The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-01-26

O0me New DOCKS
and Magazines
m EADERS of "Quo Vadis" and es-
ILU pecially those who have read
I'M Henryk SienkewicZs greatest
LII III works, the three novels treating
of the Polish liberty wars, will be
much interested,in the volume of short
stories now offered by Sienkiewicz's au-
thorized American publishers, Little,
Brown & CO.. of Bost IN. Under the citle
"Hana," derived from the opening
story, we have in this volume a group
ing of eleven shorter efforts by this won-
derful Polish novelist, written at differ
ent periods in his varied career and of
uneven merit, but all showing forth in
some degree the remarkable Nirlllty,
livid piCturesqueness and vital grasp on
the fundamentals of human character
and emotion which have made his more
pretentious writing unique among their
class. The atmosphere of these brief
stores, these charcoal sketches" as the
author himself calls one of them, is as
foreign to the experience and comnre-
hension of the ordinary American as 1t
is possible to imagine an atmosphere to
be; and with due respect TO Polish his
toward which comparatively few Ameri-
cans undergo a natural gravitation. Per-
haps of no country in Europe are our
people SO ignorant and toward none so
Indifferent as they are concerning the
racia, beginnings and the tragic history
of Poland that was. Yet SienKiewicz
takes his readers into the thick of this
alien environment and by the sheer force
of his powerful genius lights it up with
fascnations which are irresistible. lie
combines with the function of the his
torian that of the artist whose creations,
transcending time and place, are world
wide in human interest and therefore
immortal. We can imagine the difficult
ties that must have beset the translator
of these. stories. Jeremiah Curtin. but it
must be said for Mr.. Curtin that they
have not kept him from putting into ado
quate English as much of The Polish au-
thor's force and fire as it is possible to
| convey from "A language like the Polish
to one so dissimilar as our own.
An exceedingly interesting paper in the
February Cosmopolitan is that by Col
one Waring, New Yorks former street
commissioner, on the utilization of city
garbage. showing how modern science is
reclaiming much of the refuse matter
that was once net loss. This number
contains also the beginning paper in a
Selection Of Ones Life Work" Pres-
dent Andrews opens the discussion with
a kind of birds eye review of the ad-
VantaReS and disadvantages of each pro-
| fession. Here is his cheerful estimate CT
the newspaper mans vocation: Jour
nalism is the profession which one least
likes to RpcOmmCnd a young man to un-
dertake. Being approached for advice.
| YOU always hope that the applicant, If
| he tries newspaper work. will rise above
| the position of a mere drudge-reporter,
while you can rarely ii ever be sure that
| he will climb high enough to lie indie
pendent The business of gathering news
| Is respectable ard very useful, and there
| Is no reason why one engaged in II
should not perfectly maintain his honor.
| The same is true of editorial or high
| class journalistic writing, in which one
| is permitted TO speak his mind. But be-
| tween these two sorts of journalistic
| functionaries there is third most un-
| cnviable type. We refer to the writers
who, to retain their situations, must ev-
| cry now and then defend doings and
policies which they abhor. In every oc-
| cupation "a subordination often painfully
| near to humiliation will at times be found
| necessary till you show yourself a mas
| ter in the business and mount toward
| the top, But such servitude is believed to
| be nowhere else SO complete as in the
1
Because DR.. Andrews won his battle for
| liberty of opinion he should not look
down on those who have not his ability
| and facilities for resisting the fetters of
prejudice and custom.
| Several portraits of the new monarch
| of Greater New York, Richard Croker,
together with an apotheosis by Alfred
| Henry Lewis, attract attention in the
| February issue of Blakely Halls Metro
politan magazine. The character which
| Mr.. Lewis gives to Mr.. Croker is that
| of a simple, plain hammered, quiet man,
| who never neglects a promise, forgets a
| friend or let's up on an enemy. In his
| fights he is Unsuitable and implacable, but
in his friendships he is loyalty and iidel-
| ity itself. Mr.. Lewis gives the true rea-
| son of Cookers sudden return to the
| leadership of Tammany last year. When
| he installed Sheehan in his place as the
ruling divinity of Tanmany and went to
| England to race his horses against those
| of Is Royal 'Ighness, the Prince of
| Wales, Croker meant, so Mr. Lewis says.
| to retire for good. But when ne learned
| conclusively that Sheehan was using this
| delegated authority chiefly for the pur-
| pose of "doing" Mr.. Croker's friends.
that worthy Immediately donned war
| paint, booked a passage for New York
| and treated Colonel Sheehan to a swift
| illustration of a Croker throw down.
| Croker, says Lewis, will in 1903 succeed
| Thomas c. Platt as a senator at WASH
| ington representing the greatest state
i'm the Union. But this, we take it, is not
| official.
The last issue Of the New York Reform
clubs valuable quarterly, Municipal Az
| fairs contained a learned and expert
| discussion of the question whether IL is
desirable for municipalities to own and
| operate their own lighting plants. This
was agued pro and con and the progress
of the debate will be instructive TO all
| who seek information on this point; but
| the article I'm this issue which Is most
| likely TO interest the casual reader s
| contributed by Colonel Waring. who I'M
| dertakes to say what kind of a 'ity
| Greater New York will be a century
hence. He predicts, among other things,
a population of 2O0OO,00O, spread out over
| all the adjoining territory, with Man
| haitian and Staten Islands given over
| wholly to business interests, the resi-
| dence portion comprising the beautiful
| ridge on the west of the Hudson. all the
| northeastern portion of New Jersey, as
well as the upper portion OF Westchester
| county and the whole of Long Islard.
| This enormous city will Use Il water
| over and over again, filters In Zach house c
| purifying all the waste water so it can
| be'op more used for drinking and cook