The times., 1898-12-02

| The feature of McClure's for December
is the much-heralded first story of the
| Stalky series, and bears the name OF that
frankly barbaric but amusing young gen
tleman. Most men and all boys Will
| agree as to the stalkiness of Stalky. The
| Night After San Juan is paper ot
vivid interest by Stephen BonsaL An
1 Engineers Christmas Story is a tale
/ of the road by John a. HILL Hunting
| on Elephants is a chronicle of the ex-
periences of a famous hunter of big game,
Peter Burgess. The paper is written by
| Cleveland Moffett, and illustrated from
photographs taken by Mr.. Burges. Run
| ming Trains by Telegraph is more rail-
| road literature by Capt. Jasper Ewing
| Brady. A quaintly-illustrated story Is
| Miracle Joyeux,' by Frank Norris. A
| Tiger of the Tea Gardens is clever
| story by a new writer of Oriental life,
w a. Fraser. Five Hundred Years Of
the Anglo-Saxon," by George B. Waldron,
| contains some interesting statistics
The Century for December ought not TO
be read hastily. for there would be dan
ger of missing something valuable. Per-
haps the articles which will attract most
| attention are Capt. Sigsbee's account Of
the explosion of the Maine, and Lieut..
1
| Merrimac. THE Passing of Cat Alley
| is a characteristic paper on New York
| tenement life, by Jacob 4. Riis- To many
people a paper by S. d. ColIingwood will
be the most delightful thing in the maga-
zine 1t is entitled, Some of Lewis Car
rolls Child Friends" and contains up
published letters by the Wonderland ma
gician. with some "reminiscences of his
words and ways with children. There is
vafR ~
the original Alice as she appeared when
the marvellous tale came into being The
| story by Stockton, "The Vizier of the
| Two-Horned Alexander is concluded in
| this number, and the second installment
| of F. Marion Crawford's romance Via
| Crucis'' also appears. The prize poem in
| the Century's college competition is an
other feature Of the issue. 1t is by Anna
| Hampstead Branch and is entitled The
| Road 'Twixt Heaven and He'll" stir
| ring poem by Helen Gray Cone is called
| The Ballad of Calnan's Christmas and
| Ruth McEnery Stuart contributes
story, Uncle Riah's Christmas Eve
| illustrated most delightfully."- by Edward
| Potthast Other poems are ITO a Mag
! nolia Flower In the Garden of the Arrne-
! nian Convent at Venice" by S. Weir
| Mitchell, and IF l Remember YOU by
| Sarah Piatt. 1t should be noted that the
! pictures by A Castaigne, illustrating
1 Wheeler's Alexander the Great are
among the best things he has ever done.
| The Cosmopolitan for December con-
| tains short stories by well known au-
| thors They are: "a Woman's Hand"
| by Grant Allen; "The Retirement of Sig
nor Lambert" by Conan Doyle; THE
| Mule" by Henry Seton Merriman: THE
| Woof of Thin Red Threads" by Stephen
| Crane In addition to these are two pa
pers on the precise meaning of the word
gentleman, by John Brisben Walker and
| Julian Ralph; a sketch of "Gelsha Girls
| by the popular little singer. Alice Nielsen.
and a number of other articles of especial
| interest.
| The Christmas number of the Bookman
| is packed with information interesting to
| the literary world. Besides some unusG-
| ally fascinating pages of anecdote and
| comment, 1t contains a brief but exqui-
! site poem by Paul Kester, two poems by
| Paul Laurence Dunbar, with review of
| his new book "The Uncalled: "A
| Christmas Silhouette by Katharine
Pearson Woods; Thackeray discovery
called king Glumpus," an interlude in
one act, Illustrated by the great man him
self: and article on Historical Novels
Past and Present" by Harold Frederic.
and poem by Richard Hovey. entitled
| ""The Last Love OF Gawaine." There are
many other interesting things in this
number. but the reader must delve for
himself TO find them all.