The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-04-05

amused, though that is not the authors
intent, by Mr.. Austin Medcott, one OF
those languid, .sieepy-looking fellows
with immense reserve force and all That
sort of thing, who seem to possess a
wonderful fascination for women WRITER'S
White Birches is published by Harper d
Brothers, New York and for sale IN this
city by Loring, Short & HARMONY
The study of Oliver Cromwell by the
Rev. DR.. George III. Clark, published by
the D. Lothrop Company, Boston, is a
careful summary of the life and times OF
the great Lord Protector, written not for
Englishmen but for Americans, the de-
scendants of sthose English republicans
of whom Cromwell was leader and in the
conclusion master. Not long ago Dr.
Clark delivered an essay at the Old
South, Boston, which attracted wide at
tention, and that is the basis of this
handsome volume with its attractive
portraits from old paintings and prints
The author is fervent admirer of "the
greatest Englishman that ever lived"
and the warmth of his regard lends color
and emphasis to his style. His enthusi-
asm is communicated to the reader, who
will pronounce the volume rarely enter
tanning. Price $1.25.
To the handsome and convenient
library edition of William Blacks novels
(New York: Harper s& Brother; Port
land Loring, Short & Harmony have
been added White Wings, Ia Beautiful
Wretch, and Sunrise, three volumes that
sell at ninety cents each. Another re-
print from this house is Amelie Riyes'
Athelwold, which appears in Harper's
Magazine some months ago.
That Ossip Schubin's A Leafless
Spring, of which Mary J. Stafford fur
nishes the translation from the German,
has what the critics in their jargon call
the note of modernity is not to be
doubted; for the hero falls sick of the
grip, an Enthusiastically up to date disease.
However, the story has other merits
than those which may attach to contem-
poraneousness. It is the story of a
ruined life, and thus far peculiar to no
age nor clime-though the setting is that
of London and Paris in the Halter half of
the nineteenth century-told with pas
sion and sombre power, and a sub-acid
humor which makes the severer pas
sages endurable. 1t is novel out of the
common both in Characterization and
plot. The plot is as definite as that of a
Greek tragedy-indeed there can be in
true art, as in life, but one conclusion to
Jacks pitiful career. The characterize
ton, skillful and searching at times and
always striking, is often marred by a
strong disposition to caricature, which
really lessons instead of frightening the
effect. This mistaken tendency and the
violent and obtrusiye expression of the
prevailing continental dislike to the
British Philistine are faults in a strong
book that otherwise commands our adj
miration. philadelphia: J. B. Lippin-
colt Company; Portland: Loring, Short
& Harmony. Price $1.25.)
Katharine North, by Maria Louise
Pool. (New York: Harper & Brothers;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony To
say that this novel is as entertaining as
it's predecessors, Roweny in Boston, and
Mrs. Keats Bradford, will be sufficient
recommendation to most readers. The
story is simplicity itself, but charmingly
told; and one character at least, that of
Mrs. Slandaff, 'the public speaker" will
interest men quite as much as it does
women. Her sister, too, a sort of femi-
nine Joseph Willett Senior, is an admi-
rable study of New England life. The
hero, Owen LANDAU, is not so well
done, being emphatically a woman's
man-that is, a very unreal one. A great
charm about this story, as about the
others by the same deft hand, is the &C
curate reproduction of the New England
dialect. 1t is done to the life-and done,
too, without that insiStence and accentu-
alton that mark DR.. Holmes and Mrs.
Stowe in their attempts.
Elements of Arithmetic, by William j.
Milne, in New York by the American
Book Company is work prepared to
meet demand for book that contains,
within brief compass, an elementary
course in arithmetic. Truly of the max.
ing of school books there is no end. The
nm; no Of tbic ono ic 20 1pptc