New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-24
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
Current Talk about Things Pres
ent and to Come.

ent and to Come.
THE Affair at the Inn," by Kate Douglas
Wiggin and others, continues to crop up among
the six best selling books. The publishers,
Houghtor. Miffiin & Co.. have already printed
fifty thousand copies. and the demand still per-
sists. The firm reports Moncure d. Con-
ways Autobiography in it's third edition.
Do people take to fiction for psycho-physio-
logical reasons? Katherine Cecil Thurston. the
author of THE Masquerader." appears to think
so. judging from interview recently printed
In London paper. The interviewer desired the
authors opinion fiction" in general. and in
particular why it is so successful" On these
broad lines Mrs. Thurston replied. in part, as
follows:
Well With a tae to- live at hd Rhe5
pressure attainable. to compress as much as is
esn Of R Se of being
itself into periodical and inslstent need for dis
ter very briefly the novel is to m Sh6ns
to It when our minds are tired. much as we
turn to the sea or the mountains when physically
merciaL However. apart from the matter after
fiction one bas nower TO- bestow think there is an
other ground upon which the novel may DO grant
except, perhaps, for the work of the dramatst.
it forms almost the only social record of our
own times
James Ford Rhodes. the fifth volume Of whose
History of the United States from the Com
promise of 1867 has just been published by
Macmillan. expects to complete the work. to
January l. 1875, In one more volume.
a telegraph operator out West evidently took
McClure-Phillips for firm Of green grocers
recently. when he sent the following order over
the wire: Ship to-day NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
100 cabbages all kinds" 1t finally dawned
upon the intelligence OF the publishers shipping
clerk that the bookseller, whose name was
signed to the dispatch, desired hundred copies
Of O. Henry's humorous novel, "Cabbages and
Kings" He did
Members OF the Hakuyt Society have OF late
been chiefly interested in the new editions of
Hakluyt and Purchas which, by arrangement
with MacLehose, Of Glasgow. they have been
permitted to subscribe for at a special rate.
Meanwhile. however, the society has been catch
ing up with arrears in its own series of publ
cations. and now has in press these three
works: Sir Martin Conways EARLY Dutch and
English Voyages with photography ulustra-
lions and maps; Sir Richard Temples The
Countries Round the Bay of Bengal from an
unpublished MS 1669-79, by Thomas Bowrey.
with a photography, illustrations and maps;
Dr. B. Granville Conveys -Four Narratives OF
Voyages undertaken by order Of the Viceroy OF
Peru. In the Pacific, with detailed accounts of
Tahiti and Easter Island 1774, with a bibliog
raphy. Illustrations and notes. four vols.
The Pail Mall Magazine" without changing
its character, has changed it's price. Beginning
with the January number 1t sells at sixpence
instead of a shilling, in this country at fifteen
cents In this number, by the way. Mr.. Joseph
Conrad opens a series OF recollections Of his
voyages The Mirror Of the Sea" he calls
this group of papers in which he is evidently
going to take his readers closer than ever be-
fore to the facts OF his life a sailor. He gives
US in this first instament interesting
glimpses of seamen he has known. and In one
case throws light his own quality abroad
ship. Speaking of a certain captain. he says:
I remember with peculiar satisfaction the last
words he spoke to me on board, after an eighteen
6eTn we Sad brought fun cargo of lutte from
Calcutta. We had been paid off that morning, and
and a to S0! nay On gooGby his Slightly lofty but
courteous way he inquired " hat We're my plans l
afternoon train, and thought of going up for
ugt eRoGgh service for that He commended me
for not wasting my time. with such an evident in
rising from his chair, he said:
answered that I had nothing whatever in view.
He extended his hand and pronounced the
emPoyment remember that as long as have
ship have ship too
In the way Of compliment there IS nothing to
beat this from ships captain 10 his second mate
at the end OF q voyage. When The work Is over ana
the subordinate is done with.
Major Louis l. Seaman evidently believes in
the strenuous life-at any rate he lives it.
CHANGING at his watch while the island OF
Taxi Tau few months ago after his fourth
unsuccessful attempt TO enter Port Arthur, he
suddenly reCollected that he had an engagement
TO read a paper at the International Conference
Of Military Surgeons at St Louis He sailed at
once in a junk for Che-Foo and arrived at St
Louis just in time to deliver his lecture, which
he had prepared on the journey. He then de-
voted three weeks TO writing his book. From
Toxic Through Manchura with the Japanese"
for the Appletons, and now has just sailed for
Cuba and Panama The night before he sailed
he delivered an address on Observations of the
Russo-Japanese War in Manchura and Japan"
before the National Geographic Society in Wash
ington AS a result of Major Seaman's speech at
St. Louis two United States army surgeons
sent TO the Russian and Japanese armies
to observe their hospitals and food.
The opportunities for observing the practical
workings OF the medical department OF the Jan
anese army and of the Red Cross at the front.
which Major Seaman unable to secure were
enjoyed by Ethel McCaul. r. r. c.. a veteran
OF the South African war. who was nurse In a
field hospital with Sir Redvers Buffers column
from Colenso to the relief of Ladysmjth N1iss
McCauI has just returned from Japan and Man
the sanction of Queen Alexandra Miss Nc.
Caul had several interviews with the En,rrass
of Japan who is the honorary president of tho
Red