The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 10, 1901, Page 4

THE SUNDAY CALL E have had books on China from eople who have made flying rips for pieasure through the country and from others who ave lived there and have writ- r pleasure. In “An American Engi- Ch! we have a book from a who went through one of the closed nces of China under the pay of an can syndicate “to examine, survey port_on ensive raflway en- a maen is sent out by an + a good salary and hat upon his report ment of large sume to expect that t as competent as any for such an enter- sat 1 will b be said that we have not had & works on China Mr. Wiiliam author, went the express saw. It w butter to him to his trained mind facts and figures Yorded every faci ¢ differ- < Chinese cfictals in the i. This piaced him in a position e valuable d He writes entirel & to say flourish but & e practical business cf rorty-three pages, of the history of which,Avhile necessary contains nothing how- jcn Incidentally r < cle idea se form of ment and shows 1 foreign countries fon of foreign cc leads to the “America his recond chapter. in Parsons says: forsien co ntry to tr and the ¥ on taken by has been to foster and ubjects. The policy s regard has been ver has been ac- = the result of in- sad T ational support. * * ditions and & turn- “w channels were Stalile. = - by fon of the movement toward B dening out on the part of American capi- for forelgn invasion wae the securing c noession for the raliroad from Henkow consummated by the signing £ n Warhington in April, 1898, by Wu Tin g t Chinese Minister, and by a gula ncidence just one week before ! war, roe ican energies into that were ine gular confirn the which wes to establish the tes as a colonizing power. sjon covers about 900 miles of rail- r with mining and other privileges, E ke 1t, in value and mational import- 16 no other concession granted by sovernment. The projected route ftself is from Hankow, the he interior, or, as it is some- Chicago of Chiza.” to Can- at port in the south, and thence ~ &£hts to go to any selected point on the « ™+ les through part of the for 400 miles through the the provinee of Hunan, and P province of Kwangtung. 5 t zh this country that M with his crew of picked ) bodyguard appointad vs of the provinces through The work of making the longest continuous surement up to that China. For 500 miles party were the ficat . He was as & of interest to to him ince of Hu quare miles the inhabitants prov 7,00 n has an area of or half as much as the State of New York, and 'tc ation is estimated at 22,000,00. A part of Mr. sons’ trip was mad. op the Yangtse, and then up ang-kiang. Judging from his ge- fons it was full of unique expep:- f of the time we were obliged where ~amping in tents was at of the curiosity of the pro- n their eagerness to see a “‘foreign devil,” his short hair, to fee! his queer to inspect his extraordinary big which last everywhere seemed of belongings to attract the most atten- certainly have torn down any shelter: and at such moments our te of its pretentious proportions of would have been of little use. * * * Our preferred slecping-places were ex- amination halls, in wifch are held the annuai examinations of studbnts fn the classics for iiterary degrees, the stepping-stone for politicul preferment, the ambition of every Chinese, for in a public office means wealth and power; temples, either public of the Buddhist faith or private ones for ancestral worship—the lat- ter much to be preferred as being cleaner and guard 200 soldiers, better tended: tea-hongs or large storehouses, or, as a last resort, inns, The curiosity of the Chinese proved n small obstacle in the path of the travel- ers. It was all expressed In the best of good rature and resulted in harm to no one, but at the time it caused the par- ty considerable uneasiness. When the Americans celebrated Christmas night by the best American banquet of the regula- tion sort which could be arranged, it al- most created a riot in the little town of Ping-shul. They were passing the night in & tea-hong, which opened directly on the village street, and afforded the rabble an excellent opportunity of viewing the proceedings: Our actions, our songs, our very food—but, above ell, our forks and knives—were a source of inexplicable astonishment to the people; but when our plum pudding—a thoughtful gift of an English lady in Hankow—appeared, decorated with holly and blazing in true Yule-tide style, a look of terror appeared on their faces. The climax, however, was reached when a flash- light picture of the scene was taken. When the magnesium powder flared up the crowd broke and ran, All of Mr. Parsons’ anecdotes and de- scriptions go to show the diff t view- point of Americans and of C se. To them we appear as the barbarians, and to us they are the ones entirely lacking in refined civilization. It all from the way you look at it. Mr. Parsons is so fair- minded upon these points that it Is easy to understand v he encountered no se- rious difficuities upon his trip: In thinking of the Chinese, especinlly interfor, we are wont to cons uncivilized; and so they are, if measure pulously by our pecullur standards. the other hand, they might say with som tice that we are not civilized according te those in the standards that they have set for themselves, founded on an experien four thousand With ail its differences from oursel on that has had an organization for five years; that has used printing for over eight centuries; that has produced the work of art that China has produced; that possesses a literature that antedates that of or Athens; whose people maintain shrines along the highwa te of the cla they s In which, follow- < to respect the to pick up and her than have them : and which, to indicate & instance, was ab furnish me with er of credit on local banks in un- expl Hunan, can hardly be denied the right to call i civilized. From 1 iption of the Chinese sol- dier, however, one can see that that worthy. might certainly cultivate our ai- vanced ideas, acquired by higher civiliza- tion, te some advantage: form of the Chinese soldier is a com- but most unmilitary coliection of gar- The ccat, its hang. resembles a th wide, loose sleeves. It is of a plain with a wide marginal band of another On the breast and back are marked, lisks sewed to the coat, the man, the designation of thgror- Which he belongs and his posi- The trousers are of dark ail: mber of t ization 1c the ranks. The queue i worn wrapped about the 4 the whole inclosed In a dark b n turban Beneath the coat is a waist- t with tight-fitting sleeves projecting about s beyond the ends of the fingers. The caa Jet the projections hang down, “good reading” The last half of it will appeal to the business man or capitalist who looks to the Qrient for investments. Mr. Parsons takes up at length commerce and commercial relations and shows just where the United States stands In this light. Under a chapter on “Chinese Construc- tion” the author points out that ‘the englneering progress of the Chinese has been along static rather than dynamic lines—that is, they have learned how to construct bridges, erect pagodas and con- centrate their forces to build a wall fif- teen hundred miles long, but not how to construct a machine, or to do any of the of which Is building he even sug- gests that the beautiful principle of the arch is of Chinese origin, and points out where thelr structures are deserving of great credit both as works of art and ex- things the basal movement.” In principle amples of practical utility. He found, however, a lacking in the understanding transportation and of of principles of hydraulic machinery, upon which so much depends in a country relylng upon irrig: tion for a large percentage of its crops. He say: If, therefore, T were asked to enumerate the relative importacce of engineering develo; ment, 1 should say—means of transportatios hydraulic machinery; mining; and then, those machines which can compete against a very low-priced manual labor, and which can, it possible. enter a field of work not now under- taken, such as electric lighting, or entet the existing fields conditions without too violent or immediately revolutionary effects Mr. Parsons’ chapter on nland Com- munication” shows conclusively the crude methods of present transportation and the splendld field open to the rallroad man; also the great nced of improvement in river traflic. He is by no means san- guine, however, that the country Is ripe for any marked changes along these lines, JUNK WITH A 2AC BAGSAIL, when they protect the hands from the weather. or can convert them into a muff by merely claspin® his hands within the long sleeves. When he wishes to use his hands be rolls his sleeves up. If the weather be cold he wears as many undercoats as he pleases. He carrles no knavsack, but instead a cotton bax some- what like a short golf-club bag, which he wears diagonally across his back, suspendel by m cord over ome shoulder and the chest. and in it he carries all the artieles needed for a march, his tobacco pipe, fan, and paper um- brella. In the capital of Hunan, Changsba, which s the center of the forbidden prov- ince and not accessible to foreigners, it was found that, nevertheless, forelgn commerce had found its way there. The shopa of Changsha ,will compare fovor- in the shops of any other city China, displaying a full line of articles Chinese, and of forelgn manufacture; in fact, o wide a range of choice is there that we were even able to stock our larder with a good supply of Munich beer in the origtnal bottles. Changsha is estimated by the Chinese to have a population of over a million, but Mr. Parsons thinks that these figures are exaggerated. He further holds that the population for the whole of China has been overestimated, and that the country is by no means crowded. The author writes very interestingly of the many odd customs and ways of doing things so strikingly different from our practices. He tells of the Chinese river gunboats, with their night guard of a watchman with a rattle to frighten away thieves; of the women who wear baskets filled with hot wood ashes tied around their walsts to keep their stomachs warm; of the fishermen who catch fish by having cormorants do the work for them. The birds dive down and get a fish in their mouth, but cannot swallow it on ac- count of a string which has previously been tied around thelr necks. All the fishermen have to do is to take the fish away from the birds as they come up. 1f the birds do well they each get a fish to eat before the homeward trip. There i{s much of a similar nature in the volume which tends to make it good reading for the general reader. Mr. Par- sons’ personal impressions, as stated in a chapter under that head, are of espe- cial value, coming from a man of such evident good sense and experience. But the book contains more than merely ably with although the need Is undoubtedly there. At present their fast freight is largely limited to wheelbarrows and their river boats are generally junks with rag-bag sails. His figures on rallway service are worth noting. In this connection the author says: o\ Summerizing the figures, such as they are, we find the present status of Chinese railways 1o be about as follow Corstructed— Chinese Government system Belglan concesslon British concession German Santung concesslon Russian Manchurian lines. Total .. We have thus in China, Including the Russian branch in Manchuria, only about $00 miles of rallway, serving a country whose aren is nearly half as large as that of the United States and whose population is said to be 400,000,600. Lines aggregating 20,000 miles could well be bulit dur- ing the next ten vears with profit. Mr. Parsons goes on to point out a few of the difficulties in the establishing of railway systems. Here is one which will tllustrate the unexpected troubles lying in the path of the promoter in China: A formidable obstacle is found in connection with the graves of ancestors, which are the most important outward evidence of Chinese religion. Unfortunately these graves are not placed in regular cemeteries, but are scattered more or less broadeast over the surface of the country. so that it Is impossible to run a rail- way line without frequently interfering with them, At first this objection seemed fatal, and the earlier lines were given an alignment that would prove seriously detrimental to Important raflwass. When the matter became acute In the construction of the Imperial rafiway in the north the question was taken up for settiement on a business basis, and eight taels was reached as a sort of tarlff to compensate the resident for the disturbance of each dead ancestor and to pay for the removal of the latter to a new resting place. Experience has shown that this charge was somewhat in excess of actual cost, for not only has opposition practically ceased, but & new business has sprung up. It is found that if the natives learn in advance of the loca- tion of @ new line the more enterprising among them, if 50 unfortunate as not to have a family burying ground in the way, will get from their neighbors the temporary loan of a few grandfathers, whom they will quietly re- bury in mdvance of the work. The charge of elght tasls seems sufficlent to pay the expense of the double handiing, with & commission to €0 as to change the present the owner of the ancestor, and yet leave an attractive profit to the borrower. % The author's closing chapters on the “Yellow Peril” and “China in the Twen- tleth Century” contain much food for 8 thought. The main point of interest upon which he spends some space is the over- | estimate of the population of China and the fact that the yellow terror is not to be so feared as some writers wotld lead us to suppose. The book is well {llus- trated by half-tone reproductions of pho-. tographs. (Published by McClure, Phil- lips & Co., New York.) B. G. LATHROP. The Queens of England. Those readers who feel a lack of his- torical knowledge in connection with the lives of the Queens of England and vet have not the time to devote.to a perusal g of exhaustive works on the subject such as Strickland’s “Queens of England,” or similar books, will be interested in a vol- ume of convenient size which has just been- published. It gives in detail the lives of “The Queens of England” suffi- cient for the information of the general reader and covers some 500 and odd pages. Of course, in a volume of this size it is not to be expected that the author can digress to any extent from absolute biog- raphy. There is no room for anecdotes or incidents which mean so much in convey- ing an adequate idea of character, but as far as the bare facts in the lives of each is concerned the book amply answers the purpose. ¢ In the matter of period of time the vol. ume is complete, for it includes the lives of all of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest, Matilda of Flan< ders, to the death of Victoria, seventl Queen Regnant. ’ The present volume is by Mary Howitt! and has been revised by Geneva Arm- strong. It is illustrated by twenty-eight full-page portraits. (Published by B. 8. Wasson & Co., Chicago. Price $150.) The White Flame. “The White Flame” is a story dealing with the occult. which promises well enough In the beginning but falls rather flat In the end. The plot offers the possi- biiity of a very good ghost story, but the author wanders in a despairing way tos werd the latter part of the book. In the opening chapter it suggests the motive of the story. A young girl comes to her room, after having been detained late by company, to find that a stranger is sitting in the chair which she had that day purchased from a second-hand dealer. She finds that this stranger is the ghost of an old man, who is doomed to come nightly and sit in this chair until his last descendant has passed from earth. This penance has been forced upon him be- cause he did not answer the appeal of a dying son. The woung woman is nof THE AMERICAN ENGINEERS N THE =L ~iArmen mc Tne appariuion, but becorfles Interested in the story and has frequent conversations with the old spock in the chalr. Finally her family finds that she is ap- parently talking into thin air, for the o cupant of the chalr is Invisible to every one except the owner, and only to her at the hour of midnight. They arrange to get her away to a summer resort, and then dispose of the chalr. The yourg woman has become so interested in the mystery, for she has learned that the two surviving descendants of tne old m: re her Aunt Susan and the village parson, that she dons male attire to seck for the lost nlece of furniture The possibilities offered urlaue. but the latter hali of the -book taken up with a rambling account of irrelevant ad- ntures. (Published by Stockhzm Pub- hing Company, Chicago. Price, §1 25.) !Smiles and Tears From the Klondik2 | After Jack London's tales of the Frozen {North and the Great Wt Silenc which were published some e ago v { der the title of *“Sons of the Wolf." all | other stories of a similar nature are apt | to suffer by comparison. Alice, Roilins Crane has just issued a collection of stories and sketch led “Smiles and Tears from the Kiondik which possess sufficient variety in their selection to cscape a clash th, the stronger ones of the California write Her collection {s made up of sto different authors and in varylng vein. Scme of the most Interesting cf them are those which deal with the legends and folk lore of the country. Others show the life and customs of the present white in- habitants and will serve to dispel from the reader’s mind a great many false im- pressions which have -been gathered by deeultory reading. Then again some are intended as pure fiction, and as such fall far short of those of Jack London. The serles, as a whole are quite interest- ing and the author tells us that it is her intention at a later perfod to publish a second, series in the same vein. Besides herself, the other writers of prominence in the volume are: The Hon. Willlam Ogilvie, Commissioner of Yukon Terri- tory; Captain William Galpin, one of Dawson's leading business men, and Mrs. Ella H. Cunningham, who is well known as a writer for popular journals, maga- zires and other periodicals. The Frozen North presents an admirable field for the pen of the informed and cap- able writer and books of this kind wilt undoubtedly rise in popularity. (Pub- lished by Doxey, New York.) Love. A charming liitle volume of short stories has just been published by Me- Clure, Phillips & Co.. New York, under the title, “Love.” The stories are select- ed from McClure's Magazine and this vol- ume will form one of a series of five to be issued this spring. The other titles are “Comedy,” *“Politics,” “Youth,” and “The' Railroad.”” In the present book all the stories have something to do with the title which is given to the collection. They vary in vein from pathos to humor and all of them keep the reader’s inter- est well sustained. Thé size of the vol- ume is very convenient for handy read- ing and the binding and typographical work are most attractlve. The series should prove very popular, and reflect much credit on the publishers. The stories in “Love” include: *Love In a Fog by Hester Coldwell Oakley ‘The Captain of the Aphrodite,” by Kl more Elliott Peake; ““The State Against Ellsworth,” by Willlam R. Lighton; “Ot- tenhausen’s Coup, by John Walker Har- rington; “Accordin’ to Solomon,” by Mary M. Mears. Law and Policy of Annexation. Carman F. Randolph of the New York bar, author of “The Law of Eminent Do- main,” has contributed to the discussion of the Philippine question a valuable treatise, “Law and Policy of Annexa- tlon,” in which he gives due considera- tion to the two phases of the issue—has the United States a right to the Philip- pines; is it expedient for the }Imtea States to retain them? 4 Mr. Randolph holds that the Spanish had a full right, under the law of nations, to sell the islands, and that the natives have no rights which either Spain or_the TUnited States is bound to respect. He is equally sure of the authority of Congress under the constitution to annex the islands. Upon that point he quotes the statement of Chief Justice Marshall: “The constitution confers absolutely on the Government of the Union the powers of making war and of making treaties, con- sequently that Government possesses the power of acquiring territory either by war or by treaty."” Following out that view to its logical conclusion, Mr. Randolph argues: ‘“The Philippines are not only within the United States In a general sense; they are not distinguished organically from the rest of our territory, Prior to the treaty of Paris the common property of the States of the Union called the ‘Territory of the United St comprised New Mexico, Arizona, homa, Indlan Territory, Alaska, caii and a number of islets. To these are now added the Philippines, Porto Rico and Guam.” He adds: * persons born in the Philippines after an- d subject to our jurisdiction are citizens of the United States, though they are not members of the voting body of the republic. Having thus disposed of the legal ques- tions involved in the problem, Mt. Ran- dolph proceeds to consider the question of expediency and of justice, and reaches the fon that we should withdraw from slands. On that point he say: “Withdrawal from the Philippines will mean that, having tried the policies of the world powers and found them w we purpose to put our sirength to b use than conquest, to affirm the hope of a better law for the world than the law of war, and to invigorate this hope in all rations by the example of our own. And our action will restore to our primacy in America the oral weight it has lost rough aggrandizement in Asia. * * * thdrawal from the Philippines will re- the truth that the strength of is not maintained by the ment of boundaries nor by mere addition of peoples. It is founded upon the competency and loyalty of the civic body, and upon the indestructible un- fon of indestructible States.” The treatise forms a volume of 226 oc- tavo pages and is published by Longmans, Green & Co., New York. ng, The Head of a Hundred. One of the good results of the recent keen interest taken in the romances deal- ing with colonial times is the republica- tion of Mrs. Maud Wilder Goodwin's story, “The Head of a Hundred,” which first appeared five years ago. The story deals with the romance of a young woman who flies to the colony of Virginia to escave an objectionable mar- riage, and who finds in that colony much of adventure and a happy love. The In- cidents of the narrative include a war between the colonists and the Indians and the usual experiences of frontier life in these troublous times. When first pub- lished the work won the approval of crit- ics and was well received by the general public, and now that a renewed Interest has been taken in historical pictures of life in America in those early days, it can be safely predicted that the welcome given to the new publication will be even greater than that accorded when it first appeared. The motif of “To Have and to Hold, by Mary Johnston, which made such a success last season, Is very similar to that of “The Head of a Hundred."” Mrs, Goodwin has the advantage of being the first in the field. (Published by Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Price §150.) A Priest and a Woman. In “A Priest and @ Woman,” by Landls Ayr, the motif of the book is the celibacy of the clergy, which is ingeniously pre- sented and advocated by entertaining ex- perfences and conversations in an Epls- copal parish. The young rector, vowed to celtbacy, 18 thrown much in the so- clety of a beautiful young woman, who seeks him for counsel and spiritual sup- port, her life being hedged by most un- happy conditions. A college mate and in- timate friend of the priest is ardently in love with the same young woman, and maintains a close pursuit throughout the story, His arguments with the priest re- veal the latter's views. The story con- tains an element of both comedy and trag- edy, while there ts also a clever depiction of varied character, among which figures ‘the girl with the opossum smile.” (Pub- lished by the Abbey Press, New York. Price $1.) Edison’s Cyclopedia. Laird & Lée are 1ssuing a new, entirely revised edition of their famous Edison's Handy Cyclopedia and Universal Atlas. The figures from the census of 1900 are given in full, together with all detalls concerning the Presidential election; ex- haustive notices of Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines, with latest statistics are also included. The reapportionment bill for the United States House of Rep- resentatives is given a page, and the ar- ticles concerning every State and Terri- tory have been carefully corrected up to date. These are only a few of the hun- dreds of subjects that render this book, with its fifty maps in colors, an invaluable reference work for all classes. (Flexibla cloth, 25 cents; stiff cloth, library style, 50 cents.) King Henry V. McClure, Phillips & Co. of New York have just put on the market a charming edition of “The Richard Mansfleld Ac ing Version of King Henry V.” rdon- ing the prime advertisement it Is for Mr. » portrait of and Mansfleld to have a half-to himself as Henry V as frontisplece the names of his company printed as List of Persqps of the Play,” the publica- tion is very attractive. The cover is mo artistic, though simple in design, and the @ sileteiulelulnleieiod 5 + Illustrations from “An Amer- jcan Engineer in China,” by William Barclay Parsons. @ cirfefofelofomfoofofmocts oefoofolonfocfocforiomiolol paper and typographical work are excel- lent. Richard Mansfleld himself writes the introduction ould b bring is play to California it is y to prophesy that avaflable coples of this edition would go at a premium. Falling iat, it is only fair to say that th book deserves a place on every table not only out of respect for Shake- speare but because it Is Mr. M ald's acting version and a splendid imen of bookmaking as well. Falaise—Th= Town of the Conqueror. The many readers who enjoyed that arming book, In d Out of Threo rmandy Inns,™ An Dodd, will w me to literature— Conqueror by her alaise In the preseat volume Mrs. Dodd de- scribes a driving trip from the inn at Dives, as the mandy inns, most beautiful pa ond one into th of Norman iffs of Fal Mrs. Dodd writes charmingly melodious glish and it is indeed.a pleasure to go 1 th over the Caen plain to the with her bowling merrily a g In a Normandy char-a-bancs to the fair at Falaise. Here is a jotting from her pen about the Caen Plains—word painting in prose that wouid do credit to a poet: Hedges thick and dense, thatched huts, farm- e buted lively thou- sand carry to low padth m z jn the gold lctures that were set oist plains nolse that along had plagued alr as with the a mighty bell was softened to a pastoral peace. The ecompany of cows munched and moved among the gr » any one of the flelds one could hear w of the chanticleer, a note as = to nature-loving Theoc troliey-car and electric- systems Few landscapes In the world can equal the flat pasture lends Upper dos. The proximity of the sea peoples the sky with float- ing cloud masses, the humidity of its air giving to all vegetation a depth of green peculiar to moist clima Mrs. Dodd writes with the sure hand of one who feels the invigorating inspira- tion of the fresh country air. Every bit of color of landscape, of people or of habi- tation is caught and given to the reader just as it is in all its vigor and bright- ness. Her writing is made yet more con- crete by the number of splendid photo- graphs which lorm no small part in the filumination of the text She tells of the quaint old town of Falaise and its cdd street scenes; then of the Falaise Fair, the famous Eleventh Century Horse Fair, the greatest of its kind in Europe, and still in full living. Her accounts cf the horse trading, the fair booths, the vendors d all the life and incident§ of this oldest of fairs, are fascinating. In Part II is set forth the romance of Arlette—the love of the great Count Rob- ert, father of Willlam the Conqu The treatment of this story was sugges ed by the models furnished in the older chroniclers, whose versions of the loves of Robert and Arlette agree chiefly in their preference for a fanciful rather than for the more conventional historical form. In this history of the town, the author tells of William the Conqueror's great fortress, his sjeges, and his starting forth for the conquest of gland. This book is &n example of the high urt of up-to-date publishing. It is printed In large type and on extra heavy paper in order that the half-tones may be re- produced td_the best advantage. (Pub- lished by Lfttle, Brown & Co., Beston. Price $2.00.) —_— Literary Notes. “Nature in Literature” Is to be the sib- Ject of the April number of “Impressions’ —to include articles by George Hamlin Fitch, Charles Warren Stoddard, Adeliny Knapp, A. L. E. H. and others. The sup- plement will be a careful reproduction of some beautiful photograph of naturs. May, the fairy month, will be devoted to fairy literature, folk lore and the chill mind... “Impressions’ completes its first year with the March issue and can be congratulated for its brilliancy and inde- pendence during its short career. Messrs, Harper & Bros. have announced an excellent scheme which they propose to carry out during this year, namely, to publish once every month an American novel by an American author. It is osed to have these romances written ¢ the most part by new writers—by me women of modern ideas, youtht and fresh imagination, a new d=pa in the fleld of American ficti January novel was “Eastover C house,” by Henry B. Boone and Ker Brown, the same being a story of temporary Virginia life. The Fe novel was a story of contemp sachusetts and Missouri life, mentalists”” by Arthur Sta < The third novel in the American seri be published in March, will be “M Brook,” by Morgan Ba: The leading feature of McClure's M gine for March is & character study Edward VII, written by the man in A fca most competent for the W. Smalley, the correspondent « don Times. Accompanying the are pictures which ferm a series tralts of the new sovereign youth to the present. Follow preciation of the King there is tion of pictures of Queen V are thirty in number, reprodu photograr @ paintings. and a o arch. A them. S Camera Craft for March has a soft-tons frontisplece that is quite striking. The subject is “Magdalen.” from a egative by Charles 1. Berg. The print was taken from the New York Camera C at the California Camera Club. esting article, with illustrations, by Theodore Kytka on “The First Rogu Gallery in the World,” which, by the way, was started right here in San Fran- sisco by ex-Chlef of Police Lees. The current number is filled with half-tone reproductions of interest to the general reader as well as to the photographic ex- pert. here is an article about a “Photo- graphic Slide Rule” that will appeal to the cumera faddist. a ete pictorial souvenir of descriptive text acce Two exceedingly valuable books con- cerning motor traction have recently been published by the J. B. Lippineott Com- pany. W. Worby Beaumont's ‘“Motor Vehicles and Motors,” treating of their design, construction and m, oil and electricit trations and working takes up the entire subject exhaustively. “Mechanical Traction in War,™ by Lieu- tenant Colonel Otfried Layris. is a spe- clalized treatise, of course; its especial value lles In the fact that the use of trac tion during the war In South Africa Is Leing thoroughly considered, presenting the resuits of actual service trials under severe conditions. “The Romance of the Heavens” is the title of a popular yvet scientific book on astronomy by A. W. Bickerton, professor of chemistry at the New Zealand Unive sity, which the Macmfillan Company w publish !mmediately. A chapter whic! will probably cause some attention is that which deals with the possible immortality of the Cosmos. The author has tried to write a book which with careful reading may be followed by any person with a £00 ol knowledge of experimental sclence. The Southern newspapers have wel- comed Willlam Hannibal Thomas’' book on “The American Negro” for as strong an argument for the repeal of the fif- teenth amendment as has yet appeared. Mr. T charac s 1s a negro of ability and but rather supports the asser- tion that the intellectual and moral quall- ties of the negro have not adv his material adva: not improved by the p 1 rights. This argume: ntrast to the optimism of Booker T. Washington, and public opinion in the South is like to regard It As an addl- tional cation for taking the negro out of pe and confining his activities to agric ural and industrial pursuits. In thelr effort to effect some compromise on fifteenth amendment both Southern lieans and Democrats are reckoning on much pathy in the North. The most tmportant articls in the March s Everybody's Bird 8. Cole erment of a G petent Magazine contribu undoubtedly on the “Gov- »ne is more big subject this the Comptroller of Greater New York, whose vigorous protests have made him a ror to corrupt politiclans. He deals cefully with the problems encountered in the direction of a big mu- ipality, and his strictures and dicta 1d be of value In all the other great s where parallel conditions exist. Among the Interesting statements Mr. Coler makes is one that municipal govern- ment cannot be conducted on the same lines as the business of a private corpo- ration. The sole aim of the latter is to make money for stockholders. The pur- pose of the former is to make a city a better place to live, 4nd the only dtvidends possible e improved public utilities and better citizenship. He declares further that pling curse of Amerfcan mu- nicipal government s political meddling and State interferrence.” Still more about “An Englshwoman's Tove Letters” The latest concerning the authorship of the book is, perhaps, the most startling of all. It is contained in the well known Scotch paper, the Dundes Advertiser. “T have just had a chat with a friend,” writes a correspondent, “who knew Oscar Wilde In Parls. About a month before his death, when he was very 1ll, a few friends met him in his room, where he read them coplous extracts from an MS. which he sald had been intrusted to him, and on which the writer wished to know his views. The opinion was unanimous that the work was of no com- mon quality, and it was decided that the book, as it stood, should be submitted to a publisher. “One of the party suddenly observed that a part of the MS. was not typewrit- ten and was in Wilde's writing. He was taxed with the authorship and admitted it. but sald, rather sadly, ‘No publisher would look at it under my name. Let it stand or fall on its own merits as a liter- ary production.’ Of the little party who heard the reading only my informant's friend, to whom the manuscript was in- trusted, remains alive. “Whether Mr. Murray knew of fts suthorship when he accepted the book T do not know. It was Wilde's earnest de sire that the book should appear anony- mously. Now the book is a success, thera is no harm in giving honor where honor is du —_———— Books Received. A TREASURY OF IRISH POETRY— Edited by Stopford A. Brooke and T. W. Rolleston. The Macmillan Company, New York. Price $175. THE RICHARD MAX FTELD ACTING VERSION OF KING HENRY V—Pub- lshed by MeClure, Phillips & Co., New York. A YEAR OF LIFE—By Willlam Samuel Lilly. John Lane, New York. THE VISITS OF ELIZABETH-Ey por Glyn. John Lane, New York. b THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND—By Mary Howitt. Revised by Geneva Arm- El- strong. B. 8. Wasson & Co., Chicago. Price 81 A ROYAL EXCHANGE—-By J. Mac- Laren Cobban. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $l TRAVELS IN ENGLAND—By Paul Hentzne Cassell's National Library, New York. In paper 10 cents. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING v Willlam Shakespeare. Ca: vatlonal Library, New York. in 0 cents. THE SHADOW OF MAN-By E. W. Hornung. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. $1 3. N ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ETIQUETTE Emily Holt. McClure, Phillips & Co. New York. A PRIEST AND A WOMAN—By Landis Ayr. The Abbey Press, New York. il )