The Portland daily press., 1865-09-19
Resent Publications.


GoMERY OF MONTGOMERY: "A Family His
q tory. By the author of ePhilip Thaxtcr."
Two volumes inione.e New York: Carleton,
= We really do not know which most to adj.
mire, the industry of the author who could
write, or the courage of the publisher who
could undertake to print a work so formidable
as this. .Anovel which in these days fills two
volumes each containing over 800 closely ipriht-
ed pages; must have special claims upon our in
terest if il is to iiid any readers We regret to
say that we are able to find no sachspecial mer-,
sitin sGomery of Montgomery, As story it is
well enough, and in some respects it is well
told, but the characters have little naturalhess,
and the incidents little connection So long as
the, writer confines himself to ground with
which he is familiar, namely, the common
scenes of New England life, his descriptions.
are lively and often pleasing; but whenever he
strays beyond this range theraw hand reveals
ITSELF II His Indians are as unlifelike as posi-
BILE, and his English noblemen simply prepos-
ferrous He is very fond of preaching little
homilies, and the English aristocracy- which.
he.plainly knows nothing at all-is a favorite
theme. He congratulates himself that in our
country speople are free from that disgusting
subservieDcy to sounding titles that has debas-
ed the middle and lower ranks Of England, as
wen as that supercilious arrogance of rank
that, in the upper class, serves as a cloak 4or',
ignorance and imbecility," and yet having &C.
casionto relate that'a certain rich president of
city bank is not ashamed to shake hands with
acouptry lawyer ina homespun coat, he fnds
the fact so surprisingly meritorious as to call
for especial Dotics. From this, and many other
signs, we are inclined to think that the author
of sGomery of Montgomery" is a great deal
more of a snob than he himself suspects. gsIAaa
His style is diffuse and infatedg Wishing
to say of an old building that the hens, had
made their nests in 1t, he informs US that sthe
feathery bipeds had selected it for their incu-
batting lhabitationr 'C There are many more
things in the book as good as this .g0GE
Nevertheless the work is not without its good
points. It contains a large number of old
neighborhood stories, which are well told and
pithy;it is pure in moral tone, and presents
some really attractive pictures of the social life
and manners of our fathers and grandfather
If it had been condensed to one half OF one
third its present length, it might, have been
made taking and readable book. Its author
is not without ability and if he win contine
himself to doing that which he really knows
how to do, will observe more, take less for
granted, and practise .conciseness of style, he
may yet succeed in producing good novel
For sale by Bailey 8 Noyes. ia -l. 'is' d "a
BLAcKwooD's MAGAZINE for August is rec
Sceived. Its contents are: Sir Brooke Fosss-
brooke PARTLY: Josiah Wedgewood; Hands
and Hearts,. Miss Observation-Disclosures WI:
! Cornelius osDowd UPON Men ana Women, and
other Things in General-Part XVII: Picca-
Oily; an Episode of Contemporaneous BIZ
ography-Part vi: The London Art Season =
| Cleopatra; and The ate Elections.
81 Republished by Leonard Scott & Co., New
\ ork, at "a per annum. - II t,es .s
RAILROAD MANAeEMENr.--There is great
good sense in the following remarks of the
New York Tribune, and railroad directors
and managers would do wei to consider
'them: ms9 AIa9--'a kirs
"Our railroad managers, we presume are
about to hold their annual meeting; and we
entreat them at that meeting to take measures
to insure punctuality IN the running especial
lyl OF their passenger trains. aHrr4 iasui "a
., Nine-tenths of the miscalled accidents SO
frequently occurring ON railroads results more
or less palpably from the running of trains out
of time. Collisions, of course, never occur be-. !
tween trains on time; but running off the
track at sharp curves, the spreading of the
rails, &c, are mainly produced by running
down grades at perilous speed in endeayors to-
make up time previously lost. 20 81 ifa IA
I HThe managers are masters of their own
time tables. I. The public do not ask them to
make fast schedules, but to run up to such as !
Iney may see fit to put forth. If they cannot
make % t their present time let them extend it.
y they ought to run slower in winter, who
run, and iDfexibly run It. This Is the fashion
of the European railways, especially the Ger
man, which seldom, if ever, have to nav dam
ages, and never take life. RED tame, Il Ssaid
to be German weakness: if SO, let us have 4
little more red tape, and less needless slaugh- Z
<er roo a;fisle Esd balf1of n.NI Y Il T-1lf7-7E
v S'' rsH sJoifaiS asGiT bsS1il Gus 20 &c zlt9