The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 31, 1897, Page 23

Stevenson’s Last Novel. ST. IVES, BEING THE ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH PRISONEE IN ENGLAND—By Robert Louis Stevenson. New Y Scribner’s ¢ Doxey, Pl There is & hing touching about the posthumo; k of & great writer, more especially when the author is one who, like Stevenson, timate pers: The delicacy of thy with his readers. the broad manne which characterize all Stevenson’s b icrait, are as strongly evi- s, his last book, s in any other volumes he has issmed. But ng more in St. Ives. reads as ct, he knew and, knowir ssible of his own into the ¢ this was to be his las is, had put as much as marked personal ter of the hero. There is no mistaking the fact that St. Ives, or to give le Vicomte A much of the once his full nam Kero: M. al de St. Ives, has husiasm, the lj 1 buoyed St son u the many trials of his earlier career. He laughs and sings and d 1 wild pranks and dilates u boyish per passages in the Veilima . single-hearted trust in his own luck never leaves him, and, after the good old conv tional style, he aeparis happily at the e e play, & smiling, beautiful bride m. Still, the finale is the only conventional feature of the Asa hero of chivalrous tory. romance St. Ives isn o war in this civili 1s tmpossible almost to the ve crous. It not the = ch gives one this senss one cannot help suspecting that a spirit of sly all along bu the errant of medieval lore. For even the Knig i La Mancha neve: B! as tt of when St. Ives ner of war & romance some of his his love, as yet u 1s him into a du; o has dare lady. Trivial enables the weave 1t ht himself into such in- yet refined It reads uthor’s farewell to his loving pub- v some strange clairvoyant 1t; as a prisoner | d nineteenth century he | N FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31 1897 23 After talking a w to the drovers Sir Walter turns to St. Ives. “Well , 1 unde: stand you are taking a tramp through our forest here for the pleasure of the thing."” | “wny, ves, I am very well entertained.” “I envyyou,” said he. miles of it myself w youth lies buried a heather bush, like the d I must say entiate | his imag | Lucius. But you should have a The pleasure of thi y in the | legends, wi black- berries.” A attention to little fragme. | o greater than author to introduc most grimly suggestiv of the strongest, dramatic scenes in the book. For sheer forc horror the duel in | the prison shed, at the dead of night in the midsy of inky blackn lent comrades, sworn to secrecy. standing around—swithout the measured tramp of the rarely been excelled, even by Stevenson him- self. The weapons are primitive, the blades of a pair of scissors fastened to wands, and more by good luck than swordsmanship St. ves disables his opponent the first pass. The duel leads to many complications which space forbids our detailing, but eventualiy our hero escapes and begins the remarkable series of wanderings in a hostile country which the remainder of the volume with adventure, Though ca; Corsican usurper St. Ives is really a scion of one of the oldest Legitimist families and has & granduncl emigre, who has in some mysterious mauner become Anglicized into a wealthy land-owner. In search of this uncle 8t. Ives begins his pilgrimage under the guid- ance of & pair of cattle-drovers, whose peculi- arities are outlined in & frolicksome humorrarely to be found in Stevenson’s writ- ings. Here and there, 100, is & touch of the Pickwickian style, strangely reminiscent of Dickens, as for instance, the following ance of an oddity, B | Fenn, encountercd during the journey “Which you do favor him (if yi me being so bold as to mention it) exac said he. “I should have known you any- where. May I offer you & pot of home-brewed ale, sir? By your leave. This way, if you please. Iam’eartilygratefui—'eartily pleased to be of any service to a gentleman like you, sir, which is related to the Viscount, and really a fambly of which you might well be proud. Take care of the step, sir. You have sbod news of ’is "ealth, I trust, as well as that { mounseer, the Count?” X cidentally, also, Sir Walter Scott is en- cQ.utered on this remarkable journey, and, with loving appreciation, Stevenson puts a brief sketch of tne gified writer into the mouth of his hero: “Our encounter was of a tall, stoutish, elderly gentleman, a little grizzied and ofa eerful aud engaging couutenance. He sat ‘h 2 hill pony, wrapped in a plaid over his green coat, and wes accompanied by a horse- woman, his daughier, & young lady of the most charming appearance.’” n guard, has fill | ured while in the service of the | vein of | utter- | ou’ll excuse | a tombstone he told, for an example, a story | of its earlier inhabitants. Years after it chanced that T was one day di- verting myself with a Waverley novel, when what should I come upon but the identical narrative of my green-coated gentleman upon the moors. Ina moment the scene, tones of his voiee, his northern accent, and the very aspect of the earth and sky and temperature of the weather, flashed bnck into my mind with the reality of dreams. The unknown In tne green coat had been the Great Un- known. Ihad metScott; Ishonld have been able to write, to claim acquaintance, to tell him that his legend still tingled in my ears. But the discovery came too late, and the great man had already succumbed under the load of his honors and misfortunes, We must refer the reader who desires to fol- | low the devious wandering and hairbreadth ’scapes of St. Ives in tne English counties to tne volume itself. Suflice it to say that he gains his granduncle’s seat in Bediordshire and is formally accepted s heir, to the utter discomfiture of another cousin, who forthwith sets to work to wreck St. Ives’ prospects. All this, though It takes many pages in the tell- ing, is most interesting reading, and by and by we find the hero,in & fit of romantic obsti necy, seeking out his lady love, the fair Flora, | in the very hornets’ nest of Edinboro’ town. | Ofthe girl herse { we see but little. She is merely outiined as of beauty and grace enough to captivate St. Ives, and enson’s women- folk are not, in any case, his strong point. It was while his hero was braving military law in Edinboro’, and running imminent jdanger of arrest and execution, that the master hand laid down the pen. With chapter 30 Stevenson’s responsibility for the book ends. Itwas written at Vailima, at intervals, durine two years, under circumstances, as we know from the Vailima letters, whick would have crushed many a stronger frame than that of the delicate litterateur. Fortunately the novel shows butlittle trace of its broken conception, for Mrs. Strong, in constant mental association with the writer, knew the re- mainder of his creation, end to Mr. Quiller Couch, one of the first short story writers ot the day, the delicate task of completing the volume was intrusted. Mr. Quiller Couch has done his work well; so0 closely has he followed Stevenson’s style that the break in the c tinuity of authorship will be noticeable only to the literory expert. In continuing and i te | roma bringing to a termination the extraordinary adventures of St. Ives he has certainly used ation well, perhaps only too well, for the Muuchausen-like escape of St. Ives in a balloon, which carries him from Scotland to Eng h Channel, ev is 100 ineredible for n tnough it be the romance of this wildly extravagant character, A BRONTE LETTER TO THACKERAY. In buying an old book, even a modern sec- 2, it is well to give a good look e and the fly-leaves, because autograpn there which may : value of the book. copy finds its way to im- Two years ago, in Ann street, 50 cents an old novel was \ was written on a flyleaf, s of James Fenimore Cooper, s in wretched condition, dear for 50 cents, but quite valu- aph. © & gentleman with the tion of books picked up at stand in & small New Jersey town an old Virgil, and paid for it 1, about what it was worth 10 the dealer. But on the inside leaves before the title-page were numerous by boyish hands, ership of the book some seventy-five years of the lsst century, and among these names were the early signatures of two lads who at their maturity became the most famous men in the Revolutionary period. The Virgil, strange to say, was in good order, though rather pencils marked under certain passages and with curious interlinear transiations. The present owner of the book has been careful not to dis- turb them. D. North, in “The Book- man,” tells of a nice find made by a lady on a London beokstand: Rummagzing among the shelves, her eyes lighted upon a duodecimo volume in brown calf with no title on the back. ® ® * The first thing that attracted her eyes was the stamped coat of arms on the side. Upon open- ing the volume she saw it was a book on ‘The Poliey of the Clergy of France to De stroy the Protestants of that Kingdom. London, 1681.” Noticing that there was & fine handwriting in- side of the iront cover, what was my friend’s | delight to 1ind that it was a letter from Char- lotte lows: bronte to Thackeray, and it was as fol- HAWORTH, Sept. 8. Dear Thackeray: 1 herewith return your little work. 1have found it very entertaining jrom be- ginning toend. There is no doubt that the policy of the French ciersy atthe time specified was to destroy Protestants and Protestantism as far as it was in thelr power 50 Lo do—hlstory proves it in- | deea When I come to London I trust T may have the pleasure of sceing you for a few days, and until then, early in the new year, believe me ever your sincere admirer, CHARLOTTE BRONTE P. S—Mr. Nicholls Is very well, and sends his compliments. He hopes 10 accompany me to London ear.y next year. Chi tte nte wrote a minute handwrit- ing, suggestive of the chirography of a canary bird. The lady was conscious of the prize she had stumbled across. It was *“a book loaned by Thackeray to Charlotte Broute and returned to him enriched with her own com- ment—surely this 1s beyond the means of the idfer.” The price was hesitatingly asked, ana the bookseller said, “*Oh, 3 shillings, mum.” Some cynicai Frenchman has written that “women are generally honest, save when in business” Would any of. the masculine sex have said what that lady did? “Do you know whatis in this book?”’ Certainly the book- seller pretended that he did. He knew all about it. More than the woman did. There was a fac-simile letter of somebody’'s. Three shiliings was the price. He might have added, “Take itorleave it.”” Well, the lady did take it and at his price, and went on her way with the precious volume tucked under her arm— and so yirtue meets its own reward. It is not always necessary to drive sense into the seller, for generally, as the Roman phrase goes, “cavent emp:or.” The Bookman repro- duces the title page of the Thackersy book and a fac-simiie of the Bronte letter. A STUDY IN CURRENT SLANGUAGE. The Italian method of prefixing an sto a word to give it a damaeing significance can be employed with good effect in christening that wayward and degenerate offspring of English known asslang. In its present siate slanguage hae attained to such a luxurious completeness that it warrants serious treatment. So copious and comprehensive has it become that there is hardly & humen want, feeling, or emotion of the beart that cannot pe translated into this vernacular of the bootblack. In studying the phitosophy of slang, the first hatural query is, How did it originate? : To the first question one might give, with certain moaifications, the same answer that' | would be given to the question, Why do peo- ple swear? The human animal, hke a loco- motive, scems 1o require escape valves for oce casions when there is oo much steam in the boiler. When a man is overflowing with ad- miration, anger or wonder, the ordinary ad- jectives do not (or he thinks they do not) meet the emergency. They do not relieve his pent- up fullness any more than asip from a dew- drop would quench a man’s thirst. The natu- ral man and the natural woman sometimes find relief under strong emotion in explosive utterances. In the case of anger the escape- valve expletive is an oath, unless the man in question happens to be & geutleman, and sometimes, thongh very rarely, when he is. It will thus be seen that slang, being of emo- tional ancestry, is a first cousin to the oath, and both are used by those who mentally re- semble the man whose use of intoxicating drinks has made him forget or underestimate the attractious of pure water. Slang, in sooth, is & whisky-distillation of language. It is so strong that it may be taken only very rarely with impunity. And herein lies the chief dan- gerin its use. Notonly does the slanguist find ordinary English tame, but he ends in not being able to find any English at all. He has expressed himself so ofien in slangusge that when he really wishes to use another word he discovers that the other word does not come. And who can blame the word for standing on its dignity? Like a slighted dam- sel, who has been supplanted by amore cap- tivating rival, it refuses to answer to the beck and call of its fickle suitor. Another fatal jcharacteristic of slang is the very one which at first secures its adoption — namely, its pungency. The sume law that makes quiet colors and shades wear well in the world of fabrics, has it8 counterpart in the world of speech. We tire very speedily of a startling costume, in high colors, and just as speeaily do we tire of slang, which is start~ ling, high-colored speech. Tae popularity of slaug, from whatever cause, inveighs against its ultimate adoption vsalegal offspring of language. Popularity gencraily ends in over- use, and over-use means wearing out and pre- mature decay,a law which is continually in operation in the book and song world as well. The deadest books and songs &re those whose popularity has caused rhem to be read or sung 1nto extinction. Still another reason why slang can never gain & permanent foothold in the language is its utter lack of dignity. No subject can be seriously treated in slanguage. Its sole func- tion 18 to tickle by its patness or its grotesque- ness. It reflects a fugitive iridescence upon current wit and humor, 88 the bubble catches prismatic colors, but, like the bubble, it van- ishes even wiile you behold it, Naturally there are slang phrases of all degrees of good- ness and badness, ranging from the word which is only a slight remove from a forcible but perfectly decorous edjective, to slang of the most daring, deep-dyed order. Atone end of tne scale, for instance, one might place “fetching,” and at the other end its super-superlative “rum.” Again, the in- junction “play ball” is gentle and seemly in comparison with the brusque command “‘get a move on.” Along ceriain lines the slang- zeist seems to revel in extravagant synonyms and antonyms, especially in those expressing some infirmity in the upper story. The man who has “wheels” is also popularly known as “nutty,” “cracked”’ or “off his trolley.” Again if he comes from the country, he is *corn- raised,” has “seed in his hair” or his “face doesn’t fit him.” 11,”” “nerve,’” “‘cheek,” “'sand,” “brass” and ‘‘face” are also nearly synonymous terms for qualities whose uni- versalily has made them a target for popular satire. Equelly prolific is the slang-geist in coining terms for mouey. *Dusi,” “tin,” “sana,” “rocks,” **chink” and “spondulicks” are only a few of the words that translate “filthy lucre.”” Two of the slang phrases now in gallingly frequent use are, “tha’s right” and “that won’t cut much 1¢ The latter, it must be confessed, has certain cooi figurative qualities which give it a saving color of grace. But most of these pbrases rely chiefly upon their condensed expressiveness, which is the trademark of their American manufacture. They are but one of the many devices of the masses to compass a crosscut and avoid cir- cumlocations. Thus, “snap” and “cinch” are time economy for a moneyed sinecure and an assured competence. | One of the surest tests of the rapid mortality | o1 slang is the extremely paintul sensation | produced by hearing antiquated slang phrases used—and there are always people who are two, or three or ten years behind in their use of such phrases. When other people are say- ing “not on sour tintype” the user of mil- | dewed slang bly ejaculates, “I should smile.” The viquancy and patness of certain phrases make it hard to declare that slang has o legitimate use. But concerning its misuse there can hardly be two opinions among peo- ple whose opinions are worth anything. A careful study of the qualities of men and women who habitually interlard their re- marks with slang will furnish anybody with & pirant for literary fame will be deterred irom rushing into print by these sage warnings, but at any rate, he will, if he is Wise, learn from this book all about the com- mercial aspect of the publishing trade, and will know what to expect when he endeavors to place his creations on the market. A com- Pplete description of publishing methods and arrangements is given, as well as directions for preparing MS. for the press. Further, there are instructions in proof-reaaing, speci- mens of typography and a mass of useful in- formation regarding the United States and in- ternational copyright laws. All this, as well 85 & great many more things which we have uet space 10 enumerate, is set forth in a hand- 300 pages. Every intending author should alrendy run through seven editions, the pres- ent issue being rewritten and much additional matter furnished. MARIE CORELLI AGAIN. We had supposed the fad of exploiting the reputation of certain modern autnors during their lifetime by volumes ot sel:ctions from their writings, as to mention only & few— ‘Lovely Moralities,” from Lewis Morris; “‘Ex- alted Ambiguities from William Watson, to say nothing of ear-Books,” “Daily Dia- nd so on, as b but we were mis- taken, it seems, for there has jusi been pub- lished in England “Beauties of Marie Coreili,” & young person of whom we only know that she has written a number of novels, or ro- mances, which are reputed to have large sales—to be read by high personages, and to be translated iuto the languages and dialects of foreign and remote lands and peoples. We have not yetseen this book, or booklet, which 18 edited by Miss Aunie Mackay, but we think we can divine its probable contents from the following extracts which we cull—a prettier word to use in the case of a lady than the more brutal oue, cur—from & notice of the Mackay-Corelli “Beauties” in an English journal. They are briet—but, we suppose, characteristic of her writing: “Methinks those who are best beloved of the gods are chosen first to die.””—From “Ardath.” “The heart-whole appreciation of the mil- lion is by no means so ‘vulgar’ as it is fre- quently considered.” —Ibid. “We are nover grateful enough to the can- Aid persons who wake us from our dreams.”’— From “Vendetta.” “Who cau adequately describe the tarilling excitement attending an aristocratic ‘crush’?” —From “Thelma.” “Gentusis a big thing; Ido not assume to possess it,”—From “The Murder of Delicia.” “Grea: heavens!”—From “Ziskd.” HE WAS NOT INTERVIEWED. A Dafly Telegraph interviewer received a dispatch the other day, 5o the Tribune says, ordering him to go to Rottingdean and inter- view Mr. Kipling. He went. As he entered the village in & wagonette he saw his prey mounting a bicycle. He jumped down and chased him, and overtook the bicyclist at the foot of a slope. What do you want?” asked Kipling. “l want to catch my breath,” replied his pursuer. Kipling waited grimly. Then the pursuer stated his errand. The good-natured twinkle faded instantly from his eyes; the square jaws suddenly became set. It Wwas not necessary for him to speak for me to perceive that nothing short of “wild horses” would be required to drag any thing worth re- cording from the author of “Solaiers Three.” “Interview me!” exclaimed Kipling. “No! I have never been interviewea in my life! I'm off” And grasping the handles of his bicycle “‘off”” he certainly was. The interviewer was discouraged but per- severing. He hurried aiter his disappearing quarry. “Did I understand you to say that you re- somely printed and bound volume of some | have the book on his shelves, and its value is | sufficiently indicated by the fact that it has | fused to —" he observed, but he was cut short. ‘“‘Absolutely,” said Kipling. And then, gentle reader, what did this bril- liant interviewer do? He filled one of the long columns of the Daily Telegraph and & little over with an account of his adventure! OUR COLORED CITIZENS. TRE NEGRO AND THE WHITE MAN—By Bishop W. J. Gaines. D.D. Philadelphia: A «M. k. Pubiishiag-house. Bishop Gaines, one of the leading iights in Afro-American circles, is well known here and abroad as a writer on the subject of the possibilities of the negro. In his latest book | he makes an impassioned plea tor justice | toward his own race, showing their many vir- tues and their capacity for higher educa- tion. Bishop Gaines was a siave himself until liberated after the Civil War. By nis own example he proves that the negrois capable bimself the respect of his white brother. The | remarks in the present volume on amalgama- | tion and the colored man’s place in politics will furnish interesting reading thoughtful people, whether tney agree with | the writer’s concluslons or not. THE WORLD’S FAMOUS PLACES. JOHN L. STODDARD'S LECTURES — New York, Chicago and London: Belford, Middlebrook & Co. into two classes — those who travel to be seen and those who travel tosee. Mr. Stod- dara belongs to the latter class, and the result of his wanderings as set forth 1n these ten volumes will be appreciated by thousands of | people unable to foliow in his footsteps. Mr. | Stoddard has visited every civilized country in the world,and has something new and original to say of each. Each volume is hand- somely and profusely illustrated, and the set will form a most desirable addition 10 the library. 5 OF INTEREST TO GIRLS. MISS NI Baylor. Price $1 25. Frances Courtenay Baylor is one of the best known contributors to St. Nicholas, and her BARROW—By Frances Courtenay ew York: The Century Company. i | the country. The present book deals with a brought up by a fond grandmother, having lost both parents. The girl is very mucn spoiled, but, thanks to the loving care of a charming cousin, she is broken of any.” Miss Nina makes a trip abroad, and her teresting. Finally sne loses her money, but she bears the affl:ction bravelyand goes to the front rank in kindergarten work. FOR LOVERS OF THE UNCANNY. DESMONDE, M.D.—By Hugh Wakefield. New York: G. W. Diliingham & Co. Price 50 cents. This is & strange story setting forth the pos- | sibiiities of hypnotism, astral and physical projection and thoughi-reading. The theory therein expounded that a criminal is sus- ceptible to reformation by medical treatment of the brain may be true or it may not. any rate, the story itself is interesting and well told and will find maony friends. ABOUT OTHER WORLDS. A—Ey Camille Flammarion. inyson Neely. Price 50 cents. When a leading astronomer writes a novel, something out of the ordinary may be ex- pected. Urania” is decidedly so, and will be read with interest by all who find pleasure in speculating on worlds and conditions une known. Much valuable astronomical data is also imparted, and, so that the plot be not too | heavy, love is also introduced into the ro- mance The translation, which is by Augusta Rice Stetson, is all that could be desired. New York: URAN F of attaining to high position and winning for | for all | People who travel may roughly be divided | stories have won friends for her throughout | | little girl who is very wealthy and who is | her bad | habits and finally becomes *‘as good a girl as | experiences are well described and very in- | At | LITERARY NOTES AND NEWS. "E. P. Dutton & Co. will publish 8. Baring Gould’s “Perpetua—A Tale of Nimes, A. D. 213.” The same firm announces “Baby Days— A Book of Records in a Baby’s Life.” A window has been put up in the church of Pallas, or Pallasmore, in County Longford, Ireiand, where good Oliver Goldsmith was born, and the year of that event was 1728. There is to be &8 monumental brass affixed to the church. A Life of Ernest Renan,” by Mme. Mary Darmesteter, is to be published this fall by Messrs. Methuen & Co. Mme. Psicharl, who is Renan'g daughter, has revised the proofs. This assures the accuracv of the biography. M. Zola will not come to America to lecture, at least not yet—and never to reply to M. | Brunetiere’s criticisms. He holds out the hope that he may come at some distant day, and tell us how the nationslove one another— a subject that suggests & wide field for sarcas tic treatment, Shades of Fitzgerald! What, for a title, is this? Mr. James Whitcomb Riley has a serlal | Poem, which has for name “The Rubaiyat of | Doc Sifers.” «Doc¢” if not of Shiraz, but ot | Indiane—a Persian Hooster hero. The poem | s to appear in the Century, in the November and December numbers. Think of that Italian whose memory is so | prodigious that he can recite Dante’s ““Divine Comedy”’ from beginning to end, and without any prompting. The Academy tells of an Eng- lish gentleman who has his Milton by heart | and never halts in the entire recital of “‘Paradise Los A performance of this kind is of course remarkable, but to listen to the | gentleman would be exceedingly tiresome. The Academy quotes Canning’s “In matters of commerce the jault of the Dutch is giving 100 little and asking too much.” The Datch, 80 it seems, huve their pirate publisher, and literary freebcoter tackled C e fchreln- er's “Trooper Peter Halkett” and captured him, and o when Mr. Fisher Unwin wanted | to make a L utch copy of tne book he found he | had been tooslow. The Dutch buccaneer had | done the business for the “Trooper.” | 2 Messrs, Sampson Low & Co. of London are | about to issue & sumbtuous edition of ““The Life of Our Lord Jesus Cnrist,” illustrated with over 500 pictures by Tissor The work, which is edited by Mrs. Arthur Bell (N. | @ anvers), wili be complete in twelve part and the first part will appear in October. This | is & work upon which the French publishers | expended over $200.000. The French edition is published at 1500 trancs, but the Engiish will be only about & ifth of that brice. | | | Herbert E. Hamblen, the engineer author, | whose book of adventure, “Ou Many Seas,” created such a stir last year, has a new book in press with the Macmillans of u somewhat | similar character. It will be entitled “The General Manager’s Story; or, Old-Time Remi- niscences of Railroading in the United States. Mr. tiamblen, who is about 50 years of age, hasled a remarkabe life of roving adventurs on sea and on land. His reminiscences of sea life were emboaied in his former book. His | forthcoming book will record his reminis. cences of adventure on land, especially as a railroad engineer. The Philadelphia Record thus explains the origin of a weli-established American word: “Out in San Francisco, twenty-five years ago, there was a notorious character named Mul- | doon, who was the leader of a gang of young ruffians. They were a terror to the community ana about as tough a lot of citizens as you could find on the coast. A reporter who had been assigned to & story in which they had figured undertook to coin & word designating the gang. He reversed the name of the leader and referred to them as ‘noodlums.’ The com- positor mistook the ‘- for an ‘h,’ and as ‘hoodlums’ the word passed the proofreader. And now ‘hoodlum’ is & recognized word.” world of convincing conclusions in favor of pure English. INTERESTING MEMOIRS. RECOLLECTIONS OF AUBREY DE VERE— New York: Edward Arnoid. Price $4.. As stated in tne preface to this volume, “recollections” and “autobiograpnies” are very different things. This book belongs to the former class, but is none tne less interest- ing on this aceount. Born in 1814, Aubrey de Vere in his long life met most of the men and women who have been famous in Great britain during the last fifty years. In his boy- hood, the greater part of which was spent in Ireland, he watched the great fight made for Catholic emancipation, and in 1895 was still active in his endeavors to bring about better conditions for his country. Of those early years, and of the state of Ireland then, he speaks eloquently in this book. They wers the days of stage-cosches, dueling and hard drinking, of oppression and political corrup- tion, sll of which are made subjects for rich anecdotes. The period of his early manhood is especially full of incident. He met and knew O’Connell, Wordsworth, Leigh Hunt, Mrs. Felicia Hemans, Miss Fenwick (the dear iriend of Wordsworth's later years, as Col- eridge was of his earlier), John Henry, later Cardinal Newman, Carlyle and hosts of others known in the literary, scientific and political world. Long before he met these people he was writing poetry and preparing himself to occupy the high niche that has since been ac- corded him. His recoliections of the great famine in Ireland, and his comments thereon, form one of the most interesting chapters in the book 10 readers of to-day. Then, again, the thousands of people who admire and love Newman, oue of the greatest men of the cen- tury, will appreciate the light he throws on his character and his secession from the Churech of England to that of Rome. Another chapter of interest is that wherein the author sets forih hic own reasons for becoming a Catholic, which he dia in 1850, five years later than Newman. He traveled through Switzeriand, Italy, Scotland, England and Ire- land, and of each place he visited has some interesting remarks to make. These take up over 370 pages, not one of which contains so much as a paragraph that will be passed over unread. STUDIES IN CHARACTER, OLD EBENEZER—By Ople Read. Chlcago: Laird & Lee. Stuaies in character always furnish restful reading, especially when portrayed by a writer like Opie Read. “Old Ebenezer'’ is a town in one of the Southwestern States,where the lead- inglawyer paid his rent by contributing to the pewspaper, and the editor discharged like ovligations by supporting the landlord for Congress. Of the sleepy inhabitants of this place and of their daily doings, Opie Read tells in & manner peculiarly simple yet fasci- nating. The hero of the romance stands up before one as though he were painted on can- and the story of his struggles for literary honors and his final success 15 most naturaliy told. Strange as it may sound, this young man is married by mistake to a girl whom he does not know, and who has never met him prior to the night of the marriage. After the ceremony is performed they are separated, and itis fully six months before they finally come together and find they love one another very much indeed. The plot is & peculiar one, but that is one of its chief charms, and the book reads like a chapter from real life. All the characters are well drawn, and their dialogue is often tull of a delicate humor and keen satire. IN DEFENSE OF THE PUBLISHER. AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS; A Manpal of Suggestions for Beginners in Literature—B. G. H. P. and J. B. P. York: G. B. Putnam’s Sous. Ever since the days of Dr. Johnson the pub- lisher has been the object of calumny by the writer, and, 2s a rule, the more unsuccessful the author the greater the contempt for the publisher who declines to lose money by hand- ling his unsalable wares. It is a pity that this state of affairsshould exist, and the object of Messrs. Putnam'’s book is to explain away many misconceptions about the publishing trade into which writers have fallen. The au- thors also furnish & handy and reasonable guide for the use of beginners in literature, including a very useful lists of *“don’ts.” It is too much to expect that the as- world in general) know what his right giveth away. EDNA LYALL. The appearance of a new novel from the pen of Edna Lyall (Miss Baily) is always a matter of literary interest. *“ Doreen,” ““ Donovan and “ The Autobiography of a Slander” won for her hosts of admirers; but this latest novel, *“ Wayfaring Men,” is superior to anything she has hitherto produced. The plot of the story is as follows: A young lad, Ralph Denmead, ambitious to-become an actor, is adopted after the death of his parents by his godfather. This godfather is a man of speculative tendencies, a Company Promoter, and much given to letting his left hand (and the Having defrauded Ralph’ s father of his little estate, he deter- mines to make amends for it by educating the lad and launching him in life. At his godfather’s house our young hero becomes acquainted with a little girl, a wealthy ward, and the two, without being aware of it, fall in love. A few years later Ralph fails in his examination for the Indian Civil Service, and is thereupon turned out of his godfather’s house to shift for himself. He goes on the stage, and after many struggles wins his way to the top of his profession. Then he marries the love of his schoolboy days, who has been defrauded of her wealth by the Company Promoter.- The secondary characters in the story are almost of equal importance with the primary. An actor, Hugh Mac- neillie, loves a woman married to a affection for the devoted Thespian, but had given him up, chiefly for financial reasons. member of the - British aristocracy. In to rmer years this lady had entertained an These characters are intro- duced for the purpose of showing up the nature of the divorce laws prevalent in England. The man to whom this woman is wedded is unfaithful to her, and aithough she sues to be divorced from him the courts will only permit a separation, because no ““cruelty ” has been used against her. This prevents her from marrying her former lover and is the one sad incident in an otherwise cheerful story. Few women are able to portray faithfully the characters of men, George Eliot being the one great exception to this rule. In this respect, especially with regard to men’s relations to one another, Miss Baily is often at fault. Her male characters have about them the touch that makes them * women’s men,”” who have existence only in the minds of women. The fault with the * Wayfaring Men ” is that they lack virility. Nevertheless, Miss Baily is gradually and surely winning her way to the front rank of novelists of the day.