Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22

nothing has brought her such universal prominence as her caustic views of George Eliot, recently expressed in the St. James Gazette. Mrs. Linton knew the great novelist, but she did not love her, nor does she reverence her memory. as will be seen from the following: "It was at John Chapman's that I first met George Eliot, then Marian Evans, hav- ing neither her pseudonym nor her style and title of George Lewes' wife. l can didly confess my shortsighted prejudices with respect to this to-be celebrated per son. These were her undeve1oped as well as her insurgent days. She was known to be learned, industrious, thoughtful, noteworthy. but she was not yet the great genius of her age, nor a philoso- pher bracketed with Plato and Kant; nor was her personality held to be supe- rior to the law of the land, nor was shs recognized conventional gentlewoman. In these days, indeed, she was emphat- ically not that; she was essentially un- derbred and provincial She held her hands and arms kangaroo fashion,; was badly dressed; had an unwashed. unbrushed, unkept look altogether I have never known anyone who seemed to me so purely artificial as George FL tot"
 Having occasion to visit Logiealmond. the "Drumtochty" of Ian Maclaren, to make SketcneS TOT A DOcIOT or tHe Olu School" Frederick c. Gordon writes an article about his guest in The Bookman for this month. The prototype of Dr. Mcclure really lived, it seems, and the .astonishingly clever picture Mr. Gordon draws is his portrait. The people in the village are proud of John Watson Qan Maclaren) and his stories about them, and proudly point out the spots and per sons of interest.
 MT. Edgar Magness, president of the Bank of Attalla has written very enter tainingly of his tour abroad, which he calls Tramp Tales of Europe" three months trip. There is peculiar charm in reading observations and experiences gained in this way. We all have more or less of the adventurer in our makeup and feel we should enjoy immensely tramping over the smooth. inviting coun- try roads, bounded on either side as they are with wide spreading pasture lands, fragrant with new-mown hay, dotted with brilliant, wild red poppies and lady smoche, all silver white, ''do paint the meadows with delight" neatly and pie turesquely laid off by the hawthorne hedge that adds such a charm to the be- holder. But I observe in these tramp tales that MT. Magness relied very often on the time and labor-saving apparatus a train. However, he covered a good deal in foreign lands in three months a year is much better The author dis courses in d very bright, crisp energetic way of Scotland that will eyer continue to charm the traveller; of Ayr, the birth place of Burns, and a characteristic Scotch town, on through the Trossachs, which Scott has immortalized in "The Lady of the Lake" Many tourists take this trip upon just arriving in Scotland. My advice Is to see the lowlands first and the many places you've mapped out, finishing the tour with a day through this romantic land, the Highlands of Scotland, and whether on Loch Katrine or the swift little steamer or on top of the coach, with real old Scotchman holding four bonny horses well in hand. you drink in the crisp morning air, and mists too, no doubt, and revel in the ever changing scenery, with hills bare but for their matted covering of heather, hear ing on every side names we learned long ago in the lays of Scott-Glen Freim and the Ross D'hu, the cave of Rob Roy and cone-lke peak of Ben Lomond and Ben Voirlich and the jagged crest of Ben Arthur, while spread out farther on was the vale of Menteith, with far Loch Ard and Aberfoil in the center and Ellen's Isle, in Loch Katrine, covered with scrub oak, dark patches of fir and heather beds I took a shot with my camera of the sequestered nook where FitZ James boat was moored during his vists to the fair Ellen"
 While on the SWl1t steamer on DOcn Io- mand the author tells an amusing episode. He says: "A drover, bringing his cattle to market at Glasgow, was met by an En- gishman who inquired the price he would get for them a piece. Five or sax porinds sir was the answer. Why, in London said the Englishman. you could easily get f20r Yes, the drover replied, and if you had Loch Lemond in London, you could sell it for pence a glass
 t'Now, heard conundrum put by one of a party of three gents, out on big frolic, I know, presumably to the other two, but in reality for the edi- fication of the crowd. for we were on top of a coach, doing the Trossachs, and in driving rain atthat, a good one; but then mine was told by a wiry little Irishman. He said: Why Is the Queen of England like a spell of bad weather?' The two gents guffawed and gave 1t up, while the rest of US continued to listen. as we had been doing for an hour. Be oause, said he, she has reigned fifty-sev- en years and won't give the son chance"
 You should not fail to read this work that we may justly feel proud is writ ten by an Alabamian, though the reader will regret that he did not give us the 1.o,oRt of that pVer DreSpnt camera. at