The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-25

E..2
 | struction of the model motor car. and 1 gives history of 1t from it's very be-. l ginning in an awkward steam vehicle to 1 it's modern latest manifestation in the noiseless, mile-a- minute, eighty horse power machine. The book Is a sparkling, interesting and enthusiastic piece of his- l tory writing; not a dry treatise on me chanics; piece of literature imbued with the spirit and speed and exhiliration of automobiling. It contains chapter con l tributed by Rudyard Kipling and ore by the author of The Lightning Conduc- tor" on ''The Open Road" It is a prae- 1 tical book on the selection use and nam I tenance of the motor carnage and the mechanical facts concerning its engine and it's maintenance
 Mcclure Phillips will bring out Septem- I Der 22, an interesting reprint of classic l series of fairy tales bearing the title 7 .Granny's Wonderful Chair" The volume was favorite with the authoress Fran l ces Hodgson Burnett, and, in fact the first book she ever possessed, and she writes truly fairy story as an intro duction to 1t. telling how the book came into her possession disappeared and mag ically turned up again many years later. The stories are unusual Tn their style and in their imaginative quality. but are writ ten so simply that the smallest child can understand them. The book is illustrated with pictures in color.
 Mrs. H. A. Mitchell Keays, the author Of He That Eateth Bread With .de" has spent all her summer in a little Wis consin town at work upon new novel | if.f h ed. Mrs. Keays has been living in Ann Arbor but will spend next winter in Cambridge
 Some interesting "reminiscences of Seere- tary Taft's experiences while governor of the Philippines are told by Rutherford Corbin in an article in the current Har- per's Weekly. The remarkable personali- ty of Judge Taft had far-reaching in- 1luence among the Filipinos even In mat 1 ters of dress, as this anecdote of Mr. Corbin will attest: Immediately after the passage of the local civil government bill in 1900, Governor Taft and his as- soeiates visited the capitals of all the provinces which were supposed to be in proper condition to receive the benefits of self-government. In one of the prov inces of Luzon was an old native, who as boy had learned enough of Spanish and soldiery to become captain of a native volunteer troop, after which he was the most prominent citizen of his town. When the commission came to se- lect governor he put on his old yoiun- teer uniform, furnished up his Spanish sword, and pinned on his three medals. He saw Taft clad in a white duck suit and extraordinary decollete collar, and a straw hat Sometime afterwards man of good deal of importance visited that province and, as this old native had 1,e of the people. to meet him at the sta ton. He wore white duck a broad brim | straw hat, and instead Of saluting said, | "Hel-loi" When he was asked what had become of the medals, he explained that l it was "no longer the custom"
 Sydney Brooks, writing in the August 13 number of Harper's Weekly, says that the English politicians are watching the moves in the presidential campaign in the 1 United States with peculiar interest. 1 There is much similarity between the l great parties of America aid England. and the causes they represent, and for l this reason they are watching the cam | paign with unusual eagerness to see how far the success or failure of the democrats 1 in this country next fall will throw fight on conditions in England. The English are somewhat divided in their estimation | of the two platforms. They have no sym 1 pathy, sas Mr Brooks, with the bias of anti-imperialism that is observable in the l democratic platform, but neither do they l uphold the protection party of the repub- 1 lican party. They know and admire Pres- l ident Roosevelt, and would prefer, on all | personal grounds, to see him elected; but 1 they would also welcome a democratic l victory. for they believe 1t would give
 them a chance of showing that English l cordiality toward America is not confined 1 to any one party.
 Fox, Duffield & company are to satis- I fy crying need" says the New York l Sun, ''by publishing 'Croziers General Armory; a Registry of American Fam files Entitled to Coat Armor.' The book,
 which is edited by William Armstrong
 Crozier, F. R. s., is to furnish descrip- tions of nearly two thousand coats of arms. with the name of the first of the family In America, the date ,. his coming | and the place in which he settled.
 "Here is matter to force upon Colonial Danes and Revolutionary Daughters not | among the two thousand elect a realiza-
 tion that there badges are but vanity and to administer a snub to the possessors
 of crest and insignia of the fresh every
 hour variety"
 The book is published under the aus pices of the Geological association of
 New York
 An instance of the rapidity with which
 a new piece of slang travels across the
 country is shown by the term "Fusser.'
 When the "Fusser's Calendar" first ap-
 peared few people in California knew
 what a sFusser'' was. Now that Fox,
 Duffield & Company announce "The tus-
 ser's Book" a logical successor to the
 calendar, the advance orders are found to
 come from the Pacific slope. A fusser. it
 seems. is an habitual beau or lady's man,
 and the new rules for his correct con-
 duct and etiquette are said by those who
 have had the advantage of seeing the
 advance proofs to rival Ruth Ashmore
 and "As Seen by Him. in humor If not
 in practical suggestiveness.
 English reviewers of "The Autobiogra-
 phy of a Thief find surprising little | trouble in interpreting the American
 thieves slang, with which it's pages are
 necessarily interlarder The Autobiog-
 raphy was issued by Fox. Duffield &
 company without a glossary, which seem
 ed unnecessary in view of the prevalence | in the publics vocabulary of such thieves
 words as graft and grafter. stoolpigeon and others. Many terms are also explained rarenthetically, so that any such linguis-
 tic difficulty as that of Mir. Andrew Lang with American slang has fortunately
 been escaped. Thieves may be the same in all countries, though humor is noto- riously different. The translation of The Thief into Italian, for instance. is goin,; l On with few impediments. The translator ! a4. Piccini. is the author of "Subterranean | Florence,v work which caused the old | Ghetto. a bad slum but picturesque one | to be torn down, much to the disappoint-