The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-26
THE BOOK TABLE.

A hitherto unpublished poem by James
Russell Lowell, entitled, His Ship" &C.
c%ompanisd by a full-paee illustration, will
appear in the December number Of Harper'f
Magazine.
People for 1891. which has just been pub
lishsd, is an elegant gift book for the holt
days, including nearly 9O pages and more
than 300 illustrations.
Professor Charles F. Johnson, Of the
chair of English literature, Trinity college,
Hartford, has prepared for the use of high
schools and colleges and for general read
ing an important work on English Words.
which Harper g. Brothers will publish i'm
mediately. 1t embraces an elementary
study of derivations, including a discussion
of the literary value of words, and, besides
it's value as a textbook. will be Of interest
to all who care to acquire correctness OF
diction.
One Of the most promising of the young
newspaper men who are making a place for
themselves in the leading magazines is
Walter Blackburn Harte. His article in
the Forum on Canadian affairs showed such
a grasp of the situation, and such political
sagacity, that he jumped at once into pub
lie notice. He has since kept his seat we'll,
and his latest Article on Canadian Jour
nalists and journalism" judicial, Impair
tial, and philosophical, which is published
in the New EnRlang Magazine for Decem-
Der, will be widely read, and create much
discussion and criticism. His "Dodsley's
Corner" in the same issue is az sparkling
and a2gressively pertinent as usual.
Prof. r. K. Lounsbury's Studies in Chau-
Ger will be published by Harper q Brothers
in a few days. This is not, as might be im-
agined, an edition of the works of the poot,
but iG embraces a discussion OF almost
every problem connected with his life nnd
writings, including chapters on the learn
ing of CHANGER, the Chaucer legend, the
text of Chaucer, Chaucer's relation to reli-
gion, CHANGER in literary history, and other
important subjects connected with the
study of his works and the time in which he
lived. The work is comprised in three
handsome volumes, and is supplemented
by a very full index.
The New England Magazine for Deem
Der makes its appearance in delicate white
cover, with gilt lettering. 1t 10 particularly
we'll illustrated, inc all the articles are
interesting, without being slavishly Christ
masy. The stories are better than those in
some of the bigger magazines, which run to
names and names only; and one by Herbert
D.. Ward, called 'Only an Incident is as
true and pathetic as anything by Gogol or
Tolstoi. 1t is an analysis of emotions under
the influence of peculiar circumstances. A
number of new artists are finding q channel
for their talent in this progressive magazine,
and they are making it the equal Of any
magazine on the newstands in this respect.
In a curiously interesting paper on
Mental Telegraphy." which Mark Twain
has written for the December number of
Harper's Magazine, that distinguished
huIaorist says: '"Ihis age does seem to
have exhausted invention nearly; still, it
has one important contract on its hands yet
the invention of the phrenophone; that
is to say, a method whereby the communi-
cation of mind with mind may be brought
under command and reduced to certainty
and system. The telegraph and the tele-
phone are going to become too slow and
wordy for our needs. We must have the
thought itself shot into our minds from a
distance: then, if we need to put it into
words, we can do that tedious work at our
leisure. Doubtless the something which
conveys our t%houqhts through the air from
brain to brain is a finer and subtler form OF
electricity, and all We need to do is to fluid
ont how to capture it and how TO force it
to do its work, as wo have had to do in the
case of the electric currents. Before tho
day OF telegraphs neither ono of these
marveIs would have seemed easier to achieve
than the other" .