The Washington times., 1901-08-11

field of Gettysburg, reproduced in half
tone. 1t gives the reader better idea of
the formation of the land than a dozen
ordinary maps. (New York: d. Apple
ton & Coz
Somebody really ought to undertake the
painful task of convincing Mr.. Frank r.
Bullen that he wrote himself out when
he finished 1.-The Cruise of the Cachalot."
He has now come into view with two
more books, "A Sack of Shakings' and
with Christ at Sea- The latter book
as it is the worst. shouIo be taken first.
1t is described in the subtitle as "A
Personal Record of Religious Experiences
on Board Ship for Fifteen Years. I'm
doubleday man may have great many
religious experiences on board ship in that
length of time, but whether they would
be worth recording or not depends large
~ on the man. The chances are that if
they were, the man would not be the kind
OF man to make them pit bic. This partic-
ular book is an example of the truth
of the observation. The trouble with the
author seems to be that, like the monkeys
collected by Kiplings German friend. he
"haf too much Ego in his Cosmos.
The place where u sense of humor
up seems to be represented by a large
hole; otherwise one would scarcely find
him quoting with gravity the assurances
of shipmate that seasickness is a means
of grace, because whom the Lord Ioveth
he chasteneth,' nor would he quote as
an example of Christian resignation that
same shipmate's behavior in saying
Thank Cod" when he stubbed his toe
mi xt-ilI no
the opinion of Jewish gentleman quoted
on one of the last pages, who told what
he thought of Mr.. Bullen quite freely, in
language more plain than polite New
York: Frederick "A. Stokes & Co. sl50)
Mr.. Bullen has two styles In "A Sack
of Shakings" he has recourse to his other
style, that of fine writing. He uses long
words here and describes all the details
of objects seen during voyages TO the
unknown parts Of the earth, and when he
does this he is really interesting, not be-
cause of his style, but his subject There
are two horror stories in the book, THE
Calling of Captain Ramirez and Be
meath the Surface" which prove his
ability to tell regular sailors yarn; there
is much interesting Information about
the habits and traditions of sailors, and
there are recorded numerous more or less
amusing incidents which took place on
shipboard within his remembrance. One
chapter is devoted to the superstitions of
the sea, and perhaps the queerest of
these is the one alleged to be connected
with the Finnish sailors. The author
says.
In British, American, and Scandi-
navian vessels Firms are always cred
tied with characteristics which CEN
tury ago would have involved them
in many unpleasantnesses. Chiefly
harml. SIS no doubt, these weird pow
ers, yet when your s:u!td shiprnate is
firmly believed TO control the winds so
masterfully as to supply his favored
friends with quartering breeze while
all the rest of the surrounding vessels
have dead mueller, any affection
You may have had for him is seriously
liable to degenerate into fear. IT is
perhaps hardly necessary to state that
from whatever the original idea of
Finnish necromancy originally arose,
a whole host of legends have grown
up, many of them too trivial for print,
some delightfully."- quaint. others no less
original than lewd. but all evidently
gratis of fancy upon some parent
stock Thus. while there is n rat in
the ship no Finn WAS ever known to
lose anything. because it is well known
that any rat in the full possession of
his faculties would he only too glad
to wait upon the humblest Finn. And
the reason why Firms are always fat
is because they have only to go and
stick their knives in the foremost to
effect a total change in their meat to
whatever they fancy most keenly at
the time Ii is well that they are
mostly temperate men, since every
body knows that they can draw any
liquor they like from the water
breaker by turning their cap round,
and they never write letters home be
cause the birds that hover round the
ship are proud to bear their messages
whlthersoeYer they list. The catalogue
of their privileges might be greatly eX-
tended were 1t needful. but one thing
always strikes an unbiased observer
the Finn is almost without exception
one of the humblest quietest of sea-
farers. whose sole aim is to do what
he is told as well as he can to give as
little trouble as possible, and when
any post of responsibility liz given him
to show his appreciation of II by doing
two mems work, filling up his leisure
by devising schemes whereby he can
do more"
Altogether, when the author draws upon
what he has seen and heard and Keeps
away from what he has felt and thought,
he is exceedingly satisfactory. New York:
Mcclure, Phillips & Co. $500