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at the head of the men of his community who enlist when the War breaks out. After the war he drifts back to the valley, getting only a half-hearted welcome from his son, who has married a shrewish widow. Again after a time he goes forth to wander about the world, returning to be looked at askance by his old neighbors; for he is a dreamer, a type they do not understand. He lives on sufferance with his son, to whom he has deeded the family homestead. Although he displays great heroism in a railroad accident, he still retains the reputation of being aimless and shiftless; but like his fellow-dreamer, Rip Van Winkle, he is always beloved by children. Finally driven forth from his home by his cruel daughterin-law, he commits suicide. The tale is grimly sad, but full of human sympathy and of poetical interpretation of nature, and admirable for its portrayal of primitive Southern types.

Ought We to Visit Her? by Annie

Edwards, is a tale of bohemia, and of the strictest of English provincial society stricken into wild alarm by fear of an incursion from the inhabitants of that abandoned land. Francis Theobald, a lazy, good-natured, lovable scamp, marries a pretty ballet-girl of sixteen. They live happily, wandering around the Continent, where Theobald's gambling and his wife's economies eke out their slender income, until Theobald falls heir to a country house and a place in county society. The county is perfectly ready to accept Theobald, because, however disreputable, he belongs to a good old family; but declines to know his pretty, charming, sweet-natured, high-minded wife, who has saved him from utter ruin, and who has everything to recommend her but ancestry. Neglected by her husband, who is not man enough to stand by her, poor Jane Theobald is forced to fight her battles as best she may, comes near being driven into resentful wickedness by the heartless and idle tongue of scandal, and is saved only by her innate rectitude. The meanness and spitefulness of respectable county society, whose petty vices spring from idleness, ennui, and conventional standards of righteousness, make a striking contrast to the simple goodness and honesty of the little bohemian, Jane. story is well written, well constructed, and extremely entertaining.

The

Paul Ferrol, by Mrs. Caroline (Wigley) Clive. This story was published about 1856, and was followed by Why Paul Ferrol Killed his Wife.' Paul Ferrol's wife was a woman of violent temper, who parted him from Elinor, his first love. She is murdered; suspicion rests upon Franks, a laborer on the estate; but Ferrol gets him off, and sends him to Canada with his wife. Soon after, Ferrol marries his first love. They have one daughter, Janet, and avoid all society; although Ferrol does much to help others, working like a hero when cholera breaks out. During trade riots he kills one of the mob, is tried for murder and found guilty; but is pardoned, goes abroad for his wife's health, and meets with a serious accident, which leads him to return. Janet has lovers — the French surgeon's son, whom he: father approves, and Hugh Bartlett, whom she loves, but who does not please Ferrol. Martha Franks returns from Canada; ornaments belonging to the first Mrs. Ferrol are discovered in her possession, and the old charge of murder is renewed. She is found guilty; upon which Paul Ferrol confesses that he is the murderer. He had deposited an account of the deed, with the instrument of it, in the coffin of his victim, where they are found. He is sentenced to be hung; but is assisted to escape to Boston, America, by Janet's lover, Hugh. El inor, Ferrol's second wife, dies on hearing of his crime; and he does not long survive his exile. Janet, his devoted daughter, is left alone in a strange land, but probably not for long.

Golden Butterfly, The, by Walter

Besant and James Rice. The main events of this lively and amusing story occur at London in 1875. The Butterfly is Gilead P. Beck's talisman. With a burdensome revenue from oil-wells he arrives in London, where he meets Dunquerque, who has saved his life in California, and Colquhoun, the hero of a love entanglement with Victoria, now wife of Cassilis. Colquhoun succeeds to the guardianship of Phillis Fleming, brought up by Abraham Dyson after highly eccentric methods. Dyson leaves money for educating other girls in a similar way; but defeats his own end by not teaching Phillis how to read, so that she innocently destroys an important paper and renders the will inoperative. While living

with Agatha, Colquhoun's cousin, Phillis becomes intimate with Dunquerque in an unconventional, idyllic fashion. Victoria is led to think Colquhoun wants to marry Phillis, and in a jealous fit divulges the secret of a Scotch marriage between him and herself. The disclosure throws Cassilis into partial paralysis; he fails to sell certain stocks at the right moment, and loses all, as do Phillis, Colquhoun, and Beck, whose fortunes he had invested. The Butterfly mysteriously fails apart; but is repaired and presented to Phillis, who is married to Dunquerque; having now discovered, in Dyson's words, that "the coping-stone of every woman's education is love."

Pelham, by E. Bulwer-Lytton, appeared

anonymously; and it had reached its second edition in 1829. It belongs to the writer's initiatory period, being the first novel that gave promise of his ability.

Henry Pelham, having taken his university degrees and enjoyed a run to Paris, returns to his native England, and takes an active part in the political events of his time. In accordance with the sub-title of the book, The Adventures of a Gentleman,' the hero endeavors to realize Etherege's ideal of "a complete gentleman; who, according to Sir Fopling, ought to dress well, dance well, fence well, have a genius for loveletters, and an agreeable voice for a chamber.»

Pelham becomes especially useful to his party; but on account of jealousies and intrigues his merits are not properly acknowledged.

Meantime he has yielded to the charms of the wealthy and accomplished sister of his old schoolmate and life-long friend, Sir Reginald Glanville. Glanville is suspected of the murder of Sir John

Tirrell, whom he had threatened because the latter had been guilty of atrocious conduct toward a lady who was under Glanville's protection. A terrible network of circumstantial evidence causes Pelham to feel certain of his friend's guilt. Glanville tells the whole story to Pelham, and protests his innocence. By the aid of Job Johnson, a London flash man whom Pelham recognizes as a tool fitted to accomplish the results he desires, a boozing ken of the most desperate ruffians in the city is visited; and Dawson, the confederate of Tom Thorntop who had committed the murder, is

released. Dawson's testimony convicts the real murderer, and of course exonerates Glanville.

Political honors are now thrust upon Pelham, who disdains them; while his happy marriage with the lovely Ellen Glanville is the natural sequence to the tale.

Innocents Abroad, The, by Samuel L. Clemens ("Mark Twain »). In a vein of highly original humor this worldread book records a pleasure excursion on the Quaker City to Europe, the Holy Land, and Egypt, in the sixties. Descriptions of real events and the peoples and lands visited are enlivened by more or less fictitious dialogue and adventures. These, while absurdly amusing, always suggest the truth, stripped of hypocrisy and cant, as to how the reader "would be likely to see Europe and the East if he looked at them sincerely with his own eyes and without reverence for the past." The side-wheel steamer Quaker City carried the now famous excursionists across from New

York-touching at the Azores, described in a few rapid but wonderfully vivid strokes and from important port to port on the other side; and waited for them during several of their inland journeys. Returning, they touched at Gibraltar, Madeira, and the Bermudas. As to the advertised "select" quality of the voy. agers, a characteristic paragraph states: "Henry Ward Beecher was to have accompanied the expedition, but urgent duties obliged him to give up the idea. There were other passengers who might have been spared better, and would have been spared more willingly. LieutenantGeneral Sherman was to have been one of the party also, but the Indian war popular actress had entered her name on compelled his presence on the plains. A the ship's books, but something interfered, and she couldn't go. The "Drummer Boy of the Potomac » deserted; and lo, we had never a celebrity left!" Mr. Clemens himself, however, has since become an equally great celebrity.

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description of the mighty Mississippi, its history, its discovery by La Salle and others, and its continuous and wonderful change of bed, so that "nearly the whole one thousand three hundred miles which La Salle floated down in his canoes is good solid ground now." He relates his boyish ambition to be a steamboat-man, and how he attained it. His descriptions of his training and experiences before he became a fullfledged pilot are as characteristic and unique in handling as is the subject itself, which covers a long-vanished phase of Western life. The second half of the book recounts a trip made by the author through the scenes of his youth for the purposes of the work and the acquirement of literary materials: he enumerates the changes in men, manners, and places, which the intervening twenty years have brought about, and intersperses the whole with many lively digressions and stories, comments upon foreign tourists (Captain Hall, Mrs. Trollope, Captain Marryat, Dickens, and others); Southern vendettas; a thumbnail story, probably the nucleus of 'Pudd'nhead Wilson'; Murel's Gang'; the "fraudulent penitent"; and others. The book is especially valuable as the author's personal record of an epoch in the country's growth which has now passed into history.

Prince and the Pauper, The, by Mark

Twain. The plot of this interesting story hinges on the remarkable resemblance of a poor street boy to the young English prince afterward Edward VI. Tom Canty, the pauper, looking through❘ the iron gates of the royal court-yard, is ordered away by the guard. The young prince, overhearing the command, invites him in; and for amusement, changes clothes with him. While dressed in rags he sees on Tom's hand a bruise inflicted by the guard, and burning with indignation, he rushes alone from the palace to chastise the man: he is mistaken for Tom and driven away. He falls in with Tom's family, and is so badly treated that he runs away with Sir Miles Hendon, a disinherited knight, who takes pity on him, thinking his frequent assertions of royal birth a sign of madness. They wander about the country, having one adventure after another, and finally return to London just before Tom Canty's coronation.

Meanwhile Tom, in his changed condition, also undergoes many trials on account of his uncouthness of manner and ignorance of court etiquette; which, added to his apparent forgetfulness of the whereabouts of the "Great Seal," convince those around him that he has become demented. Gradually he grows accustomed to his position, and acquires sufficient knowledge of polite behavior to reassure the nobles regarding his mental balance; while he becomes less and less anxious about the disappearance of the real prince, which at first caused him much regret.

On the morning of the coronation Edward eludes his protector, and hastening to Westminster Abbey, forbids the ceremony. The hiding-place of the "Great Seal» is made the final test of his claims; and, assisted by Tom Canty's timely suggestions, he reveals it. He is then crowned in spite of his rags, and soon after rewards Tom Canty for his loyalty, and Sir Miles Hendon for his faithful services. All his short reign is tempered with the mercy and pity which in his misfortunes he so often desired and so seldom received.

The book was published in 1881.

Ab

A

bbot, The, by Sir Walter Scott. sequel to The Monastery,' but dealing with more stirring and elevated situations and scenes. The time of the action is 1567-68, when Shakespeare was a boy of three, and Elizabeth was newly established on the throne of England. While the action goes on partly at Avenel Castle, and Halbert Glendinning of The Monastery,' as well as his brother Edward (now an abbot) figure prominently in the story, the reader finds that he has exchanged the humble events of the little border vale by Melrose for thrilling and romantic adventures at Lochleven Castle on its island in the lake, north of Edinburgh, where Mary Queen of Scots is imprisoned; and in place of the braw and bonny Scotch of Tibb and Dame Elspeth, we have the hearty English of Adam Woodcock the falconer,―as masterly a portrait in Scott's gallery as Garth, Hal o' the Wynd, or Dandie Dinmont. The chief interest centres around the unfortunate queen; and the framework of the tale is historically true. The masterpiece of description in "The Abbot' is the signing of the abdication by Mary at the stern insistence of the commissioners Lindsay and Ruthven,

-a scene made famous by more than one great painting and by more than one historian.

Antiquary, The, by Sir Walter Scott.

(The Antiquary is not one of Scott's most popular novels, but it nevertheless ranks high. If it is weak in its supernatural machinery, it is strong in its dialogue and humor. The plot centres about the fortunes and misfortunes of the Wardour and Glenallan families. The chief character is Mr. Jonathan Oldbuck, the Anti-❘ quary, whose odd sayings and garrulous knowledge are inimitably reported. Sir Arthur Wardour, the Antiquary's pompous friend, and his beautiful daughter Isabella, suffer reverses of fortune brought about mainly by the machinations of Herman Dousterswivel, a pretended adept in the black arts. Taking advantage of Sir Arthur's superstition and antiquarian vanity, he dupes that credulous gentleman into making loans, until the hero of the tale (Mr. William Lovel) comes to his rescue. He has already lost his heart to Miss Wardour, but has not put his fate to the test. His friend and host, the Antiquary, has a nephew, the fiery Captain Hector M'Intyre, who also loves Miss Wardour. Their rivalry, the machinations and exposure of Dousterswivel, a good old-fashioned wicked mother-in-law, and other properties, make up a plot with abundance of incidents and a whole series of cross-purposes to complicate it. The best-remembered character in the book is the daft Edie Ochiltree.

Anne of Geierstein, by Sir Walter Scott.

This romance finds its material in the wild times of the late fifteenth century, when the factions of York and Lancaster were convulsing England, and France was constantly at odds with the powerful fief of Burgundy. When the story opens, the exiled Earl of Oxford and his son, under the name of Philipson, are hiding their identity under the guise of merchants traveling in Switzerland. Arthur, the son, is rescued from death by Anne, the young countess of Geierstein, who takes him for shelter to the home of her uncle, Arnold Biedermann, where his father joins him. On their departure they are accompanied by the four Biedermanns, who are sent as a deputation to remonstrate with Charles the Bold, concerning the oppression of Count de Hagenbach, his steward. When the supposed merchants reach

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the castle, they are seized, despoiled, and cast into separate dungeons by order of Hagenbach. The Black Priest of St. Paul's, a mysterious but powerful per sonage, now appears on the scene; and Charles, Margaret of Anjou, Henry of Richmond, and other great historic personages, are met with-all living and realizable personages, not mere names.

The story is filled with wild adventure, and the reader follows the varying fortunes of its chief characters with eager interest. It presents vivid pictures of the still-lingering life-lawless and picturesque of the Middle Ages.

Ad

dam Blair, by John Gibson Lockhart, Scott's son-in-law, who wrote the famous Life of Sir Walter, is a Scotch story of rural life in the past century. It gives intimate descriptions of native manners, and has tragic power in the portrayal of the human heart. This novel, the best of the three written by Lockhart, was published in 1822, the full title being 'Some Passages in the Life of Mr. Adam Blair, Minister of the Gospel at Cross-Meikle.'

Country Living and Country Think

ing, by Gail Hamilton (Mary Abigail Dodge, born in Hamilton, Massachusetts), contains a dozen or more essays on all sorts of subjects, from flower-beds to marriage. They are written in an easy conversational style, full of fun and pungent humor, though earnest and even fiery at times. The author, always witty and whimsical, talks laughingly of the sorrows of gardening, the trials of moving, or whatever other occupation is engaging her for the moment, but with such brilliancy and originality that the topic takes on a new aspect. A keen vision for sham and pretense of any sort, however venerable, distinguishes her, and she is not afraid to fire a shot at any enthroned humbug. Her brightness conceals great earnestness of purpose, and it is impossible not to admire the sound and wholesome quality of her discourse.

the events in the parish of Dalmailing where he ministered. He carries the narrative on from year to year, sometimes recording an occurrence of national importance, sometimes a homely happening, as that William Byres's cow had twin calves "in the third year of my ministery." There was no other thing of note this year, "saving only that I planted in the garden the big pear-tree, which had two great branches that we call the Adam and Eve." Concerning a new-comer in the parish he writes: "But the most remarkable thing about her coming into the parish was the change that took place in the Christian names among us. Old Mr. Hooky, her father, had, from the time he read his Virgil, maintained a sort of intromission with the nine Muses. by which he was led to baptize her Sabrina, after a name mentioned by John Milton in one of his works. Miss Sabrina began by calling our Jennies Jessies, and our Nannies Nancies. . . . She had also a taste in the mantua-making line, which she had learnt in Glasgow ; and I could date from the very Sabbath of her first appearance in the Kirk, a change growing in the garb of the younger lassies, who from that day began to lay aside the silken plaidie over the head, the which had been the pride and bravery of their grandmothers. »

The Annals' are written in a good homely style, full of Scotch words and Scotch turns of expression. The book holds a permanent place among classics of that country.

A"

nnals of a Quiet Neighborhood, by George Macdonald, records a young vicar's effort to be a brother as well as a priest to his parishioners; and tells incidentally how he became more than a brother to Ethelwyn Oldcastle, whose aristocratic, overbearing mother, and madcap niece Judy, have leading rôles in the story. At first Judy's pertness repeis the reader; but like the bad boy who was not so very bad either, she wins increasing respect, and is able, without forfeiting it, to defy her grandmother, the unlovely Mrs. Oldcastle, whose doting indulgence has come so near ruining her disposition. Any one wishing to grasp the true inwardness, as well as the external features, of the life of an English clergyman trying to get on to some footing with his flock, has it all here in his own words, with some sensational elements intermingled,

for which he makes ample apology. But the book on the whole is free from puritanical self-arraignment. The constant moralizing never becomes tiresome, as in some of the author's later work. "If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman of my cure, I shall feel that I have worked with God," mutters the young vicar on overhearing a lad exclaim that he should like to be a painter, because then he could help God paint the sky; and this hope, the first the clergyman dares form, is equally carried out in the case of rich and poor. With regard to both these divisions of society there is much wholesome plain-speaking, as where it seems to the vicar "as if the rich had not quite fair play;

as

if they were sent into the world chiefly for the sake of the cultivation of the virtues of the poor, and without much chance for the cultivation of their own." From this acute but pleasant preamble to his heart-warming "God be with you" at the end, this mellow character, capable of innocent diplomacy and of sudden firmness upon occasion, only loses his temper once, and that is when the intolerable Mrs. Oldcastle makes a sneering reference to the "cloth."

Auld Licht Idylls, by James M. Bar

rie, is a series of twelve sketches of life in Glen Quharity and Thrums. In all of them the same characters appear, not a few being reintroduced in the author's later books,-notably Tammas Haggart, Gavin Ogilvy, and the Rev. Gavin Dishart, "the little minister," who figures in the novel of that name. The titles of the sketches suggest the nature of their contents: The School-House; Thrums; The Auld Licht Kirk; Lads and Lasses; The Auld Lichts in Arms; The Old Dominie; Cree Queery and Mysy Drolly; The Courting of T'nowhead's Bell (reprinted in this LIBRARY); Davit Lunan's Political Reminiscences; A Very Old Family; Little Rathie's "Bural"; and A Literary Club. Humor and pathos mingle, and the characters are vividly real. The charm of the sketches-the author's earliest important work-lies in their delineation of rural Scottish character. Mr. Barrie's peculiar characteristics are well illustrated in the Idylls.'

All Sorts and Conditions of Men,

by Sir Walter Besant. The famous People's Palace of East London had its