The Portland daily press., 1900-07-19
CONCERNING BOOKS.

harmon J are NlttER Twain Inc Man
That Corrupted Hadleybury, and Other
Stories and Essays; The Passing of
Thomas and Other Stories, by Thomas
Janvier; As Seen By Me, by Lillian Bell /;
"A Diplomatic Woman, by Huan Nee;
and The West End, by Percy White.
There will be found nothing new in
Mark Twains volume, it being a collec-
bion of stories, sketches and essays, in the
weu-kDown vein of this distinguished
humorist, written for the various maga-
zines Harper's The Century, NIcClure's
the Cosmopolitan, the North American
Review, and several other literary jour
nails
There are four interesting and enter
tanning papers Of Stirring Times in Aus
tria, The Government in the Frying Pan;
A Memorable Sitting, Curious Parlia-
mentary Etiquette, and The Historic
Climax.
We have, as well, the Private History
of The Jumping Frog, and it was to the
dumping Frog of Calaveras County
that Mark Twain first step on the lad
der of fame was due.
1t has been our painful duty to give
up one after another of the historical
events which, in the form of thrilling
EEales were the delight and wonder of
our childhood. 1t is fully proved that
Putnam could not by any possibility
n ave crept into the VOLTS cave to shoot
that beast, since the rocky aperture
which still may be seen at Putnam,
Connecticut, conld never have been
ample enough to adm it him; and we are
no longer permitted to believe that Will
liam Tell shot the apple from his sons
head; indeed we are led to suppose that
he was a very no-account marksman
But to be told by the man who knows
best, that the real story of the Jumping
Frog was narrated by Greek author in
past ages is a blow; and we cannot bear
the knowledge that a willy Boeotian
played the same little game with an
Athenian in a contest of frogs in Greece
quite two thousand years before the willy
Jim Smiless of California performed a
similar feat
However, we are interested to hear from
Mark Twain himself the private and
public history of the jumping Frog Of
Calayeras County, FORE he adds,ss' it
was original when 1t happened two thous-
and years ago, and was again original
when it happened in California in our
own time = Doubtless III each case it
was a true story"
The volume containing these sketches
is a han 1sone one, and profusely Illus
trated.
Mr.. Janyier's stories have a charm of
their own, and one never passes them by.
The present collection is most readable,
and very characteristic of the author, and
after seeing them in the magazines it is
good to have them gathered into dainty
volume with excellent Illustrations.
?. The tales are five in number: The
Passing of Thomas In the st. Peter S
Set; At the Grand Hotel du Paiades;
The Fish of Monsieur Quissard, and LIE
Bon Oncle d Amerique. each one Dsing
bright, fresh and fetching with vein OF
satire as keen as the hu1nor of it all.
1t is pleasant to meet again Mrs. Pen
nington Brown, whom we knew. as Doro-
thy Lee in that clever skit, The Uncle Of
An Angel, and the St. Peters Set, in
which she is still shining light, is an
amusing travesty upon certain exclusive
and aristocratic circles in Philadelphia
society. Anent that very thing, a recent
novel, the scene of which is Philadelphia
opens with, Gwen, every body cannot be
a 'Biddle. .
And to return to Mrs Pennington
Brown and Mr.. Port, the long-sutfering
uncle, the latter says to her. II can for
give you, Dorothy. for having married
my unfortunate brother in order that
you might murder him (she merely took
him to Russia where the climate did not
agree with hiln), but I never can forgive
you for compelling me to sit through an
entire dinner with those people who spell
their names with two lI's.'
Miss Lillian Bells book is bright and
chatty, pleasing history of whatever
she shooses to tell us concerning her
wanderings of two years in foreign coun-
tries Miss Bell is true American, and
waves the stars and stripes at all times
and seasons, comparing everything she
sees and hears with what would have &C.
Cured, or have been in evidence in her
own country under the same circum-
stances, and if she finds person or thing
satisfactory she says it is like America. :"
And yet she admits that she had her
first taste of Ii berty' in England. and
tells us why. I'm America nobody
obeys anybody We make our laws and
then set out studying most industriously
plan by which we may evade them.
America is suffering, as all republics
must OF necessity suffer, from liberty in
the hands of the multitude, and liberty
in the hands Of the ignorant is always
license And Miss Bell adds Under
standing how to obey that is what makes
liberty"
She declares that while we are not
afraid OF our President, our Senators,
our chief men, we yet stand in deadly
fear of our street car combinations o,1r