The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-19
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

| can history. A capital one is The Boys
OF Fort Schuyler, by James Otis, author
of Toby Tyler, Jerry's Family, etc., etc.
Mr.. Otis is an old favorite with Juvenile
readers and knows just how to meet their
tastes. He gives them, in this handsome
illustrated volume lively account of
the siege of Fort Schuyler in 1777, the
British troops under Col. St. Leger, and
the Indians headed by Joseph Brant
chief of the Five Nations. Boys are al
ways greatly excited over gallantry and
courage in older boys, and will especially
delight in Peter Kirkland's disguise as
an Indian, and the success of his ruse.
Boston: Estes Sc Lauriat; Portland:
Loring. Short & Harmon. Price 81. 25. J
From the same publishers weshaye Under
the Cuban Flag, or The Casiques Treas
ure, by Fred A. Ober, author of Travels
in Mexico, The Silver City, etc., etc.
illustrated; price $l.50.) The Signal
Boys of rs, by James Otis, A Tale of
Boston During the Siege. ILLUSTRATED;
price IS cents And The Lord of Love-
dale A Story of the Sixteenth Century,
by r. d. Chetwode, author of The Mar
BILE City, and The Fortune of the Quiten-
tuns. ILLUSTRATED by G. Granville Man
ton; price $780,
Under the Cuban Flag is noted for the
fact that it is up to date in Cuban affairs
and that is rare in these days of in
surrect1on and oppression. The author
of this book knows his ground thorough
ly and has made Of his material stir
ring and exciting boys book. The party
visiting the Island in the midst of in
tense activity amongst the insurgents,
consists of "a naturalist bent upon
search for plants, fossils and bugs"
military instructor from college in the
States" and a Yankee traveller bound
to make money out of the expedition.
Maceo, Gomez, Weyler-the familiar actors
in the drama of Cuba libre are here; and
various threads of romance and adventure
making stories as they go, run through
the text and then weave themselves into
a unified whole. Don Carlos and the hid
den treasure will draw boy readers with a
magnet like attrac ton.
Mr.. Otis's The Signal Boys of rs be-
longs to series which have met with a
hearty welcome. It deals with an episode
during the siege of Boston, where brave
lads managed a series of signals from
church steeples to give information to the
enemy and to oonfound the British in
their plan Of action. In those days, as to
certain extent in our Civil War, boys
under age were in the thick of the war
fare, and the Three Signal Boys of this
story will live in the hearts of their later
friends who may read about them. The
book has numerous and excellent illus.
trations by l.. J. Bridgman.
The Lord of Lowedale is also a tale of
war and love and adventure, and has to
do with the fortunes of an English youth
in France during the reign of Charles the
Ninth and the Huguenot massaores.
Entrusted with a ring which shall COM
mend him to the protection of one Count
de Roche, young Cuthbert Lowedale
journeyed to Paris, there to take service
with the Count Evarise in fealty to the
Duke of Anjou. Then follows romance
and fair ladies, political intrigue and
royal conspiracies. The narrative Is we'll
handled and has the incident and the
trappings with which to capture the fam
cy of boys and lead them in imagination
into scenes of glory and renown.
Ii it were the function of history to re-
late only the doings of monarchs, the
story of France under Louis XIV, would
be miserable and disgusting story.
Few mora I1nvorthv ,,,onorab, ox,o,, ,,oo,,
pied throne. He had more than all the
vices OF Louis XIV, with none of that
monarch's will or industry or pride A
rigid, senseless and time court
etiquette held him in it's iron grip. while
he fr1ttered away his life in ceremonies
and designations. But history is more
than the recital of the petty dolngs of
such men; and James Brock Perkins has
demonstrated it in his two-volume his
tory of France under Louis XIV. He has
studied the development OF the French
people in that time, the fading away of
the old landmarks to make way for the
unknown ones which the Revolution was
to erect. And although weak sovereign
occupied the throne of France there were
great ana interesting characters on the
stage, where L vi weakly strutted.
There was the great frederick in
Prussia, the great Pitt in England. and
the great Maria Theresa in Austria.
Aroud these powerful characters great
political changes conferred. The partition
of Poland is an example of the produc-
tiveness OF this period in important
events Moreover, it was the age of Vol
taire, Rousseau, Button and the ENJOY
clopaedia. The intrigues of princes and
ministers were not the only form of life
in that age Of awakening. By his jul
dicious and painstaking study of all the
life of the time Mr.. Perkins has made a