The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-11-17
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

A Strong Minded Woman, or Two Years
After. By William A. Hammond. New
York: D. Appleton q Co; Portland: Loring,
Short & Harmony DR.. Hammond has writ
ten another novel, which is sort of sequel
to Lal and re-introduces the same charac-
ters Lal, who in the previous volume was liv-
ing with miners and roughs in Colorado has
now found her real father, and has become
a shining light in fashionable New York So
ciety. There is good deal of life and Vi
yacity in DR.. Hammond's telling Of his sto-
ry, which includes political contest, and
prolonged discussion of the woman's right
movement, his heroine being, according to
the title of the book A Strong Minded Wo-
man. But the style is labored, and thorough
ly inartistic, the characters being treated by
the author very much as anatomical speci-
mems which produce rather mechanical and
wholly unpleasant effect upon the mind Of
the reader Why Lal should be described as
graceful as bldck-tailed deer" it is not
easy to see, since something less in the way
of detail would seem to answer the purpose.
And so through the five hundred pages Of
the story we find painful and often absurd
There is a certain amount of amusing origi-
nality in the novel, but it is really not worth
so much wading to reach so little, and we
reiterate previously expressed wish that
DR.. Hammond would confne himself to his
profession, in which he has made success,
and leave the writing of romances to a differ
ent class of minds.
The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountain.
By Charles Egbert Craddock. The advan-
tage of appearing before the public under an
assumed name is shown in the career Of Miss
Murfree. Her writings have taken the pub
lie by surprise and have been judged at near
| ly their true value without any suspicion as
to her sex. They have exhibited so umch
freshness and power, so much keen analysis
and artistic treatment that they have COM
manded general favor and attention, and the
advent of the author has been hailed as q
new light in the literary armament. The
Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountain is her
last and best work. 1t shows marked pro-
gress in the finish and handling of her mate
rails. There is the same grace of touch and
poetic expression that marks all her minor
stories, but with these a breadth of treat
ment and sustained effort which shows the
growth Of the author in the higher qualities
of her art The studies of these simple
mountain people dialect with their odd
and rough manners show the genius of Miss
Murfree in dealing with material which
seems to offer little that is artistic or heroic,
and yet out of the same material she fash
| ions her characters aud invests them with a
| personality as vivid as that of any Of our ac-
| quaintances. She knows the stuff Of which
moral heroes are made, and in her ''prophet"
offers US one who is neither common-p place
nor exaggerated.
Her female characters are admirably
drawn and while they lose none of their
womanly charms under her hand, stand
forth such bold representatives of the higher
qualities of her sex that one cannot but
think that all women must admire Miss
Murfree as their champion.
Poems of the Law. Collected by J. Green
bag Croke. (San Francisco: Summer Whit
ney & Co. Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon.) The legal profession owe to the en-
7 terprising firm of Sumner Whitney & Co.
many volumes similar TO the above, which
have been published under the title, Legal
Recerations, and have been filled with
what may be called the outside literature of
the law--its lyrics, poems, curiosities and
humorous phases. This last volume is re-
print of good things, many of which have
been long out of print. Among them are:
The Conveyancer's Guide, and The Plead
er's Guide, old poems that have entertained
two generations of lawyers on both sides of
the Atlantic, and short poems by VIM. allen
Butler, Thackeray, and W. W. Story. These
all are pleasant and profitable reading both
for lawyers and laymen.
Tennyson's Poems. (New York: Thomas
Y. Crowell & Co; Portland: Loring Short &
Harmon Among the many gift books
which appeal to the public at this season of
the year, this attractive book should not be
overlooked. With its delicate bordered
pages and neat binding it presents the col
lected poems of the great English poet in a
single volume, at price which is not beyond
the range of modest persons.