The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-03-09
NEW PUBLICATIONS,

NEW PUBLICATIONS.
The Crystal Button or Adventures of Pau
Prognosis in the Forty-ninth century. By
Chauncey Thomas. Edited by George
Houehton. Boston and New York: Hough-
ton, Miffiin q Co.; Portland: Loring, Short
u Harmony This is In some sort compan-
ion piece to Mr.. Bellamy's Looking Back
ward, which Is said-whether with truth or
otherwise we do know-to have been written
as an extraganZa with no serious purpose.
and taken In solemn earnest by the public,
who have found in 1t unimagined depths of
meaning and prognostication. Mr. Thomas's
work is the result of need of diversion from
Too engrossing business cares and occupa-
lions, and he selected an interesting and
congenial subject. ''the material and me-
chanical possibilities of the future" The
field is endless. and the writer has with
taste, good judgment. vivid Imagination
and intense earnestness, given us very val
liable as well as entertaining book. The
work was begun in 1872 and completed in
1873, long before Mr.. Bellamy's book saw
the light
We will confess to have taken up the vol.
ume with dread of finding mass of exag.
Grated ideas, fancies and speculations utterly
useless. futile and impracticable, and to
have made the agreeable discovery that the
work Is practical, stimulating and sugges.
tive. Mr.. Thomas's city of Love seems to
be sure, an earthly Paradise, but there Is
nothing impossible in 1t, and the little thread
of story, which is the experience of Paul
Prognosis. is pathetic and touching.
In his Preface Mr.. Houghton speaks for
chilly and truly, thus: SIN the judgment of
the editor, the all-important point of the
present book is its theory of the simple, but
effective means by which the world finally
attains the high level of the new civilization,
which is described through the teachings of
reformer known as John Coster, whose
text ever Truth! TRUTH 1t is Coster's
emblem, the crystal button, that very fit
tingly gives the title to the book Upon this
foundation of truth, exerting its benign infiu-
ence in wholly peaceful ways through the
instrumentality of the individual, the family,
social life, the arts, government, aud finally
through the grand consolidation of all gov
ernments, he erects the pillars of his ideal
State. Whatever Socialism and Nationalism
may or may not accomplish, this lesson Of
truth-lOving and truth-observing is certainly
kind of seed that can hardly fail to pro-
duce fruit. whatever the soil upon which 1t
may chance to alight. In this, as you will
observe. consists the moral force of the
book" We predict for Mr.. Thomas's work
not only great popularity, but we earnestly
believe that it will be productive of much
good.
Church and State and Other Essays. By
Count Leo Tolstoi. Boston: BENJAMIN r.
Tucker) This volume of Tolstois writings
includes six essays, viz: Money; Man and
Woman; Their Respective Function; The
Mother; and A Second Supplement to the
Kreutzer Sonata. There will probably con-
tinue to be in the future, as there have been
In the past, great number of people who
will devour with avidity everything that
comes from the pen of Tolstoi, the great re-
former and writer. But TO some of us the
exploiting of many of his extreme, and to us
unreasonable and exaggerated ideas have be-
come WEAKNESS and vexation of spirit.
In this present volume he says nothing that
ne has not said before, many times and in
various ways; and he reiterates the unpleas-
ant and unnecessary views expressed in the
Kreutzar Sonata ad nduseam. BY those who
think as he does such work was not needed,
and the hosts who differ with him will re-
main unconvinced ana disguised. Oh. for
tue Gays when there were some sacred
silences, and when our most divine impulses
were not dragged into the garish light of
pubic criticism, and drawn, quartered and
dissected until there was neither life nor
sanctity left in them! We must agree with
recent writer, who pronounces "the new
tight and 'emancipated' people downright
insolent with their too much freedom of
speech" "Emancipated" from what?
From the bonds of common decency, too
frequently!
Captains of Industry. Second Series. A
Book for Young Americans. BY James
Parton. Boston: Houghton. Mif1in & Co. +;
Portland; Loring, Short & HARMONY In
1884 Mr.. Parton published the first volume of
this series, and it was so excellent and its
reception was SO cordial that we are quite
sure the young folks and their elders will
be delighted with more of the same kind"
There are the men and women "the salt of
the earth," who have made our world better
Tor having lived in it; those whom Mr.. Par
ton rightly considers "the natural chiefs of
industrial communities and the rightful suc-
cessors of the feudal lords of another time.~
In this small volume the author has com.
pressed clever and interesting sketches of
nearly fifty men, and three women, MAR
guerite Boucicaut. Elizabeth Fry and Mrs.
Coston, Shirs' Signal manufacturer who
nave made an impression. by marked indus.
try and ability, upon their time. TT mora
boys could be induced to read sucb books 90
these instead of swapping them se,vos ,n,th
all light fiction that IS extant ~ wor,d
pc better for them and vastly better for
their country. ioi
Stand Fast, Craig-Royston. A novel nv
William Black. Illustrated. New York.
Harper & Brothers Portland: Loring. Short
& Harmony 1t is probably true that in the
novels of William Black one gets more fine
scenery to the mile than in the works of any
other writer of our day. But the present
volume is rather an exception to this, and
deals more with people and peculiar types of
character. In the course Of his story the
author takes us, In Imagination, one might
say "from Dan to Beersheba" as Masire
Bethune. his heroine, is born in Omaha,
Nebraska, of Scotch parents. and lives in
England and Canada by turns, a wandering
life with her old grandfather who is ''clean
daft" on the subject of Scottish history, poet
ry and descent. The same old George Beth
une Is picturesque figure enough, but one
mearies even OF the quaint h"Scotch ballads
which fall constantly from his tongue, and
NC iose patience with his lack of distinguish
Ing In money matters het,uix ,.Dnina and