The times., 1898-08-14

france has just celebrated the centenary
of the birth of Jules Michelet, the his
| torian. In one respect this celebration is
absolutely unique. 1t was largely ar
ranged by the historians widow, who is
not by any means centenarian herself.
The September number of the Critic will
| w. M. Sloane, of Columbia University,
the historian of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Prof. Sloane was described by Taine as a
| foreigner who knew more about France
than any other he had ever met. The ar
| ticle will be accompanied by portraits of
! Michelet and his wife.
One of the biggest jobs of house-clean-
ing ever undertaken is now in progress in
Chicago. 1t is the cleaning of the New
| berry library. Anyone who has ever had
the care of books knows that they can
| collect dust faster than almost any other
article of household use. There are 20o.-
600 volumes in this library, and the task
is truly appalling. 1t was finally decided
to close the library for two weeks in or
der TO facilitate the process, and so far
as known this Is the first instance of the
closing of so large a library for house
cleaning purposes. The dustng is all done
by the lanitor force, and all the librarians
are off duty. The busters were manufac-
tured for the occasion, and are made of
! the softest material, and in shape some
| thing like a swamp cat-tail. Soft cloths
| are also used to wipe the covers of the
| books, and no shaking or opening and
| shutting of books to remove dust from
| between the leaves is permitted OF
| course, the books are busted from time
to time throughout the year, but in a
| city as thoroughly devoted to soft coal
and other dust-producing substances as
Chicago. something more than this is re-
| quired.
| NJ. F. Mansfield & Co. announce among
| their Autumn books a story called THE
| Typewriter Girl by Mrs. Olive Pratt
| Rayner. 1t is a story of literary life in
| London, and should prove of interest not
/ only to the American typewriter girl,
who is a considerable audience in herself,
/ but to other people.
In the near future several interesting
papers on the extension of our colonial
/ possessions will appear in the Atlantic.
| Ex-Secretary Olney has written a paper
4 on THE Empire Extension of the United
States" and an article on 1.-The Vivisec-
tion of China" by Elisee Reclus. has
been secured. The latter viii show how
the French look upon the new foreign re-
| lations of the United States.
| Gertrude Hall. whose clever book of
| short stories, The Hundred has just
! appeared, has made a translation of Ed
| mond Rostaud's romantic historical
| drama in verse, "Cyrano de Bergerac."
| The translation will be published by the
Doubleday & Mcclure Company.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
! have in preparation sumptuous volume
| on the artist Gainsborough, prepared by
| Walter Armstrong, of the British muse
um. II is 10 be illustrated with siXty-eight
| full-page pictures, of which thirty-six
will be photographers and twelve will be
colored lithograph facsimilies, reduced, OF
Gainsborough's paintings.
The Frederick A. Stokes Company, New
| York will bring out early in the fall "Au-
Photographic "reminiscences of Henry
| Ward Beecher," by J. T. Ellinwood, who
Beecher's sermons. In this capacity he
| was closely associated with the gre.
preacher, and his book Will present Mr..
Beecher's thoughts on many themes in
his own words.
Longmans. Green & Co, New York,
have in press 'Sir benjamin Collins Bro
die" by Dr. Timothy Holmes, being an
addition TO their Masters of Medicine"
| series. They announce also a new book
| by Andrew Lang, entitled, 1.-The Compan-
ion of Pickle-Being a Sequel to Pickle
the Spy" a work brought out by Ger
tain criticisms of the earlier work. They
have just published Problems of Modern
| Industry collection of essays on most
timely themes, by Mr.. and Mrs. Sidney
Webb.
The Frederick A. Stokes Company; New
York, has in press the Letters of Dean
Swift" edited by George Birkbeck Hill
'-Tekla," a novel by Robert Barr; THE
Ashes of Empire by Robert w. Cham
| bers; "John Ship Mariner by Knarf Ell
Twas; 1.-The Town Traveller" by George
Gissing; 1.-The Letter and the Spirit by
| Cora Griffin; Companion to Many Car
goes" by w. w. Jacobs; "Grace O'Mal-
| ley" by Robert Machray, and THE De-
| stroyer," by Benjamin Swift
M. F. Mansfield & Co. will publish in
| the near future THE Intervention of the
| Duke" by Miss l.. Allen Harker, a young
lady whose talent is vouched for by w.
| E. Henley.
The Turkish woman is coming into line
| as an author. The first volume of poetry
written by any woman of the Sultan's
| kingdom has just made its appearance.
The volume, called "Esffus," which means
"sighs,' has excited much comment
among the male followers of Mohammed.
| The woman who wrote the book is called
| Nygiar Hanum. Her father, a Hungari-
| an by birth, fed after the revolution of
| 1S4S to the Orient, with many of his coun-
| trymen. He embraced the faith of Is
| lam married a Turkish woman, and,
under the name of Osman Pasha, he be-
| came a teacher of foreign languages at
the military academy of Galata-Serail
| At the age of eleven years his daughter
| Nygiar, was married to high dignitary
When her third child was born she was
but nineteen, and at that age she was
| forsaken by and soon after divorced from
| her husband.
Thomas Hardy is at work on a new
| novel which is heralded as highly respect
| able Mr.. Hardy has reformed He is not
| going to be naughty any more. No more
| Tess" no more Jude the Obscene
| that is the way 1t really ought to be
| spelled. It would be unkind, and also
unrighteous, to suggest to Mr. Hardy that
his return to virtue is likely to be fol-
| lowed by falling off in his receipts but
| people of hard common sense will prob
ably tell him so. The world is hard on the
| reformed author.
In a recent number of the Critic it was
| charged that the greenness, the sappi-
ness, not to say the sap-headedness OF
our still new and verdant West was