Mower County transcript., 1896-12-02
Literary Notes.

the december Harper's, from the
"Christmas Carol" with which it
opens to the "Drawer'' with which it
ends. "A Middle English Nativity"
by John Corbin, is a. study OF a me-
diaeval mystical play, with illustra-
tions by J. B.. Weguelin; and 1.-The
Hundred," a short story by Gertrude
Hall, is Christmas tale, with illus
trations by w. 81. Hyde; while ''Sun-
day Sans Statute Of Limitations.
by Henry Gallup Paine. concerns an
amusing Thanksgiving episode.
~
In his paper on President Kruger,
in the December Harper's Magazine,
Poultney Bigelow gives an animated
and picturesqe description of the
dictator of the Transvaal, one of the
most interesting figures Of current
history. The paper is given with por-
traits Of President and Mrs. Kruger,
made for this article from photo
graphs as oddly provincial as the hab-
bits and manners of loom Paul"
himself
**x
The ublishers Of McClure's Maya
zine announce Christmas mum Der OF
quite extraordinary quality, both in
its reading matter and its pictures.
There is richly printed cover,
decorated with one of Botticelli's S
most famous Madonnas. specially
redrawn by Henry McCarter: a first
reproduction of a Madonna painted
by Josephine Wood Colby: a reproduc-
tion Of portrait OF Washington
painted at Valley Forge by Charles
Wilson Peale, and never before pub
lished; reproductions OF some famous
frescoes by Melozzo da Forl1, in illus
tration Of Christmas poem by Har-
riet Prescott Spofford: and some new
and especially important views of
Palestine. made under the personal
direction of the editor of the maga-
zine.
~
I had recently in my service a
pretty little hOuSemaid barely nine
teen years old. neat, capable and
good tempered, but so perpetually
downcast that she threw a cloud over
our unreasonably cheerful household.
1 grew melancholy watching her at
work One day, going into the
kitchen. Isaw lying open en- her chair
book she had just been reading. It
purported to be the experience of a
missionary in one of our large cities,
and was divided into nine separate
stories. These were their titles.
copied verbatim ou the spot: The
Infdel. The Dying Banker, The
Drunkard's Death. The Miser's Death.
The Hospital. The Wanderers Death.
The Dying Sbirt-maker, The Broken
Heart. The Destitute Poor. What
wonder that my little maid was sad
and solemn when she recreated her.
self with such chronicles as these2
What wonder that. like the Scotch
mau's famous dog. life was full O
sairiousness' for her. when religion
and literature, the two things which
should make up the sum Of our hap
piness. had conspired, under the
guise of Sunday school fiction. to
destroy her gayety Of heart:-From
Little Pharisees in Felton, by
Agnes Repplier, in the Christmas
(Decem berl Scribner's.
Some of our readers there may be
who find it difficult to understand
why, since God has revealed to US his
will in a book, or rather in a library
of inspired books, as the Bible truly
is, he has not at the same time given
US an infallible text. How mucn
la Dor would have been saved had we
possessed the autographs of four
evangelists! To this we answer that,
had one such autograph existed, some
branch of the Christian church. DOS
sibly every branch, ourselves included,
would have made an idol Of the
writer's parchment, while neglecting
its teaching altogether. We can only
seek to comprehend the ways of Prov
idence in one sphere by observing
them in another. Man is the heir of
all things; yet he is sent into the
world to depend for food, clothing
and all the comforts and adornments
of life, on his wits. How greatly is he
thereby differentiated from the brutes.
How immeasurably is the educated
man. and especially the scientific
investigator, raised above the savage
simply as the result of his own efforts!
Is it not possible that he who gave
the Word of Life designs to quicken
our interest in it by arousing afresh
in each successive generation of
Christians the desire to approach
nearer to it's sources. to remove the
undergrowth of legend and tradition