The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-15
LITERARY EXCERPTS.
Pertinent Papers Of Some Of the Current
Magazines.

In the March number of the Forum
DR.. E. R. L. Gould appears with the
Scandinavian way of dealing with the
liquor traffic. 1t is he declares the next
plan to be adopted in the United States,
first perhaps in Massachusetts. This
plan eliminates the possibility of person
al profit from the sale Of liquor, and
throws many restrictions around it.
The income is used for various public
purposes, and the sale of liquor is under
the direct supervision of responsible men
of high character. Social:. :.reformers in
every part of the country are giving it
close study with reference to our Amer
lean conditions.
That is wonderful sketch, in Scrib-
ner's Magazine for March. of "The Sea
Island Hurricanes" by Joel Chandler
Harris. He deals especially with the
great relief work which is being con-
Quoted by Miss Clara Barton and the
Red Cross Society. The distress in
these islands is liable to increase until
the first crop shall be gathered in the
late spring, so that the necessity is apt
to be direst at time when the public
has, for the most part, lost interest in
the catastrophe. Mr.. Harris, in his tour
for Scribners Magazine through all
these islands, has presented not only the
distressing part of the catastrophe
but the humorous side Of it which the
sea-island negro so plentifully fur
nishes. He has used the finest literary
skill in depicting these strange islands
and their picturesque inhabitants, SO
that after reading the article one feels
that he has actually lived in new and
curious surroundings. The striking IL
Illustrations by Daniel Smith, made from
sketches on the spot. add to.this impress
sion Of reality.
Women are coming in for more han
their full share of attention from moral
lists, politicians and the newspapers.
Harper's Bazaar the leading woman's pa
per in the world probably, which is as
much literary as it is fashion paper,
| contains last week paper on the
women of Egypt, the land of Potiphar's 5
wife and the original coquette no
doubt. Egypt had no harness on veiled
beauties. The Egyptian Ptahhotpou,
spoke of women as bundles of mischief
and bags full of lies and wickedness.
The testimony of the wall paintings of
Thebes, of the bass-relicfs of Louqsor,
and of the antique papyri written by the
remote predecessors of Boccaccio and
Sacchetti, goes to show that the ladies
of old Egypt, with their plated hair and
jewelled bosoms, were ardent to attack
and weak to resist Processes, daught-
ers of the priestly class, or peasants, all
resembled the wife of Potiphar, if we
may believe the ingenious stories, the
popular tales, and the golden legends
which have for centuries amused the
ennui of the mummies in their silent
tombs, and which the modern readers OF
hieroglyphics are now deciphering for
the better comprehension of the most
ancient and perhaps the gayest of civ
| ilizations.
-.
McCIurs's for April among hall
dozen important and interesting contri-
buttons, will contain the story of DR..
Rarkhurst and his remarkable wa,
against tie official protection of vice
aud crime in New York City. which viii
be finely illustrated. Also the poison
ous snakes of India-and there are more
of them and of more virulent type in
India than in any other country-will
be the subject OF an abundaut,y illus
trated article.
In Blue and Gray for March Philadel
phia) appears splendidly written story
by the well known southern writer
whose nom de plume is Charles NJ Clay
entitled "a Touch OF the Spur. IL
hero is Dred Lundy, one of General For
rests most gallant troopers. and thu
scene is laid just outside of Memphis
Tenn. The story is true, one of tbs
characters having been the writer of ths
story. The illustrations are By Mr.. W
I. Thomson, and are excellent.
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