Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1875-04-10 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. Edinburgh: 45, George _ street; and 37, Paternoster-row, London. IN this month's number the tale "Alice Lorraine," which has been continued for a very long time, is brought to a very satisfactory conclusioa. The author is superior to commonplace ways of handling the hero or the heroine of a novel. In the March number Alice was, to all intents and purposes, drowned—had com.nitted suicide in fart, and, as it was the depth of winter, and a snow of tremendous thickness lying on the ground when she jumped into  ,ril the swollen channel of the Woebv:" there was very stage again, except as ear on the little prospect that sh,eenewsoudbl:',;ecet,t,r of aa7crowner's " inquest. She i;s, however, safely recovered, and gets over it with & very slight cold, aud the evil machinations of Der grandmother, to which scores of printed -vages,land Urea evoted, ate entirely upset bje a page or two, and, in the approved fashion, everybo y lives happily with everybody elae for ever afterwards. The magazine is ,now ~quite shorn of the Melanin a Baia; nl eina3: now be on the lookout for a new anti good supply. 'The Abode of Snow" is still continued, this month's quota being an article on "Kashmir." The author describes his descent from the realms of eternal snow into the valley of Kashmir in very beautiful language. "The air was sdft and balmy; but at this transfer from September to October it was agreeably cool, even to a traveller from the abodes and sources of snow. As we descended, the pine forests were confined to the mountain elopes; but the lofty deodar began to appear in the valley, as afterwards the sycamore, the elm, and the horse. chestnut. Round the picturesque villages, and even forming considerable woods, there were fruit trees—as the walnut, the chesnut, the beech, the apricot, the apple, and the pear. Large quantities of timber— said to be cut recklessly—was in course of being floated down the river ; and where the path led across it, there were curious wooden bridges, for which it was not necessary to dismount." In another place, he says—" According to tradition, it was formerly ths Garden of Eden; and one is very well disposed to accept that theory when trying to get into it from the north or north-west." The following sentence dispels some of the romance which has for a long time attached to the vale of Kashmir and its fabled beautiful women :—" The beauty of the Kashmir women has lorn, been famous in the East, but if you waut beautiful—kashrnires eo not go to Kashmir to look for them. They have ell lice eyes, „ad the eyes' of hishinir ' have been justly celebrated in Eastern poetry ; but that is almost the only feminine attrac'Aon to be found iii the country even among the dancing girls and boat girls." He goes on, however, to explain this by saying that the pretty girls, or all the chitdren that promise to turn out pretty, are carried off into the Punjab and India ; and further says : oh, horror! and alas, for our faneiful notions—" I don't suppose the most beautiful woman in the world would show ta advantage if she were imperfectly washed and dressed in the ordinary feminine attire of Kashmir—a dirty, whitish cotton night-gown." The number contains what in common parlance would be called "an interesting and amusing" article entitled " Fashions and tricks of speech." To attempt quotation would be very inadequate to convey any idea of tOs article. It is exceediegly clever and sprightly, and must be read to be aprreciated. The remaining articles are " Mr Einglake's Battle of lukermann No. 1 of a dialogue article "Li a Studio ;" and a political article entitled " Politics before Easter."  10, 1875:  litetattlre ilia 'We