The Portland daily press., 1877-04-07

advocates the new doctrine Of lady.helps, is
pleasantly written and contains some good
hints, but is on the whole impractical. For
unless veritable perfect woman nobly
Planned, be found to take the place of lady
1oip' d woman of entire tact and good sense to
meet the endless series of social points that
"lust arise, together with practical science and
physical strength, the mistress of the house
would lind herself in con slant embarrassments
ana discomfort. In the city at least, such
plan seems highly unsuitable. The directions
Tor Homework and cookery are evidently Eng
nsn' land will not wholly approve themselves to
american housekeepers, whose faculty" as
Mrs. Stowe would say, in domestic affairs is
unequalled, and who will hardly be satisfied
with the methods suggested by Mrs. Warren
in the present work.
The HALF HOUR SERIES. New York: Harper &
Brothers. Portland: Loring Short s. Harmon.
This is very convenient form for casual
reading; the flexible paper covers, clear type,
and small size Of the volumes make them suit
sple TO Slip into the pocket as companions for
street. car rides or for longer journeys. The
tnree volumes already received are samples of
tue varied character of the series-an essay by
Dr. freeman of Oxford, England upon the
condition of the Turks in Europe; a rather
foolish story by Mr.. Anthony Trollope, ent-
tied Thompson Hall; and When the Ship
Comes Home, by Messrs Walter Besant and
James Rice, authors of the brilliant novel, The
Golden Butterfly. The present work recalls
Mr.. Charles Reade's Foul Play in design, but
mas the advantage in treatment of the bright
hess and refinement Of style of its authors.
BLACK SPIRITS AND WHITE By Frances Eleanor
Trollope. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Port
land: Bailey & Noyes.
A very well-written novel, of good degree of
Interest and variety. The plot turns upon the
effort made by the wife of disnherited son to
recover a lost will by the aid of spiritual mani
fsstations. DR.. Flagge the medium, is a char
@cter at once natural, complex and grotesque;
tsls limited and persistent nature of Lady Low
~, the spirited sketches of the Russian singers,
OF Balasso, and the Peppiatts, and the fine and
sincere characters of Major Maude and Mary
Lowry are drawn with skill and effect Alto
gether this is very pleasant and readable
novel. and deserves its place in Messrs. Apple
toms well-selected series of fiction.
THE WHITE CROSS AND DOVE OF PEARLS. By
the authoress of Selna's Story. New York; T.
Y. Crowell, Portland: Loring, Short q Har-
mon,
A novel of decided religious tendencies, writ
ten with good intention but small literary mer-
it. The plot and Understanding the
heiress stolen by gipsies and inspired to pietis-
tic primness by the impossible young clergyman
who ofticiates as hero-are upon the approved
but not novel patterns afforded by romances of
this class. The excellent intention and purity
of tone which are everywhere apparent in the
story atone however for very much Stiffness
Notes.
Accident seems to have dubbed the Cobweb
Series, announced by Estes s. Lauriat The
cover OF Sidonie was stamped with a cobweb
design in emblematic fitness, and it is now
made the first volume of series, as above. To
follow are Jack, another novel by Daudet;
First Love is Best, a novel by Gail Hamilton,
which will attract readers from curiosity to see
what the lively lady will do In this new line;
and Vineta, by E. Werner. Jack is the son Of
woman of questionable position in Partisan
society, who puts him to school in Partisan
"Dotheboys' Hail." and variously shufaes off
the care of him, finally sending him as appren-
tiSo iutU CoIOdiu IOu-WUEhS, Wu6I6 u6 UeCUm6b
drunkard; then he goes as stoker on an ocean
steamer, turns up again in the brilliant intel
lectual salon of his mother, who is living with
an affinity, and in the end becomes rescuer of
her from herself-all in the same deep, moral
vein of Sidonie.
Paris is worshipping new novelist who
seems to possess a brain as inexhaustble as
that of Alexander Dumas, Sr. This latest idol
is woman who calls herself Henry Greville
Part of her popularity is due to the fact that
her most successful novels deal with Russian
subjects, Russia and the Russians being the
rage now in the French capital
Charles de Remusat's Abelard, dramat ic
poem, is the literary event of the day in Paris.
His son publishes it, with preface. and Gus
tave Monod tells the Academy that "few works
in French literature of the 10Th century de-
served to be ranked above this powerful and
original composition Remusat has given his
drama general and human bearing by making
Abelard symbol Of man engaged in the re-
search for truth; sort of Faust who, failing tt
find rest and happiness in thought turns to
love, and thence, deceived, to action and,
checked once more by Obstacles finally dies
without having attained his dreamed-of ideal.