The Portland daily press., 1877-07-14

Insane ressessness of tho superstitious who
hasten to precipitate what they most. dread.
Notwisnstanding the long list of authorities
for the atheism" of the Chinese, our author
insists that they believe In personal God;
that all!good kings adore him and sit at his
right hand after death. Perhaps their teach.
ers are sometimes ahead of their followers in
their belief, like some of our devout deyinss
whose auditors admire the spiritual food which
they cannot swallow. Quite q discussion 10
given about the difficulties which the missiora.
rles have found in selectinga Chinese word to
convey our idea of God. Their idea of God
comes nearer our idea of Nature. But he In
confident that they are . very moral and excel
lent people, and the same thing may be OBJ
served OF our religious pagans. Buddhism and
its spread in China is familiar to the public.
Tao-ism is another belief which is widely
spread. 1t is an ideal religion and some have
sought to findiiu its three principles the Chris
tian Trinity. 1t is very ancient, and IT Ia
recorded that Tchinggis Kahn the conqueror,
was disciple and sent far across the deserts of
Central Asia to one of the saints, the venerable
Chang Ch'un tosyisit him at his Persian camp
and discourse of his religion. There is another
belief, sort of philosophy founded on the
Book of Transformations or Y-kinq, which
IS probably the Oldest of symbolic books
Even Ch-hwang-ti, who burned all other clas-
sics respected this. 1t is founded on the ssDia-
grams of Fo hf' which are simply one long and
two short dashes, e. y arranged in all
possible ways, each having an occult meaning,
and each meaning having host Of commenta.
ries The author calls the Viking the Chinese
Swedenborg If this volume seems bulky we
are reconciled when we learn that the Buddhist
bible is seven hundred times the amount Of
the New Testament, the Chinese translation of
the Prajna Paramita, twenty-five times as
large as the whole Christian Bible, while the
cognate works number five or six thousand
volumes on each subject, for an author who
has been swimming on such boundless sea of
literature could hardly help wrnging out a
pitiful little thousand pages from his reeking
garments.
Mr.. Thomas Bailey AldIich has the divine
right of king among story-tellers He has
the art of narrative in very great degree Of per-
lection; and it is only when one has read
story of his to its close, and interest In Its
progress has given way to appreciation of Its
methods, that we realize what test.it is of his
art to have made so much out of so little. 1t
is indeed literary creation. On the whole, Tom
Bailey's Adventures Boston: j. R. Osgood &
Co.; Portland: Loring, Short & HARMONY is
one of Mr.. Aldrich's best works. Humanity
speaking, there is but faint promise of poetry
in the daily life of the average boy; to dis
cover the future of waving plume and airy
grace in the wild oats--of the most innocent
and healthful Species be it understood
such boy as Tom Bailey cannot but SOW, de-
manded the poets eye and speech and the
heart that is warm with youth that the years
that change the boy to the man may not alter.
The naturalness, the delicate humor, the ten
derness, the charming gayety and life of Mr.
Aldrich's Story of a Bad Boy-not such very
bad boy either-is something to be enjoyed by
everyone who knows anything about his merry
little confreres, the terror and glory alike Of
their parents and guardians, and all concerned.
Miss Lucy Larcom has arranged pleasant
volume OF selected poems which she names
Hillside and Seaside in Poetry" 1t is de-
lightful little book; either for those who can
compare the poems with the hills and the sea
that had inspired them, or for those who In
cities during the summer days will visit the sea
in spirit, and since Mahomet may.not 20 to
the mountains, will bring, in Imagination, the
mountains to Mahomet. Boston: j. r. Osgood
& Co.; Portland, Loring, Short & Harmon,
Messrs. Osgood & Co. add to the volumes of
the Vest Pocket series already published.
sketch of Thackeray's Literary Career, from
the pen of DIR. John Brown; Carlyls's Oliver
Cromwell; Thompson's Spring; and Pope's
Essay on Man. With such variety in 20 little
space, SO much worth so tightly packed, IL
must be difficult taste not to be suited. Even
the Essay on Man has . pleasant, liiputian
appearance in this series, and becomes quite an
airy publication-not startlingly novel, per-
haps, and, as the fop said of Hamlet, lawfully
clever. bat too full of quotations, you know"
1t is also pleasant to see that Mr.. Pope agrees
with the often expressed opinion that the proper
study of mankind is man.
Messrs. Harper publish in their excellent
library edition of Mr.. William Blacks novels
that lovely prose idyl of to-day, ''The Strange
Adventures of Phaeton." 1t is SO recent In
the enjoyment and remembrance of the public
as to need no praise or description. but the very
mention of its name calls up the vision of .
dewy-fresh landscape that is made SUMMER by
fancies and songs, that is warm with winds
and light of long summer days and with the
pleasant story of people who were not parted,
but lived, as the good old nursery tales say,
''happy ever after"
A Popular Life of Plus Ninth, BY Rev,
Richard Brennan, New York, Cincinnati, and
st. Louis: Benziger Brothers; Portland: I.
P. MCGOWAN & Co.. is the narrative Of the
life of the Pope, from his childhood to the
present date, written by Catholic priest and
of course from the standpoint of that faith.
Several illustrations. representing some of the
most celebrated personages, and noted shrines
OF the Romish church are included in the vol
ume. s.4g a.s-
Mr. Williamson History of the City of Bel
fast in the State of Maine from its First Settle
ment in 1770 to 1875, by Joseph Williamson.
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony has writ
ten local history remarkable for its system
attic thoroughness and completeness. 1t isa
reasure house of valuable information to any
one interested in the growth and progress of
one of the most enterprising cities on the coast
of Maine. The first four chapters are full of
interest to every citizen of the State who cares
anything about the lives and fortunes of the
ssAonS onu FiSoiouo PiOuoeIS WHO uelpou 10
make the country habtable The second chap
ter treats of the early voyages to Penobscot
Bay, and the third, of the "Waldo Patent
with interesting accounts of Brigadier Waldo
and General Knox. Then follow chapters on
the proprietary history, the municipal, revolu-
tionary and ecclesiastical history, the last con-
tanning full description of the progress of
each sect. Education, lawyers, newspapers,
doctors and soldiers, and more than score of
other subjects from the temperance reform and
railroads to accidents and statistics are treated
with completeness and preheRsiveness.
Each subject is taken up and finished in chro-
biological order, thus rendering the information
with which the book 10 crowded easily 90.
cessible. Two good indexes, one general and
the other of names, attest the desire of the
author to make his book of the highest use.
fulness to the student. The subjects of the
Illustrations, forty-eight in number, are well
chosen and comprise portraits, autographs,
maps and plans and buildings ancient and mod
ern.