The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-27

up-to-date view. Recent consolidation.
and probable legislation in the near fu-
ture, are fully treated.
The closing chapter is long one on
the tariff question as 1t stands today.
BOOK NOTES.
Various Items About Books Which
Are Attracting Attention.
Speaking of "Oldfeld" by Mrs. Nancy
Huston Banks which has just run into
it's fourth edition within two months of
its publication. that discrimfnat ting
critic Mr.. Hamilton w. Mabie. charac-
terizes 1t as "a picture of a society
which Is fast going, If 1t has not al
ready vanished: an unworldly. self-re-
spectfng, simple minded, warm-hearted
society, cherishing harmless aristocrat-
ic tradition which never degenerated
into exclusiveness and which bore the
fruit of charming manners and free
handed hospitality"
The dramatization of Dorothy Yer.
non of Haddon HALF is now having the
finishing touch put to it by the author
Mr. Charles Major. and the dramatist
Mr.. James Macarthur. Mr.. Macarthur,
| 1t will be remembered. was the dra-
matist of 1.-The Bonny Brier Bush" He
was for many years the editor of the
"Bookman" and is at present one of
Harper & Brothers literary advisers.
| Mr.. Charles Frohman is arranging for
the production of the play and the an
| nouncement of the leading roles may
be made at any moment DOROTHY
Vernon" IS on all the book lists as one
of the two or three most popular novels
of the day and Mr.. Frohman expects to
produce play which will have fully as
successful a run as when Knight
hood Was in Flower"
"The Conquest: The True Story of
Lewis and Clark" is the attractive an
/ n
McClurg & Co. The book lis to appea-
early in November. The subject sug-
Egests great possibilities. and the book
will be awaited with much interest.
Interest in American life on the part
| of our British cousins continues to
manifest itself with hattering consist
ency. The latest evidence is the print
/ ing of an American edition of Martha
McCulloeh- Williams studies of life and
nature in farm and woodland. Next to
the Ground which is published in this
country by Mcclure. Phillips & Co.
Miss Alice Caldwell Hogan. the author
of that successful little story, Mrs.
Wigs of the Cabbage Patch" has writ
ten her second book. and it is to appear
serially in The Century She calls it
| "Lovey Mary" and the many admirers
of Mrs. Wigs will be glad to know that
this optimistic character reappears in
the new story.
In charm of literary style as well as
in sympathetic understanding of its
subject. the biography of Nathaniel
(HOughton, Miff1in & Coz is exceptional
and noteworthy. Prof. Woodbury. is
fitted both by temperament and by long
training in literature to portray and in
terpret Hawthornes subtle and fasci-
mating personality. And he has pro-
duced here life of our greatest novelist
which, it may be predicted, will take q
permanent place both as biography and
as literature. Like the other books in
the American Men of Letters Series te
which it belongs, the Life of Hawthorne
deals primarily with Hawthorne as q
writer, and it is marked by the critica
skill and acumen which have made
Prof. Woodberry's Life of Poe in the
same series an invaluable book The
Hawthorne is published in uncut and
limited editions as well as in the regulal
trade edition.
Walter Littlefield. who has contrib
uted a paper Lowell in 1872" by way
: Writings of James Russell Lowell" jus
! published by John Lane. has been fol
some years past identified more will
: the Interpretation of continental polit
ical problems than with that of belle:
lettres. Nevertheless, he is the author O.
several conspicuous essays dealing will
hitherto undisturbed byways in litera
! ture. He will be recalled to collectors
. as the editor of a reprint of the frs
American novel. THE Power Of Sym
; pathy," which, preceding scandalou
| tale of post-revolutionary Roxbury, wal
first published in 1889.
Messrs Small. MAYNARD & Co. pub
lished today a book by George Horace
ing Post. of Philadelphia, entitled Let
tiers from a Self-made Merchant to Hi
Son. This volume contains twenty let
tiers purDorting to be written by JOIN
~ hon - l.
& Co, pork packers in Chicago, ant
Familiarity known ION change" as "Ol'
Gorgon Graham" to his son. Pierre
P1n nninersit n and fana4o,sI
! known to his fellow students a
. Piggy" and later an employe of tn
house of Graham & Co.
Miss Alice Woods is a new Indian:
author whose first book Edges will
. appear the last of the month, from tn
: Bowen-Merril company. Miss Woods
story is Of American and Partisan
. painters life and includes a delicat
romance. The author is a painter a
well, and has made the pictures for he
the late Judge William A. Woods of tn
!, federal circuit court. The book will b
beautifully printed on old English but
!. paper. and the cover will bear a strik
: ing design by the author.
Il Unusually large advance orders hav
! been reported by Harper & Brothers TO
3 Robert w. Chamberss new novel, TIL
e Maid-at-Arms, despite the fact that
unlike Mr.. Chambers's Cardigan, thf
}. new story was never published serially
I How much the serial helps the book ]
: still an unanswered question. and
:. would seem, in the case of The Maid
o alarms, that the wide popularity of it
: author Is the chief cause of the remark
able welcome the mere announcement
;. of the book has received.
A new claimant for the honors of tn
writer's of fiction has appeared in Eliza
beth Higgins. whose strong and origins
novel, Out of the West. has just issue
{ from the Harper press. Mrs. Higgfn
has the distinction of having write
the first novel that has for backgroun
= the Nebraska country of William :
a Bryan, and one of her chief character
= is said to be much like a young Ne
n braska lawyer who was the idol of tn