The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-26
DECEMBER MAGAZINES.

Thanksgiving day is not over before the
Christmas magazines begin to come. Scrib-
ner is among the first, and appears in a
cover bearing a special design which has
at least the merit of oddity and harmonious
coloring. The holiday character is given to
the number rather by the profusion and
beauty of the illustrations than by diStinc-
tive Christmas literature, though there is a
bit of this in the opening story by Henry
Van Dyke. 1t is tale of Antioch fifteen
hundred years ago, and is full of poetic
and religious feeling. A feature of the issue
is eight pages of illustrations in colors, from
pastels, engraved on wood. AS specimens
of delicate color printing they are more in
teresting than as drawings. though it must
be said that these are really illustrative of
the verses by J. Russell Taylor, which they
accompany. Much space is given to short
stories, and each of these is illustrated
Among the contributions is a paper by Cos
mo Monkhouse on Sir Edward Poynter,
president of the Royal Academy with twen-
ty-one reproductions of his work.
Walter Wyckoff, the young man who
worked his way across the continent as an
unskilled laborer by way of trying an lex
pertinent in reality" and tells about it in
Scribner describes his experience in
Pennsylvania logging camp in the Decem-
Der number of the magazine. While there
there was a rainy day, and he says this of
it: There may be ennui that is more soul
destroying, but L have never known any
that caused such evidently acute suffering
as the form which seiZes upon workingmen
of my class, in hours of enforced idlenesS-
When the days work is done, they take
their rest as a matter of course, and enjoy
it. But a day like this which lays them
off from work, ans, shuts them within
erty of their lives. Most of the men here
can read, but not to one of them is reading
a resource; The men at play are in BIAS
phemous ill-temper over the cards. and are,
apparently, on the brink of blows; while
Mike is laborsuly spelling his way through
a page and nervously squirming in an eff
fort to find a comfortable seat And
know, from the experience of Sundays. in
what humor the men will come down to
dinner from the loft, TO face an afternoon
of eternal length to them which in some
way must be lived through"
The Queens jubilee is an old story to
those who read about it in the daily papers
at the time it was celebrated, but it is worth
while to read the account again as told by
Richard Harding Davis in the December
Harper. The illustrations of his paper by
r. Cation Woodville, are effective. An ar
ticle by Ernest Ingersoll concerning the why
and wherefore of the varied coloring of
birds eggs is accompanied by Illustrations
in color representing eighty-seven varieties
of eggs of American birds. Puppets, An
Cient and Modern" by Francis j. Zeigler.
is an interesting account of the evolution of
the Punch and judy show. Hamblen Sears,
i'm an article on the Reindeer of the Jotun-
HEINZ" tells of hunting these deer in Nor
way. His story will probably surprise many
readers who think only of reindeer as at
least semi -domesticated and used as
beasts of burden. Fiction makes up large
part of the magazine this month, Mrs.
Catherwood Owen Wister, Frederic Rem
ington Mary Tracy Earle. William Ludwell
Sheppard and Ruth McEnery Stuart being
contributors of short stories The poems
are more numerous than usual in this
periodical.
In Hamblen Searss account of a rein
deer hunt in Norway he gives this descrip-
ton of native guide: "Vigdal, from the
first moment of our acquaintance, became
a source of interest and amusement to me-
He spoke English a little. Indeed, he
taught English literature, so he proudly