We began with a petition. I got every old soldier on it-all that were left. But age and infirmity had gotten so many of them ahead of me! If only the boys from old Sagamore who slept down on the James could have signed for their Major! The only other candidate in the field was the notorious Gus Kroter, backed by the county machine; but he had very little local support, and when the campaign for the appointment closed our assurances from Senator Shammon justified our confidence in the result. Yet, a week later, a despatch came saying that Gus Kroter had been chosen; I was stunned. Major John didn't complain, but every week after that he failed somewhat. By spring he looked ten years older. One evening in May I hurried home with good news for him. "Major John!" I cried, "what do you think? George's bondsmen have realized the full amount of the shortage, and are ready to deed the old house back to you, clear." He was sitting on our porch in his shirt-sleeves smoking his cob, Jack perched on his knee teasing for a war story. I was gabbling happily on of the good news when Major John put out signals of distress. "Run, Jack; run, now, quick, over to mammie," said he, tremulously. "Eddie," he added, turning to me as Jack made off, "if you can help it, never let the boy know-if you can help it; will you? Keep the-shame out of his life, if you can; will you?" And I promised. "To-morrow, Major," said I, getting back to my good report, "I am going to draw the deed." He thought a moment, looking across at the old roof and the old maples. "Not to me, Eddie. No; make the deed to Jack. It will please Rena; she's worked so hard all winter. Well, they'll have a roof over 'em." Whether it was the reaction or what, I don't know, but that very night he had a stroke. When Rena sent for me next morning, Major John, lying on his narrow iron bed, looked up at me helpless. Tried to speak; to put his hand on Jack's head. It was useless; he couldn't move, and he lay that way all day. Only, his eyes looked so peaceful; and, when he closed them, towards sunset, I thought at first it was just a weariness; but it was taps. The Wood's First Snow By Francis Sterne Palmer Piercing the sky, a wood-hawk flew As soon as the wild geese see it fall, They seem to hear the southlands call; The ducks desert the sprucewood springs; The woodcock feel it and spread their wings; Working harder than ever before; Back to a valley the gray grouse whirs— No frosty blast embitters its air, Disturbing the autumn that lingers there; The wood is astir, and wild life wakes Books of the Week This report of current literature is supplemented by fuller reviews of such books as in the judgment of the editors are of special importance to our readers. Any of these books will be sent by the publishers of The Outlook, postpaid, to any address on receipt of the published price. Adventures of Odysseus (The). Retold in English by F. S. Marvin, R. J. C. Mayor, and F. M. Stawell. Illustrated by Charles Robinson, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 5x8 in. 227 pages. $2. On the whole, the collaborators have succeeded very well in reproducing for children in modern English the ever-fascinating fairy and adventure tales of the Odyssey. The illustra tions are in most cases too mannered or too much in the Aubrey Beardsley effect to please children, who rightly like simplicity. The colored frontispiece, "The Sirens," however, is a capital piece of design and color-printing. Baby Goose: His Adventures. By Fannie E. Östrander. Illustrated. Laird & Lee, Chicago. 10×91⁄2 in. 96 pages. $1.25. With its large, full-page illustrations, its bright, joyous coloring, and its rollicking, funny text, the little folk have in this baby book a rare treat. It will keep baby eyes widely open from the first to the last of its ninety-six pages of continued story. Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts (The). By Abbie Farwell Brown. Illustrated. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 5x7 in. 226 pages. $1.25. Few of us are as well acquainted with the lives of the saints as the inspiration and suggestiveness they contain deserves. This book gives most charmingly the stories of saints in connection with the creatures who have been their friends; such as that of Saint Keneth, who as a baby was rescued and brought up by the gulls; that of Saint Bridget, who tamed a wild white wolf; and that of Saint Gerasimus and his attendant lion. Boy's Book of Explorations (The). By Tudor Jenks. Illustrated. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. 51x84 in. 441 pages. $2. No real boy should be without this real "boy's book." In the first place, he will find that it opens, and can even be sat on, without breaking its back; it is therefore a fit physical companion. In the second place, he will find that the stories told are not of the rather patronizing "when-I-was-a-boy" sort, nor are they Sunday-schoolish. They do not even contain an irritating moral, but only such comforting morals as that a good physique and bravery are not even half the battle, and that discipline and obedience to just authority are really worth while. These are straight, simple stories-true stories, too—of travel and discovery in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the two Americas, Africa naturally taking more space than does any other continent. The book will have a double worth. First, through it boys will learn better to persevere in their own small explorations, to be self-reliant and even heroic, because they have had a chance to read accounts of what Mungo Park and Livingstone and the rest did. Secondly, the book is valuable to old as well as to young boys, inducing, as it does, higher appreciation of those who have freed millions from superstition, slavery, cannibalism, and tyranny. While the chapters in the table of contents are fully described, such a work deserves an index; and when the publishers supply this in another edition, they might call their proof-reader's attention to the orthography of the Italian motto with which the book closes. Child's Christ-Tales. By Andrea Hofer Proudfoot. Illustrated. A. Flanagan Co., Chicago. 514x7 in. 90 pages. Commerce and Christianity. By the Author of "Life in Our Villages," "The Social Horizon," etc. The Macmillan Co., New York. 5x71g in. 205 pages. $1.50. The writer, a London journalist, contends that the strict application of religious principles to commercial affairs is the great need of our times. He easily demonstrates the dissatisfaction of church leaders with the results of the private capitalist system, and particularly criticises Mr. Sheldon as having missed a splendid opportunity by incapacity for leadership. The reason why we are so painfully working our way to a more Christian system by strikes and lockouts, rings and trusts, is that "we are morally incapable" of a higher method than such warfare, whose wounds goad us along to the goal much easier to reach but for blind perversity. The way out is indicated in the line of municipal socialism. The author writes forcibly, but without any bitterness of class-feeling. Complete Works of Count Lyof N. Tolstoi. Edited by Nathan Haskell Dole. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., New York. (Popular Edition.) 12 vols. 54 x84 in. Sold only in sets. $12. An excellent edition in twelve volumes, presenting practically the whole of Tolstor's work, both in literature and in the exposition of his opinions in religion, art, social and industrial life. The volumes contain thirtytwo illustrations, including a number of portraits which show Tolstoi at the different stages of his career. There are also pictures of his various homes. The books are printed from new plates and published at a very reasonable price. Crittenden: A Kentucky Story of Love and War. By John. Fox, Jr. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 5x71g in. 256 pages. $1.25. A characteristic story from the hand of one of the Kentucky writers of fiction who knows his section at first hand and interprets it in a spirit of sympathy. This story differs in essential particulars from the earlier novels from the same hand; it is a story of the Blue Grass country instead of the mountain region with which Mr. Fox has familiarized his readers. It deals chiefly with the war in Cuba, and gives a graphic account of what that war meant to the men who were engaged in it; no more picturesque and vivid description of the battles in Cuba has appeared anywhere than in this volume. It is a Kentucky love story, with the war as its chief episode, and also as the element of reconciliation between the lovers. Daisy Miller. By Henry James, Jr. Illustrated from Drawings by Harry W. McVickar. Harper & Bros., New York. 5×84 in, 124 pages. $1.25. An ornamental and illustrated edition of Mr. James's much-discussed story-one of the earliest of the international studies, and still one of the most typical of Mr. James's books. The volume is issued as a small quarto, with a large, attractive page, broad margins, a genti. ous use of marginal illustrations, and a few full-page pictures. David Harum. By Edward Noyes Westcott. Illustrated by B. West Clinedinst. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 5x74 in. 410 pages. $2. If there is any one in the world who has not read " David Harum," that person would do well to secure this edition, which has many pictures by Mr. Clinedinst, who stands high in the list of those American illustrators who really depict character and faithfully render their author's meaning. A biographical sketch and portrait of Mr. Westcott add to the completeness of the edition. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Complete Works. (Coxhoe Edition.) Edited by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., New York. 6 vols. Sold only in sets. 4x6 in. $4.50. This edition, in six small volumes, resembles very closely in appearance, in typography, and in general editorial plan the edition of the works of Robert Browning issued by the same publishers some time ago, which has taken its place as the very best edition of Browning for the student which has yet been published. The work of Mrs. Browning has been arranged and presented with kindred thoroughness and intelligence by Miss Porter and Miss Clarke, the editors of the edition of Robert Browning; each volume contains not only the notes necessary to the full elucidation of the text, but also a critical introduction which relates the work in the volume to the life and circumstances of the poet; and between this introduction, the notes, and the biographical introduction, the student is furnished with a complete critical apparatus. The volumes are very daintily made and attractive to the hand. The edition leaves nothing to be desired. Ephesian Studies. By Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, D.D. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. 54x8 in. 340 pages. In these expository lessons on the Epistle to the Ephesians, by a well-known scholar of Cambridge and eminent clergyman of the Church of England, the critical element is relegated to foot-notes: the reader is provided with a careful paraphrase, bringing out the main spiritual and practical teaching of a letter that such a literary critic as S. T. Coleridge pronounced "one of the divinest compositions of man." Dr. Moule contends for the Epistle as all Paul's own; he yields nothing to the view of some of his brethren that it is composite of practical portions that are Pauline with doctrinal parts non-Pauline and of later date. The author's characteristic warmth of devout feeling, glowing with love to Christ, pervades the entire work. Essayes or Counsels Civill and Morall of Francis Bacon, Lo: Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Edited by Walter Worrall. Introduction by Oliphant Smeaton. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 512x81⁄2 in. 291 pages. $3. A beautiful edition in small quarto form, edited by Mr. Walter Worrall, with an introduction by Mr. Oliphant Smeaton, and with a number of illustrations, including the portraits of Bacon and his father, of Bacon's friend Bishop Andrewes, and of two or three localities intimately associated with Bacon's life. The essays are printed on a broad, clear page, from large type, with rubricated titles and initial letters, and the whole bound in white with gilt stamping-a dignified and elegant volume. Fairy Night's Dream; or, The Horn of Oberon. By Katharine Elise Chapman. Illustrated by Gwynne Price. Laird & Lee, Chicago. 74×10 in. 95 pages. Fireside Battles. By Annie G. Brown. Illustrated. Laird & Lee, Chicago. 6×81⁄2 in. 327 pages. $1.25. This story is well named. Southern in setting and in tone, it pictures the struggles of a once opulent family shortly after the Civil War. Jean, a girl of fifteen, becomes head of the family, soon gets a public school to teach, and supports the others. Her contrivances and self-sacrifice, pitted against the blindness of all the others as to all that she is really doing, make the burden of a story which is admirably told. It is at once noble, pathetic, humorous, and tenderly true to life. The make-up of the book and its illustrations are artistic to a degree. Fun and Frolic. By Louis Wain and Clifton Bingham. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co. 84104 in. 144 pages. $1.50. Heart of a Boy (The) (Cuore). By Edmondo de Amicis. Translated from the 224th Italian Edition by Prof. G. Mantellini. Illustrated. Laird & Lee, Chicago. 6x81⁄2 in. 290 pages. $1.25. A real classic of boy character and life, a book of singular charm and lasting value, of which we have spoken appreciatively more than once. This is an "edition de luxe," with many pictures-half-tones and pen-and-ink sketches; the cover color is too brilliant, we think, for this particular book. The transla tion is from the 224th Italian edition, a remarkable evidence of the book's deserved popularity. Hundred Anecdotes of Animals (A). With A. M. Robertson, San Francisco, Cal. 4x7 in. Mr. Keeler's verses have the real swing and rush indicating a fullness and richness of thought sometimes difficult to limit and condense by the rules of rhyme. In Storyland: A Volume of Origine Pictures, Stories, and Verses. Written by G. A. Henty, L. T. Meade, and Others. Edited and Arranged by Alfred J. Fuller. Illustrated. E. P. Du'ton & Co., New York, 71x91 in. 144 pages. $2. and of innumerable pleasant paragraphs about the fads and follies and happenings of the week in the "This Busy World" page of Harper's Weekly." Here his mild satire is just the opposite of that defined in the famous In the Sweetness of Childhood. Selected by description of a pessimist as one who of two Grace Hartshorne. Illustrated. Dana Estes & Co., Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. met. Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley. By his Son Leonard Huxley. Illustrated. 2 vols. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 5×81⁄2 in. $5. We speak of this book elsewhere in this issue in our review of important biographical works of the season. Lord Linlithgow. By Morley Roberts. Har per & Bros., New York. 5x7 in. 319 pages. $1.50. When an indignant moralist recently ventured to point out Mr. Cecil Rhodes's deficiencies, Mr. Kipling rejoined: "Why, man, but he is building an empire!" With the excuse of such a fact Mr. Morley Roberts also agrees. However the reader may differ with this, there can be but one judgment as to the capital characterization found in Mr. Roberts's "Colossus," published last year. Hence its readers have a ready welcome for the author's new novel. Like "The Colossus," "Lord Linlithgow," though perhaps it does not prove that the end justifies the means, certainly suggests that the "means" may be excused if sufficiently prominent men sanction them. In his desire to serve his party, and incidentally himself, the hero of this tale blackmails a man, but, when the party chief rewards the blackmailer by a seat in Parliament, it seems reasonable, according to Mr. Roberts, that the hero should once more hold up his head in society as one who had quite regained a possibly fost self-esteem. Again, to the perplexed and unsophisticated heroine, such a hope as this is offered: "If it is not easy to be quite good, it is impossible to be wholly bad." While the character-drawing is not so incisive as in "The Colossus,” “Lord Linlithgow" is notably readable, and has value in giving an up-to-date glimpse of political life in England. Lucid Intervals. By Edward Sandford Mar tin. Illustrated. Harper & Bros., New York. 5x71g in. 264 pages. $1.50, There are few living writers of light social essays-talks is really the better word-who have a gentler or more amiable touch than the author of "A Little Brother of the Rich," evils always believed in both. Mr. Martin has broad sympathy as well as a keen humorous sense. His philosophy is essentially sunny, and his school is that of George William Curtis and Charles Dudley Warner. "Children," Swains and Maidens," "Husbands and Wives," Some Human Cravings," such are the titles of a few of his gracefully written discourses on life. Lullabies and Baby Songs: A Posy for Mothers. Collected by Adelaide I.. J. Gosset. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 6x8 in. 117 pages. $1.50. A collection of cradle songs, gathered from many quarters, a few of them old folk songs, others the verses of modern poets, with some charming illustrations. Man with the Hoe (The). By Edwin Markham. Illustrated by Porter Garnett. Doxey's At the Sign of the Lark, New York. 4'x7 in. 30 pages. 75c. Memories of Vacation Days. By Frank Presbrey. The Redfield Brothers, New York. 42×634 in. 122 pages. Notes of travel and observation and bits of historic knowledge thrown together by an experienced “globe-trotter" and genial onlooker who talks pleasantly and optimistically of men, places, and affairs. The make-up and cover design of the little volume are original and eminently tasteful. Mother Nature's Children. By Allen Walton Gould. Illustrated. Ginn & Co., Boston. 51×71g in. 261 pages. 70c. All children should possess a book of this kind, which tells them simply and charmingly how the seeds learn to fly, how the plants are clothed and fed, and how nests are built by bird and fish. The numerous illustrations, such as of the "Grandparents of the Sponge and of the "Thistle Family at Night and by Day," are excellent. National Worthies: Being a Selection from the National Portrait Gallery. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 7x10 in. 186 pages. $15. Reserved for later notice. Ned, the Son of Web: What He Did. By William O. Stoddard. Illustrated. Dana Estes & Co., Boston. 5×71⁄2 in. 333 pages. While it is somewhat improbable that the average boy would take a heavy old folio out with him for reading in a sailboat, this story is certainly an entertaining jumble of the eleventh and present centuries. Novels, Romances, and Memoirs of Alphonse Daudet. The Immortal, and The Struggle for Life; Little What's-His-Name, and La Belle Nivernaise; Thirty Years in Paris, and La Fedor; and Arlatan's Treasure. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 4×71⁄2 in. $1.50 per volume. On to Pekin. By Edward Stratemeyer. Illustrated. Lee & Shepard, Boston. 5×71⁄2 in. pages. $1.25. 322 A book for boys, telling in a readable way, through the adventures of young Lieutenant Pennington, ordered from the Philippines to China in the summer of 1900, the exciting Frederick W. Holls, D.C.L. The Macmillan Co., New York. 6x9 in. 572 pages. $3. This is a book of reference which the student of international law must put in the first rank. Mr. Holls writes so interestingly, however, that the book is not too technical for the general reader. Since the beginning of the Boer war much has been said pessimistically about the results of the Peace Conference at The Hague. It is now well to emphasize what the Conference did accomplish-in the codification of the laws of war, in the building up of the body of international law, above all, in the binding together of the nations into a federation for justice. The establishment of a permanent international court of arbitration is the great monument which will commemorate the Hague Conference. It will dissipate many prevalent misconceptions. After narrating the history of the Conference and describing its work, Mr. Holls sums up the bearing upon international law and policy, showing that the treaty which pacifically adjusts so many international differences may really be called the Magna Charta of international law. As with the Magna Charta of England, so the significance of the Hague Conference lies not so much in what it contains as in what it signifies. Pearl of the Orient (The). By G. Waldo Browne. Illustrated. Dana Estes & Co., Boston. 534x8 in. 152 pages. $1.50. This volume comprises a popular summary of facts concerning the Philippine Islands and the Filipinos. In narrating their history, Mr. Browne dwells especially on Spanish discovery and dominion, on rivalry between Church and State, on colonial wars, and on struggles for liberty. The description of the Aguinaldian revolt of 1896-97 is the most interesting part of the work. The chapter on America in the Orient is regrettably not up to date. Power Through Repose. By Annie Payson Call. (New Edition with Additions.) Little, Brown & Co. 42x7 in. 201 pages. $1. A new edition of a book which on its first appearance received high commendation from the press. In "Talks to Teachers on Psychology," Professor William James said, "It ought to be in the hands of every teacher in America of either sex." The present volume contains three new chapters, entitled respectively, The Rational Care of Self, Our Relations with Others, and The Use of the Will. It is a book the value of which is self-evident on every page, and yet so simple in its presentation that the intelligent reader may pause to wonder why such palpable truths need to be insisted upon in print. Political Parties in the United States, 18461861. By Jesse Macy, A.M., LL.D. (The Citizen's Library.) The Macmillan Co., New York. 5x7 in. 333 pages. $1.25. A remarkably suggestive essay upon the development of our political system. It is not so much a history of our political parties as the philosophy of our political history. It is, however, pre-eminently "philosophy teaching by example," and few larger treatises on American history bring out into strong light so many significant public events or so many significant incidents in private life illustrative of public thought and feeling. Although the whole of our political history is made contributory to the philosophy of the volume, the work centers in the period marked by the dissolution of the Whig party and the emergence of the Republican. This period is reviewed in a way to make the reader comprehend the undercurrents of political life, as well as know the political events which come to the surface. The volume is heartily to be commended. Prodigal (The). By Mary Hallock Foote. Illustrated. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 5x8 in. 99 pages. $1.25. There is a certain direct vigor of charactersketching here that reminds one of Stevenson. The story is that of a young man who is an irresponsible moral waif but has cheerfulness, independence of mind, and a potentiality of honesty and usefulness, all of which are called into play by the right woman's influence to make him a sturdy and useful man. All this sounds rather didactic, but the story, although it has purpose, is a story first of all and is quite free from moralizing. Proverbs Improved. In Twenty-four Colored Pictures by Grace A. May. Verses by Frederic Chapman. John Lane, New York. 74×5% in. 103 pages. 75c. A happy device for the entertainment of children has here been hit upon. In rhymes of Eric Chapman and pictures by Grace A. May, twenty-four of the most time-honored of old saws, beginning with "Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds," and ending with "It Takes Two to Make a Quarrel," are worked out in storytelling verse and brilliantly illustrated in pictures that carry their own moral. Representative Painters of the XIXth Century. By Mrs. Arthur Bell (N. d'Anvers). Illustrated. É. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 8x12 in. 200 pages. $12. Reserved for later notice. Rulers of the South (The): Sicily, Calabria, Malta. By Francis Marion Crawford. Illustrated. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co., New York. 5×8 in. $6. Reserved for notice later. Seven Smiles and a Few Fibs. By Thomas J. Vivian. R. F. Fenno & Co., New York. 4×7 ín. 195 pages. $1. Snow-White; or, The House in the Wood. By Laura E. Richards. Dana Estes & Co., Boston. 5x7% in. 93 pages. 50c. A beautiful story of a little girl who runs away into a fairy world and finds a new fairy tale which she makes a true one. Songs of the Old South. By Howard Weeden. Illustrated by the Author. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. 6x84 in. 96 pages. $1.50. Miss Weeden's "Bandanna Ballads" had a wide reading. This volume is as good or better. It has a couple of dozen humorously philosophical or simply pathetic poems of negro life, with as many really capital drawings (some printed in color), all the work of the |