The Washington times., 1901-09-08
LITERARY NOTES.

Louis Becke, the novelist, whose Won
! drous tales of Australasia and the South
Seas have won him fame and fortune has
written a new volume entitled by Rock
and Pool which is announced for imme-
date publication by the New Amsterdam
| Book Company.
Prof. ]. w. jerks, of Cornell University.
| who is very prominent among those who
are laboring for settlement of the steel
strike, is qualified few are to act as ar
| bitter in such complications. He has made
| q most careful study of industrial prob
| lens, is the expert agent of the United
| States Industrial Commission, consulting
| expert of the United States Department
| OF Labor, and the author of an authorita-
tive and concise work entitled The Trust
| Problem" which Mcclure, Phillips & Co.
publish.
| Within week or two the fate of the
redoubtable Raffles will be solved. for Mr..
Hornung's second series of Amateur
| Cracksman'' stories will then he out, and
| will bring the career of this inimitable
| rascal to n heroic conclusion. The title of
| the new book is ''Raffles," the name of
| the gentlemanly burglar himself, with the
| subtitle More Adventures of the ANA
| teur Cracksman."
Thomas Dwight GodeIl, professor of
|
entitled Chapters on Greek Metric" 1t
! is a scholarly examination of the foun-
dations of this department in Greek
study The basis of discussion is our
/ cient authorities, both Greek and Latin,
! who are quoted at some length. First
| by more careful comparison of these
| sources with one another, and secondly by
| bringing to bear on them accurate OBJ
| servation of the facts of rhythm in mod
| ern life and speech, the author endeayors
I reach INTERPRETATIONS
| some points. and so better understand
| ing of Greek verse forms.
A consideration of the more familiar
phenomena of optics, by Charles s. Hast
| ings. professor of physics at Yale Uni
| versity. is brought out among the Yale
| bi-centennial publications under the title
| of Light" The books aims to describe
and explain the very large number of
| phenomena in the domain of optics which
may be regarded es familiar, in sense
that all of them may be observed without
the accessories which are found only in
| the collections of apparatus characters
tie tic of physical Laboratories rator.;sns The
dealt with briefly and what may be called
atmospheric optics is given very full
treatment.
The following information, quoted from
Rosa Belle Hollis volume on Rugs,
Oriental and Occidental" may be new
even to many lovers of these fabrics:
''The hunting rugs of Persia are the most
remarkable and interesting rugs in ex-
istence They had their origin in the Chi
nese pictures of hunting scenes, from
which they were copied. They werv un-
doubtediy made as early as the sixteenth
century for the Shah. Exquisite in their
weaving, marvellous in coloring, and of
rare sheen, they are worthy of the closest
attention. Nor is this their only merit;
they serve as records of ancient Gus
toms, depicting the method of the chase.
and portrayins the mounted hunters in
pursuit of the elephant, lion, phoenix,
deer. and other creatures febulous and
reaD. There are perhaps twelve of these
precious rugs in existence. One belongs
to the imperial house of Austria another
to Baron Adolphe Rothschild a third is
in the Berlin Museum, and fourth may
be seen at the Boston Museum
Now that the historical novel is dead
issue in the book shops, readers are
turning their attention to stories of ad-
venture Among the promising books for
the autumn is Frank Savile's Beyond the
Great South Wall" which the New AM
sterdam Book Company will issue in a
few days.
Among the first writer's to recognize
the dramatic possibilities in the labor
troubles which are constantly stirring our
country is I. X. Friedman. For his new
novel, by Bread Alone" published by
Mcclure, Phillips & Co, he has chosen
a great theme one which affords wealth
of color and wide field for bold delinea-
ton It is a story of the steel workers,
which introduces the readers to various
and little known aspects of those totlinS
lives. Blair Carrhart goes as laborer
into the steel mill that he may better
know the men whom he wants to help.
There he lives life full of dangers. strug-
giles, and suffering, learning the hopeless-
ness of easy remedies for wrong. In the
course of the work occurs vivid de-
scription Of a great strike. The author,
however, shows no tinge OF prejudice, but
depicts a bitter labor struggle with ad-
mirable impartiality. Along with the por-
trayal of some of mans worst passions
is that of his best. his affection for a
woman, forming love story which soft
ems the stern picture.
In Mr.. Aylmer Maude's recent book.
'.Tolstoy and His Problems. just issued
by the A. Vessels Co, the author COM
mented on the fact that no mention was
made of John Ruskir. in What Is Art?'
Tolstoy in letter to Mr.. Maude. refer |
ring to this omission, says: First, be-
cause Ruskin attributes special moral
importance to beauty in art which was
the point that the Russian author was
calling into question; and secondly, be- !
cause all Ruskins works, rich as they
are in depth Of thought, are yet not unit
ed by any one ruling idea and therefore
could not well be summarized. either for
appreciation or refutation. That Tolstoy |
had high appreciation of Ruslins work !
in general is shown by a remark record |
ed in Mr.. Maudes book: Il don't know |
why you English make such fuss about |
Gladstone-you have much greater man |
in Ruskin."
Tolstoy speaks highly of Mr.. Maude's |
book: but he makes an interesting cor |
rection of an error in the predatory biog- |
raphy The statement is there made that |
'Tolstoy did not wait for the decree of |
emancipation, but voluntarily freed his |
serfs" The Russian reformer explains |
that this was at the time impossible. |
What he did was to transfer his serfs |
from "Barstchina' to 'obrok; that is to |
say, instead of doing compulsory labor, |
he allowed them to pay II yearly sum.
The fame of Booth Tarkington's Mon |
sieur Beaucaire,' published by Mcclure. |
Phillips 4 Co, has reached Australia. |
1t is noted in the list of the Book Low |
ers Library" in Melbourne, and is one |
OF the most popular works of fiction in !
that city.
Studies in Evolution by Charles EN-
erson Beecher, Ph. D.. professor of his
toricai geology in Yale University. has
Just been published by the Scribners. 1t |
ors. reprinted from the publications of
the laboratory of invertibrate paleontoi-
ogy, Peabody Museum.
THE Deacon's Second Wind" is the
very peculiar title of a very peculiar
story. the latest novel by Archibald CLAY
ering Gunter, the author of ''Mr. Barnes
of New York" 1t is a romance OF rural
life and is said to be Mr. GunterS best
novel.