will live hap- ever after. This is Mr. Garland’s . and a refreshing one it is when one ecome sa d with affairs of worldly and women in all their intricate ngs as revealed to us by Mrs. Craigie d novelists of ber cult. | A tittle reflection devoted to the matter | will show that this return to simplicity in | tories of the character affected by Mr. nd is more likely to permanently t our literature for good than is a fol- ing after the modern school ot fiction- sts, the names of whose professors wili r to the reader without much diff ct Itis the fashion in some guarte to deride writers whose Wworks breathe the | freshpess of the fields, whose writings | place us in closer touch with nature and ; its devoiees. Yet we have novels that have been accepted as standard, and which will ever be regarded as classics, that are constructed on this plan. ‘Was there ever, for instance, a more pleasing story written than “The Vicar of Waketield,” with its weaith of homely sentiment, its air of pestoral simplicity, | voicing a contentment with things as they | are, and emphasizing what are nowadays incorrectly viewed as the commonplaces of lifle? Yetitisa novel whose plot is of the most simple character, handled in a manner equaliy simple. Its situations zather dramatic effect from the direct ‘nanner in which they are placed be(ore‘ the reader, and Goldsmith used none of the artifices employed by the writers of our day for the purposes of effect only The author of *Wayside Courtsnips’’ has been quick to see the advantage of so handling his characters that their actions | are natural, not stilted, and a short walk of half an hour in any of the States he de- scribes would reveal the actual men and women whose lives he glorifies and 1deal- izes. Twelye storiés are contained in the volume before us—the first two being the | best—and remarkable for a certain in- tensity of feeiing. In **A Preacher’s Love Story” Mr. Garland pictures a youthful college graduate, Wwho is appointed teacher in a country school. The young man arrives in the village to find that the Jocal community is torn up with dissen- sions over petty matters of ritual; the church has fallen into aecay, the Sabbath service is a tiring of the almost forgotten past and the whole community is rapidly falling into decay. His reception at the house where he is to board gives a good idea of the state of things in the village: ells me that you are a minister of My son the gos pel % « I have studfed for it. “What denomination?” uil tutl? warned Herman, the question- er'sson, “Don’t start any theological rabbits to-night, dad.” “I'm a Baptist,” Stacey answered. 2 The old man’s face grew grim. “Bnymst_I The old man turned to his son, whose smile ercd him. “Dida’t you know no more'n to ring & Baptist preacher into this house?” With a congregation of men and women of this type, the labor invo.ved to bring them to a sense of duty is naturally tre- mendous. The yoang preacher wrestles with the problem, with the result that the | various cliques in the viliage make up | outside the pages of the American novel. | BOOKS CHILDREN SAY THEY REA | ine” stands as low as thirteenth, | statistics wouid be, as they obviously | spurns with all | scorn those juvecile or exciting books that ! g5 the dreaded “black water,” but althougn it their differences, and during a long spell of sickness which follows their pastor's ardent ministrations, they rebuild the chuarch. The love element in the story is furnished in the preacher’s courtship of Martha, the dauzhter of the man who greeted him so inhospitably upon bis ar- rival. But Mr. Garland is at his very bestin the second story contained in “Wayside Lourtships,” called ““A Meeting in the Foothill. The tceme is by no means novel or unusual, but its treatment is cer- tainly so. The lover in the case is one Arthur Ramsey, an educated youth of the sturdy American type, who obtains em- ployment on a ranch in Colorado in a menial capacity, and it is the niece of the proprietor of the farm upon whom he casts | his cyes. The situation thus developed is familiar to the readers of the magazines. | The young lady’s friends strenuously ob- ject to her thinking of an alliance with a | ranchhand, who, however, is supportad by | an Englishman of the kind never met | The man’s versistence abetted by that o the lady is finally rewarded, and the story leaves the twain seated atdinner, with the whole matter presumably settled. Hambhn Garland’s last book mav be called his best, showing as 1t.does the many-sided character of his literary at- tainments. There 1slittle in the stories | in “Wayside Courtships”’ to remind lbel reader of the jerkiness of his earlier work. His stvle appears to have become more rounded and finished, and the reading public of the United States will watch with pleasurable anticipation for future products of his pen. Exanver Evzas. Professor Thurber of the University of Chicago has put to 3000 children in Chicago's public schools these questions: *What books have you read since school began last Septem- | ber,and which one did you like the best?” | Thne answers make an interesting compilation. | It is said that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” has first | place on the list; that Longfellow’s “Evange- and John | Fiske's History of the United States as hign | as fifteenth in the list of 100 favorite volumes | chosen by boys above 13 years of aze. For the rest, many ot the books that stand the lowest on the list are those written especially for children. This result is plainly a disappointment. The Lames of the books which children read are not 5o hard to get that these returns are | valuable, and the statistics of preferences are 00 obviously not implicitly to be trusted. Two school boys in New York were asked last | winter to write something about their favorite | authors. One of them named as his favorite | books works of Seott, Dickens, Cooper, Irving, | Porter, Eiot, Shakespeare and Hawthorne. | The other, with unconscious humor, wrote: | ‘As a rule, boys are tond of works of adven- ture, and I am no exception to the rule. It is | only natural that young people, seeing so | much of domesiic life, do not care to read | about it.” | For sta ical purposes the first answer was | wortl The second, even without its ex- quisitely naive reflection, was precisely what | was wanted. Yet, probably seven boys out of ten, sitting down to write formal answers to such questions, would have respondea as the st boy did, and the results of the tabulated were in of Professor Thurher’s investigation, | l00 amazingly gratifying from a literary standpoint to be confidentially accepted. It is | 100 good an opportunity to please the teacher | and to essume & dignified and inspiring po: tion at little cost to be ailowed to siip. Toe temptation to the waggishly bad boy (0 pose the case | as & prig and to the student to stretch the | fact= a little is altogether too great to be re- | isted when the goody-good’s answer is so per- y clear. it would be no more fair to say that & great number of these boys uttered deliber- ate falsehoods than to say that most of them were prigs. truth 1s, probsbly, that a con- sclousness of what they believed to be the right convertel most of them for a moment into a belicf that it wss a s) the true one. The imagination of a heaithy boy never sleeps; told to answer & written list of ques- tions like these, wnose replies are evidently to be compiled and eminently considered, he imagines himseli & young philosopher in- | structing mankind; s litterateur whose nice | literary teste is assumed, aud he tnrows him- | selt into his part with enthusiasm, becomes for the e serious as a professor, and the bitterness of youthfal other boys have read, aud even he has read in other shameful days not now to be even remem- bered, and much less referred to. The answers thus are of little value as in- dicative of the literary tastes of chi dren, but they are typical of childhood nature. Be cause most ot the replies are just what “Sen. timental Tommy” would have said, they show that boys of his stamp, of his enthusiastic and dramatic imagination are common, and while that is & compliment to the skill of Mr. Barrie, its higher and wider significance is in the light which it throws on the wortilessness of children’s statistics as prepared by them. FOR GOLD-HUNTERS. GOLDEN ALASKA—By Ernest Ingersoll. Chi- cago and New York: Kand, McNally & Co. Pa- per 50 cents. This is a complete account to date of the Yukon Valley, its history, geography, mineral and other resources, opportuities and menans of access. The author was formerly with the Hayden survey in the West, and is tiie general editor of Rand, McNally & Co.’s guidebooks. The little book is intended to help the intend- ing gold-seeker to weigh the odds and choose wisely as to whether or not o go to the newly discovered El Dorado, IN THE DARK CONTINE BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA—By Sir Harry H. Johnston. New York: Edward Arnold Price $10. This account of the territories under British influence north of the Zambesi is a most com- plete and iuteresting volume. Neither peins nor expense seem to have been spared to make the information thorough about the heart of the Dark Continent, and the style 1s so fascin- ating that to peruse it makes the pursuit of knowledge a pleasure rather than s labor. The sutnor is Commissioner and Consul- General in Britisn Central Africa, & fellow of the Zoological Society, of the Royal Geo- graphical Society and of the Anthropological Iusitute. He was the agent under whose regime a.l that region came under British in- fluence, and besides all these qualifications | for dealing adequately with his subject, he | has the rare literary gift of writing what are truly pen pictures. The book has six fine large maps and 220 1illustrations reproduced from the author’s drawings or from photographs. Tuese are all very clear and give the readera very good idea of the scenery, the people, tho beasts, birds ana vegetation ot Africa. Amoug the interesting subjects treated are *“What tbe Country Looks Like,” “Physical Geography, History and the Founding of the Protectorate,” *‘The Slave Trade,” *“The European Settlers,” “The Natives of British Central Africa,”” and the z)ology aud betany. The country is decidediy picturesque, as is shown by the multitude of illustrations. The descriptive matter is principally confined to the regions bordering on the Shire River and | lakes Nysssa and Tauganyika. There is abun- dant rainfsll and the author says that Euro- peans suffer there more from cold than heat. The opportunities for success in planting and traging are ample to compensate for the ris of malerial fever. This Instis what is known is prevalent and terribie Johnson thinks that white men usualiy make themse!ves liable to the scourge by drinking whisky. Here we have & hopeful account of the natives of Darkest Airica. The boys are really wonderfuliy bright, and they arc capa. ble of being taught to make good Government !and not to get a bayonet stuck into him or | had not peen Hamlin Garland, whose originality and native force have given him a distinct place in our literature as the poet the novelist of the West, was born in Wisconsin in 1860, of Scotch Presbytzrian stock. % . HAMLIN GARLAND. father’s farm, and his knowledge of farming life was gained by actual experience. schools and in a Western college. Boston, where he made the acquaintance of W. D. Howells, he published his first book, “Main Traveled Roads.” he published ““A Spoil of Office’” and ““A Member of the Third House,” both vigorous studies of political life. books, with “Jason Edwards,” which offers pictures of life in the tenement-house and on the Western farm, have been issued in a new uniform edition by D. Appleton & Co., who published Mr. Garland’s ‘“‘Little Norsk” in 1893. His native inclination for litsrary work led him to the East, and after some time in His youth was spent on his Mr. Garland was educated in country Later These clerks and bookkeepers, and a fow generations of training might make & fine race of them. They have the peculiarity of having their mental development arrested at the age of | | puberty, and many of the brightest youngsters | suddenly become stupid at that age. | There is a large portion of this Central Afri- | can region which goes under the odd name of | the “:Sphere of Influence.”” It is much larger | than the actuel protectorate, ana is adminis- tered under the charter of the British South | African Company. Doubtless it 1s the begin- | ning of a future grent state which Sir Harry Johnstou thus interestingly describes. A NEW USE FOR THE WAHEEL. | | Mr. Wilfred Pollock, spectal conespondemiI | of the Lonaon Morning Post, whose duty it became 1o write up the war in Greece, is & ciever wheelman. Before starting on his mis- sion from England he was much inciined to take his wheel with him, but was overruled. When he got to Thessaly and wes showna | poor. dull Greek pony he was positive that he | never could cover much ground on such asorry oount. Then he made up his mind thata true | rig for & war correspondent was a wheel. So he send back to Atnens and secured a bicycle, the best that could be found, though it turned out to be not & first-class machine. | Poor as it was, nevertneless Mr. Pollock did | excelient work with that wheel. He covered | the distances in less time than did others of | the scribes who were mounted on horses. As | to those who used vehicles, they stood no | chance at all. There was & panic at the retreat trom Larissa to Volo, a fifty-five-mile race, and not of the cinder-path kind. One correspond- ent started on a horse two hours before Mr. Poliock, and the Moruing Post wheel- man arrived at Volo abreast of the horseman. With the Turks supposably behind him no pucemaker was necessary for Mr. Pollock. It was his business, however, 10 r2port th: nesws, into his tire. In this race with a horse Mr. Pollock would have come in long ahead if it for some accident to his ma- chine, which took time to repair. The neatest thing the correspondent did with his wheel was to follow a telegram he had written, whicn dispatch announced to London the breakdown of Greece at Domoko. The dispatch gave the bald fact only, without de- tail. Mr. Pollock at once followed his telegram on his wheel. From Chalcis he rode eighty | miles straight on to Athens,and from there wrote the full particulars, wired them, and | this dispatch was printea in London ou Thurs- day, while the first telegram only reached its destination the day afterward. The eizhty miles ridden on the wheel did the business. Tnere were two other representatives of a Jeading London journal, who hired a carriage, | and 1t cost their paper $60 to bring the news, while Mr. Pollock’s expeuses were less than a dollar. So the conclusion arrived at is that the wheel and the war correspondent must work together, and that in future campaigns the scribe must ba a ‘‘scorcher” and know now to work the pedals. Let, then, some of our leading bicycle-mak- ers get up a wheel especially adap:ed 10 the wants of the war correspondents—one fitted up, say, with steel shields, warranted builet- proof, and with conveniences for the placing of & writing pad; and as for that contrivance the pommel of a Texan saddle-tree would be just the thing. A COLLECTION OF SIGNS. It was Hogarth who first planned an exhibi- tion of signs. In the Guildhsll Museum of London Hogarth's idea has been carried out. Conspicuous is a huge eign, either in terra cotta or some other cement, which once cailed | attention to an ola hosteiry, the name of | which was the “Bull and the Mouth.,” The inscription on it is peculiar—*‘Milo the Cre- tonian, an Ox slew with his fist, and ate it up atone meal. Ye Gods, what a glorious twist.” Thne Bull and the Mouth 1s supposed to be a corruption of ‘‘Boulogne Mouth,” as that French port was an English possession up to the time of Henry VIIL = Another sign is that of the “Dolphin,” which dates back from 1730, and is paioted in oil. The “Bell,”” a common name for an inn, is of 1668, & “St. George and the Dragon” is of about the same date. A very curious relic is a sign carved in wood, which once was in posi- tion at *“Ye Olde Leather-Bottle’” Inn. One sign, “The Ostrich,” it is believed, did not be- long to an inn, but indicated a shop where feathers were sold, and during the times when men wore plumes on their beavers the featn- | ers of the ostrich must have been very much in demand. There is a double-headed “‘Spread Eagle” which bears tbe date 1669, and another *Bull and Mouth,” the bull being a carving in wood, almost #s large as the animal itself, The ““Ape and Apple” ouce belonged to an old galleried inn which earried on business in 1670. A most interesting sign is tae “Boar’s Head"’ of 1688, This was the famovs tavern where Prince Hal and Faisteff had their drinking bouts. Among the signs are the “Anchor” of 1669, the “Goose and Gridiron,” the **Mitre,” the | has remembered them accurateiy and has de- “Three Crowns,” and the “‘Cat” This ‘‘Car” may refer 1n some way to Lord Mayor Whit- tington. When men could not read, signs were indis- peasable. In the United Siates, save for ho- tels, particulffr designations are rare, though in Europe signs for shops ara still not uncom- mon. A leading book publislier in London and New York, though no sign swings over his establishment, still uses an old quaint name. Beforz our R volution there were in the colonies many a King’s Head, inviting the passer by to come in and slake his thirst. Sign-pain‘ers must have been kept busy after Buuker Hiil defacing the obnoxious King and substituting something else for it. You may see in an illustration of “The Pick- wick Papers,” where Tony Weller ducks Stiggins, & capital sign hanging in front of the tavern. It is that of the *Markis o Granby.” FOR AMERICAN YOUTHS. THE YOUNG AMERICAN—By Harry Pratt “Judson ~New York: Maynard, Merrii & Co. Price 50 cents. The author of this littla work is the head professor of political science in the University of Chicago. The book is designed as a sup- plementary civic reader and contains literary selections of & patriotic character. It de- scribes the origin aad workings of our Gov- ernmenc and relates some of the principal events in our National history. There are two maps and & number of illustrations. KIPLING’S <« RECESSIONAL.” It is generally conceded that Kipling's “Re- cessional” is one of the greatest poems in the English language and will go down to pos- terity assuch. Ithaseven been proposed in England to adopt it as a national hymn. An interesting point of controversy has arisen in regard {o this poem. Was it the author’s in- tention to recall England, lest in her hour of glory she be t0o proud of her many triumphs 10 attend to the duties that successful con- quests impose ? The lines, “‘Lest we forget— lest we forget,” are generally understood to have this meaning. Or, as is maintained by some, did Kipling mean it not only as a warn- ing but as a reproach as well ? that the good that had followed English rule aid not excuse the motive for which couquests were made— that the grabbing of territory and murder by the bayonet were nctuated by greed, not by an unselfish wish to spread Christianity? An under current of mock humility can be seen running through the poem with this render- ing, and it1s changed from s laudation toa satire, Here is the poem; let the recder judge: God of our fathers, known of old— Lord of cur far-flung battle ilie— Benea.h whose awful nand we hold Dominion over pa m and plue— Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget! The tumult and the shou'ing dies— The captains and the kings depaj S1ill stands thine ancient sscrifice, #nhumble and a contri e heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget! Fa-calle! cur navies melt away— Ou dune and headla .d sinks the fire— Lo, all our pomp of yesteriay Is oue with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us vet, Lest we forget—lest we forget! It drunk with s ght of power, we loose Wild tongues that have not thee in awe— Sueh boastings as the Gentiles u<e Cr lesser breeds without the Luw— Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget! For heathen heart that pats her trust In reeking tube and iron shard— Ali vaiiant dost that builds on dust, And guarding calls not thee to guard— For fraut ¢ boast and 100iish word, Thy mercy on thy people, Lord! Amen. BY MRS. STEEL. IN THE TIDE WAY —By Mrs. F. A. Steel. New York: The Macmillan Company. For e by William Doxey, Palace Hotel. = Prics, Mrs. Steel is capable of saying more in a novel of medium length than many a writer whose pen covers double the number of page Her short siories are gems, from a literary point of view, and her louger oncs lose noth- ing of charm, while gaining in interest. Her Indian stories, especially the one dealing with the mutiny, won for her hosts of new friends and introduced to literary circles a writer who compared favorably in such work with Kipling. Added to the power of doing good descriptive work, she has aiso the faculty of sketching character. Wesee the places she describes and the people of whom she treats vejore us. She is a woman who has traveled to advantage; has seen things that otners, less observant, would have overlooked; shé scribed them. In her iatest book Mrs. Steel shows all of her old charm. Her characters are lifelike and their dialogues natural. There is just enough light matter in the story to rid 1t of dullness, although one feels from the very commence- ment that theend is to be a tragic one. The tragedy she depicts, and which comes upon us so swiftly that we have to reaa it again to be sure that it has happened, is worked up to in a manner that would do justice to Stevenson. When it comes, and we realize that the woman ‘we saw but a few minutes before has gone down to her terribe death, we lay down the book without wanting 1o read the few foi- iowing pages. And as we do so we hear the quiet whispering of great waters, whose mes- sage is the promise of rest—of Test to some; to others, heartbreaking. NAPOLEON’S CORRESPONDENCE. M. Leon Lecestre, curator of the French Archives, has quite recently issucd the first volume of 300 letters which were suppressed by the editors of Napoleon’s correspondence, issued in 1869, as mot ealculated 10 increase the glory of the French Emperor. Tae vol- ume includes some heated family letters and some rigorously worded epistles to Fonche and Dubois, the Ministers of Police and War. Aletter to Marshal Soult in 1804 shows that Napoleon did not hesitate to adopt any means for obtaining confessions. He orders Soult to arrest a fisherman suspected of communicat- ing with the British, adding: *If he refuses 1o speak you must squeeze his thumbs in a musket-lock.” Napoleon’s list of persons to be arrested was endless, and his abuse of Mme. Ce Stael unceasing. Learning in 1807, through Marshal Victor, that Prince Augustus of Prussia was intriguing against him in Ber- 1in, Napoleon wrote: “I am not astonished, because he hasa dull mind and hasspent his time courting Mme. de Stael at Coppet, and, of course, could only pick up bad habits with her. Send word to him tbat at the first mischievous remark he uteers you will lock him up in his castle and send Mme. de Stacl to console him. There are no men so cringing as these princes of Prussia.” Writing to Talleyrand in 1808 that princes of the former reigning family of Spain were about to arrive at Valencay, Napoleon added: “You may send for Mme. Talleyrand and four or five persons. If the Prince of Asturias should form an attachment for a pretty per- son it will be no drawback, as it would supply another means of watching him.” Another letter to Talleyrand reads: “Your mission is honorable enough—to receive three iliustrious personages and amuse them—and is quite in keeping with your character.” When Napoleon received the news on June 11, 1809, toat the Pope had excommunicated him, he wrote: “Ispare the Pope no longer. He is a raving madman and must be locked up.”” There are some scolding letters to his brother, Prince Jeroms FOR STUDENTS. MODES OF MOTION—By A. E. Dolbear. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Price 75 cents. This little work consisis of mechanical con- ceptions of physical phenomena. It makes clear how one kind of energy isconverted into another and the conditions needed for trans- forming it. One of its arguments is to show the necessity for assuming a source of energy behind both matter ana ether in order to account for physical phenomena as we wit- ness it. . FICTION BY A PHYSICIAN. TRUE TO THEMSELVES—By Alexander J. C. Skene. New Yor<: F.Teonyson Neey. baper ©0 cents. The author of the psychological study here presented has written medical works before venturing into the domain of romance. The novel is used only as a vehicle to convey cer- tain principies of the author, It tells the love-story of two young people who were de- votealy attached to each other, but whose parents objected to their union. MME. BLAVATSKY VINDICATED. . SCIENTIFIO CORRUBORATIONS OF THE- OSOPHY — By A. Murques. San Francisco: Mercury print, 414 Mason street. This vamphlet coutains a lecture by the president of tha Aloba Branch of the Theo- sophical Society and an introduction by Mrs. Annie Besant. Itis a review of the principal scientific events from the standpoint of the sayings of theosophy’s great teacher, Bl vatsky, with the view of establishing how and now much every new discovery tends to cor- roborate her assertions and vindicate her work. A work which is exceptional in its import- ance and timely interest is Miss Fielde's * Po- litical Primer of New York State and City,” announced for eariy publication by the Mac- milians. The author is well known through- out New York from her close association with the League for Political Education. 1 HERE AND THERE. “Hermann and Dorothes,” that happy idyl of Goethe, over which if. Americar youug people do mot weep, at least the Teutonic lovers do, and coplously, was composed by the master while he was living at Gera, in Thurin- gia, in 1796. In commemoration there of this facta tablet has been affixed to the Hotel Zum Ross in Gera. Why does not some enterprising American publisher try Edmond About’s most amusing “Le Roi des Montagues””? About never wrote acieverer book. and it filis the situation to- day precisely. At the time it was written it had a political purpose, and About expressed itin this smart novel. The nuisance of finding an original title has been already expatiated upon. To shOw how much trouble there really is, Mr. James Payn’s newest story he wanted to call ~“Wheat With Wild Teres,” but that had been used by somebody else. Then he took “Another’s Burden,” and that, he found, had been “staked.” Then he made it “One Another’s Burden,” and so the book was christened. The press-cutting clerk perpetrates almost as many unconsc ous witticisms as the in- genuous compositor. A few days ago the ed; tor of a cycling paper had the following para- graph forwarded to him along with other cut- tings relating to wheel matters: “We hear a repo-t that tne Princess of Wales may attend the third of the Bayreuth cycles.” Shades of Waguer! Senor Canovas del Casifl'o. whose life was taken from him by the assessin,.was a man of lotiers. His “Estudios Literarios” of 1868 is in two volumes. In 1869 he published **His- toria del Dominio Ausiriaco en Espana.” In 1883 he wrote.a biography of his uncle, Este- banos Calderon. These works were followed in 1884 by “Estudios del Reinado de Felipe IV.” Senor Canovas had been director of the Academy of History since 1832. “Mr. Lecky,” says the London Sun, Tap- idly Geveloping into the normal and business- like M. P., and dropping his preoccupied look and ultra-intellectual air. The caricatures now rarely utilize h.m 8s a subject—a sure sign that a celebrity is shedding his little peculiari- ties. He has, in fact, thoroughly adapted himself to his new Westminster environments, and not many of the old stagers can afford to give him points.” Mr. Gladstone has sent the following ac- knowledgment of General James Grant Wil- son's “General Grant” in Appleton’s Great Commanders series: “I thank you for the welcome gift of your most interesting ‘Life of General Grant’ America isa happy country if she can produce even a few men worthy to be named as approaching to the excellence of Washiogton.” The reference is to & compari- son drawn by the author between Grantand Washington. With reference to the desire which fs ex- pressed that Fiizgerald’s translation of the Rubaiyat should be made accessible 10 the general reader, it may be noted thatin less than four years the copyright will expire, Mr. Quaritch having first issued the book in 1859. Then, no doubt, ye may expect an inundation of appreciations and interpretations. It would be a happy circumstance if the popularity of Omar Khayyam should lead to & more wide- | spread siudy of Oriental literature, the im- portance of which is too litile appreciated by the general body ot English readers. Men like Dr. Legge work for a lifetime at the great lit- eratures of the East with very scantrecogni- tion, and this naturaily prevents the pubiica- tion of such books as the texts of Confucian- ism &t a popular price. “The long literary partnership between Henrl Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy,” says the saturday Review, “gave ris> to many miscon- ceptions as to the share of each in the works they produced, especially in those works the success of which was owing to the comic ele- ment they contained. Meilhac, with his mer- curial temperament, his utter absence of con- ventionality, his fonduess for practical jok- ing and, above all, his ready—somewhat too ready—biting wit, was generally credited with having contributed the greater part of the brilliant and quaint conceits and so forth. Halevy, who looks like a Hebrew prophet as we imagine Isaiah or Ezekiel to have been, and who is, in fact, very serious, was supposed to have conceived and elaborated the plots. The very reve:se was the case. As a rule, the plot originated with the restless man, the topsy-turvy dialogue with the sedate and ua- perturbed one. Meilbac was exceedingly good-natured Lut hasiy.” That excellent little journal, “What to Eat, gives the following version of the Pope's menu as laid out by him in his recently writ- ten poem, which was translated into English by Andrew Lang. 1t will be remembered that the list of frugal dishes that the Holy Father made out inciuded eggs, milk, fruits, salads, “delicate and dairy-fed” meats, wine and water and strong mocha. Small Ciams. soup Cream of Ariichoke, Madeleine. Reiishes. Almonds. Petites Duchesses. Fish. Bolled Brook Trout, Sauce Grenadine. Potatoes Mousseline. Entrees. Beet Tenderloin Larded, Mercedes. New Corn Fritters. Breast of Chicken, Beaumolx. New Peas, Sautein Butter. Sorbets Princesses. Game. Roast Plover 0a Canapes. Mixed Saiad. Dessert. Mousse of Strawberry, Imperial. Fancy Cakes. Fruits, Radishes. Olives. Cafe, A correspondent calls our attention fo the following inscription on a handsome marble tombstone in one of the beautiful burying grounds of Paris, which serves not only to keep green the memory of the dear departed, but to provide comsolation—substantial con- so'ation—tor those who have been left behind: In Sacred Memory of VICTUR PIERRE FOURIER, Inventor of the Patent Endless Lamp, Burning one centime’s worth of oul per hour. He was a good ia her, a good son, a good husband. His Inconsolable widow s:ill carries on the business at No. 19, Rue aux vurs. Country Orders punciually executed. N. B.—No connection with next door. R L P But is there not in a certain English grave- yard a stone bearing some such inscription as this: Here lles I nope of Zion, The landlord of the Lion; His wife, resigned to Heaven's will, 1s carrying on the busivess still. Mme. Adam ol Paris, botter known as Juliette Lambert, editress of La Nouvelle Revue, and a handsome woman still, remained in the first flush of the beauty of young ‘womanhood for many years. Some thought it was nothing less than witchcraft that en- abled her so to defy the flight of time. But the story generally believed in Paris was that she lived temperately and breakfasted on black bread and gariic. The pretty washerwomen of Paris, one of whom is annually chosen Queen of Beauty for the Mardi Gres cavalcade, owe their unrivaled complexions to the damp air of the washtubs and a steady diet of black bread and garlic, Therefore it is not strange that a culinary expert, writing in Harper's Bazar, should say: “Garlic is exceedingly wholesome and an excellent tonic for the nerves. * * * It was largely used medicinally in sncient times and has been used lately as a cure for dlphther.s, combined with lemon-juice.” This last sentence might not,in a gram- matical way, entirely delizht Mr. Max Beer- bohm or even Mr. Jegome K. Jerome. But it 1s lucid compared to the staiement which follows: “It (gariic) leaves no objectionable odor upon the breath, as many people sup- pose, and which is perhiaps one of the reasons Wwhy it is not eaten more generally.” Is there any one who can cxplain this statement from either the grammatical oifactory standpoint? | tember a dainty litile book on Burns, LITERARY NOTES. References to the Biblz, as found in Rus- kin's writings, are to be collected, arranged and published. Mrs. Bishop's travels in Korea and the re- mote Last will form a remarkable volume. Ir is now almost ready for publication. Houghton, Mifilin & Co. will add to their list of Student’s Editions Thoreau’s “Walden” and Cranch's transia: of Virgil’s “Eneid ” It is announced that the title of Mark Twain's book has been changed from *The Surviving Innocent Abroad” to “Following tne Equator.” Mr. Foultney Bigelow has brought together the articles originally published in Harper's Magazine under the general title of “Whits Man’s Africa,” and they will be issued in book form early in Cetober by the Harpers. Readers of Sir Walter Scott will be glad to know that Mrs. Maxwell Scott has written a volume entitled “The Making of Abbotsford,” in which the whole history of Abbotsford is traced. Black will publish the work this fall. A French caricaturist once drew Alexandre Dumas the elder working with four pens. There was a quill in eacn haud and one in each foot. Grant Allen is producing a library ofhisown. Hislastis the ¢ Unrelated Bishop.” His productiveness is without limit. Alphonse Daudet hes just written six short stories, which he has brought out in a little voiume entitled “La Fedor,” published by Flammarion, Paris. The text is illustrated with pen sketches by M. Fabien. The themes are all in a reminiscent vein and in the author’s best style. Under the name of eur-de-Lis Collection,” Laird & Lee are bringing oui, In exquisite bindings, four of the most famous French novels of the century: “Camors,” “Madame Fovary,” “The Chouans” and *“Duchess An- neite,” the masterpieces of Feuillet, Flaubert, Balzac and Dumas fils. A useful reference guide to the work of Cali- fornia sutnors and newspaper men is, “The Story of the Files,” by Ella Sterling Cummins. The book is & complete compendium of the literary history of this State, besldes furnish~ ing examples of the styles of its more promi- nent writers. It s for sale by J. C. Pelton, who has the sole agency. The Putnams wiil have ready during Sep- It will be entitled, *“The Ayrshire Homes and Haunts of Burns,” and it is written by H. C. Shelly, who hes visited the localities associated with the Scotch poet's life, and who sdds to his | tamiliarity with these places & wide knowl- edge of Burns’ literature, and a warm appre- | ciation of his character and worth. The F. A. Stokes Company has in press a volume of drawing-room plays by Sir Vialter Besantand W. Pollock. The title of the book is “The Charm.” Some of these plays have already appeared in the English magazines, but they will be fresh to American reeders, who wili find them readily adapted for pur- poses o entertainment. The book will be iliustrated. Messrs. Harper & Bros. have sent out a caution to the public to the effect that they are the sole publishers in this country of *“the only book prepared by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen * = * which gives a complete and adequate account” of his north pole expedition. The publishers close their warning as follows: “‘An action has been begun by us against cer- tain persons who, s we claim, have infringed our rights in Dr. Nansen’s work, and those who take part with them in such infringe- | ment will also be prosecuted.” Professor Golawin smith has completed his “Political History of England,” and is touch- ing it up here and there before handing it to his publishers, the Macmilian Company. His “Guesses at the Riddles of Existence” has called forth many criticisms. In reply he has written an essay separately isued by the Macmillsn Company. Although in his sey- enty-sixth year, Professor Goldwin Smith is hale and hearty, and finds time, in addition to much literary activity, to contribute largely to the Weekly Sun of Toronto. Messrs, Putnam are preparing a new Knick- erbocker edition of Washington Irving's works, to be complete in forty volumes, It was in 1848 that this house broughtout its first edition of all the works of Irving written up to that date, and its undertaking was consid. ered foolhardy by meny. The results heve vindicated the wisdom of the founder of the house; for Washington Irving continues to | enjoy an undiminished popularity, shown in the constant purchase of his works in many different editions. The Messrs. Putnam have also in preparation for the holiday season the Tacoma edition of Irviug’s ‘‘Astoria,’’ to be uniform with the “‘Bracebridge Hall” brought out last year. Charles Scribner’s Sons will publish during September “Thomas and Matthew Arneld, and Their Influence on lish Education,” by J. G. Fiteh; “The Sub-Conseious Self, in Its Rela. tion to Education and Health,” by Louis Whaldstein; “English Lands, Letters and Kings,” covering the later Georges to Queen Victoria; and ‘‘Selected Poems,”” by George Meredith, arranged by the author. Of hisiori- cal interest are: *“The Batiue of Franklin,” by General Jacob D. Cox; *“Catherine Schuye ler,”” by Mary Gay Sumphries, the new volume in the ‘‘Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times,” which completes the set; and “Social Life in Oid Virginia B:fore the War,” by Thomas Nelson Page. Various works of fiction and the new juveniles for the holiday trade wiil also be issued in September. Lady Dilke, in writing of the late Duc d’Au- male, has some amusing things 1o say about his characteristics as a book-lover. Picturing him in the famous library at Chantilly she says: “H.S inierestin his books was far from being confined to a superficial pleasure in their bindings, their besuty or their rarity; one could not lay one’s hand on a volume i his superb and immense library with the con- tents of which he was not familiar. Unless, inaeed, you were specially authorized to do so, touching his books was a temptation that it was wiser to resist. He had a jealous sense of their value, and could be angry with a daring hand. On onoe occa- sion, when the glass doors before the shelves at the end of the library had been unlocked and some of his most pracious treasures—esch in its own locked glass case—had been brought forth and opened, I heard him ery out per- emptorily to a most distinguished French academician who had ventured to handle a volume, ‘Put it down; put it down till I come toit. They should only be unlocked one by one, as I show them ‘o Lady Dilke. In its st of fall publications the Funk & Wagnslls Company, New York, announces:’ “The Studeuts’ Standard Dictionary,” edited by James C. Fernald, editor of “Synonyms, Antouyms and Prepositions of the Standard assisted by a large corps of ex- collnvorators. A new academic perienced dictionary exhibiting notable improvements over other school dictionaries. “The Ercyc.o- pedia of Social Reforms,” a complete cyclo- pedia covering the entire range cf social reforms, including political economy, po Iitical science, covering anarchism, vice, currency, land and form, penoogy, sicialism, social purity, trades unions, woman sufirage, etc. “The Epicof Paul,’ by Wiliiam Cleaver Wilkinson, author of “The Epic of Saul.” An epic poem depicting the Ji.e of St. Paul with all the grandeur and beauty of the nighest order of poetic diction, ‘“‘Sermon Siories for Boys and Girls,” by Rev. Louis Albert Banks, D.D. Short stories of great interest, with wnich are interwoven lessons of practical helpfulness for young mind “Clerical Types,” by Rev. Hames Mann. Twenty sketches of character- istic types of clergymen, with stories of their successful and unsuccessful churches. *The New Dispensation,” translated from the Greek by Robert D. Weeks. An effort to remedy many of the ini¢licities, detects and generally acknowledged imperiections of the New Testar ment. sociology and statistics, charities, civil ser- legislation re-