The Portland daily press., 1896-04-08

mony anu YET 1t does not unreServedly
deal with the brutal side Of things. 1t
Is unsatisfactory and pulls hard along the
rails of realism. New York: d. Ap-
pleton q Company' Portland: Loring
Short & Harmon. Price rs cents.
| School Interests and Duties, Developed
from Pages Mutual Duties of Parents
and Teachers" from various publio re-
ports and docu ments and from the Bulle-
tins of the National Bureau of Education.
by Robert M. King, Instructor in the
Indianapolis High School. The author
of this sound and practical compilation
tells US that he intends his book among
other purposes for use In Teachers read
ing circles and with this in view has
divided his subjects into nine parts, one
for each month of the working year
The volume contains Talks ON Parents,
Teachers, School Officers and Their Duties
School Architecture and Hygiene; Arbor
Day celebrations; The Dictionary, and
how to Use It; School Libraries, Morals,
Etiquette, with some added general mat
tiers relating to the teachers standing
and occupation. These subjects are treat
ed fairly and sensibly and the book will
be valuable and helpful in many quar-
ters 1t needs little Frightening up lest
it become commonplace but this can be
easily furnished by the teachers as they
study it's contents and talk over its sug-
gestions. 1t is neither scientific enough
nor detailed enough to serve as guide in
matters Of city schools but it has much
to commend it; for the truth is, the
plain everyd ay requirements of common
sense cannot be too often repeated or too
frequently considered. (American Book
Company, Washington Square, New York
City; Cincinnati, Chicago Price s1.oo. J
The Gallery Of Antiquities, by Honore
de Balzao. (Boston; Roberts Bros;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmon.
Besides the story bearing the above title,
the book also contains another called
"An Old Maid" Both of them are
studies of French provincial life In the
early part Of the century, and both of
them deal with some phase of the "tender
passion" although the stormy experiences
of Vioturnien d Esgrignon, the only son
OF noble family reduced to straitened
circumstances by the revolution of 1889,
would hardly suggest the tender side of
youthful passion. The story illustrates
how dangerous it Is to be educated out of
one time, and how the spirit of the old
nobility may degenerate into life of self
Indulgence, incapable of any great aims
and falling even into criminal courses In
it's mad pursuit of pleasure. Gan Old
Maid" is psychological study of the
effects of the repression of the tender
passion in sensitive nature which had
no natural outlet for its objection early in
life and showed its incapauity to deal
wisely in matters of the heart when
called upon to act later. The stories are
admirably told, as we should expect from
Balzac the character drawing in both
principal and subordinate parts is sharp
and masterful, the local coloring is
strongly realistic, and the whole COM
position has an atmosphere of its own,
which bespeak the artist and philosophio
student of his race.
ga Laodicean, (which ran in Harpers a
twelvemonth nearly twenty years ago,
embellished by George Du Maurier-then
in the flush of his fame-is now put forth
by Harper Brothers In their substantial
edition of Thomas Hardy's works. The
tale is not one of Hardy's strongest,
though among his most agreeable. 1t
was written before he fell into the sombre
mood which SO darkly colors his later
novels; and while his studies as architect
were fresh in his mind. The ron nee is
one, in Its large outlines, that no man
but an architect could draw. Further
more, it is. interesting-hi praise to
apply to story in this dreary decade of
novels with a purpose" (To be found
at Loring, Short u Harmon's.) =