The Portland daily press., 1882-12-09

Dutch spooks have precisely the rlght balance
between the too solid flash of their past aud
The lmmatsrial weightless transparence of the
average ghost. Mr. Weirs Little Ssbot is ex-
csllent in drawing and sentiment. Mr.. Frank
ID. Millets story, A Double Christmas,
is a souvenir of his experiences as war cores
pondent; and his illustrations are admirable,
firm, spirited and thoroughly competent in
handling. Mr.. Elihu Vedder's great head of
Samson is magnifcenty drawn, and the bor-
der, with the lion. and bee for strength aud
sweetness, the withes and the fatal shorn hair,
are in Mr. vedder's most powerful manner.
The artistic value of Harper's Christmas pub
location is remarkable.
Holidays at Home. BY Margaret EytiDge.
Philadelphia: Porter & Coates; Portland:
Bailey & Noyes..) A bright aud attractive
| volume Of stories and poems, fully and well
| illustrated. Mrs. Es tinge writes most delight
| fully for children; and her stories are always
| full of life and favor, while their good infiu-
ence Is not lessened by any. suspicion of goody-
| ness It is rather the result of hearty and
| happy liking for the children and birds aud
| horses and kittens whose dongs she describes
| SO entertalningy Holidays at Home is one of
the prettest and pleasantest among the Christ
mas books of this year.
Abroad By Thomas Crane and Ellen E.
| Houghton. New York: Marcus Ward & Coz
| This is book of rhymes descriptive OF trip
| to Paris made by some little esthetic English
| boys and girls. The rhymes are easy and
pleasant Ia misapprehensicn of the triolet form
may be noted here, though it will not trouble
| little readers The illustrations are we'll de-
signed and colored. Even the fancy paper
| that lines the covers of this daintily devised
volume is in an appropriate design of cons en-
tionalized sea-waves and swallows.
Plsh and Plum. From the German of Will
| helm Busch By Charles T. Brooks Boston:
Roberts Brothers; Portland LoriDg, Short &
Harmony When so many lovely and in
every way suitable books for chill
! dren are written and published on
| this side of the Atlantic, one is led to
| wo lder at the importation of this stupid and
| grotesque little volume. The tone of the story
| is coarse and cruel, the versifcation rough,
there is nothing laughable in the practical
| jokes and the pictures are simply hideous, i'm
possible distortions taking the place of comic
| vigor II is matter of wonder that Mr..
Brooks, an elegant German scholar, should
have been persuaded into translating a book
unsnited in every way for gift to children.
Zigzag Journeys in the Occident. By Heze-
kiah Butterworth. Boston: Estes & Lauriat;
Portland: Loring, Short Harmony Like
all Mr. Butterworth's books, this one is
NIT
understanding of the sort of books that
are liked by the best sort of boys.
The Zigzag Club, that favored group of young
el lows, the delight and envy of their readers,
make trip across from Boston to San Francis
CO, viewing the great wheat-growing region,
the Yellowstone and Yosemite, and the mines
OF Colorado. The book is especially written to
explain the system of "homes 'eading' in the
| West, the terms of government grants, etc. 1t
| is well-llustrated, fine, fresh and manly vol
ume for the older boys; and if, as is suggested,
this be adopted as book for school reading,
as well as for holiday pleasure, the
boys will hardly know term-time from
vacation, as regards good Time
The Knock about Club Alongshore. By G..
land A. l.. Dresser s. Coz Mr.. STEPHENS,
who is writer much liked by the older boys,
here describes cruise from Boston to Green
land, and the return by Acadia and the Bay
of Fundy. 1t contains much that is interesting
and graphic. But the description of the seal
hunt ian enterprise which the writer himself
seems rightly to have disiked) is unnecessarily
minute in its saDguinary details. The reader
is saddened and dsgusted by the account of the
wholesale slaughter of the gentle fur
ry sea-beasts; and at the Christmas
season cruelty seems most alien and hateful
Mr.. Stephens style is lively ard enthusiastic,
tions are good.
Winning His Way. By Charles Carleton
Coffin. Boston: Estes & Lauriat; Portland
Loring, Short & Harmony This is an attrac-
tive and fully illustrated reprint of story pub
lished some years since, and deservedy popu-
lar. Paul Parker, the hero is manly honest
and energetic young man, and the story of his
experiences In the Rebellion will much inte-
rest the boys of the present time.
Six Girls. By Fannie Belle Irving. Boston:
Estes & Lauriat; Portland: Lorng, Short &
Harmony This favorite story is reprinted
from last years publication. 1t is womsnly,
sweet and full of interest, and it need not les
sen it's praise to say that it is in close imitation
of Miss Alcott's Little Women.
Books Received.
Eme SON IA n ame and a eroad. BY NJ. D.
Conway. Clio h, 1888 p. S1.5o Boston: j. R.
Osgooi & Co.; Portland Lrring, Snort & Har-
mon,
The Deserted viIIege. BY Oliver Goldsmith
Illustrations by Hamnlett hillings. Cloth, 40
PIP. Phi lsdelpha Porter & Coates; Portland:
Bailey y Noyes.
Holidays az HI ome. BY Margaret Vandegrift.
Illuminated boards, illustrated, s02 pp Phla-
del hia Porter s. Coates; Portland Bailey &
Noyes
Minstpal Songs, Old nna New. Boards, 215
pp., 81 boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.; Portland:
Ira q. Stockhridge.
Abroad. Illustrated by Thomas Crane and lien
Houghtan. nluminafe ed boards, illustrated 56
pp., $3.50 New York: Marcus Ward q Co.
Oddities in Southern Life and Char cfer.
Edited by Henry watterson. Cloth, illustrated.
4S5 PIP. Boston: Houghton & Mfflin; Portland:
Loring, Short & Harmon,
Poems of Life and Nature. BY Mary Glenn
m +. Cloth, 279 PIP. Boston: j. R Osgood & Co.;
Portland Loring, Short Harm, n.
New Ennland Rygoses. BY E. Fl. Arr, (1llen
H. Rollins.) INTRODUCED on by Gail Hamilton.
Cloth, git illustrated, 143 PIP. Philadelphia: j.
Lppincott & Co.; Portland: Loring Short &
Harmon.
lectIon- frem Robert Herrick with Draw
ings by dwin A. Abbey. Cloth, gilt, illustrated,
81. New York: Harper g. Brothers; Portland:
orIng, Short g. Harmon.
Bull ling the Nation. By Charles Carleton
Coffin. Cloth illustrated, 4S5 pp., So. New
York: Harper g. Brothers; Portland: Loring,
Short g. Harmon
History of Ancient Arr. BY DR.. Franz Won
Reber. Translated and augmented by Joseph
TEACHER Clarke. Cloth, illustrated, 482pp. New
YORK: Harper & Brothers; Portland: Loring
Short g. Harmon.s
Little Sitter. No Name Series. Cloth, 286 pp.
81. Boston: Roberts Brothers; Port and: Loring,
Short g. Harmon.
Sunshine in the Soul. Wisdom Series. Cloth,
159pp 30 cts. Boston: Roberts Brothers; Port
land: LoriDg, Short H.rmon.
PIish and Plum. By Wilhelm Brisch. Trans
lated by Charles TBrooks. CT tn, illustrated, 67