The herald., 1897-01-31

her BOOKS. She was amusing always ana
only rarely reprehensible.
THE BALKANS-ROUMA Bull
GARIA, SERVIA AND MONTENE-
GRO. BY William Miller, M. A., G..
p. Putnam's Sons New York For
sale by Stoll G. Thayer
This fine large volume Is the last OF
The Story Of the Nations series, and is a
very thorough piece Of work, with a
fine map and full index. 1t Is the best
| IL not the first work on these important
| though small states Of Europe, the field
Of most important struggles for ex-
istence as governments. In the authors
preface he refers to these states as the
cockpit of Europe" as the Low Countries
were styled in the Middle Ages. It Is
where the everlasting eastern question
has its origin, and no other region has
these later years furnished more scenes
of strife.
To the author there seems to be but
ficting claims of these historic states,
and that Is Balkan confederation. 1t
will be remembered that there was a
time when the Servian and Bulgarian
empires were great powers, with czars
for rulers. Dreams of once more get
ting vast power have always influenced
the minds of statesmen, and this has Sc
~
modern times.
We are glad to commend these vol
umes and to remind our readers that
these publishers are also putting out the
Heroes of the Nations series, an equally
important work.
SIR KNIGHT OF THE GOLDEN
PATHWAY. By Anna s. P. Duryea.
G. p Putnam's Sons, New York.
htc i, lott otxy n
detail, with illustrations and borders by
Mabel Wilder Baldwin, and dedicated
by the author to "A little lad whose
thoughts have always turned with mine
towards the true chivalry." 1t is story
of and for Easter time. THE gentle lady
walked in quiet dignity and the little
knight in noble, childish grace" It is
most touching story of spiritual
child and reminds one of Dickens A
Child's Dream of a Star. 1t is a charac-
terization that Is hard to picture in real
life, and yet it is not an impossible one.
He that loveth book will never want
a faithful friend, a wholesome counsel
Tor. cheerful comr anion, an effectual
comforter-Barrow
Mr.. George W. Gable has become ed
itor Of Current Literature. A special
department in this magazine having
been allotted to him, he will discuss
literary and other topics
With the beginning of this year The
Open Court becomes a monthly. The
numbers will be about four times as
large as fomerly. and the price of sub
scription remains unchanged
It is of the greatest importanceto
you, not only for arts sake, but for
all kinds of sake, in these days of book
deluge, to keep out of the salt swamps
of literature, and live on little rocky
island of your own, with a spring and
lake in 1t, pure and good.-Ruskin.
Mr. F. Marion Crawford's romances
have been translated into French, Ger
man and Italian, and recent Italian
one is singularly complimentary. Mr..
Isaacs was a brilliant success, and is
now in its fifty third thousand. Sara
cinesca has exceeded the one hundred
thousand mark. The Messrs Macmillan
say that, taking all Mr.. Crawford's
books, in the United States alone over
half million copies have been sold by
them.
One of the reasons given for the pref
erence accorded English novelists over
American in the latters own "home
market" Is the greater labor and care
taken by the former. The London cor
respondent of the Tribune writes: Mrs
Humphrey Ward is among the slowest
Of writer's, and revfses every page many
times. Mr.. George MeredIith's refine
ment of style is the result of continu-
Gus labor. Mr.. Hall Caine carries plot
for story in his head for two years be-
fore he writes a line, and he makes
three distinct drafts of the book, en-
larging each version until final revision
become possible. Sarah Grand has al
ready written her new story twice, and
she has taken it to Spain for a third
revision during the winter"
In the disposal of smaller literary
wares of writer's in London it is the
broker or the go-between who manages
matters. He has on hand and, in stock
an endless quantity of short stories
The writer leaves the story with the
broker. 1t may stay there six months
or forever. But somebody may take
it If 1t suits as to quality or quantity
The magazine may hold the manuscript
six months more or year before it
prints 1t, and then only is the literary
man paid for his wares. In some cases.
however, when the article is accepted
by the magazine the broker will ad-
NohSC a SCi tain liOIp VI the puT-
chase money to the author, and gener-
ally charges interest on the advance.
FIGS AND THISTLES.
The devil has never been able to make
any man dissatisfied with his lot who
had perfect trust in Christ.
The man of faith will not be cast down
because there are some people who seem
to be making the devils service pay
The man has hard place who has so
much religious work on hand he never
has time to pray in secret
Every good man is a lamp which God
spares from heaven for a while to help
give light to the world
The Christian should not become dis
couraged because the devil Is still work.
ing at his trade.
1t Is a step toward heaven to come un-
der the influence of good people
Every saloon keeper has the devil for
his business partner.-Ram's Horn.
STEVENSON AT SARANAC LAKE.
The London Academy gives an ac-
count Of Robert Louis Stevenson when
he was at Saranac lake, in the Adiron-
dacks during 1S87-SS. He was living
there with DR.. E. L. Trudeau, who was
both friend and physician. To DR.. Tru-
deau he gave copy of all his books, and
on them wrote impromptu verses in
amusing doggerel. In Treasure Island
he wrote what shows that Stevenson's
idea was that this book was intended
ra thor for UOI1no thu n For old ron 4 o,o,