The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-03-24
NEW YORK.
LITERARY GossIPINGs.

LITERARY GOSSIPINGS.
THE APRIL MAGAZINEs-GEMs OF THE MONTH
-IIPPINCOTT-ATLANTIC ET AIs-wISE AND
OTHERWISE.
prom the Regular Correspondent Of the sentineiJ
NEW YORK, March l9.-How unpleasant II
must bs not to have, and to indulge taste
for desultory reading! Before me lie the ad-
vance sheets of the Atlantic and Lippineott's,
and az cut the cleanly folded leaves, specu-
lating upon the possible treasures hidden
there. I can't help wondering what becomes
of those very proper people VINO don't De-
lieve in periodical literature. Is their FORTH
tude proof against the manifold attractions
and distractions of our magazines? AS for
me. being eminently of the age, ephemeral,
gladly leave those misguided ones to their
course of reading" while l give myself to
the dear delights of that evanescent, yet
regularly g.oceupation-turnlng the
leaves of the monthlies. How short they
make the months seem, unless you
are reading the serials, in which case there
j. nothing for it but to wait patiently VI IL
shall be settled whether she nlarries nm or
not. AT this season, which Is as PAD lot
editors as for housekeepers, All the perlodl-
Gals are visited by that dreadful epidemic,
sprinr poetry. There seems to be no es-
cape from it and know that but crystalline
the desparing thought OF every edltor In the
land, when l quote that old composition oil
an aDitiOus youth: There Us four seasons;
spring. summer, autumn and winter; some
folks NAV like spring best, but as TOR me,
give me liberty, or give death" Ii II were
not for the waste basket, L think many an
editor would "sink into the silent tOuno'
gladly at each repetition OF the lnfilctlon.
of course the magazines under con-
nnf fnrm QXpAnflOnS
the rule, and in lippincott's we nave
''April," by Mary b. Dodge, in the ATLANTIC,
s.To-dav" by Julia G.. X. Dorr, and in the Cal
axy, "A freak of March," by Nettie Nj. Ar
mold. Not one of these rises above medOc-
rity, except, perhaps, stray line or two,
and one cannot help wondering why?
Why cumber they the pages OF these poPu-
lar faVorites? o young men, and especially
-maidens, take the pledge we beseeeh you,
and VOW that you will never more put pens
to paper in praise of spring! All merry
ouips and gav cOnceits are exhausted, and
were exhausted long ago; let US have peace !
And now L may say that the general aver
age OF the April magazines, poetlcally
speaking, is high; this neatly, almost prince
ly dressed Galaxy hides under It's quaker
color, rich variety OF verse, consisting IN
part of some striking additions TO Bayard
'raylor's studies in versificatiOn, under the
general title Of"Summer Night mot sprlng
night, thank goodnessL There are TOUR
movements in this pOetical sonata, Andan-
Ia, Adagio. Appassionato, and Caprlccioso,
and they'are all marvels OF style and rhythm
the whole forming love song or unusual
beauty. NJ. L. w. s. had not done herself
Justice in the somewhat rugged verses enttl-
ed "Why?" But it is not 10 be expected that
her prose and poetry translation ana crea-
ton should prove alike excellent. III she
will take word or two OF friendly advice,
I could say, let her translate poetry ana
write prose. William Winter contributes
sweet pathetic, poem which, though u Is
called, AT Peace" yet has. like most OF his
writings, more OF strife than ofthe benedic-
ton which follows alter. give II entire;
AT PEACE. 'i. 7alnfat
1eu bul9s1
Green trees, and quiet fields, and sunset light
Wth Ho,y Sienes aye for % sPRing PRings SyS
Calling their mates, beneath my cottage
These Fsle hath granted for little space
TO be companions OF my piigrimage
Filling my grateful heart with Natures grace.
II. --r
Not unremembered here the garish stage,
Nor the wild city's uproar, nor the race
For gain and power in which we all engage;
But here remembered diInly. in a dream,
As something fretful that has ceased TO fret-
Here where time lapses like gentle stream,
Hid inthe woodlands heart, and forget
To note its music and its silver gleam.
III.
whispering woods and daisy-SpIlnkled grass,
The beauty and the peace that you bestow'
When the wild fevers of ambition pass
And the worn spirit, in its gloom and grief,
Sinks on your bosom and there hnds rellel.
"a query" by NJ. is so exceedingly rough
in versificatiOn that may be pardoned foI
saying that the idea is neither new nor Drill
liant enough TO redeem the setting. Among
the prose articles in this number is one en-
titled Women as Women" by the
GREAT INEVITABLE.
Junius Henri Brown. Will he and the
Galaxy never part company? Forcountless
months his woman essays have dragged
their slow length along, and now there is q
prospect that they will cease from troubling
Nobody cares, would that nobody knewl
what J. H B. thinks about women; and be
can't know anything about them more than
Jones and Robinson know, yet they kindly
refrain from giving us their ideas on the
subject, But he who runs may. or may not
read, lust as he pleases; be it our blessed
privilege not to read, this time, but to turn
our attention TO the better part of the table
of contents. Last month the Atlantic set
the example OF publishing posthumorus
article by Raph Keeler, and tribute TO the
writer by his friend HOwells in the same
number. This month the Galaxy gives us,
''My private grief against George Sand by
Charles <AstorBrlsteu, anu ioiIo"sie up Win
Richard Grant Whites curious, hall
elegiac, half critical article, in which
the lameuted author is considered
as he was, and as he might have
been-as the scholar, gentleman and true
friend he was, and the elassicist and Philol.
ogist he might have been had be possessed
less money and more physical strength. Mrs
Sherwood also gives some touching remi.
niscences OF his life, and a picture of his last
moments. She says; |" He loved his friends
and was never tired of serving thefn;" and
now his friends are showing how deeply
they loved and appreciated him. Their
words are his best epitaph. That charming
writer but tunpronounceable man, Hjalmar
Hjorth Boyesen, sketches in a most enter
taining way the Russian novelist Ivan
Tourgenef,, and tells how the great man en-
lows American literature and especially Haw-
thnrna3s works. ,also how IL pleasod him t(