New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-10-30
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE WRITINGS OF A GREAT PEOPLE.
L LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM On
THE KARLIEsr sETTl EMENT 10 THE PREs iaTd
sD@ Ellen n. Sac ss'a
Ss%Yosa S cr,ss L. Wooster sso b.
The eleventh volume Of the Library OF Amer.
loan Literature brings to . close the seven yea"
hhor O. Mr.. Stedman and Miss Hutchinson
Unher the system, not rigidly chronological,
adopted by the oompilers it covers the period
from 1851 to 1881 p~fiod far more prolific than
sny other In the literary history Of the country;
whose fruit il not % perfect that Of an earlier
harvest shows an unexampled variety OF form ana
favor. The volume Is expanded by seicctons OF
poetry and prose which commended themselves
to the Judgment of the compilers or were pub
hshed too late for inclusion elsewhere; py COL
lectisn of noted sayingA by short biographies OF
the authors represented In the Library, and Dy
indexes and acknowledgements. The aodluonal
selections were in a sense made obligatory upon
tho scrupulous consciences of the compilers by
reason Of the fact that the period OF publication
was UNEXPECTEDLY extended, doubtless to their
temporary regret, but much to their present and
future satisfaction, we must believe, and greatly
to the advantage of the completed work and the
qualification of all who may possess It, The bio
graphical sketches which were not included in
the original design, required not little persistent
research and many perplexing comparisons on the
part Of Mr.. Arthur Stedman. They are compact,
accurate and exactly sufficient for the purpose
The gain which readers Of this work derive
from the delay which has brought 1t down to
very recent date may be suggested by few
ct hat have m
without it. They would have had no hint of
Dr. Storrss noble Grafton on historical studies de-
Mvered before the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity at
Amherst in 1887, which is not readily accessible
in its complete form, which contains passages OF
superlative splendor and beauty, and which, IN
its entirety, is, we believe. more conclusive OF
that remarkable mans intellectual force ana
rhetorical pre- emnence than any other single thing
that he has DONE unless possibly II he his lectures
on the Turk and the Muscovite, delivered ten
years before his Amherst grafton. in Brooklyn and
at Cambridge. Without these supplementary
selections we might soon have lost trace of VIII
lam T. Meredith's "Farragut" in Mobile Bay,
which deserves to live as whole and especially
In this compressed and vivid stanza
Now through the battles roar.
Clear the boy sings.
Spy the mark fathoms four
While his lead swings
Steady the wheelmen five
"Nor' by East keep her.
"steady," but two alive,
How the shells sweep her.
Except for selection from the poems of Ed
ward Sanford Martin. published in 1888, the
ouizzical phrase "A little brother Of the rich
might have continued to be enormously attributed
70 an accomplished New-York woman. So, too,
suggesting what may be called the happy accidents
of compilation, which an unerring taste turns to
good account we quote these twelve lines on The
Skater by Orth Harper Stein, which, to speak
without eXaggeration. would not discrcGit single
poet of this generation, but of whose ahthor the
editors frankly say that they have been unable
to learn anything:
Beneath her skates the curved steel bars
Seemed like two naked scimars
That CLEAN about the sandals in
The sword dance of the Bedoun.
And all around her flying feet
The ice mist flew increasingly.
AS free V she was and full as feet
As sea gulls Swimming DER the sea.
1t was the in different guise.
Like Mercury she wore her wings,
And deep within her fearless eyes
There lived the soul Of flying things.
No man who has mastered the art of skat'
ing, and is otherwise what man ought to be, can
that girl on the ice. which is saying great deal
in these days of blast-furnace emotions. Among
these additions, too, we light NicOlay and Hays
Death Of Lincoln" and catch glimpse of joseph
Jefferson in his Autobiography. Again. the spirit
of poetry has been apostrophized, embodied, pur-
sued thousand times: how often has it been more
delcatey and securely caught than in the last
Two of these four lines Of Charles Edwin Markham
She comes like the hush and beauty Of the night,
But sees too deep for laughter
Her touch is vibration and light
From worlds before and after.
One of the most suggestive and perhaps to many,
persons the most engaging division Of this vol
ume Is that which records and traces through
numerous variations to their germs hundred or
more noted sayings which, IL they do not "on
the stretched forefnger of all Time sparkle for
ever" are nevertheless reasonably sure of long
life, and still more sure of begetting numerous
offspring near enough like them to be readily
identified, however hard they try To conceal their
parentage. 1t is worth noting, however, that the
latest born is often sturdier and better put TO-
eether than its ancestors near or remote. That
few die and none resign" for instance, is sad
and solemn truth which finds far better expression
In those five words than in the immortal Jcffcr
sons formal question and answer: I" If due
participation Of Office is matter OF right, how
are vacancies to be obtained? Those by death
are few; by resignation none Not to Mr.
Cleveland nor Colonel Lamont belongs the credit
for crystalizing in the best possible form the
ancient and honorable principle that public Office
is q public trust" but to Mr.. Dorman B. Eaton,
though Governor Grape of Massachusetts came
near it, General Garfield in his inaugural adj
dress used these words: 1T has been said that
unsettled questions have no pity for the repose
Of nations" The expression of the thought is
classical How much did Garfield mean by ut
has been said" Through false modesty or force
of habit speakers and writer's have often cheated