The Republican journal., 1901-01-17
LITERARY NEWS AND NOTES.

for children" We will answer frankly,
says the editor, though some of the au-
thOrs he names are our personal friends.
We think you can do better. These
very men you name would recommend
the reading of standard books in prefer
ence to their own. YOu'will like others
better. There is no harm in reading
the everyday boys authors" as you
call them. Some of their books are ex-
cellent, others amount to little. All
the standard books are worth while.
Read both, if you like, until you prefer
the best; don't read the "easy books
until your mind becomes too lazy to
read harder ones. Give the two kinds
fair trial by a comparison. Compare
Coopers SPY or ''Pilot" with some
boys book dealing with a similar sub
ject, and see which is the better book.
If you do not prefer the standard book,
try to find out why. 1t may be that
YOU are not yet ready for it; and ii so,
read whatever is the best you can read
until you are older.
An article in the January st. Nicholas
that will appeal to boys is Jack Jou-
ett's Ride,'' an incident in the Revolu-
.tion, when Tarleton's men, setting out
on horseback for Monticello, were fore
stalled by a young innkeeper, who rode
thirty miles in two hours, and warned
Thomas jefferson of his danger. The
author of this account, r. I. w. Duke,
jr., rightly holds that the deed deserves
to rank with the famous ride of Paul
Revere. Another paper that teens
with adventure is ''The Diver' by
Cleveland Moffett-the first of series
of articles on Careers of Danger and
Daring" Some of the experiences OF
professional divers are extremely thrill
ing, and Mr. Moffett writes OF them IN
a very vivacious style. On one occasion
he donned a diving suit weighing nearly
two hundred pounds, and nailed bit
of wood on a submerged wreck. A
spirited ballad, a la Kipling, is Mary
Austin's ''Rhyme of the Pronghorns,
and good ''darkey'' story is Ruth NC
Emery Stuart's "Marth' Ann OF the
Eyergreens." Tado1 jerks tells, in
nineteen paragraphs, the history OF the
past nineteen centuries, and Laura Z.
Richards relates in half as many stanzas
the tale of ''The Gargoyle and the Grill
fin one of the characters therein being
Confucius. There are other rhymes
and jingles, the serials run along enter
tainingly, and the departments OF
Books and Reading" and Mature and
Science present the usual variety OF
interesting matter.
The January magazine number OF
The Outlook contains as its chief fea-
lures: An article on the pictorial,
architectural, and art aspects OF the
Paris Exposition by NJ. F. Hopkinson
Smith, the well known author, painter
and bridge contractor, illustrated by
half a dozen OF more beautifully re-
produced half tones from water color
drawings made for this express purpose
by the author; the tenth instailment OF
Mr. Booker T. Washington'S up From
Slavery" which has attracted wide at
tention among all interested in the ele-
walton of the negro race: an article by
the Countess of Aberdeen contrasting
the conditions of women i'll 1900 and
1900 as brought out by the Internation-
al Congress of Women of last year; a
readable article on the revival of inter
est in George BorroW'S work, with a
fine portrait; one on the American
Wumen'S College at ConStantinople,
with half dozen pictures, one of which
has special interest because it shows in
group of five girl students five distinct
race types a sketch of the work of the
Rev. G.. l.. Men utt, minister and La
burer,' who. i'll order to know labor
conditions has worked as ditch digger,
glass blower, miner. and III scores OF
jobs as a common laborer: 1.-TWO Ger
man Dramatists." (Hauptmann and
Sudermann.) by Edward A. Steiner. an
account of personal visit to these
two famous writer's; and a thoughtful
article on the French novel and the
young girl, by Tn. Benton (Madame
Blanc.)
Boston's ng-established weekly
magazine, The Living Age, opened its
two hundred and twenty eighth volume
with the number which bore date on
the first Saturday of January. So long
period of continuous publication, run
ming back tifty-seven years, presupposes
qualities OF enduring value in the mag
aZine and large measure OF attach
ment on the part of it's readers. The
fact is that the editors of the magazine
have been singularly successful in re-
tanning the characteristics which gave
the periodical it's original hold upon the
reading public, and at the same time
broadening it's scope and introducing
new elements of variety and timeliness.
All the conditions of periodical publica-
ton have greatly changed since Mr..
Littell established this magazine in 1914,
but while other magazines have come
and gone, the old Living Age has
held its place and is even more indis-
pensable today to alert and cultivated
readers than it was half a century ago.
1t is still the only weekly magazine in
its field: and its frequency of issue en-
ables it to reproduce the most important
articles from foreign, and especially
from British magazines, reviews and
literary weeklies, with a freshness i'm
possible under other conditions Lit
erature, art, science, biography, travel,
poetry, public affairs, and the best fic-
ton in short and serial stories find a
place in its well-stored pages: and there
is not single weekly number which
does not contain something which in
telligent readers of whatever special
tastes would be poorer for missing.
The magazine is published by The Liv-
ing Age Company, Boston.
In fiction, the chief interest in the
January Century attaches to com
plete story-ingenious and debate-pro-
voking-by DIR. Weir Mitchell-"A
Comedy of Conscience" Other stories
are Margaret l.. Knapps THE Man
Who went with the Place''-a place in
Connecticut; Charles w. Chesnutts
'The March of Progress" a tale of