The Portland daily press., 1874-12-19
Magazine Notices.

". NtCHOtuS lOI oahutsiJ 10 - AS'A -No-'~J
number, and a peculiarly attractive one. 1t
opens with frontispiece called Mozart, the
Little Music-King," followedsby short sketch
of the great musicians career. 1t gives us an
abundance of interesting Christmas stories,
such as Tommy, the Soprano. by Charles Bar
nard; Nays Christmas Tree, by Olive Thorne;
A Christmas Legend, by Florence Scannell
leach of the three with picture by Eytinge);
and The Dwarfs Mirror, illustrated by F. A.
Chapman. There is also fac-simile of the
original manuscript of the famous ballad Twas
the Night before Christmas, which will attract
the attention of all the boys and girls a,., b.
The beginning of the two serials, The Young
Surveyor by j. T.. TIowbridge, and Eight
Cousins, by Louisa NJ Alcott, with fine Illus
trations by w. L. Sheppard and Addie Led
yard, is of importance to the. readers OF the
Magazine. Hezekiah Butterworth contributes
a set of lively stories called The Funny Kings,
illustrated by Henry L. Stephens, and Thomas
Dunn English has an old-fashioned Fairy-tale-
with two pictures by E. B. Bensell. The mum,
Der also contains A Bird s-Eye View OF the
Battle of Life, illustrated by five OF Conklln's
pictures description of The Hornbll. with
an illustration by james G. Beard; an article
giving directions for making Domino Bridge;
and an interesting account by Noah Brooks OF
the Childrer's Crusade.
Then, there are poems by Bret Harte and
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps; Christmas Carol by
Mrs. Dodge; and an illustrated poem, entitled
Santa Claus and his Men. E
Jack in the Pulpit and The Riddle-Box have
also oonrbt bo christmas snirit and there ia
an additional department of Books for Boys
and Girls. .-- r...r
Harper's Magazine for January is fresh,
bright and seasonable. Peculiarly rich in the
variety of its contents and the profusion of its
illustrations, it opens new year under the
most promising auspices Mrs. Buddington's
poem, The Children's Night, which opens the
number, is novel conception, grouping in q
brilliant galaxy the representations so familiar
to children from Mother Goose's Melodies and
fairy-lore. Miss Woolson concludes her charm
ing sketches of The Ancient City, st. Angus
tine. The third installment of The First Cen
tury of the Republic continues the review Of
Mechanical Progress, tracing the Improvements
in iron-working, engineering, and woodwork
ing, and is accompanied with twenty-four illus
trations The papers on Mechanical Progress,
Of which there will be two more, are contrib.
uted by Edward H. Knight. ..
Mr.. s. S. Conant contributes an interesting
illustrated paper on Sir Samuel Bakers recent
Expedition in Central Africa. A biographi-
cal sketch of George D. Prentice, of the Louis
vile Journal, by Junius Henri Browne, is ac-
companied by faithful portrait. .E5't q
Ruth Dana contributes characteristic
Christmas story, Two Sketches, which is beau
tifully illustrated. William Black, author OF
A Princess of Thule, contributes Christmas
story of humorous character, entitled The
Man who was like Shakespeare. In Mod
ern Lohengrin, Virginia w. johnson gives
us q short story, also appropriate to the season.
Not only in the opening piece of this number
are the children remembered, but there is also
for little folks reproduction, with characters
tic illustrations, of Robert Southey's "Story of
the Three Bears"
Thomas w. Knox tells the story Of Gala
Night in St Petersburg, on the occasion of tbs
marriage of the Grand Duke Vladimir to the
Grand Duchess Marie. Mr.. Mason vigorous
serial story Rape of the Camp, is continued.
Emilio CASTELAR,, in his fifteenth paper on The
Republican Movement in Europe, treats of the
eclectic rationalsm of the schools of jena and
Tubingen. r. Fl. Stoddard and Nelly M.
Hutchinson contribute poems, the former The
Rivals, and the latter two bits of verse, entitled
A Cry from Shore and Loves Imagination.
Mr.. Curtis, in the Easy Chair, presents lu-
cid statement of the English question concern
corning ritualism, gives us a taste of Mr.. Nord-
hotf's new and important work on Communis.
tic Societies, and pays graceful tributes to the
late DR.. Wyman and to William Cullen Bryant'