The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-11-11

[ Hamilton Wright Mabie. New York:
/ Dodd, Mead and Co. Bound in cloth,
flexible covers, gilt top, IS mo- 279 pages.
| Price, 81.
| Those who had the privilege Of hearing
! Mr.. Mabie's recent series of lectures in
this city, will enjoy this little volume OF
! essays.
In his first chapter under tE1e head
Material and Method" Mr.. Mabie tells
us that the word culture cares with it
the Implication &C natural vital growth
and that the man OF culture is character
ised not by the extent Of his information,
but by the quality of his mind, and is
he who has SO ABSORBED what he knows
that's a part of himself. Again. he says.
Because culture is not knowledge but
wistlom not quantity OF learning but
quality. not mass OF Information but ref
erences and soundness OF temper, spirit
and nature, time is an essential element
in the process of sour ns il. it is
not wealth of time, hut what Mr.. Glad
stone calls thrift OF time, which brings
.r;Deness of rnlld within reach of the great
mass of raen :,lI:l women Another most
important factor in acquiring true cnl-
t,,ra is, he asserts, the power Of conceGl-
tration.'' A mans intellectual character
is determined by what he habitually
thinks about 3 and the mind may
be trained to mediate on great themes in
stead Of giving itself up to idle reTerie.
Father on Mr.. Mabie says, Literature
IS a continued revelation TO every Senu-
inc reader d revelation Of that quality
which we call art and u revocation of that
mysterious vital force which we call life,
ana the reader who has trained
vision has the constant joy of discovery,
first of beauty and power. next Of that
concrete or vital form Of truth which is
one with life
- I,Dy- "
be said, is never article; Intelligence and
calculation enter into the work OF the
artist, but in the last analysis it is the
free and noble expression OF his own per-
The books of life is the title the
author applies to the books which are
fountain heads OF vitality, ideas and
beauty" and first and foremost among
them he places the Bible and the works
| of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe,
These are the supreme books OF life as
| distinguished from the books of knowledge
and SKILL
| FIREsIDB BATTLES. BY Annie C.
Brown Chicago: Laird and Lee. Bound
in cloth, ornamental cover design, Illus
trated gilt top, 327. pages. Price, $1,255,
| This is a simple. wholesome story for.
girls It tells of the daily struggles OF a
loving family of girls and boys,
who are trying to shield an Invalid
! mother from the ha-dshps Of poverty.
| The burden Of responsibility falls on the
| shoulders Of the eldest daughter, who IS
! noble character Tt IS a very human
story, and has its lights and shadows. It
| is not all failure, nor all pain, but pleasures
| and success have their part also. 1t ends
happily. as all stories should.
The Illustrations by Joseph G.
| Leyendecker, and add much TO the at
! tractiveness of the volume.
| type and artistic Illustrations combine to
| make q v0lume.rnost pleasing to the eye.
| PTPPA PASSES. BY Robert Browning.
| With decorations and Illustrations by
! Margaret Armstrong. New York: Dodd.
Mead and Company. Ornamental cloth
| binding, large crown s vo., gilt top,
| deckle edges. Price, $3.50.
| This is one of the most widely quoted
| and perhaps best known Of Robert Brown
| ins's longer poems. For this holiday
! most decorative artists Of the day. has
| elaborated a most remarkable series OF
I! designs, ornamental head and tail pieces
| and borders OF great beauty and originality.
| The cover design is deliberately executed
| In gold and colors. It is a beautiful speci-
| men of book1nakins, and viii doubtless
; prove most popular as a holiday book.
| CHATWooD. By Patterson Du Bois.
! author Of ''Eeckonings From Little
! Hands and The Point of Contact in
! Teaching New York: Thomas Y Gro
| well & Co. Ornamental cloth binding.
| IS mo-, s1S5 pages. Price, so cents.
| ''Chatwood" consists of Il series OF very
brief essays in prose, wth an occasional
/; epigram in verse which Mr.. Du Bots has
| been contributing during the past few
| years to The Sunday-school Times and
| which have deservedly attracted much at
| teution They are on all sorts of topics
| connected generally with manners, re-
| gion, practical questions and are often
| varied with a pertinent and illustrative
| anecdote. It's not meant TO be finished
! at a sitting, but 70 De picked up and read
/ desultorially or in course a page or two
| at time. It is full Of good lunor,
! wise instruction, pointed reproof, sympa
| thetic advice and comfortable encoura ge-
! ment.
I, HEAVENS DISTANT LAMPS. Poems
| Of Comfort and Hope. Arranged by
/ Anna f; Mack, editor OF Because I
| Love You" Boston: Lee and Shepard.
| For sale by the Presbyterian Committee
| OF Publication Richmond, Va. Orna-
| mental binding, gilt top, S3S pages. Price
/ S15e
| Miss Mack has already shown herself
/ possessed of u most discriminating literary
| taste, as we'll as a profound acquaintance
! with the masterpieces OF the poetry Of
] our language, by her remarkably, popular
| collection of love poems, the widely
| known '.Because I Love YOU She has
| now used her talent IN an even more noble
and sympathetic way by compiling an al
| most faultlessly complete and Well-ctlosen
collection of poems OF comfort and hope,
| happily named from a quotation,
| Heavens Distant Lamps" The con-
! tents are arranged n~thirteen sections.
each prefaced By a short quotation. the.
| sentiment of which gives the keynote TO
the poems of that Division. Thus the
! theme of the first section is seen to be
| bereavement, of the next comfort, then
Submission. prayer, resignation. each
sroun becoming more grand ana strong
| in its tone until the closing division. which
| is given up to poems OF the resurrection
and ina naradise It would be very difIicult to
sn, 3 nohler set Of authors. or q worthter
Selection OF. extracts from their verse. and
csrt,inl, no such anthology of comfort,
trustz1,,,,a hope has ever been prepared.
TIE apnea rance Of the volume in its dress
3is1S and sold Ii 1aintiIw II.