Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-09-26


considered in England, we believe, an eminently
successful humorist; that is to say, a great many
Englshmen find so much amusement in his
books as TO be induced to buy and read them.
Our comment upon this is TO quote the senti-
ment Of another English humorist, who envied
the case with which certain people are amused.
Whether Mr.. Burnand's counrymen find life
in general so dull that they seize eagerly any
thing which puts onlthe sembance of humor, or
are so gay and light-hearted that even
these mild witticisms provoke laughter,
we will not now inquire. In this
this book the author describes himself as a
gentleman who fears he is growing fat,
and tells of the expedients he adopts to coun-
teract this tendency, aud of the places and
people he encounters in his pursuit of health.
It has nothing but its humor to recommend it,
and that seems to US somewhat vapid and mo-
notonous. Since Mr. Burnand and his country
men seem to be so well suited to each other in
their respective capacities of author and readers
there is reason enough why he should write and
they should buy and read but we are surprised
that there is indueement for the republication of
his books in this country. For sale here by
Grout & Putnam.
THE END OF THE WORLD, A Love Story, by
Edward Eggleston, author Of the Hoosier
Schoolmaster. New York Orange Judd & Co.
Mr.. Eggleston's previous story received much
praise and deserved some of it. This one, we
think, is inferior to that. The studies of char
acter are drawn more rudely. The peeularities
due to place and time and social conditions are
given with tolerable faithfulness, but the human
nature underlying them is not so successfully
developed The humor too is often coarse. The
leading characters are a hooser maiden, Ger
man lover, a "backwoods philosopher" who
| builds for his home structure of logs, COM
bnng in its architecture the features of a Gre
can temple and feudal castle, gambler, and
Millerite elder. The speedy ending of the
world preached by the elder to the conviction of
his hearers, who comprise most of the charac-
tiers in the novel, is an important element in the
working ont of the plot.
THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM, and other
poems, by John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston,
James r. Osgood & Co. The poem which gives
its name to this volume Is sketch of Pastorius,
German Quaker of the early colonial days of
Pennsylvania, who was an accomplished scholar
and learned lawyer, as well as a writer in
prose and verse. He was the first of the Quak-
ers to bear his testimony against slavery, and
in other ways remarkable man. The poem is
written with Mr.. Whittiers usual grace and
purity of dcton, and is interesting from its
subject, though with perhaps fewer than usual
of his happiest touches. Some of the other
poems have been published in the Atlantic
Monthly, and of these the lines entitled, MAR
guerite,' are among the most beautiful and
pathetic. The volume, which has many beauti
full illustrations, is for sale here by Grout &
Putnam.
SMALL POX AND PREDIsPosING CONDITIONS.
BY Dr.. Carl Both. Boston: Lee & Shepard. In
this little book the author propounds new
theory Of the cause, predsposing conditions and
their preventyeS Of the dreaded disease above
named. His theory in brief is that the disease
known as small pox is due to an effort Of nature
TO get rid of an excess of albumen in the bood
that the excess is caused by diet into which
sugar, alcoholic liquors and some other articles
enter too largely, and salt is not used freely
enough. A free use of salt with diet in other
respects conformed to his rules, he claims,
makes the disease impossible, and this is the
only sure preventive. Vaccination, in his epin-
ion, is never a sure protection, and is generally
dangerous. These theories he claims to have
tested thoroughly. To an unprofessional reader
his statements and reasonngs seem plausible,
but he has few believers among the doctors. The
book is for sale by Grout & Putnam.
HARRY DELAWARE, An American in Ger
many, by Mathilde Estvan. New York: G. P.
Putnam & Sons. To read all the novels which
industrious authors produce, and patient pub
lie is willing to buy in greater or less numbers,
would require unlimited leisure and an abnor-
NAL appetite for fiction; the effect of such a
mental diet we shrink from contemplating.
This is one which we have not read, although
we daresay it would repay the labor quite as
well as some whose authors have more celebrity.
The name Of the publishers is guarantee that
it has some merit, and we can say that it is
printed in bold, clear type, and that the first
page promises well. For sale by Grout & Put
nam.
ScRIBNERs MONTHLY, for October, has
among its numerous articles the following: con
a Tobacco Plantation" illustrated; "In and
%A'''th - sIiH5 ~ l@uWdlu AluSy lluSlIdltu,
second paper; ''Modern Athens, with view of
Athens and the Acropolis; autumn Game on
the Prairies," illustrated; and a paper on Henry
Ward Beecher as ga social force" We have,
also, in this number, a continuation of the
serial novel, cat His Gates" by Mrs. Oliphant,
three or four short tales and sketches, several
poems, and full editorial department. But we
have not mentioned the whole table of contents.
One of the sketches is translation from the
French Of Erckmann- Chatrian.
APPLEToN's JOURNAL, MONTHLY PART No.
AZ, containing the weekly numbers for Septem-
Der, has been issued. 1t opens with an illus
trated article on Long Branch, and has. among
the other illustrations, portraits of DR.. Living
stone and Pauline Lucca. There is very good
Illustrated paper on the "Oid Fort in New
York" This old fort was built by the Dutch;
aud there had ruled Walter the Doubter, Will
liam the Testy, and Peter the Headstrong. The
square on which it stood, south of the Bowling
Green, is described as the cradle of New York,
1t was Sort Amsterdam" in the time of the
Dutch. Afterwards, it received various names
This monthly part continues the serial stories,
and has the usual amount and variety of other
reading matter. There is very readable paper,
by J. Esten Cooke, on "The Last Hours of Bar
ras," the French reYolutionist and ex-chief of
the French Directory; and D. Z. Hervey CON
tributes a paper on the origin and history of
chess, which closes with this anecdote:
Garter, the historian, mentions a chess-match
in the year 1887, between Henry First of En-
gland, before he was king, and Louis lie eros,
son of Philip, king OF France. Louis, having
lost several games and much money, was SO
irritated that he threw the chess-men at Henry's
head, in return for which Henry struck the
French prince with the board, laid him bleeding
on the floor, and would have killed him had it
not been for timely interpostion."
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THE STRONGEST MAN-oF-WAR AFLoAT.-An
English correspondent at st. Petersburg writes
as follows:
Yesterday the sea going turret ship Peter the
Great was launched from the admiralty dock
yard. The vessel received its name from the
Grand Duke Constantine in the presence of a
great concourse Of people. The wedges were
Withdrawn simultaneously, and the great shin
glided without check or noise into the Neva
In few days she will be lifted into floating
dock, which viii be lowed, with its enormous
burden, over the shadows TO Cronstadt, where
the engines will be fitted, the ships sides and
turret sheathed with massive plates the four
fptoo ghfppaI nd IN,