The Portland daily press., 1877-03-31
Recent Publications.

erts Brothers. Portland: Lorlng. Short & Har-
mon.
Nearly thirty years have passed since Mr..
Martineau gave to the public the work en-
titled Endeavors After Christian Life; and
for the many who have held helpful converse
with it during that time comes now the present
volume with an assured welcome, since, to
quote from it's preface By the author, cit repre-
sents on the whole considerably later stage of
feeling and experience than the Endeavors
After Christian Life, and doubtless bears
traces, in parts. of the more recent aspects of
religious speculation. But essentially the
same view of life, the same conception of tbe
order of the world, the same Interpretation of
the Christian mind, will still meet the reader,
for they remain unaffected, so far as can per
ceive, by the real discoveries, and are preju-
diced only by the philosophical fctions Of the
last five and twenty years." In this connec-
ton it may be noted perhaps, as of side sig
nifcance that in one of the able discourses of
the present volume, Mr.. Martineau offers as
line of demarkation between man and the
inferior intelligences, that man alone can "tell
wha. o'clock it isl if this be enough to set the
ordinary intellect upon its upper level, what
may not be claimed for the faithful watchman
upon the high towers who calls to men the
heavenly hours, mindful of stars in their
courses, but undisturbed by the darting lights
that shoot to disappear? This steadfastness
ami reverence of thought, with peculiar rich
ness in expression account largely for the salts
faction felt in reading these sermons since the
trnths, familiar for the most part. as all great
L. =
ful blossom, yet unfolding so naturally as to
seem to the reader only the flower of his own
thought which would have unfolded of itself a
little later. Perhaps no one of these discourses
will give finer satisfaction in essential quality,
and because of especial fitness in these times of
religions excitements than that entitled The
Tides of the Spirit, from which may be Sc
lected this, among many grand thoughts:
"How it may be with God in his own essence I
dare not presume to think y but this
know, and in this I rather rest: whatever be
may be in himself his manifestations to us do
not lie still before us in the sleep of frozen
sea; they break out of this motionless eternity;
they sweep in mighty tides of nature and of
history with fux and refiux; they are alive
with shifting streaks of light and gloom aud
have the char glng voice of many waters. And
the clearer and more spiritual they are, the
more marked is their fuctuatirg character;
and they affect us not as the dead of noon, or
the dead of night, but as the quick flushing
morning, or the tender pulses of the Northern
Lights
One cannot but see in the chapter "God re-
| veaed unto babes word that might have
! N sxva On of Nuisa't of nxvr,
kindred from many an unlovely trait of char
acter and many cruel stress of circumstances,
which she was "wise' enough to discern but
not to trace to the source or obtain remedy for,
and it is exceedingly interesting to note in this
connection the differences in result between
the training the mind of his sister, Miss Harriet
| Martineau, by a hard course of self-suficng
brain work into a moral code; and on the
| other hand the rich opening up of the brother s
| soul to gentle descending ipfluence-the one
| hoping and asking for nothing beyond her
| grasp; the other laying hold by faith of all
| things
Although Unitarians might be only too glad
| to claim this volume as distinctively thers, it
can be SO only as it belongs to the liberal of all
sects; and it is to be hoped it will be read by all
/ HuO Ctu oppIcCldt6 IL llpo WlSuUm
LIFE OF WILLIAM wHEELwRIGHT IN SOUTH
AMERICA. By j. B. Alberdi, with an Introduce
tion by the Hon. Caleb Gushing. Boston: A
| Williams s. Co. Portland: Loring, Short g.
| Harmon.
An exceedingly interesting memoir of very
remarkable man, whose judicious efforts effect
| ed in an incalculabe measure the prosperity of
South America. Mr.. Wheelwright was an EN-.
bodiment of the progress of the century, in use
full arts and inventions; and created, it may be
said, peaceful revolution in that land of mill
tary and despotic vicissitudes. A native of
the North, of New England, he identified him
self with the interests of South America; and,
having quilted his early home, was instead of
being imam without country" an active pat
riot who might claim two lands as his own, one
by birth, one by adoption, and both by all that
binds man to his country. He transferred, so
far as lay in his power, all the peaceful arts
and scientific improvements of the United
States to South America; and was, says Mr..
Gushing, 'the pioneer of all those great works
which in our day have changed the face of the
world-steam navigation, railways, gas, harbor
Improvements, the exploitation of coal, and
other instrumentalities of material prosperity
and advancement, emitting him to be ranked
among the great benefactors of his race, espe-
| cially in South America"
Mr. Wheelwright was born in Newbury port,
Mass, in the year 1898. In command of a
merchant ship at the age of nineteen, he be.
came acquainted with South America; and a
fortunate shipwreck upon the coast of Buenos
Ayres determined his afterlife. He acted as
/ IT,; ,1ot Co., -
of years, after which he removed to Chill
While there he conceived the project of Pa
ciic line of steamships; in the words of Senol
Alberdi, Struggling with the prolonged cams
of that ocean and its frequently opposing cur
rents, he learned to his cost the loss of time anG
money occasioned by such formidable hin
drances. Faithful to the example of his ances
tors, the Purtans, who made resource of ev
cry obstacle, he reflected that if calms were
prejudcial 20 sailing vessels, they would be ar
immense advantage to steamers
In these reflections, indeed, we have the key
to Mr.. Wheelwrght's success-ths power ol
recognizing time and means for action as they
occurred; and forming plans which, while they
were often regarded as visionary by less com
prehensive minds, were based upon carefully
escertained facts and possibilities. The next
subjects which absorbed Mr.. Wheelwright's
attention were railways aud harbors; he retired
from the steamship enterprise and devoted
himself to the planning railway route across
the Andes sustained by the public approval Of
the governments of Chill and the Argentin ne
Republic. In spite of all discouragements and
oppositions, which were the natural accompan
ments of so active and positive part as Mr.
Wheewright took in affairs, his life was sin
gulary successful one 10 its actual and visible
results as well as in the practical and beneyo
lent spirit which inspired it, He carried tn,
sober, austere though kindly nature of the de
scendant of the Pur!tans into tropical lands
and developed their superb and uncared-tor re-
sources by method of painstaking and thor
ough work which need and a niggard soil had
rendered second nature to the inhabitants OF
New England. Mr.. Wheelwright died in Lon
don in the year 1873.
The biography, as recounted by Senior Al
berdi, is full of well-presented points OF interest
of which the present notice has attempted tc
vutlI ha fnun nd uol1