The Republican journal., 1886-01-28
Literary News and Notes.

The illustrations in the February Harper are
particularly good
Good Cheer is well named. 1t is full of good
things and brings good cheer.
Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett has recovered
from her recent illness and has resumed liter
ary work at her Washington home.
Mr.. r. b. Forbes, in a little volume just pub
lished, speaks of ''Ships of the Past in man
ner which will give delight to every old salt
who remembers the crack ships of the past for
ty years, says the Boston Journal.
The January number of the Bangor IIistor-
cal Magazine contains the History of Bucks
port up to 1857, continued y Orrington, Maine.
Marriages; Deacon William Boyd, of Bangor
Early Settlers of Eastport; Inscription on a
Monument in Eastport Cemetery; Capt. John
shackford, of Eastport.
General John Newton, Chief of Engineers,
United States Army, originator of the plan and
director of the work, has prepared a complete
account Of the operations for the removal of
the obstruction> of He'll Gate, from their be-
ginning to the explosion of Flood Rock in
October last, which will appear with full and
new illustrations as the leading article in the
February number of ''The Popular Science
Monthy.'
The North American Review Publishing Co.,
of New York, will publish on or about the
first of May next, "Reminiscences of Abraham
Lincoln, by distinguished men of his time"
Among the contributors are General Grant.
Elihu b. Wa>hburnc, Henry Ward Beecher,
General Butler. Walt Whitman. and other men
of mark. 1t will be the standard Lincoln book
Allen Thorndike Rice, editor of the North
American Review, will edit the volume, which
Will be embelli>hcd with fine steel portrait Of
Lincoln and other cngravings. 1t will he sold
only by subscription.
Peterson's Magazine for February opens with
beautiful stee-engraving, after the celebrated
picture of ''Cinderella," by the great English
artist, Sir John Millai>. Then there is a man.
moth colored steel fashion-platc: Il ,ouble-size
colorcd pattern in embroidery. from the Art
school; two other full-page cngraying>; and
about fifty smaller Wood-cutS. The noveet,
The Cedar Swamp Mystery" becomes more
"A |
Day" is one of the most charming love stories
we ever read. Besides these there are numer-
ou> other stories, noyclctS. etc., etc.; and no
magazine gives such original stories as "Peter-
son."
The Boston Herald recently published an cX-
ccllrnt editorial, commcndatory of the literary
tone and excellence of the Atlantic Monthly
and pointing out the service it has been to
American literature. 1t is a wrlI-mrritrtl tril,-
ute to Il magazine that has only to be read to be
appreciated. The Herald SAYS of the editors of
the Atlantic Monthly: ''Thcy have carefully
excluded the mechanical and sensational sorts
of literature. They have seldom struck Il false
note i'll literature, and the proof of the severity
of their Judgment is that single number of the
Atlantic is a> Interesting >iN months after date
a> it was on the day Of publication. Its articles
us stories and its poetry have permanent yalut.
They belong to literature. . 1t is for it,
past and present distinguished services in this
field that the Atlantic has undi>puted prc-enin-
cnrr among American periodicals, and it was
never truer to its purposes than it is to-day.
The Boston Herald of Jan, 18th says: 1.-The
story Of Margaret Kent which now asks to be
received into the higher class of imaginative
writing, is more than any recent American
novel a venture into the higher realm of fiction.
The character of Margaret Kent is ii master
piece Of its kind. 1t is Il fresh creation. The
type is southern, and yet American, and it, ill-
per. fiPrc in,Mll9aplv ia thG, eore, =. Who
leapcd at a bound into the front rank of those
who are making our best American fiction.
There are comparatively few signs of imna-
turity; there are none where real strength in
the treatment Of passion is required. Here is
the realm which Mr. Ilowcl> is master Of, but
here is also the constructing imagination which
Wc;ves into realism all the finer >>llc> OF life.
The subordinate characters are not wall ti@ur-
cS, but the strength of the story is so greatly
concentrated in Margaret they lose their rali-
ancc in comparison with her OWL"