The Portland daily press., 1875-11-20
Magazine Notices.

Numbers 81 to Sc inclusive, of Zell's Cyctope-
dia of american Literature have been received
from Horace King of Thompsonvie, Conn,
the general agent for the publication in New
England. This admirable record of our litera-
ture has been SO often described in these col.
umns and its merits SO fully set forth that no
more than brief mention is now necessary.
The numbers just issued cover wide range of
authorship and are embellshed with portraits
of Theodore Parker Alfred B. Street, Lieut..
Maury, Mrs. Sigourney, William Gilmore
Simms, N. P. Willis, Theodore S. Fay, Tim
othy Dwight, John G.. Whittier, Robert G.
Winthrop, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Noah Web
ster, George ID. Prentiss. Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Margaret Fuller Edgar Poe, and
many others.
st. Nicholas for December has for its frontis-
piece an original and charming portrait of
Hans Christian Andersen. surrounded by sew
eral of the representative creations of his
fancy, which are set forth with almost as
much delicacy as in his own word-pctures
Of the other contributions to the number,
perhaps the most noticeable are III. H. poem
of The Legend of st. Nicholas, with its exquis
lite illustration; the article entitled Something
About Railroads, and giving details of the his
tory, construction and management of the
railway; and tie lopS contribution on One
Hundred Christmas Presents and How to
Make Them. This last is emphatically a
useful artice-indeed we know not where to
find more complete and concise guide to the
construction of those innumerable adornments
that can be SO easily made-when one once
knows how-out of mere household scraps.
As for other attractions, Mr.. Brooks serial,
The Boy Emigrants, grows in interest and
power as we make our slow advance with the
boys across the Western prairies; Sandy, the
Hunchback, gives US a change of air, and a
pathetic picture of poor, MANNED boys life
among the hraes of Scotland; even farther still
we 60 to witness the interesting and peculiar
observance of st. Nicholas Day in Germany:
and on our return we stop just short of our
native shores to meet Mr.. Trowbridge's sport
ing characters, "Joe'' and ''Bonwig," and ex-
perience the delight of hunting ducks with
them upon little island. Frank and the
Toad, novel mock-trial, and the poem of
Dead Doll, are sure to bring laugh with
them; and Mrs. Dodge has one'of her charm
ing rhymes, with a marvelousl illustration by
Miss Hallock.
The publishers of Scribner state that of Bret
Harte's Gabriel Conroy second liberal in
stalment is given in the December number
that is, five chapters in all. The prologue, in
Guiding the description of events at Starvation
Camp, and Immediately subsequent, ends with
the ninth chapter. The tenth chapter opens at
One Horse Gulch, after lapse of five years.
Some new figures are introduced, among them
Mrs. Markle and Sal; and Gabriel Conroy
meets with an adventure of tender and TO-
mantle character. DR.. Hollands Story of
Sevenoaks is concluded in this number; and
there is a short Norwegian story by Fl. H. Boy
esen. About seventy illustrations appear in
the December number If Seribner' s-accompa-
nying, among other papers, a description of
Tour of the Nile, by c. S. Welles; The Last of
the Narwhale, poem by John Boyle O'Reiliy;
q curious study of Japanese art by Noah
Brooks, very copiously illustrated; The An
cient Province of Tusayan, by Major Powell
one of his most important contributions to The
Magazine, giving as it does description Of
most interesting people, but one almost un-
known; Spanish Sketches, with pictures from
the Dore Series; and The Site of Solomon's
Temple Discovered, paper which can hardly
fail to attract wide attention.
The poetical contributions, besides Mr..
OReilly's, are ty Walter Mitchell Ia Harvard
poem called The Mocking Bird), ]. Soule
Smith, Mrs. r. S. Greenough, John Trow-
bridge, R. r. Bowker, and Elizabeth Akers
Allen. There is an article on Our Domestic
Service by Gen. Francis A. Walker; and
brief paper by the late Amasa Walker, on
French and American Currencies