The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-13


 erts. L. c. Page & Go.
 In MT. Roberts reprint of his selection of stories, under the title of Earth s Enigmas." the reader dreams close to the heart of nature.
 It is a work that will only be appreci- ated by one who has the leisure and the inclination to turn aside from the strenu- ous affairs of life, so distorted in many ways by it's unfeeling conventionalities and enjoy the descriptions of primitive life as here depicted.
 Many of the stories are about animal life, and are full of the spirit of the woods and of the wild life which moves there; others are scenes from the simple life of Canadian backwoods and tide country. with which the author became intimately acquainted in his early years. The well-selected title,-"Earths Enig- mas"-is an excellent instance of the beauty. and purity of the authors dc- tion, which the chiefest charm of the work. For, many of the problems of life and nature presented are enigmas and offer no solution, but are very suggestive and thought-provoking. The initial story Do Seek Their Meat From Cod is one of the most characteristic of the au- thors unique stories. It is so full Of the sympathetic quality which makes us feel not only the solitude and charm of the forest but arouses an interest in the trials of animal life that almost equals that given to human affairs. It is the story of two hungry animals searching for food; "as the hungry partners drew near the cabin, and the cries of the lone ly child grew clearer, they hastened thelr steps, and their eyes opened to wider circle, flaming with greener fire. It would be thoughtless superstition to say the beasts were cruel. They were simply keen with hunger, and alive with the eager passion of the chase. Theirs was no hideous or unnatural rage. as it is the custom to describe 1t. They were but seeking with the strength, the sun- ming, the deadly swiftness given them to that end the food convenient for them" A hunter kills both beasts in order to rescue the child, and then fol- lows this closing pathetic picture of the starved cubs: "In the ravine, behind a great white rock. The care was plainly a wild beasts lair, and he entered cir cumspectly. There were bones scattered about, and in some dry herbage in the deepest corner of the den, he found the dead bodies, now rapidly decaying, Of two small panther cubs"
 The stories are genuine classics of their kind and are good to read since they are sure to warm and arouse the heart to a deeper sympathy and tenderness.
 "The Devils Letters to Mary Maclane' Interstate Book Company.
 But 1t takes all kinds of books to make up the world of literature even as it takes all kinds of people and so, mayhap, some reader will be able to coax a spark of interest in "The Devils Letters to Mary Macane."
 Some time ago this perverse yet extra ordinary Mary Maclane" who is sup posed to reside in the extreme west, wrote a volume called a "PortrayaP which was characterized with errmine immodesty and cynical, carping comment I infer that the legitimate person has replied and hence we have "The Devil s Letters to Mary Maclane" To her peri patetic; philosophy he replies: You have said you never were that quaint conceit a girl
 Standing with reluctant feet,
 Where the brook or river meet. No; you steadied over all that. Mary. You never knew the incomparable bliss Ol SiBBnlB- Ou never SAPViiViNNo tAS ecstatic Joy of a wad of chewing gum nor the unspeakable pleasure of a street corner beau. You never knew the thrill of exchanging girlish condolences, nor tasted the supreme beatitude of a girls first love letter. Above all, you never felt the transport of an engagement ring on your finger You looked beyond all this" One of the cleverest letters-for many are clever even though they are naughty is the one in which his satanic majesty sums up those things for which he has conceived "a forcible repugnance," and says in conclusion; From prudish old maids at the seashore; from soiled kid gloves and gloves out at the fingers; from that rare confection, the 'debutante;' from old women in decolette gowns; from would-be authors; from woman in a dust cap and a broom, from fools Good God deliver me. From the rear view of a woman who wears rundown shoes and the kangaroo hump Good God, deliver me Mary Oh Mary, don't ever wear that combination, and turn your back to
 1.-THE DEVIL"
 P. S.-Many of the above agencies I am compelled to employ in my business. but no one abominates them more than l.
 THE D-L."
 The author of Mary Maclane' as may be guessed remains incognito, and not wthstanding the fact that the publisher states that the author 'is a lady of high social and literary circles in one of our western towns" we venture to be placed on record as believing the author to be a man."
 "Rips and Raps;" by L. de V. Matthew man. Frederick A. Stokes Company.
 I often wonder why publishers spend so much money on the illustrations of cer- tain books, when a concensus of opin- ion on the part of readers would in many instances declare them not only valueless, but detrimental to the text. If they do