The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-01
Some New Books
And Magazines

IT annual custom 10 produce a IlHllltu
Ii number of artistic calendars eXem-
plitying the choicest achievements
in pcn-and-ink and water-cOlor effects
and also demonstrating the marked SUI
periority of American color printing
Their offerings for 1898 comprise "A Cal
cndar of Modern Society" embodying re-
productions in full size of six admirable
pen-and-ink drawings by Hal Hurst, rep
resenting for January and February
young man and a young woman engaded
i'm the dance; for March and April, the
Easter promenade; for May and June, a
bicycle spin along a country road: for
July and August, a sun bath on sea shore
sands; for September and October. a
game of tennis Uhough to be up to date
1t should be view on the golf links),
and finally, for November and December,
a skating scene. Light and shade effects
are handled skilfully and there is
piquancy and spirit in each drawing. An
other Offering the New Humphrey CAL
ondar," comprises twelve fac simines of
water color studies of childrens faces
and poses by Maud Humphrey. whose
mastery Of juvenile expression, especially
of the piquant and delicate expressions of
young ladies from two to six years of
age, is perhaps unsurpassed among
American artists a Humphrey calendar
is always charming. but the present ono
deserves to be mentioned with especial
appreciation for it is exquisite. (For sale
in Scranton by NJ. NortonD
O.
During the past few weeks a newcomer
i'm the ranks of New York pictorial week.
ly journalism has made its appearance
on the nCw.e ands,-Thc Criterion. re-
habiltated from an obscure print and
energZed by the laborS of one of the
brightest group of writers to be found in
the metropolis. The Criterion is witty,
critical and instructive by turns; it has
l,. 1g.1l Af fR.n 1,Nn WuTfN =.
prudence and gentility of culture. Some
admirable reading is finding a public
through its columns, and il quality be a
desideratum in these times of yellow
blanket sheets and bGllooned magazines,
the Criterion ought soon to become firm
ly grounded.
An interesting feature OF the December
Godeys consists of half-tone reproduce
tions Of seven famous paintings represent
ing as many different conceptions of the
Madonna and Child. This with six clever
short stories. four readable poems and
five interesting illustrated articles--one
being a notable paper on amateur pho
Biography with specimens of exceptionally
fine work-goes to make up a charming
number.
4 Christmas story by Harriet Frcs-
colt Spofford, one by Lillian Bell, one by
by Ernest McGaffey. Ella Higginson,
Clinton SCollard, ard William l.. Nss-
cher. and a generous variety of other
reading matter appropriate to the Yule-
tide make especially attractive the De-
cenrbcr number of TIE Womans Home
Companion, which at nickel a copy is
truly bargain.
"Thc Way of the Transgressor." in
which Howard Fielding humorously de-
monstrates the dangers besetting the
philanthrCpist WHO cCLsOrts with crimi-
nails; and Christmas stories by Frank r.
Stockton, Harriet Prescott Spofford and
Max Pemberton give piquanCy to the De-
cembor Pocket magazine while its new
department of smoking room dialogue Is
quite the best thing of its kind now go
ing.
In Its issue Of Nov. % the Medical Rec
ord, the leading American weekly journal
Of medicine and surgery, describes briefly
but accurately the restorative properties
of all the prominent winter health re-
sorts. and supplies information indis-
pcnsable to seekers after health.
o
Money" the non-partsan monthly
magazine devoted TO an elucidation OF
knotty points in finance, continues to pre-
sent well-digested information. The No
vember issue has an interesting analysis
of Secretary Cages plan for currency re-
form.
A new series Of tales for the young
ones, the Just So" stories, Is begun in
the December st. Nicholas by Rudyard
Kipling. The first one explains why the
whale came by his little throat and is a
bit of artistic fooling that no child can
withstand. The entire number indeed. is
packed full as a Xmas box OF good
things.
The whole circle of a months develop
ments in scientific inquiry is bounded in
the December issue of Popular Science a
magazine which continues to surprise us
with both the quantity and the range Of
the information which it dispenses.
A volume which will make a deep i'm
preston upon the minds of serious read
ers is Life and Immortality" by Thomas
G. Gentry, Sc. D., published by the Burr
e. McFetridgc Co., Philadelphia. It Is a
handsomely printed and illustrated royal
octave volume of 800 pages, the theme of
which is to prove that plants and animals
no less than human kind possess souls
and claim Immortality. The method by
which this doctrine is established Is such
that whether the reader agrees with the
conclusion or not he Is forced to admire
the statement of the premises. Dr. Gen
try devotes the body of his book to a pre-
sentation of the wonders of animate ma
tuTe which i'm itself without regard to
the objective point il liberal education
in modern science, He writes with singu-
lar ease and clearness and his words
breathe a spirit of reverence for nature
that betokens the true naturalist. We