The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-06-22
SUMMER READING.
Books for the Seaside and Country, for
Recreation and Thought.

resorts are most attractive, 1t Is q very serious
question what books the market affords for sum-
mer reading. 1t must be confessed that the list
never was less enticng. Still there are some
books especially designed for the season, one or
two OF which are admirable. No summer book, for
instance, could have more attractive name than
DR.. Primes, "Under the Treesn 1t is book full
OF delightful little essays giving glimpses OF nature
In many parts OF the world-on the Hudson, In the
Adirondacks, with the Old Man OF the Mountains.
in sunny Italy, among thesAlps and at sea. Then
there are essays on the garden, the roses. I he
BIRDS sunshine, showers, insect life, bugs, dogs
and authors, besides others on more serious sub
jects, the whole making the volume good sum-
mer book.
"The Great Ice Age" Is a title for book which
has cool and refreshing sound in summer but Is
still not entirely free from the suspicion that 1t Is
serious science. Though this suspicion is not I'M
founded. MI. Geike's work is wtha a good sum-
mer book. 1t is to be hoped there are some per-
sons left not entirely content with what is known
as slight reading" and II among them there are
any who wish to study the changes OF climate In
the glacial epoch, they will lind this an interest
ing and valuable volume. 1t ID true the book Is
more cosmic than comic, but even at picnic cold
roast beef is as necessary as the strawberries and
cream.
Should the seeker after summer rest settle DOWN
toward pastoral or bucollc studies, we are sure
he would rejoice In Henry Ward Beecher as a gay
companion and vivacious guide. And nothing
delights the Plymouth divine more than to be &C.
Cepted as a sage counsellor ON questions Affect
ing turnips, ploughs and plough horses. Like most
men Of sedentary habits who are able to afford
1t, Mr.. Beecher has farm, to which he resorts
every summer. Here he sows flower seeds while
his "Iarmer" cutivates less poetic vegetation.
Under such circumstances it is not to be wondered
at that the good natured Clergyman has come to
think himself something of an agriculturst, and as
talking and writing about what he happens to be
thinking Of are his principal occupations, we are
not surprised to find that he has written book
on farming. 1T Is very amusing book-Mr.
Beecher in his funniest vein. 1t 49, indeed as he
calls it, "pleasant Talk About Fruits, Flowers and
Farming.u Out Of all tue agricultural writer's TX
Marvel SO deliclousY described for Us few years
ago the three F's had not chronicler half so
pleasant or half SO funny. But Mr.. Beecher's book
Is not altogether humorous, either in It's scope or
purpose. 1t is work as deity constructed as one
OF Wiikie Collins plots 1t is q double acting hoe
cultivaror, neither covering over the paral-
lei lines OF corn nor uprootlng the struggling
turnips which grow between. For the gener-
GUS lover of farm life who grows poetic ideals
in his onion beds 1t Is grave, interesting and in
structive. For the hard working, cross grained,
money making son OF the soil its gravity disap-
pears while its gentle humor bubbles up and over
The fancy farmer caunot fail to ponder for hours
upon MIR. Beecher's chapters on fodder for CATTLE
good breeds OF cows and keeping pigs warm In
winter 1t is the practical farmer, however who
can most fully appreciate the wit and wisdom Of
such sage remarks as that in winter "cows should
be provided with q comfortable stable;" that
sheep "abhor wet;" that the reason why 'live
geese feathers are the best is that $50 long as the
bird is alive the feathers are as much object OF
nutrition as the flesh, the bones or any other part
OF the body" or that at Is desirable when one
has prepared good sticks Tor supporting carna-
lions, roses, dahias, &C., to preserve them from
year to year." Every page bristles with sentences
as tine as these; but why the book was
written Is past finding out. Its CON-
monplace Is marvellous. Indeed, its very
originality consists in its complete abnegation OF
new ideas. There Is nothing in it from cover to
cover that most people do not know. This IS the
great charm OF the book. 1t is like being told that
1t is a wet day when 1t rains, that the weather is
| fine when the sun shines and the air is balmy Mr..
I Beecher's bucolics are peculiarly his own. and
i though there was no special need for them we
could not well do without them. man who is in
the habit of forgetting his own name might con-
slider himself fortunate in having it written down
! In his memorandum book. In the matters OF
! fruits, flowers anu farming Mr.. Beecher has
learned the names OF things, and his bucolics are
I their memoranda And he is so sweetly uncOn-
! scious OF the fun of mis- writing on these subjects
| at all that his earnestness fairly makes his book
culver with excitement. He need not be sur
prised to find his bucocs take their place with the
! finest specimens of American humor, and indeed d,
it is not impossible that the quick appreciate on OF
his countrymen may give him the highest p lace
among American humorists.
Then there are summer books which are half
advertisements and half necessity to people.
One OF this KIND is "Richfed Springs and Vicinity"
by w. I. Bailey Like most books of the kind it Is
both history and geography; but Mr.. Bailey, whom
close scrutiny Of the volume reveals as the vii
lage Dentist goes even further am presents his
readers with the biographies OF most Of the local
celebrities. Thus the temporary dwellers at Rich
field Springs are made acquainted with both the
past and the present and with men as well as
places.
Then. again, for summer reading comes the
inevitable guide book, the latest work OF this kind
being Mororus "Short Trip Guide to America"
To the native the book is almost useless but to the
traveller from abroad 1t may prove suggestive, as
it is tull OF hints for short excursions from New
York and other cities. The same remark may
apply to people who want to 20 somewhere, but
do not know where.
Some Theological Books.
We have now before US a number OF books, al,
bearing more or less directly on the leading theo-
logical questions Of the hour The books are all OF
American origin. One Is from the pen of well
known divine, the Rev. Mark Hopkins, d. D. DR..
Hopkins grapples with the old diniauity-the ELL
cacy OF prayer. But, while he handles the
question with ability and skill, we must
be allowed to say that ne furnishes to
the theological thinker not single thought
! that Is new. 1t Is the old story reason
ably we'll told; but it neither enghtens on the
! one hand nor converts on the other. SubJoned
! we give specimen OF the Doctors reasoning:-
! "Wpat Is miracle9" he asks. ain the Bible the
supernatural and the miraculous are not carefully
distinguished. Indeed, the word supernatural is
not In the Bible at ALL The two are grouped as