Woman's chronicle. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1888-1???, 1888-03-03
Our Book Table.

these DAYS. writes about 1t until the public is
all but besieged with books of travel. TO go
over the same ground, visit the same ruins,
and make original observations on the whole
is indeed a true indication of genius. The
cream of European travels the past year has
been Oliver Wendell Holmes "One Hundred
DAYS in Europe" Cathedral Days." by Anna
Bowman Dodd, is also worthy of special men,
ton. Mr.. Holmes has way of taking the
reader into his confidence in manner at once
t1attering and irresistible. Such friendly
book is not often met with, and we can easily
picture the writer as modest, genial old gen
tleman, revealed in the words of every page,
though he is regarded as highly unapproach
able by the maddening crowd" in Boston.
His modesty seems sublimely expressed in a
description of the British Museum "There
is one lesson to be got from visit to the Brit
sh Museum, namely, the fathomless abyss of
our. own ignorance. One is almost afraid of
his little paltry heart beats in the presence of
the rushing and roaring torrent of Niagara;
so, if he has published a book or two, or col
lected few fossils or coins or vases, he is
crushed by the vastness of the treasures in
the library and the collections of this uni
verse of knowledge" In describing to you
how you may become acquainted with it, he
says "Take lodgings next door to it in a
garnet, if you cannot afford better and pass
all your days at the museum during the whole
period of your natural life. At three score
and ten you will have some faint conception
of the contents, significance and value of this
great British institution, which Is as near as
any one spot the "n9va vital of human civ.
iization, stab at which by the dagger of an.
archy would fifty begin the reign of chaos"
Miss Dodds pen is particularly feminine
one, and in her trip among the cathedrals of
England she gives that delicate attention to
detail only possible to refined observant
woman. Her style gives life and personality
to the inanimate objects in her journey in a
manner quite unique, and in her felicitous
musings over her travels after she has been
safely landed in New York, memory calls up
the faithful horse, the companion of the jour.
ney, and she significantly wonders if he too
remembers the many charming incidents or
If, like many human traveller, he has re-
turned with no trace of charming recollec.
ton. These two books are choice addition
to the family book shelves, and, open them
where we may, they are sure to please
INGLEsIDE
The Atlantic Monthly for March is replete
with the usual good reading. story by
Sarah Orne Jewett and pleasant paper by
DR.. O. W. Holmes, in the friendly style pecu-
liar to the writer, called cover the Teacups."
story by Henry James, "The Aspern Pa
pers" "The Despot of Broomsedge Cove"
by Chas Egbert Craddock; a continued story.
"yrginas Wooing," by Olive Thorne Miller,
and "The Learned Lady De Gournay," by
Mary ID. Steele Four of the best of our fem
mime writers are clustered in this issue, and
the journal from first to last is charming.
With SO much to admire, it is difficult to pass
over the other mertorious articles. There is
a poem by William Cranston Lawton. An ar
ticle entitled "The Dawes Bill and the In.
dians," by James B. Thayer. poem by T.
W. Higginson, and a continued story by e. H.
House. The other contributors are Frank
Gaylord Cook, n S. Shaer and John Friske
An article by the editor, entitled "The Con
court Memoirs speaks in highest terms of
new French work, "The Journal DIES Con
court" sit is the diary of the most delcately
sensitive observers and, at the same time, the
most exquistely appreciative critics and his
torians of the art and society of the eighteenth
century in France. The book is simply unique
in the annals of French literature" The Jour
nal win comprise in all about ten volumes.
The contributors club gives some attention
to few practical questions, such as "Why
Sensible Persons Act Like Fools" and care
Good Natured People Uninteresting?" The
chapter also questions the necessity of en-
couragng Volapuk, when English is spread
ing so rapidly. In the pages devoted to
Crooks for the Months" the book critic deals