The Portland daily press., 1888-11-14
CONCERNING BOOKS.
BY e. cAyAzzA.

Glorinda, by Mrs. Anna Bowman Dodd, is
a novelette, which will not disappoint those
readers who have enjoyed Cathedral Days, a
work which introduced this very sparkling
and impressionable writer to public that
will look with interest for whatever she may
write. The subject of her new novel is
similar to that of several of its contempora-
ries. A young Northerner finds himself the
guest of one of those typical Southern house
holds where pride and poverty reign AMIGA
bly, together. OF course there is beautiful
girl, an unpublished jewel, bright against the
dusky setting Of an adoring old black man.
my. Equally Of course, there is rival al
ready on the ground. But the picturesque
ness and charm of the clever story are best
shown in the pretty scenes where Glorinda
acts Juliet and Rosalind to crowd Of little
darkies; and in more serious vein, in the
concluding pages of the tale. Glorinda is,
in brief, novel that belongs to class, the
romance Of reconstruction; its incidents are
not new or original; but its cleverness and
better still, its sweet and genuine senti.
ment are its authors own and at her COM
mand whenever she shall choose to write
second novel. Boston: Roberts Brothers;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony
The Advance Guard Of Western Civilza-
ton. BY James r. Gilmore edmund Kirke),
author of the Rear-Guard of the Revolution,
John Sewer as a Commonwealth Builder,
etc. This volume is expanded from a series
Of lectures delivered by the author before the
Lowell Institute of Boston in the winter of
1888. 1t is history. written in graphic
and interesting style, of remarkable cpl
sode in the beginning of the American Revo-
luton, when the first settlers of the West
traversed the Allegheny mountains. Fifty
thousand sayages, to the westward of the
range, were to be engaged by the British to
attack the colonists at the same time that
the regular British troops would attack the
seaboard. A few rifiemen, settlers who
wished to extend the colonies toward the in
terror of the country, gathered on the banks
OF the Watauga river and successfully held
the mountain passes, SO that the savage on
slaught was never effected. Thus they mer-
tied the title of rear-guard of the Revolu-
ton; and, as Mr.. Gilmore shows, they were
also the advance guard of Civilization. They
were men of energy, character and intelli-
gence, and the story of their migration under
the leadership Of James Robertson, in the
winter Of 1880, is truly epic. The difficulties
with the Indians were soon complicated by
the enmity of the Spaniards. until treaty
was concluded which opened the Mississippi
to American commerce, and the Cumberland
colony prospered in peace. The frontispiece
of the colony shows the portrait of James
Robertson, who lived to good old age, hon.
ored as patriarch by the white men and
the red. New York: d. Appleton & Co. !:
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony
Marching Through Georgia. By Henry C.
Work. This song, that was war-cry and is
now reminlscence Of the conquest of the
Rebellion, is published as holiday volume
with illustrations, including portrait
of General Sherman, appropriately given
the first place. The sketches of South.
ern scenery on the way "from At
lanta to the sea" are very spirited
and faithful in drawing, and finely
engraved. One would wish, however, that
among the illustrations it might have been
possible to have one which should have given
an IDEA of the vast sweep Of the army which
dominated territory of sixty miles in width
and three hundred in length. The slender
files of soldiers, hardly filling the roadway,
scarcely represent the irresistible movement
which is one Of the most brilliant in history.
The music and words Of Marching Through
Georgia are engraved on the last page of the
volume. The golden badge of the Grand
Army shines upon the cover of the book, as
If to suggest to members of that roll of honor
that here is an appropriate Christmas gift
from comrade to comrade. Boston: Tick
nor g. Co.: Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon.)
Manners, Happy Homes and Good Society
is the title of group of papers by Mrs.
Sarah j. Hale, editress of Godey's Lady's
Book. These papers treat of social and
domestic matters, of etiquette, custom, etc.,
with good sentiment and sense. A little
revision would have brought the book into
line with the present time, as, for in
stance, it is no longer necessary to
warn fashionable women against the
wearing of exaggerated hoops. But the
general principles of Mrs. Hale's teaching
are applicable through whatever vagaries of
Of the mode. Though not a brilliant nor an
original work, its intent and purpose are
thoroughly good; and no doubt its counsels
have aided many readers. 1t is interesting
to lead that the plan of day of general
Thanksgiving, appointed by the President
for all the United States, originated with
Mrs. Hale. 1t was approved by President
Lincoln in 1868, but in that year and in its
successor he was able to institute it only
among the loyal States. Since the close Of
the rebellion, it has become a custom, and
probably will SO remain. Boston: Lee &,
Shepard; Portland: Stevens & Jones.)
Messrs. Lee and Shepard also publish tn
Good Company series, at popular prices, o.
volumes by standard authors. Among
them are to be found Sir Richard Steele's
elegant social papers entitled collectively