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By WILBUR F. GORDY

Principal of the North School, Hartford, Conn.
Ready Jan. 20th.

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of the powerful influence exerted by routes and modes of travel, soil and climate.
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Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United States

By B. A. Hinsdale, Ph. D., LL. D.

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The story of Horace Mann's useful career has been told in this volume with both point and fullness by perhaps the most distinguished American authority on the science and art to which Mann devoted his life. Dr. Hinsdale, however, has not confined his narrative to biography, but gives a picture of the condition of the public schools before and since Mann's initiative and energy transformed them. The picturesqueness of such a review to the general reader may be gathered from the fact that it is estimated our public school system will enter upon the year 1900 with 15,500,000 pupils enrolled, more than 426,000 teachers at an annual expenditure exceeding $212,000,000. To the professional educator the value of such an historical account is obvious. The book is the one American number of the series, and as such, and because of the great importance of its theme in strictly American education, it occupies a unique position among its companion volumes.

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lations. With full Cartographical Illustrations The Aryan Question. (Racial Geography of Europe, WILLIAM HUNTER WORKMAN, A, M., M. D. from Contemporary Sources.

"The wondrous story has been told by Parkman in half a history of physiology and medicine during the past fifty years. three thousand miles through all parts of Spain,

be surpassed, and which have given it a wide popularity. The Etiology and Distribution of Infectious Diseases. Dr. GEORGE M. STERNBERG, Surgeon General U. S. Army.

The Literary

Literary World

VOL. XXIX BOSTON 8 JANUARY 1898

No. I

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NEW YORK LETTER. John D. Barry

JANUARY MAGAZINES

NOTES AND QUERIES:

Browning's The Ring and the Book
NEWS AND Notes
NEW PUBLICATIONS

"MRS

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8 ful limitations which make the most hearty "well-wisher of the Japanese wonder whether 15 these islanders have yet attained to the first 15 rudiments of a conception of a universal religion. When we find so-called "leaders" of Japanese thought seriously teaching that MRS. KNOLLYS.* the Mikado is a divine being, that the Jap[RS. KNOLLYS," the story which anese are a divinely enlightened people, and opens this volume, by F. J. Stimson, that even Jesus Christ must be subordinated is by long odds the most striking of its con- to their emperor in any scheme of religion tents. It is the story of a very young Eng- that the Japanese can accept, we almost lish bride whose husband falls into a cre- wonder at their sanity, to say nothing of vasse of the Pastersen glacier and disappears a conceit which would almost seem to overinto unfathomable depths of ice. The only top their holy mountain Fuji. It is true 6 consolation which her broken heart is capa- that Mr. Peery does not state all this in 6ble of feeling is the confident prediction of a quite so bald a form. On the contrary, he German savant that the slow, untiring move- hopefully believes that "as the nation pro7ment of the glacier would bring the body to gresses intellectually the hold of these ansight again in two and forty years, if she cient faiths upon the common mind will 13should live long enough to behold it. She become more and more precarious." does live, the prediction is verified, and the white-haired woman of sixty, watching at the base of the great glacier, receives from the embrace of the ice the boyish lover who dropped from her sight nearly half a century 10 before, preserved in youthful aspect through 10 all the years by the intense cold. She is old 10 and gray, he still the boy of one and twenty whom her girlhood loved! It is a strange, impressive little story. The other stories in the volume are lively and readable, but have not the distinguishing originality of "Mrs. Knollys."

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One-half of the book is devoted to the subject of Christian missionary work as carried on by representatives of the three great branches of the faith - Greek, Roman, and Germanic- from Russia, France, and the English-speaking peoples holding the reformed faith. Nothing of more immediate value to the student of missions or to the intending missionary can be found than is given in the latter half of this work. An index is inexcusably absent. The text and printing are accurate, and, without making too much boast of its literary excellence, we warmly recommend this work for its abundant and trustworthy information.

STEVENSON'S ST. IVES.*

WITH so much matter, good, bad, and indifferent, published annually about Japan, it is good for those who wish to keep In January, 1893, in the midst of an attack themselves informed to have a manual like of influenza complicated with severe hemthis for easy reference and pleasant read-orrhages from the lungs, Stevenson coning. Dr. Peery is a missionary of the ceived St. Ives, gleefully writing to Mr. American Lutheran church in that lovely Colvin that "in his sickness he had had province of Japan of which Longfellow a huge alleviation and begun a new story; 13 sings in his poem of Keramos." Right and now, nearly five years later, the book,

13 among the clay beaters, potters, and decora- finished by another hand, lies before us, one tors the author has dwelt, though, to speak more posthumous witness to Stevenson's more accurately, the chief clay beds, wheels, marvelous powers. Within a week or two 14 and kilns are at Arita, and the port of Arade the story was begun and started in full

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14 at Imari, while he has lived at Saga. Deeply swing, plotted even to the numbers of the sympathetic with the Japanese and having

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chapters and their headings; and thereafter

a hearty appreciation of their better quali- we find it sharing Stevenson's time and at14 ties, almost as keen as that of Mr. Lafca- tention with David Balfour, Weir of Her 14 dio Hearn, he is a much more trustworthy miston, the Ebb Tide, Underwoods, and a guide as to actual facts. His style is dozen other things besides his family mem14 straightforward and pleasing. The few oirs, political letters to the Times, and his illustrations are full-paged and thoroughly Edinburgh edition. The genesis of St. Ives appropriate.

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14

14

Dr. Peery describes the land in one chapter and the history in another, and then treats

hints at the circumstances under which it and others were continued; and when we consider that to extraordinary literary activ

15 of characteristics, manners and customs, civ-ity and the burden of increasing bodily ills

15

15 ilization and morality. He tries to look at was added the distraction of Samoan polit

remark that possibly "literature is a morbid and sensations, of the clatter of hoofs, the "remarkable ghost theory, with certain imsecretion and abhors health;" and certainly from times of deepest depression and racking pain he turned with wonderful elasticity to the weaving of adventures which seem to us in his happiest manner and most merry mood, needing no excuse of "years of ill-health and industry which have taken the cream off the milk."

Of these years of work to which Stevenson so pathetically alludes we can find no more delightful history than the Vailima Letters-delightful in spite of the underlying sadness and sense of the pity of it all, because of the rare spirit of the man. Few are the opportunities to read a novel in the light of its author's own frank opinion, but more than one lie in these familiar letters to a dear friend; and he who would read Stevenson with perfect enjoyment should keep these letters close at hand. Of St. Ives especially is frequent mention made, and it would be a strong temptation to let Stevenson's criticism replace our own, were it not that we hold the book higher than did he, and cannot forego our word of hearty praise.

The story in its serial form is already familiar to many who have loved the fair Flora, laughed at Mr. Rowley, and followed with breathless suspense the checkered career of the Viscomte Anne to the proper ending of "living happily ever afterwards." Who but Stevenson would have rescued his hero in a balloon, with a parting kick

THE EVOLUTION OF THE IDEA OF
GOD.*

and

rattle of wheels, the clink of steel, of gay portant modifications and additions," he has music and sweet whispered words, of free, adopted; but he claims for his book much fresh air and out-door spirits, of French wit that is peculiarly his own. In two points, and brave bearing and British pluck, of pic- he tells us, it is "especially novel:" in tures that cling in the mind when the book "the complete demarcation of religion from is closed, and underneath it all is the charm mythology, and the important share assigned and fascination that made Stevenson the in the genesis of most existing religions to man, adored, and Stevenson the writer, a the deliberate manufacture of gods by killmaster among his kind. Essentially dra- ing." In the amplification of these points, matic is the story, wholesome in its ideals "Max Müllerism" is treated with scant and impression, and good reading for young courtesy, while the Christ of the New Tesand old, to all of whom we cordially recom-tament is resolved into a "corn-god and mend it. Had Stevenson lived to complete divine-human victim," who is "like all the and revise, it is possible that St. Ives similar gods of the early races." Among would have been counted among his best the "ideas of secondary rank," for which work, and, fragment as it is, we are glad to our author claims novelty, are the establishment of three successive stages in the conhave it. Whether it should have been finished, or ception of the Life of the Dead, which Corpse-worship, left as Stevenson dropped it with the merest might be summed up as " outline of its ending, is another question Ghost-worship, and Shade-worship, and debatable; for our own part we are which answer to the three stages of presglad to have the closing chapters even ervation or mummification, burial, and crethough the hand is strange. To finish an- mation," and "the entirely new conception more than a of the development of monotheism among other man's work is never thankless task, and to Mr. Quiller-Couch, the Jews from the exclusive cult of the whom we remember most pleasantly for his jealous god." Our author wishes his inquiry "to be retruly "delectable" stories of the Cornish coast, we owe acknowledgment for his will-garded not as destructive, but as construcingness and not comparison with the man tive;" but destructive it is, and his contenwho in his own lines has had few equals. tion that "it only attempts to recover and follow out the various planes in the evolution of the idea of God, rather than to cast doubt upon the truth of the evolved concept," is useless. His explanation of the origin of Judaism and Christianity does destroy their validity as, in any sense, auvehicle with claret-colored post-chaises; who else could restore an eloping maiden of nearly 450 pages, is that "corpse-worship thoritative systems, and no Jew or Christian is the protoplasm of religion." To such can accept the conclusions of this book, to her father's arms with the approbation of the reader; who else could intro- a source, he is confident, all religions, and logically remain a Jew or Christian. duce so naturally an aged and wealthy Christianity not excepted, can be traced. His inquiry is, we repeat, destructive, and uncle with an unexpected bequest of all He denies, and almost with warmth, that the wonder is that he should not see and he is a dogmatist, and in his closing chapter frankly admit as much. his moneys to an almost unknown nephew; The work contains a wealth of informawho else could make the children of his says: "I go, as it were, before a Grand Jury. I do not pretend in any one in- tion gathered from a world-wide field, and pen live and jest and fight before us so we are not surprised when the author tells gaily in their bravery of silk and lace and stance to have proved my points; I am satisfied if I have made out a prima facie us that he has been engaged in collecting color; and, above all, who but Stevenson could make us see with his eyes and love case for further inquiry;" but the reader, and comparing materials for more than supposing he has not made our author's twenty years. As a storehouse of facts, with his love the Scottish country of moor and hillside and brown-rushing stream, with acquaintance until now, soon learns that, it cannot fail to be very useful to the stuits sturdy people rugged like their land but if Mr. Allen be not a dogmatist, he not dent of anthropology and comparative reinfrequently comes perilously near to dog-ligions. These facts are one thing and Mr. matism, as when he says (the italicism our Allen's inferences and conclusions, quite own): "The goal towards which I shall frequently at least, are another. As long, move will be the one already foreshadowed then, as due caution in following him is in this introductory chapter-the proof that observed, the book can be read and studied in its origin the concept of a god is nothing with much profit. more than that of a Dead Man, regarded as a still surviving ghost or spirit, and endowed with increased or supernatural NLY a Frenchman could have written this little book. In its wild flights of powers and qualities." imagination it suggests the author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, only it is over the sea and not under that its writer takes us. We have the pleasure of moving, under the author, with incredible rapidity,

in the face of a pursuer, varying it as a THE

full of charm and sweetness? All his ex

HE conclusion reached by Mr. Grant
Allen, in this somewhat formidable work

iled life Stevenson longed for Scotland and
he wrote of her with his heart's blood. In
a far southern country the story was planned
and penned, dictated for the most part,
sometimes given to the amanuensis in the
language of the deaf and dumb, and yet it
shows not a trace of hampering influences,
not a breath of tropic air. In mind if not
in body Stevenson lived for the time with
Mr. Allen acknowledges his indebtedness
the people of whom he wrote, and with him
we are carried back into the early part of to various well-known writers on anthropol
the century, from the quiet and soothing ogy, such as Mr. J. G. Frazer, Dr. E. B.
beauty of his southern island and the out- Tylor, and Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose
ward prosaicness of our modern existence
to the stir and thrill of a romance that seems
real life. St. Ives is full of sound and color

The Evolution of the Idea of God: An Inquiry into the

Origins of Religion. By Grant Allen. Henry Holt &
Co. $3.00.

ONLY

LUMEN.*

Lumen. By Camille Flammarion. Dodd, Mead & Co. $1.00.

and at the same time can stop at any moment and see ourselves in motion! Who but a Frenchman would have conceived a world where the past and the present exist together? And not only have conceived it, but have apparently proved the possibility of its existence?

Lumen, the chief conversationalist in the book-which is written in the form of a dialogue is taken after death to live on another planet. Thence he looks down upon earth and sees not the life of today, but the life of seventy-two years ago, when he came into existence upon earth:

The rays of light that proceed from the stars do not reach us instantaneously, but occupy a certain time in crossing the distance which separates us from them, and shine as those stars not as they are now, but such as they were at the moment in which those rays set out to transmit the aspect of the stars to us. Thus we behold a wondrous transformation of the past into the present. As the aspects of the worlds change from year to year, almost from day to day, one can imagine these aspects emerging into space and advancing into the infinite, and thus revealing their phases in the sight of far distant spec

tators.

All books which try to deal concretely with life after death are unsatisfying. This has the advantage over many such volumes in that it takes us out into a large place and gives us new senses and opens a wide horizon, and shows us how "the earth is only an atom in the universe." In the study of light the writer thinks will be found "the principle of every movement and the inner reason of all things," and so he calls his book "Lumen." We commend the writer as suggestive, and at times brilliant, but his book will not bring much comfort to those who sit in the shadow of death.

SICILY IN FAOT AND FICTION.

Picturesque Sicily.*

winter days pass quickly by and mountain his character fate brought to Rome a Sicil-
excursions alternate with the study of old ian family of Corleones, distantly of kin of
churches and the ordinary sights and inci- the Saracinescas, a mother, two sons, and
dents of the town. There are also rambles a beautiful young daughter fresh from a
along the north shore and inland, an excur- convent. With this girl, dowerless, inex-
sion through the country made famous by perienced, handicapped with evil relatives,
notorious bandits and their exploits, an as- Orsino falls gradually but passionately in
cent of Etna, and visits to Syracuse, Se- love. His cousin, the Marchese di San
gesta, Cefalu, and other points of interest. Giacinto, purchases the Corleones' Sicilian
Brigandage, which has been one of the estate, a lonely place in the volcanic region
features of Sicily, is now practically at an at the base of Ætna, named Camaldoli.
end, and traveling in almost all parts of the He has schemes for a railway which shall
island under ordinary conditions and with develop other lands of which he is owner;
ordinary precautions is as safe, perhaps, as but he does not take into his calculations
traveling in any other part of the world. the fact of Sicilian brigandage. Unhappily
The Greek and Roman remains in Sicily a third Corleone brother has remained in
under the head of Ecclesiastical Architec- Sicily when the rest of the family removed
ture are especially interesting, and will well to Rome, and, though forced to give his
reward the attention of the student. It was signature to the deed of sale, he vows a
in Palermo that Goethe found what he vow that no one shall take possession of
called the most wonderful place in the Camaldoli while he is alive to prevent it.
world, and really Mr. Paton does present Being in unacknowledged collusion with
such scenes, and so skillfully blends the the brigands, it is in his power to inter-
romantic and the picturesque, that he can pose forcibly; and accordingly, when San
not fail to induce many lovers of novelty Giacinto and Orsino, who has accompanied
to follow his steps. How beautiful the in-him to Sicily, are driving from Ramasso to
terior of the Monreale, how exquisite its
cloistered quadrangle with the double col-
umns, and how wonderful the carving of
the capitals! Glimpses of all these inter-
esting details are given in the numerous
illustrations which embellish the volume,
among which are not only those of land-
scapes and public buildings, but portraits
of typical Sicilians - here one of the Greek
type, there one of the Roman type; here a
mountaineer, there a milkmaid; here a for-
tune teller, there a group of street Arabs
illustrations which enliven the pages of
Mr. Paton's narrative and bring its subject
clearly before the reader's eye.

It cannot be said that traveling in the interior of Sicily is comfortable. The inns VE have had one pleasant journey al- are detestable and the means of transporWE ready with Mr. Paton in the West tation primitive. In Palermo, however, Indies, whose Down the Islands and Voy- upon its spreading bay flanked by mounage to the Caribbees will be remembered by tains at either extremity, are comfortable many of our readers. This time we are in- hotels, with every convenience for a pro vited to accompany him to Sicily, and to longed stay. On the whole, while Mr. that somewhat unfrequented island he de- Paton's book discloses much that will revotes a volume of nearly 400 pages. With pel the visitor, they reveal more, perhaps, a substratum of history, the book is for the to attract him. At any rate, we advise most part vividly descriptive of the present, everybody who reads this book to read and puts the reader in possession in an Corleone, and vice versa. effective way of the Sicily of today, with the background of the past sketched strongly in. It so happened, as we have already in- This new novel, by Marion Crawford, is timated, that we have had Mr. Paton's book another link in the Saracinesca series. Its in one hand with Mr. Crawford's Corleone hero is Don Orsino, eldest son of the in the other, and the two together have suf- beautiful Corona and the Prince of Sant ficed to present a more graphic idea of Ilario, whose misfortunes as a speculator Sicily than we have ever received before, in Roman real estate formed the subject

Corleone.*

even from the deck of a steamer passing of a previous story. The experience left

through the Straits of Messina.

him rather cynical and embittered for so A large part of Mr. Paton's time is spent young a man, and indisposed to trust either at Palermo and in its environs, where sunny in love or happiness. Just at this crisis in

Picturesque Sicily. By William Agnew Paton. Harper & Brothers. $2.50.

*Corleone. By F. Marion Crawford. Two vols. The

Macmillan Co. $2.00.

inspect the new purchase, they fall into an ambuscade which has been arranged by the brigands, and returning the fire which opens upon them, Orsino Saracinesca has the misfortune to kill Francesco Corleone, the brother of the girl he loves!

From this point the story goes on with increasingly augmented interest. Mr. Crawford has made a close study of the Mafia system, which is at the root of all Italian brigandage:

"It is not a band nor anything of that sort [Vittoria Corleone tells her lover]. It is the resistance which the whole Sicilian people opposes to all government and authority. It is, how shall I say? a sentiment, a feeling, a sort of wild love of our country, that is a secret and will do anything. With us, everybody knows poses it-generally death." what it is, and evil comes to every one who op

It is the terrible power of the Mafia which makes brigandage possible. The peasantry and small-landed proprietors of the island suffer much from the exactions and cruelties of the outlaws, but the terrible vengeance which they exact in case of resistance or betrayal, and no less this wild sentiment of proprietorship felt in the band as countrymen and as an island "institution," makes them instinctively shield and protect the very scourges whom they dread, and resent all outside interference with

them. The crisis of this interesting story lies in the fact of a confession made by a murderer to a priest who witnesses his crime-a confession made for the express purpose of sealing the lips of the witness,

after which the murderer turns around and accuses the priest of having himself committed the murder. This is rather a new point in fictitious adventure, and one which suggests some difficult spiritual problems. Such a use of the confessional puts a