The herald., 1895-12-08

| author. Nothing like it these late days.
Some wit has said or sung, There s
nothing new except what is old" And
this is exactly what Mr.. Mosher, who
away down east" has discovered, and
much praise he is getting, too, for the
discovery.
THE MINUTE MAN ON THE FROM
TIER, by Rev. William q. Puddefoot,
ono volume, II. Y. CrOweii IL Co.,
New York. illustrated, II NO., cloth
S1.25.
The author has lived the lite of from.
tier missionary. He has witnessed the
exciting scenes that take place in the &C.
cupation OF the border, the wild barbar.
tiles of unorganized communities, the
gradual growth of civilization, in many
cases the sudden transformation of out
of-the-way places into hourIshing cities.
He has himself suffered haidships ii.
battling with stern climate and harsh
nature; he has slept unnsr the open
stars. He has found splendid examples
OF unexpected hsroiSm in repellant ruff
hans, as well as in coarse, uneducated
women. All phases of frontier life in
our marvellous west he has studied, and
he describes them with an ever buoyant
humor, tear-compelling pathos, mag
netic enthusiasm The reader is conf
PEELED to follow the simpe but entnraIling
narrative, so full Of incidents and his
tory. AS contribution to the history
of our country these sketches of the Ell
forts and successes, as we'll as the trials
and disappointments Of the home mis-
sionarv are destined to be more and more
priced. Conditions are rapidly changing
and the time will come when the un-
civilized will live only in such pagfs.
The book is finely illustrated and must
prove of great popular Interest and value
al Of rnn Vie :eto 1f
country as we'll as of missionary efforts
4 = 4
THE MYSTERY OF WITCH FACE
MOUNTAIN, and other stories. BY
Charles Esh Craddock. Houghton,
Mltfin & Co.. Boston. For sale by
Stoll & Thayer.
Miss Murrree has made the Tennessee
mountains famous through her patient
and faithful pictures. We have ALWAYS
volume is no exception to the Others.
The Way the Blue Ribbon Was Won at
the Fair is the best piece of work in the
volume. and The Casting Vote is next,
though the longer sketch, which gives
title 10 the book. is most excellent.
Miss Murfree's porirayals OF the charac-
tiers that abound in that mountain coun-
try, so far away from the outside world
as to be almost left out OF account, have
not been excelIed IN truthfulness by any
writer; while her dialect is well-nigh
perfecl. And set, in the matter Of Incl
dent, of action. there Is lack OF that
something which, for want of better
name. must alwa be called genius. 1t
is because of this certain, indetinable lack
of dramatic instinct that has made her
lesser sketches really better than those
which have required sustained effort
and consequent succession of incidents.
Thus, this volume is one OF The choicest
of the whole series.
IN A HOLLOW OF THE HILLS. Ky
Bret Hatte. Houghton, Mitllin G Co.
For sale by Stoll d rhayer.
The fact that thsi book makes over
thirty volumes of Bret Harts's literary
work, outside Of what ne has done IN tie
line OF newspaper writing, is proof con-
elusive that he has been an industrious
literary worker. And of these thirty odd
books, the mos. of them stories, OF course.
We do not hesitate to pronounce this
among the best, If not. indeed, the very
best. The auvhor is back again in Cali
fornia, and in the very heart of the MIN
ing region, the upper valley of the Sacra-
mentO river. The old MILL silent since
the earth opened on d dreadful day and
swallowed up the stream, now just kept
as place where the traveller might tarry
for the night. is made as real as if one
wer locking ct it. Nor does it seem at