The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-24
BOOK REVIEWS
AND
LITERARY NOTES

The North Star. A Tale of Norway in
the Tenth Century. By NJ. r.
Henry-Ruffin. Illustrated by w. D.
Hamilton. Boston: Little, Brown
& 60. Price, $3.50.
THE North Star" is stirring tale
of love and adventure, picturesque,
King Olaf Tryggevesson for it's hero,
of whom Carlyle said in The Early
Kings of Norway" Strangely he re-
mains still a shining figure to us; the
wildly beautifulest man in body and
in soul that one has ever heard of the
North" The story opens with a scene
at a fair in Ireland where Olaf meets
beautiful Irish princess, and later
changes to Norway, where Olaf re-
turns to be received as King. Such his
tory and legend as have come to us of
that time furnish fertile imagination
a frame for stirring incident and rapid
action.
Mrs. Margaret Ellen Henry Ruffin,
author of the book is the only daugh-
ter of the late Thomas Henry of Mo-
bile, prominent merchant and bank
er of the Gulf City. In 1887 she mar
ried Frank G.. Ruffin of Virginia, the
son of Col. Frank G. Ruffin, who was
for many years state auditor of Vir-
ginia. Mr.. Ruffin died two years ago.
Through their father, Mrs. Ruffin's six
children are great-great- great-grand-
children of Thomas Jefferson.
Industries of To-day. Boston: CHM
& Co.
This is one of the Youths Com
panion series of supplementary read
ers, made possible by an arrangement
between CHM & Co., and the Perry
Mason Company, whereby certain ar
tlcles originally appearing in the
Youths Companion are republished in
book form, graded and systematized
for the use of school children. The
high character of the matter appear
ing in the Youths Companion needs
not to be commented on rather the
public is to be congratulated upon the
enterprise of the CHM people in secur-
ing the privilege of republishing selec-
tons from it in substantial book form
for school and household purposes. The
stories in the volume under review are
so entertaining as well as instructive
that we cannot think of them as being
confined in their book form to the
school room. They will be read by
children, and adults, for pleasure as
well as information.
Eggleston's New Century History of
the United States. BY Edward Egg
gleston. Half leather; PIP. 453; with
maps and illustrations. New York:
The American Book Co. Price, 81.
The preparation of this book was the
loo oe
was convinced that there was a pc
culiar need os such a history, and he
devoted all his energies to supplying
it, His purpose was ~ tell the story
of our country so briefly that ii might
be mastered within the usual time al
lotted to the study, and yet to preserve
its interest unimpaired by condensa-
ton. He has succeeded admirably, and
the high literary quality of the narra-
tive IS noteworthy feature of the
book. He has been especially success
full in presenting those facts of the
home life of the people and of their
progress in civilization which are more
essential to their history than any
mere record of wars and political par
ties.
Steps in English. Book One. and Book
Two. BY Profs. Morrow, Mclean
and Blaisdell. New York: The
American Book Company.
Book One is intended for work in the
third. fourth and fifth years of the
child's school life-one exercise for
each school day. The exercises cover
ten weeks observation lessons, ten
weeks study of pictures, ten weeks
study of poems and stories, and five
Cd, ,f 1AEk
Two is intended to provide a practical
teaching manual of English for tine
three years preceding the high school.
1t consists of two parts. a grammar
and a composition. Each part is COM
plete in itself. but constant inter-ref-
erence YIELDS the two together. In
both books there is much to be COM
mended.
Carpenters Geographical Reader. Aus
tralia, Our Colonies, and other
Islands of the Sea. BY Frank G..
Carpenter. New York: The Ameri-
can Book Company.
Frank Carpenter is one Of the best
known American correspondents and
travellers. In this volume he has put
into shape for reading by school chill
oren a mass of information respecting
AuSlTdlld, new New Gale
donia, the Fijis. Samoa, Hawaii, Guam
the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Su-
matra, Madagascar and other islands
OF the sea. Few school books may be
called really interesting to the adult
reader, not to mention the pupil; but
this book is an exception to the rule
The Sclf-Cure of Consumption With.
/. out Medicine. BY Charles H. S. Da-
Wis, NJ. d. New York: Z. B. Treat &
Co, 241-243 West Twenty-third
street Price. post paid, rs cents.
This book is outside the province of
literary reviewer 1t is one upon
which pathologists ought to express
opinions, to be OF any value. Mean
while it is not out of place to say
that q number of medical journals
have given DR.. Davis book their in
dorsement. Consumption is so great
a menace to the people that any dis
cussion of il is of widespread interest,