The Portland daily press., 1869-12-03

W.
you have our thanks, and when the.road is
built, our trade.
The local business of Lamoille Valley road
and also that OF the Essex Comfy road which
is that part of the road from Essex to St
Johnsbury to the Connecticut river will make
the roads paving roads. This taken with the .
through business must make the p & road
the best paying road in New England.
Ex-Governor Washburn in his speech to the
people of the valley q year ago last August,
challenged us to be at the Connecticut river as
soon as you are. We accept the challenge.
The land damages on the line of theLamoille
Valley II. r., from West Danvllle to Hard
wick are nearly all settled at an average OF
thirty dollars per acre. On one farm the line
runs one mile, damage settled for fifteen dol
lars per acre, the line runs through Forests
saw mill in Walden, damage settled Tor TWEEN
ty-five dollars, thus you see the people want
rail road, and are willing to suffer any iucon-
convenience to get it. ID.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS The Little Nor
tons: A Summers Life. By Mrs. Barnes Mar
tin, author of 1.-THE Story Of Muff." Portland,
Me: Loring Short g. Harmon. 1870.
1t takes a good deal Of talent and knowl-
edge of human nature to write successful
story for children, and in this pretty volume
we find one full of the genial and healthy tone
proper for little folks, and with an air of reali-
ty;abOut it which makes it very home-like in
its interest But though its naturalness is
predominant fes ture, it does not degenerate
into the commonplace or the dull, and though
the children of the story do nothing but what
children can do and say, there is such pleas
ant variety about them and their experiences
that there is great zast in the narrative. The
adventures of Alice and Daisy in their wan
derings in the wood, and the catastrophe OF
fba thun 1na stn ava aAn fOl
times possessing a dramatic power quite pa
thetic. The author has also very graceful
and easy way of introducing bits of valuable
knowledge for her young renders; who are
likely to remember them all the longer be-
cause separated from the technical routine Of
their studies.
1t gives us great pleasure to find so much to
praise in q book for which we can claim that
it belongs to our own little city, not only in
its authorship, but in its publication. The
publishers have made an attractive volume
and in illustrating il with well-executea wood
cuts, have ministered to a taste for picture
books, which is by no means confined to chill
dren.
Mrs. Martin has already won golden opin-
ions by her charming "Story of Muf, which
serves to rank with those gems of story telling.
"Pet Margorie" and "Rab and his Friends"
1t would be too much to expect the same
amount of genius in prolonged story like the
present-but there is pleasant suggestion of
it many times in "The Little Nortous," and
we shall hope to meet them again.
NJ. J. NJ. s.
Fair Harvard-A story of American College
Life. G.. P. Putnam & Son publishers. For
sale by Loring, Short & Harmon. Price 81 80.
If Fair Harvard was intended by its author
as the American rival of the English tom
Brown at Oxford or even of ''Verdant Green"
we feel very sorry for him. In perusing the
book we have been puzzled as to whether the
author intended his work as a burlesque on
"St. Elmo" and "Strathmore," in which case
he has succeeded very well, or whether he was
| trying to sell the general public in regard to
| life at Harvard College. The story commences
| with the Football match, the first entrance of
| the Freshman into the ups and downs of stu
dent life, passes through the four years course,
including as is proper, with the acceptance OF
the hero by the girl of his heart.
| The classical allusions interspersed through :
out the work require the use of a classical die
tionary for the understanding of the general
reader, as well as Latin Dictionary for the
| benefit of those who have not received a liber-
| al education. The conversations are, in most
instances, sketchy and forced. The following
from conversation between Wentworth and
Hamilton, would be remorselessly slaughtered
by "Stubby" if brought under his eye.
"One needs to keep the sacred Office OF let
| ha M tn trAt NY,
cheertully day after day, although after all it
| is our own ignorance that makes anything
| seem dull to us. The wisest men find nothing
| stupid; the commouest word is to them the
| open sesame to the treas1rehouse OF the ages
| What an all-important part literature plays in
| our life! does it not? Without it man is a
| point in eternity, with neither past nor future,
| clipped about with darkness: its aid has con-
| quered for him a broad island from the reign
OF night, and built upon it a gorgeous temple
| set with golden suns shedding light and heat.
| The Classics are the Propylea of this Temple
of Time, a bulwork against which the waves of
| oblivion have dashed for two thousand years,
| and will dash forever in vain.
Perhaps some undergraduates converse in
the above grandiloquent style. As the one
who spoke as above was supposed, at the time
to be a Sophomore, such a conversation may
have occurred. The "Roman Dinner" is
worthy of "Ouida'' and may be entitled a
| wonderful stretch OF Imagination, a clever
bit of burlesque. The best part of the book is
the narration of scrapes, which we have every
reason to believe are true, and the take off of
the pecuarites of several well-known tutors
of the time, some of them, at present, profess
ors in the University. There are some very
good hits in the work, one on Boston society
in particular.
The author has failed, however, to represent
any of the many various sets in a class in Har-
ward College, with the exception of the one he
disclaims in the first part Of the volume. He
there says he hopes the class will not be
eliquey, as they have few Boston men in it,
and yet the members Of the class mentioned
by him as his particular friends are evidently
Bostonians (although supposed to be from
other cities) from their familiarity with Boston
society. The book will evidently be read by
| all Harvard men and by many others who are
fond of histories of college life, and meet with
| -. colo We agree with the author's
80 Z, the preface who advised him to ap-
- a tabular view of the college studies to
t,o story. so as to give the book certain value
Sever Francis s. Co., of Boston, have Just
issued new edition of American Institutions,
by Alexis de Tocqueville, revised and edited
| by Francis Bowen, Afford Professor of Moral
Philosophy in Harvard University. This pub
hcation is identical with Volume 1 of "De-
mocracy in America" and is issued in its
| present style to furnish the most valuable por-
| tion of the work in a cheaper and more popu-
lar form and with especial reference TO its use
os a text book. The character of this work is
60 well known that comment thereupon would
he superfluous, and we content ourselves with
the observation that the low price at which
this edition is offered places it within the
reach of everybody desirous of adding 1t to
| their library.
The same house has published anotter eal
ton of the celebrated Book oil frais1 @ iao' I tuo
| best English hymn writers, SER see ~ JnJ hon,-
ranged by Sir Roundel % Ial,er ane,,ti",, nas Voua
has heretofore met with seu1Itou ~, =, ioP,s,
anu we auT hated The Commercial AdUer-
c@ontinue, @ ~ es,reakipg of it, says:-"The selections
eeSe', iim,iIable H. the arrangement suggestive and
arc are "mechanical adornments OF the DOCK ex'
qpThe Sunday Book of Poetry IS from the
same establishment, and is selection OF Sa-
| cred poetry of such character as can oe
nlaced with profit and pleasure IN the hands OF
| intelIipent chldren from eight to fourteen
wears of age, both on Sunday and at other
times