The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-10

tptcDQcs OCEQIiDS lnt a. C(kt9k "a
France. John Morris Eilicott, lieutenant,
L. S. N, tells how the art of war Is
taught by the playing of a strategic war
game in the Naval War College at New
port, K. /. Two other short stories make
up the number.
Handwriting analysis has played an I'M
portant part In some of the most famous
criminal cases lately. and in the December
Home Magazine Theodore Waters tells
how the handwriting experts base their
decisions as TO whether handwriting Is
genuine or assumed. Mr.. Waters gets his
Information from William j. Kinsley. the
celebrated expert of the DR.. Kennedy, Moli-
neux and Rice will cases. 1t seems it is abb
s~olutely impossible for any one to make a
successful forgery. There are so many
ways of detecting 1t that it is a m~ather,at-
ical certainty that the fraud Will be discov-
cred sooner or later. Mr.. Waters tells how
this is done in a most interesting way.
The Ladies Home Journal for December
opens with a two-act, forty-hve-minute
play. adapted from Louise NJ Aicott's
story of Little Men," Mrs. Lew Wallace
contributes a sketch entitled Jerusalem
as We See It To-day" Two women's
Gifts of Twenty-Five Millions is the title
given to a brief description of the Cali
fornia Universitys endowment by Mrs.
Stanford and Mrs. Hearst. Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps offers the first installment
of a story dealing with the ~servant-giri
question. Mr.. Charles Major has another
blue River Bear Story. There Is a va
riety of Christmas reading and numerous
special Illustrations, two of which. 'The
Travelling Shoemaker" by w. l.. Taylor.
and when the Circus Comes to Town,
by A. Il. Frost, are well worth studying.
The December (Christmas) number of
the Critic is probably the finest number of
that magazine ever issued. Among the
| contributors are Mrs. James II. Fields, Mrs.
- IA n~f,,1
ton, Miss Edith NJ. Thomas. Miss Agnes
Repplier, Miss Cornelia Atwood Pratt,
Messrs. William Archer, Hamilton w.
Mabie. Andrew Lang, Joseph b. Glider, and
Christian Brinton. The Critic excels IN
portraiture, and in this number are full
page portraits Of Miss Mary Johnston. DR..
S. Wier Mitchell. Messrs. Edward Moves
Westcott. Winston Churchill, Robert
Grant, Charles Major, and Paul l.. Ford,
with facsimile reproductions from the
manuscript of their famous novels. Be-
sides these are also full-page portraits OF
Mrs. Siddons, Miss Kemble. Miss Milford.
Hon. John Morley. The frontispiece of the
number is a portrait of Miss Maude ADAMS
as L'Aiglon drawn from life by Mr.. Ernest
Haskell and reproduced in color.
The Cosmopolitan Magazine was fortu-
rate enough to secure Sir Robert Harris ac-
count of the experiences of the Picking le-
cations during the siege, and the article is
a feature of the December issue. The story
is told without unnecessary verbiage, and
gives a clear and comprehensive idea of the
conditions in Picking before and during the
siege. The Way that He Took Rudyard
kipling'S two-par story, is concluded In
this number. 1t is an account of the In
competence of a superior officer In charge
of British troops in South Africa. III the
incompetents had their way probably no
writing men would be allowed to come to
1 tho fnrf - thu xrn~11 hfI NOR 4 @ OnfnO
on. Their inefficiency has been pointed out
without mercy by various newspaper corre-
spondents and keen-eyed s~tory-writers.
Other interesting articles are a review or
the development and history of the Nations
capital during the century, an illustrated
description of a county fair, Some Ex-
amples of Spanish Wood Carving Life
and Art in Warsaw and a Study of
Beauty the last by that autocrar or liter
allure and aesthetics, Harry Thurston Peck.
Short stories are by Grant Allen, Maarten
Martens and Edgar Saltus.
The Atlantic Monthly opens with some
hitherto unpublished verses by James Rus
sell Lowell. They were written as in
scriptions in gift books. The STORY Of a
New England Town." told by John Fiske,
relates to Middletown, Conn.,. and was
originally delivered as an address on the
250th anniversary of the founding of the
town. In "War as a Moral Medicine
Il ~ Al RtbhNh ~ y NfAat 49, 10O1 -
tend to the advantage of the nation or the
individual. The Dominance of the
Crowd is an essay by Gerald Stanley
Lee or the manner in which the crowd
principle controls commerce, religion, So
cial life. education. thought, in this mod
ern day. A Maurice Low contributes a
pleasant study of contemporary life in
Washington, "the city of leisure" art
in Language" by PresiGen. Benjamin Ide
Wheeler, of the University of California,
is an essay on the use of words which
4 Shnff1H no road hv all Whn think nf llfarQ-
ture as a thing which may be produced
without preliminary training or special
preparation. Waldo S. Pratt writes of
New Ideals in Musical Education" THE
Best Isthmian Canal" according to Gen.
eral Henry L.. ABBOTT. is by the Panama
route, and under the above title he tells
why. IAN Ode to Instrumental Music"
by owen Wister, is a poem read at the
dedication of the new Symphony Hall in
Boston in October last. The fiction of the
number includes installments of Miss Jew
ett's historical story. "The Tory Lover"
and of Mrs. WigginsS "Penelopes Irish
Experiences also several short stories,
one of which. by John Buchan, is a ghost
story of an unusually creepy" kind. The
Atlantis can be relied on to furnish enter
tainment for the most exacting readers.
The first thing that will be looked at on
opening Harper's Christmas number are tho
color studies by Howard Pyle, which accom-
pany 1.-The Pilgrimage of Truth" a fable
translated from the Danish by Jacob Riis.
AS drawings they are of course meritorious,
and as specimens of color printing quite out
of the common. Nothing has been more
remarkable in the development of illus
trated art than the rapid Improvement in
the quality of color printing. The first
| thing likely TO be read Is the Easy Chair"
which, after having long been empty, is
now occupied by w. ID. Howells. Probably
no writer could so well take Mr.. Curtis's
place as Mr.. Howells, for the attitude of
the latter toward the world is of the semi
| cynical, yet kindly tolerant, one that char
acterized the other. The new occupants
Introductory address to the public is grace
fully made, and gives promise that this
once attractive feature of the magazine
will resume its old-time charm, or, rather,
| will take a new and distinct charm. Hard
ly less graceful is Mr.. Henry NJ. Alden's
tribute to Mr.. Howells in the Editors
| Study" a department which VIII hence
forth be conducted by this longtime editor
OF the magazine. The other literary features
of the number are especially attractive.
Among them is a short story by Thomas
Hardy. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who does
so little writing of late, also contributes a
short story. The fiction includes several
| other short stories and the final chapter
| of Mrs. Wards Eleanor" There is a study
OF Bernhard and Coquelin, by Henri Foul
| quier, and a clever essay on Parents" by
| f.. S. Martin. A number of poems and bits
| OF Christmas prose go TO make up a beauti-
full holiday number.
A.