Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1880-04-27
LITERARY NOTES.

-Messrs. B. b. Russell & Co., 81 Corn
hill, Boston, have issued map OF Maine,
23xs3 inches, at the low price OF 60 cents
per copy. which Is designed TO place II
within the reach OF every one. IL Is
mounted on rollers and vanished, and will
be found very convenient for office or home
use.
Many years ago the literary world was
electrified By the appearance or remark
able novel called "Rutledge," by an I'M
known American writer, and now a new
novel by the same author, entitled Missy,
will be published by q. W. Carleton Co.,
which promises TO create as wide sensa'
ton as did the former volume, which sold
over $4,000 copies.
Camille Flammarion, the well-known
writer on astronomical subjects, Is publish.
ing series OF articles In the Paris Voltdire,
called Religion in the Presence OF Astron-
omy," In which he scouts the idea OF the
Biblical narrative. He says: The Chris
tian system was a naive one, invented In
an epoch OF absolute ignorance, when man
was allowed 10 fancy himself In the centre
of the world, To create God In his own
image and To imagine universal history re-
duced to the proportions Of an episode on
an ant Hill"
Noah Brooks. author of "The Fair
port Nine" the serial baseball story which
is TO be begun In the May Sc. Nicholas, Is
one OF the editors OF the New York Times
He will be remembered on the Pacific coast
rs "Castine," the Washington correspond
ent Of the Sacramento Union In war times
and as managing editor for some years Of
the Alta Californian. Boys and girls viii
know him best as the author OF 1.-The Boy
Emigrants,r which appeared as serial In
Sc. Nicholas for 1876. Dir. Brooks was
born and reared In Castine, Maine, on the
shore of Penobscot Bay; and therefore II
is not impossible that the "Fairport" q
his new story may prove to bear some ike
ness to that favored town.
The notice which the novel entitled
"a Fools Errand" has attracted has led u
| an inquiry into its authorship and the ba
sis OF its statements. The author Is Col
Albert w. Tourgee, who graduated a
Rochester University in 1862, and immedi
ately went into the Union Army, enlistinf
| In the l4Oth New York Volunteers. He
| was seriously wounded at Bull Run anC
discharged, but subsequently he enlisted II
the lO5th Ohio, and during the latter par
of the war he served on the staff Of Gen
Thomas. DR.. Anderson, the President O.
the University, remembers Tourgee as one
| of the most promising men In the class
| At the close Of the war Tourgee went tc
North Carolina to make 1t his home. Mr.
Nixon, who Is q business man In New
York city, and who was In the South with
Tourgee, has given the Tribune long &C
count OF the career Of Tourgee in TIT
South. He says that the "Fool's Errand'
for the most part Is the autobiography Of
the author. Indeed, there Is scarcely an
incident which Is not literal fact. So mucl
| OF the book as relates to ais ostracism II
the South, the pecpliarities Of the leading
characters In the book. the attempt To
murder himself, and the accounts OF to-
murder Of several white Republicans an(
colored men In the book sre actual facts
In several instances the names Of the vic
tins are given with slight variations. Col
Toprgee was Judge Of the Superior Court
OF the 7th Judicial District, Of North Car
olina, and In that capacity he had an oppo,
tunitY To learn the minds Of the peOr' !.
that time-lS70 to 1873. Col, ~. 80 -,
South Carolina several Years since. but h
Is well remembered ID the vicinity o
Greensboro, near wh..ch town he made hi
home. MT. NIXON says that the people Il
that vicinity are so familiar with the Incl
dents contained In the book that It Is reas
with interest by them. Col. Tourgee'i
family now reside in Denver. He is th,
author Of two or three less pretentiou.
books-Tornette, Figs and Thistles anc
the Merry Round. He IL now at wori
upon novel, the plot Of which IL based
upon the GoVthsrn exodus.