The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-09-20
Recent Publications.

Thoreau, the P0et-NaturaIist. by will
iam Eiie.y Charming.
On finishing the perusal of this volume the
reader is tempted to parody the eptaph of
the Licentiate in Gil Bias and exclaim 'Here
lies the soul Of Henry David Thoreau," for
the book contains all that is best of the sin
cerest lover of nature these latter days have
known. TIE cream of his brain-work is
given in substance, and what is better than
any thoughts or fancies of the man we have
the mau himself, limned with fine and
tender touch by loving hand. To one who
has studied Thoreau in bis biography or h S
works, he seems paradox and an anachron-
ism. He unites the simplicity of the savage
with the subtle and refined thought charac-
terizing the highly civilized modern mind
As we read of his hermit life and his passion
ate love for the woods we cannot but think
his lot should have been cast in some wide
spread forest with boundaries many days
journey off, in the childhood of the race,
when as poets love to feign, man had init.
mate companionship with all the birds that
flew and beasts that ran. Thoreau had
mi ch much of the wild man about him, and
the traits of some savage, wood-loving an
cestry, latent perhaps for many generations,
reappeared in him. Though often abrupt in
speech and manner to the verge of rudeness,
he was one of the .enderest-hearted of men.
Like chestnut, he had prickly burr, but
was very sweet when you got at him. With
al he was truth teller even to sternness,
and was correspondingly disagreeable to a
generation of liars. Indeed, he seems most
notable chiefly in this. that in world of ex-
cuses he was a MN of no explanations. He
had terribly direct way of putting things
oftentimes very discomforting to his interloc-
utors.
Mr.. Charming has executed his self.im-
posed task in manner which entities him
to the gratitude of the reading public, and
to many OF us his work will be a revelation.
The labor has been one of love. It's litera-
ary excellence is somewhat marred by certain
tricks and afiectations of rhetoric which
might well have been dispensed with. But,
on the whole, the style is pleasing and shows
an appreciative study of the English poets
and the prose writers Of the Elizabethan age.
Published by Roberts Brothers. For sale
by Loring, Short & Harmon.
Aftermath. BY Heury Wadsworth Long.
fellow.
1t is with The first falling of brown leaves;
with the earliest drip of the autumn rain;
with the strong, yellow light of the Septem-
Der sun that shines on scattered blades of the
harvest-that there comes to us the "After-
math'' of the Poet.
As if unwilling to part with the circle of
story-tellers that sat by the cracking wood
fire at the Wayside Inn-h, continues in this
volume to tell his golden legend beaus,
strung upon the thread of their companion
ship. After brief prelude of social talk, in
to which he introduces a strange superstition
OF the Manicheans, the Spanish Jew relates
the fatastic tradition of Azrael. The sunny
tempered Sicilian, instinctive,y shrinking
from he shadowy, mysterious tale of the Jew.
plays Neapolitan peoples song upon the
soirnet-but is Interrupted by the Poet, who
would te his story of an Azrael of the earth
the mighty, iron-maied emperor, Charlie
magne. The student next brings forth from
the treasures OF the writings of some mede-
val monk. another tale,
"Of Charlemagne; tale that throws
softer light, more tnged with rose,''
upon the stately figure of the king.
The Theolosian's story is of Quaker wo.
man; and seems in its grave monotony of COL
oring and minute detail, like an ''interior''
sketched in pencil by some Dutch artist.
The Sicilian next tells the merry vigorous
tale Of rhe Monk of Casal-Maggiore.
In powerful contrast, succeed the Spanish
jews Second Tale, ''Scanderbeg written in
a striking measure that has barbaric ring IN