The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-12-24
80 BOOKs.

444s AD0OAANa
THE INNOCENTs ABROADs or, The
New Pilgrims Progress, with 234 Illus
trations. By MARX TWAIN. Sold only
by subscription.
This readers of the JOURNAL are
familia with the name of Mark
TWAIN. As humorist, he occupies |
the front rank Of American writer's
There is 2 freshness and favor in his |
humor that we find nowhere else,
and, what's better than all. he is not
compelled to resort to bad spelling
and misshapen syntax in order to
make his humor attractive. The IN
nocents abroad contains graphical pic
lures seen by the author in his cele
brated excursion in the steamship
Quaker City to Europe and the Holy
Land. The book contains descrip-
tons of countries, nations, incidents
and adventures. It abounds in the
ludiorous, and yet is we'll seasoned
with sentiment. Critics have spoken
in terms Of praise Of its merits. and
we might quote from the leading pa
pers of the country until our readers
would be weary with the extracts.
Those, however. who look upon
MARK TWAIN somewhat as gaping
crowd upon the jester Of the ring, en-
tirely misapprehend the man. His
Innocents Abroad is no mere jest
book. Itcontains large amount of
most valuable information. and there
are scattered through it streams of
sentiment which water the eyes and
refresh the soul.
Our city is nov being canvassed BY
lady, who will be prepared to fur
nish as large a number Of the books
as may be desired. The book, it will
be remembered, is sold only on sub.
scription. The typography and bind
ing of the book are good. and ear
hardly fail TO give satisfaction.
We have room for only one ex
tract from the book. 1t is MARKS
meditations while inspecting
THE MAI ESTIC SPHYNX,
After years of waiting it was before
me at last. The great face was so sad
so earnest, so longing, so patient
There was a dignity not of earth il
its mein, and in its countenance a be
nightly such as never anything human
wore. It was stone, but it seemed
sentient. If ever image of stone
thought, it was thinking. 1t wa
looking toward the verge of the land
gcape, yet looking at nothing
r nothing but distance and vaean
, cy. 1t was looking over and be
, yond everything of the present, ant
/, far into the past. 1t was gazing GU
J over the ocean of Time-over lines O.
: century-waves which, further and fur
y Their receding, closed nearer an(
nearer together, and blended at las
into one unbroken tide, away toward
z the horizon OF remote antiquity. i
: | was thinking of the wars of departed
: ages; Of the empires it had seen ere
ated and destroyed of the nation
whose birth it had witnessed, who's,
{ progress it had watched, whose ami
: hilation it had noted; Of the Joy anC
) sorrow, the life aud death, the gran
, deur and decay, of five thousan(
slow revolving years. 1t was tn
type of an attribute of man-of ;
l faculty of his heart and brain. 1t wa
| | neutrality-suspicious.
into visible, tangible form. All who
know what pathos there is In mem
cries Of days that are accomplished
D and faces that have vaBished-albei
T only trifing score of years gone b.
will have some appreciation of The
pathos that dwells IN these grave eyes
that look so steadfastly back upon
the things they knew before Histor.
: was born-before Tradition had bein:
Things that were, and forms tina
moved, in a vague era which ever
Poetry and Romance scarce knew Of
and passed one by one away and lef
the stony dreamer solitary in the
midst of a strange new age, and IN
comprehended scenes.
The Sphynx is grand IN its loneli
ness; it is imposing In its magnitude
it is impressive in the mystery tina
hangs over its story. And there i
, that in the overshadowing majesty o
this eternal figure of stone, with it
accusing memory of the deeds of al
; ages, which reveals to one something
Of what he shall feel when he shall
stand at last in the awful presence o
God.