The times., 1897-05-16
THE POSTAL CONGRESS IN SESSION.

spot, with specifically different growths,
appears, and unerringly indicates wetter
soil, spring, a running brook, or a river.
In Is wake its own beloved flowers tread,
refusing TO stray back into the dryer fields
or WOODS Weeds follow the trail Of the
farmers piow. The Telling OF forest trees
destroys shade-ioving plants, giving room
70 those which prefer sunshine and dryer
ground. Wherever a new road isintroduced,
certain wayside plants appear along the
border Some plants are called fire
weeds, because of their tendency to cover
burnt-oyer districts.
Mrs. Creevey's new work makes it easy
to recognize these plants, and to under
stand their life and individuality. She
divides her chapters not by plant but by To-
cality, thus: River banks. brooks and run
ming streams; swanlps, bogs and marshes;
at the seaside; aquatics; wet meadows;
dry fields. escaped from gardens; hills;
open woods; sandy soil, and so on. There
are many .expletive assistants, such as il
lustrations, glossary of botanical terms,
and indices to English, Latin and Greek
names The work is original, scholarly
and complete, and appeals directly to
a very large circle New York: Harpers.
Washington: Woodward & Lothrop.l
Margaret Deland has tight grip on
common sense Her books are impregnated
with it, and her stories exhale that good
fundamental quality, rightness, which
commends them to sober judgment
and sane preference. She writes as oue
to whom it would be good to goin trouble
and her stories are pleasant workings off
Of nf is
her new book, 1.-The Wisdom of Fools;;'
four stories of life problems which are ex-
ceptional enough to be absorbing and
actual enough to be personal. They are
written in this popular authors usually
brisk and attractive style, full of human
nature, common sense, plausible, natural
and favored with literary value of a ie-
fined quality.
The four stories are Where Ignorance Is
Bliss, 'Tis Folly to Be Wise,'' The House
Of Rinimon,'' Counting the Cost and
1.-The Law or the Gospel?'' The first of
these is the problem OF a past which con-
fronts young Anglican clergyman about
to be married. Ought he to reveal sin
committed years before. when he was an
other'self? Grovelling in doubt, he pl.nges
in the dark and tells his sweetheart Ig-
nOfance WOuiO nave Deeu DliSS. SDe was
not strong enough. The denouement was
unhappy. 1t is the problem of telling the
whole truth. At some length Mrs. De
lands characters discuss the question Of
absolute confidence between man and wife,
the vanity Of confession, its necessity.
conditional and unconditional, but not all
that they say is so conclusive and so con-
vincing as the sad result of William Vests
confession to Amy of his youthful fool
hardness. The other stories present social
and moral problems, Of real and present
interest, and Mrs. Deland discusses them
with absorbing effect. Boston: Hough-
ton, Mifflin & Co. Washington: Bretano.)
An interesting feature Of Book News
each month is 1.-The Authors Purpose by
the Author" 1t is to be assumed, Of
course, that the real reason of most books,
which is peeuniary and mercenary neces-
sarly, is not given, but the highest ideal
which stimulates the action Of the head,
BRAIN and heart Alice MeYall says that
she wrote 1.-The Children" for the love
of the subject, simply, as natural sequel
TO the pleasure of observation, and fears
no author ever had less purpose than she
Carlos Martyr vouchsafes that he wrote
"Christian Citizenship to supply Christian
citizens with terse statement OF the
philosophy = the citizenship in the United