The times., 1898-12-04

On.
are SO numerous that 1t Is hardly fair to
expect any one bOtandst to know them
ALL and Mr.. Torrey makes no claim to
being an erudite scientist. His province
Is that of making botany and ornithology
fascinating to people who are not scien-
lists. and in this he succeeds admirably.
"A World of Green Hills may be put on
the same shelf with the works of Bus
roughs, Olive Thorne Miller. Thoreau,
and other charming writer's Of the ways
of nature Boston: Houghton Miffiin &
Co. Washington: Ballantyne.)
"Do-Nothing Days" by Charles NJ
that of Mr.. Torrey, and of somewhat the
same character. 1t is not composed en-
| tirely of essays on nature. but the ma
jority of the chapters deal with birds,
flowers and atmosphere. 1t is not scien-
| tific in the least, burt makes some small
pretensions to being philosophical The
| writer seems TO have absorbed some OF
| the thought of the Concord transcendeut-
alists, some of Thoreau's nature-worship
| and some of the whimsical humor of Je-
rome jerome. and he mikes them all up
| together In way that makes good read
ing for an idle hour. and is healthy and
refreshing in tone. The book affects one
like the desultory talk of n very bright
| and unconventional man. The text of
the book is on the very first page:
Americans ought to have a wholesome laziness
| preached to them, after three centuries of
ing TO gain and work. and several patriotic citi-
Zens make examples of themselves. for the pub
| lie benefit. by refrzining from toll. should not
wonder II could learn to be one mysef
Every page eonlaips some bit OF humor
or some careless epigran. dropped BY the
wayside. as it were just as it happe 1ei
to fall into shape. Here are a few Of
them:
You know people, I'll be bound who would
tie pink ribbons to the clouds. IL they could. and
pin tides TO the breakers. Then they would say,
There. Now they're worth locking at"
| II Socrates had lived at the Pirseus ard had
been obliged 10 catch the stage for Athens every,
morning and If Plato had bolte,i his steak while
| watching his clepsydra to that he was not
late at the oiice, we should have had two phoso-
piers the less.
In church yards often fancy that I read
between the lines OF praisetn < ayestones. state
menis like this: '.JoEEs Mudgeon wanted to he
a millionaire. Coudn't so here he is
II you lack woodcraft, maybe you think that
animals lack streetcraft. Humph, Ever try to
lose cat?
A habit contracted early in life o, not having
money enough has stuck by me ever since.
There is an essay on the Great Ameri-
can Desert which contains passage
worth quoting. though 1t may not be
new. 1t is the information pIacarded in
a hotel In one of the Western States. The
hotel had two rooms. one the Office and
one the guest chamber. The pIacard read
in part follows:
Corner front ro.ms up onl; one fight. for
every guct. Baths. gas hot and cold watc teie-
graph. restaurant. fire alarm. barroom, billiard
table. daily papers coupe. sewing machine, and
grand piano in every room. Meals every minute.
Walters OF any nationality and colo desired
Washing allowed in rccms. and ladies
giving order to Put ne a iatiron'' viii
be put one. \ discreet waiter who b5,ongs to
the Mascns, Knights OF Pythias and was never
known to even tell the time. has been employed
to carry milk punches a ladies' The
Office clerk play poker. match worsteds.
shake for drinks. play billiards. waltz. ainuse
children, frt. forty people in the best
room. and answer questions in Hebrew, Greek.
/ Choctaw, or Irish.
These extracts indicate fairly well the
quality of the whimsical and rather flip
pant hurno. OF tine book. What the au-
thor can do in the line of serious writing
may be shown in this paragraph:
Tie day Is fright and sweet, and the air. as
we'll as the earth, is teeming. Look! Here is a
fellow that you know. Ycu have already met
this beeike fly who stands in the air before you
and irspects your buttons wondering which OF
them has honey. He is TO Of the mira
Giles How does he do it? He stays in one spot.
not GdyaEcing CT recedins, rising or falling. an
inch; his wings going 50 fast that they are merely
tufts OF fog. Yet so soon as he wants to go some
where, the same force that holds him suspended
sends him off like shot. lie Is OF the sud
deneSt creatures that ever was Birds. except
, the humming bird, cannct do this. They can
open their wings and slide sublimely-eagies can
up against head wind. bat they cannot remain in
| the air in place. AS TO men-poohl Where is
the acrobat who will run thirty steps second and
keep on exactly the same bit of fopr? Where is
the Skinner who will make neither headHsy nnr
leeway with like frsrny of action. But this
NJ is in no frenzy. He is a calm youth in spite
| hl has .flt
! Probably he has evolved this knack of running
with all his might and sticking one spot Will,
he Is doing it. as result Of having been trapped
in the juice Of flowers. By standing in the all
Iust outside he drink the wing.
And this:
Art has this advantage over nature. that hard
ly anybody cares to measure it, weigh il, test il
for acids and alkalies pull it TO pieces TO Sc,
what it is made Of Live with nature and love it
: as il il wee art. Can't youg Exact knowledg,
is good background, but it is sympathy tina
makes subject live. Take your opera glas
with you to the roof, and your eyes, too, but d.
a Night the housetop frees the way to soli
tude that can be terrifying; and as your mini
swins away through the star-frosied deeps, yo,
: check Il. and again. with a gasp and brin.
it back to earth, just as You clutch the shrub
: berry when YOU look down into Western canon
lest your body make excursions to the bottom
: likewise. This earth is a bubble OF cooling law
e circiinS its parent sun; the is one luuiiuou
I drop in 4 tood of suns that see as the Milg,
Way; that, again, is but episode in the uri
thinkable yastnesses that extend beyond be
neath around it. What then, are we? But b
calm, Nature is 50. BE at one with it, In tn
I multitude of lights out there not one is vary
:. ing nom its course, net falters or hastens
: seldom does brighten or grow dull; therefor
: know that We sheltered and saved BY law
that We parts of an infinite order: and W
:, dream that somewhere in the universe who's
sun-clouds roll about the throne of it, dwell
e Mind.
This book is not book that one care
to read more than once unless it be t
> read 1t aloud to friend II is a book T.
read in scraps to a friendly circle, in tn
=. long winter evenings or the drowsy sum
= mer afternoon. 1t Is delightful for occa
:, sional nibbles, and the very unevennes
of the authors style gives it a certai
piquancy. One never knows whether h
is going to be fiippant or bright. poetic O
merely commonplace. On the whole tn
brightness outweighs the commonplace
d ness. philadelphia: j. B. Lippinco,
= Company
Minor Fiction
A phantom in a frog pond who after
wards materializes as the heroine of tn
story and marries the hero; a collectio
Of wild beasts floating in deserted shi
- in mid-ocean under the command of a