The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 10, 1897, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1897. 3 The simile is a fair one, for the rabbis themselves speak of the *'sea of the Tal mud.” Nor is it an easy matter! to convey to the lay mind the | form in which it is written. Some | | | {idea of the difficulties attendant upon | |its study may be judged from its| | size ulone, which, reducea to modern | | figures, comprises many thousands of | | lo 10 pages. Its first striking characteristic { i | | | QMNN A\ ! | that to this day bas not the readers and orid. To the man with- pale of ultra-orthodex Judaism the word expresses little, and ev mong e modern Jews there exists the most astonishing 1gnorance of the character of the work. Following the London Q was the 1t the D, ’s notable article in erly Review the Talmud of many more or less trust 1n these source: finforma s doomed to disappoint- ment, for li t{sfaction was to be ob- tained then or is to be got to-d such books. e Talmud, tq ali b who have hold on it in earliest youth and have perused it until age, 1s a sealed book. We have received from the Jewish Pub- lication Society of America a copy of an essay on the Talmud by Arsene Darme siated from the French by Miss Szold. Its original was pub- shortly a Emanuel Deutsch’s article, which ay ed in October, 1867, tho 1 really g before its pub- lication. The unfortunate fact that Dar- mesteter had not the means to publi his work for some time ng it lea 1o the charge that the say was inspired by the first. h Deutsch’s article was really a model of a popular exposition of the subject the one by Dar- mesteter was, to quote the opinion of his nguished brother and biographer, James Darmesteter, ‘‘a marvel by reason grasp of tae subject.”’ of Deutsch as curator nseum and one of the of his day h the sources of ition made open T is taken into information accou that of Darmesteter, who at the 1e of his writing was but 19 years of age, e fact that the 1wo essays were placed in comparison speaks sufficiently well for the acumen of the youne French student. In the w of his brother his work might have sufficed to establish the repu- tation of an Orientalist and a historian. As is tle case with many French essayists Darmesteter bestowed a vivifying spiritup- on everything he touched. As Renan im- parted sparkle and finish to the history | of the people of Israel, in which writing he was preceded by Ewald, so Darmesteter breathed into the almost lifeless body of is subject the breath of life, The Jewish Publication Society has done well to reprint so important a contribution to Talmudic literature at this time, and the thanks of students are due Miss Szold for Ler able rendition of the work. The Talmud must always remain un- known territory tothe vast majority of students, no matter how earnest they may be in their investigations. Of or lexicon there is mone. Itslanguage is a Hebrew that has suffered a strong Chal- daic infusion and bas freely adopted Lat and especially Greek words. Says the an- cient rabbinical writer, *“At ten years one should study the Talmud,’”’ and from that early age until the end of life are its closely printed tomes diligently perused by the faithful. The effects of this constant study are well stated by the French essayist. *“‘Disci- pline a weli-endowed minc with Talmudic study and you will produce a dialectician, forceful by reason of his logic and his penetration; you wili have the unequaled cliolars of the French, German or Polish Lools, who spend all their ability on suistic commentaries; you will have a Ynoza, who carries Talmudic acutene:s and profundity into philosophy. But do Dot expect to find largeness of view, breadth of outlook, expansiveness of ideas.” 1In other words, the intelligence the earnest student of the Talmud grows in depth, not in breadth. To attempt to convey to the reader more than the merest skeleton of an idea of the Talmud were to take a bucket of water from the ocean and present it as a | sample of the mighty waters of the world. to 4im, and the same is compared with | |is the disproportion that exists between text and commentar; More often than x lines of text will form the excuse xty pages of commentary, introlac- ing subjects totally unconnected and en- tirely irrelevant to the point atissue. In the flood of digression the original point is entirely lost sight of, but one must bear it in mind to intelligently arrive at a conclusion. From the extreme of the prolix we | arrive at the opposite extreme, that | of excessive terseness. A question whose complete statement would take lines is indicated a single term, | from which as it were it hangs suspended. Thus, two small Aramaic words are under- stood to mean, “*But if you maintain that | only the thesis contrary to the one uphela by me is true, why is it taught?” With a vast number of these signs and symbols indicating whole sentences | whose meaning is known from traditional sources only, is it to be wondered at that the Talmua has failed to attract the num- ber of scholars that it might had the con- tents of its pages been more available? It} was no idle boast of Halevi's that the| Talmud contains knowledge*not to be tound in either Aristotie or Galen. To be! cailed rabbi at the time of the Sannedrin meant far more than does the term to- | day. Did it imply nothing beyvond a man who had diligently studied tbhe Talmud from his vouth it meant a great deal, for | in the vast compend are comprised agri- culture, astronomy, the right position of the sexes, civil legislation, the laws touching commercial transactions, ethics, penology and medicine. Let 1t be understood that the Talmud to the orthodox Jew is the work which regu- lates his acts from the time that he arises in the morning till the time he retires, from the day that he is old enough to think coherently till the dsy his brain ceases to act. [t contains those rules and institutions by which, in addition to the Ola Testament, the conduct of the | Jewish people is regulated. Whalever is | obligatory upon them besides the law is recorded in this work. Here doubts are | resclved, duties explained, cases of con- science cleared up and the most minute circumstances relative to the conduct of | life discussed with wonderful particular- | ity. 1ts ethical code is nigh. We quote from the woik under review: ‘‘Glance | through the treatise and you will find all that the most delicate charity, the most. refined and intelligent kindliness can in- | spire into souls naturally disposed to the good. Human dignity, the sacredness of manual labor, the superiority of good | works over learning, the equality of men | beiore the divine tribunal, no matter what | religion they may profess, these are the | great principles asserted and preached® on | every page.” | The vastness of the subject prohibits | giving more than ataste of the good things of the Talmud. As we have said itis a lamentable fact that 1t must remain a sealed book to all who have not delved into its pages from childhood. Imbued with the desire of spreading a knowledee ofone of the most wonderful compilations published since the beginning of the world oue finde himself regretting that the day | of the o!d-time teacher is over, that the exigencies of our civilization do not per- mit the public oratory tnat was possible in the time of Herod. We are told by Josephus that there were speakers en- <owed with the gift of inspiring crowds snd engendering popular risings. One of these cried in the public streets: “Who wishes to live—to live long? Who wishes ito buy happiness?’ The original ques- tions attracted & crowd demanding to | know the orator’s secret. “Thou desirest to live many days—thou wishest to enjoy i peace and happiness? Keep thy tongue | from evil and thy lips from speaking | guile. Seek peace and pursue it. Depart from the evii and do good.” And para- i phrasing the words of the thirty-fourth Psalm be developed his ideas in the midst of the'atteniive crowd. Were it possible to teach in ihis old fashion to-day and in English the study of the Talmud might be popularized. In conciuding his masterly essay Ar- jaeme Darmesteter ventures into the re- | gions of prophecy. He asserts: | The science of our day owes fo itself the | duty of studying the Talmud impartially. | tory of iis jurisprudence, &he historian will address himselt to it for light upon the history of the early centuries of the Christian era and of the centuries im- mediately precedirg it, and though not sgek- ingin it precise data, which it cannot furnish, he will be sure to find a faithful picture of the beliefs and ideas of the Jewish nation, of its moral and spiritual Iife. The naturalist will ask of it numerous questions concerning tue sciences, physical, natural or medical. Has it ever occurred to any one to compile, if not the fauna, at least the flora of the Talmud, that is, of the Palestine ana Babylonia contemporary with the Empire? It were easy with it as a | basis to furnish a second edition of Pliny’s Natural History, certainly as valuable as the first. The lawyer will question iton the his- will investigate nd by what interme- diaries Roman Jlaw and Persian cus- toms influenced it, apd it will be a curious study to compare the results that two different civilizations, directed by opposite principies, have reached in the jus civile and the jus talmundicum. The mythologist will dive into its legends and by a wise applica- whether, how, | tion of the comparative method determine the history of Midrashic mythology. The philol- ogist will devote himself to the language— that abrupt, rough language, by means of which the Talmud seems to please itself in heaping up obscurities of form over those of the thought, and he will be sure to make more than one hap, find, for, says the author of the History of the Semitic Language: “The | lexical spoliation and grammatic analysis of the Talmud:clanguage, according to the meth- oas of modern philology, remain to be made. * * That lenguage fills a hiatus in the history of Semitic idioms.” Finally the phi- | losopner wiil demand of the TFalmud the ex- planation of Judaism and the history of Jew- ish institutions, and as the Talmudic books offer the completest expression thereof, and as he has at hand all the component clements, a scrupulous analysis will give him the law of the development of the Jewish religion. Emavzver Ev; A PREHISTORIC CITY. YERMAH THE DORADO — By Frona Eunice Waiz. ~an Francisco: Willlam Doxey, At the Sigu of the Lark. Price 81 :5. The site of San Fraucisco is represented in this strange romance to have been the place on which was builded the prehistoric ecity of Tiamco. Dorado was the ruler of the city and the inhabitants were colonists from the an- cient continent of Atlantis. He is a sort of incarnate divinity, “neither the Krishna nor the Christ, but the fdesl man of all time and | of all people. He was love.” 1 The great temple, fortifications, colieges and markets of the ancient city are well | imsged and described, as are also the peculiar and picturesque inhabitants. There was a temple of the sun in the midst of the city, and on the summit of Round Top there was a monastery and dwelling-place of the high priest. There is & map with the book show- ing the way in which Tlamco was laid out. The portrayal of the Dorado, who was & verita- ble sun god, consecrated to the lifs of service before he was boru, is done artistically. The story of his love for the priestess, Kercecis, is the principal charm of tne book. The typography and bindiug are excellent and do much credit to 2 local enterprise. The Sign of the Lark is a guarantee of good work. THE LAND OF THE MATABELE. THE K S ASSEGAI—A Matabill_story. By Bertram Mitford. New York: R. F. Fenno & Co. Those who delight in descriptions of blood- story of Zalu life. It reeks of human blood from beginning to end and almost every page early in the book ore comes to regard such passages as the following a&s matters of com- | mon otcurrence: “Then the witch doctors went tnrough the most appalling per- formances. Some fell down in fite, during which they tore their own ears off. Others gashed themselves and stood on their hesds for a long time and howled.”” The climax is reached in the scene in the man eater’s pit, where heads and limbs, freshly torn from their bodies, are hurled aboutand the floor “creckles with bonee.” The story is told with plenty of spirit and is 100 preposterous to cause real repu’sion, but so far as such a book has any influence at all it cannot be of a very elevating character. several other storfes of & like nature and is evidently quite in his element when compos- ing them. STUDIES IN CHARACTER. the Rev. James Mann. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Compeny. This book consists of a series of studies of | modern clergyman and cannot fail to appeal | to a large cirele of readers, Twenty types of | clerics are described so minutely that they almost siand living befors us. The analysis of | each is made good naturedly ond in a manner | that proves the writer to be an observer of | detail. Tnese twenty types have passed before | him and he has dissected them witn a glance | and given the result of his observations to | the world. The book is neatiy bound in cloth | and wiil form & valuable addition to a library besides affording amusement and instruction. FOR THE HOME-BUILDER. | HOW TO BUILD A HOME-By Francis C. | " Moore. _New York: Doubleday & McClure Com.- | pany. Price $1. Everybody is more or less interested in | home-building, althougn it is customary ln‘ leave ail the details in the hands of the archi- | | tect. While this 1s undoubtedly & good plan, | & knowledge of how a house is erected is nec- | essary in these days, when practical knowl: | eage is expected of an inselligent person. We I can safely say that after a p:rusal of this little shel will ind a glut of gory horrors in this | has its battie, murder or sudden death. Quite | Mr. Mitiord has written | book oune will understand the principles of house-building and will be able to apply the acquired information in & manner that will be of benefit. TO SLIP IN THE POCKET. TALES FROM MCCLURE’S and LITTLE MAS- TERPIECES. New York: Doubleday & Mc- Clure Company. For sale in this eity by Wil- Mam Doxe; 3 These little volumes, marvels of typographi- cal neatness, cannot fail to become favorites with the resding public. *“Tales From Me- Clure’s” coasist of short stories reprinted from that magazine, and are all well-told romances. The “Little Masterpieces” are selections from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The volumes come in handy size and sell for the small sum of 25 cents each. 0LA’s «PARIS.”” We learn from the Macmillan Company that Emile Zola’s “Paris,” announced as among the forthcoming publications of the current season, will not aprear in book form until early in 1893. The translator has entered into an sgreement with one of the leading London weeklies for its serial issuein Great Britain, which will begin in October next. The volume will be slightly shorter than “‘Lourdes” and will b2 divided into five books, each of five chapters. Mr. Vizetelly says in the Westminster Gazette: *It will probably come as a iurprise to the critics and readers of M. Zola's more rec:nt works. It will be a genuine novel with no dissertations and no dig esslons. From first to lastit will be brimful of li‘e and action, at the same time presenting a kaleidoscopic victure of all classes of the Parisian commui ity at the end of the nineteenth century. * “M. Zola's contention is that & writer worthy of the name must adapt his method to his subject. Paris is syponymous of present-day life, with all its turmoil, all its intensi'y; and | thus, even as ‘Rome,’ the novel, male the | reader pause and meditate, so ‘Paris,'the novel. will hurry him on through typical scenes of French society 100 years after the Revolu- tion.” The book will contain a good deal about the anarchists, and there is one very effective scene representing az explosion at the door of a banker’s house, but the book will not be all about tne anarchists. Allkindsof people of | every stage of society appear in its pages. No- body knows Paris life better than M. Zola, and | the book is certain to be a very big success; it | isa novel of action with nothing improper |in 1t THE OCTOBER MAGAZINES. The Century. One of the most instructive articles that has ever appeared in the Century is entitled “Marie Antoinette as Dauphine” by Anna L. Bicknell in the October number. This aricle depicts life in the royal court and gives the render an insight into the Queen’s round of daily cccupations. Her dresses are described and the amount of pin money allowed her. The facts have all been gathered fiom the state papers in Vienna and have never before becen made public. General Horace Porter | continues his articies on “Campaigning With Grant,” describing Genersl Lee’s surrender. The idustrated work is excepiionally good in this number. Scribner’s. Scribner’s for October contains Henry Nor- man’s inside history of the diplomacy that preceded the Gree co-Turkish war, now told for the first tme. Mr. Norman is a member of the Loudon Chronicle’s staff and was-n confi- dential relations with the Greek Government before the outbreak ot the war. His narrative will therefore be of authoritative value. “The Newspaper as & Business Enterprise” will un- doubtedly be of interest 10 all readers. This FRANGIS BRET HARJE. The characteristic Californian atmosphere which environs all of Bret Harte’s stories loses none of its strength in All our old friends, familiar sincs the days when the Heathen Chinee and the “ Three Partners,” his latest story. Luck of Roaring Camp made the reputation of theauthor, are there. The scent of the pines still hangs heavy on the hills, and the passengers by the stage coach are sti!l covered by the impalpable red dust which pours into the windows, It is the same vivid local color, and the same vigorous, resolute actors who play gaping widely in the insufferable heat. out the piece amid their familiar surroundings. with no moral scruples but the ethics of a sportsman. Jack takes a sort of deus ¢x machina part in the game, being First and foremost comes Jack Hamlin, the wonderful gambler, a man always at hand, with his marvelous self-possession and readiness, to help the three partners out of the difficulties with which cruel fate distresses them. The partners, we need hardiy say, are three typical young miners, hardy, self-reliant and full of the rude, honest pioneer brand of virtue. - volume is devoted to an account of their vicissitudes after weaith has been showered upon them. They strike it rich in the would have thought it sufficicnt to end his story wher: Bret Harte begins it. struction, we see clearly that the possession of great wealth, the goal for which most men in the country strive, does not necessarily imply a cessation from the trials and struggles of daily life. and, as a wealthy banker in San Francisco, becomes the victim of forgers and other unscrupulous villains. early pages, and the remainder of the A less gifted author Thanks to this novel method of con- One partner enters the realm of high finance, Another, whose luck is even worse, gets married, his wife betrays him heartlessly, but a tragic death and a second marriage bring consolation. The third partner, whose career has becn clouded by a hopeless heartache, returns, after a season of travel in Europe, to help in dispersing the cloud of troubles which hover over his partners. surprising amount of action crowded into it; and drinking, intrigue and mystification, going on all the time. The stcry, though short, has a pages teem with incident, there is scheming and shootiug, gambling The reader who takes up the volume is pretty ‘sure, if he be fond of spirited though improbable adventure, to follow its energetic movement with interest to the end. article is by J. Lincoln Steffens and is one of the series on *The Conduct of Great Busi- nesses.”” ‘I'ne writer studies the new journal- ism problem and shows what its probable re- sult will be. The other articles are all of great interest. St. Nicholas. All the serial stories in tne St. Nicholas come to 8 close in the October number. But other long stories commence and there are several charming short omes 8s well. Licutenant Atkinson tells how the young cadets at West Point are taught love and reverence for Old Glory and Charles T. Hill contributes a thrilling narrative about “The Fire Patrol.” The verses and illusira- tions are all up to their customary standard of excellence. Current Literature. People who do not care to read all the latest works of fiction cannot do better than read the extracts from them in this popular monthly. The October number contains se- lections from Hall Caine’s “The Christian,” Zolw's “His Exceilency” and Mrs. Barr's “Prisoners of Conscience.”” Marie Thompson 1s the “Poet of the Day” and much interesting information is given concerning the Klon- dike. The poetical selections are of the chotcest. McClure’s. McClure’s for October contains an article by Mr. Bernard P. Grenfell, ome of the two discoverers of the new “Sayings” of Christ. Another article of great interest is entitied “The Making of a Regiment,” and shows how in the late war large bod:es of untrained men became in a remarkably brief time expert and dicciplined soldiers. Octave Thanet, Stephen Crane and other well-known writers have contributions to the number. Godey’s. “Evolution of Woman in the South” is the title of an instructive article on this topic in Godey’s for October. Another well-illustrated contribution is entitied ‘“‘Some Virginia Beau- ties.” Helen North tells of the ruinea abbey of Valle Crueis in England, and Nancy M. Waddle tells of the singular ways of plants that eatanimals. Tne fiction in this number is select and the fashions ar2 fresh and practical. The Ladies’ Home Journal. An article of especial interest in the October Ladtes’ Home Journal is entitled “The New Tenants of the White House,”” accompanied by many new photographs. Miss Lillian Belt tells of her preparations for a trip to Europe, and Mrs. Lyman Abbott contributes a charm- ing paper entitied *Peaceful Valley,” the first of aseries. Edward W. Bok’s article on ad- vice to young men and women contains some sound sense. The fiction in this number is very fine, and includes the conclusion of “The Spirit of Sweetwater,” a serial by Hamlin Garland. Review of Reviews, The October number of the Review of Re- views contains a pertinent article by the edi- tor on the recent shooting of striking miners in Pennsylvania, and accounts for the deplor- able incident in a manner that will appeal to the unprejudiced reader. Of unusual interest to women is an article by Miss Frances Wil 1ard, telling the story of the Woman’s Chris- tian Temperance Union movement, and snother by Mrs, Sheldon Amos of Englana on “Women’s Clubs in London.” An able paper on “‘Aluminum” gives the history of the in- vention and development of the American process for the manufacture of the metal at Niagara Falls and in Pennsylvania. SUCCESS IN LITERATURE. Young writers are always anxious to know how the great books wer: written, and how the immortals feit and bebaved when thev were writing the same. It is often taken for granted by these young people that there is some secret prescription for compounding lit- erature, and that sufficient perseverance may master this formula. Investigation hardly con- firms this view. A certain well-known author wrote reso- lutely every day, whether he felt like it or not. He turned out with almost unvarying exact- Dess just about so many thousand words at a sitting. His works have been read with pleas- ure by hundreds of thousands. He has been prociaimed as the favorite novelist of several famous men. He will not live forever, but he achieved & success which might properly sat- isfy a high ambition. Another noted man determined to pursue the same course. He had made marked suc- cesses in poetry and short-story work. Now he wou'd write a book. Other people had shut their teeth together and sat down and ground out what was, if not real literature, a fair .imitation of it. He would do thesame. His book feli tlat, and he has never attempted to write another. . One of the most famous living writers reads the work of no contemporaries, for fear of coloring ot corrupting his own output. Other writers, perhaps equaliy well known, read promiscuously and unflaggingly. A well-known society woman, shut tempora- rily away from the world by affliction, deliber- ately resolved to wiite n book. She imme- diately consulted a distinguished professor of rhetoric and literature and put Lerself tinder his tuition for some months. She saturated herself during a considerable succeeding period with the scenes and atmosphere in which her story was to be laid. Her friends laughed behind her back, and quoted to each othaer the fable of the mountain and the mouse, but la granae dame, with all her fuss and feathers, really produced a charming little story—worthy to live with some of those divinely wrought effusions which have emanaied from garrets and from the pens of crust-fed genius. On the other hand, one of the most conspicu- ous of iiving writers certifics that his most briliiaut work treats of aland and a people whom he has never seen, though itis consid- ered by the crities & masterpiece ot verisimili- tude. The stiry electrified everybody who read it, and was the sensation of the month among literary circles. Marcus Aurelius enunciated the noblest of sentiments, though he lived in a marble pal- ace. Homer begged his bread. Robert Brown- ing was born and brougit up a gentleman. Robert Burns was a son of the soil. 1n short, there is no rule nor guide to liter- ary any more than to any other sort of suc- cess. A few foundation principles form a moral and expedient stariing-poiut, but thence each worker must carve his own way. “That by which & man conquers in any passage is & profound secret to every other person in the world,” said the seer. He might have added, “and it can never be im; ted."” IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST. LAZARUS—By Lucas Cleeve, New York: E. P Dutton & Co. Price 81 50. This story is a weaving of the historic facts handed down to us of Christ’s life with a fic- tion that has conceived quite a romance in the life of Lazarus. He is represented to be the coveted lover of Rebekah, the daughter of Caiaphas, the High Priest, and he himself is in love with Mary, the Magdalene, who is pictured as the most beautiful woman in all Judea. The proud and beuutiful caughter of Caiaphas wili brook no rival, and her unre- quited love leads to a tragedy. The characters of the sisters of Lazarus—Mary and Martha— are carefully deseribed, but with evident prejudice on the pert of the writer against Martha. A more charitable author might have pictured her as possessing something of St James' cast of mind in believing that there was genuine worship in honest work. The twisting of the seniences intoodd shapes in order to give the conversations an archaic sound seems somewhat overdone. FOR THE STUDENT OF NATURE. FAMILIAR ¥EATURES UE THE ROADSIDE— By F. Schuyler Matihews. New York: D. Ap- p eton & Co. Price $1 75. The flowers, shrubs, birds snd insects that one fiads by the wayside in a country journey are here described by a naturalist who says that in many respects there is no better fiela for the swdy of nature. The book is very handsomely illustrated with 160 drawings, and it has the novelty of giving the music of many of our common birds and insects. The orizinal of Miss Betsy Trotwood in Dickens’ “David Copperfieid” is still living at Broadstairs. A correspondent of the Boston Transcript recently visited her and found Dickens’ portrayal of her still as true to the life as possible. LITERARY NOTES AND NEWS. The local agent who will have charge of Mark Twain’s forthcoming book is John J. News begin, Fiood builling. The new volume in the series of **Economic Classics,” edited by Professor Ashley of Har. vard and pablished by Macmillan, is a transia- tion of Cournot’s “Rescarches Into the Mathes matical Principles of the Theory of Wealth."” originally published in French in 1838. Estes & Lauriat have just published “The Heart o1 Old Hickory” and six other stories of Tennessee, by Will Allen Dromgoole. It is a collection of six short stories by this gifted Southern author. The stories are written with e great desl of fidelity and rare pathos and humor. The German edition of Edward Bellsmy's “Equality” is to be followed shortly by an Itl- ian edition. The publisher of “Equality’” in ity will be Remo Sandron of Palermo. Al- though the book was published only recently, it is now appearing in lour countries and three languages. L N. Vail’s theory of world-making and gold- planting, as set forth in a little book ecalled “Alaska;. The Land of the Nugget. Why?'’ is well worthy of parusal. He attempts to show how and why gold was deposited in Polar lands, and the book contains much other in. teresting information. Price 50 cents. Late educational publications by Maynard, Merrill & Co, New York, include & handy little volume consisting of “'Selections from L'Hommond's Viri Rom and Cornelius Nepos.” the back of the boog Will be found a vocabulary of the difficult Latin werds, and the volume is further embellished with three well-executed maps. Price 60 cents. Dr. William de Wiut Hyde, President of Bowdoin Coliege and author of a work en- titied *“Outlines of Social Theology.” is said to bave another volume, entitled ‘‘Practical Idealism,” in the hands of the publishers, the Mucmillan Company. The new book presents in a compact and systematic torm recent prace tical developments in psychology, logic, pedagogy, ethics and philology. The latest London news of Hall Caine’s “Christiun’ has a very practical bearing upon the popular opinion of the book. The Eng- lish publisher, Mr. Heinemann, has sold an edition which reached the enormous number of 50,000, and -is printing another huge edition spurred on by orders which have sc- cumaulated to the number of several thousand. There would seem to be no doubt as to the popular verdict upon the book. There is no more delightful reading than sprightly conversation, and those who admire it will find much to their liking in “Pippins aad Cheese,” the new book of shortstorics by Mrs. Ella W. Peattie, which the publishing- house of Way & Williams have just issued These stories are each built about a dinner, breakiast or luncheon, at which people ot more or less witare present. There is in their conversation much delightful nonsenss, humor and persiflage, not forgetting some grains of sober thought. The whole book is not to come under this general characteriza- tion, but itis manly made up of the crisp speech of witly people. Many will be glad to learn that we are to have the “Story of Mr. Gladstone’s Life,” from Justin McCarthy. There have been several “lives” of the great statesman issued—the most ambitious being that of Barnett Smith— but no one 1s better qualified for such a task than Mr. McCarthy. He knows his subject thoroughly; he has seen much of the veteran Liberal leader in Parliament, and he can in- vest a work of the kind with aliterary charm all his own. Much of the matter whieh will go to form the new volume has already ap- peared in an American pertodical. The book wiil be issued by Messrs. Black of London in the autuma. A complementary issue of the *Modern Readers’ Bible Series” is announced for pub- lication in December. It will consist of a double number which will contain the whole of the Psalms, and will also include the Book of Lamentations. From the hand of the same editor, in the same series, the publication of the books of the New Testament is also ane nounced. The writings of St. Luke and St. Paul, in two volumes, wili form a double number, the contents of which will be The Gospel of St. Luke, The Acts of the Apos- tles and The Pautine Epistles. These latter will be introduced at the several points of the history to which they are usually referred. An opportunity will thus be afforded of study- ing, without the interruption of comment or discussion, the continuous history of the New Testament church as presented by itself. This double number will be issued in February, 1898. In March The Gospel, Epistles and Revelations of St. John will be issued. St. Mathew, St. Mark and the General Epistles are promised for April. The title of this last volume suggests the contents, and 1t will ine clude the Epistie to the Hebrews. There is to be a new edition of “Modern Painters,’’ published at a much reduced pric George Allen, who 1s Mr. Ruskin's publisher, is to get it out. The present price for the book, he points out, is £7 for the six volumes, His new edition will be in six crown octavo volumes, and will sell for two guineas. New plates are being made fron: proof impressions of the old ones. The new plates are by various processes. In some cases they are lithographs, in otners photogravures. After the ‘‘Mod- ern Painters” edition has been completed a new and cheaper edition of “The Stones of Venice’” will be undertaken. Mr. Alien, in giving these particulars to the London Academy, added #n interesting bitof informae tion concerning the place where Mr. Ruskin’s books are published. Everybody has believed that they came from Orpington, in Kent. “Parties of American travelers,” says Mr, Allen, *have repeatedly arrived at Orpington to see what never existed there. Traly, Mr. Ruskin’s books were warehoused at Orping. ton, and issued from Orpington, but the ‘beautiful factory,” as you call it, and as others have imagined it, is a superstition. Mr. Ruskin’s books have always been printed and bound in London.” Among the new bcoks to be published by, Little, Brown & Co. during the autumn of this year are the following: *‘Romance and Reals ity of the Puritan Coast,” a new illustrated volume on the favorite “North Shore” of the Massacnusetts coast, by Edmund H. Garrett; s newstory (of the present day) by Maud Wilder Goodwin, suthor of ‘“White Aprons,” etc., entitled “Flint: His Fauits, His Friende ships and His Fortunes”; an iliustrated edi- tion of the great successof the year, “Quo Vadis,” in two volumes, including pictures by Howard Pyle, Edmund H. Garrett and Evert Van Muyden, reproductions from sne cient sculptures, and maps and plans, also an Edition de Luxe limited to 250 numbered coples; & volume of stories for girls by Ger- trude Smith—-Ten Little Comedies: Tales of the Troubles of Ten Little Girls whose Tears were turned 1nto Smiles,” witn illustrations by E. B. Barry; an illu trated holiday edition, with photograve ure plates, of Mrs. Goodwin's favorite Romances of Coloniel Virginia — “Weite Aprons” and “The Head of a Hundred”; a “Memoir of the late Robert C. Winthrop,” pree pared for the Massachusetts Historical Society by hisson; a populur edition, in one volume, of the favorite college story, “The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman," Dby Cuthbert Bede, with illustrations by the suthor; a mirth-provoking book for young and old by Caroline Ticknor, entitled “Miss Belladona, a Chila of To-day” ; asecond volume of the new “History of the Royal Navy,” by William Laird Clowes and other writers; six new volumes in the Library Dumas, in ciuding the followirg romances, some of which have not before been transe 1ated: “Agenmor de Mauleon,” “The Brige and, a Romance of the Reign of Don Cerlos,” “Blanche de Beaulieu, a Story of tha French Revoiution,” “The Horoscope, a8 Ros mance of the Reign of Fraucois {I” “Syl. vandire, a Romance ot the Reign of Louis XIV,” *“Monsieur de Chauvelin’s Will” and “The Woman Wi h the Velvet Necklace new volume by Henryk Sienkiewicz, author of ©Quo Vadis,” “With Fire and Sword,” etc.; a new book by Captain Mahan dealing with the possibilities of sea power in the development of the United Stales; “How to Know Our Shore Birds,” a popular key to all the species, by Charles B. Cory, the well-known naturalist, ete. Two volumes of the new illustrated edition of Francis Parkman’s Historles imy twenty volumes Will 8ppear every month. )