The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-05
BOOKS
@ OF THE HOUR.

at all likely to give Miss Reppliers dis
injecting common sense a chance to
blow upon their idols.
Very clever is the essay called 1.-THE
Eternal Feminine" in which the writ
er summons to her aid the new
women of every age since the garden
Of Eden to prove that she is by no
means a product of the nineteenth CEN
ury, and incidentally discovers that 1T
is always the eat-grandmothers IN
whom is embodied the last meritorious-
ness Of the sex; always the great
grandmothers for whom is cherished
this pensive masculine regard" Fol
lowing this trail far enough, it is quite
easy to prove that "the proud, idle
flirts of a past. day have become our
virtuous Observation-Disclosures and occu-
by the same shadowy pedestal OF In
dustrious domesticity. And, by
the same token, it is encouraging to
think that, in the years to come, we,
too, shall figure as lost examples or
distinctly feminine traits; we, too, shall
be praised for our sewing and our
silence. our lack of learning and our
stay -at-homeativeness.
(''Veria" by Agnes Repplier. Houghton,
Mifflin G. Co., Boston. $1.25. For sale by
the St. Paul Book and Stationery company
Mr.. Poultney Bigelow writes that it
was much against his will that he &C
cepted the offer made by Messrs. Har-
per e. Bros. to proceed to South At
RIGA and write his impressions
impressions that were afterWard uSed
in serial form in the Harper magazine.
Mr.. Bigelow further remarks that per
hapS he is the only writer on the SUD-
ject who cheerfully admits that ne
knows nothing Of the subject; he
then proceeds to prove in volume Of
considerable size. which he calls
white Mans Africa" that he not
alone knows his ground from personal
observation, but that he is able 10
write convincingly Of his knowledge.
The book is the report of an eye Wit
ness and is journalistic in both point
of view and style, and its merits ana
limitations are those that pertain TO
conscientious and intelligent Work OF
this sort white Mans Africa de-
fines Mr.. Bigelow, lis very sInaH
portion of the Dark continent, stretch
ing from the Cape of Good Hope
for a thousand miles or so northeast
ward along the Indian ocean. AS COM
pared to the whole continent, 1t re
minds one of the thirteen united col
onies of America in 1776. Here is the
New England of Africa, whose enter
prising sons are dOggedly conquer1ng
the wilderness step by step, carrying
with them Christianity and constitu-
tiOnal government.
The result Of Mr.. Bigelow's observa-
lions has led him to the conclusion
that "the future Of South Africa lies
not in the hands of noisy and frothy
filibusters or stock exchange brokers';
nor does it lie with a small section OF
Beers, who still struggle for isolation.
The men who hold the future Of that
country in their hands are men OF
English as we'll as Dutch descent, but
who are no longer subject to one flag
more than the other. They are men
who feel and act as Afrikanders,
whether their farms lie in Natal
or the Cape, the Transvaal or the
Orange State"
("White Mans Africa" by Poultney Bige-
low. Harper & Bros, New York. $500. For
sale by the st. Paul Book and Stationery
company
Mr. Robert Chambers runs the
gamut of all the humors in the seven
stories published under the title Of
1.-THE Mysteries of Choice" From an
Armorican idyl with butterflies and
bloodshed to an American scientific
farce with Thermosaurus and senti-
ment about equally blended. the tales
cover a considerable field. Whatever
his mood-and this word seems best
suited to the character Of his work
Mr.. Chambers can be relied upon for
large supply Of mystery. 1t may be
grave or gay, serious or farcical, but it
is never lacking. Mr.. Chambers mys-
teries are attractive, and though we
may not always regard them with re-
spect or belief, we follow them over
hill and dale as we should a will-o'-the-
wisp and find the chase interesting.