Books of the Month

Travel and Geography. Travels and Observations in the Orient, and a hasty flight in the countries of Europe, by Walter Harriman (Lee & Shepard), is occupied chiefly with the author’s experience in Palestine. He tells how he got there and how he came back, but his chief interest is in the East. Governor Harriman was an eager traveler, but he had stayed long enough in America before he went to become thoroughly patriotic; and if one wishes to know how an American looks upon the Holy Land he will have his desire gratified in this book, which is artlessly and honestly American. “The fountain of Elisha,” for instance, “is a copious mill-stream. In our country it would be utilized as such; but here, on the plain of the Jordan, there is now neither business nor people. So the stream runs to waste.” — By a curious coincidence, the next book we take up is Denton J. Snider’s A Walk in Hellas, or the Old in the New. (Osgood.) Exactly why it is the old in the new, we do not see. Mr. Snider is the new; but perhaps he meant to signify how Greece appeared in his mind. A curious mind it is. Much learning has made him not mad, perhaps, but it will make his readers mad. A more cumbrous style it would be difficult to find. Mr. Snider’s mind is like Greece, mountainous and very much cut up; the coast line is difficult to follow. If Governor Harriman was a son of the soil, Mr. Snider is equally American in the painfully metaphysical attitude with which he stands before Greek life and art. — The Golden Chersonese, and the way thither, is by Isabella L. Bird, Mrs. Bishop, whose travels in Hawaii, Japan, and in our own West have proved acceptable to readers. (Putnams.) The way thither in Mrs. Bishop’s book is first by an historical survey, which puts the reader in possession of the principal facts regarding the Malay Peninsula aa heretofore known to Europeans, and then by steamer from Hong Kong. Mrs. Bishop’s account of Malay is in the form of letters, which have her own personal experience as well as observation. She announces that the book closes her series of travels. —A Midsummer Lark, by W. A. Croffut, is a volume of the Leisure Hour series (Holt). The writer starts from America, and comes back to it, after covering the customary routes in Europe. The chief difference between this and the usual book of travels is that the author is hopelessly bent on entertaining the reader with rhymed prose and verse, and a wearisome jingle of nonsense. It must be a very leisure hour indeed that can extract any amusement from the book. — A Visit to Ceylon, by Ernst Haeckel, translated by Clara Bell (S. E. Cassino & Co., Boston), is a narrative of travel by an eminent naturalist. The pursuits of the author largely determine the character of his observations, but he does not overlook humankind and landscape. The same work, translated by Mrs. S. E. Boggs, is published by the John W. Lovell Co. — The Hebrews and the Red Sea, by A. W. Thayer (Warren F. Draper, Andover), is a small, readable, and very ingenious book, discussing the problem which has vexed critics for so many generations. Mr. Thayer uses the familiar text with a power derived from no merely theoretical knowledge of the localities and natural agencies. The book is accompanied by a map. — An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, by Andrew Carnegie (Scribners), is a lively and hearty account of a coaching-party from Brighton to Inverness. The persons in the party are reduced in the book to single letters, but the narrative is of real people, gentlemen and ladies, and the frolic is that of Americans, who have no less honest admiration for their own country that they can enjoy historic England.—The first volume of The Wheelman, an illustrated magazine of cycling literature and news (The Wheelman Co., Boston), is a really interesting and curious record of the enthusiasm for the bicycle, which is the narrowest gauge vehicle in use. To an ordinary observer the bicyclist has full use of his faculties in keeping himself upon a degree of longitude, but this magazine seems to warrant the belief that he is able to look to one side and the other, to indulge in reveries, compose poetry, and write book reviews. — In the Shadow of the Pyrenees from Basque Land to Carcassonne, by Martin R. Vincent (Scribners), is a little volume of travels attractively illustrated by etchings and accompanied by a convenient map.—Geo. Routledge & Sons have just published a new edition of Mr. Hare’s Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily, — a very useful book. — Kashgaria, historical and geographical sketch of the country, its military strength, industries, and trade, is published at Calcutta, by Thacker, Spink & Co., who are represented in London by Thacker & Co. The work is a translation from the Russian, by Major Walter E. Gowan. Kashgaria, the reader may need to be told, is Eastern or Chinese Turkistan.

History and Biography. Outlines of the Constitutional History of the United Slates, by Luther Henry Porter (Holt), is designed to be a beginning book for students or general readers, who desire to learn something of the character and history of the Constitution of the United States. It is not a formal analysis of the Constitution alone, but a study of the events which led to it, and of the application of its principles.— The Growth of a People is a translation, by Lewis A. Stinson, of Paul Lacombe’s Petite Histoire du Peuple Francais (Holt), an admirable and suggestive little work for any one who has already made himself familiar with the annals of France, for it is the explanation of the historic process. —Dissertations on Early Law and Custom, by Sir Henry Sumner Maine (Holt), is a continuation of the studies formerly published upon Village Communities, and the Early History of Institutions. He endeavors, as he says, to connect a portion of existing institutions with a part of the primitive or verv ancient usages of mankind, and of the ideas associated with those usages. — In Harper’s Franklin Square Library is published an Outline of Irish History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, by Justin H. McCarthy, a son of the well-known author. That the author is young enough to have a father living appears from the opening chapter. — Mosaics of Bible History is the title of a work in two volumes, by Marcius Willson and Robert Pierpont Willson (Harpers), which is further described as the Bible record, with illustrative poetic and prose selections from standard literature. The editors have arranged their work by topics, in chronological order, and, without giving the Bible text at much length, draw upon Stanley, Ewald, Kail, and other critics and commentators, and upon the poets, for a paraphrastic and illustrative view of the incidents. The result is a sort of well-arranged scrap-book about the Bible. — Historical and Biographical Sketches, by Samuel W. Pennypacker (Robert A. Tripple, Philadelphia), is the modest title of a really valuable work, since a large part of the contents is devoted to studies among the Mennonites. Mr. Pennypacker is an antiquarian rather than a historian, and he is a careful one; the materials which he has gathered have a value which is not merely that of rarity. The author has collected also various biographical and commemorative papers, and a narrative of his army experience.

Natural History and Science. The second part of New England Bird Life (Lee & Shepard) comprises the non-oscine passeres, birds of prey, game, and water-birds. The book is based upon the material gathered by Mr. W. A. Stearns, but is prepared for the press by Dr. Elliott Coues. The illustrations are abundant, and while not of a highly refined character of engraving are distinct and intelligible.— Man before Metals, by N. Joly, is the forty-fifth volume of the International Scientific series (Appleton), and is devoted to a résumé of the various evidence which has been collecting upon the antiquity of the human race and the nature of primitive civilization. It is not surprising that the author draws largely from French sources. — The Sciences among the Jews, before and during the Middle Ages, is a little book translated from the German of M. J. Schleiden (D. Binswanger & Co., Baltimore), and devoted to a rapid survey of the subject, the purpose being to vindicate the Jews as the repositories of learning. — Elementary Botany, with Student ’s Guide to the Examination and Description of Plants, by George Macloskie (Holt), is intended as a readable sketch of Botany, followed by a guide to work in the field and in the laboratory. The commonest plants have been used for investigation and illustration. The author is a professor at Princeton. — Dr. Galton’s Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development (Macmillan) is a continuation of his studies in Hereditary Genius, and consists of the contributions to journals which have appeared for many years wrought into a consistent whole. However the reader may view the conclusions of this suggestive writer, he cannot fail to be stimulated and helped by the many and curious investigations which are recorded. It is an anecdote book of the human mind, and much more than that.

Romance and Fiction. Classic Mythology is a translation from Professor C. Witt’s work on the subject, by Frances Younghusband (Holt), and is introduced and endorsed by Arthur Sidgwick. The book is a straightforward and quite simple narrative, and is supplied with all necessary indexes and glossaries. Probably the day of the simple story has gone by, and we must settle down to knowing just what these myths meant; but it is to the praise of this book that the interpretation is not mixed in with the dream.—In the TransAtlantic series (Putnams), a new number is King Capital, by William Sime, in which labor and capital go masquerading for love. — A recent number of the Leisure Hour series (Holt) is Beyond Recall, by Adeline Sergeant, the scene of which is laid in the East. If the title alarms the reader, the last sentence will reassure him: “Paul, there is no need. I have loved you all my life. I love you still.” — Dialect Tales, by Sherwood Bonner (Harpers), is a collection of magazine stories, the scenes of which are laid in the South, chiefly among poor whites and blacks. They are lively, and perhaps may be relied upon as reports of the country whenever they do not yield sufficient story. — John’s Alive, and Other Sketches, by Major Jones (David McKay, Philadelphia), is a posthumous publication by the author of a farcical book, Major Jones’ Courtship, which had a rude, frontier humor. This volume seems born rather late.—The Story of Melicent, by Fayr Madoc (Macmillan), is a tale of English life charged with religious feeling. — Fanchette is the title of the latest of the Round Robin series (Osgood), in which golden America and mysterious Russia furnish the writer with his scenery and characters. — My Trivial Life and Misfortune, a Gossip with no Plot in Particular (Putnams), is an anonymous novel in two parts, occupying two volumes: the first part is Spinsterhood; the second, Meum and Tuum. It is said to be by a plain woman, and the plainness extends to the literature. — The Red Acorn, by John McElroy (H. A. Sumner & Co., Chicago), is a realistic hovel of the war. — In Harper’s Franklin Square Library, recent numbers are, Who is Sylvia? by A. Price, The Hands of Justice, by F. W. Robinson, The Story of Melicent, by Fayr Madoc, No New Thing, by W. E. Norris, and Like Ships Upon the Sea, by Francis Eleanor Trollope. — Whom Kathie Married is a domestic tale, by Amanda M. Douglas. (Lee & Shepard.) — The Macmillans have issued a very neat edition of the Essays of Elia, with introduction and notes by Mr. Alfred Ainger. — Mr. Cable’s Old Creole Days (Charles Scribner’s Sons) appear in two neat paper-bound volumes. The collection of stories includes Madame Delphine, previously published separately. — The reader will have to overhaul a great deal of nautical literature, past, present, and to come, before he will find a more entertaining novel than A Sea Queen, by W. Clark Russell. (Harper Brothers.)

Literary Criticism and Furnishing. Books, and How to Use Them is the title of a neat little book, by J. C. Van Dyke (Fords), which offers some hints to those who are not familiar with books and libraries. Books have become such a considerable part of the impedimenta of modern civilization that they seem to require hand-books and guides; this book assumes the helplessness of the general or the average reader, and gives him good advice, yet we cannot help wondering if people read about books before they read books themsel ves.— Authors and Publishers (Putnams) is described as a manual of suggestions for beginners in literature, and contains in a readable form much that is desirable for a young author to know. If he would only remember what he reads, and act upon it! But most of the experience in such matters can be won only, not taken in through reading.— The English Novel and the Principle of its Development, by Sidney Lanier (Scribners), is the posthumous publication of a writer who has won a name since his death, which one wishes he might have enjoyed in his lifetime. Mr. Lanier had a sense of art which might have led him to withhold these lectures, in their present form, but we are glad to get his fresh and earnest thought upon a subject which has great interest for all students of literature— English Style in Public Discourses, with special reference to the usages of the pulpit, by Austin Phelps (Scribners), is the work of a man of scholarship, who has had much to do with moulding the style of clergymen of the Congregational order. He writes out of a full mind, and with the command of a great storehouse of illustration.

Poetry and the Drama. D. Appleton & Co. have issued the complete poems of Bryant, beautifully printed in two volumes, uniform with Mr. Godwin’s Life and Letters of the poet. — The taste for (Gay’s Fables went out of fashion with the poke bonnet, which now threatens to come back again. Whether a liking for Mr. Gay’s neatly turned verses will return with it is doubtful; but there is no doubt touching the charm of Mr. Austin Dobson’s introduction to the Parchment Edition of the Fables. (Appleton.) — Oriental Legends and Other Poems, by Rabbi H. M. Bien (Brown & Derby, New York), is a collection of poems which have their birthplace in America, but their ancestry in Judea. — A Day in the Woods, by D. C. Colosworthy (Williams), is a poem which recites the experience of the writer, who took his outing among familiar scenes. He brings back a very large collection for his poetical museum. — Joan of Are is one of the perennial martyrs. She was burned once, but every generation sees her tortured in verse. J. S. Foote has made a poem upon her (Charles H. Whiting, Boston), which trots along in a measure as short as a child’s footstep; Mr. George H. Calvert has reproduced his poem, originally published in 1860 (Lee & Shepard), with corrections, but one may patiently wait for the rubber of Time for the final revision of this poem. —Three Score and Other Poems is another of Mr. Calvert’s volumes (Lee & Shepard), and one cannot help feeling a reflex pleasure from Mr. Calvert’s own enjoyment of his verse. — Australian Lyrics, by Douglas B. W. Sladen (George Robertson, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide), has not much poetry in it, but it has a good deal that is entertaining, and some verses that have a very confidential air about them.—Songs of Toil and Triumph, by J. L. McCreery (Putnams), has a notion not common in volumes of verse, namely, little side notes to tell the reader how the idea of the poem is getting on. — Saul, a dramatic poem, by Algernon Sydney Logan (Lippincott), is also a new view of Saul, who is represented as having been chosen by the priests for a tool only to show himself a true patriot. — Mary Magdalene, by Mrs. Richard Greenough (Osgood), is a quiet and careful study in smooth and often sweet verse. — Poems, by William Cleaver Wilkinson (Scribners), is the work of a writer who uses poetic form. — Though the readers of epics may have passed away, it is clear that the race of epic writers has not become extinct. Here is Mr. Alfred Domett ’s Ranolf and Amohia, A Dream of Two Lives, in two volumes, of about four hundred closely printed pages each. (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., London.)

Religion and Philosophy. The second part of Ten Great Religions, by James Freeman Clarke (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), is a comparison of all religions with a view to show what they all teach on the different points of human belief.—The Gospel of the Secular Life, by the Hon. W. H. Fremantle (Scribners), is a volume of sermons preached at Oxford, with the purpose to direct Christian thought into a new channel, “ its great, not to say paramount, concern with the general, common, or secular life of mankind.” It is thus a criticism and survey of the thought of the times from a Christian standpoint.—The Wisdom of Holy Scripture, with reference to skeptical objections, by J. H. Mellvaine (Scribners), is a volume of apologetics which seems to us perhaps better calculated to confirm those who already believe than to attract the thought of those who are skeptical— Jesus, His Opinions and Character (George H. Ellis, Boston) is a volume of New Testament studies by a layman, who withholds his name. The fable of the eagle shot by an arrow drawn from his wings might be read to this writer. — The Possibility of Not Dying, A Speculation, by Hyland C. Kirk (Putnams), appears to put the cart before the horse, by suggesting the perpetuity of physical life as the reward of right living.

Humor and Curiosities. Our Choir, by C. G. Bush (Putnams), is a piece of grotesque drawing and versifying, with a free use of musical terms and symbols. The fun is of a somewhat painful order. —Games and Songs of American Children, collected and compared by William Wells Newell (Harpers), is a very interesting essay in a novel direction; novel, that is, in America, where we are not supposed to have any folk lore. — Mr. Jacobs, A Tale of the Drummer, the Reporter, and the Prestidigitateur (W. B. Clarke & Carruth, Boston), is a skit at Mr. Isaacs, and carries its amusing burlesque even into the cover. — ‘‘Eureka,” or The Golden Door Ajar, by Asa T. Green (A. G. Collins, Cincinnati), is a mysterious revelation of the mysteries of the world, now published, as the title-page declares, for the first time. The reader will linger long over the lithographic portrait of Mr. Green and his two pails; longer than over the text of Mr. Green’s discoveries, which do not seem so mysterious as one is led to expect.