The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-07-08
CURRENT LITERATURE,
The July Magazines.

trated Monthly Magazine Number of
The outlook this month. 1t ia ac-
companied by a series of pictures of
unique interest. So a year. The Out.
look Company, IL Astor Place, New
York.
"THE DECLARATION OF INDIE
PENDENcE IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN
CRITICISM, )" by Moses Colt Tyler, Pro-
lessor of History in Cornell University,
possesses a well considered timeliness
as the opening article in the North
american RevieW. Professor Tyler dis
cusses this venerable and "classic
statement of political truths" from
many standpoints, but always in a loyal
and patriotic spirit.
Mr.. LANeDoN ELwYN MITCHELL,
a son of DR.. S. Weir Mitchell, is not
unknown as a writer of plays; but his
first ambitious attempt at story-writing
is a novelette,, "Two Mormons from
Muddlety," the first chapters of which
are given in Harper's Magazine. The
scene is the West Virginia hills, and
the characters are the primitive people
of that region. The story has plenty
of action, and its development in the
August number will, it is said, show
Mr.. Mitchell to be a story-writer of I'M
common power and humor.
The current number of the Arena
contains a most interesting paper by
the %well-known journalist, Kate Buff
fington Davis, on the unique and re-
markable personality of the great
prophet of modern Theosophy, Helen
p. Blavatsky. Mrs. Davis discusses
Madame Blavatsky and her teachings
from the standpoint of a student, and
her paper will be found of great inter-
est in throwing further light on the
character and work of one of the most
startling and perplexing actors on the
stage of the nineteenth century.
THOSE who believe that American
writers and artists must go abroad for
picturesque local color will find their
ideas upset by Julian Ralph's article
on Coney Island in Scribner's Magazine.
Mr.. Ralph has had his eyes open to
what is unusual in his native city and
its interesting surroundings. Coney
Island is unique and peculiarly a New
York product. Mr.. Ralph calls it "our
sun bath and ice-box combined, our
extra lung, u private, gigantic fam"
He sketches its development from the
early seventies down to its present
complex and impressive charms-a re-
sort which eight million people have
visited in n year.
AN appropriate song for Fourth.of-
July celebrations appears in the Revie,o
of Reviews under the caption, " Stand
by the Flag!" The story of the song
! ;o tol1 IN tho Po,,so,p hv HTo;ar AFou.Lsi
II. Bright, of Christian Work, who is
entitled to credit for it's preservation
and revival. 1t seems that the words
were written by Mr.. John N. Wilder
and recited at a patriotic meeting held
in Albany, n. Y, July 4, 1858. During
the Civil War the song was repeatedly
sung to the familiar English air,
Cheer, Boys, Cheer" but Major
Bright has since composed music espe-
pecially for the ode, and this music is
published, with the words, in the
RevieaD.
OF the living Americans who have
seen distinguished service in diplo-
macy the most conspicuous is the Hon.
e. j. Phelps, formerly our minister TO
England and one of our foremost au-
| thorities on international law. Out of
his experience Mr.. Phelps has written
for the atlantic Monthly an article on
arbitration especially with reference to
our relations with Great Britain. He
points out how the movement for arbi-
tration is a most excellent humanita.
rian effort productive of good in a gen.
eral way, but a movement, neverthe-
less, that has very serious limitations;
fn,~ N rhtfrnttatn M nftar Ill he A~~1,AI
to only a few kinds of international
difficulties.
The complete novel in Lippincott's
is A Judicial Error" by Marion Man
vile Pope. 1t is a strong story, based
on a murder for which the wrong man
was convicted and hanged. He has a
friend who determines to prove his in
nocence, and does it. This plot in
wolves some rousing scenes and situa-
tions, and the author has not been slow
to improve her opportunities. "a
Twenty-dollar Bill" by Algernon Tas.
sin, is a pathetic tale of honesty among
the very poor and in the face of the
strongest possible temptation-to save
a sisters life. Gillian w. Ford tells
about "The Rector's Game-cock,"
which came to the minister in a singu-
lar way, and was thenceforth a bird of
peace.
THE opening article in The Century
is by Marion Crawford, the third of his
papers on Rome. 1t is devoted to "St.
Peters" and is fully illustrated by
Castaigne. Mr.. Crawford, who knows
his Rome by heart, gives his first i'm
pressions of st. Peters, his reveries in
the crypt, and describes the funeral of
Plus TX, the music of st. Peters and
the sculpture and painting in the cathe-
dral. The contents of the number also
include a number of topics prominent
in the public mind. The frontispiece
of the number is a portrait of Bulow,
the pianist, to accompany a paper of
recollections and anecdotes by one of
his pupils, Bernard Boekelman. A
novelette, by w. d. Howells, an Idyl
of Saratoga" is begun, and there is a
H. 49,