The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-12-01
MAGAZINE NOTICES.

The December Arena very appropriatelv
makes Whittier's approaching birthday
the occasion for an instructive and enter
taining article from the pen of DR.. George
Stewart. A portrait of the venerable New
England poet is the frontispiece of the
magazine. For those who are at ali inter.
ested In the wonders of the heavens. Ca.
mile Flammarion's New Discoveries in
the Heavens will be of great interest
Woman, in various relations To modern
social questions, is the subject of three
articles: Woes of the New York Working
Girl, by Edgar Fawcett; Association in
T Mu Win It's bearings on Working
ship and Suffrage, relating particularly to
Woman Suffrage. by Frances Minor. Da-
vid A. Wells discusses free trade in this
number; Rev. G. A. Bartol Faith in God
as personal equation, Prof. T. Funck-
Brentano the Logic of Port Royal and
Qualification Of the Elective Franchise.
The letters of General Sherman now be-
ing published in the Cosmopolitan are
probably the only letters ever written in
the midst of hostilities by a great general
to his daughter. We have the brief letters
of Napoleon to Josephine, but there is
nothing at all resembling the Sherman let
tiers to be found in the literature of war.
The second and last paper, which appears
in the December Cosmopolitan. Is unique
Ia another respect-that 1t is illustrated by
man who sat at Sherman's mess table
during the campaign of which he writes to
his daughter. This most famous of war
artists, Theodore r. Davis. is still alive.
ont no
very interesting paper Of his own and
great number of sketches which he made
at the time. Perhaps the article In the
December number which will be read with
the widest interest is that ON Rapid Tran
sit, by Capt. Lewis NJ. Haupt, which is
illustrated by every conceivable suggestion
that has been made upon raid transit.
Mrs. Burton Harrison begins a new novel,
The Daughter of the South, and another
Southern article is by gentleman who
was Confederate officer. and is entitled
Social Life in Richmond During the War.
| t. " Powderly contributes an article I'M
der the Christmas heading On Earth Peace,
Good VIII Toward Men; explaining the
great progress made in the cause of hu
manity during the past twenty five years.
The December Se-ibner's, as BELTS
Christmas number, presents as Fror IT,
piece German Christmas scene of twelve
hundred years ago,-an accompaniment
of delightful Christmas story by Henry
Van Dyke, The Oak of Geismar. Admir-
ers OF Lowell will turn first to the verses
by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, entitled, Elm
wood. For those who In New England
winter wish to read of warmer chimes E.
II. and &. w. Blosbfeld have provided a
delightful story of trip up the Nile
Those interested in art will not fail to read
an article by Harold Frederick, the London
Correspondent of the New York Times.
Frederick writes OF the work OF an Eng
lish painter, Albert Moore who is "outside
the academy" whose theories of art are
at variance with the orthodox ideas, but
who nevertheless Is making a great place
for himself In modern arc. This article is
illustrated with engravings of some of Mr..
Moore's masterpieces. OF New Mexico
Charles 4. Summ's has written entertain
ingly under the title The Land of POGO
TEMPO (pretty sooD). OF fiction there is
an abundance, as there should ba In Holt
day number. There is Sarah Orne Jewett's
charming story of Little Captive Maid,
who Is none other than an Irish servant in
a household very New Englandish; A
| charge Tor France, romance of 1870. by
| John Heard Jr.; continuation of Steven
son and Osbourne's Wrecker; A Fresh
Water Romance, scene the Great Lakes. by
q. A. Hubbard; and EsperO G0rgOni, Con-
d0ller, story explained By its title. by +.
Hopkinson Smith.
Harper's Magazine for December is
brilliant Christmas Number, unrivalled in
the beauty. appropriateness, and interest
OF its contents. 1t opens with superbly
illustrated article on "The Annunciation.''
by Henry Van Dyke, including among its
pictures reproductions from the famous
paintings of Fra Angelica, Botticelli, Van.
der Weyden, and others of the old masters.
William McLennan, the new Canadian
writer, contributes Christmas legend. La
Messe de Minuit Another strikingly at
tractlve feature of the Number is mus ical
pastoral, The Maids Choice, composed
and written by W. w. Gilchrist, and CON-
prised In series of eleven quaint drawings
by Howard Pyle. An article which will
receive much attention and provoke no
little discussion is contributed by Mark
Twain, and is entitled Mental Telegrapny
"A Manuscript with History. Shakes
peare's comedy, Measure for Measure, Is
beautifully illustrated from drawings by
Edwin A. Abbey. and appropriately de-
scribed and commented upon by Andrew
Lang. The fiction of the Number includes
the following complete stories. My Cousin
the Colonel, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
illustrated by Reinhart Her First Appear
ance, by Richard Harding Davis, illustrat-
ed by Gibson; A Faded Scapular, By +. d.
Millet; and At La Glorieuse, by nj. X. M.
Davis, Illustrated by Smedley.