The Portland daily press., 1895-11-14

o~~AJ "AsAA ed0 ooSO dAu WAiCu
come from long experience and training,
but with literary and sympathetic spir-
it and fund of practical wisdom, sug-
gestiveness and good sense which win
and attract her readers. 1t is book for
which there is distinct field and it
would. we should think, be especially
helpful and valuable in reading circles
and among Chautauquan students :
Cormorant Grag. By George Manville
Fem. Illustrated. Price 81. So New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.; Portland
Loring, Short & Harmony Cormorant
Crag is thrilling story of the smuggling
days, and relates the adventures of two
lads whose early life has been passed on
a small island lying off the coast of
France. The Crag is wild, unfre-
quented and beautifully picturesque place
GUS headland which it is believed by the
superstitious people is fraught with
death to him who attempts to round it.
Old Daygoe, the fisherman a great COM
panion of the boys in their fishing and
hunting expeditions, encourages this be-
lief, but the boys, undaunted and eager
to explore the vicinity of the headlard,
make successful attempt to enter the
bay beyond, where discovered caves re-
veal their contraband treasures to the
boys. Their secret, and how it is found
out, and the explosion of the myth with
itc da oonSoC,,opooe fo,, &ho I,o,c
brings the story to a delightful climax
Witch Winnie at Versailles. By Eliza.
beth W. Champney. Illustrated. Price
s1.50. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co;
From the publishers. In this book Mrs
Champney has especially had in mind
the.needs of the Kings Daughters, who
represent vast company of readers n
the United States, and her faithful work
has steadily met with an increasing re-
sponse from this large circle and from
those of that age and condition. In this,
Series, the author has taken her heroine
to the Continent in the pursuit of her art
studies, so that the interest i'll her char
acters is renewed and strengthened by
their transportation to a new field. Many
Of the illustrations have been reproduced
from photographs of famous paintings
in the Art Galleries of Versailles, and as
the treatment of the present volume has
afforded large scope for illustrative
work, a greater number of illustrations
have been introduced than in the pre-
vious volumes. This, together with the
fact that Mrs. Champney makes her
stories more interesting as she grows
warm over her work, should add greatly
to her popularity and find larger access
for her books in the libraries of all young
people.
We have received from the American
Book Company of New York and Chi
cago The National Music Primer and
The National Music Reader in five books.
The object of the Primer is to impart
the power to read well voc al music, and
the plan is similar in every respect to a
graded series of literary readers The
first volume of the Reader continues the
work of the Primer and proc eeds to tn
mastery of more advanced expression,
and each Of the subsequent volumes is
S imilar in design, differing from the one
preceding in being little more difficult
and advanced. The work is prepared
by Frederick H. Ripley, principal of the
Bigelow School, Boston. and Thomas
Tapper, instructor in musical compo-
sition and theory in the American Col
lege of Musicians The books have been
introduced into the Portland schools and
are regarded with great favor by critics
who have examined them.
The Chain of Gold, or In Crannled
Rocks. By Standish O'Grady. Price
sl.s5. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
From the Publishers.) The Chain of
Gold which plays an Important part in
the adventurous clement of the story, is
a chain formed by links made of the old
Irish ring money which the two boys
find by accident while hunting desperate
ly for water in their prison house,
among the crannied rocks of the precipi-
tous coast, into which their boat had
been lashed by the waves-to escape from
one form of death only to be confronted
by another. But it is not only in the
mere facts of the story that it's power
lies, it is in the wonderful Imagination
Of the author, which invests a likely tale
with the most captivating witchery and
with the true spirit of adventure
Elsie's Journey on Ireland Waters. By
Martha Finley. Price S1.2S New York
Dodd, Mead g. Co. From the Publishers. }
Miss Finley's universal favorite with the
children has again entered on new scenes
and among new friends. Last year they
visited the Worlds Fair at Chicago with
Elsie, and there they left her with the
asst chapter of the book. Now in the
present volume they accompany Elsie on
her homeward way over the Great Lakes
If North America, whose great wonders
they share with her in admiring, as they
pass over their vast surface and skirt