The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 18, 1901, Page 4

who is evidently en- * certain amount of a kindly dispo- that Richard wasted time on pleased to ecall the King; or, The content sk in not g it forth through the d an into ime was »&rnin xperience f e “waste” = time ev cious gems as his which m the pen of Mr. Le Gallie calis_his book “The ove of ing” for two prime reasons. First, ‘i “love letters” 1ave been the wo d the advertise- ment is go second, because these “tove mentioned in the title hav ibout as little to do with the book as wytil € Two ‘cavital reasol In contemplating with wonder the sthereal- < f-flower-dew that goes 0 make up the ¢ Le Gallienne's picture of Richard itionlike in sympa- Love Letters of it ve been composed lock clan, writing b worms, seated on a 1 home embroid- es and clad & yw of a large’ er 1. 1 hoy This m: , i leman. e entitled torrid enough t Amelia Rives “Iin a pter, ven,” s and Daffodil Mendoza a hack. Pagan s he hero. Daffodil’is one of the butter- lies of the afternoon tea. They have 2ever met before. They try violent love © the theme, “'Let us make life wonderful tor each other! All this is intended to give a dash of solor and hold the attention of the reader ressed that Pagan isa boid n and later finds that he is bold i because h ove with a hop e. The reader tenders sympath Real his own badness, Pagan be- somes bl but even then is sad for a *crowd of little women, without a thought »f harm, were eating up his soul as they would nibble chocolate.” A pretty figure f the m gone wrong all on account of eriel is an ethereal creature he meets, who is gathering mushrooms on ais Jands. It is a case of soul-love b ‘ween the two at first sight. Meriel t young woman of strangely spirituelle ‘ype who is fond of mother, likes mus! rooms, d dotes on Pagan—that is has 1 longing to see her soul-jove Pagan once mly in many, many long months. This does not appeal to Pagan. He wishes to marry the lady according to good old orthodox fashion, but she says 3im nay. The soul agony of poor pensive Pagan & something intens cording to Rich- ard. As a boy he “had known that mystic sapport with nature in rare complete- jess.” and, of course, this naturally makes it that much harder for him. He inds himself becoming estranged. . So inally he deserts the town for the coun- ¥y and has a Leart-to-heart with nature. “An hour afterward Wasteneys lay face fown on the grass. The great mother sressed close to him for comfort; she looded his sad figure with sunlight; her norning breezes pressed cool hands wgainst his brow; little birds came near tnd peeped and sang; all the mighty morning begged to be frierd. But Wasteneys lay on unheeding, face down n the grass, crying like a child.” Then he goes back to London and writes joetry on ““The Sad Heart of Pagan Was- eneys.” "Lk Pagan has a sad lot, indeed. but some spiritual balm comes to him through the !riendship of Adeline Wood, a real nice roung woman, who binds books and likes hildren. Adeline loves Pagan, but, of sourse, doés mot tell him so. The reader tnowe Adéline loves him, for everybody oves Pagan.. Who could fail to “love t hero who crawis to the high grass to ary? Wasteneys gives a house party and is rery much impressed by the essay of a 20velist, who is one of the invited guests ‘o this mental feast. This'essay takes up the point that is bothering Wasteneys the most and settles it by “you must either &ill her—or forget her. it Jooks like tragedy dire and dreadful for a time. Pagan calls on a gypsy to mke part in an incantation scene, ‘Where- n he sees Meriel as in a dream, gets a wmckct of th: medicine of forgetfulness THE SUNDAY CALL. and then makes up his mind for great things. gets a line 1 am lonely T w he eaid, fiercely; “be sure I will come.” Here seems the opening up of a vista of delightful blood-spilling. 3 + e . Pagan arms himself with a “little re- volver.” and with the creed of “kill or forget” full in his soul starts out to meet his lonely one 1or the last time. In “a little cafe overiooking the sea’ he meets two iSnglishmen who are out-for an entomological trip, and Pagan at once decideg that before getting down to the tragedy in hand it would be nice to catch a fow butterflics. He torrows a net and wurns to chasing these fleeting glimpses of from Merlel, “Come to almost . sunshine. How deliciously esthetic! Out for mur- der and stop to catch *“‘Aurore de Pro- sty “So it was settled, and with the mor- row’s morn behold Wasteneys afoot, with butterfiy net and knapsack—singing— singing!” .He catches no butterflies. but he goes swimming instead. Then it is- that the miraculous happens. Here is_the cvolu- tion: “Why! you are hapny! Happy!” cries his The Enthroned Superstition frowned ou are not happy! you cannot be happy from me." You are happy—can ¥ou deny it?" reiterated his sovl A breath of hawthorn blew so sweetly across frem the river bank that it may be held to Fave intoxicated him into making his amazing renly ©! T cannot deny it.”" he said, suddeniy sitting vp in the water. I cannot deny it. I will not deny it. I sm happ: ite happy. Oh. what a fool T have been?’ And then he gave a great laugh of pure joy. and then another laugh of victory. 3 “It was all a beautiful disease,” he said; “'this river has washed me whole. It was all a wiliful faney. T see it now. Once more he lay in the rushing water—for that moment a being in entire harmeny with nature of which he was a part How dere a man be unhappy.” he =aid to himself. “while this sun shines. ®nd this river ficws, and all these green leaves are his good. gord, good world!” he shouted to the sun and the river: and then, spying his knapsack on the river side, he ran laughing up the bank and took from it—that absurd revolver! Don’t hold your ears and scream, for he doesn’t kill himself—more's the pity! Richard is of too kindly a disposition for that. as 1T wrote in my first lines. He merely takes the revolver and “from sheer glee of living and joy that he was free emptied its six chambers into the sweet sk . Here is the end. Pagan Wasteneys goes back to town and marries Adeline Wpod— the nice girl who'likes bookbinding and children. o . . Ore point that 1 had almost overlooked: it is really of such small significance in the story. I can hear the cry, “But why is the book called “The Love Letters of the King 2" *“The Love Letters of the King™ is a bit of Pagan's own Writing, a fiction that he evolves for the benefit of Adeline Wood. In. this little story he tells allegorically of his> own love for Meriel, or, as the author explains: “The fairy tale he had read to Adeline, though in some respects symbolic only of the exveriences of his spirit, was yet in one respect so externally faithful to his own story that there is hardly need to tell again how he had seen Meriel for the first time.” Richard should really not be allowed to fly into literary gardens too far from home after this latest effort of his pen. Some day some big collector of rareties will come along with a net of extra size and Richard wil' find himself pinned to the wall as the biggest “Aurore de Pro- vence” of them all. (Published by Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Price $1 B. G. LATHROP. - Three Men and a Woman. “Three Men and a Woman,” by R. H. P. Miles, is a novel on life in New York. In it is told the story of a young girl who eloped with an Austrian medical student to escape the monotony of rural life. They go to America and start housekeep- ing in New York City. The young ph cian grows in popularity in his profes ion, but the woman grows apart from him in her eagerness for social excitement. A little child comes to bless their un- ion, but it does not bridge the chasm that continues to widen. A rupture is the cul- mination. The physician drops out of view, but the wife plunges into the sea of zayety. Her fascination entangles a for- mer acquaintance who conducts with her a fashionable “‘bachelors’ apartments. She becomes madly infatuated with her paramour. : Eventually there entefs-upon the scene a mysterious character, whose hypnotic influence and insinuating knowledge ter- rorizes the woman and causes her to lure rer quondam lover, to his death. A chapter follows in which the detective and newspaper men are pursuing evasive clews. Finally the woman .is arrested with ber accomplice, but conviction hangs upon the identification of a portion of the victim’s body. This cannot be made ow- ing to the mysterious way in which the crime was committed. The mystery seems impenetrable, but the unexpected happens, A little child furnishes the key. Confes- sion is made. The woman is sent to prison for a long term. Her lover ends his life in the electric chair. A strange malady affects the woman's eyes, while a con- vict, which baffles the skill of the special- until a noted Western oculist, in the interest of scienge, visits the prison. The oculist turns out to be the medical stu- dent of ,the begihning of the story, and there is a dramatic climax of repentance and forgivene: (Published by G. W. Dillingham & Co., New York. Price $150.) The South American Republics. South America is a continent of many surprises for the majority of people in these United States. We recollect having heard of the haif-mythical jungles of the Amazon and the monsters that inhabit them, but cities as enterprising and as rapid in growth as Chicago seem an anomaly in our Southern hemisphere. When once our attention 'is drawu to them, however, we are easily convinced that the ten South American republics are too important and too interesting to be neglected. s The 1rte 2 and the important fea- tures of this southern continent are clar- 1y set torth in The South American Re- v W. Fisher Markwick, D. D.. liam A. Smith, M. A. The book tells of the ordinary and the curious as- pects of life, of the social and business customs of the people, their amusements and responsibilities. Jt gives descriptions of animals and birds, scenery, trees, flow- ers and fruits. The progressive side of the countries, the industries and com- merce, the cities, the public buildings and the magnificent railroad engineering, are given the attention they deserve. Nothing + Threugh this library is overlooked that contributes to an all- round, intelligent conception of South America. ‘The authors of the book have realized that we cannot understand the present 21.d conjecture as to the future of these countries without knowing their past and <hey have wisely given a chapter to ithe historv of each country. This informa- on is nowhere else available in so con- se and convenient form. The chapters on each country have been read by consular and diplomatic repre- sevtatives of these governments in the United States and their knowledge and criticism have contributed appreciably to the authoritative value of the book. The illustrations, which number some- thing over 100, have evidently been select- ed with great care. They are fully rep- 1esentative of industries and scenery, of and country, of backwardness and progress. from one end of the continent i0 the other. “The South American Republics” is in- tended primarily as a supplementary reader for schools and as such its value is readily apparent frcm the nature of the subject and the attractiveness of its pre- sentation. It should prove popular with the pupils and a valued assistant to the teacher who would make the lessons most interesting and most educative. It is a volume full of facts and information, told in a way that arouses and holds the interest—a comprehensive, reliable, up-to- daté and readable record of the ten re- publics of South Amerfca. (Published by Silver, Burdett & Co., New York. Price €0 cents.) The Three Hundredth Number. The three hundredth number of Apple- tcns’ Town and Country Library. “The Seal of Silence.” by A. R. Conder. appears with a handsome cover in colors, although the familiar red-brown cclor is preserved above and below the pictorial panel. The tricentennial issue directs attention again to the fact that no similar American li- brary of fiction has had the length of life and the success which have characterized Appletons’ Town and Country Library. write: like Hall Maxwell Gray. Ellen Therne: Fowler, S. Levett-Yeats. Molly ot Seawell. Egerton Castle, Juan Valera, Beatrice Whitby, E. F. Ben- son, Gilbert Parker, M. Jokai. M. Hamil- ton, Ada Cambridge, Guy Boothby, J. A. Altsheler, Allen Raire, Bernard Capes, T Gallon and C. C. Hotchkiss were intro- duced to simerican readers; and Clark Russell, Grant Allen, W. E. Norris, Thomas A. Janvier, Justin McCarthy, Lu- Caine, Edna Lyall. s Malet, Richard Malcolm Johnston, Victor Cherbuliez, Mrs. F. A. Steel, 86 G g and F. F. Moore are among others who have been well repre- ented in a series which has been pro- nced the best library of fiction ever undertaken in America. and the most suc- cessful. series as regards the discovery and development of new authers who have later risen to exceptional promi- nerce. An Aerial Runaway. + A good story of the Jules Verne order is always a welcome baok to_all lovers of the startling and adventurbus. Such ia An Aerial Runaway,” by tle Messrs. Chipman, father and son, who have here collaborated with marked suc- cess. The story ls for young people, but, iike all books of this character,. may be read with interest by their elders. Two boys. through interesting experiences, become acquainted with a professional aeronaut, and while taking an ascent in his captive balloon are cut away from their moorings and forced into a flight through the air. Their involuntary voy- age lands them at last on a mountain top in South America, where they drop into the lost city of the Incas, and the nine- teenth century faces the sixteenth. They have ma strange experiences and re- markable adventures, and finally escape by ingenious and dangerous methods. It is a story crowded with' incident and ad- venture. Information ingeniously mingles with the adventures, but never pointedly, and the book is one especially dear to the boyish heart—and the girlish, too—for love of exciting stories is confined to neither sex. (Published by the Lothrop Publishing Company, Boston. Price $1 50.) The Claim Jumpers. Appleton’s Town and Country Library contains as a recent issue a very bright story by Stewart Edward White, entitled “Tha Claim Jumpers.” It is the descrip- tion of certain adventures which befeil a New Ycorker during a visit he made to Soutn Dakota. The leading character of the story is Bernington de Laney, a young man who has been brought up in a very exclusive set in New York and taught to consider as hopelessly vulgar and as an impossible acquaintance for himself any one who has not his advantages of wealth and high de- aree. " De Larev believes that nature has en- dowed him with sufficient genius to enable him to become famous as a writer. He decides to go to the West that he may ex- tract material for ihe great novel he is to write;znd that he may allow the develop- ment of his intellect to proceed un- checked amifi‘the free life of an unconven- tional scciety. De Laney finds fn.the West even more than he had sought. The experiences with which he meets there not only add greatly SOMETHING T is one thing to be a master of po- etical form, but quite another to be a poet. Louis Alexander Robertson is both. His verses show the hand of a man of great literary attainments: a man whose mentality has been cultivated to the highest pitch and yet whose soul is. and ever has been, the soul of a born poet. In expression and form, whether the sonnet, rondeau, ballade or longer poem. Mr. Robertson's verses are in themselves perfect; yet this mechanical excellence, if We may so express it, attracts no atter- tion to itself. The lines read so smoothly and the thoyghts are so beautifully ex- pressed that it is the intent of the poetry and not its form that makes the lasting impression on the reader’s mind. We of this State can justly take pride that Mr. Robertson is of CaliforniA. His appreciation of the West is manlifest in these inspiring lines that follow the in- scriptfon of his book to his friend Sands ‘W. Forman: By Western Shores oft Triton blows His sounding shell; and she who rrs» Ali wet and wanton from the deen. To make man’s pulse with prssion leap, Here on the wave In beauty glows. A herd vsion the hillside lows, And where yon stream in muelc flows, There Pan is piping to his cheep, By Western Shores. Here vine-crowned Bacchuz doth repose, And rymphs and atyrs, ltke to those Of Tempe, frem the copses peep: Why for the fabled Lotus weep, When ‘neath the Ponpy we may doze, By Western Shores? Louls Alexander Robertson was born in Bt. John, New Brunswick, Canada. in 1856, He was educated at the St. John Grammar School and at the Sheffield Academy in his native province. His relatives were well-known Canadian ship- owners, with branch offices in London and Liverpool. ' Mr. Robertson, after leaving school, went to London to engage in the occupa- tion of bis forbears.; Later, in 1832, he came to this coast and established him- self in Portland, Or., where he remained for three years and then came to San Francisco. San Francisco has been his home ever since. $ One cannot fail to notice the sad strain running through all of Mr. Robertson’s writings. His ver: you say at once, are those of a man’who has seen much and suffered much. Unfortunately there is a direct reason for this—about twelve years ago his health began to give way before locomotor ataxia, and since then he has not'engaged in any regular busi- ness, but has devoted himseif to litera- ture. His first writings appeared in the Wave eight or nine years ago and he has fre- quently contributed to the other local weeklies and dalilies. His first poem to attract public notice was ‘‘Evolution," ‘which he read at the Academy of Selences in 18%5. This has been incorporated in the present volume. Much of his work has been copied in leading publications of both England and America and has been favorably commented 1pon by men of let- ters of the English-spea’sing world. The volume just published is called “The Dead Calypso,” after the prineipal work of the book. ‘“The Dead Calypso” given below and well shows the genius of its author. In the sonnet Mr. Robertson is at his very best. Three of them are herewith given. “The Lord’s Prayver” is most remarkable and beautiful In its ex- pression. In this book Mr. Robertson has made a lasting and deserving name for himself. (““The Dead’ Calypso_and Other Poems" is published by A. M. Robertson, San Francisco. Price,’ §1 50.) 4 Al e Lozd's Prayer. i Z our }%vml Fatler, unto Thee.we pour Our tonstant pragers, and bless Thy hallowed Name! A - RING W1 4 ALEXANDEM, RomRER T SON. (| LOUTS ALEXANDER ROBERTSON Come in Thy kingdom, God, and now pro- claim The age of peace to last forevermore. In every land, from distant shore to shore, Through all the earth Thy blessed will be dong, 3 As where, In heaven, before Thy shining throne, The saints and seraphs ceaselessly adore. Give us, O God, each day our dally bread; Forgive us now, as others we forgive; Guide our weak feet that they may never tread Temptation's paths, ‘and teach us how to live, That, by Thy power, we from the tomb shall rise And share Thy glorlouy kihgdom in the skles. The Californig Redwoods. Ere over Nilus' waking Wave the strain Of Memnon's morning melody was blown: Fre Cheops from his quarries clove the stone And piled his pyramid on Egypt's piain; And later—ere the God-projected fame Of Solomon had into grandeur grown: Before the glory of the Greek was known, Or Romulus the she-wolf's dugs did drain: We stood in youth where now fn age we stand, Colossal types of Life, that closer climb. To clasp the stars, than any living thing. cherlsh crumbling temples that were planned In Dian's day, vet deem it not a crime Our older glory in the dust to fling. The Loom. A wearied weaver at the loom, I gaze On that which T have woven till mine eyes Grow dim to see the fabric it displays: The warp of all my work seems woofed with sighs. No more for me Life's shuttle swittly flies, But falters feebly”through the fibred maz= As thread on thread it sfowly multiplies, Weaving, alas! a weft of dreary days. i Ye For in woven meshes there appears \ The sombre shade of sorrow. Do I weave But sackcloth for my soul? And am I now But one who gloats upon the garb he wears,— Who in the shadow sits apart to grieve, The ashes of his life upon his brow? The Dead Calypso. ‘Where be thy witcheries now, woman of won- derful , beauty, Priestess of proflizate love, passionless, pallid ana stin? Sweet was the soul-searing cult taught by thy liberal kisses, Sweeter the chalice of love formed by thy sen- suous mouth, Ripe as the rapturing grape, rich as the rose in its redness, But unto them that did drink fatal as waters of death. Left unto thee are the dregs, ing as wormwood, Freezing the blood in thy veins, leaving thee ! rigid and cold. bitter and bit- Strange that those lewd lava lips, once so al- luring add mocking, Wear such an innocent smile, maiden’s in sleep! but they wither and change, seem unto blueness, Shrunk in their soft silken skin, as when the trcpical sun, Drinking the life of the grape, leaves it aban- doned and ehriveled, Gibbeted on its own vine, swinging like felon forgot. chaste as a Nay, 1tvia they Almost again do I hear thy voice and its pas- sionate pleading, Soft as the musical moan of waves in a mur- muring shell, Luring and leading me on t8 a haven that shone like a heaven, Bright with a promise of peace, rhapsodist's dream, Misted with halos of gold, yet but a vanish- ing splendor Miraged in exquieite grace over a desert of death. fair as a CALIFORNIA POET WHOSE VERSES TH TRUE INSPIRATIO N But when youth's passionate pulse pleads with its eager insistence, When the white waiting snows of the heart meit with the breath of the spring. ‘When the clamoring currents of life leap with ineffable joyance, Where is the hand that can point to the chan- nels through which tney shall run— Whether through vistas of peace, till lost in love’s infinite ocean, Or on through dark intricate ways to mix with the silt of the sewer? Dead is the fight in thine eyes, yet recollection beholds them Mirrored like s@rs of the night in the face of a flood that is calm, Then losing themselves in the deep, when the breath of the gathering tempest Lashes the slumbering wave till it leaps to the lowering skies. Thus when thy senses were drowned in thy passion’s exuberant triumph, Leaving the lures of thy lips have I looked on thy wondering ey Swooning away iInto’ white, as when the rays of the morning Chase the black shadows of night back to their caverns of gloom. Oft have T scen them revalve, dreamily turning Into thy love-laden braln, there passion’s sscret to find; ! Leaving their opaline orbs blind in the trance that enthralled them, Till the long kiss that I gave coaxed the lost irises back. slowly and Nows: ullier cirtains of wax, lusterless cres- cents of whiteness, Cold as the frost on the pane, hint of those rapturous hours. Where is their luminous gleam, which, Itke the treacherous beacons Lighted by wreckers to lure the mariner onm to his doom, O'er life’s unplloted sea shone with a bale and a beauty, Till the poor credulous bark dashed on the rock of thy heart? Season of spring, when the blood quickened to life in the pulses, And, murmuring, sighed with delight laughed at the prospect of death! Summer that seethed In the veins, with its grapes growing richer and redder, a wine-press of sorrow the dregs of the vintage were found! When all thy sepulchred past, on the rack of an exquisite passion, Gave up its secrets of old in thy voiceless but voluble vows: Then to thy lust-leavened lips rose the lees of a thousand caresses That artifice could not disguise, nor fraud into fealty frame. and T ¢ Swittly the meshes of silk were spun into steel, but I lingered, Fondling the fetters I feared, yet fearing t> fiing them away. Lost to the lips I had loved, thirst of a drunkard Draining the draught that enslaved, e'en while the spirit recoiled. Day after day, as the scales fell from mine eyes, 1 beheld thee, Garbed in the glamour of lust, rise from the ashes of love; Night after night, though thy beauty oft bat- fled my fears and beguiled me, Soon every sigh seemed to breathe naught but a sibilant hiss, Or but the laugh of a flend that rang in mine ears till T laft thee, To come at the last and to lay the lips that forgive on thy brow. yet with the Long. long ago, In the past, did the daughters of earth, with their beauty, Lure from the heavens above the white-pin- ioned Children of Go Why should I wonder that thow;, O fairest and trailest of women, Didst with thy sorceries bind the souls and the bodies of men? ‘Where are thy worshipers now, they who did pant to embrace thee? Where is the homage they poured once in those death-deafened ears? ‘Where is the word that could waken thee now, O voluptuous sleeper, Or the gold that could bribe thee to break thy last lover's lethal embrace? to his stock of ideas, but even eradicate some of his most cherished opinions. How- ever, the good he gains far outweighs the annoyances to which he is subjected, and when the story ends, if De Laney has not found the fame he sought he has discoy- ered something even more to his likinrg. (Price §1.) Literary Notes. Bird-Lore for august continues the helpful series of papers on *Birds and Seasons,” in which the student is told just what birds he may expect to find, what he ghould study and what he should read during the month. A. C. McClurg & Co. announce that their list for the early autumn will include twenty-five titles, embracing eleven books of fiction, six juveniles, four works in belles-lettres, two gift books, one work in gociology and one collection of original verse. Fourteen of these books will -be illustrated. Charles Major's next book, “The Bears of Blue River,” is now announced by Doubleday, Page & Co. for publication in ‘August. While it is a departure from the work of “When Knighthood Was in Flow- er,” the popularity of the author will doubtless be fully sustained by these ex- citing tales of Indiana in the early twen- ties. A. B. Frost and Mrs. Mary Baker- Baker have made many illustrations from the striking scenes with which the story abcunds. The publishers of the World's Work, Doubleday, Page & Co., have undertaken the task of making an Exposition num- ber, which should stand for something mcre than the exploitation of a popular fair. The Pan-American number, which is now ready. carefully and intelligently summarizes the progress made by Amer- ica since the World's Fair in 1863, Prac- tically the entire issue is devoted to this subject, which the reader is likely to con- fess is worthy of an entire issue when he studies the extraordinary advancements made during the last eight years and the possibilities of illustration, which have been taken advantage of by about 100 fine pictures. The number, with the accom- panying announcements and advertisa- ments, fills 240 pages. i In that delightful book, “The Vicissi- tudes of a Bill Collector,” Will Dunn says that the well seasoned newspaper man is the supreme artist when it comes to sending a collector on his way rejolcing, yet unpaid. Harold MacGrath tells of a most annoying young man who called on him with brazen regularity asking for payment. This happened years before MacGrath ever thought of “The Puppet Crown.” One hot day the annoying young man asked for a “little on account,” and being told to “Run away,” became belli- cose. ~ Whereupon MacGrath ‘exclaimed, “Do you ever stop to realize that if it weren't for men like myself there would be no bill collectors and that you would be out of a job?' The young man saw the futility of anger and left smiling. “The ‘Science of Penology” is the title of a volume nearly ready from the press of G. P. Putnam's Sons. It is a consid- eration of “The Defense of Soclety Against Crime,” by Henry M. Boies, M. A., author of “Prisoners and Paupers.” Mr. Boies has had long experience in the administration of penal'laws, having been for many years a member of the Board of Public ClLarities and of the Com- mittee of Lunacy of the State of Pennsy!- vanla. Study and observation of the en- tive range of eriminal causes and effects convinced him that the defense of society against erime cannot be successfully con- ducted without a complete and definite plan, organized upon a consistent theory and system, and that there is an urgent necessity for the collection and arrange- ment of the varfous important discoveries in penology into such a special system of science.” The’ failure of our codes is dus partly to this lack of plan and system and partly to the fallacious theory on which they have been formulated. Mr. Boies has endeavored to bring to- ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF “THE SUPREME SURRENDER.” R. A. MAURICE LOW, the au- thor of “The Supreme Surren- der”” (Harper's), was born in Lon- don, but has spent the best years of his life in this country. He was edu- cated in London and Austria, and after lezving college entered an architect's of- fice in London. Some business interests of his father's brought him to this coun- try, intention being to remain only a. few months, but once here the months' ran into years, and he sealed his affec- tion for his adopted country by marrying an American girl. The first few years of his life in America were spent in com- merefal pursuits, but a natural love of writing caused him to drift into journal- ism, and for some years past Washington has been his home. As a Washington cor- respondent he has a'reputation on both sides of the Atlantic, due to some very notable journalistic “beats.”” In England he made the first publication of the agree- ment by which the Venezuelan boundary dispute was to be arbitrated and the full text of the Olney-Pauncefote general treaty of arbitration. In this country Great Britain's determination to resist further capture of her sealers in Bering Sea, the resolution reached by President Cleveland to compel a settlement of the long standing Venezuelan boundary dis- pute and several other important matters were first made public through Mr. Low's A. MAURICE LOW. dispatches. For many years he has been in charge of the Washington bureau of the Boston Globe, the chief American cor- respondent of the London Daily Chroni- cle, the American editor of the National Review of London and a frequent con- tributor to the leading American and Eng- lish reviews and periodicals. He has an established reputation’ as a political writ- ter and is an authority on foreign affairs. His page in Harper's Weekly on BEuro- pean politics, under the title “Trans-At- lantic Topies,” is widely read and copied. Although “‘The Supreme Surrender” is Mr. Low's first novel, it is not his first work of fiction, as he has written several short stories, but the short story is a form of literature which he dislikes.. A newspaper man’s training insures versa- tility, and this faculty Mr. Low possesses in a marked degree. He is equally at home whether writing a newspaper dis- patch forecasting the result of a political convention or picturesquely telling how & President is elected; delving deep into statistics to trace the movement of the world's commerce covering a quarter of a century, or, it may be, describing a pic- ture of war as he saw it for the first time in Cuba. An account which he wrote on he battlefield, with the dead and wound- “‘ed around him—a courier impatiently waiting to take the ‘““copy” to the coast— was so graphically and tersely written that a French newspaper considered .it worthy of translatidn, and a well-known writer has incorporated it in his history of the war with Spain. Mr. Low, despite his long experience, has not mastered the art of dictation. He composes on the \typewriter as readily as he does with the pen, but “when I dictate,” to use his own expression, “I lose my nominative case and I am never able to find it agaia" gether the principal data, to arrange them' in order and to state the generally aecepted conclusions of penologists. The subject Is of vast importance and it is to be hoped that this volume, by presenting a complete plan to which ail details ean be adjusted, may help to awaken a wider interest in the necessity for a more rational treatment of the vio- lators of Jaw. J. A. Mitchell, the editor of Life, is one of the editors who not only knows a good story but can write one. ‘‘Amos Judd,” Mr. Mitchell's first long story, met with immediate and unqualified success. His charm is a simple one—that of perfect naturalness—and his characters bear in action and speech the stamp of modern- ness. They arrn every respect real peo- ple of to-day, fand are the kind of real people that we would like to meet. The new serial story by Mr. Mitchell which begins in the August Scribner’s is a charming example of his work. It is en- titled “The Pines of Lory,” and it is as bright, vivacious and natural as anything that he has ever written. The plot is a peculiar one and the situations unconven- tional. None of the many readers of “Amos Judd” need any assurance of the pleasure in store for them in the new story. ‘“Amos Judd,” by the way, is to be brought out during the fall in a new edition by the Scribners, fully illustrated by A. I. Keller. The edition will be unt- form with the dainty edition of Thomas Nelson Page's “Old Gentlemen of the Black Stock,” illustrated by Christy, pub- lished last year. Mr. Keller's illustrations are to be enforced by the use of color in the printing. At this season the country claims the flowers of the field. Frank French has transferred many of the flowers into Out- ing’s pages for August. How to eradicate mosquitoes is occupying the active brains of the scientists of the world. W. S. Har- wood's paper is interesting and hopeful reading on the subject for anglers and campers generally. All through the Mid- dle West are anglers many and skillful and waters prolific of trout, muscallonge and the great northern pike. Where to go for and how to catch them is told by Emerson Hough. Yachting is in the air, and the influence of the America’s cup on designing is a timely subject dealt with bv an expert, W. J. Henderson. “The Passing of Jerome Park,” the famous racetrack, is a theme to stir the memory, and W. S. Vosburgh tells of its rise and glory and of the giants in those days who created the modern American turf. China has afforded the writers of the year many a theme, but seldom so pleasant a one as T. Philip Terry's “Cyeling in Cathay.” He makes the social side of Shanghai's outdoor life sparkle with an Oriental glow. *“God made food and the devil made the cooks,” Is a preverb of the sea; but that old salt, Captain A. J. Kenealy, early learned how to justify the cooks, and in “Sea Cookery for Yachtsmen" he tells the method with helpful diagrams. On all the rivers cf our waterlaced land there is op- portunity unequaled in the world for sum- mering in houseboats. Louise Willis Snead, a houseboater of experience, tells how in Outing for August. R It is announced that a very important feature of the Aaron Burr romance, ‘Blennerhassett,” will be the twelve full page illustrations made from sketches in oil by C. H. Stephens of Philadelphia. The order was placed with the artist last fall, and he has been allowed the utmost freedom ‘in reading the author’s manu- script in order to select from the many strong dramatic incidents of the romance those scenes which were most susceptible to vivid treatment on canvas. In those scenes where Aaron Burr and Theodosla Burr, Harman Blennerhassett and his wife Margaset and Alexander Hamilton 3 + appear the artist is said to have suc- ceeded admirably in obtalning striking likenesses. To do this Mr. Stephens has had to combine the results of several arduous searches for original paintings or sketches of these characters and de- scriptions that have been graclously con- tributed by distant relatives now living. One illustration shows the last interview between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's close friend, Judge Van Ness, on the eve of the duel. Another shows *Lit- tle Burr” carrying General Montgomery off the fleld of battle in a snowstorm; an- other Burr in the dress of a Creck chief addressing a council of Indians: another The(_:dosla with cutlass in hand repelling the invasion of pirates who are just com- ing over the side of the ship; another Burr’s reception by Napoleon; Theodosia discovered shot and floating in the water, after having escaped from the pirate ship under escort of Captain Thaddeus; Burr in grief. kneeling before the picture of Theodosia when he learns of the destruc- tion of the ship which was bearing her north to meet him; the duel between Burr and Hamilton, the latter having just fallen; Burr's strategic use of the candles in proving a witness on the stand thi e r murderer, o —_—— Books Received. CHOIRS AND CHORAL MUSIC—By Arthur ?llee Charles Scribner's Sons, New Yark. F'rs OPERA PAST AND PRESENT—By W. - Apthorp. Charles Scribner's Sons, N York. $1 2. e ACTING AND ACTORS; ELOCUTION ELOCUTIONISTS By Atired Apees. B 20 pleton & Co., New York. $1 2. TABBY'S DEFENCE-By Harriet The Abbey Press. New York. 50 cents. BBXRDS UNCAGED, AND OTHER POEMS— 'y Burton L. Collins. The Abbey Pre: York. $100. 3 e WOODPILE RECOLLECTIONS—By Charles Louis Olds. The Abbey Press, New York. 50 cents. GREEN VALLEY-By T. P. Buffington. The Abbey Press, New York. 31 00. b NEW ENGLAND FOLK—By Mrs. C. Rich- au&d Duxbury. The Abbey Press, New York. THE DEVIL'S DIARY—By L M. Elshemus. The Abbey Press, New York. $1 00. CAT TALES—By Elliot Walker. Press, New York. 50 cents. CUPID IN GRANDMA'S GARDEN—By Mrs, David O. Paige. The Abbey Press, New York. 50 cents. HOW TOMMY WAS CURED OF CRYING— By Gertrude Mitchell Waite. The Abbey Press, New York. 50 cents. § THE STORY OF KING ALFRED—By Waiter Besant. D. Appleton & Co., New York. k'3 cents. THE BELEAGUERED FOREST—By Eia ‘W. Peattie. D. Appleton & Co.,, New York. $1 50, A DRONE AND A DREAMER-By Nelson Lioyd. J. P. Taylor & Co., New York. $1 30, AN ALONE—By Mrs. W, K. Clifford. D. Appl:!on & Co., New York. Elltot. The Abbey The Books Reviewed ON 'THIS PAGE Can Be Obtained at ROBERTSON’S, 126 POST STREET, SAN FRANCISCO. | | Prices are always in the Reading Notices. A. M. ROBERTSON.