The Portland daily press., 1888-06-09

chooses to write although now it is appar-
ent that many of his effects are become
threadbare beyond the privilege even of the
atrical properties. His stories are less
amusing than they once were, and have not
gained In morality-unless, perhaps, by the
ioss OF part of the glamour which was
won't to envelope In charitable haze some
81 his very indefensible persopages. Mr..
Harte staked out for himself IDEAL claim.
ostensibly in the California of. the "Forty-
Miners" but actually as impossible as the
tabled lands that tempted the classic seekers
after the Golden Fleece. Here his apotheo-
sized sinners and damaged saints dwelt in a
lawless and very mixed Elysium; and al
though certain traits of his work were sub
ject for reproof, it was impossible not to de-
light in the offhand nobility, the uncouth
sudden pathos, the immense tragedy and
comedy that animated his mimic world.
And the instinct of the public that admired
this daring and emotional writer was far
from wholly wrong. But when in his latest
story he comes eastward to find scene and
describes fantastic Puritan town with its
bigotries and hypocrisies; vulgarizes with
cheap circumstance ! heroine who would
have been well placed with the breadth of
the United States between her and the read
ers; and then transplants the coarse TO-
nance from New England to California, af-
fording only the old effects, and those per-
functorily, except in the figure of bona
Rosita and in a few landscape touches-the
reader can only regard this new story of Mr..
Harte's with something of the bored and
plying indifference with which one would
look at California lion, the worse for wear
and repeated performances in a menagerie.
lBoston: Houghton, Miffiin d Co.. Port
land: Loring, Short & Harmony
In Homestead Highways, Mr.. Herbert
Milton Sylvester makes an advance upon his
former work, Prose Pastorals, in affording
more human interest and also fuller sympa-
thy with four-footed and winged personali-
ties Of the field and woodland. His talent
seems to become more distinct and not less
agreeable, as he emerges into the open; and
is recognized, not recluse, but man to
whom early memories Of country home are
erary inspiration. The volume abounds In
telling and picturesque sketches, charming
"reminiscences, and poetic thoughts. 1t viii
prove guide to students of..Nature in the ap-
preaching summer vacation; and will bring
many vivid moment of forest GOODNESS,
sparkle of brooks over messy stones, evening
and morning light, and call of birds from
house-roof or from swaying boughs to re-
fresh the weary company Of those bound to
office-desk or dusty with the streets of a
great town. Boston: Ticknor & Co.. Port
land: Loring, Short & Harmony
A tasteful volume of Summer Legends,
with clover and buttercup blossoms on the
gray-green binding, contains group Of very
charming and spirited fairy-tales translated
by Mrs. HeleniB. Dole from the German Of
Rudolph Baunbach The stories have more
gayety, point and wit than is often the case
with modern wonder-tales; the author has
delicate and quaint sympathy with the ami
mals,ltrees and flowers which take part in the
action, side by side with men and women.
The genuinely romantic quality OF these
choice Legends is well preserved in the
translation; and the volume will be found
charm to speed the hours of rainy day in
the country, or read aloud in the shadow of
forest. will harmonic with the whisper Of
the pines and the note of the birds and squir-
rels that inhabit the branches. New York
Thomas Y. Crowell & Coz
Mr.. George Riddle, versatile and popular
actor and reader familiar to elegant audi.
ences, has compiled volume of selections
which his experience has found particularly
available for. entertainment. The exquisite
and exactfng Come Here, which Miss Gene
We've Ward translated for her own nse, and in
which reader can obtain series of legiti-
mate and brilliant effects; Mrs. John Sher-
woods beautiful translation Of Carcassonne:
Mrs. Browning's fine and thrilling Incident
of the French Camp; Mr.. Edgar Fawcett's
crude and creepy At Midnight; the ingeni-
Gus and resonant Cataract at Lodore; some
rather amusing society sketches by Mrs.
John I. Wheelwright, with other selections,
classical and otherwise, make up varied
volume. Boston: Walter H. Baker & Coz
Messrs. Dodd. Mead Il Co. of New York
publish in their fine and substantial Library
Edition of the novels of Messrs. Walter
Besant and James Rice, the strong and
touching romance my Little Girl" The
interest of the story is deepened by the fact
that about year after its first publication
the newspapers reported case not unlike
that upon which the novel turns. People
he H.
about writing novels. may find it not easy to
formulate the charm of the stories of the
firm of Besant and Rice-partly natural,
partly the result of long practice and famil-
iarity with thelworld of action and of books
that makes these novels retain their great
popularity year after year, and wins wide
and immediate hearing for each new story
that the surviving partner, Mr.. Besant,
offers to the public portland: Loring,
Short & Harmony