Omaha daily bee., 1902-02-07

H. Revell company, Chicago.
The opening essayist in the eighth volume
of 1.-THE Worlds Best Essays is Mazzani.
who, being exiled from the country he had
helped to make free. devoted himself to
literature, and one OF his writings, o the
French Revolution" is here reproduced.
Moses Mendelssohn, an eminent German
jurist and philosopher. is the author OF
two readable papers. THE Historical Atti-
tude of Judaism" and Shakespeare as a
Master OF the Sublime" Jules Mlchelet's
account in his History Of France" Of the
burning Of Jeanne dare for sorcery, Is a
page in English annals which they would
willingly obliterate. John Stuart Mills es-
say ION Liberty is ranked as one Of the
best efforts OF that profound thinker and
political economist. John Milton, while
more widely known by his poems. especially
his great epic, Paradise Lost is also
favorably remembered for his prose much
OF which was in the direction Of extended
liberty for the people. His essay, THE
Strongest Thing In the World" is a plea
that, even beyond truth, Justice Is the most
potent factor under heaven. One of. the
prominent pen-women OF the early part
OF the century just past was Mary Russell
Milford, who contributes an entertaining
essay. THE Talking Lady" Montague is
credited with being the first "essayist" in
the general acceptation OF that woodland
In addition to being the first. he was, with
but one or two exceptions, the greatest.
The extracts given from Plato are: "of
What We Ought to Do" Socrates Drinks
the Poison" "The immortality Of the Soul
and extracts from his misceSlaneous works.
Examples from Edgar Allan Poe are from
his "Marginalia." Alexander Pope is, per-
haps, best known as q poet, but he was also
a talented prose writer. as some Of his
essays attest. There are so many inter-
esting selections in this interesting volume
that Il is impossible 70 even briefly enumer-
ate them In the present allotted space.
One thing Is certain, a set of THE Worlds
Best Essays is a whole library in itself.
Ferd. P. Kaiser. st. Louis.
THE "Reminiscences Of a Pullman Con-
ductor'' is the title OF a book containing
q series OF character sketches, drawn from
life and written in a vein OF ~satiricsl
humor. The author, Herbert o. Holder
ness, is a newspaper man, who spent two
years in the Pullman service with the OBJ
ject Of sketching the freaks and other
forms OF nature which appear in sleeping
car life. h writer has sketched in an
amusing manner the familiar characters
one meets with IN railroad travel, such as
the chronic kicker, the old woman and
the parrot, newly married couples, base
ball and other college ieEds. the invalid.
the hog, inebriates. etc. Some OF the de-
scriptions are quite pat and altogether it
will be found IN amusing book by people
who travel and are close observers. The
Lotus Publishing Co.. Chicago.
-
Charles Curtz Hahn. an Omaha newspa-
per man, already known to the reading
public as the author Of I'm CIoisters Dim"
has furnished another example OF his
ability as a writer in the form of a book
let in paper covers entitled 80 Fight L;
a Septuagesima Meditation"
This solemn S-ep'uagesima,
With force the lesson comes again,
AS with her warning voice the church
Calls to her courts all sorts OF men,
And bids them learn the way to God.
l fast and weep, repent and pray,
Lest having preached to others. 1
Should, hapless, prove a castaway.
The above Is from the Introductory poem.
after which follows in prose a series Of
meditations called to mind by the near
approach OF Lent. The author considers
the subject from different points OF view.
bringing into the foreground many useful
lessons. At times he breaches directly to
us, as: Each Easter should mark some
particular sin conquered; each Lent should
find US one step higher in the Christian
life. one step nearer God. our souls one
shade purer. our strength so much greater
for having passed through the discipline"
Published by Thomas Whitaker. 2 and