The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-03-13
Recent Publications.

IHE DIAMOND CRoss; A Tale of American So
cicty. Bv William Barnet Phillips. I2mo.
PIP, 354. New York: Hilton & Company.
Who Mr.. Barnet Phillips may be, we blush
to say we cannot tell, as we have never heard
of him before. But he has given us book, the
unutterable and stupendous Stiffness of which
Is enough to surprise one even in these days
when silly books abound. The class of ideas
which 1t advocates, foolish as they are, did, ten
years ago, find some adherents, but to-day they
are not only silly but obsolete The War of the
Rebellion has scattered them to the winds;
they are exploded with gunpowder. This
writer does not seem to have heard of
the rebellion, or Of any of the events
of the last six years. He dilates
in the old strain which we ali remember on the
beauties and benefits of American slavery;
stigmatizes abolitionsm as The "foul offspring
of the bloody French Revolution" and talks
glibly of the superiority of Southern inst;tu-
tions over those ofthe North for the produc-
ton OF statesmen, quite oblivious of the fact
that the much vaunted craftsmanship of the
South has only succeeded in bringing that sec
tion to political, financial and social ruin. The
story is clumsy; the american society" de-
scribed has not, and never did have any exist
ence; the characters are without interest or
verisimilitude, and the style is so sloveny that
one cannot read three sentences without hight
ing upon blunders which any intelligent school
boy would be ashamed of We are at loss to
discover any good reason which the book has
for being in existence at all, and we should not
have wasted even this amount of space upon 1t
had not the very excess ofits stupidity hitedit
to the dignity of a curiosity. Should any read
| er desire to examine the thing for himself he
will find it for sale by G. Il. Chisholm & Broth
er 3O7 Congress St, and G. 7. Depot.
THE MAINE NORMAL for March. The Nor
NAL continues to deserve well of the Edu
cational profession. In this number Jacob
Abbot has capital article on the Influence
OF Commendation," and the little ESSAYS on
Whispering in School," Teaching Geogra-
ply" and the Composition Glass;" are of prac-
ticai Importance to every teacher. Two ar
tlcies on the Boston Schools, and the Report OF
the Legislative Committee on Education after
visiting the Normal School at Pennington,
make up the principal contents of the num-
Der. The Editor, in notes "On the way
speaks very handsG mely of the teachers Oh
| Portland and particularly OF MIR. Al o'one
of the High School and Messrs. o. b. stone;
Taylor and Buck, ofthe Grammar Schools. The
High School, the Normal says is too large.
As the average attendance during the last
term was 12O boys and 1856 girls, we think the
Normal is right
II has been intmated that the Normal needs
more contributions from teachers. In the
form of subscriptions we dare say they would
be welcome and useful. In any other form,
voluntary contributions are notapt to be worth
much. The Normal ought to have support
which would Justify it in engaging and paying
a corps of regular contributors large enough
to supply two-thirds of the matter needed
No magazine ever did achieve a great success
in any other way, and we firmly believe none
ever will.