The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-05-01
rHE PRESS.
TUESDAY MORNING. MAY /.
Magazine Notices.

The four illustrated prose articles and the
three poems which are bound together in
the current Monthly Part of The Continent
have called out the best artistic and literary
talent of the day. On the opening page Miss
Jessie McDermott's wsll-known pencil illus
trates one of her own poems under the title
of Grandmother's Portrait. The design is
admirably engraved on wood by G. P. Will
lIams, and is followed by several pages Of
quaint drawings from ancient pipes found in
the prehistoric mounds that prove the an
tiquity of the new world. The accompany
Ing paper is from the pen of E. A Barber,
and is full of interesting archaeological lore,
which. will no doubt prove as entertaining to
modern smokers as to students of antique
relics. Modern disciples of St. Nicotine
VIII lind, few pages farther on, a poem ded-
lcated TO My Meerschaums, by Charles F.
Lummis, and faneifslly illustrated by c, c.
Cooper from fine specimens Of modern cary
ing. A Harvest with the Taos Indians pre-
serves the record of manners and customs
which must before many years be largely
modified by the introduction of less pictu-
rescue if more convenient implements. 1t is
a charmingly- written account of a visit to
one of the most ancient towns in America,
inhabited now, as it has always been, by
tribe of that strange people, the Pueblo In
dians. Mr.. Henry r. Poore is at once artist
and author-a happy combination of talent
which the Continent seems TO be successful
ly cultivating. Mary Wager Fisher contrib
utes an article,on Delphine Gay, afterwards
Madame de Girardin-one of the most gifted
aud beautiful women that ever reigned by
virtue of her own charms of mind and pei
son in the brilliant capital of France This
paper is illustrated with fine portraits of this
queen among lovely women and her contem-
poraries. The Right to Bear Arms is dis
eliminating essay, by Frank Willing Leech,
on a subject dear to the heart of many an
American whose ambition it is to stamp his
ancestral crest on note-paper and establish
claim to htraldic bearings. 1t is illustrated
with more than forty drawings from existing
coats-of-arms claimed at the present day by
American families. The article has been
widely quoted, and is probably the most
its appearance in any publication. One of
the most charming poems of the day is by
Margaret Vandegrift, entitled The Kings
Daughters. The quaint faney-or is it fact?
that makes the little princess and the
''portly cook" conspire to prove the value of
salt is at once witty and poetical, and the
verses are enriched by engravings and draw
ings that lend charm to the whole Judge
Tourgee's Hot Plowshares, seemingly draw
Ing to an end, presents chapters of thrilling
interest. Seldom have the stirring events
which preceded the downfall of negro slav-
cry been painted with such dramatic force
and with such keen insight as in these pages.
Miss Rhoda Broughton's powerful story.
Belinda, continues through several graphic
chapters. presenting phases of English soc-
ETY. which, coming from what must needs be
regarded as an authoritative source, may act
as timely counter-irritant upon the pre-
vailing epidemic of Anglomania. Among
the short stories, essays, poems, ETC., we
note The Colonel, a story by Harriet Pres
colt Spofford; Won, poem by Henry A.
Beers; Beside the Ante,'' sketch by Oscar
Fay Adams; A Southerly Rain, by Charles
T. Abbott; A Question of Taste, by Marga-
get j. Preston; and a very ingenious rhymed
Sestina-one of very few examples in the
language-by I'll. G. Faulkner. The same
author contributes curious specimen of
story telling under the title of Documentary
Evidence, which is unique in its way and a
very amusing bit of literary construction