The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-29

the end. The audacity of the author IN in
Producing Queen Wilhelmina of Holland as
his heroine, keeping her identity a secret
till the story is well advanced is somewhat
amusing; in fact It is the most entertain
ing thing IN the whole book, There is very
little plot, and the heroine seems TO have
been constructed on the theory that, on
general principles. a woman will do pre-
cisely what she is not expected to do. This
is perhaps true to a certain extent, but af-
ter all. even women have some reason for
their actions other than irresponsible i'm
pulse and there is certainly no reason why
the Countess Amyce should fall in love
with the very ordinary hero OF the book.
(New York: Harper & Bros. $500
A Man Adrift" by Bart Kennedy,
seems to be less story than a narrative
Of actual experience. The author claims
to have been navy. tramp. singer. sailor.
coal miner, aud oyster dredger by turns.
and tells his various adventures with
franEness and accuracy which are abodt
equally impressive. lie also intersperses
some rather original views Of life and hu
man institutions.
A good specimen n his general style is
to be found in the chapter on ''Shoveling."
He says:
Perhaps the hardest shoyclliug 81 all is the
shovelliug Of sand. | had an experience Of tins IN
British Columbia. ! worked there three or four
days unloading ssndscows in the harhor Of Van
couver. The pay was 80 cents an hour rate Of
s. a day. After the first days work ! was
SO tired that felt as il could Die down and die.
! had a strained feeling all over my body.
! was hardly able to eat my supper.
Right here ] would like TO explode the faliacy
30 the effect that extreme intellectual labour IS
more severe than extreme manual labour. ! have
tried both. and I must say that my verdict IS
give me intellectual labor every time. II is clean
in the first place; in the second place there are
no degrading conditions surrounding il; and. IN
the third place. it is certainly less monotonous.
Again. the world attaches real dignity TO intel
lectua lahour while the dignity that is at
tached to manual labour smacks too much Of the
legendary and mythical. The people who prate
Of the superior exhaustive quality Of brain labour
arc invariably people who have not tried both.
They give forth their Judgment with all the con
fdence Of ignorance. To be just, however, ]
must admit that t is a polite thing 10 let the
navy know an about the hard-hips Of intellectual
lahour.
But let us GO back to the art Of shovelling sand.
The reason that sand is much harder work
10 shovel than gravel. or cinders or coal, clay,
is because every time You sink your shovel into
the sand you get exactly the same amount and
weight upon H. and the efforts YOU have TO make
In pitching t of are absolutely uniform. Making
the same effort Of strength through several hours
at a stretch Is most firing. The muscles get no
chance TO rcst or recover. In the shoyellug OF
clay or coal, or anything that breaks Up uncveny,
the efforts made in pitching vary with the diff
fereut weights and sizes that get upon the shovel
After a time a who works at shovel
ling will begin to find himself getting muscle
bound | mean that he will find himself getting
slow and stiff and clumsy in his movements. The
reason for this Is because particular set Of mus
clcs are developed out Of all proportion to the
rest
Mr.. Kennedy's opinion of the conditions
under which laborers exist in the United
States is not very complimentary. He en-
phatically asserts that they are not half
as good as the conditions in England, and
that. too. though he is an Irishman. His
remarks on this subject will be found In
teresting. and the chapters dealing with
oyster dredging in the Chesapeake will
be interesting to readers in this vicinity
As a study Of social and economic condi-
lions this book, though unpublished and
blunt in style. is valuable. tChiAago:
Herbert 5. Stone & Co. S1.25)