The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-10-06

auNioc anu hcip. Alter tHt puUHcdIiOn, IN
Harper's Magazine, Of Mr.. Hale's story
Back to Back, which outlined plan of equi-
table management as regards the interests
Of capital and labor in the manufacture of
woolens, the owners of three separate mills
invited him to take charge of their property
on the basis proposed in his story. Probably
his parish and his publishers would have
had more than a word to say against that
departure. And Mr.. Hale, who is fond of
stalking out new claims in Utopia, has built
a village around its Genital wooden mill; and
has recorded in his own graphic way the
success OF the management of the little COM
munity of Hampton. The operatives
shared in the profits and helped bear the
losses of the mill, on percentage previously
agreed upon. Meanwhile the social inter
ests Of the village were not neglected; and
the prosperity of Hampton is described with
such yerisimilitude of detail that nothing
seems easier than that Capital and Labor
should clasp hands. Whether the plan
would work in actual life as well as on
paper, is not to be said with certainty. But
surely Professor Everett, whose praise of
imagination was referred to in these col
umns, would encourage Mr.. Hale to believe
that hisIgenerous Imagination indicates the
future path of reality, even though it cannot
make the way wholly smooth and unCb-
structed. Boston: ], Stilman Smith & Coz
Romances, Lyrics and Sonnets from the
Poetic Works of Elizabeth Barrett Brown
ing.
Messrs Houghton and Mifflin publish this
exquisite little volume in white and gold and
sage-green binding; as the title indicates, it
contains favorite poems from the works of
Mrs. Browning, and the name of the publish
ing house is of itself assurance that the
selections are made with fine taste and
judgment. A collection of Idyls and
Romances from the poems Of Robert Brown
ing is published in uniform style. portland:
Loring, Short & Harmony
Books and Men, is the somewhat compre-
hensive title Of very neatly bound volume
OF rather clever essays by Miss Agnes Rep
plier. They give evidence of much study
and acquaintance with literature-perhaps
as yet the essayist is at the stage of culture
that likes to talk about writers and books by
name. When she trusts to her own bright
observation of things, Miss Repplier is at
her best; for example, in the witty and sem
sible defence of Miss Edgeworth's dear
little Rosamond," against the self-conscious
and conceited young heroes and heroines of
a certain class of juvenile books. When it
it is question of the finest literary sensi-
tiyeness, Miss Repplier is hardly ready to
criticise For time, she would better take
on trust that when Matthew Arnold set
apart certain lines of Shakespeare as purely
Greek and others as purely Celtic he knew
very we'll why. In the examples quoted, the
Greek and the Celtic qualities are very dis
tinct, easier perhaps to perc6ive than to
define for another's perception, but unmis-
takeable in their relative traits of the class
ic and the romantic. Meanwhile Miss Rep
pliers essays offer much that is clever, agree
able and interesting, with promise of still
better when she has assimilated with senti-
ment and experience her very respectable
requirements from hooks Boston: Hough-
ton, Miffiin q Co.; Portland: Loring, Short
& Harmony
The Guardians is the title of new novel
by the authors of that original and dramatic
story, A Question of Identity. The novel
reader will find that the recent story fulfls
expectations founded upon its predecessor;
without an elaborate plot, it has enough
movement and character to hold interest to
the end. 1t has life and picturesqueness.
and some very clever portraits of varied
types. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.. !;
Portland: Loring. Short & Harmony
The McVeys, by Joseph Kirkland, is in
the line of his remarkable sketch of Zury;
and, indeed, it aries onward the story Of
some Of the characters that figured in the
former story. The scene is laid in Illinois,
in the days of its early settlement, when the
Pacific Railroad was crossing the State,
Abraham Lincoln was pleading at its court
houses, and life presented the strong con-
trasts of pioneer society. 1t is a wholesome,
unconventional, manly book that will occupy
place of its own in American literature.
Boston Houghton, Mifflin & Coz
Molly Bishops Family. By Catherine
Owen. This helpful and cheerful little vol
ume is at heart a treatise on the care of
babies, on housekeeping and housekeeping
but its bibs and cradles and recipes for choice
cookery are told of in the form of an interest
ing story of the life of as sensible and sweet
woman as one need ask to find in or out
side book. 1t is true that at times Mrs.
Owen leaves situation almost unexpected
as regards its sentiment OF its pathos, while
her teaspoonful and her ounces are given
their entire capacity and weight AS an
localized manual of housewifery, however,
Molly Bishops Family is wholly to be
praised for good intent and good execution.
Another little volume written for the aid
of puzzled mistresses of the house, is Mrs.
Christine Terhune Herrick's Housekeeping
Made Easy. The daughter of Marion Har-
land has an inherited right to be heard on
domestic matters, and Mrs. Herrick, fresh
from the myriad bothers that beset the
housekeeper, can sympathize with the griev-
ances that probably appear small and need
less to the experienced ruler of domestic
things. The contents of the volume origi-
nally appeared in Harper's Bazaar, and treat
esting as helpful to the novice in the art Of
home-making. The gentle and womanly
dedication of the book to her husband "whose
faith in her was her incentive and whose
appreciation is her constant stimulus" Is
page which wives and husbands equally will
do well to read. (New York: Harper &
Brothers; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon,)
Lajla, a Tale of Finmark, translated from
the Norwegian of Prof. j. A Friis by In
gerid Markhus, is distinct and lovely addi-
ton to the knowledge of foreign countries
and peoples that is to be gained from modern
novels The little heroine first appears to
the reader, dashed inuo her cradle sled.
packed warmly with moss, and drawn by
reindeer. Northern lights, snowy plains and
wolf-haunted forests. the simple life and
curious customs of the Finnish people, make
up picture unique as to landscape and fig
ures. The style is charming in its frank