The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-16
LITERARY NOTES.

The most important group of papers
which the Atlantic" will offer to its
readers in the coming year is series of
studies Of the Reconstruction Period
ut is now full thirty years and more"
says Woodrow Wilson, in his Introductory
paper in the January Atlantic" since
the processes of reconstruction were fin
ished, and the Southern States restored to
their place in the Union. Those thirty
years have counted for more than any
other thirty in our history, so great have
been the speed and range of our develop
ment. so comprehensive and irresistible
has been the sweep of change amongst
us. We have come out of the atmosphere
of the COS. The time seems remote, his
toric not of our day. We have dropped
it's thinking lost Its passion, forgot its
anxieties, and should be ready to speak
of 1t, not as partisans, but as historians"
1t is in this bipartisan spirit that the
various authors of the "Atlantic's' group
OF reconstruction articles have performed
their task. They represent both the
South and the North. and many shades
of political opinion. Some of them were
prominent actors in the reconstruction
drama; others are known throughout the
country for their special stud
les upon this period of Amgri
can history; but all of them,
however naturally inclined TO the North
ern or the Southern point of view, have
written with candor and good temper. 1t
is true that one of them confesses that
Reconstruction is still revolutiC lsary
matter Those who delve in it find it ike
a banked fire; still hot and fiery within,
for all it has lain under the ashes a
whole generation, and thing to take fire
from"
But without some such examination of
the conditions under which the Southern
States were readmitted to the Union, il is
impossible to form clear opinion of the
most significant of our internal problems
of the coming decade, namely, the move
ment for the disfranchisement of the
Southern negro.
"old Ironsides" is to be rebuilt and re-
fitted. at an expense of nearly s400,G00 by
the Daughters of 1872, of Massachusetts.
The historic old vessel is now lying at the
Charlestown Navy Yard. The efforts-in
which Congress will assist by an appro-
priatiou-to save the conquerOr of the
Guerriere. Java. Levant, and Cyane are
coincidentai with the publication, by
Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of The
Constitution: the Central Figure of the
Navy Under Sail" by Ira N. Hollis, some
time Commander in the United States
Navy. and now Professor of Engineering
in Harvard University. Theh vessel serves
as the typical ship of the old wooden
navy. which is studied from its begin
niprs in the Constitution to its end in
the Monitor.
Little. Brown g. Co. have in press ''Fa-
laise, the Town of the Conqueror," by An
ma Bowman Dodd well known for her
charming volumes Of travel, Three Nor
mandy Inns" and Cathedral Days"
Starting from the famous inn at Dives,
the second of the Three Normandy Inns"
Mrs. Dodd describes the trip across the
Caen plain to the cliffs of Falaise. She
gives an account of the Falaise Fair, the
famous Eleventh Century Horse Fair, the
greatest of its kind in Europe, and still
in full living The second part OF the
work deals with the history of the town,
William the Conquerors birthplace, his
great fortress, his sieges, and his starting
forth for the conquest of England. The
illustrations are from recent French pho
tographs OF the streets, churches, cla-
teauy, the Falaise Fair, etc.
An jmportant work on the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado River in Arizona, will
shortly be published by Little, Brown G.
Co The author. Prof. George Wharton
James has been exploring the Grand Can
Won over a period of ten years, and has
heen tireless in his work of gathering the
local history conc arning these regions He
has followed carefully all possible traces Of
the early explorers, AID relates, often in
their own vivid words, the records Of their