The record-union., 1896-11-22

From the Star Publishing Company
of Chicago we have a beautiful vol
ume, half quarto, bound in buckram
and richly illustrated, entitled Totem
Tales" by w. S. Phillips. The book
has 326 full pages. 1t is charming
volume, and for boys and girls pos
sesses intense interest, and will not be
found by adults other than attractive
and restful. Mr.. Phillips has spent
| many years gathering the material tor
these tales from the Indians of the Pa
| cific Northwest. He enjoys the rare dis
| tinction of being not only a writer OF
vigor and originality, but also an artist
! of no mean ability, and has illustrator
| his stories with nearly 20O original pen
drawings, which breathe in a wonder
| full degree the freshness of the forest.
| the Superstitious traits of the Indians
and the weird characteristics OF the
| tales.
| These are not the ordinary stories
| about Indians but are the stories from
the Indians themselves, their myths
and legends, their superstitions and folk
| lore. They are taken down, many OF
them, from the lips of the tribal story
| tellers, of whom each tribe has one,
and the drawings We're made on the
| spot. These story tellers are trained
for their duties. and teach the legends
to their sons in the same words they
received them from their fathers. Ihey
are the minstrels of the American for
est. But, alas, their career is nearing
it's end, for with the advance of educa-
! ton and civiZation among the indians
| the professional story teller is fast dis
| fnx hnt
and his tales will have passed out Of
mind. For this reason Totem Tales is
all the more timely and interesting, in
that it gathers up some of these strange
myths while they still can be heard
from original sources. The author says
in his preface: cold type utterly fails
to reveal the interest and fascination
of these weird and simple tales as
heard from the lips of some old and
wrinkled member of the tribe while
crouched by the side of a blaze III
the open air."
| The Atlantic Monthly" Boston) dis
/ tinguishes itself by laying hold directly
upon the life and problems of our own
people by methods of direct original in
vestigation. 1t now announces series
of direct studies of the people in the
| three distinctive great sections of the
| country. The West will be taken up
| by Frederick J. Turner of the Universe
| ty of Wisconsin, who is one of the
| most vigorous writers and well-equip-
! ped observers of large social tendencies
| that we have produced. Mr.. Turner is
preparing a group of articles on dis
| tinctive characteristics Of the West. In
corresponding way w. P. Trent of
| Sewanee, Tenn, is preparing a group
| of papers on the great problems of
| the South as they actually present
| themselves at present. Equally inter-
esting is the practical study which A.
| +. Sanborn is making of life in typical
rural New England communities. Mr..
| Sanborn is one of the most accurate
and interesting reporters Of the thought
and life and tendencies of communities
which he studies that the recent at
tention to sociological investigation has
| produced.
Captain Shannon" BY Coulson
Kernahan, author of "a Dead Mans
Diary" "a Book of Strange Sins" God
and the Ant etc. 12mo, cloth, 81 %.
| (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York;. This
This story will rank as zone of the pop
ular novels of the season" 1t is an
out and out detective story, but of a
| fine sort. The crime which the anna
teur detective traces SO skillfully is not,
| as in the case of Mrs. Green's stories
and in the tales of Poe and Gaboriau,
some single murder or robbery, but a
series of dynamite explosions planned
by a set Of English anarchists of whom
Captain Shannon is the daring leader.
1t is a rather curious fact that almost
on the very day when the first install
ment of this story appeared the very
man from whom Mr.. Kernahan took
the idea of it, James lyman, who was
known as Number One" should have
issued his manifesto. And in many
points the very wording of Tynan's
manifesto is similar to that of Captain
Shannon in this narrative The story
| is of a character to make it's perusal
more an excitement than pleasure.
and we defy even the most jaded novel
| reader to lay it down unfinished. Mr..
| Kernahan has a direct and engaging
manner of spinning a story, and we
welcome the book as a valuable COM
panion for a railroad journey.
|
| Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle"
by Clement *. Shorter with portraits.
Large limo, cloth, 800 pages, 81 80.
| Oodd, Mead & Co, New York;. Gle
nent x. Shorter is probably to-day
the greatest living authority on the
| Brontes In the whole biographical
| literature, we remember no book that
compares in certain biographical in
terest with THE Life of Charlotte
| Bronte," by Mrs. Gaskell. 1t has held
a position of singular popularity. and
still commands a place beside BoswelPs
| johnson" Mr. Shorter's book, while
in no respect an attempt to improve
upon Mrs. Gaskells Life" does, new
| ertheless, contain a great deal of val
liable and interesting material which
| was not accessible at the time Mrs.
| Gaskells Life was in preparation.
| Nearly two-thirds of the letters in this
volume are entirely new, and some of
| the manuscripts which are here re-
| printed of Charlotte Bronte and her
circle must certainly be classed as
among the most important recent lit
| erary discoveries in England. The
Brontes have always had a certain
| fascination in the history of English
| literature, and to all such as are in
terested in her writings, we may say
unqualifiedly, that there has been no
book for many years to compare with
this in interest and Importance. A
number of interesting and hitherto un-
published portraits are also included.
|
Essays on Books and Culture" by
Hamilton Wright Mabie, 12mo., cloth,
81 %. Oodd, Mead & Co., New York;
These essays are based on the articles
| which apneared in THE Rnnkman,,