The Portland daily press., 1874-11-21
THE PR ES s.
SATURDAY MORNING. NOV. 21, 1874
Recent Publications.

q. i. lroworldge PuDllshed BY j. Il. OSgo0d q
Co.. Boston. For sale by Bailey s. Noyes.
Mr. Trow5ridge fills worthily place among
characteristic American writers. His talent
is not of the highest order; and he would be
among the last to claim for himself rank
with Longfellow, Whittier. or Bryant. His
views of poetic art are, we fancy, to some ex-
tent, embodied in paragraph from one of
his excellent and practical stories for boys.
The volume is not at hand, so that we can
not quote his language-but his method
seems to consist In transferring to verse chief
ly scenes and incidents, rendered clear and
familiar to his mind either by actual expert
ence or by so minute an acquaintance with
the surroundings of the poem that its action
grows naturally from them. This mode of
verse-writing is safe, almost sure to be unpre-
tentious; and, as far as it goes, satisfactory.
For poet torcible rather than fanciful, real
istic than imaginative-as Is Mr.. Trowbridee
it allows sufficient scope for the best traits
of his talent. He belongs, with a difference,
to the school, distinctively American, Of Bret
Harte and John Hay. But "dialect poetry
--as critics have named this attempt to faith
fully transfer, in realistic detail to verse, the
manners and speech of the different sections
of our country-fnds itself, of course, essen
TALLY modified by the widely differing traits
that belong to the east anl to the west. The
abounding vigor of the stories of the
"Argonauts of 49," these men who struggled
hand in hand with nature for the place and
maintenance that it owed them, is thorough
/ ly western and certain boldness of exagger-
and Titanic mountain scenery of the country.
The dialect poetry of New England must de-
| pend more upon work whose very simplicity
! is the result of care and close acquaintance
With the quaint turns of expression, and the
nature, at once repressed and sincere, of its
bridge to say that he has succeeded well in
his chosen line of writing. He has keen
sense of humor, kindly appreciation Of char
acter, evident experience in writing, and real
dramatic power. ''The Emigrant's Story"
which forms the title-poem of the volume,
is very spirited and well-told. "Farmer
john is bright, wholesome country poem.
| cold Simeon Dole" is a really admirable
| sketch of one type Of New England character,
| and reminds the reader-in its sharply drawn
outlines, and close fidelity to nature in an un-
| lovely phase-of some of the well-known
"misers'' of the Flemish Painters. eau
thor's Night is good, in a different way.
The rhymes are well managed, and the verse
easy and witty. sThe Old Parson" is beau
tiful representation of the nobility of heart,
the kindly, loving nature of good old man
whose faith in his fellows was not 10 be
shaken by dogmas of original sin or total de-
pravty-and of whom Mr.. Trowbridge hap
PLY says: .5-s,
| His mission Is to help and bless; al.
| And the hard doctrines Tat he breaches
| In words of Joy and gentleness
| Are hidden, like the stones in peaches.
| "The cup is more imaginative than some
others of the authors poems; but, though it
contains some fine lines, is not as evenly
| good as some of his more realistic work.
| SHERIFF Thorne' is dramatic and we'll writ
ten. 'The Story of Columbus i told to the
Young is in the form of ballad in several
parts. 1t is clear, condensed and well suited
for school defamation by the young readers
| for whose benefit it was written. In con-
cluding our notice, we will merely express
the pleasure that Mr.. Troworidge's volume
has given us; and assert our belief that the
| public will readily recognize the merits of a
| poet, who is wise enough to know the limits
| of his talent and modest enough to keep
within them; whose essentially popular man
ner never is open to any reproach of coarse
ness; and who finds in familiar things sub
| jects for work of genuine worth.
MIscHlEF's THANKSGIVING. By Susan Coolidge
Boston Roberts Bros. From Loring Short q Har-
| NOR,
Mischief's Thanksgiving gives the title to a
very captivating book of stories by the author
of ''What Katy did at School, and is a de
| lightful story of delightful little girl and of
| all the mischief she was able to accomplish in
one short day.
"Nanny's Substitute" is prettily and natur-
ally told and "Christie" is capital Christ
mas story. tst
| In the "Glrls of the Far North" all of us
who have any desire to ''wing the air. are ta-
ken on "wishing carpet" Ia somewhat
more commodious and sociable affair than
the "broomstick'' which was the accepted
mode Of conveyance in the old time and may
be reserved for such as we in our later days)
| to Norway and Sweden almost before our en-
terprisng local gets wind of our intending a
| European tour. There in the most entertain
| ing way we are shown the sights and won-
| ders. We see the customs of the country and
| thehabits Of the people and especially the
habits of the children which, somehow, have
a natural and homelike air about them-for
| children are, 1 fancy, all over the world,
| good, bad, and mixed.
| We see Frederika Bremen, Lotten Vamberg,
and many more as children and we see them
| grown to be good women and true, and fa-
nous in the world. And almost before we
| know it We are home again and nobody is to
know that we have left our deep armchair
| for moment.
The Illustrations are particularly good and
are by Addie Ledyard.
| EVOLUTION AND PROGRESS AND EXPOSITION AND
DEFENCE by Rev. VIM. T. Gill A. NJ, New York.
Ehe Authors Publishing Society. 1875.
This is defence Of the doctrine of Evo-
luton on metaphysical basis. 1t is dedi-
Gated to Herbert Spencer and the great
Brotherhood of Evangelical Divnes" con-
junction unusual, unexpected yet comforting
to the spirit. From cursory examination
of the book We should say that it was calcu.
lated to afford more satisfaction to Mr.. Spen-
Ger than to his temporary associates. Chap
| ter vi on "Creation Miracles and Personal
God'' contains views, which will probably
not be prevalent in evangelical pulpits at
present. The argument from the authors
standpoint is very clearly aud succinctly
stated and worthy of perusal even by those
who are a little wearied by the mass of liter
ature which is accumulating on this subject.
The works of the leading opponents and
doubters Of Evolution, Carpenter, LaConte,
Dawson, Winchell, AMI ''that sparkling
spoer of Spencer's pride, B. P. Bovine"
whoever he may be,-are fully and perhaps
rather too fully reviewed and criticised.
| These reviews and criticisms seem to us to
| intprfera with the svmmetrv and method of