Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-31
new BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
Republication Of a Poem Famous Fifty
Years Ago,
NEW STORY FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA
Fall Announcements OF Different Pub
fishing Houses Coming TO HIND
Indicate Many Very Valuable
Works Arc In Press.

ID was az far back az 1857 that the ccle-
brated poem, Nothing to Wear" made It's
appearance in Harper's Weekly. and in q
short time had become famous throughout
tho world, being reproduced in a multitude
OF forms in Great Britain, and also trans
lated into French and German. In connec-
ton with the new edition OF Nothing to
Wear which the author, william Allen But
Tor. has published in response to numerous
requests, and which contains all his p~oetical
writings, there is a matter Ct interest con-
oerned with the first appearance of the
famous poem that is worth recalling. 1t
came out in the sixth number Of Harper's
Weekly unsigned, and, as has been said,
aroused a great deal OF comment. The mat
ter to which we refer is thus presented in
the Weekly for August s, 1867:
Some little stir has been created in liter
airy circles by a claim set UP by a young
lady to the authorship Of the now famous
poem, Nothing to Wear The story which
the lady's friends tell Is tina Mics Peck
tore her dress. and was led by that accident
20 a train Of highly moral reflections, which
found vent In her verse; that she carried
the verse aforesaid in her pocket, and. I'M
happily, loet II on leaving the cars near
Twenty-sixth street, leading to the Inference
that Mr.. Butler, from whom we obtained the
poem, picked up the idea, the title, and some
thirty Of the Identical lines, in or near the
cars aforesaid, and appropriated them to his
own use.
"It is curious goes on the Weekly, that,
though the success OF the poem was so i'm
mediate and was the subject of general con-
versation in society in the early part OF
last February, the Rev. Isaac Peck and his
friends should have waited until the end of
July to put forward Miss Peck's claim to the
authorship. This young lady Is as com-
mendable for authorship as for knowledge
OF the world. However, these little matters
can, no doubt, be explained; and 1t Is now so
we'll known that Shakespeare did not write
hts plays, but stole them from Bacon and
Queen Elizabeth, and that Sir Walter Scott
merely put his name to such novels as
'Ivanhoe' and Kenilworth, which were writ
ten by Mrs. Captain Scott in Canada, so Mr..
Builders paternity of Nothing to Wear Will
be disputed by the erudite. We see no
reason for going behind the original manu-
script which Is now before us in Mr.. But
Ier's handwriting, and to which, at our re-
quest, he added some twenty-five lines to
fill out the page"
In addition to Nothing to Wear the
volume contains the long religious poem,
"Oberammergau." poems of travel, transia-
lions, miscellaneous poems, and poems Tor
the children. 1t has been prepared for the
author as a final and authorized edition
The dedication reads, ITO my wife this vol
.ume. published in the fttieth year OF our
wedded life, Is inscribed" Harper d Bros
New York. Cloth, S1.75.
In a volume OF 450 pages, Harper q
Brothers have published THE War witt
Spain" by Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, sena-
tor from Massachusetts, and member OF the
committee on foreign relations during tne
progress Of the war. Senator Lodge has al
ready shown such unusual ability as a his
torian that one feels confident that out Of
all the books which have been written about
the Spanish war this comprehensive history
will be the Most enduring and satisfactory
Not in the least detail does THE War with
SPAIN disappoint this expectation, and II
must certainly stand as the standard OF the
Spanish American war. The writer shows
throughout that he is keen-sighted ane
thoughtful, one who not only traces the his
tory of the Latin and Anglo-SaXon races In
the new world from the earliest times, anc
points out the underlying causes for the war
but who writes with a vigor and dramatl'
power that lends new interest to the OFT
told tale of our war with Spain. 1t Is II
every sense OF the word n stirring narrative
Senator Ledge points out that the maj e%'
pulsion or spain from the Americas anu In'
Philippines Is but the At conclusion OF tn
long strife between the people who stoo'
for civil and religious liberty, and those VIII
stood for bigotry and tyranny as hideous II
their actions as any which have ever curse
humanity. 1t is the last and final step o
the inexorable movement in which the Unite
States have been engaged for nearly a cen
fury. BY her influence and example, /"
more directly by her arms and by the pres
sure Of her ever-advancing settlements, tn
United States drove Spain from the con
tinental possessions in the western hemtS
phere until nothing was left to the success
sors of Charles and Philip but Cuba an
Porto Rico. The first par: OF the histor,
discusses the entire Cuban question an
the relations which have existed betwee'
the United States and Spain during the prea
emit century. OF the war itself, It's conduct
its campaigns, and battles, Senator Lodg
gives a thorough description and criticism
1t Is certainly the only complete and CON
prehensive history of the war. by an abb
historian. that will be offered to the Ameri
can public, and as such deserves a place !