The times., 1899-10-29

mere TOT example, is a bit OF his moTaliZ-
ing on Monument Mountain, Stockbridge-
in the month of May:
have always had great sympathy with the
( o"ys VINO march at the head of professions that
IheNltault company whose presence Is as certain
as 1t Is lncongruous, and whose chief joy appears
10 be IN the fact that for them the procession
Is always an anticipation. II is yet to come to
pass. II Is still future. These youngsters are
epeureS IN sensations; and they take keen delight
IN maintaining that which is TO the sidewalk spec
'd'or "a show, FIRST passing and then passed, as
pleasure 10 be tasted q sweet mOrsel still rolled
under the tongue.
Now, if l had the means and the time. !
stoud every year in this same fashion run
aie"d oi me vernal advance, the procession OF
itaNes and blossoms and birds and butterflies, rs
II moves northWard from the Carolinas 20 the
lanadas- There is such an exquisite pleasure in
W'iehlng the burst of life, the outbreak Of color
ana fragrance, the clothing cf field and forest
WIN yeIdurc, that one would be glad to pro-
long the sensation. In these ds IS it would be an
easy matter to keep just ahead of summer for a
E"ed Two months, And then might halt on
lHe banks OF the St Lawrence and let the
pageant pass by.
And so on. The writer had taken a little
excursion into the woods, after a winter
IN town, and its sole fruit was a bunch of
aFbutus and trilliums which TO him were
more desired than trout, yea, than much
heavy trout. Then he points out the ad-
vantage of the blossoms in that they re-
main good to see and to smell long after
the trout would have been neither the one
nor the other Perhaps the nature lover
who reads does not know the painted triI-
lium, for it is a shy and a delicate bios
SOM and does not condescend to take up
Its residence in any kind of woods, re-
gardless of climate or conditions. 1t is
not even as democratic as the aTbutus,
which is also rather shy in its own way.
But those who do not know this slender
and graceful beauty will do well to seek
out the trillium, even at the cost of some
trouble. tNeW York: G. ?. Putnams Sonsl
The Bronte Sisters" by William w
Kinsley, is a study of the work, and to
some extent Of the lives, of the three gifted
women once known as Currer, Acton, and
Ellis Bell. Their surroundings are touched
upon in order to show how their talents
were developed but there is no attempt to
give detailed biography Of any one of
the three The author discusses first
'Wuthering Heights" then Wild
ieli Hall, and finally Jane
Eyre and 'Villette," taking up
each book in its moral as well
as its literary aspects The whole work
IS evidently that of one who has studied,
thoroughly and sympathetically, the sub
Ject OF which he writes, and is prepared to
point out 10 the reader all the fine quail
ties which are to be found in these novels
which made so great a sensation half a
century ago. Here and there his language
seems somewhat eXtrayagant but in treat
Ing Of the work of persons of undoubted
genius this is rather a good fault. for
the enthusiast often discovers beauties in
such work which while undoubtedly ex-
listing, would not be perceived by the in
different or careless reader.
MIR. kIuSleV warmly dafanIc
Bronte's conception of Heathcliff in
'Wuthering Heights" claiming that this
creation is in accordance with the laws of
the highest art. But when he says that
Milton chose" Satan as the central figure
in Paradise Lost" comparing this concep-
tion to that of Miss Bronte's hero, he is
very possibly mistaken. The chances are
that Milton did nothing of the kind His
idea in writing his epic probably was to
exait very different set of characters f.om
those whom he did happen to make most
interesting. 1t would have been contrary
TO his Puritan ideas to make Satan his
hero, and that effect was probably pro-
duced with perfect unconsciousness.
Emily Bronte, on the contrary. wrote her
novel with an entirely clear and definite
idea Of what she meant to do, and ac-
complished it. (New York: F. Tennyson
Neely.)
The Scarlet Stigma" is a drama in four
acts, founded upon Hawthorne's Scarlet
Letter" The author, James Edgar Smith.
has done rather a bold thing in attempting
theme already handled by master of
romance, but candor compels one to admit
that he has done it extremely well The
drama is partly in blank verse and partly
in prose, and there are several graceful
and dainty lyrics in it. The love-song in
the third act is particularly musical in
movement, and the metrical portion Of the
work is smooth and delicate in finish
The characters introduced are nearly the
same as in THE Scarlet Letter" with
the exception of Pearl who appears only
an infant, and of two or three minor
characters introduced TO give lightness and
comedy 10 the piece. The conception of
Roger and Hester Prynne and of Arthur
Dimmesdale is substantially the same as
that of Hawthorne, and the characters are
carefully drawn. The author is a Wash
ington man. Washington: James J. Chap
man,
"A Primer of Forestry" by Clifford
Pinchot is a small book forming Bulletin
No. "a of the United States Department OF
Agriculture. 1t is fully illustrated, and
viii be extremely interesting to students
of botany who are not experts on forestry
washington: Government Printing Of
fce.)