New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-13

uIne VIII be published by the HaTpers Janu-
airy II, and Will be called THE Long Arm" The
hero is said to participate in a series of adj
ventures. such as the complexities Of the dark
under world Of great city give rise to-
The edition of Johnsons Lives Of the Poets"
upon which DR.. George Birkbeck Hill was en-
gagged at the time of his death then practi-
cally finished, needing only final arrangement
This has been done by DR.. Birkbeck Hius
nephew, MIR. II. S. Scott, who has, moreover, ,
revised all the references and read and reread
the proofsheets. These three volumes. which
have just come from the Clarendon Press. COM
plete Hills scholarly dealings with DR.. Johnson
He brought out in 1887, after twelve years OF
labor, his fine edition Of Boswelfs Life" ana
he followed this with the Letters Of Samuel
Johnson" "Johnsonan Miscellanies." Johnson's
"Wit and Wisdom" and 1.-THE Footsteps of DR..
Johnson"-a description Of the Great Lexi-
cographer's" journey through Scotland.
The annual report Of the board of trustees OF
the Public Library Of the District Of Columbia
shows that the efforts to decrease the proper
ton Of fiction read by the patrons OF the library
have borne good results, the percentage having
dropped from S37 in the previous year to 71.o
In month, January, it was under I'll one
of the contributing factors to this result, per-
haps the leading factor, was the simple e1pe-
the open shelf room Books Of history ana
travel were first brought into this room IN DC
tober, and in that month the circulation OF
this sroup was almost double that Of Septern-
ber Books in the literature classes were dis
played in December, and that month the circu-
lation of these classes was three times what 1t
was in November.
There is lull in the food Of novels which
%ha Fms 1ish
is little which is worth noting. indeed, in the
promises of fiction except volume Of short
stories left to US by the late George Gissing.
This at least may be anticipated with pleasure.
The first volume OF fiction 70 be issued by Nc
Clure, Phillips & Co. IN 1905 win be Perceva1
Gibbons volume Of short STORIES entitled
"vrouw Grobelaar and Her Leading Cases"
which Will be published January Is. Mr.. Gibbon
represented the London Standard" in South
Africa during the Beer War, at which time he
gathered the material for his book among the
Boer farmers on the veldt The stories sup
posed to be related by a garrulous old Boer
grandmother, who points her morals with grim
and mysterious folklore tales, half Dutch and
half Kafar, in which the religious bigotry Of the
Beers and the superstiions Of the natives are
mingled with her individual geniality and good
humor. The vrouw Is in fact, a sort Of South
African Uncle Renus.
Lynn Thorndike Phi. D, contributes to the
Studies in History, Economics and Public
Law edited by the faculty of political science
of Columbia University and published by the
Columbia University Press, monograph on
1.-The Place Of Magic in the Intellectual History |
of Europe" He seeks explanation for the |
prevalent belief in magic in ancient times, and
finds it in the tendency of man. before scientific
investigation had developed the orderly laws |
that govern the universe to interpret the |
world about him according to his own sensa- |
tons. feelings and motives. Whether he looked |
upon nature at large IN detail, he would In |
all probability regard it not an inexorable |
machine in accordance with universal and |
immutable laws, but a being world OF |
beings much like hirnself-fckle changing, cap |
able Of being Influenced by inducements or de- |
tered by threats, beneficent hostile according
as satisfied offended by treatment received" |
The vagaries induced by this attitude are anus
ingly illustrated by some of the medical prac-
tce of our early forefathers DR.: Thorndike
writes:
Marcellus Of Bordeaux, court physician of Theo-
d9$ps and writer ~ upon medicine THROWS some
affirmed that pimples might be removed by wiping |
them the instant you saw a falling star. He said |
Of veryain were tied about the sufferers neck and
was that as the vervain dried up in the smoke Of
the fire. would by force of magic sym
added. for the benefit of unpaid physicians. that
persistent would be the sympathetic bond estab-
thrown into water its absorption of moisture would
produce return of the tumor.
Like bandit in meodrama" is Laura Hahn
Frisweps remembrance of the way Tennyson
looked He would have been tall. but his
shoulders seemed somewhat bent; his hair was
long, so was his beard; he wore an ugly Inver-
ness cape and large SLOUGH hat thought
him some poor actor, who had come out in some
of the stage properties" Here is her recollection
of another celebrity. who like Tennyson. was
unknown to her at first sight:
We were walking down Wellington Street Strand.
and inst passing the office of Household Words,
when hanson G9D his bre rig oG1 e ppas
vivid scarlet tie and pale lavender trousers
GGeoIid have been noticed by any one the size
NJ the nosegay in his buttonhcle riveted my
fion for IL was q regular flower garden. My father
stopped and introduced me, and l, who had only
handsome head in my mothers Ph9fogrs sd album If
astonished 10 Ilna Inyset stiafAihs hahus WAN
the great novelist, Charles Dickens
BERTHA Runkle whose first novel, 1.-THE Helmet
Of Navarro" written before she had ever
been TO France. has now turned her hand to
s,,nteot nearer home. Next month The Century
Company viii publish a story by her entitled
.prba Truth About Tolna." Tolna is a success
f,,l singer at the Metropolitan Opera House. and
the scenes and characters are all OF New-York
City.
Mrs. Jessamy Harte Steele. the daughter of
the late Bret Harts, is in this country giving
readings from her fathers works, and was On
tertained recently in Boston at reception given
in her honor by Mrs. James T. Fields. In her