St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-22

Gelett Burgess. is professor of art his
tory in the University of California,
but the rest of the time he edits the
Lark, and makes the world his debtor
by writing nonsense verses and illus
trating them himself. The connection
between nonsense and universities has
never been made clear, but the tie is
evidently close one, for did not "Alice
in Wonderland" come from an Oxford
Don? Since Mr.. Burgess does not live
in Oxford we congratulate him on be-
ing a Californian. There are Eastern
colleges where The Purple Cow
would be persona non grata to the
trustees, but out on the sunny Pacific
slope the climate has not labored in
vain to mellow the population to the
point where they are willing to laugh
without knowing why, and it is to the
people who have laughed without
knowing WHY that Mr. Burgess -dedi-
Gates this attractive pamphlet of I'm
artistic alteration" to quote his
phrase. 1t contains, besides the now
famous lines anent THE Purple Cow"
half dozen other jingles and the
lengthier history of the chewing-gum
man. Some of the verses are good
nonsense, untainted by the suspicion of
meaning; some seem to mean some
! thing, the reader is not quite sure
! what, and others are unblushing fables
such as the one our artist has repro
| duced. which obviously is intended to
| give utterance to the scorn Of the popu-
lace Tor the idealist. 1t is great poem
| ana a great picture but it has one
! 1aW. Those pioneers of humanity. who
! cross invisible bridges and Law tracks
| Tor the rest of us, are in reality the
! only people who get anywhere in this
! world, and they know it, Their ex-
pressions therefore. while not adjusted
to their actual Importance in the
scheme of things, are not likely to he
so talnt-hearted and terror-stricken as
! theV are slanderously portrayed
! The Purple Cow" by Gelett Burgess. San
francisco. William Doxey. 25 cents0
! translation has not dissipated tba
CHOSEN OF the handful Of studies and
! STORES OF Russian life and character
10y the Nlcomte Melchior de Vogue,
. Wien Is published unders.the title of
! RUSSIAN Portraits When the Rms
Sans write about themselves thew are
often fascinating, but as often incorn-
/ pfehenSlble Seen through the ewes Of
such a thoughtful and sympathetic
| spectator Of their life as NJ de Vogue
| they appear more human and interest,
| ing than they are able to renresnn+
themselves. The theory advanced in
| "Narnara Afanasievna" that the in
tellectual and political confusion and
| tumult of the nation is the result of
| the grating of nineteenth century
| ideas upon thirteenth century souls is
! perhaps the best explanation vet of.
! Tered OF the repelling combination of
| modernity and barbarism that the Rus
| SANS present. knowledge has altered
Their minds, but not their instincts
| Ihus II happens that daring ideas find
! at their service a formidable tempera-
/ ment and from the union results ga
| Thousand forms of madness. a tbo1I-
! sand forms of despair"
| The stories are written with exo1lis-
! ite simplicity and grace, and have been
translated with such fidelity and care
| Tor style that the reader is uncon-
| sclous Of the presence of another Der-
sonality between himself and the au-
thor
C'Russian Portraits" by the vicomte Mel
| chior de Vogue: translated by Elizabetb I
Cary. New York G. P. Put9am's iAs sons "a
cents. For sale by the st. Paul Book and
Stationery company
The little volume entitled "The Upper
Room contains seven brief talks upon
religious subjects for which Sermon"
| IS too formal and forbidding a term:
fr0m the pen Of Rev. John Watson.
more familiar to us under the name of
Ian Maclaren. They will be widely
read and appreciated, for they are full
OF the same overlooking conviction Of
love, divine and human, which was the
inner secret Of the charm and popular