The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-12-11
THE CHRISTMAS MAGAZINES.
BY FL. j. Stockard.

The December numbers of the maya
zines are always unusually attractive;
this year they have surpassed themselves
In illustration especially they are unique,
and in literary quality fully up to their
best standard. They all are full of the
holiday spirit.
st. Nicholas is overlooking with sea-
sonable verses and jingles; such as, THE
Christmas Tree Lights THE Dream of
the Toy and 'Ye Christmas Puddngs.?
There are also stories of adventure and
exploration. A clever drama entitled
FOX and Geese" is contributed by Div
en- Hereford
Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, the
Rape of the Rhine-Gold, with decOra-
tons and illustrations in color by Max
field Parrish, is a prominent feature of
the current Scribner's. Richard Hard
ing Davis writes of the war in Cuba,
giving his experiences in the rifle pits.
Another war paper is ''the Fall of
Manila" by Capt. 7. Bentley Mott, aid
to General Merritt, THE Mirror Broken"
is Il good sonnet and Daily Bread" Il
pleasing poem.
The design of the striking cover of the
Christmas Century represents the
appearance of the Magi to the
Christ-child. 1t is printed in
colors and will be remembered by all
admirers of this favorite periodical. Es-
pecially fortunate has the Century been
in securing for its columns contributions
from Sigsbee, Hobson and other promi-
nent officers in our late war with Spain.
The former in this number continues his
story of the blowing up of the Maine,
and the latter opens his Of the sinking
of the Merrimac. These are valuable
contributions, written as they are by
the chief persons connected with these
thrilling Incidents.
The Century offered three prizes of
$3.50 each for the best essay, story and
poem submitted by any y. 4. graduate
of last commencement. Although the
majority of the competitors We're men,
all the prizes were taken by women.
Until the sterDer sex can reverse this
order of things they must cease their
Boosting of their superior intelligence.
The prize poem, THE Road 'TwiXt
Heaven and HELL" by Anna Hamp-
stead Branch. appears with Illustrations
in this number, and is good piece of
imaginative writing. These prizes will
be continued for 1899 and 1900. Let the
men redeem themselves.
Miss Edith Proctor Clarke, whom her
many friends at Chapel Hill remember
so pleasantly, has a fervent bit of verse
in this issue. and Sarah Piatt also con-
tributes a few lines remarkably fine.
But the Atlantic just now seems to be
at the head of the magazines, and North
Carolinians are especially proud of the
Fo 90 hats irtf oh cd
sons is in its editorial chair. Since Mr..
Walter Page has taken charge of this
periodical it has widened in scope and
in national interest. From the third or
fourth place it has moved almost, il not
quite TO, the front, to the same place it
occupied in the days when Longfellow.
Holmes, Lowell and Emerson immor-
taIized its pages. AS the Outlook truth
fully says, THE Atlantic strikes the
note of leadership"
Benjamin Kidd, English critic and So
ciologist opens the present number with
an article entitled '"rhe United States
and the Control of the Tropics" in
which he contends that the tropics must
be developed by their own labor directed
" Northerners. w. ID. Howells writes
in his best vein in his Confessions of a
Summer COlonist," and John Muir in his
love of nature and lively description in
his Birds of the Yosemite" \. :.
Shaler pleads earnestly for the study Of
landscape as Il means of culture. BY
Communion with her visible forms"
men train and educate themselves to APP
preciate her beauties in such a way as
to enlarge and dignity their own lives
and minds. There are readable short
stories and poems. rounding out the num-
Der and year satisfactorily.