The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-24
LITERARY NOTES.


Barr McCutcheons new novel, tell thi
story of him:
Mr.. McCuteheou is enough of a journalist
TO have had many experiences. and some OF
them amusing Once at dinner he responded
TO the toast "As Womans Smile giving
hastily written bit of verse TO suit the
occasion and the indies Among the guests
was man from an adjoining city, and so
much was he delighted with the response
that he asked Mr. MeCutcheon to write 1t
| on the back of an envelope for him.
A few months later Mr.. NcCutcheon attend
| cd small dinner party in a CITY not tar
from Lafayette. and among the guests was the
man who had admired the response Every
thing was informal, and it was not long be
fore one of the ladies called for toasts. Inc
"admirer.' as he may be called, was the first
| one urged to SAY something nice. ne
| arose and profusely apologized for what he
was about to perpetrate. admitting that he
| had written some verses hurricdiy for llttle
affair that did not come Of but If the others
| would promise to throw no plates ne wouG
| give toast TO "a wOman's smile. torgetfni
that the man who wrote them was present,
he recited the verses CALAMITY, and then
modestly sat down. with an uncertain sort OF
| applause his recompense.
| suddenly the man remembered that the
| writer OF the verses was sitting directly OPP
positc, and he began TO turn hery req:
He lost his power Of speech and was the
| most uncomfortable person who ever studled
| plate at dinner party. As soon as the
| ladies left the room he dragged Mr.. NC
Cutcheon OF TO a corner and exclaimed
| u want to explain, old man. Don MINK
| that | had forgotten that you wrote that
| toast. | not irving to steal your thunder.
1t and is my intention TO introduce you
| as the author when we go into the drawing
| room, and create little diversion
| That's all right Mr.. D, interrupted
| McCntcheon: don't say another word about
it. It's nice of you. but really don't
see how the deuce We can carry the thng OUT
as you intend. You see, Just before you
| got here this evening our hostess actually
forced me to repeat those verses for the
crowd-and l did so.'
Doubleday. Page & Co. announce the
spring appearance in book form of Mas
tiers of Men," the story by Morgan Rob
| ertson now running in the Saturday
Evening Post"
Frederick D. Chester, bacteriologist of
| the Delaware Agricultural Experiment
Station and director of the State Bac-
| THEOLOGICAL Laboratory. has just com
| pleted "A Manual of Determinative Bac-
| teriology." The work aims to arrange all
| sufficiently described bacteria in such a
| way that they can be determined by the
! laboratory worker.
Among the new books to be issued by
D. Appleton & Co. is "A Landmark His
tory of New York" by Albert Ulmann,
who has treated the city's story from a
novel point of view. Instead of following
the customary plan of dealing with facts
and abiding incidentally to historic sites,
the author has described a series of ex-
cursions to old landmarks and woven the
history about them. The erection of
tablets within recent years In many parts
of the city has helped materially TO iden-
tify important sites, and to give a def
mite sense of realism to the story of the
past To make tour of these memorials
in their proper order and relate the in
terrsting events connected Herewith is
the plan of the book
Mcclure, Phillips & Co. have Just pub
lished THE Railroad a collection of
short stories selected from "McCIure's
Magazine" This volume is the second in
the series of Stories from McClures."
Messrs. Herbert s. Stone G. Co. will
bring out this spring an edition in one
volume of The Love of An Uncrowned
Queen" by w. H. Wilkins, NJ. A. 1t tells
the story of Sophie Dorothea the consort
of George l, and Count Konigsmark-a
story as passionate and romantic as that
OF Mary Stuart and Rizzio.
The fourth edition Of "'Who Goes
There? Story of a Spy in the Civil
War" has just been issued by the Mac
milan Company. Grand Army men seem
to have caught on to this story 1t has
been receiving much notice from some of
federate and Northern armies. An inter
esting point about the book is that no
one seems to know on which side of the
civil war the author fought.
Owen Johnson, whose novel, Arrows
of the Almighty" is to be published next
month by the Macmillan Company, is the
grandson of Judge Nimrod Johnson, who
was at one time law partner of Gov
ernor Morton, the war Governor of In
diana. His is an old Indiana family, a
member of which Henry N. johnson rep
resented Indiana in Congress not SO long
ago.
The Lions Brood" is a new novel by
Duffield Osborne announced for early
spring publication by Doubleday, Page &
Co. The Lions Brood, II will be rernen1-
bered, were the sons of the old Cartha-
gfnian leader. Hamilcar. who as children
were sworn enemies of Rome.
The stories that are told by Mr.. w. C.
Coup in 'Sawdust and Spangles" are
most diverting, and not the most amusing
of them are those that relate to the man
ufacture CT freaks. In our credulous
young days we supposed that all these
monsters of the arena were genuine. but
Mr.. Coup assures us that II requires some
ingenuity to manufacture white elephants
and Cardiff giants. The following letter
from Mr.. p. T. Barnum, which is printed
in the book, refers to these eccentricities
in a delightfully."- frank and breezy way:
Bridgeport, Oct s, 1870
''My Dear Coup: Yours received | will
Join you in show for next spring and will
probably have Admiral Dot well trained this
winter and have him and Harrison in the
show. Wood will sell all his animals right
and will furnish several Upton museum cur
iosities. You need TO spend several months
in New York arranging for curiositieS cuts
cages, bills. etc. We can make a stunning
museum department. You can have Cardiff
Giant that wont crack, also a moving
figure, sleeping beauty or Dying Zouave-a
big gymnastic figure like that in Woods
Musenm-and lots of other good things, and
you need tine to look them up and pre-
pare managers, etc Yours truly,
'P. T. BARNUM.'
will spare time to coach up the show
in New York when you come think
Siamese Twins would pay"
Prof. Groos, author of THE Play of An
imals' and professor of philosophy in the
of Basic. has written THE |
Play of Man" of which the publishers, d. |
& Co, say:
THE results of Prof. Groos' original
and acute Investigations are of pecul-
lar value TO those who are interested
in psychology and sociology, and they |
are of great Importance to educators. |
He presents the anthropological as
poets of the subject treated in his
psychological study of the Play of An
finals, which has already become
classic. Prof. Groos. who agrees with
the followers of Weismann, develops
the great Importance of the child's
play as tending to strengthen his in
heritance in the acquisition of adapta-
tons to his environment. The influ-
ence of play on character and its rela-
ton to education are suggestively in
dicated. The playful manifestations
affecting the child himself and those
affecting his relations to others have