The morning call., 1894-08-05


navigation. The author understands the
art OF awakening youthful ambition. He
knows how hungeTiDgly every boy devours
a book of travel and adventure; and how.
by discreet mingling Of facts and fancy,
even sluggish mind can be taught to aD-
preciate some of the best things in litera-
iure. The exploration of such coun-
try as Egypt, with its delicious climate.
its ranless skies, lis extraordinary
testimonials OF ancient grandeur. re-
yealing the artistic taste, the astonishing
mechanical skill, and the wonderful pa
tenee, perseverance and persisteney In
overcoming almost incredible difficulties
that existed thousands of years ago, would
seem TO furnish abundant interest ever for
Young readers without the stlmulant OF
the story. But to make the voyage with
Oliver Optic and his hero is indeed a treat
The pyramids. the Tock-tombs and the
ruins of the temples, more or less decays ed
| by the stroke Of 5000 years or more OF
time, have been described so lar as space
would permit. Cairo and Alexandria have
not been neglected, and the manners and
customs Of the medley Of people in Egypt
have received attention in such manner
as TO enlist and hold the interest of the
youthful reader TO the end. Boston Lee
& Shepard; cloth, 81 %. For sale by The
Bancroft Company.I
printed book of nearly $40 pages and
handsomely bound is offered under the
title of General Washington" not merely
as biography of the father of his country
and 10 increase ths number already issued.
as there are nearly 800 of them, but as one
of the series of great commanders. This
is the first attempt to present Wash
iDgson as soldier and to con.
slider his military character. General
Bradley i. Johnson, the author, has done
so IN most satisfactory manner and no
one who feels particle of reverence for
those who have achieved fame as soldiers
viii ever regret having read what General
John son has written. The author holds in
high esteem the great commander of the
American armies in the days of the revo-
luton. He Is not alone in the opinion he
has formed, as appears from the following
from the preface to the book: General
Wilson, the editor of this series, in an ad-
dress before the New York Society of the
Order of the Cincinnati. at their annual
dinner in February last, said: When first
visitor to the princely estate Of Strath-
fieldsaye. England, presented by the
British Government to Wellington for a
days work at Waterloo, | was sur
prised and also gratie5 to see portrait
of Washington, by Stuart, occupying the
room. In answer to my leok of inquiry
his eldest son, the second Duke, remarked,
1t was placed there by my father, who
esteemed Washington as perhaps the
pureSt and the noblest character of mod
ern time-possibly of all time-and, con-
sidering the material of the armies with
which be successfully met the trained and
veteran soldiers of the Old World, fairly
entitled him TO a place among the great
captains of the eighteenth century. This
oBiniOn of Washington entertained by the
conqueror of Napoleon has never, so far
as | am aware, been made public before"
New York: d. Appleton 81 Co. Cloth.
81 80 Offered by the Bancroft Company
EssAYs.-UDder this general head Emily
Oliver Gibbes has printed her reflections
and comments on Renan's Life of
Jesus" De Tunzelmann's Electricity in
Modern Life" Mivart's "Christianity and
Roman Paganism," and Strauss Life of
Jesus" The only criticism that can be
made on the book is wonder that any one
could think such piecemeal, uuscientitlc
and Illogical conclusions and reflections
could be deemed worth printing. The fol-
lowing extracts, chosen so that their mean
ings are uninhuenced by the rest of the
context, will clearly explain the criticism
On page II the writer says: "As for the
centaurs and such beings as half animal,
half man, they may have existed when ami
NAL was turning into mankind; We do not
believe any idea OF centaurs could come
spontaneously to the mind of man." On
the sane page: I'VE believe there Is moth
ing supernatural, as all things are possible
to God and we know very little of his
laws" On page %, on belief IN resurrec-
tion, is this strange comment: III man.
kind thought that resurrections were pos
sible, the possible is far beyond what man.
entifc philosopher think of this, on page
~? who is 1t in science VINO has said
that the reproduction of human life or an
imal life is known to be possible in very
low insect or worm life? If it is possible
at all in earthly life. no matter how low.
science cannot say that it IS impossible" !"
Or TO this, on page 81? I'VE have in
Electricity in Modern Life an account of
the phonograph and how wax is used in
making IL. We have always thought that
this explains how what we hear when very
young returns TO US in after years. We
speak to a child. It hears with its ears, In
which is some wax; the brain receives
what the ears hear, and in after years or
old age the brain repeats those impress
sions which were made by the wax on the
| BRAIN" 1t would be useless to give more
quUtations-the above are fair samples,
| and the readers need no instructions as to
what their conclusion should be. New
York: Charles I. Dillingham; 81 Co. For
sale by Payot, Upham & Co.
THE EBB TIDE.-This story by Robert
Louis Stevenson in collaboration with
Lloyd Osborne. which has appeared as a
serial, has been issued in book form. and
a pretty volume it is. Like the majority
of the works of the South Sea island
romancist this work is without a female
character. II is the story of three beach
combers. three individuals who believed
themselves the victims of i'll luck, who
| were thrown together on an island of the
South Pacific and are of the opinion thai
the world owes them living and that II
is bound to come TO them in some way OF
other. They are finally joined by another
of the same class, and their adventures
are told in manner that is peculiar to the
author of David Balfour" aud "The
Strange Case of DR.. JekylI and Mr.. Hyde
The Story is exceedingly well told, but
| some of the characters are only such az
! can be produced by the imaginative writer
| the like never existed. Still an interest ii
aroused and the reader finds himself follow
| ing The several characters 10 discover wha
| will be the termination of their adventures
| On the surface they are made to appear al
| men who have given up all hope and are
! without care for the hereafter, but por
| tioDs of this story show that when the
! opportunity offers there arises within the
| breast of the wicked desire TO seek con
| ISOLATION by appealing to the Creator Of al
| things. There Is one thing in this work
| that is remarkable, and that is that there
-, IT, Ill ~ valfa