The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-31
LITERARY NOTES.

l
 One day not long ago, MT. Francis
 Lynde, the author of The Grafters. was
 sitting in the grill room of his club. An
 acquaintance came up to him and said:
 "Lynde whatGdid you have against Gov
 ernor Blank of Blank that you should pinory him so unmercifully in your
 book?"
 The willy author laughed and remarked
 that he hadn't named Governor Blank.
 had he?
 You might as well have named him"
 was the reply. Everybody who reads
 the book will recognize him"
 Yet it Is curious to note the diversity
 of opinion in regard to the parsonage
 from whom the Hon. Jasper T. Bucks, l Grafter-in-chief was painted; and no two
 critics can apparently agree on the state
 of which he was governor. One says it is very evident that Montana Is meant.
 Another thinks that Colorado is the only
 possible field for the plot. A third says
 that any one can see that Kansas In the
 populstic period is the locale of The Graf
 ters. And no one save MT. Lyndes &C., ouaintance of the grill room has hit upon the real governor and the real state | London, says MT. Sydney Brooks in the current Harpers Weekly. is very hard LID Just now. The shopkeepers are com plainlng that business was never so slack. that people are spending nothing on lux
 uries, and that they are overwhelmed with demands for extended credit-a wom- ,or 1r xrrtth In twelve months thinks herself a model Of
 punctuality The same depression is felt bv the theatres. restaurants. booksellers, art dealers, and business houses The cause of all this, says MT. Brooks, Is chiefly South Africa. The fiscal issue has
 probably been a contributive cause, and
 the Russo-Japanese war has also done
 much to unsettle things.
 How the Russian government treats it's soldiers is Interestingly told in an article by Isador Ladoff in the current Harper's Weekly The author served with the czar's troops for some time, and his
 knowledge of the methods and practices
 of which he writes is the result of per sonal experience. The injustice and cruel tv with which the Russian soldiers are treated is almost incredible. Their pay is only twenty-two cents every two months-the non-commissioned officers get thirty-three cents; and out of this the men are required to pay for keeping their
 uniforms, boots etc, in repair Their
 food consists of sour cabbage soup, black gruel, suet. meat, and rye bread, which is prepared in an unceanly way and re-
 pulsively served. Besides this, the sol diers have to endure the most excessive oppression, bullying, cruelty, and injus- flee from their superors. Altogether. says MT Iadof, in conclusion, the army is nothing less than "a school of demoral- ization.
 Albert Sonnichsen, the author of 'Deep Sea yagabonds" Mcclure Phillips). whose i unsuitable desire for adventure does not | let him rest long in one place. has left | New York, where he has been for a lit, l He less than a year occupied with liter arv work He is bound fer Bulgaria and | for the scene of the Macedonian upris- inps. MT. Sonnichsen has been actively | interested in the Macedonian patriotic movement during his stay in New York and was secretary of the Macedonian dol evation here. fresh uprising of inc | Macedonians is imminent. and MT Son nichsen will be at the front possibly os inc leader of one of the skirmishing bands