The Portland daily press., 1898-12-10
MAGAZINE NOTICES.

1u6 WIQCspI0hI abtti1pAoh oCuCu Ny
Sir William Crookes's recent address on
the wheat supply of the world, In which
he maintained that the ability of the
United States as wheat producer had
been very nearly reached. has called forth
a sharp reply from Edward Atkinson, the
famous statistician, in the December
number of Appleton's Popular Science
Monthly. Mr.. Atkinson proved by ac-
tual calculation, based on data secured
from nearly one hundred agricultural ex-
pertinent stations and secretaries of agri-
culture. that the United States alone
could supply the whole civilized world
with wheat and still have large unused
acreage of arabic land, and this without
interfering at all with her other crops.
In the Christmas number of the Amer
lean Monthly Review of Reviews, some
of the most noteworthy of the famous
paintings of the life of Christ. BIZ j.
James Tissot are reproduced Clifton
Hafby Levy writes on Tissot's life and
method in painting and Ernest Knaffut
contributes criticism of the port rats
from an artists point of view. The col
lection Is now on exhibition in New York
and will be shown in several of the lead
turns to France 1t is beyond question
the most important series of representa-
tions of Christ made in modern times. Is
Three notable serials begin in the De-
cember number of McCIures Magazine.
Stalky, the first of Ruayard Kipling's Sc
ries of stories of English sonool-boy Lille,
is as hearty and wholesome a tale of
school-boy ingenuity and adventure as
one would wish to read, and, while COM
plete in itself. leaves the appetite keen for
M ore of the same sort. The first of Miss
Lincoln, Is an even more distinguished
beginning than the first of Mr.. kipIing's
stories. Lincoln appears in the full sani
ty and tenderness of his superb character,
in her account OF his actions, utteranoes,
and bearing during the perplexing period
between his first election and his first in
auguration as Pr. sident. Finally, we
have the first of a series of papers by Cap
tain Mahan on The War on the Sea and
Its Lessons--a contribution TO the lItera
ture OF the recent war that, coming from
"a member of the Strategy Board and the
highest authority on the science of naval
warfare, cannot fail to be read with Gag
erness in all parts of the civilized world
To the December number of the New
England Magazine, Mr.. E G. Gardner
contributes an excellent popular articls
on Colonial Architecture. cit was not
to be expected, he says, that the artis-
tic instinct, which is not initiative, but
rather creative and inventive, had been
stimulated by the harsh and struggling
experiences that were fore-ordained for
the men and women who colonized
America. For good many generations
hands to do without philosophizing on
the essential elements of beauty. If they
had possessed even q small fraction of the
aesthetic munitions OF the heather Greeks,
or of the superstitious monks of the 18th
and 18th centuries, the architecture called
colonel would never have been born
He traces the various stages of early ar
chitecturaI development in the colonies,
and his paper is accompanied by pictures
Illustrating the several types which he
describes.
Tie complete novel in the December
issue of Lirpincott's is by Annie Eliza
Brand, and has its action mainly in Lon
don. Mrs. Russeips Sister is young,
well-to-do, and attractive widow, who
takes a small house in back street with
a view to benefiting her humber neigh
bors: but her philanthropio efforts are
ant to require masculine assistance, and
ali her fortitude cannot keep her lovers at
distance.
The Christmas number of Harper
Magazine presents holiday appearance
in it's cover of green and GOLD, and the
Illusion is not dispelled by an examina
ton of the contents. beginning with a
frontispiece in color. This frontispiece
is one of the eleven Illustrations that
Howard Pyle has made for the opening
story, Old Captain, by Myles Hemenway.
Other important features are The Rescue
of the Winslow, by Lieutenant Ernest E.
Mead, u S. r. q. s., illustrated from
drawings by H. Reuterdahl and from
photographs; The Coming Fusion of Hast
and Vest, by Ernest #. Fenollosa; How
the Other Half Laughs, by John Crobin,
illustrated by Lucius Hitchcock and Hen
ry MoCarter; The White Horest, written
and illustrated by Frederic Remington;
and The Martyrs Idyl, poem by Louise
Imogen Quincy, illustrated BY E. Grasset