The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-12-24


| of real experience is drawn upon, as is the
case with most books worth the reading. The
| author is skilled in versitication, and some of
| her verses are Hoodesque, without his puns
Others are of high order of poetry. As an
example of the former we quote the closing
verse of ''The EXtinguisher'
hear him when the inkv skies
Pour down their drenching flood,
Ills boots are noisy on the bricks,
Or silent in the mud;
L hear him in the windy nights
When blinds and windows creak
hear him in the winter-tme
When storms are wild and bleak
And yet L never the face
(PerhapS no mortal may
VI him who puts the street lamps out
Before the dawn of day.
" shoveling Snow" will find appreciatyc
readers at this season.
In all other digging under the sun
There's something gained by the labor done
a We'll, highway, Il grave, ditch,
Canal, or garden, no matter which;
But what Is there left to save or show
Of winters labor in >hoveling snow?
Three undertakings beneath the sun
Are never abandoned and never done
Though generations their lives eNpend,
These three, as many have cause to know,
Are house-Work, kissing, and >hoveling snow.
The story of Portland gentleman who
bought an island down the bay and planted it
over with acorns to have a great growth of
oak trees for ship-timber. is the theme for
what to our mind is one of the finest poems in
the book. We give the concluding verses of
acorn Planting':
More marvellous than aught in that old tale
OF dragons teeth which sproutcd men and
spears,
The story of the vessels which shall sail
Out of these acorn cups-in fifty wears
Perchance some happy trunks, unscathed, may
spared in their splendid strength and state
TO greet the morning rising from the sea
New. yet the sane-a hundred Years from
this.
The squirrel, wisely tightening toll with mrth,
Will lrisk and ill his checks upon the bough,
Then. chattering, hide his treasures in the
earth.
In autumn days, hundred years from now.
Shy, sweet-voiced birds will warble in their
shade.
Far from all human stir and turbulance,
And rear their doWny offspring lnafraid-
The song birds of a hundred summers hence.
But you and |, my friend, who muse and smile
over these fancleS,-We shall be, BY then,
Bowed, and dim-eyed, and wan. 50 little
while
Makes ships of acorns, and makes wrecks of
men,
Three of the poems relate to incidents Of the
civil war, and these are specially good. In
deed, we can most heartily commend this
Maine book to Maine readers. and We trust it
may meet with sale commensurate with it,
merits.
For sale i'll Belfast by NJ +. Woodcock &
Son.
JAPANESE HOMES AND THEIR SURROUND
ING>. BY Edward ). Morse, PHI D. Director
Of the Peabody Academy of Science. late Pro-
fes,or of Zoology in the University Of Toxic,
Japan, Member Of the National Academy, of
Science, Fellow Of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, etc, etc, ProftlSelv illus
trated with original drawings by the author. 1
VOL, oNo, 50. Those who participated i'll the
excursion of the Maine Press Association to
Moosehead Lake last summer will need no in
PRODUCTION to this author of this valuable and
slmptuously printed work. The lecture on
japanese newspapers given by Prof. Morse at
the kineo House one rainy afternoon was one
of the most pleasant and instructive features
of the excursion. There was probably not one
of his audience who had not read many books
upon Japan but it is safe to say that all had
better knowledge Of that far-oll country. and
of the people who nhabit it, after listening to
TINS TOO brief address, than they possessed be-
fore. Indeed. the facts SO clearly presented by
Prof. Morse We're revelation to most of his
hearers. Our boasted civilization was quite
put to the blush as the lecturer demonstrated
that in all the leading features which constitute
civilization Japan has been far in advance of
this country. In his book the author shows us
the Japanese people in their own homes, the
construction of their dwellings, and the man
ners and customs which prevail, OF rather did
prevail before contact with Europeans began
to bring about changes. 1t is not a book of
travels. from the pen of a professional book
maker who has been 0rer Japan; but the pro-
duction of il scientist who entered the dwell
ings and observed the home life of the people.
and the result is an enthnological work of
great value. Referring to the task of collect
thor says he feels now that the labor has not
been altogether in vain, as it may result in
preserving many details of the japanese home,
some of them trivial, perhaps, which in Il
decade of years may be difficult, if not mpos-
sible to obtain; and further, that "nothing
can be of greater Importance than the study of
those nations and people who are passing
H.
as a result of their compulsory contact with
the vigorous, selfish, and mercantile nations
of the West, accompanied on their part by
propagandsm in some respects equally mer-
cenary and selfish To other qualifications
possessed by Prof. Morse it should be added
that he is generally regarded the leading Ja-
panesc scholar of the time, and, as the title
page indicates, he has held profesSorship in
the University at Toxic. The many drawings
which accompany the text are in harmony
with it, and not the mere catcl-penny illustra-
tons we too often see, ana aside from its eth
biological and literary value the book is to be
warmly commended in all its details. The
thanks the author extends to those who assist
ed in the preparation of the volume and to the
NOTES.
We have received the December number of
Wheelden's Musical and Home journal from
the publisher, l.. j. Wheeden, Bangor.
John E. Potter lS Company, of Philadelphia,
have in press and will soon publish Fennos
Favorites, No. 4, containing fifty choice dia-
logues for speaking and acting. These dia-
logues are edited with great care by Frank IL.
Fenno, author of The Science and Art of Elo-
cution, and are intended for school and social
entertainments. The 100 Choice Pieces for
Reading and Speaking, Nos. /, 2, and g. by the
same author have had wide sale.
The manuscript of the second and conclud-
ing volume Of General Grants Personal Me-
moirs" is now entirely in the hands of the pub
fishers, and it is expected to be ready for the
public early next year, by the first of March at
the latest 1t will contain twenty-five chapters
and about 600 pages. The volume opens with
General Grants commission as major-general