The Portland daily press., 1874-12-25
Recent Publications.

Eggeston. The Riverside Press. For sale by
Loring, Short g. Harmon.
This noteworthy contribution to the litera-
ture of the late war, has appeared as serial in
the Atlantic Monthly duri ng the past year.
The titles of the chapters are: The Mastering
in; The Men who made the Army; The Tenn
pie of the Women; Of the time when Money
was Easy; ThekChev alier of the Lost sCause;
Lee, jackson, and Others; Queer People; Red
Tape and The End and After.
These chapters give wonderfully faithful
and picturesque view of the inside OF the rebel
states during the war, and explain carefully
the reasons why the South believed in the JUS
tice of their deeds. and how faithfully they
clung to their beliefs, even to tine very last.
The pages which are given to the insane the
cries of some of their public men, as to the
regulation of currency during the time when
money was easy, might be read with profit by
some of the widest of our financial doctors in
Congress-
In the chapter entitled ''The Chevalier of
the Lost Cause is presented a remarkably
critical portrait in words of Stuart, the great
cavalry General of the South. All his char
acteristics are so lovingly, clearly and delcate-
ly described, that the man literally stands be-
fore u.s. marked trace of humor runs
throughout the book, in Anecdotes OF the
Women of the South; of the fictitious prices of
the necessaries of life during the hardest years
of the war, "a pair of boots for instance SELL
ing for five hundred dollars) and this trace be-
comes more distinctly marked in the chapter
on 'Queer People," which gives witty pen
picture of various men, with whom Mr.. Eggles.
ton came in contact.
To any one who cares to know anything
about the South during the war we cannot too
heartily commend this work which bears on
every page the sincerity of a true man, who de-
scribes his own feelings and beliefs, and tells
only of tlrose things of which he himself was
an eyewitness.
CHEcKMATE. By j. S. lie Fanu Illustrated.
From Estes and Lauriat, Boston. For sale by
Dresser, Mcclellan & Co.
"Checkmate' is a thrillingly sensational
novel, with murders, forgeres, poisonings, and
suicide, filing its pages in bewildering pro-
fusion, and yet with all its sensatonalism, it
lags slowly forward in some of its chapters.
A new sensation in novels, founded on novel
and interesting surgical operation, is intro
duced within it's pages. As with all novels of
this class, vice is punished and virtue meets
with its due reward.
THAT QUEER GIRL. By Virginia F. Townsend.
Boston: Lee & Shepard. For sale by Loring
Short & Harmon.
The "Maidenhood'' series of Lee & Shepard
has been received with general favor by those
keen young critics, the girls, for whose delec-
tation it is intended The fourth volume mer-
a rooopfiOn IA its nrplppps-
sors. The law of literary growth is very marked
in Virginia Townsend, and each story she
writes is sure to be an improvement on what
she has written before. The "Queer GirP' she
tells us of is very lovable girl, and an admi-
rable model to pattern after. The book is of
thoroughly healthful tone, and is to be COM
mended.
IsMAIL1A. An expedition to Central Africa. Illus
trated. BY Sir Samuel Baker. Published by Har-
per s. Bros. For sale by Loring Short q Harmon
In the wear 1869, Sir Samuel Baker, world
renowned as an explorer in Africa and other
countries, was appointed by the Khedive OF
Egypt, to command an expedition into the
heart of Africa, with the double purpose OF
abolishing the slave trade, and of annexing ter
ritory to Egypt This large volume, with its
style, how in spite of. great diff entities both
original purposes were accomplished. Geo
graphically, but little has been added TO our
previous knowledge, but in descriptions OF the
people inhabiting these comparatively un-
known regions, in hints as to the best way to
put an end to the traffic in slaves, and as to the
development of this grand agricultural country,
there has been taken great forward step,
which if followed up cannot but lead to the ag-
grandizement of the Kingdom of Egypt.
Too Much ALONE. By Mrs. j. II. Riddell. From
Estes s. Lauriat, Boston. For sale by Dresser,
Mcclellan s. Co.
This novel was written some years ago and
it now appears in new edition, not at all
changed in its internal, but its external form.
1t is capital novel, attractive from beginning
to end, and, above all, true to life The author
ess to be sure does not call it by that name, but
the incidents related have more than once fallen
within our own knowledge in life.