The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-25


fancy; his talent manifested itself ear
| ly, and he contributed as q young man
TO many prominent periodicals. For a
| number OF years he turned aside from
| draughtmanship to pursue an actors
| career, and two charming autobio-
| graphical "reminiscences of this period
or his life appeared in the Saturday
Evening Post of Philadelphia, shortly
! after his death. At the close of the
I civil war, Mr.. Woolf resumed his or
| lginal profession, but, turning his at
| tentlon. more to painting, was ham
| pered by the remissness Of his early
| training, and sought regular art in
struction, for the first time in his life,
at tbs hands of Edouard Frere in
| France. Upon his return to America
he exhibited much admired painting,
! How 1t happened" at the National
Academy of Design. In his later years
he turned his endeavors almost entirely
to the delineation of child life among
| the poorer classes; and his drawings,
| with their peculiar combination of hui
! NOR and pathos, have become widely
| known here and abroad
! Mr. Woolf died suddenly Of heart dis
| ease at the home of his sister in Brook
| Ign, N. Y, March 4, 1899
| Joseph Henius, "endeaVoring to honor
| the memory of good man and dear
| friend has brought together the most
| characteristic of Mr.. Woolf's contribu-
tons to Life and Judge, and a number
of hitherto unpublished drawings. For
the most part the drawings represent
| child-life in the east side of New York
| city, but these might be taken as be-
ing typical of life amongst the poor in
| any large community. The editor
writes: I'm the tenderness, sincerity
and simplicity of his work are to be
found the elements which were most
conspicuous in the personality of the
late M. A. Woolf, together with unos-
tentatious charity and humor unique
in contemporary art, which, while al
ways manly and honest, possessed the
power TO move as well to tears as to
| laughter"
There are many humorous pictures
and quaint sayings in the book, much
sterling philosophy which will be
| an excuse for a smile or an approving
nod; but there are also some pictures
which preach sermon more powerful
than many heard in churches, and
which proclaim that these children of
the east side, dirty and wretched
though they may be, are still children,
and hunger for more than mere food
the satisfying of the child-mind which
demands sympathy and love and longs
for an expression of these in toys and
simple Injuries To the calious grown
up ma and woman, Santa Claus is an
absurdity. To the child, and especially
to the unlOved, ignorant, unwashed
child. Santa Claus is a terrible reality.
Mr.. Woolf's Santa Claus pictures
(without Santa CLAUSE haunt one, and
perchance one child may be the gamer.
Frederick Douglass by Charles w.
Chestnut. Published by Small, May
nard q Co., in the Beacon biograph-
les.
Frederick Douglass lived so long and
played so conspicuous a part on the
worlds stage that it would be i'm
possible in work of the size of this,
to do more than touch on the salient
features of his career. His fame as
an orator has long been secure. His
position as the champion of an OPP
pressed race, and at the same time an
| example of it's possibilities, was in his
own generation as picturesque as it
was unique, and his life may serve
for all time as an incentive to inspir-
ing souls who would fight the battles
and win the love of mankind The
average American of today, who sees
when his attention is called to it. and
deplores if he be a thoughtful and just
man, the deep undertow of race pre-
JUDGE that retards the progress of the
colored people of our own generation,
| cannot except by reading the painful
records of the past, conceive of the
mental and spiritual darkness to which
slavery as the memorable condition of
it's existence, condemned it's victims,
and in a less measure their oppressors
or of the blank wall of prescription
and scorn by which free people of color
were shut up in moral and social
ghetto, the gates of which have yet
not been entirely torn down. From
the Night of Slavery we quote from
the book, Douglass emerged, passed
through the limbo of prejudice which
he encountered as a freeman, and took
his place in history.
Gas few of the worlds great men
have ever had so checkered and diver
sified career" says Henry Wilson;
so it may at least be plausibly claim
ed that no man represents in himself
more conflicting ideas and interests.
His life is in itself an epic which finds
few to equal it in the realms of either
romance or reality"
'Smith Brunt, u S. NJ" by Waldron
X. Pest. G. P. Putnam's Sons; $3.50.
War stories, especially those pertain
ing to the navy, have been forced upon
the public in such Numbers since the
late war; that the author takes pains
to inform us in his preface that this
DOCK is not a prOQuCC OF the recent
war with Spain. 1t was nearly all writ
ten more than a year ago and con-
ceived long before that. The United
States navy, he says, existed prior to
1885, though apparently undiscovered
till then by some persons. Before that
date also there have been good people
in England, very like our worthy selves.
Smith Brunt" is an historical novel
dealing with our navy in it's early days.
Lawrence is a prominent character;
most of his contemporaries figure in
the volume, and the mystery of Somers
and his crew at Tripoli forms part of
the story. While endeavoring to pre-
serve the spirit and traditions of the
old navy, the author has also tried to
bring out strongly the abominable side
of war, particularly war between kin
bred people The story follows the adj
ventures of a young lieutenant, Smith
Brunt," and of a little midshipman.
The opening and closing scenes are laid
in and about Great South Bay. and
some of the principal characters hail
from anphibious sporting Long Island
"Smth Brunt" has enjoyed a good
measure Of success already, having en-
tered upon its second edition within a
week after publication.
Mr.. Post is young man, well known
as the author of Harvard Stories,
written shortly after his graduation
from that university in 1890.
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