The Portland daily press., 1878-07-27
Recent Publications.

The Witchery Of Archery is the somewhat
affected and over-assonant name which Mr..
Maurice Thompson has chosen for the volume
OF collected papers upon the art of the bow
which have appeared in recent numbers of
Scyihner,s Asegszine, and have thrilled the am-
bition of youth all over the land to draw the
bow and speed the shaft. 1t is due to Mr..
Maurice Thompson's spirited sketches of the
merry greenwood, that archery clubs have
banished croquet, and the 1.-the, erect figures
OF those that bend the bow have supplanted
the languid forms that stopped over the mall
let, and tapped the balls in mild fashion of the
nerveess game that is indissolubly associated
In the mind of the reader of modern novels,
with English "high teas and tame curates on
the lawn. But let us not decry croquet or
make light of it-for President Hayes is mighty
with the mallet, and skilled in the harmless,
pleasant game of croquet. To return to the
subject of archery, from which little dgres-
sion has been made, and the reader shall par
don it-for he who draws the literary long
bow shoots, choosing his mark as he may, and
roves about at will-to return to archery again,
Mr.. Thompson has made it most fascinating
study. His poetic prose, and his strong and
musical verse-some specimens of which we
find in the present volume-are full of the
keen life, the generous breath and the fine
nerve of the skilled archer. Sometimes he is
fairly epic in the recital of the hunting Of the
white heron or wandering in the tangled mys-
terous woods of the South. But suddenly,
breaking the spell, appears sketch-drawn
by Mr. VIII FL. Low, with free touch, though
some consciousness and conveDtionalty of de-
sign,-of young woman, ga prize shot," hold
ing in her hand dead hare hanging piteously
by its limp legs-it poor merry life all spent
that my lady may wear the prizes of archery.
And then like the magic gardens of old story
everything has changed; the free waving
woods, the air that blows, the merry men and
women, are clouded over with a shadow of
cruelty. Where now are your Robin Hood and
Maid Marian, your laughing leaves and sweet
shadows Of dim woods-we all that love life,
look at a dead harmless thing in a woman 8
hand. 1t is pleasant to learn from Mr.. Thomp-
sons next page that the woman was visited by
remorse for her cruelty, and that ever after she
sped her shafts at targets, barn doors, stones
and fence-rails-as may you, my m asters, and
maids that practise archery, that read.
The passionate love of china-revived from
the days of good Queen Anne, together with
pale-tinted silks, and furniture solidly carved
and rallied about in senai-ecclesiastcal fashion
will be gratifed by pleasant volume, named
the China-Hunter's CLUB. II is q collection of
stories, brightly and we'll told. strung gracefully
together upon connecting thread as the do
i,oa nd odu Of fba bor &c
mic club in search of treasures. The work is
published under the sanction Of Mr.. Prime, an
authority in ceramics, who vouches for the cor
rectness of facts dates, ETC., leaving the fiction
to make its own way, which 1t will readily do.
Numerous interesting pictures Of curious plates
and cups add to the interest of the book. Al
ternated with the stories-which give faithful
and lively sketches of New England life, the
small town with its ambition to be "Centre of
Thought" and the shrewd, kindly country folk
who became the prey of the china hunters-are
interesting chapters upon American History
illustrated in Pottery, Pottery and Religion
Personalities about Pot.ers etc. In the chap
ter upon Pottery and Poetry, our citizens, who
have recently felt SO much interest in the leg.
end written upon the door Of the old pottery Of
Mr. Dodge-a place made memorable by the
poem Of Mr.. Longfelow-Will find the inscrlp-
tion in different form, and By no means 80
we'll expressed, quotad from punch bswl,
made at Bousss, in Scotland, dated 1894.
What art can with the potter's art compare?
| For of what we are ourselves we make our ware.
| New York, Harper Bros: Portland, Loring,
| Short s. Harmon.
Mr.. Charles Dudley Warmers volume of
| Adirondack sketches, which he entities IN The
| Wilderness Boston: j. r. Osgood s. Co.;
| Portland: Loring, Short s. Harmony, is most
charming aud eeasonable book. Mr.. Warmers
style IS, as always, fresh, full of genuine and
entirely American humor, and SO spontaneous
and sincere in its quality that the resders inter-
est, liking and sympathy are constantly en-
listed. Mr.. Warmers descriptive power is very
effective he has the happy art of setting forth
scene wildly and inparting his impressions
With great els~.~.>-- --A- a,yT-=.,
oas fct;on with a soNdity and point that
m.kps If at least Drevet truth; he can set
trutb in such novel framing of words that it
has all the liyeliness Of freshly imagined fic-
ton. The chapter called A-Hanting OF the
Deer is simply perfect; and for writing 1t Mr.
Warner deserves the thanks OF every one wo
believes that il is sorry sport to hunt and tor
ture andcal it pleasure, to go jauntily forth lor
a sum mn,er vacation into the woods, and kill the
harmless creatures to whom the forests are
given for a home. 1t must be hard heart and
cruel, that can read the pathetic description
of the hunted doe, and not feel strong contempt
for the needless cruelty Of irresponsible vaca-
tionists, and the wish that in some small de-
gree, since pity may not move them. they may
learn by experience not to torture the innocent
dumb, wild creatures OF God.
Mr.. Warmers appreciation of natural scenery
is very real, and the tone of humor which he so
often adopts only serves to point and make mpfe
piquant the real poetry and fine perception oi
the author. He loves the woods, but does no'
mix himself with the landscape in fhe iasnion
of the Thoreau school of writsfs' ana Is tnus
better able 10 separate tbSOe'SIis WHICH nave
significance and interest to the general reader
from thoae that pc for the worshipers of nature
o,,o wbo eSein every fallen leaf the name Of
bar u,vten, and so all things become equally
IN. objects of their veneration. A Character
Study is drawn with firm aud telling touch,
and is an unique picture of singular and
original nature, guide among the Adiron-
dacks who felt the hills to be holy, and with q
curious, homelg unconscious imitation of the
old Greek fancy, had come to personify the
trees and streams. A chapter entitled How
Spring Game iu New England, by a Reader Of
1913, is a brilliant and sustained prose parody of
Victor Hago 1t is admirable, without any
thing too much of imitation, and it is fail OF
good touches, often worry imaginative, as fre