The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-09

Don't stare aloft with weeping eyes.
And then, perhaps, you may pile on
The cairn of facts one little stone"
Thus spake the elder, wise FREELY
The younger still looks on the sky.
There Is some solid sense in this. as there 10
In all these verses OF Prof. Johnson's. His
muse does not disdain the real and the practi-
cal. though she never carries him to such lengths
as that OF a certain poet Of the Canadian school.
who combines light farming and the grocery
business with the heavier work Of verse pro-
duction, and whose metrical laudations Of his
own butter and eggs and other farm and dairy
products have gained him considerable local
fame and a material increase Of business. But
in this case the practical Seems to have been
permitted to submerge the poetic.
In the title poem What Can lido for Brady?"
Prof. johnson discusses an interesting social
problem with q sympathy tempered with COM
mon sense that contrasts favorably with the
sentimentallsm and hysteria manifested by an
other learned gentleman who has recently been
exploiting the woes Of the workingman in a
series of magazine articles. Brady is a work.
ingman. a maker OF white lead. with q gloomy
outlook on life, some rude eloQuence and certain
mistaken but sincere ideas on the subject Of
money devils, capitalist octopi. banks. COM
panies. trusts. colleges. and schools and other
bugbears raised for him by windy demagogues.
uIu IO am tiC ploS0NOi bOSV DOh0
problems in blank verse and as one working
man with another. They arrive at no very salts
factory conclusion. and the poet is fain to ask
What can l do for him 2"
He stands for hfty thousand men;
Can I clear up his moody discomfort.
Or do the least to reconcile the lot
OF men with what we blindly feel should be.
And bring our country nearer its ideal,
Until the birthright of each citizen
Shall blossom In q goodly heritage,
And in her robes of state, America.
Among the other nations of the world.
Stands like Diana mid her sister nymphs.
More queenly fair and tall than all the rest1
God knows II any one would show the way
That I and thousands more would help the work.
We all love justice with r desperate love;
We love our country more than other men
Love theirs-far more. What can we do for fer
For when we meet with Brady all our talk
Seems futile; We can never touch the man
With theories. for he has wrought his crude
And partial thought into so tight a knot.
And then he may be right. not in all points.
But in the main. He lives with facts; his life.
Close to the ground. gives him q grip on facts.
An instinct for the concrete truth. He's like
Anative who might talk with one who reads.
In books the folklore of 4 foreign land
And builds an academic theory.
An empty phase Of thought, an unknown tongue
To one who heard the tales from mothers lips.
One thing at leastl III treat him like q man,
And not disdain his human brotherhood.
He does AZ much for me-. He plays his part
And pays his way. and asks no odds Of fate.
This again has the good sterling ring of COM
mon sense. and sounds as the speech Of a man
who has thought before speaking. Perhaps the
best that any ono can do for Brady is to treat
him as a man. to give him q fair field and no
favor. and TO try to show him that his worst
enemies are the demagogue and the senti-
mentalist. There are many good numbers in
this soberly bound and unpretentious volume.
and among the best OF them all is The Modern
Romans" which should be well known to many
readers OF THE Sun.
Alittle book that should delight the youngsters
is Mary Proctor's Stories Of Starland." For
here are stories some Of which were told to the
author by her distinguished father years ago,
and some gathered from Grecian mythology
and Japanese. Hindoo and American Indian
folklore. or dug out from among the
dusty volumes OF the Bureau OF Eth
nology at the Smithsonian Institution. They
are here excellently illustrated and told In
that delightful way that interests the young
ones without puzzlinG their little brains with
too much that is obviously Instructive. A
pleasant feature OF the small volume is the
admirable selection OF short poems interviewer
with the stories.
Under the title Of TALES Of the Trail"
Messrs. Crane & Co. publish. In attractive
form, a series OF short stories OF Western life
written by Col. Henry Inman. late Assistant
Quartermaster. United States Army, and author
OF The Old Santa F6 Trail " and other we'll
known stories and sketches.
We have received "L'Amour est Mon Peehe"
tCalmann Levy, Paris. a curious psychological
study by the mysterious author OF "Amitie
Amoureuse.' OF which a translation was re-
Gently published here under the title Of Love
In Friendship"
We have also received Democracy and So
cial Growth In America" four lectures by Prof.
Bernard Moses. Phi. D.. OF the University Of
California. tPutnams.l
Tho Poems and Prose Sketches OF James
Whitcomb Riley" Homestead edition. Vol.
VIII. Poems Here at Home" tScribners.l
The Art Of Memory. Being a Comprehen-
sive and Practical System of Memory Cul-
ture." Henry II. Fuller. National Publishing
Company. st. Paul. Mimi
THE Game In Wall Street. and How to Play
It Successfully" By "Hoyle." u. s. Ogilvie
Publishing Company
Stories from Dante" Morley Chester. II.
Warne 4 Co..
Appleton's Home Reading Books. Uncle
Roberts Geography. III. "On the Farm"
Francis W.. Parker and Nellie Lathrop Helm.
"Chayasse's Advice TO a Mother on the Man
agement Of Her Children and on the Treatment
on the Moment OF Some OF Their More Pressing
Illnesses and Accidents" BY George Carpenter.
Il D.. London.n Adapted for American readers