The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
REALN OF BOOKS

I levantly interesting general historical facts
 The work takes the title, Bellies, Beaux and Brains of the Sos" and main ly concerns itself with glimpses of the
 men and women who made Richmond veritable national capital during the Con- federacy. As social prominence then
 meant political leadership, some new and pleasant sidelights are thrown on state and national politics. The ramitications
 of the families there represented have spread all over the world. The work is interspersed with enliVening incidents and events of the most expressing period of the Civil war many coming under the authors personal observation.
 'Belles, BeauX and Brains of the 60'
 Is from the pen of T. C. De Leon, an editor. writer and poet of wide note, au
 thor of -Four Years in Rebel Capitals
 Creole and Puritan" etc.. whose nativi- ty and residence in the south, intimat te
 association with President Davis and his
 secretary, Mr. Burton Harrison. during
 those exciting days and close identlf1ca- ton with the subject make him especially fitted to undertake a history of this kind. To give an idea of It's scope, few chap ter headings are quoted: White House Folk "A Bouquet of Buds" Tn Rich ! monds 4O0," wits and Wags," "Our
 Foreign relations" Some History Max
 ers,' ''The Pious and the Sporty"
 
 Corea is no exception to the rule that the various nations of the world develop
 peculiar and distinctive forms of amuse- | ment. Stone fights are Corea's pet diver sion. In The Passing of Corea," the author, Mir. Hubert describes this unique game which occurs only in the first month
 of the year, the spring. because then only are the fields bare and ample space is ; available for the contest The stone fight originated seven hundred years ago in the days of the former dynasty, when it was invented for the declaration of an imbicle king. It was at first confined to the palace grounds, but it soon spread abroad and became the national game. Different sections of the same town may be ptted against each other but more often contiguous villages defy each other and fly the banner of challenge Out they pour into the empty. fenceless fields. some armed with thick clubs and protected by heavy padded helmets, while others mere ly throw stones. The champions of either side prance up and down before their respective factions, twirling their clubs and breathing out threatenings of slaugh- ter After the two warning factions have reinforced their courage by streams of most lsbellous invective, and have worked themselves up to the fighting pitch. they move toward each other warily, the stones fly more thickly, the champions
 
 | the multitudes of white-clothed non-com- | batants, who cover the surrounding hills shout encoura cement to their respective | favorties. And so it goes on by the hour, rush and counter-rush, wild shout l ings of delighted spectators, clouds of dust. broken pates profanity unlimited ] and gruesome gaps where erstwhiles were gleaming teeth. The excitement is much 1 the same as that of the Spanish bull I fight. Rarely does a season pass but three or four men are killed. One day | last year thirty-four thousand people 1 watched these stone fights.
 The Macmillan company. one of the | largest publishing houses in America, is | occupying temporary quarters while ex-
 tensive additions are being made to their building at 64-66 Fifth avenue. New York. | When the present building was erected in 1893 it was thought to provide ample | space for the prospective growth of the i business But years ago the old building | was entirely outgrown, and the addition | now in process of erection will more than double its capacity. The company expects l to take up its occupancy of the new build. | ing before the end of the year.
 Owen Wister's interest in American ] history has been so repeatedly shown | that the announcement of a book by him on George WashingtonAis not altogether I, a surprise. Each of his novels has been a l genuine contribution to American history , "The Virginian'' is and is likely to re- l main our classic account of the frontier I civilization in which the cowboy was the | dominant figure. Lady Baltimore rep | resenting another phase of American life, ] has been commended by no less 8 his- | torian than James Ford Rhodes, as al- | most indispensable to the understanding | of conditions in the south since the war. | It will he recalled also that Mir. Wister's | little biography of General Grant, pub | lished some years ago. was one of tha