The Portland daily press., 1890-01-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

10y - hoSAhuhOs AhuotidtCQ. NOW
Cassell q Co. Limited. American maya
zines and periodicals have been SO full of re-
views and critques upon the Journal of
Marie Bashkirtseff, to say nothing of Mr..
Gladstone's enthusiastic laudation of the
DOCK, that little remains to be said about it,
That a young girl should put upon paper,
with the deliberate intention of having it
read by the whole world, every thought of
her mind, every emotion of her soul, In order
10 gain attention and notoriety, is certainly
remarkable psychological spectacle. The
astounding lack of the higher moral quail
ties, tie abnormal defciency.in this young
girls nature of all such traits as gentleness,
tenderness, natural aft ection,-and her enors
nous vanity, selfishness and utter d gard
Of the feelings, welfare or even the existence
of those to whom she was bound by the clos.
est ties of kinship, are something inconceiya-
Die. with remarkable intellectual endow
m-nts, and perhaps the absolute gift of gen.
ius, with great personal beauty or charm.
with wealth and social position, the pet and
IDOL OF the members Of her own family, she
yet had apparently 20 power to be happy
herself. nor the slightest desire to give hap-
piness to others.
| we DO not in the least agree In the opinion
OF Mrs. Serrano that the nature of Marie
Bashkirtseff was profoundly religious"
She desires to believe in the God of the
Bible solely that she may receive His help,
that He may aid her in accomplishing her
desires; otherwise she says "the only God
whom can telieve in is the God of philoso-
phy-an abstract being-the great mystery,
| earth, heaven, the universe, Pan" "But
this is a God who can in no way help u.s."
Starting with faith in an all-powerful
God. she az length comes to treat Him as she
does her mother, her father, her aunt, her
iovers-who are all devoted to her. She says
OF God. If he cant give me what want /
have no use for Him."
Neither did she, as the translator
| says 'yearn with passionate long
ing Tor affection" She had an in
sane ambition, and felt thati to be
loved by some distinguished person who
could make her ga queen or an empress"
was necessary to her career She mated"
her own family, who were devoted to her.
She writes, "Shall ever know what it is
to love? For my own part think love i'm
possible, to one who looks at human nature
through microscope as l do. They who
only see what they wish to see in all around
them are very Fortunate
"Shall tell you something? Well, am
neither an artist nor a sculptor, nor musi-
can; neither woman, girl nor friend My
only purpose in life is to observe, to reflect
and 10 analyze."
A glance, face l see by chance, sound,
pleasure, pain, is at once weighed ana
examined, verified, classified, noted and not
until this is accomplished is my mind at
rest"
Ihis is the key to the whole character of
the girl; this-and d magnificent egotism
carried to such height that it becomes a.
most sublime.
a more painful or unpleasant record than
the Journal of this beautiful and talented
young creature one would 60 far to find. A
more unsatisfactory life, or a more entire
failure in using great gifts for the glory of
God or the service of man, one cannot i'm
agine.
One turns from the book with the mind
laded and depressed, longing for an influx of
wholesome, CHEEKY thoughts and emotions to
remove the impression left by this extraor-
dinarily brilliant and direful history.
Erlach Court. Translated from the Ger
man OF Ossip Schubin. By Mrs. A. l.. Wis
ter Philadelphia: j. B. Lippincott Co.
Mrs. Wister has charming taste in her Sc
lection of German novels for translation,
and her own work is perfectly well done.
Erlach Court is bright, wholesome, cheer
iul story, not too tragic nor too sentimental,
but full of genuine interest. The characters
are drawn with great distinctness and cley-
erness, being strongly indivdualized-an
the authors style is vivacious and spirited
throughout. Stella, the heroine, is a de-
nghiiul creature, and there is pretty epi-
sode-or aside-where Captain Jack Won
Leskjerritsch and his wife, Katrine, after
several years Of mutual matrimonial indiff.r-
ence, fall In love with each other, and are
happy forevermore. One never need praise
Mrs. Wister's TRANSACTIONS, for her name on
the title page of volume ensures its success
and popularity.
The Viking Age By Paul B. Du Chaillu.
New York: Charles Scribner G. Sons
Portland: Loring, Short g. Harmon. In
1 sAi" booh VIC tONtA VI dutlYultitS WIFI ma q
feast. Paul B. Du Chaillu has given eight
years of toll and research into the prehistoric
ages OF Scandinavia, Northern Germany and
the regions about the Baltic. He has, by the
help OF lcelandic and Scandinavia ian scholars,
read all the Sagas and Eddas, of which there
are hundreds, and CLEANED from them a con-
secutive story of the manners and customs of
home-life in that far-off time. He has tray-
elled far and wide to see with his own eyes
the finds" In the ancient Cromlechs and
various burial places, and to decipher the
mysterious Inscriptions on the runic stones,
mounds, slabs and multiplicity of vessels
delineating the stone, bronze and iron ages.
From this vast mine of material, which, he
says, like new lands before the early yoya-
gers, were constantly rising before him, he
has culled the best and classified it in an ad-
mirable manner, which with his own perspi-
cacity of style has made the book simple
and readable history of the most ancient
known ancestors of the English speaking
races.
A modern Scandinavian writer in his en-
enthusiastic account Of the former glories of
his native land, claims Sweden as the cradle
OF the English race; but Paul b. Du Chaillu
shows clearly that the isles of the Baltic
and Gotland, that little barren arm of land
reaching out into the oceans, now obscure and
unknown to travellers abound with relics
which prove an immense traffic with ali the
populous countries of the world and a vast
civilized population upon its own shores.
He reaches still farther into dim history,
when ne brings to us the story of the Saga,
which records the coming of the Asia-men
with their captain Odin to the North Coun-
try.
Many Maine Ships in One Place.
"The Kennebecker' Capt. j. H. Drew
has begun new series of articles ia the Ros