The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-29

NEV PUBLICATIONS.

!
 one It is also a novel of strength anC Ipower. The book is one of the most de Ilightful and able contributions of tn year in the realms of fiction. It is a sto try of the new south told with the per of an artist. The graphical characters
 are real yividly drawn, and stanC
 out with distinctness. Especially fas
 cination is the character of Portia Val
 Ostade, the heroine, while that of hel
 lover, John Marshall, the unsuspectet
 mystery of whose birth is revealed al last, is equally fine. The time of tht
 novel is the seventies, and the scene ir
 North Carolina. Southern life, witt
 its chivalry, it's negro element and race
 troubles, the brides and prejudices O.
 the high born old southern families, the political animosities, the social status
 of the different grades of society and of the poorer white classes, are drawn
 to the life, and one follows the story from inclination and eager interest
 The chief love story which runs through this beautiful and romantic | tale is idyllic and dramatic, and a sub sidiary one is beautiful and dramatic. | | True love conquers and all ends happi- 1 ly, despite the race problem which is 1 developed The book is receiving praise from all quarters, as it well mer- 1 it's. Of this story one reviewer says: "When the Gates Lift Up Their Heads l is written so calmly, with so kindly and I Christian a spirit, that before its large | tolerance of destiny, with all that 1t l may bring, the fretfulness and dismay | with which this serious problem is of ten approached quite disappear. One | gathers reading between the lines. that | the Christian ideal of sacrifice does not apply alone to individuals; it must also | be the ideal of nations. It is written to prove that no part of the human family can afford to hold any other part of it in contempt. Contempt and hate, oppression and war, move in tragic procession, so. the author of this book would seem to say. But from love and service only growth can come A message so benefcent is not likely to perish in the waste; for after all, and at the worst people love ideals and cher ish them.
 The New York World says; Tt is a
 story of lights and shades in the
 Southland-a story over which readers
 will finger and upon which they VIII
 love to look back The heroine is not
 of the south. Portia Van Ostade IS
 Chicago girl, and the time in MT. Frs
 kines romance is set far enough back
 to make the events of the. novel se-
 fn ha (Nhjn1P0
 fire. Portals family has been burned
 out and ruined But there is an inher-
 itance from an old uncle which comes
 happily to relieve their extremity. An
 old southern estate falls to the girl
 There are a rambling. partly decayed mansion, twenty acres of ground ana nine hundred dollars in cash. The twenty acres, one would say from MT. Erskine's description, form paradise enow." But upon them comes love and they blossom anew. Black folk as well as white figure largely in the story Of Portia. There Is among the events the continuation of a lynching expedition with z bloodhound accompaniment. It is not to be judged therefore that the novel is sensational. One would say that the trend of the narrative is to- ward the pastoral style, yet with sutti- cient stir to keep the interest undimln- ished. The book closes with the love Of Portia and John Marshall triumphant after a test sterner than falls to the or dinary lot of sweetheart and lass.
 "Our Ferns in Their Haunts,' by Willard Nelson Clute, author Of "A Flora of the Upper Susquehanna, IS complete guide to the native species of American ferns, work involving great and thorough Investigation and of rare value to all who delight In natures revelations in this field of inquiry It is the only work that treats exhaus- tively of ferns. MT. Clute is editor of the Fern Bulletin and was formerly as- sistant curator of the New York Bo- tanical Garden He has paid especial attention to the haunts. habits, uses, folk lore, structure, growth, abundance, and variety of the ferns, covering a greater range and including more species than are mentioned in any other similar work Every common or English name is given, together with | the Scientific names of both the old and |
 
 sion of the origin and application of the | names. It contains the only illustrated key to the families ever printed and | by the aid of this even child can iden- .ify any species. It is written in un- technical language strictly in accord with the best scientific opinion. The H. ustrator Is William w. Stison, and he 1as supplied more than two hundred beautiful illustrations in colors in wash md in pen and ink, and these have been engraved with the utmost care. Mr. Stilson has drawn nearly all of ifs illustra tions directly from the living plants and he and the author have made special excursions to the haunts if the rarer species of our ferns. This publication makes delight ul gift book and is a fine contribution 0 the literature concerning the fern antilles and species. Published by the Frederick A. Stokes company, New york, price $215 net, or $2,35 postpaid; or sale by the E. P. Judd company. Ensign Knightley and Other Sto- ies' is the title of very readable col ection of tales by A. F. W.Mason, au- hor of "The Courtship of Morrice ,ucker," ''The Watchers,H "Parson ; -elly," etc.. (Frederick A. Stokes com any, New York, publishers; price l50; for sale at Judd's.) The book { akes it's name from the first story, -hiob ic npo of draynatic.nowar and q