Los Angeles daily herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1873-1876, 1874-03-29
The Book Table.

Only lew or the mOnthlleS 1Or
April have as yet been received. The
unprecedented storm in the Sierra,
with the attendant obstruction of the
road must, we suppose, bear the blame
rather than any negligence in mails.
Hdrper's assigns the place of honor
to we'll illustrated article upon the
"Farallone Islands," with their rug
ged cliffs frowning across the restless
waters upon the ships that come and
go by the Golden Gate. The sea lions
and the gulls, with the dashing spray
of the surf, help to make up a very
readable article. An illustrated con-
tribution from the pen of Olive Logan
reveals to the public the mysteries of
the stage-the ropes and pulleys, the
Bengal lights and the shams that go
to make up the mimic life, lived for a
short hour. The deeper tragedy hid
den behind many calm face in the
boxes, the wordless tragedy of hard
human life, even Olive Logan's pen
does not touch. Ring up the curtain,
society would amuse itself! The artist,
in his illustration of the transforma-
ton of the old witch into q fairy, has
certainly pictured very substantial
fairy. A we'll written piece upon
"Oliver Goldsmith" with it's reminis-
cences of the days when literature
meant starvation, will be read by those
whose literary palate has tasted the
delicate flavor of the "Citizen of the
World" and who have smiled at the
honest simplicity of the good old.
"Vicar," or who have not forgotten
the days painted by the magic of john
son in that delectable spot which we
all so long for, yet cannot find, "The
Happy Valley"
The Overland for April has two es-
pecially noticeable pieces. Joseph
Weed replies to the January article of
General Sherman upon the Vigilance
Committee of San Francisco. The
sympathies of those who know the full
meaning of powerful villainy and
weak courts and the stern necessity
begotten by such state of society,
will certainly be with Mr.. Weed in
his defense of the "Vigilance Com
mittee,u rather than with General
Sherman in his impeachment of it.
DR.. Stillman having completed the
series of papers under the title of
"Seeking the Golden Fleece" now
commences From COlchis back to
Argos" While reading this series of
interesting papers, go and read Morris
HJason.n
Next upon our table lies volume
in green and gold; yet when you turn
to the contents the coloring is sombre
and sad. 1t is like the leafess tree
wound round with the trailing ivy's
green, or like the grass growing by
the tomb: without, life and bright
colors; within, the sorrow of hopeless
ness and death. 1t is very sad book;
not healthy on, for minds prone to
brood and question; better put it down
and go out in the sunshine where there
is warmth, and life, and light. Yet
you cannot put it down and forget it;
it is too true picture of the dark,
doubling, despairing moments that
come to every thoughtful life.
"Enigmas of Life" by w. r. Greg.
Hear the author in his preface: "In
the later years of life the intellectual
vision, if often clearer, usually grows
less confident and enterprising. Age
is content to think, where youth would
have been anxious to demonstrate and
establish; and problems and enigmas
which at thirty I fancied I might be
able to solve, find at sixty must
be satisfied simply to PROFOUND" Not
q cheerful conclusion, yet one sadly
true. These are few of the enigmas
which so painfully weigh upon the
author: Under the heading of "Real-
liable Ideals" comes a plaintive dis
cussion-rather a querying-of the
blasted hopes, the ever near, ever-fad-
ing vision of human perfectability, of
the great mysteries of pain, of want,
of restitution, of the ever-present
effects of vice and sin, of the endless
warning of good with evil, yet the evil
remaining unvanquished. Then, UNI
der the heading of "Malthus Notwith-
standing" discussion of the doctrine
whether physical want and suffering
are portion of the law of nature
that is, of God-because of the appar-
ent fact that population increases
more rapidly than the means of sus-
tenance. Whether physical want is
by inevitable law endemic in old
countries, the same as cholera is said
to be in the Delta of the Gauges?
Then, a querying of the painful, SEEM
ingly unjust law of the transmission
of the seeds of disease and bodily ill
from infrm, guilty parent to innocent
offspring; and with this the strange
fact that in races and classes of society
wherein the mental and moral nature
are most thoroughly developed, and
where one might expect to find the