Birmingham state herald., 1896-10-25
ABOUT BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

AbUUl bUOkS ANU ALI l lHUHS..
 It is said that Rider Haggard has for
 his private secretary the daughter of the novelist, Mrs. Alexander. s George W. Cable, in a recent article, makes this remark: q will venture this as axiom, if I never venture a second time-that the true story teller is always good lover." .i..-
 "The Two Captains" by Clark Russell, is almost ready for serial issue, and may
 be expected in book form early next year. At the request of the theatrical mana ger, Daniel Frohman Amelia Barr is dramatizing her novel: "A Bow of Orange Ribbon" especially for the actor, E.. H. Southern. A tsss Justice McCarthy's small volume on Pope Leo XIII. has just been published in London, and is pronounced by the Chronicle as the best account of the present pope to be found in the lan- guage."
 Mrs. Oliphant, who argues that the stiffness of night is not conducive to good writing, has certainly made a fair test of her theory, for none of her seyenty-eight novels have been written in the day time.
 James Lane Allen has purchased the rights from the J. B. Lippineott company of an old book of his entitled John Gray" which has been out of print, and he has rewritten it under the title of ''The Chair Invisible"
 Archibald Forbes is writing history of the famous Forty-second Highlanders, otherwise known as the Black Watch, a regiment which saw the carnage of Wa terloo was in the Crimea and fought in the Indian mutiny
 The London Journals were full of praise of a speech by Mrs. Francis Hodgson Burnett at dinner given her by the Au- thors' club, for they thus learn that an American authores can also be a witty after dinner speaker.
 When the Massachusetts chautauqua met recently at South Birmingham a vote as to which were the five greatest works of fiction resulted as follows: Charles Dickens David Copperfield," George Eliot's Adam Bede," Scott's 'Ivanhoe,' Harriet Beecher Stoves Uncle Toms Cabin," and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables." ..
 With the Youths Companion for Octo- Der 22 comes also their large fall an- nouncement of premiums, which, by its generous offers, should stimulate its youthful subscribers to unusually ener- getic work.
 This same issue contains the first chap ter of a story of pioneer days, "At Indian Meadow" by c. A. Stephens, which our boys especially will welcome gladly.
 story of the time of Shakespeare, written by John Bennett, will be the lead- Ing serial for the new volume of St. Mich olas. It is called Master Skylark," and will deal with the romantic events of the Elizabethan age. The great dramatist figures as one of the leading characters, although the hero and heroine are a boy and girl. Another serial, "The Last Three Soldiers" by William H. Shelton, has novel plot. It tells of three union soldiers who became veritable castaways in the Confederacy. Both stories will be- gin in the November St: Nicholas. | With the close of, the year, Godey's Magazine adds to the personnel of its staff. Mr. Frederic w. Pangborn for twenty years managing editor of the Jersey City (N. J) Journal, who becomes the editor of the magazine, with MT. H. g. Wilkinson and MT. Rupert Hughes as associates. MT. Wilkinson has for several years been engaged in magazine work, and MT Hughes is already well known by his writings as one of the ablest crit ics in the literary field, while MT. Pang- born brings to the magazine that practi- cal experience in direct dealing with the public which Is best gained in the office of a daily newspaper. The publishers feel confident that their editorial staff has in 1t the three elements of success. Dodd, Mead & Co. will publish immedi- ately "The Cure of Souls" by Ian Maclar- en CRev. John Watson). This work is composed of his Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching, recently delivered at Yale university. Among the contents we note chapters on the following subjects: "The Genesis of the Sermon" "The Technique of the Sermon," Problems of Preaching" Theology the Theory of Religion "The gregation." "The Work of Pastor" "The Public Worship of God" "The Min isters Care of Himself"
 These lectures were received with the greatest possible interest by those who heard them at Yale university, and 1t is believed that, aside from their value as literature, they will commend themselves to clergymen and laymen alike, because of their practical value in the religious life.
 The superior truth and delicacy of the old daguerreotype are made manifest in the November McClure's. where fine re- productions of daguerreotype portraits of Calhoun, Webster, Edward Everett. Dr.
 Holmes. Jenny Lind, and others, from rare collections still surviving. illustrate an entertaining paper, by Mrs. D. T. Da-
 wis., on the development of daguerreo- typing in America. Soon after the dis covery of the process American daguer- reotypers became the finest in the world; and there Is a strong movement now to- ward a revival of the art. The paper is, therefore timely as well as entertaining.
 Another richly illustrated paper, in this number, is Ethel Mackenzie McKenna's intimate account of the English artist Alma -Tadema, in his luxurious London house and studio. But, inevitably, the readers first curiosity will be for the widely announced long story of American life by Rudyard Kipling, of which the opening installment here appears. It opens on an Atlantic liner" passes dra- matically to Gloucester fishing schooner on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and begins a portrayal of the strange, romantic life of the Yankee fishermen, in the midst of their perilous employment, that promises to be as strong and fine as anything Kipling has done. The illus