The herald., 1897-03-21


In lands where night and twilight meet.
When the last dawns are fall'n on gray
And all life's tolls and ease complete.
They know who work. nor they who pay
II rest Is sweet.
The great poet shall be he who shall
convert theology to the world that God
has made, whose soul shall be the com
ing of the world to the truth that the
ology was for. calling to us. poets and
men heroes and children dreamers and
doers all alike, out Of the Shadow where
a man once died, with a heart for hui
manity that was great enough to leave
broken song upon the earth--a song
which can only be finished as the gen.
erations come and pass by those whose
voices hesitate, whose lives and dreams
are ofttimes silenced as they go through
Sorrow as fAautiful as JOY.
GERALD STANLEY LEE
1t Is of the greatest Importance to 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 litera-
of your own. with a spring and lake in
1t, pure and good.-Ruskin.
There is an uncertainty about half
Informed people; you cannot count on
them. You cannot tell what their way
of thinking may be. They vary from
day to day. perhaps. with the last book
they have read.--Mill.
The motto Mr.. Moody is most fond Of
runs as follows:
"For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
Do all the good you can,
To all the people you can.
In all the ways you can,
AS long as ever you cam.
OPALS FROM A MEXICAN MINE.
BY George De Valliere. New York:
New Amsterdam Book Company. ST.
The stories comprised In this hand
some volume are five In number the
most satisfying of which Is "Cosmopoli-
tana Mexicana," which deals WITH or
rather treats of. some social phases of
life in our sister republic. The spirit of
the literature limited at In the volume is
one of mystery. Now opals are the
tears shed by Tonatiuh, the sun god,
many ages ago. and which fell upon the
earth and lodged In its bosom, turnin g
to Jewels" Hence 1t is important to
know the virtues and portents OF these
stones, says the legend from which we
have quoted above. which legend Is
given as preface to the volume.
Mystery, dreams and magic mark
every page of the book. Some rarely
eloquent descriptive passages and brill
liant flashes Of wit are found; while
there is, all through the volume, a
most romantic and almost feverish
charm of story telling. 1t is not an un-
wholesome literary style nor is
there anything revolving In the
weirdness of the stories; but
there is something oppressive in
their half-hidden meaning which the
reader feels all the way through.
The most picturesque sketch is THE
Vision of Don Juan on the Piedra de
los Angeles" 1t is the legend of the
Angel Rock, wherein Is told how any
one who chances to fall asleep there
at night never wakens. At the head of
all the chapters is some saying relating
to the significance of the opal, like this
one. quoted In connection with the
above legend: 'If a man take into his
hand one that is yellow, changing into
cloud-like gray, and sleep, he Will have
strange dreams.
Altogether this book Is Well worth
reading and keeping.
A MINION OF THE MOON. By ]. w.
speight, author of by Devious
Ways." 1.-The Heart of a. Mystery"
etc. New Amsterdam Book Com
pany.
They who have read the preceding
stories by this author will read this, ana
eagerly too. for 1t is full of invention
and incident, and the most important
portions OF it are illustrated by very ex-
cellent pictures. There is freedom and
dash In the maner of telling the story
that the hardened" novel reader en-
joys. We cannot elaborate 1t here and
now. but leave it to the reader to COM
pare 1t with former productions by the
same author. We may say, however.
that there Is a dashing highwayman OF
the old school, and also lovely Nell Boy
nard, who is healthy English girl, who
came of a healthy stock. ''She was G
warmhearted. -blooded creature.
somewhat too impulsive, perhaps"-bu
then.
A PINCHBECK GODDESS. BY Mrs.
J.. M. Fleming (Alice M. Kipling).
d. Appleton & Co.
This Is another of the readable vol
umes of the Town and Country Library
series, and will excite much curious in
terest amongst readers of fiction, who
will want to know what another Kiplin.,
can do. The opening scent of the story
II or the deck of a steamer passing
through the Suez canal, and it is strik-
ing scene. Lights and music on the
slowly moving steamship, and "dusky
shapes running heavily along the sandy
shore, calling for aims with shrill per-
sistence-slender muffled forms, with
sharp, shrill voices" Madeline Norton
is the heroine of the story. motherless
girl, no longer young, and who even
now receives a message at the hands of
the kindly captain that her aunt the
only helper of her kindred, has suddenly
died. We leave the reader to follow.
her fortune by himself.
ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS. A
Tale Of the Mutiny BY Flora Annie
Steel. The Macmillan Company.
Here Is novel already made famous
by the praises of the critics, and more
than all. story pitched in Kipling's s
key, and dealing with India more boldly
than any modern story teller has done
At the very outset we wish to note an
objection. The title is far-fetched. When
the native of India was asked how the
great mutiny came about. he answered /:
God knows! He sent a breath into the
world" This saying Is the genesis Of
the title of Mrs. SteePs story, and ii is
rot easy to see exactly how she made It
out. "A Breath Upon the Waters''
would have been equally logical and
more practical.
And there is a further awkwardness
that cannot be approved. The volume
is not only hard reading. requiring the
utmost tboroughness and alertress to
keep one's hold Of the narrative, but por-
t!ons Of It. like part first. for instance.
seem needlessly involved and trying.
But when one gets into the full swing