The herald., 1896-06-14

The Books I cannot hope to buy.
Their phantoms round me waltz and
They pass before the dreaming eye
Ere sleep the dreaming eye can seal.
They dance: but fair the bindings shine.
Prose cannot tell them what feel
The Books that never can be mine.
Reverse the rules Of Mine and Thine:
Make it legitimate to steal
The books that never can be mine.
Andrew Lang: "Ballade of the Unattain-
able"
And still they come-the cheap new
magazines. Who could have guessed
what June would bring? At least, who
would have guessed it would bring Po-
ker Chips? And yet that is June's Of
fering to the list Of monthlies. At this
rate it won't be long before the Critics
dream comes true, and we have the Yal-
ler Dog in literature.
There is great disappointment over
Miss wilkins new story, Madelon, just
issued by the Harpers. 1t would seem
as If the publishers could have saved
young woman from the cruel fate that
befel this volume. She Is ill. too i'll to
have written as she has been doing, and
the last of her work was done swiftly
and, it would seem, in almost desperate
heedlessness.
The consequence is that the story.
though naturally strong, Is told in the
crudest and most slipshod fashion, and
was allowed to go from the printers
hands in a shape not often permitted by
publishers. But 1t was sure to sell, at
least at first, whatever became of the
authors reputation for grammar later
on, and so 1t was sent out.
These publishers have taken good care
of their regular publications.; but as to
many books. they have shown them
selves to be as Indifferent to the public
as they are illiberal to the trade.
A writer in the Chautauquan says
that many Cracker" idioms of the south
are simply obsolete English idioms.
Fielding. for instance" he says. makes
a very near approach to the crackerism
He allowed he'd do it in such passage
as this: The audience allowed / did
your part justice and when Burke COM
plains that England is disfurnished of
it's forces he Is using almost the exact
phraseology of my cracker neighbor,
who has come to borrow peck of meal,
and politely hopes that I am not dis
furnishing myself for his accommoda-
ton. III is still occasionally heard
even among the better class Of rusticS
in the piney woods of Georgia and Ala
bama in it's Shakespearian sense Of dan
gerous, or wicked as the copperhead
is an i'll SNAKE or Johnny is very ill.,,
that is, naughty, boy this morning I
am told by friend from Kentucky that
the same usage, though rare, is not un-
known among the same class in that
state To favor meaning to resemble,
as he favors his father was good Eng
lish in the days of Addison and Shake
and IFS dariva tive fi11-fo
is still current"
The book trade just now. like all other
business, is very dull. The publishers
are at work, but it Is mainly for the fall
trade, and very little outside of the sum-
mer novel is being offered in the market
1t may be worth the while to state that
Quiller-Couch says his name should be
pronounced Cooch.
ROBERT ATTERBURY. A study of
Life and Love. By Thomas H. Brain
erd. The Cassell Publishing COM
pany, New York. For sale by Stoll
& Thayer.
This a well written story and it is re-
plete with incident. In fact. 1t is a novel
with real invention of situation. There
is considerable dissertation upon mar
rearing Of children which might have
been said more delicately, or left unsaid,
which would have been better still.
Towards the end the story flattens out
somewhat in interest, but is we'll con-
structed novel, barring the blemish indi-
Gated.
MY LITERARY ZOO, by Kate Sanborn,
author of Abandoning an Adopted
Farm, Adopting an Abandoned
Farm, etc. Appleton & Co., New
York.
With the humor shown in her famous
book, Adopting an Abandoned Farm,
the vivacious author gossipS about the
animal kingdom in literature, gathering
together incidents and illustrations with
an enthusiasm and love for her subject
which enlists the readers sympathy
even if it does arouse. great interest.
Dogs take up a third of the volume, and
this is good reading, for dogs have
place in the world. Cats take up another
third, and it is not very good reading. for
there is not so much that can be said
about cats. Even Miss Sanborn, who is
a mature person, is forced to descend to
conundrums to eke out the cat depart
ment, and this is one of them:
why does cat cross the road?"
Because she wants to get on the other
side"
Now, really, Kate, you are Olu enough
to know better.
"All sorts" finish out the book, which
is sure to find readers who will like its
fund of humor.
THE MADONNA OF A DAY. by L.
Dougall author of The Zeit Geist,
The Mermaid, etc. No. 1874, Town and
Country Library. Appleton & Co.
The scene of this original story opens
| in British Columbia, amid strange and
picturesque surroundings. The sympa-
f, thetic and suggestive quality of the au-
| thor's delicate art is shown here to the
| best advantage.
| The success of Town and Country Sc
| ries has been marked from the begin-
| ming. With the possible exception OF the
| corresponding publication of Lippin-
| cott, nothing in the serial line Is equal
| to it.
| 1t may be of interest to our readers to
! know that Miss Dougall is Canadian
| girl who was partly educated in New
| England, but later left her Montreal
| home for stay in Edinburg and later in
| London. She has been hard worker IN
| literature and is now resident OF Ox-
| ford, where she appears to nave nnally
| settled for her life work.
| GREEN GATES. AN ANALYSIS OF
FOOLISHNESS. BY Mrs. &. M. Z.
| Meredith Johanna Staats), author
Of Drumsticks, etc. Appleton q Co.
| This story of today furnishes pictures
of Long Island country-house and hunt