The times., 1901-06-23

only the regulations OF several pIoihiheii'
men, but weakens public confidence IN tne
| systems which they represent. This Is
| done purposely, in order that old things
| may be swept away and replaced py ne"
| things. 1t is a strangely subtle study OF
modern conditions. and the spirit of the
| progress of today. II is not likely TO be a
popular book; it is not exactly a great
| book: but fine work and original thought
along important lines it certainly IS IL
| il was the object of the authors TO reach'
| not the millions, but a select few ere ana
there. to set them thinking over the re-
condite problems with which the book
deals. their object has probably been at
/ tanned.
Mixed with the more serious purpose of
the novel is good deal of keen and clever
satire of certain features of modern jour
nalism. Everybody knows the new fash
ion of exploiting the author and his per-
sonality as if he were the favorite of the
hour in new musical melange; of de-
scribing his library, his bedroom, his fav-
orite typewriting machine, his pet brand
| of cigar and explaining his views on var-
| Gus subjects not connected with his work.
| This fashion the authors have handled
| skillfully and with scathing contempt, and
| the chapter in which this is done Is one
! of the best in the book. The figure OF
CalIan, the popular author, posed for
| the actual, mental and moral kodak of
the interviewer is one not to be forgot
| ten.
Another brilliant chapter is that which
describes the climax of the intrigue
| which results in the fall of the Greenland
! Mersch cabal. The absolute impersonality
of the Inheritors produces something the
same effect as that created by the begin
4 - .,.rfr, two rp-
nance The War of the Worlds" Every
student of modern affairs must have won
dered at one time or another whether the
laws of the universe are, in the last
analysis moral or immoral. Immoral
opposed to all good-they cannot be; the
thing is inconceivabe Immoral it inevi-
tably seems to the student at some point
in his investigation they may be. 1t is
this world-old problem with which the au-
thors of this novel have dealt; and they
have done their work well. (New York:
Mcclure, Phillips & Co. 1.25)
"Bi. 1-Life," by Frank NJ. Chapman, is
a new edition of a somewhat exhaustive
study of our common birds, illustrated
| by Ernest ton-Thompson. Mr.. Thomp-
sons work is reproduced by color-lith-
ography from the original paintings.
There are seventy-five of these Ilustra-
tions.
The book itself is carefully written, ac-
| curate in every detail, and plainly the
| work of writer who is in enthusiastic
sympathy with his subject. Aside from
the later chapters, in which the various
birds are taken up one by one, with due
| reference to their appearance, habits,
| habitat, etc, there is an introduction ex-
| planning the general structure of the
bird, and the purposes for which its va
| rious organs are developed.
One particularly refreshing thing about
| this book is that it is likely to lead the
youthful reader to study his birds alive
instead of shooting them. The study of
of ornithology, when it simply ministers
| to mans primitive enjoyment of slaugh-
ter is not properly a science at all. 1t
| is more and more becoming the habit of
scientists to roam afield, not for the sake
| of shooting specimens, but in order to
observe birds and animals in their native
| haunts, to make friends with them, and
| learn TO become so much part of the
landscape that the feathered and furry
inhabitants will carry on their small
housekeeping and marketing precisely as
if no perplexing human creature were in
the neighborhood. 1t takes considerably
more patience and skill to go hunting
with a camera than with shotgun, but
the true lover of nature will not mind
that. (New York: D. Appleton & Co.
81
"The Book of Jade" is a slender, anony-
nous volume of verse, of the kind which
was published by the late lamented Chap
book. 1t ut-Swinburne's Swinburne at
times, and some of it is very good. But
the bad is SO much worse than the good
is good that the emotions of the reader
are rather mixed.
For example the prelude" is musical
as a slow, sweet Oriental song. The me-
tire is peculiar and suited to the lazy,
sensuous music of the words. Here is
ore verse:
| Now since Of all a little weary,
| And since on earth 1 must awhile soIourn,
| And since awhile must burn
| The Of my long existence dreary,
All things shall walk, that own my mastery,
In luxury.
And here is dainty thing called sim
| ply "A Rondeau:"
As shadows pass, in the misty night
over the and moonlit grass,
| So passeth our glory out Of sight,
| As shadows pass.
A little darkness, little light,
/ Sorrow and gladnesS, a weary mass,
Glimincr and ialter and pass in blight.
| AS shadows pass.
So all our life. in waning fight
Fadeth and faltereth alasl
Passeth our sorrow and om delight
| AS shadows pass.
On the other hand there are about a
dozen poems in the book devoted mainly
to the subject of worms particularly the
kind Of worm that inhabits cemeteries II
is not poetic subject, and the poems are
to say the least, squirmy. (New YORK
Doxey's: At the Sign Of the Lark)
1.-THE Lovers of the Woods" by w. H
Boardman, is a slender book of chapters
out of life in the Maine forests, and it 1:
spicy with pine and balsam, and full O
the damp, sweet air Of the woods. on
half expects to find the pages damp, a
If they had been left out of doors over
| night.
There are three characters in it, Hardy
the prairie-born man, who has come 4
= the woods for health; John, the guide
t | and Billy, another old woodsman. 1t is re
' | freshing TO note that the book is no
. | mainly taken up with killing things, bu
rather with the business of preserving
trout and the mere delight of living il
the forests and knowing woodland life
7 The chapter entitled Children of tn
Stream" is one of the most interesting
It describes the process of stocking trout
brooks. John says:
"A man with carry y-can and thirty
|. | pounds of water hammerln' his back
at every step needs easy gCln, and