Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-06-19

| ell by his son-n-law, William Stickney. Bos-
ton Lee & Shepard, publishers. This book is
large octave of7OO pages. The first 2S6 pages
give full and entertaining account of Mr.. Ken
dal's early life, carrying forward the story to
his twenty-ninth year. when he had become
prominent and important in Kentucky, as editor
of the Frankfort Argus. He was born in Dun
stable Massachusetts, in August, 1893, gradu-
ated at Dartmouth college in 1911, studied law
in Groton, Mass, in the office of VIM. NJ. Rich
ardson, went to Kentucky to fluid employment
aud began life there as tutor in the family oil
Henry Clay This part of the hook was written
chiefly by Mr.. Kendall himself The rest Of il
is much less satisfactory, the most valuable
portion being Mr.. Kendalls record of his work
as fourth auditor of the treasury, of his admin
istraton of the affairs of the post office depart
ment and of the controversy with the United
States bank Mr. Stickney fails TO give a com
plete history of the last half of Mr. Kendall'>
life, and yet the book is much larger than il
need be. There are long and numerous selec-
tons from his editorial articles, and a great
many letters which could have been omitted
without loss to the reader; while, on the
other hand. the record of political events with
which Mr.. Kendall was connected, is incom-
plete. II is good as far as it goes, but there are
important omissions, and there is no attempt to
give consecutive history of his life and times,
after he went TO Washington
From 1s45 to 1860, he was manager of the
business interests of the proprietors of Morse s
telegraph patents; but nothing is said of this
beyond statement of the fact, and an intima-
tion that it resulted in ample fortunes TO all
concerned. Nevertheless, the book is really val
liable, for the selections from Mr. Kendall'S
writings are eminenty worthy of preservation.
He was n man of great ability and he was one
of the most upright, faithful and efficient off
cials ever connected with the government at
Washington. The country never had better
postmaster general The political events with
which he was connected were among the most
important in our history. If he could have
found time at Washington TO continue his diary,
the latter part Of this book would be much more
it can not now be made better; but we regret
that Mr.. Stickney has not done more TO make it
entirely satisfactory. For sale by Grout & Put
nam.
HAPPY THoUGHT HALL, by f. c. Burnand.
Boston: Roberts Brothers. Whoever has not
read this book or something by the same author
does not know what light reading is. This is
the very froth of literature; the average modern
novel is severe intellectual exercise compared
with it. 1t is gracefully written but there is alb
solutely nothing in it. Tired men, resting in
the shade on a sweleffng day, might talk after
this fashion, and in such circumstances one
might read two or three pages such as these as a
soothing prelude to nap, but we can think of
no other STATE of mind in which
this book could give pleasure. The frequent
iteration of the phrase Happy thought"
is itself an annoyance. The central idea of the
book if it can be said to have an idea, is this:
The author thinks of providing a house in the
country where he can entertain his friends, and
in conversations with several of them the sub
iect of country houses, what they should con-
tain, in the way of rooms and furnishings, how
a party of guests should be made up, and other
things of that nature are talked about. The
illustrations by the author are feebly grotesque.
For sale by Grout Putnam.
vi OF One BY DOZEN OF THE OTHER. By
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Adeine d. 7. Whitney,
Lucrctia P. Hale, Frederick w. Loring, Fred.
erick b. Perkins and Edward E. Hale. Boston:
Roberts Brothers. For the conception of this
curious literary freak the world is indebted, we
suppose, to Mr.. Hale, to whom the development
of some queer capricious fancy is apparently
more congenial than sustained literary effort.
The world will not think it necessary to be pro-
foundly grateful for the idea or the performance,
though both are good of their kind. OF course
the result is not novel in the ordinary
sense; it is rather literary Chinese puzzle,
OF which one OF the problems is to keep the
run Of the characters and incidents, so curious
ly mixed together, and another 10 determine
which Of the numerous authors wrote each chap
ter The result is on the whole rather unsatis-
factory, although some amusement may be
found in H. but we are sure that any one of the
half dozen could have given more pleasure by
undertaking the work alone. Perhaps their own
curiosity to see the effect of such combination
was one of the chief incentives to their novel
task. The book is introduced by six prefaces
from the halEdOzen authors. 1t is for sale here
by Grout & Putnam.
THREE GENERATIONS, by Sarah E. Emery
Boston: Lee & Shepard. This is a story of New
England life in the beginning of this century.
1t has been compared with Mrs. Stoves Old
Town Folks; but for spirited and dramatic
reproduction of the life and manners of the
time it is far inferior, and even more so in its
sketches of individual character. AS a novel
there is not much to be said in its favor, yet its
descriptions of New England country and town
life at the time to which the story refers, the
dwellings aud meeting houses, the schools, the
dress, the occupations, amusements, supersti-
tons and social customs are minute and doubt
less accurate, and have considerable interest.
The book is handsomely Illustrated by L. B.
Humphrey. 1t is for sale here by Grout & Put
nam.
THE WHISPERING PINE; or the Graduates OF
Radcliffe Hall BY Rev. Elijah Kellogg. Bos-
ton, Lee & Shepard, publishers. MIR. Kellogg
books for young readers have been very sue
cesslul, and this new story is not likely to be q
failure. 1t is the third volume of his "Whisper
ing Pine Series" As the title indicates, the
characters of the story are chiefly college boys
whose ways, studies, amusements, and adyen-
lures, are narrated. For sale by Grout & Put
nam.
RHYMES OF YANKEE LAND, by Aela Greene.
Boston: Lee & Shepard. The author of these
rhymes resides in Springfield, we suspect. His
book is very handsomely printed. Its contents
are arranged in three divisions, as follows
Smithville Worthless; Light from Dark; and
Miscellaneous. We like best the six pieces on
"Smthville Worthless" which are very good in
their way; but we have read some of the Others
with pleasure, especially "The Critics" which
deters us from attempting to criticise what Mr..
Greene has published. For sale by Grout 6. Put.
nam.
"APPLEs OF GoLD," small illustrated
weekly Tor the Juveniles, published by II. o.
Houghton & Co., for the American Tract Soci
ETY., is attractive and very good. Twice year
the numbers are collected and bound, and the
volumes so made show this little periodical to
the best advantage. Each volume contains
four chromatic pictures, besides many full page
Illustrations, and the literary contents are
adapted to very young readers. We have re-
celyed one of them and shall be gladMto give
more particular notices of others.