The herald., 1897-09-19
edited by Enoch Knight.)
SONG OF A PILGRIM GIRL

edited by Enoch Knight)
SONG OF A PILGRIM GIRL
March on. my soul, nor like a laggard stay!
March swiftly on. Yet err not from the way
Where all the nobly wise of old have trod-
The path of faith made by the sons of God.
Something to learn, and something to for
get;
Hold fast the good. and seek the better yet;
Press on. and prove the pilgrim-hope of
youth
That Creeds are milestones on the road to
Truth.
WHY NOT SELL PUBLIC DOCUMENTS?
An exchange has this suggestion: THE
publications of the British government are
sold as other books are: none are given
away. Why should not the publications of
the government of the United States he
sold also? The amount of money that goes
TO waste annually in the shape of Pub.
Doc must be enormous. The point is
we'll worth the consideration of an adj
ministration that has before it the problem
of increasing the revenue" There is much
more to this suggestion than NAV seem
at first thought. The most wasteful of all
the government outlays is the expenditure
for what is known as public documents.
They are scattered by congressman with
out much regard to the possible benefit
they may confer. and the very fact that
they cost nothing makes the citizen feel
that they are worth nothing. AS matter
of fact, the people do feel that they are
not even expected to take them seriously
that is, the larger class-and there is no
better way to cure the trouble than to
charge something for the publications and
also to encourage a discriminating use of
them.
One of the most interesting American
books to be issued this year will be a beau
tiful edition of Lucille" illustrated by fac
SMILES of water colors by Madelaine Le-
maire. The popularity of Lucille" is very
curious. There are at least hundred
editions of the book In this country, and
many thousands of copies are sold an
nually. In England the book is scarcely
read.
When Madelaine Lemaire was asked to
illustrate it. she could not find French
edition of the book, and as she did not
read English, she had to have the book
translated for her. In view of the popular
ity of Lord Lytton in France, it seems
rather strange that this book should never
The New York Commercial Advertiser
In a recent editorial. noting the large sales
that such wholesome stories as "Senti-
mental Tommy" king Noanett." THE
Country of the Pointed Firs" and "Kate
Carnegie" have had this year, makes this
very pertinent side remark to young au-
thors:
Young writers-and there are legions
of them-would do well to remember that
If they wish to make their stories and
novels immortal they must first of all
make them healthy. The popularity of
disease is never lasting. The literary
crazes of the last five years show, indeed,
that disease sometimes exercises an un-
holy fascination. but sooner or later the
spell will be broken and readers will scent
the corruption and turn from it in dis
gust.
1.-THE reason for this is not far to seek.
The majority of men and women wish to
take as hopeful view of life as possible.
They like to think we'll of their kind, to
believe that men are brave and that wo-
men are pure. They want to feel that
somehow good will be the final goal of
Ill, that the wicked will not triumph nor
the righteous be overthrown. They go to
fiction to have these beliefs confirmed, to
have these hopes fulfilled. This does not
Imply that fiction should be melodramatic,
that It should not be true to life. 1t can
be true to the facts Of life and yet be in
stinct with the spirit of hopefulness and
with the spirit Of sweet reasonableness."
THE TOUCHsToNE OF LIFE By Ella
MacMahon. Illustrated. Frederick D.
Stokes company. For sale by Stoll &
Thayer.
Thie ix madam ctory of vnodarp EpD
land. The hero is Ivor Clay. who is intro
duced to the reader at the age Of 23 as he
comes up from Cambridge at the sum-
mons of his solicitor, to be told for the first
time about his family and his fortune.
"Well built, well dressed and pre-eminently
slean looking. even for class so proverb-
ably clean as that to which he belongs,
there was about Ivor Clay already a touch
Of that distinction which differentiates one
man literally from among thousands of his
feilows-a touch, in truth, of that quality
which leads the observer Of character to
unhesitatingly predict that its possessor
may one day do great things. Apart from
this, Ivor Clay looked what he was-a
young English gentleman, who has been
content to take life very much as he
found it,"
This young gentleman learned from his
fathers old lawyer that though he had
now come into the fortune of the old Earl
Of Sithrington, he was not 70 have the
title, for that belonged to younger son
Of his father, now at Eton. There was
much of mystery, and not a little of shame,
attached to the family history, and the
main burden of this Ivor Clay was to bear
through life. with his three thousand
pounds year. his fine education and his
tremendous pride and ambition.
And what he does makes up strong and
stirring story. engagingly told. and which
can be commended as book that will hold
the readers attention clear to its happy
ending, when was learned over again the
old truth that love is the touchstone of
life.
A SON OF THE OLD DOMINION. BY
Mrs. Burton Harrison. Lamson, Wolfe
& Co. For sale by Stoll & Thayer.
Here Is volume that is in all ways at
tractive and will be popular. The scenes
are laid at the period when strife with the
Indians was at its worst. and when hatred
OF the king was ripening into open revolt.
Mrs. Harrison is native of Virginia we
believe. and knows her theme well. Per-
haps she has crowded too much history
Into her romance and overbalanced the
dramatic element. This is the thought
that will come into the readers mind at
once. after arising from a careful reading
Of the book, but 1t is interesting history,
and the tone throughout is clean and strong
and it is easily the best of Mrs. Harrison's
novels.
The account Of the old hospitality, the
games. the rude means of life
for ordinary folk and the grandeur of a