The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-11
VI sooKs.
cOntfnued 0rom seventA Pabe.

q, all ho writes about the country 10 sane. SYM
patbotic. and broad In India and South
Africa he has what to the average reader is .
stil moro fascinating field, and thoro 10
no exaggeration In the statement that
from the departure from Vancouver to the
arrival at southampton there 10 not n
dnll mage In tho whole 700 that mako up tho
hook. It would be easy to quote columns Of
good things. but It Is a courtesy to tho reader to
let him seek them for himself. Not long ago. In
~noticinR a book In which an English humorlst
had endeayorod to writo as q Bengal Baboo,
We expressed the opinion that the Baboo. in roal
life. was q far moro amusing person than tho
creation of tho humorist, an opinion that is,
we think, supported by some extracts taken by
Mark Twain from tho published questions and
answers in a Calcutta school examination.
o-Who ,oas Cardinal Woisspt
A-As Bishop OF York, but died in diSsntry in Q
| church on his way TO DO blockheaded.
-- o.-Whnt u the meaning Of Ioh DteN1
Am honor conferred on tho nrst or eldest soma Of
English sovereigns. 1t ia nothing moro than some
feathers.
o.-What Ia the meaning ora sheriff.
A.-sberin ia n post opened in the timc OF John.
Tho duty Of Sheriff here In Calcutta. to look out and
catch those carriages which Ia rashly driven out by
the coachman; but II n q high pos; In ENGLAND.
A.-Sherin was the English bill OF common prayer.
A.-sherln, a title given on those persons who were
respective and pious in England.
Those, however. are quito equalled by some
extracts he gives from q published collection
taken from examinations made in tho public
schools of Brooklyn.
ON HISTORY.
christopher Columbus was called the Father Of
his Country. Queen Isabella OF Spain sold her watch
and chain and other millinery 90 that Columbus could
discover America.
Tho Indian wars were very Decorating to the
country.
The Indians pursued their warfare by hiding In
the bushes and then scalping them.
Tho Puritans found an insane asylum in the
wiids Of America"
on LITERATURE.
Edgar A. Poe was q very curdling writer.
Ben Johson survived Shakespeare in some TO
spects.
"Chaucer was the father Of English pottery.
"Chaucer was succeeded by II. wads Longfellow."
But perhaps tho most delightful bit of I'M
conscious humor of them all Is the closing para
graph taken from a little book famous in India.
The biography of 0noocool Chunder Mookerjee.
written by his nophew and published in Cal
cutta-
"And having said these words he Theoretically
sealed his lips, not to open them again. All the we'll
known doctors of Calcutta that could be procured
for q man Of his position and wealth were brought
Doctors Payne. Fayrer. and Nilmadhub Mookerjee.
and Others; they did what they could do with their
pursuance and knack OF medical knowledge. but It
proved after all as II to milk the ram His wife and
children had not the mournful consolation to hear
his last words; he remained soto poce for a fow hours.
and then was taken from us at 0:l2 r. N. According
TO the caprice of God which passeth understanding"
The History OF Dancing, from the Earliest
Ages to Our Own Tines translated from tho
French OF NJ. CASTOR Vuillier and issued by
Messrs. Appletons. is remarkable alike for the
beauty Of its twenty full plate and some 400
text illustrations, and for the sustained mag
nifcence Of it's style and language. Like
Poetry and Music" says the translator, whose
nnme is modestly withheld. dancing. properly
80 called-the photographic art, that is to say
was probably unknown to the earliest ages
Of humanity. Savage man. wandering in
forests, devouring the quivcring flesh Of
his spoils, can have known nothing of those
rhythmic pastures which reflect sweet and
caressing sensations entirely alien to his moods"
We like that expression. photographic art
it seems to fit better than plain dancing"
which is q word of little dignity and uncertain
origin-and, though Cicero once said that no
sober man dances unless he is mad, did not
Moliere's immortal dancing master demonstrate
for all time that dancing was tho one
essential to tho salvation of Statesf There
fore It Is well that NJ. Vuillier and
his translator havo approached their sub
ject in O proper spirit and have treated 1t with
a comprehensiveness that ranges from the
primitive Greek dances In honor of Pan. Apollo,
and Diana to the curious acrobhtic exhibitions of
the grand Gcdrt, and the realistic quadrille Of
the Moulin de la Galette. lie Bal Butler. and
other educational establishments Of the Paris
of to-day.
With tho trpical fnOdnaaa 0f tha trim D. riaiaD
for his Paris, NJ. vuillier has devoted a great
portion of his book to tho history of the develop
| ment Of the dance in that city. Here wo may
| read Of the Ballet Of the Prosperity Of the arms
of France in which lie Rot Soleil played tho
leading part, surrounded by his whole court; of
| The Triumph Of Bdcchus. In which he took the
part of q thief excited by copious libations.''
and later of those charming dances OF the eigh-
teenth century. This" as NJ. vuillier says.
" was the epoch of the coquettish gavotte and
the graceful minuet, the apogee Of elegance"
But there waa a fearful morrow to those days of
supreme elegance and careless gayety which, as we
look back upon them now through the Transparent
gauze of a century, seem to simmer with q thousand
tantaliEing and delicate tints-days like some sweet
vision. in which coquettish marqutses. powdered
and jasmine scented. smiled increasingly. as
in the rosy paste's bequeathed to us by
the masters of their times. Tho war OF Revolu-
ton broke in upon the dream; Kings. women. and
poets were dragged on tumbris to the scanold. while
cannon Numbered along tho frontiers.
And yet dancing went on. but now It was the sinis.
ter dancing of the red.capped Carmagnole to the re.
frain OF Ca era. Men and women danced round
the scanold. their feet stained with blood.
There are many anecdotes Of the celebrated
dancers. La Camargo. vestris, Taglioni. not the
least interesting being the story OF tho great
and only Markowski, creator of tho polka. the
mazurka. and the sohottische, who cam from
Poland to Paris as a poor boy with his pocket
fiddle under his arm. He was destined to
achieve greatness, for the story goes that at his
birth his father dreamed he saw gnomes dancing
round the cradle. Ere long &" the star of Markow.
ski had risen in the photographic ARMAMENT
he made a gigantic fortune. then fell into pow.
erty again and died forsaken and forgotten.
aLaaIas I.tL.4 -, A. LI-L--