Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22
GOSSIP FROM BOOKLAND.

1 els, dealing with the mountain people of | east Tennessee. A critic has said, "If
 Miss Murfree could leave Tennessee for | while tell us of some other land, not make her women so spasmodic and her
 men all moonshiners, her many readers would rejoice" While this criticism has plquaney, Miss Murfee writes in felic- itous way of these moonshiners, using dialect, to be sure, totally unfamiliar to | most of us, but evincing so much genius and talent in the portrayal of her favor ite locality that she has long since carved | a distinct niche in the temple of fame. She gave us "The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountain" His Vanished Star
 and yet she has again drawn inspira- tion for another story whose scenes and
 characters are from these mountain re-
 gions-"The Mystery of Wttch-Face Mountain" It is a quaint story and 1t is a perfect marvel how Miss Murfree
 can weave so much of spirituality and
 beauty into the story of these uncouth and law-breaking mountaineers. But she
 writes as if she knows, and knows inti-
 mately, every foot of ground where her scenes are laid. Completely in touch with
 nature, she writes in an engaging and wondrouS way of every mood and tan tasy of this mundane sphere, and with a diction that is rythmical and suggest i've, as when she says: "One might hard ly mark where the horizon line merged the sweet SolitudeS of earth into the sol- | itary sky. Many day the spring loiter- ing along the Shadow-flecked Vistas, with the red maple blooms overhead and Vio- lets underfoot, was the only traveller to be seen on the deserted road; and the pensive dusk was wont to deepen into the serene vernal night, sweet with the scent of the budding wild cherry and | aAtir with timorous, tentative rustings as of half-hedged breezes, and illumined op1x xyif fha Ia In nf tha white stars'
 Of such exquisite descriptions there are many, together with a number of trite, analytical remarks on human nature as | found in her mountain characters. She says: "HiteS open and candid nina | could compass no adequate motive for | concealment in all the ways of the world | but the desire to evade the revenue law, | or to practice the shifts and quirks nec- | essary to the capture of wary and elusive moonshiners" If the eXpectant reader desires an intricate and well constructed plot, with each page unfolding incident l and adventure, he will be disappointed, l and for the several occurrences that dld | happen there is no satisfactory explana- | tion Whenthe story ends one is con sumed with an unrequited desire to know who killed the solitary scientiiic traveller, for Con Hite has proven himself | too noble and tender-hearted, and the crafty horsethief stoutly declares. But l never cone seen eZ lHdl, plOloolNu Peters "I always stop short O blood she'd" And winsome Narcissa, dreamy and tender, we would all have loved to l know her (Houghton, Mift1in x Coy Teresa Dean wrote almost daily letters to the Chicago Inter-Ocean during the Worlds fair, and now she has published a book about that great, that wonder ful fair, which she has named White City Chips" In reading her experiences
 many happy, reminiscent hours may be spent.
 A novel competition was recently got
 ten up by a London Journal called An swers" in which prizes were offered for
 the best eight-word poems. The editor desired 1500 and received 15,000. Here is one: "Noble earl,
 Lost bets: 'Murrican girl
 Title gets"
 Admirers of Brander Matthews will be glad to know that, although such a busy man, he has found time to write and publish a new work. His Fathers
 Son" bears the imprint of the present year; in fact, 1896" is aready ushered in upon it's title page
 It is a story of New York life-plain, everyday, commonplace life-and I pre- sume numbers of just such tragedies are being enacted day after day. The book is illustrated with great fidelity to the text by T. de Thulstrup.
 Those who have read and enjoyed MT. Matthews stories. and particularly his Story of a Story and Other Stories" will find the same smooth style and well sustained interest in this new work. It gives in very clear and vivid way the workings of one household in New York city, our great metropolis, the vital ele-
 ment being the ever recurring question of the proper training for the youth of our land, and especially the boys. Upon closing the book one could not help ex- claiming, What shall it profit man if he gain the whole world and lose his
 own soulr And the question sinks in the heart with emphatic force.
 Ezra Pierce is an elderly man, rich and engaged body and soul, in the manipula- ton of affairs on Wall street; liberal church member-one very strong and re- deeming feature in his favor-a passably good husband and father in a negative sort of way, though entirely nil when you estimate his paternal influence over Winslow the only son and heir; engaged all day long and Sunday, too, in a fanat- ical endeavor to get all the money possi- b1e to be made on Wall street and to ac- complish the ruin of every opponent. Not much is said of the mother, Mrs. Pierce, passive, quiet old lady, so the reader instinctively attributes good deal of the lack of stamina and moral decrepitude evinced in the Vac1llat1ng
 son to her quiet, weak nature. Yet, while heredity and training are vital forces, environment is another, and life of plenty of money and absolutely nothing to do would be apt to brood failings and sinful acts which healthy, useful, labo- rious life for the sustenance of himself and wife would never have developed or allowed possible.
 It has the elements of an interesting
 story to the generality fo readers, though one would not care to be amused with the recital of the undoing and de-
 generacy of so fair a lad as was Winslow
 Pierce in the opening pages.
 The author Prof Brander Matthews,
 was originally New Orleans man and
 is now full-fedged professor at Colum-
 bia college, which most professors find
 most arduous task, entirely sufficient to occupy their time. But MT. Matthews is always writing magazine articles, serials for the weeklies, editing his magazine
 matter for book publication and writing
 an occasional play. "Yet," says recent interviewer, "he never seems to be in a.
 hurry, but always has time to stop and
 talk if you happen to meet him on the
 highway or at his office. He looks like