Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-08

have anywhere nearly approached these
and that mono have been 30 exhaustive
We can pardon Mr.. Bancroft some severity
of manner, for he has passed through ex
periences with critics and writer's that hav,
been the part of but few lives; and nc
other writer probably has 30 deeply delvet
in the books and Ms. of the men ant
women who have written in the Pacific
Coast States or of them. 1t has been to
him . lifes task, and one that has beer
discharged with devotion of q rare order
The men Of the next generation will ex
anime the works of Mr.. Bancroft, and give
him credit for researches and painstakins
that it is not possible for him to receive
from bis contemporaries. The chapter
plato Revised" is the only one in thi.
volume we have been unable to examine. Il
is an essay in dialogue that must be pbilo
sophicallv debated with the author, and al
length, if At all.
1.-THE God of Civilization" is number Of
the Mid. Ocean Library" Eureka Publish
ing Company, Chicago. 1t is romance. by
Mrs. N. A. Pittock, a lady well known upon
this coast. She is q fluent writer, who has
contributed much to the press. Her style
is original, her expression, if at times too
bold, is still natural and sympathetic in
tone. She will not, though she has written
much for the press, be ranked as one free
from those mannerisms in writing that q
lady of her experience with the pen can be
pxrdoned for. In the amateur we can con-
done much of error, but Mrs. Pittock' 8
book is replete with phrases that detract
from what would otherwise be sustained
good style.
However, we pass these matters of form
and method to come to the spirit OF her
story. Its scenes are in the island groups
of the mid and South Pacific. Her de-
scriptions prove that she is familiar with
the locality and the tribes that occupy the
islands. Her romance is an attempt to
prove by the recital of a very ardent and
sometimes suggestive story of love that
the semi. barbarous people of these islands
have a better code of morals than we of
America; are happier in their "civilizs.
tion;" know neither poverty nor wealth,
neither want nor surplus, neither mbition
nor degradation. They are industrious to
the supplying of their needs, which are
few, because nature supplies them with so
much and the climate demands of life so
little exertion. They are sober, affection
ate, passionate in love. free from strifes and
and live, all in all. an ideal
life of peace, content and enjoyment.
people shipwrecked party of two white
men and three white women are cast. They
are respectively of England and America,
the ladies hailing from San Francisco.
They are Hospitality received by the island
ers who speak English, having for their
chief an Englishman who had resided
thirty years among them, and by expos.
ure to tropic heat and breezes had become
as brown as they, and wore as little of raj
ment.
Here the castaways remain nearly two
years. The women, refined ladies of
American social circles, become enamoyed
of the island customs and men; they adopt
the costumery of the locality, which is eI-
scant, and unite themselves to
brawny fellows of the tribe, who sport
upon the sands in the briefest possible
attire men can wear and wear anything.
One of the women, on the arrival of ship,
takes her black lover back to San Francisco,
where she marries him according to civil
lized ceremonials. and selling all her earthly
possessions and giving the proceeds to the
poor, the couple return to the island, to
live out their lives in listless peace free from
fashions rule, the DEGREES OF civilization
and the demands of such customs and laws
as we deem essential to good living and
decency. This is the ideal life she pictures
for the reader. Into it all there enters no
spirituality, no love for learning, no seek
ing for knowledge, no aspirations Of the
soul, no cultivation of the intelligence. II
the lady would have Us believe that such
base animal existence is the best Of all in
life, We can but pity her for her low con-
captions of the duties of human beings TO
their fellows and themselves. II she pre-
ssnts the world IS mere fancy, . tropical
dream Of the Imagination without pur-
pose or suggestion. the story will serve as
bit of over. color does, to amuse, and with
all its passionate suggestions, to be forgot
ten.
The November Magazine Of American
History" il particularly rich in material
reminding one that the events Of our own
day have q definite understanding with
the events of the past. Rev. Charles Il.
Parkhurst, D. D., contributes Divine Drift
in Human History" The best portrait
ever published of DR.. Parkburst forms the
frontispiece. American Outgrowths of
Continental Europe" by the editor, covers
a broad field. There follows General Win.
field SCOTS Remedy for Intemperance,"
by Hon. Charles Aldrich; The Puritan
by Nathan NJ. Hawkes., and
1.-THE Action at Tarrytown, $751;" By DR..
r. B. Coutant. One of the longest papers
is that OF DR.. Prosper Bender on The
French Canadian Peasantry." The "Li-
brary Of Philadelphia Antiquarian" is by
z. Powell Buckley. Revolutionary New.
burgh" is Q historic poem by Rev. Edward
]. Runk. The Literature of California"
is from the writings Of Hubert Howe Ban
croft. 74S Broadway, New York City.
The Cosmopolitan" for November, John
Brisben Walker Fifth avenue, Broadway
and Twenty fifth street, New York;, isvery
attractive in its many half-tone illustra-
tons and its handsome pages. This maya
zine is rapidly taking a place in the front
rank OF American monthly journals, and
we'll deserves its success. Among the lead
ing papers are the continued articles on the
Departments at the National Capital"
The Army of Japan" by Arthur Sher-
burne Hardy; Fan Histories" by Mary
Caldwell Montgomery; "a Morse Atlantis"
by Hjslmar Hjorth Boyesen; college
Education in Relation to Business" by P.
t. Barnum; "Art and the Monastery in
Corea," by Charles Chaille Long; "Queens
of the Shop, the Workroom and the Tene-
ment," BY Katharine Pearson Woods; DE
sertion and the Military Prison" by j.
Worden Pope; Social Problems" by Ed
ward Everett Hale; Current Events" by
Murat Halstead.
The Forum" for November presents
these papers: Democracy and Wealth"
by President Francis A. Walker; The
Shibboleth of Public Opinion" by W. s.
Lilly; "Tolstoi and The Kreuizer Sonata,
by Rev. DR.. G. A. Bartol; The Six New
States" by Shelby NJ. Cullom; Formative
Influences" by Rev. DR.. Edward Eggles.
ton; THE Probabilities of Agriculture" by
C. Wood Davis; Recent Views About
Glaciers" by Professor Alexander Win.
chelI; THE Embattled Farmers" by Rev.
Washington GLADDEN.; French Canada and
the Dominion" BY W. Blackburn Harte;
The Progress of the Negro" by Rev
Amory D. Mayo; Western Farm Mort.
CAGES" by Daniel Reaves Goodloe. The
Forum Publishing Company, New York.
The Tribune Monthly" New York Til
bune, New York; for October is No. 10 Of
volume XI. Its papers are on "a Congress
of Me.allurgy," and include articles and re-
norris IN the A mefican Institute of MINING