Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-08
GOSSIP FROM BOOKLAND.

Of the many beautiful things that were seen at the Worlds fair, one of the most exquisite was the Tiffany exhibit and was an electric chandelier, graceful, elaborate yet dainty work of art, de- signed by Tiffany. Whether this Tiffany is also the author of the charming book of travels just published by Houghton, Mjff1in & Co., and entitled This Goodly Frame. the Earth" I do not know, put I do know that the genius of artistic per cention and symmetry of execution found in the perfect artistic design or the chaIl- delier is just the quality that cnaracter- izes the work of this new DOCK py Fran taIi- cis Tiffany. Did I hear groan escape Somewhere that another book of traVeis had been published? Well, you need not, for much of valuable information ana reelection would have been lost to WorIu of appreciative readers did we not pos sess this work.
 It may have been thought that Ldlca- dio Hearu had about presented the SUD s~n+ of Isnan in every conceivable light, and worn the subject little threadpare, foo. in the continued treatment, put now we decide it must be exhaustless, TOT MI. Tiffany opens his splendid Work py plunging right into the Lana or lne ie1a+ r, ing Sun and telling us of so mucn that is quaint, whimsical and extraordlnaary that the reader becomes enchanted: one will not read a half dozen lines tiil iie perceives that the author brings an l1.ei- ligent. thoughtful and reflective mInu .o his pleasant task ana a ',ontiv natu.u inc and sympathetic, and consequeh'y ene impressions made and recorded are tnose tbat would entirely escape unheeueu oy the ordinary tourist. Then, 100, ne .aNeS mn the more unfrequented lines or travIi and conducts the reader tnrousn ma, Chi +fr,or na the tropics, India, Egypt. unul one reallv feels he has experienced these uIi, familiar sights and finds ms inino 'I.' SUI ou with clear, accurate ana Varieu i!,o' ,e, ,,, r,a tion of these countries, so dist,ncsiy ',.h a.t, snrightly is the matter preseh'eu' wa" many a humorous touch.
 Now sets in with all who nave money to spend the mania of curlo ouyins distinct a form of malarial fever as at jacks those fiYst reaching the congo. oi the Niger. in Africa. The blood tempera- t,,re amounts to 1O5 degrees. the eyes glare wild. the cheeks burn with hectlc Aush. Personally protected myseit rom any attack of the curio fever py tnS ouinine tonic of lack of funds, IL IS SUI vastly interesting to study the vloIent symptoms in others. However stouty es,ntcaI nooralists like La Rochefoucauld may deny it. there is after all such thing as disinterested shopping-shop- ming through pure, unadulterated sym nathy with a friend who IS aDie to TIT dulge in lavish expenditures you yourseI cannot afford. Have you ever experio enced the truthfulness of these remarks!
 "Again you enter another room. The artist who here has the whole field to himself is evidently devout, mythicai worshipper of bamboo. Tnere IS put one glory of the vegetable creation- bamboo; and I am its prophet, IS the
 I... tY h. utes he has converted you to the only sound and orthodox faith. Why care any more for riches, honors, luxuries, so long as bamboo exists so exquisite in us grace. as the French artist said, that we can even forgive it'for being useful?' The sole end of art is to create soul into you which henceforth shall be one with the lit of stem and dip and rise of ostrich plume foliage of such a plant as this"
 "No farmer craves the transfiguration on the side of his teapot, the laocoon on his cart harness. or the prophets and sibyls of the Sistine chapel on his wall paper. In Japan, however, the exact re- verse holds true. Here is an art that has made itself a universal national posses sion. The young girl wants its graceful forms and harmonious colorS on her skirt and belt; the housewife wants them on her cups, saucers and tea caddy. The boy wants them on his kite; the brazier wants them for his pots, the joiner for his open work carvings. Everybody wants them for everything, and everybody gets them"
 Indeed. immense numbers of the pray CTS are simply written out for the wor- shipers on slips of paper, and then hung on the gratings of shrines. So far does this go that in many of the Shinto tenn ples the awful looking war gods and gods thunder and hurricane. who guard the entrance, are seen literally covered with innumerable spitballs. thrown by devo- tees, who have first chewed up their pa per prayers and then discharged them with force enough to make them stick to nose. chest or leg. Thus have the wor- shipers attested that they mean busi- ness and that the god shall have no ex- cuse for pleading he did not know they had been there. The earnestness is cer- tainly praiseworthy, only one would think a little at the cost of devout rever- ence." It is impossible to give an idea of the work from mere fragment or two. The entire book is delight
 "Jog on, jog on the foot-path way
 And merrly hent the stile-a
 A merry heart goes all the day,
 Your sad tires in mls-a."
 It must have been a merry heart in deed with which Bayard Taylor set out on his voyage to the old world, a pleas ure he had dreamed over since his child hood. for he started with the small sum of $40, $100 of which was paid in advance by two enterprising dailies for a series of twelve letters descriptive of his trav- els. and of the outcome of this trip he tells us in his delightful book of travels. sViews A-foot," that he stayed two years on the small sum of $500, having made this sum while seeing Europe. tramping on foot visiting the principal places of interest and enjoying to the very