New-York tribune., 1908-02-08

read, before he departed the hnal proofs Oh d
book-a novel of New York life. 1t will
be brought out soon; and the novelist will re-
turn in April
The author and illustrator Of that merry little
book, Max und Moritz,' has just died IN Berlin
at the age Of seventy-fve. Wilhelm Busch, In
dra wing these two mischievoas young wretches
of the German classic furnished models for q
host of naughty little Johnnies' and Busters.
The nonsense verses which he added to bis
many grotesque caricatures were as amusing as
I his drawings.
"The Orient Review" is new periodical whose
aim, it is stated. is to reveal the East to the
West, especially in the direction Of contemporary
movements in religion. politics. literature and
art.
Professor Churton Collins will bring out soon
his new book on "Voltaire. Montesquieu and
Rousseau in England" Another forthcoming
English book which promises to be OF interest,"
is Mr.. r. A. Scott-James's Modernism and
Romance" The author has attempted to reveal
in this the dominant characteristics of contem-
porary life as shown in current literature He
holds that almost every new book indicates some
phase of health disease in the social or
ganisrn.
How do children learn their mother tongue?
How should they learn foreign languages? The
latter problem, which American school teachers
have in the main, failed to solve, hangs init
mately together with the former. so that close
examination of the spontaneous procedure of
young minds in acquiring phrases and words
ought to have been made before anybody un-
dertook to teach French and German or the
classics. That this not done may easily be
gathered from Professor NJ. " O'Shea's study
of language growth and methods. Under the
title OF Linguistic Development and Education
Uhe Macmillan Company this specialist pre-
the results of long investigation covering
virtually all the questions involved In the Two
great ones we have mentioned. Beginning with
the earliest manifestations of infantlle speech,
the writer conducts his inquiry apace with the
growing power Of the child, concluding with an
analysis Of the task confronting the would-be
learner Of a second third language. From the
scientists standpoint, of the most valuable
features of Professor O'Shea's research is the
attention given to the non-linguistc phases of
language development. such as pantomime,
srrnace intonatior and the like The use to
which these devices put is discerned and
set forth very clearly. Educators, however. Will
derive the greatest profit from the later chap
ters. whose descriptions of the processes in
volved in the intensifcation of meanings. acqui
stion Of skill In expressing ideas and the art OF
narration contain much that should be pondered
over by language instructors. The closing chap
ter the learning Of foreign tongue sum-
marizes admirably views entertained by nearly
all close students of this vexed issue. The chief
merit of the present volume is its systematic
presentation of a great science whose facts
heretofore have been scattered uselessy through
out thousand volumes 1t is handbook every
language teacher might with profit. being
exhaustive, succinct and readable.
Untranslatable if great, told, is the
verse of the late Danish poet, Ho1ger Drach
mann. His books, Mr.. Gosse declares, were
full Of the sacred fire, but it burned in Danish
lamps, which few English readers care to furbsh
up and carry . . . If it possible to
reveal Drachmann's genius to English SYM
pathies it would be. I suppose. in his dramas.
To have the tragedy of Cure acted at the
National Theatre in Copenhagen is to have
walked in the forest of romance and to have
heard, as Shakespeare says:
Beauty making beautiful old rhyme
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights.
His first impression of Drachmann, Mr. Gosse
notes. was of his buoyant and multiform vi
tality:
He seemed to rsqu,rs no & sleep to to shrink n X from rom
another who trod, he seemed to do, the crest
Of the & h ana his ase se fGa ba poh e san ike
feathered hat. lie was huge in stature, with long
S aon of his cPg S9!s cdred @ Waite s and Strong
beard of gray. waved from his chin. His voice
looking about for another morning, star to shout
with. and although in his royal geniality email HI he
been happier. one felt If he could have found
genuine young deni-sod to play with.
The big, splendid and expensive English pub
.l1,-r'
is to be brought out in a cheaper edition--at
one-third of the old price indeed Also it will
be in less imposing shape. occupying third of
the shelf space of the original edition. This Is
good news not only for the English public but
also for the American readers who often feel
the need Of that invaluable work of reference
The reissue is to begin in March. and it win be
complete in twenty two monthly volumes. These
will be available in TWO forms at So 30 and S.,
In it. Contributors Club THE Atlantic" prints
an amusing paper on the Magazine West" by a
writer who complains that cowboys and miners
do not really talk as they made to do in
the current tales of their region:
Personally have found their speech rather nota-
bic for poverty of expression The average pros
,,nctor can get along with vocabulary small a
his camp Kit. Because cowboy speaks In your
s neI to be Supposed compefey supplied With
Ii literary iaf medium phrases He would also
Dance and cutting out one for himself. but it does
not prove him possessed OF imaginat;9n. The fact
them the words suitable 10 the occasion Hound
vp haye ye heard it Used constantly as substitute
for make do accomplish, get. obtain. 1t loses a
.ue Inaa Outdoor lives In the big West happen upon
things seldom seen by ws.u eyes 6nt one
tive account of them when they lie outside the
nf y. =