The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-25

ure of the book. Many of them are SO in
geniously devised that they explain at
glance what pages of mere description
could not make clear. They include
scenes from the authors own laboratory,
and from his expeditions, diagrams, es-
pecially invented for this book, and repro
auctions from photographs by Barnard,
Roberts, and others famed in astronomi-
cal photography. The fine colored plates
are a particular feature of the book, one
OF these, the frontispieee, being repro
duction of the color effects as seen by the
author during the total eclipse of 1896 in
Japan.
The Sack of Monte Carlo. By Walter
Firth, author of SIN Search of Quiet, -
etc. New York: Harper Bros. Port
land: Loring, Short s. Harmon.) The
lady, with whom the narrator is In love,
is in reduced circumstances, and he thinks
how good 1t would be to reinstate her
father in his ancestral home. A sudden
fash of inspiration reveals to him that
the necessary 10000. pounds could be OBJ
tanned by raiding Monte Carlo. The
place is unprotected; there would be lit
rle risk: and it is such plague spot that
the enterprise would be in the interests
of morality. Moreover. the doodle"
shall be given to charity; to the repur-
chasing of the estate. for example; the
building of gymnasium for one OF the
party, who keeps a private school; the
paying off of the inconvenient debts of
another, and SO on, with remainder to the
hospitals. These arguments and the at
fractions of the adventure induce six men
to join in, one of them an American,
who goes into the affair with character
istic thoroughness, and supplies most OF
the brains The party proceed to Monte
Carlo, some by rail, others by steam
Yacht, which is noored close in shore to
receive the booty. But they have talked
too freely of their plans, and detective
is on their track Some of the party also
yield TO the seductions of the place, and
the purpose of the expedition comes near
tosbeing abandoned. But the American
hoodwinks the detective and stiffens the
hearts of his followers, and the grand
coup is accomplished. The incidents
are related with amusing seriousness,
and with frequent little flashes Of dry
humor. There is delightful absurdity
in the whole conceit and the way it Is
told, that somewhat reminds one of Mark
Twain.
Ribstone Pippins. BY Maxwell
Gray" miss M. G. Tuttiett), author
of 'sThe Silence of Dean Maitland etc.
New York Harper & Bros. Portland !:
Loring, Short & Harmony This little
book contains ''the short and simple
annals of the poor of countryside in
the south of England. Their spot of earth
is beautiful; with breezy downs, frequent
glirupses of tho sea, and lanes winding
I'D and down between hedges fragrant
with flowers. The air Is strong and
| wholesome; dreamy sunsets close in the
days labor, and the people are children
of the coil. They grow out of it and be-
long to it, like the plants, and are affect
ed in different ways by their surround
| ings. Jacob Hardinge is carter. Nature
speaks to him inarticulately, and hi
character has absorbed her strength, sin
certify, and tenderness. His aims are up
ward, but he is not like bird beating it,
wings against the bars and longing to ii,
| away. AS his character has grown III
and expanded, it has put down its root
still deeper into the soil. His pride is IL
his team of horses; his energy goes out i,
work and song, and his unconscious spir
ituality in love for a village girl whicl
began when the apple-tree was in blossom
and reached it's fruitage with the ripeninl
of the ribstone pippins. Alongside of hin
are other human plants; the Jesse
natured one, which clings close to thu
earth, and takes the spells Of sunshin
and cold as they come, and just grows
the staunch old tree in which the sap i
beginning to run down, and the sapling
that still bends to every wind, but com
mences to feek its strength. There is
glimpse, for contrast, of the town lif
with it's Shower growth, and hint 0
the country plant transplanted.
The Red Bridge Neighborhood.
Novel, by Maria Louise Pool. author o
"In the First Person, "Mrs Gerald,
etc. New York: Harrer IL Bros. Port
land: Loring, Short & Harmon) Th1
is a novel with a New England settin
and just enough local attributes to Civ
it crisp detachment, but involving stud
of types of character which ale of univer
sal application. The main points are:
man who conftlses passion with love an
acts from temperament instead Of pur
pose; another man who acts entire
upon purpose and is material to the core
one woman with moral sense, anothe
withoutit the problem of how much
woman's love can tolerate before it is en-
tirely deadened. Robert Nawn, VIII
works in shoe-faotory, is about to- MARI
Olive Newcombe, q girl in humble Gil
cumstanoes He might have chosen Isa
bel Heating, who is rich, and his father
a close-fisted man, thinks him fool 70
not doing SO. Attracted, however,
| 4 no Fa+b