The times., 1898-12-25

serves his queen The book is skillfully
Illustrated by r. Cation Woodyi.se. New
York: Harper &c Bros.)
Minor Friction.
Latitude 190,' by Mrs. Schuyler Crown
lnshie.d. IS supposed to be tale of ad-.
venture in West Indian waters. The au-
thor has written one book about these re-
gons. which has been received with in
terest, and 1t seems to have embroidered
ture novels of the early days of the cen
tury which have deiuged the market of
late. II is to be hoped that she will never
try to do anything of the sort again. One
of her critics naiyely remarks that IL she
had left out the improbable adventures
and uninteresting characters, with their
inappropriate conversations. she would
have made the book readable. But In that
case there would have been no book TO
read.
ship with the highly original title.
Yankee Blade is sailing along the Hal
ten coast. The captain. of course. has
with him his niece. Cynthia. there being
no easier way 10 provide heroine fer the
tale. He sees some pirates and runs the
ship on a rock as the easiest way out of
the difficulty. while as none of the men
see fit to fire on the pirates, the incorrig
ible Cynthia edges up ito a cannon when
nobody Is looking and fires 1t OF herself.
The captain. his niece, the mate. Hiram
Jones lin love with Cynthia) and the crew.
then 20 ashore. and In the next chapter
dusky native maiden is picked up as
chaperon and maid; for Cynthia. and a
cave provided as n refuge for the whole
party. who are subsequently occupied from
time TO time in seeing snakes There is an
attempt to describe the Ceremonies of he
yoodoe order. but the author evidently
has an attack of timidity in the middle
and decides to stop. IL might be supposed
that in n country anything but friendly.
among pirates. savages, snakes. and reyo-
lutionists. this small party OF white peo-
pie would follow the example of Uncle
| Remus' rabbit. and lie low, but instead
of that they 30 polling about in broad
daylight, or after dark, without regard
TO any other inhabitants of the region,
and get themselves into one scrape after
another with ali Irresponsible and subj me
Indifference. Whenever there is any espe-
cial need of Il new adventure Miss Gym
thia Is seized with a desire for a drink of
| water. and the men of the party imme-
diately imperil their lives to get II for her
1t is difficult TO surmise what would have
| become OF this company of babes in the
wood If an intelligent savage by the name
| tuted himself their guardian angel, out of
pure kindness. Owing to Zalee, and his
sister Lacelle, the dusky duenna above
mentioned, the strangers are piloted
| through their difficulties In safety. and
when they finally take their departure for
their own land these two gentle souls de-
| eide TO go with them. ostensibly as SER
wants, but really, one may suppose, as
| protectors. They might have been excused
| I'm h.Ii Inf tta, a. At
eye on Miss Cynthia and her remarkable
retinue the whole party would stray out
in the rain and catch pneumonia and then
wonder why they were so wet and cold.
New York: D. Appleton & Coz
John Ship. Mariner is the story of an
Engiishman who. after series of adyen-
lures. is cast ashore on the Farce Islands
together with his mortal enemy. a Span
lard called Alameda. There is already on
the islands an English girl named Kath-
crime Evans, and the natural sequence
| of events is that she and John Ship far
in love with one another, and that Ala.
media does not like 1t. This leads to some
thrilling incidents. On one occasion the
| Englishman is set aiioat in the sea- fas-
tened to a cask with small holes bored
of his enemy: on another he agrees to
fight Alameda unarmed and the Spaniard
attacks him with a knife. After all the
adventures are over and the Spaniard dis
posed of there Is, of course. a wedding
and John Ship goes home to his people
to till the soil and be a quiet and honoret
member of society in the early part OF
the seventeenth century. The book is tht
work of Knarf Elivas and both plot and
characters are well worked out. while the
sea air breathes through every line of The
story New York: Frederick A. Stoke:
Company
Zenaide A. Ragozin. in "seigfried and
4 Beowulf,'' one of a series of Tales Of
the Heroic Ages" has presented thes'
two mystical characters. the first th'
hero of the North, and the other thai
of the Anglo-Saxons. The book is writ
/ ten for children but may prove accept
able to older persons also. A ple1 fol
fairy tales is presented In the prefac,
and many instances Of their usefulness
are cited. Stories OF, the Imaginary char
acters known in art and literature will
always interest and. instruct children. L
presented in an attractive form. The
language used in the two stories contain
ed in this book is quaint, and the dia
logue has been keptI as nearly as posi-
Bile to that in the original poems. there
by keeping the freshness and intensit,
4 so well calculated to interest children
| The story of each hero Is followed by ;
s brief historical and critical notice, writ
ten for the benefit of the teachers win
may use the book for lschool-room pur
poses. New York; c. p. Putnam
: Sons. Washington: Woodward G. Lo
throp) Is
A collection of fifteen short stories o
slightly varying merit, by Mary Trac.
Earle is printed under the title of tn
first one of the books, 1.-THE Man WI
Worked for Collister." Many of the tale
have for their setting the picturesque re
gion of Southern Louisiana, and the char
acters IN these are Creoles. Others tell o
the gloomy mountain regions of tn
= Southern States, and depict in all thei
baroness the lives of the ignorant noun
taineers. Boston: Copeland & Day.
Among the holiday publications of r
n H. Russell & Co. are d series OF colo
prints, by Pamela Coiman Smith. on
called Recess" depicting children a
play, the others illustrating some passag
lin literature. One Illustrates a quotatio
from Macbeth second is a scene q
ft.Twelfth Night merry-making, a thir
deals with the childhood of Christ, and
a fourth illustrates The Land of Heart
1 <~l<l Hrx1ix