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INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF CHEMISTRY. By Ira Remsen.-An extremely carefully written work on first steps in the study of chemistry. The author proceeds slowly and surely with the student aiming not at giving him a mass of names and figures, but a clear and gradual unfolding of the elements and principles of the science so that he may fully understand each step by itself and as related to every other part. The experiments are simple, forcible and important.-Holt, 1.40.

JACOB SCHUYLER'S MILLIONS, a novel. 16mo, paper. -An entertaining story introducing the old Dutch manners and customs of Knickerbocker New York. The heroine has been brought up in wealth, and is supposed to be heiress to the fortune of Jacob Schuyler who dies without any will being found. The will is at last discovered and the rightful distribution in accordance therewith is made.-Appleton, .50

LIFE AND GENIUS OF GOETHE, THE. Edited by F. B. Sanborn and W. T. Harris. I vol., 12mo, with two portraits. These lectures at the Concord School of Philosophy for 1885 give the views of fifteen leading lights of the School on Goethe. Each has written an essay treating him from a special side so that the aggregate forms a careful and critical biography. A bibliography of Goethe is included of special value.-Ticknor, 2.00.

LORD BEACONfield's CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS SISTER. 16mo, paper.-There is a warm and hearty charm in these chatty, off-hand talks of Disraeli with his sister. He tells her just what he saw, whom he met, what was said and all that he noted of interest in the social, literary and political world of the day. The editorial work has been done with care and nothing but what the public would be interested in is noted.Harper, .25.

MADAME MOHL, Her Salon and Her Friends. By Kathleen O'Meara. Illustrated,crown 8vo, cloth.-The salon is a peculiarly Parisian institution, and its free, happy and congenial spirit and possibilities for pleasure were never better shown than in Madame Mohl's charming social Fridays. This study of life in the French capital introduces delightful anecdotes of the old lady, her company and her characteristic manner of treating them; eliciting bon mots and stories from the wits, snubbing the snobs and quietly eliminating the bores and the wall flowers.-Roberts Bros., 2.50.

MARKOF. By Henry Greville, author of “Sonia,” “Cleopatra," etc. New edition, cloth.-Tender pleasing story of a poor young Russian violinist in his wonderful love for his art, his struggles for fame and his studies in the Theological Seminary.-Peterson, 1.50.

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MARLBOROUGH. By George Saintsbury. Small 12mo, cloth. To prove Marlborough not so black as he is painted," has been the aim of this sketch. The general tone is fair and searching and in the limit to which he has had to confine himself the author has duly weighed Marlboroughs acts and considered the comments, judgments and interpretations passed upon them.--Appleton, .75.

MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS. By Batchelder Greene. Oblong 32mo, gilt top.-Sententious observations and sharp sayings on ourselves on foreign nations, the fair sex and miscellaneous social and personal subjects. The binding is neat and attractive and the size of the book suitable for slipping into the vest pocket for a momentary glimpse now and then.— Putnam, .75.

MECHANICS AND FAITH. By Charles Talbot Porter, C. E.-A study of spiritual truth in nature based upon the relation between mechanics and faith. The basis assumed is that these two are not only far from being antagonistic, but are actually in precisely the same line, and a true and real investigation and belief in mechanics must lead to a higher conception of faith.-Scribner, 1.50.

MEMOIRS OF EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. From the French of Imbert de Saint-Amand.-A valuable volume on Napoleon giving his life from a side little touched upon in other works. It is devoted more to events, state affairs and the like than to personal gossip.-Remington, London, 7.50.

MEMOIRS OF SAMUEL PHELPS. By John Coleman, author of "Curly; an Actor's Story." 12mo.-Personal chat, stories of romantic experiences, exciting scenes, fun, fact and fancies of theatrical life, as told by the genial and witty actor himself.-Remington, London, 6.00.

MOON LORE. By Timothy Harley, F. R. A., cloth.-The author has quaintly and concisely described his work as a "con" tribution to light literature and to the literature of light." Though a monograph it is also a medley. The first part is mythological and mirthful, the second dealing with moon worship, and the third treating lunar superstition.-Sonnenschein, London, 3.co.

MORGAN'S HORROR. A Romance of the "West Countree." By George Manville Fenn.-Opens with a "Boom" and keeps it up in one form or another to the very end. Thoroughly thrilling, strong and sensational. Cassell, .25.

THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS. 18mo, boards. Brief biographical notices of the members and nominated candidates.-The arrangement is excellent for ready reference, making the book most handy and valuable for those who desire to keep fully acquainted with the representative men in English politics.-Times, London, .50.

OCEANA; or, England and Her Colonies. By James Anthony Froude, M.A. Crown 8vo, illustrated.-A flying trip round the world made by the author in company of his son and Lord Elphinstone with the special view of studying the prospects, condition and resources of the British colonies. His observations are for the most part political and social in tone, little attention being paid to descriptions of the country itself.-Cassell, 2.50.

OLE BULL. By Sara C. Bull. New edit. 12mo, cloth.-The spirit in which this tribute to the Norwegian violinist is written is best stated in the preface. "In preparing this memoir my aim has been to use incidents, criticisms and tributes which brought out characteristic traits, and to supply only what was needed to make the sequence clear.-Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1.25.

ORIGINAL COMIC OPERAS. Written by W. S. Gilbert, paper.-Words, without music of Gilbert's popular operatic successes, containing The Mikado, H. M. S. Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Patience, Princess Ida and Trial by Jury.-Harper, .20.

OUR LITTLE ANN, A story. By the author of "Tip Cat," "Miss Toosey's Mission," and "Laddie." 16mo, cloth.-A graceful easy sketch; simple in plot if it has any at all, and pleasing in narration. Shows a thorough familiarity with childen and their doings and a sympathy with their joys and sorrows.--Roberts, 1.00.

A PLEA FOR THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. By George Bancroft. 16mo, paper. The legal tender decision of the Supreme Court on March 3, 1884, met with expressions of the most intense disapproval from the lips of the historian. This able protest treats the question of paper money most fully.-Harper, .25.

POPULAR GOVERNMENT. By Sir H. Sumner Maine. Cloth.-Four essays showing keen insight and deep practical thought. Mr. Maine's researches have led him to believe that popular government is very fragile and that in many respects it is the most difficult. The Constitution of the United States is examined by him to advance his views.Holt, 2.75.

RACHEL. By Nina H. Kennard. Famous Women Series. 16mo, cloth.-The greater part of this sketch of Rachel Felix, the celebrated French tragedienne, consists of the various roles taken by her in her professional career and the sublime genius therein shown. As far as possible her own letters have been drawn upon as giving a truer insight into her thoughts, feelings and character.-Roberts, 1.00.

REASONS FOR BEING A CHURCHMAN. By Rev. Arthur Wilde Little, M.A. 12mo, cloth.-Written with the two-fold object of giving the true Churchman a "reason for the faith that is w thin him," and of bringing before other

Christian believers, the historic continuity, the divine authority, the true catholicity and advantages of the Episcopal church.Young Churchman Co., 1.00.

SHOP GIRLS OF PARIS. By Emile Zola, author of "Nana," "L'Assomoir," etc. Paper.-A new edition of Zola's "Bonheur des Dames," giving the life and experience of the working girls of Paris in their hand to mouth struggle for existence in their different capacities in a large dry-goods store.-Peterson,

.75.

SHORT HISTORY OF NAPOLEON I. By Professor J. R. Seeley, of the University of Cambridge, England, author of "Ecce Homo," etc. 16mo, cloth.-In this compact and admirable monograph the incidents of his life are given strongly, tersely and with a clear and positive knowledge of the relative importance of each, and the constant effort has been to avoid losing sight of the man in a mass of facts and details. His individuality is never for a moment lost sight of. The most succinct biography that has appeared for years.-Roberts, 1.50.

THE SKELETON AND THE ROSE, and Gems by the Wayside. By Henry Frank, cloth.-Under the symbols the skeleton and the rose are typified, on the one hand, the skeptic weak and worn by anxieties, and on the other the true faith which rests calmly in believing. The remaining poems are on love, meditation, imagination, hymns, nature and pathos.Brentano, 1.50.

SOCIAL STUDIES IN ENGLAND. By Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton. A most timely and interesting contribution on the subject of the educational and social status of women. In her two years' study of the question Mrs. Bolton has noted much that is of value not only as to the education of women, but also the various other vocations open to them.-Lothrop, 1.00.

SONGS OF OLD CANADA. Translated by Wm. McLennan. Fourteen old and popular French chansons with translations into English. They are all songs familiar as household words among the Canadians, and many of them are well known by those at all versed in French love songs and ballads.Dawson, 1.50.

STORIES OF PROVENCE. From the French of Daudet, by S. L. Lee.-Light, graceful and pleasant sketches of French rural life and happenings. The odd introduction detailing the author's purchase of a windmill, prepares the reader for the easy, gossipy stories that follow.-Harper, .25.

STORY OF MARGARET KENT. By Henry Hayes. 12mo. -Fortunes and struggles of a brilliant woman left alone to support herself and child, by her husband's absence in South America. In a pleasant New York flat she lives happily by aid of magazine work and painting, and, believing her husband to be dead, promises to become the wife of Dr. Walton. The complications then ensuing are no more happy in reading, than they would be in real life.-Ticknor, 1.50.

THE STUDENT'S MODERN EUROPE. By Richard Lodge, M.A. 12mo, cloth.-A history of modern Europe from the capture of Constantinople, 1453, to the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, giving in an explicit and compact form more information than any similar book of its size. The condensation necessary in covering so large a field in one volume has preserved the important facts that form the skeleton of history, and has passed lesser facts by. An admirable reference book, well planned and ably edited.-Harpers, 1.50.

SYLVIAN AND OTHER POEMS. By John Philip Varley. 12mo, cloth.-The title piece is a tragedy of life in Spain in the seventeenth century. The poems which follow are love songs, poems of nature and mythology, ballads, sonnets and translations.-Brentano, 1.25.

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A TANGLED TALE. By Lewis Carroll. Cloth, 12mo A perusal of this latest jeu d'esprit from the pen of the author of "Alice in Wonderland" leaves the reader mentally debating whether he has been reading an arithmetical novel or a novel arithmetic, for he who reads must pay for his pleasure by solving a tough mathematical nut in each chapter. Ingeniously conceived and happily carried out.-Macmillan, 1.50.

THROUGH THE YEAR WITH THE POETS. Edited by Oscar Fay Adams.-Three volumes of this dainty poetic series are now ready. December, January and February. The

design which has been most happily carried out is to gather in one volume the poets' tributes to each month in turn. Many of the humbler poets, as well as the great masters, have contributed their share so that it forms a brilliant anthology.Lothrop, .75.

TRANSFORMED. By Faye Huntington. 12mo, cloth.Drink, idleness and poverty had made the house of the Barney family a dismal, cheerless, unhappy hovel. Marion Kingsley appeared in their midst as an angel of light and by her true charity and Christian love transformed this poor, sinful home into a good and happy one.-Crowell, 1.25.

TREASURE THOUGHTS. From the writings of Frederic W. Farrar. Selected by Rose Porter.-Many of these selections of three or four lines focus the deep thought, the keen reflection, the Christian hopes and fears, and the struggles of a lifetime, of a great and noble thinker. They stimulate thought by suggesting a new and deeper view of much we may have passed by unthinkingly.-Lothrop, 1.00.

'TWIXT LOVE AND DUTY, a novel. By Tighe Hopkins, paper.-'Twixt love and duty little Marion Dean had to choose. The scene of the story is laid in London, afterwards moving to the continent. The local sketching and coloring are excellent.-Harper, .25.

TWO COLLEGE GIRLS. By Helen Dawes Brown. 12mo.-Bright, breezy story of school life and happenings with a bevy of clever, happy young girls, who were perfectly saucy and candid, and thought more of their beaux than of their Virgil, and who considered the manner of dressing their hair as of soulful import; they are just like boys only their wildness is gently and pleasantly tempered.-Ticknor, 1.50.

TWO STROKES OF THE BELL, a strange story. By Charles Howell Montague. By some mysterious circumstance Ansen Lewis finds himself in a little town in New York with no knowledge of how he came there, or of any incidents of his previous life. His mind as to the past is a blank. The unravelling of this strange incident is ingeniously carried out, and strong realistic pictures of certain phases of New York life are happily introduced.-Harris & Co., paper .25, cloth .50.

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT. By E. E. Brown, author of "Life of Washington," etc. 12mo, cloth.-A brief biography of Grant, giving the most important and characteristic incidents of his career. His boyhood and political life are but hastily touched upon, the prominence being given to his services during the war. An interesting account is given of his last days, and the tributes of regard showered upon his memory after his decease.-Lothrop, 1.50.

etc.

UPLAND AND MEADOW. A Poaetquissings Chronicle. By Charles C. Abbott, M. D, author of "Primitive Industry," 12mo, cloth.-The pleasant record of out-of-door wanderings for health, happiness and communion with 'nature in her varied aspects. The author has given to his chronicle the Indian name of a Delaware river which was his favorite haunt. Birds, fish and all the animal creation are his special pets, and he loves to dwell on their strange doings and habits.-Harper, 1.50.

VERSES. By W. H. Furness.-An exceedingly dainty series of translations from German poets of note, including Heine, Uhland, Gerok, and others. The two dozen hymns that close the volume are most fervent and devout expressions of adoration for the Deity and dependence on his grace.-Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1.25.

WAR AND PEACE, an historical novel. By Count Léo Tolstoi. 4to, paper.--One of Napoleon's important battles is herein described. The story is thoroughly Russian in spirit and tone and the glimpses of Russian manners and society are interesting and artistic.-Harper, .25.

WHAT DOES HISTORY TEACH-By John Stuart Blackie. I vol., 16mo.-Two lectures on the State and the Church; the former reviewing the history of governments leads Mr. Blackie to conclude that democracy is the most difficult of all human problems; viewing the church in the same light he feels that Protestanism is the most satisfactory form of Church government. Harper, .25.

WITHOUT BLEMISH. By Mrs. J. H. Walworth, author of "The Bar Sinister," 12mo.-The sad and sensitive side of amalgamation is Mrs. Walworth's prominent idea in this story of the trials and sorrows of two young orphan girls, Olga and Virginia. It is suspected that the taint of negro blood runs in the veins of one of them, and the interest of the reader is held until he is fully assured which of the two is to receive his sympathy. In motive the story reminds one strongly of Tourgée's "Hot Plowshares."-Cassell, 1.50.

THE YEAR'S SPORT, for the year 1885. Edited by A. E.T. Watson. A record of the principal sporting events of the year with such criticism or note as might seem necessary. The subjects treated are archery, athletics, billiards, boating, canoeing, cricket, cycling, dogs, fishing, football, hunting, lacrosse, polo, racing, trotting, yachting, etc.-Longmans, London, 6.00.

ZEPH. A posthumus story by Helen Jackson (H. H.) author of "Romona." 16mo, cloth.-In the hands of an artist the slightest idea, the most meagre elements furnish ample material for a life-work. This thought is suggested by "Zeph," a simple, beautiful and pathetic story of a plain poor man, faithful to a worthless wife through all trials and indignities and quietly loved by a prim and noble spinster.-Roberts, 1.25.

CLASSIFIED LIST.

BIOGRAPHY.-Amiel's

Journal; Haphazard Personalities; Life of Goethe; Lord Beaconsfield's Correspondence; Madame Mohl: Marlborough ; Memoirs of Marie Louise; Memoirs of Samuel Phelps; Ole Bull; Rachel; Short History of Napoleon I.; Ulysses S. Grant.

DOMESTIC ARTS.-French Dishes.

FICTION.—Alice Witherow; Althea St. John; The Broken Shaft; A Cardinal Sin; Cabin and Gondola; Cleopatra; A Crimson Stain: A Chaldean Magician; Domesticus; Donovan; A Fatal Resemblance; Fortune's Wheel; The House of Crague; Jacob Schuyler's Millions; Markof; Morgan's Horror; Our Little Ann; The Shop Girls of Paris; Story of Margaret Kent; Stories of Provence ; A Tangled Tale; Transformed; 'Twixt Love and Duty; Two College Girls; Two Strokes of the Bell; War and Peace; Without Blemish; Zeph.

HISTORY -Student's History of Modern Europe; What Does History Teach?

HUMOR AND SATIRE.—Domesticus; Inquirendo Island; How to Be Happy Though Married; Original Comic Operas.

LITERARY CRITICISM AND ESSAYS.Bacon and Shakspeare; History of German Literature; Life of Goethe; Upland and Meadow?

Treasure

LITERARY SELECTIONS.-Edge Tools of Speech; Maxims and Reflections; Thoughts.

POETRY.-The Humbler Poets; In the King's Garden; Original Comic Operas; Sylvian; The Skeleton and the Rose; Songs of Old Canada; Through the Year with the Poets; Verses. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL.-Bad Times; Class Interests: The Gibbet of Regina History of the English Constitution; Popular Government; Plea for the Constitution.

REFERENCE-The Correspondent; The New House of Commons.

RELIGIOUS THOUGHT.-Divine Sovereignity; Every Day Religion; Evolution and Religion; Mechanics and Faith; Reasons for Being a Churchman; Treasure Thoughts.

SPORTS.-The Year's Sport.

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.-Apache Campaign; Aztlan; England as Seen by an American Banker Frank's Ranche; Oceana; Social Studies in England.

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Mr. W. D. Howells in a brief lapse into personal forgetfulness, turns for a moment from his absorbing gaze into his "Study" mirror to say a good thing. "In a thousand newspapers," he observes, "scattered over the whole country, they (the bookreviewers) utter so vast an amount of fresh and independent impression that every part of the author's work is touched; nothing of his intention is lost." Yes, but nothing short of the entire thousand will give this result. The reviewer of fiction, even if he shake off the bonds of obligation and favor to publisher and author, gives but his personal opinion the one-sided observation he gets from his special point of view modified by his mental, moral or physical condition at the moment. A well-known photographer constructed a circular room around the walls of which were a continuous line of cameras aimed at "the sitter. At precisely the same moment every camera took its hard mechanical picture as the subject appeared from its particular streak of observation. By an ingenious arrangement these one-eyed views were artistically merged one into the other, forming a true representation of the subject as seen from every side and in every possible light. So might a sagacious compiler form the essentials from the thousand scattered impressions into a complete and valuable mosaic.

But of what worth is the individual criticism of the ordinary newspaper? In reviewing fiction there is no principle, no standard, nor scientific or literary basis, upon which novels can be criticised. Every novel is to a certain extent sui generis and its literary standing is not as much a fact as a personal feeling. What value can be attached to critism which permits two such authorities as the Athenaeum and the Academy to differ so widely as they have done in their recent review of Mr. Stevenson's last book? The Athenaeum qualifying it as not merely strange, but impossible and absurd and weak and untrue in incident." The Academy with enthusiasm declaring "it

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is many years since England has been enriched by by any work so wierdly imaginative in conception and faultlessly ingenious in construction."

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Many an author has had to suffer keenly by his critic's dyspepsia, his tight boots, his "blue-devils," his tailor's bills, or his other little miseries." Nothing short of such an explanation can give even a semblance of reason to recent instances wherein the critic reviews the book for the second time forgetting that he had already noted it. A New York city daily, one day, says of a volume of poems: "We have found in it sickly sentimentality, vulgar gush and bluster; some days later, speaking of the same book, the same critic remarks, they have a fervor of imagination, a power of expression, an ease and polish. Another of our cosmopolitan, Jeffreys, thinks a work, smooth, light, graceful, spirited and sparkling" in one issue and refers to it some months later as 'demoralizing stuff."

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To show little how little real effect, such favorable or unfavorable criticism has on the sale of novels, it is worthy of note, that a story recently published by a good house and receiving most laudatory "notices," did not sell five hundred copies in nearly three months. Eventually the public decides for itself whether a novel shall live or die. If it contain vital elements of strength, originality and popularity, no amount of journalistic scourging can kill it and it is almost equally proof against the poison of puffs. It must work out its own salvation. The people of to-day want to know what a new book is about, and the spirit in which it is treated; for the rest they will judge for themselves.

MINOR CHAT.

Our Open Questions is always at the service of any one troubled with lack of knowledge on any literary topic.

Advertisements will be received each month till the 25th inst., and at the rates only as printed in each issue. These are strictly net.

Publishers will kindly send all announcements of new publications, copies of books for notice, literary gossip, etc., by the 20th of each month, otherwise it will be kept over for ensuing number.

Readers wishing to learn at a glance the new books on any special subject, fiction, poetry, religious thought, etc., will find the Classified List on page 17 very helpful. Refer from it to the notice of the book in its alphabetic order.

BOOK CHAT will hereafter be issued at the end of each month. We have deemed this advisable in order to have the list of books and magazines for the month which dates each number. Our February issue gives the books, with notes, comments, gossip, etc., for the month of February.

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I made my maiden speech last night, rising very late after O'Connell, but at the request of my party and the full sanction of Sir Robert Peel. As I wish to give you an exact idea of what occurred, I state at once that my debut was a failure, so far that I could not succeed in gaining an opportunity of saying what I intended, but the failure was not occasioned by my breaking down or any incompetency on my part, but from the physical powers of my adversaries. I can give you no idea how bitter, how factious, how unfair they were. It was like my first debut at Aylesbury, and perhaps in that sense may be auspicious of ultimate triumph in the same scene. I fought through all with undaunted pluck and unruffled temper, made occasionally good insolated hits when there was silence, and finished with spirit when I found a formal display was ineffectual. My party backed me well, and no one with more zeal and kindness than Peel, cheering me repeatedly, which is not his custom. The uproar was all organized by the Rads and the Repealers. They formed a compact body near the bar of the House and seemed determined to set me down, but that they did not do. I have given you a most impartial account, stated indeed against myself.

LORD BEACONSFIELD'S "Correspondence."

CHIVALRY TOWARDS WOMAN.

True manliness differs also from false in its attitude to woman. Its knightly feeling makes it wish to defend her rights, to maintain her claims, to be her protector and advocate. False manliness wishes to show its superiority by treating women as inferiors. It flatters them but it does not respect them. It fears their competition on equal levels, and wishes to keep them confined, not within walls, as in the Mohammedan regions, but behind the more subtle barriers of opinion, prejudice, and supposed feminine aptitudes. True manliness holds out the hand to women, and says, "Do whatever you are able to do; whatever God meant you to do. Neither you nor I can tell what that is till all artificial barriers are removed, and you have full opportunity to try." Manly strength respects womanly purity, sympathy, and grace of heart. And this is the real chivalry of the present hour.

"Every Day Religion,"

by JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE.

A BONE OF CONTENTION.

Only a few days ago I found a pair of English sparrows and mated Carolina wrens building within ten paces of each other. Both nests were just begun, and anticipating a row before many days, I was consequently constantly on hand, To precipitate it, I placed a tempting roll of threads and carpet revellings in a conspicuous position, and lingered near until they were discovered by the birds. As luck would have it, the sparrow and the wren spied the mass at the same moment, and both, with hawk-like rapidity, darted at it. They met. "The deuce!" chirped the sparrow. "Who's afraid?" twittered the wren; and there they sat, facing each other. But sitting still is not an accomplishment of the wren family, and this one thrust his beak into the mass to carry it off."No you don't," ejaculated the sparrow, and he put his foot into it, in both senses of the phrase. The interference was too much for the wren, and he " went for" that sparrow. Head over heels through the air and over the ground went these angry birds, and their noise called out the other birds, who had been waiting for more nestbuilding materials. These new comers took matters very philosophically. The sparrow followed her mate, to see which would whip; the wren, with full faith in her husband s prowess, glanced about for nesting-stuffs, and, spying the "bone of contention," lifted it up, although as large as herself, and bore it off to her home.

"Upland and Meadow,"
by CHAS. C. ABBOTT.

DEATH IN THE ARCTICS.

Cross' body was sewed up in sacks and canvas this morning by Brainard and Bierderbick, who performed this last service most tenderly. About noon I read the Episcopal burial service over Cross in the hut, and shortly after we went with him to the grave. Lieutenant Kislingbury and six men dragged the body on the English sledge, covered by the American flag, to the summit of the hill beyond the southeast end of the little lake, which I called Cross Lake. I accompanied the party, but the rest of the men did not go to the grave, owing to the limited number of Arctic overshoes and to the extreme cold. Bierderbick cast the dust on our first dead. The grave was dug fifteen inches deep, as far as our condition and the lack of proper tools would permit. A salute was to have been fired over the grave but later it was thought unadvisable to use the ammunition for this purpose. All due marks of respect were paid the body at the house. Lieutenant Lockwood made some remarks concerning the dead man, who would have been forty to-morrow. We find that he had saved up a considerable quantity of bread and butter for the purpose of celebrating his birthday.

"Three Years of Arctic Service," by A. W. GREELY.

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Now

Certain of the critics, with amusing complacency, have handled that lively novel, "After His Kind," as if it were the work of a very promising youth, from whom fine things may be expected, "when time shall have sated his infinite variety," etc. BOOK CHAT discovers that the author (" John Coventry ") is Dr. J. W. Palmer, author of "Up and Down the Irrawaddi " and The New and the Old," -those brilliant sketches of life in California in 1849, and, later, in Burmah and Hindostan, which once constituted so conspicuous a feature in Putnam's Monthly and the early volumes of the Atlantic.

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The Boston magazine, in the reign of the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table " (when James Russell Lowell was in editorial control) said of Dr. Palmer, that "while he seems to surrender himself to the Circe imagination, he retains the polished coolness of the man of the world and the brownness of the man of the nineteenth century. His style is nervous and original not harrassingly pointed, like a chestnut-burr, but full of esprit, or wit diffused-that Gallic leaven which pervades whole sentences and paragraphs with an indefinable lightness and palatableness."

And Putnam's Monthly (George William Curtis in the editor's chair) described this author as "tender, humorous, grotesque and romantic; he has shrewd mother-wit, affluence of fancy, and profuse eloquence of expression."

Edmund Quincy wrote to the Sprinfield Republican: "I have been reading 'The New and the Old 'stories half weird, half wild, yet all pervaded with 'the low, sad music of humanity.' Dr. Palmer's style is affluent, farceful, picturesque and sympathetic. If he were to ask me what it lacked I should say, repose." But there were critics in those days!

They say that Mrs. Craik is writing a play for Mary Anderson.

On Sir Lubbock's list of the "Best Hundred Books," but two American authors are given, Longfellow and Emerson.

Maurice Thompson is an enthusiastic and untiring literary worker. He has just finished a novel of Western life and has two other books in an advanced state of preparation.

"Sangree," the author of Mignonette, has met with remarkable success in her first novel; it is already in its third edition.

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