The herald., 1896-12-06

mires the man who fcan put up his
hands" on occasion in good cause, but
one does not take quite kindly to a de-
scription of supper at a long table
filed with bloated prizefighters. Nor
does one deem it quite natural that boy
jim should have run away to London
to blossom out at once at the ringside;
that is to say, the average reader viii
feel. we fancy, that the experiment DIR.
Doyle has tried has not quite been q
success But in the mystery of Cliffe
Royal, the tragedy which drove Lord
Avon into years of hiding and the final
confession of Ambrose, the valet, there
is displayed ingenuity and vigor which
1t were hard to match in modern fiction.
If the Objectionable matter in the vol
ume had been more lightly touched upon,
If 1T had been more incidental and not
upon main line, we should not feel
compelled to register this objection, but
the honest old blaclksmith's fight in the
rain and mud of Crawley downs, while
his poor hearth broken wife was waiting
outside the ring to bear him away, was
too brutal business. Such a thing is
not nice, nor Is it true art.
PENNYROYAL AND MINT. BY Sophie
SWEET Estes & Lauriat Boston.
Elsewhere in The Herald and many
times before, we have had occasion to
speak of the excellence, of Sophie Swett's
writings: Again is her quality shown in
the striking sketches which make up
this volume. They will add to her fame
as one of the acknowledged leaders in
short-story writing. Most of these
sketches have already appeared in lead
ing periodicals and are not put in book
form for the first time. 1t is a handsome
and in all ways deserves to prove a pop
ular one.
From the same publishers we also
have
FIELD CLOVER AND BEACH GRASS.
BY Susan Hartley SWEET.
Te author has been for years regu-
lar contributor to the best known maga-
zines and periodicals land her stories,
like those of her sister, Sophie SWEET,
are Well-known as being typical ones of
New England life.
These quaint stories of old-fashioncd
people will readily appeal to all lovers
of wholesome literature.
THE CRYSTAL CITY. Translated from
the French of Andre Laurie by l.. A,
Smith: Estees & Lauriat, Boston.
This fine, large volume is brimming
with events which bear the charm Of
much mystery, though related In the
greatest simplicity of style. The illus
trations are many and excellent The
most romantic chapter of the book is the
prodigious adventure of the officer who
was washed overheard in the storm.
What happened to him cannot be told
in the necessary limits of this mention.
The Journal of diver is also most in
genlous creation, as is the account of the
torpedo boat "Vitania." which could
fold it's sails as duck does it's wings ana
sink beneath the waves and again spread
them as the bird does when it came to
the surface. 1t would seem that never
was such vessel before, for it was
able any moment to shut its two halves
together and disappear from view to
make short voyages of discovery.
On the whole, 1t Is a thoroughly en-
gaging volume, and will no doubt re-
celve It's due share Of attention.
THE LAND OF SUNSHINE.
The Christmas number of this rich pc.
riodical is out, and it is by far the most
interesting number vet. Indeed, it
seems as if it were almost new birth If
there were need Of it's being born again
TO entitle II to live and prosper forever.
And again let us ask: What's the
matter with making it unanimous? But
IL not that, there are at least a thousand
more persons in Los Angeles who ought
to take it and send east after reading.
PHYSICAL CULTURE AND DEVEI,-
OPMENT OF THE VOICE. BY
1eleH willard Merritt.
;, This small volume is intended to out
line 1.-THE Merritt System" of caring for
the Dody and developing the voice. The
authoris now resident Of Los Angeles
having come here from New York, and.
we believe, Is now lecturing and teach
ing upon the lines of her plan. The vol
ume Is Illustrated with cuts showing the
correct positions of the body when
standing, sitting and at rest
NOTES.
Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson. the
author of volume of verse entitled. In
This Our World, has been lecturing in
England.
A curious contribution to fiction will
be Prof. Mahaffy's fragment of Greek
novel, found on a papyrus at Fayoum,
the date of which is 100 B. C.
The late Edgar Wilson Nye introduces
his last book. A Guest at the Ludlow,
with few lines of verse:
"Go. little booklet, go,
Bearing an honored name,
Till every where that you have went,
They're glad that you have came"
A writer in The Independent comes to
the help of my correspondent who ex-
pressed his unfamiliarity with poems
celebrating electricity. The Independ-
ent writer says: Sydney Lanier, who
of all sorts, affords few pertinent quo
tatfons on this topic, as:
'Snatching Deaths hot bolt ere hurled.
Flash new life about the world;
the subtiler essences polar that whirl
In the magnet earth;
And he devoteS several stanzas to the
havoc of the lightning:
Cold cloud, but yesterday
Thy lightning Slew child at play.
What myriad righteous errands high
Thy flames might run on etc."
See also DR.. Van Dykes Princeton ses
quicentennial poeiR.
Mr. j. A. Mitchell of Life seems to be
making reputation for himself as an
author. He will follow up the success
full Amos Judd with volume of short
stories, That First Affair." and Other
Sketches, to be published by the Messrs.
Scribner.
1 was talking the other morning with
a man who has had peculiar opportuni-
ties of observing the trend of current
literary taste, and he told me that book
sellers are beginning to notice growing
demand for works dealing with natural
history and country life. My friend.
who is evidently a master of the Ten
denz theory. was inclined to attribute
this-nirabilie dictu.--to the perennial