The herald., 1898-07-31
BOOKS AND THEIR MAKERS

Jquoting from one of his recent essays:
1.-The highest functions of the human
being stand in such intimate relations to
one another that the patent want of any
one of them will commonly prevent the at.
tainment of perfection in any other. The
sense of beauty enters into the highest
philosophy as In Plato. The highest poet
must be philosopher. accomplished like
Dante, or intuitive like Shakespeare. Bu
neither the one nor the other can now ex-
ist In separation from that conception OF
| the relations between God and man, that
new standard and pattern of humanity
| which Christianity has supplied 1t is
true indeed, that much of what 1t has in
delibly impressed upon the imagination
and understanding, the heart and life OF
man. may be traceable and even promi-
nent in those who individually disown it
| The splendor of these disapproprate gifts
| in particular cases may be among the
very greatest of the signs and wonders ap-
| pointed for the trial of faith. Yet there is
| always something in them to show that
| they have with them no source of positive
permanent vitality; that the branch has
been torn from the tree. and that its life
is on the wane.'
TIMBER; Or DISCOVERIES MADE
UPON MEN AND MATTER. BY Ben:
Johnson. ]. NJ. Dent & Co.
| By Timber is meant the raw material
of facts and thoughts. These discoveries
are the reflections of this master mind
upon matters coming under his observa-
| tions, or born of his reading.
| The first edition of this little classic was
published in 1641, only four years after
Johnson's death; but to most of the world
the book is new, and as such will be well
come.
THE AURELIAN WALL AND OTHER
| ELEG1ES. By Bliss Carman, author of
Low Tide on Grand Prize Ballads of
Lost Haven" etc. Price, 81. Lamson,
Wolfe & Co., Boston.
| Here is a beautiful little book and a well
come one. Critics differ greatly to this
place Bliss Carman will hold in the future
among our poets, but no one denies that he
| has written much melodious verse, and 1t is
exceedingly improbable to attempt exact
estimate and classification now Let US have
| all he will give US, and let us enjoy it.
| One of the most touching poems in the
volume is "In the Heart of the Hills"
where
| All the long summer day
The ghosts of noon draw nigh,
| And the tremulous aspens hear
The footing of winds 60 by.
| Then the twilight falls with the touch
! Of hand that soothes and stills,
| And a swamp robin sings into light
| The lone white star of the hills.
| Alone In the dusk he sings,
| And the joy of another day
| Is folded in peace and borne
On the drift of years away.
| But there, in the heart of the hills:
! My beautiful weary one
| Sleeps where he laid him down;
And the large, sweet night is begun.
| Another charming little poem is The
! Grave Tree which closes thus:
leave me by the scarlet maple
When the journeying shadows fall,
Waiting till the Scarlet Hunter
Pass upon the endless trail'
| by the Aurelian Wall is a memory of
| Keats
| Even the shadows tall,
| Walking at shutdown the plain, recall
| A mound the grasses keep,
Where once a mortal came and found long
sleep
| By the Aurelian Wall"
We are inclined to think, however, that
"A Seamark." which commentaries Ste
venson's burial on the Samoan hills strikes
the highest note. This grave is meath 1.-THE
deep blue tapestry of stars" and
High a peak adrift with mist,
And round whose bases, far beneath
! The snow-white wheeling tropic birds
The emerald dragon breaks his teeth"
Every lover Of poetry will welcome and
cherish this charming little volume
YE LITTLE SALEM Made, A STORY
OF WITCHCRAFT. BY Pauline Brad
ford Mackie, author of "A Story of VAL
ley Forge" etc. Price, $3.50. Lamson,
Wolfe & Co.
| This handsome volume, tastefuly illus
trated by Mr.. f. w. D. Hamilton, tells a
strange story of Salem witchcraft. story
that takes one back to the breastplated
governor of the Massachusetts and Cotton
Mather in the prime of his wonderful life.
So far back does it take us in point of Gus
! tom and. belief, that we feel as If such say
ings and doings could not be true. But the
witch of more than two centuries ago was
very real, and Goody Jones and Disability
Williams. and Deliverance Wentworth were
creatures of flesh and blood.
| No reader of this finely told tale will fail
tc be interested in it especially if he has read
New England chronicles and the religious
movements in the early days. Not even the