The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-02-07
TERMS 500 PER ANNUM in ADVANCE
Recent Publications.

THE wETHERELL AFFAIR. By j. W. De Forest,
author of "Overland'' "Kate Beaumont etc. New
York: Sheldon & Co. Portland: Loring Short q
Harmon,
Novel readers will hail with pleasure the
announcement of new sory by the author
of Overland. The Wetherell affair is full
Of mysterious interest IRON the beginning an
interest which is well sustained to the end of
the book 1t is the account of mysterious
murder committed simultaneously with the
sudden disappearance OF young girl who
was an inmate of the murlered mans house;
of her trials and Struggles to earn livelih, cd
in New York. of several love affairs ard their
denoument. and contains good commentary
on the ineficiency of the detective police force
Of our metropolis. The story is fresh pi-
quaint, readable and interesting; and cannot
fail to please the most hardened novel reader.
THE ANCIENT CITY: study of the Religion, Laws,
aid Institutions of Greece and Rome. By Fuste,
De Coulanges. Translated from the French by
Willard Small. Boston: Lee & Shepard Portland:
Frank H. Coffin.
This work is not as might be inferred from
the title, the study OF any particular city but
- S<S~'N'-S S's'NS ~ ouOWiuS ClcdIly
how, and by what necessity, men living at
first in isolated families formed themselves
into phratrIes or a collection OF several fami
lies, then into tribes consisting of number
OF phratries, and finally into cities; the differ.
ent groups thus associated losing however
none OF their individuality or independence,
The writer also impresses upon us the impor-
tance OF religion to the men of the old world,
the manner in which it was interviewer with
all their daily duties; their laws, their busi-
ness, their pleasure, in fact how everything in
their life was made subservent to al d depend
ant on it. The marriage and funeral cere-
monies of the ancients are ues, ribed at
length, and the great similarity existing be-
tween the heather nations OF Europe and
Asia in regard to them. In short this book
contains an immense amount of information
OF an interesting and varied character rela-
tive to the earlier races of mankind, which is
is the evident result OF profound research
and study and is one which we can conseien-
tiously Commend to the student of ancient
history as being of exceeding value to him.
BELLA OR THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY. story of in
zane Asylums. By Eugen,a st. John. Boston: N.
d. Berry. For sale by all booksellers
This is story, but story which should be
read by every intelligent man and woman in
onr country; for ii is true, and we have lit
tie reason to doubt, lis being so it reveals to
US in all its horrible nakedness one of the most
terrible evils of the age. Bella is the story
founded upon actual fact, of the manner in
which the relatives of young girl tried to
prevent her marriage with man whom they
considered beneath her; of her repea.e1 i'm
prisonments, awful suffariugs aud final de'iv-
erance. This book should be read as earnest
ly as person having some terrible but un-
known disease would consult skillful physi-
clan who might inform him as to his maladv;
to pursue the simile it it like homeopathic
pill, tor IN it the powerful medicine ofhideous
but actual fact is covered with the sugar coat
ing of an interesting story.