of good family, educated at Harvard with an after-year of Europe, settle down in New York to practice law. One of them, Arthur Remington, is content to win a fair income by hard work at his profession, and finally marries a poor but charming girl, who has always represented his ideal, and who refuses a millionaire for his sake. His friend, Woodbury Stoughton, eager for money and fame, dabbles in stocks and loses most of his small fortune. He marries for her money the beautiful uncultivated daughter of a railway king, who loves him devotedly, and to whom he is indifferent. He is elected to the Assembly as a leader of the "better element" in politics; but his ambition to get into Congress leads him into such double-dealing that the Independents desert him, and he is overwhelmingly

defeated. On the eve of election, also, his young wife learns of his infidelity to her, and leaves him. The story is slight, but the portraiture of a certain phase of New York fashionable society is vivid, and the study of the inevitable deterioration of life without principle is searching and dramatic.

Ironmaster, The (Le Maitre des Forges),

by Georges Ohnet, (1882,) has both as novel and play, in English as well as French, been persistently popular; and in all the history of French fiction, few books have sold better. Ohnet wrote the story as a play; but no manager would accept it until, after its success as a novel, he redramatized it. It is a dramatic love story, whose characters are: Claire de Beaulieu; Madame de Beaulieu; Gaston, Duke de Bligny, a mercenary lover who breaks faith with Claire for the sake of a fortune, and engages himself to Athenais, the daughter of a rich but vulgar manufacturer; and a rich young ironmaster, Philippe Derblay, of plebeian birth but excellent character. Around this small group of actors moves an energetic drama of baffled hopes, disappointed ambitions, tribulations that purify, and final happiness. The book has little literary merit; but the rapidity of its movement and its strong situations have given it a secure, if temporary, place in French and English approval.

Helen, by Maria Edgeworth.

This

old-fashioned novel describes the social life of England about the middle of the nineteenth century; and draws a

moral by showing how one deception leads to another, and finally envelops the whole life in deceit and wretchedness. A mere statement of the plot is of no interest: the value of the story is in its humor and its knowledge of the human heart.

Among the characters are Cecilia; ber mother, Lady Devenant, a spirited society woman, and a very kind friend to Helen (the heroine); Miss Clarendon, a blunt, outspoken woman, and a modern type to find in an old novel; besides Lord Beltravers, a false friend of Granville Beauclerc, the hero. Helen' was published in 1834. It was the last novel Miss Edgeworth wrote before her death fifteen years afterwards.

Her Dearest Foe, by Mrs. Alexander. The scene of this story (perhaps the best by this prolific writer) is laid in and about London, at the beginning of the present century. Mr. Richard Travers, a middle-aged merchant seeking rest, goes to the little town of Cullingford, and there stays with a Mrs. Aylmer, a widow with one daughter. Mr. Travers is charmed with Cullingford, and revisits the place from time to time. Eventually he falls in love with Kate Aylmer, and marries her after the death of her mother. Subsequently he makes a will in favor of his wife, which also disinherits his cousin and former heir, Sir Hugh Galbraith. After the death of Travers, his widow succeeds to his estate; but is not long left in undisturbed possession, as Mr. Ford, a clerk in the office of her late husband, produces another will in favor of Sir Hugh. Mrs. Travers is obliged to give up her property and compelled to support herself. She settles in the village of Pierstoffe, which is picturesquely described; where, assisted by her friend and companion Fanny Lee, she opens a small fancy-goods shop. Sir Hugh, while hunting in the neighborhood, meets with an accident, and is taken to the house of Mrs. Travers, of whose identity he remains in ignorance, as he has never seen his hostess before, and as she had assumed the name of Temple upon leaving London. Sir Hugh falls in love with his charming nurse, and upon regaining his health, proposes marriage to her; but is rejected, as she believes him to have had a hand in defrauding her of her property. Not long after this, Mrs.

Travers, or Mrs. Temple, is enabled to prove that the will in favor of Sir Hugh is a forgery, for which the clerk Ford is wholly answerable. Sir Hugh again offers himself, and this time she accepts him; afterwards revealing her identity, and rejoicing that she has an opportunity of "heaping coals of fire on the head of her dearest foe." The story flows easily and pleasantly, the pictures of town and country life are natural and entertaining, and the interest is sustained to the end. It was published in 1883.

Captain Gore's Courtship,- his nar

rative of the affair of the clipper Conemaugh, and the loss of the vessel

noble of the province, the dreaded Vidame de Bezers, known from his armorial bearings as the "Wolf." She prefers the Huguenot Louis de Pavannes, and Bezers swears to have his life. Το warn him, the country lads Anne, Marie, and St. Croix journey to Paris, only to fall into the power of the terrible Vidame. The plots of the Vidame, the struggle of the boys, and the dangers of M. de Pavannes, are woven with thrilling effect into the bloody drama of the Massacre; and the sinister figure of the proud, revengeful "Wolf," with his burst of haughty magnanimity, lingers long in the memory.

kins Hains, was published in 1896. The book might have just come into port, so redolent is it of the sea. It describes the wooing of one William Gore, formerly captain of the Southern Cross, then mate of the Conemaugh. On board this vessel, as passengers, are a trim young lady and her mother. When the good ship is taken by pirates, Gore wills to remain and run the risk of identification with the black flag, rather than desert the woman he loves. He has the reward he deserves. The book is written in a cleancut, crisp style, and is a thoroughly good "book of a day."

Captain of the Janizaries, The, by

James M. Ludlow. This book, published in 1886, is a story of adventure in the second quarter of the revolutionizing fifteenth century. It is rather a series

of vivid pictures and spirited incidents than a connected narrative, and tells of the return to Albania of Castriot, called Scanderbeg, who had renounced Islam; of his warfare with the Turks, the heroic defense of Sfetigrade, and the siege and fall of Constantinople. It also describes vividly the rigid training of the Janizaries, the sensual life of the harem, the dissensions among the Christian allies, and the fatal decadence of the Greek empire.

ouse of the Wolf, The, (1889,) the House first of Stanley J. Weyman's historical romances, deals with the adventures of three young brothers (the eldest of whom, Anne, Vicomte de Caylus, tells the story) in Paris, during the Massa

of, by Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), was published in 1884. It is a sequel to, and follows the fortunes of, the leading characters of the same author's Tom Sawyer'; from which it differs in tone and construction, touching now and again upon vital social questions with an undertone of evide. tly serious interest. Its humor, while less refined, is quite as bright and spontaneous as that of its predecessor, though its popularity has not been so marked.

The story traces the wanderings of "Huck and Tom, who have run away from home; and tells how, with their old friend the negro Jim, they proceed down the Mississippi, mainly on a raft.

The boys pass through a series of experiences, now thrilling, now humorous; falling in with two ignorant but presumptuously clever sharpers, whose buffoonery, and efforts to escape justice and line their own pockets at the expense of the boys and the kindly but gullible folk whom they meet, form a series of the funniest episodes of the story. Tom's and Huck's return up the river puts an end to the anxiety of their friends, and to a remarkable series of adventures.

The author draws from his intimate knowledge of the great river and the Southern country along its banks; and not only preserves to us a valuable record of a rapidly disappearing social order, but throws light upon some questions of moment to the student of history.

Mr. Clemens here exhibits some of the gifts of the earnest novelist, in addition to those of the consummate story-teller.

character study. The author traces

the influence of heredity on a descendant

of the Puritans, one Jonathan Edwards Flint, who has entirely abandoned the faith of his ancestors, and yet in all the crises of life is swayed by inherited Puritan instincts. He even follows the old experiences of conviction of sin and conversion to a higher life; but the agencies are quite modern and non-religious, while he never abandons his skeptical views. The principal characters besides the hero are the heroine, Winifred Anstice; her father and little brother; Miss Susan Standish, an eccentric New England spinster; Dr. Cricket, a Philadelphia physician; and Nora Costello, a captain in the Salvation Army.

Dr. Claudius, by F. Marion Crawford

Be

(1883), was the second of Mr. Crawford's novels, following a year after its predecessor Mr. Isaacs. Unlike the latter, it contains no element of the supernatural, and is merely a love story of contemporary life. Dr. Claudius, himself, when first introduced, is a privatdocent at Heidelberg, living simply, in a state of philosophical content. He plans no change in his life when the news comes to him that he has inherited more than a million dollars by the death of his uncle Gustavus Lindstrand, who had made a fortune in New York. The son of his partner, Silas B. Barker, soon arrives in Heidelberg to see what manner of man Dr. Claudius may be, and persuades the blond, stalwart Scandinavian to go with him to America; securing an invitation for the two on the private yacht of an English duke, whom he knows well. fore leaving Heidelberg, Claudius has fallen in love with a beautiful woman met by chance in the ruins of the Schloss. Since she is also a friend of the Duke, Barker is able to introduce Claudius to her. This Countess Margaret, with her. companion, Miss Skeat, is asked to cross the Atlantic with the Duke, his sister Lady Victoria, Barker, and Claudius. Margaret, though an American, is the widow of a Russian count. Claudius is not wholly disheartened, when, on the yacht, she refuses to marry him. But in America, she succumbs to the romantic surroundings of the Cliff Walk at Newport, and admits that she loves the philosophical millionaire. Claudius then starts off on a hasty journey to St. Petersburg, where he obtains from the government the return of Margaret's estates confiscated on account of her brother-in-law's republi

canism. Just what the secret is of Dr. Claudius's power with Russia, we are not told; but Mr. Crawford lets us infer that he is the posthumous son of some European potentate. The Duke and the courteous Horace Bellingham know who he is, but the reader's curiosity is not gratified.

Foe in the Household, The, by Caroline Chesebro'. A story of the Mennonites, a religious sect of America, whose strict doctrines preclude marriage Delia Rose, except among themselves.

the daughter of the good bishop, breaks her vow in order to marry Edward Rolfe, who is temporarily dwelling at Emerald, the home of the Mennonites. The marriage is kept secret; its only witness being Father Trost, a Methodist preacher, and the bitter enemy of her father's flock, who leaves the neighborhood immediately after performing the ceremony to take up his home in the far West. He returns after many years, to hold over Delia the terrible weapon of her secret. The strong interest of the story is developed from this point: the moral anguish of the wife, Delia, the tyranny of Father Trost, and the domestic affairs, complicated by the presence of Delia's child Edna, afford a theme of unusual strength and freshne ness. The power of doctrine to warp the judgment, and the unerring result of youthful error and weakness, are powerfully worked out; the very simplicity of the story rendering its moral teaching more effective. As a study of character and of the hidden springs of human action, and as an example of reserved power and dignity of treatment, the book takes high rank. The simple life of the Mennonites, who order their ways after the pattern of the early Christians, and the bareness and hardness which starve poor Delia's soul, are well indicated; while the character of Father Trost is an admirable study of the Protestant Jesuit.

Her

man of wealth and education just returned to England from a German university. Belated by a storm, he seeks shelter in the hut of Darvil, a man of evil character. Darvil has a daughter Alice, young and beautiful, but of undeveloped moral and mental power. father having planned to rob and murder Maltravers, she aids the traveler to escape. Moved by her helplessness, her beauty, and her innocence, Maltravers has her educated, and constitutes himself her protector. He yields at last to his passion, and Alice's first knowledge of love comes to her as a revelation of the meaning of honor and purity. From that time she remains faithful to Maltravers. By a series of circumstances they are separated and lost to each other, and do not meet for twenty years. Maltravers in the mean time loves many women: Valerie; Madame de Ventadour, whom he meets in Italy; Lady Florence Lascelles, to whom he becomes engaged, and from whom he is separated by the machinations of an enemy; and lastly, Evelyn Cameron, a beautiful English girl. Fate, however, reserves him for the faithful Alice, the love of his youth.

'Ernest Maltravers' is written in the Byronic strain, and is a fair example of the English romantic and sentimental novel of the thirties.

Christie Johnstone, by Charles Reade,

was published in 1855, three years after 'Peg Woffington' had given the author his reputation. It is one of the best and most charming of modern stories. It depicts a young viscount, rich and blasé, who loves his cousin Lady Barbara, but is rejected because of his lack of energy and his aimlessness in life. He grows pale and listless; a doctor is called in, and prescribes yachting and taking daily interest in the "lower classes. » The story, by turns pathetic and humorous, abounds in vivid and dramatic scenes of Scotch life by the sea; and Christie, with her superb physique, her broad dialect, her shrewd sense, and her noble heart, is a heroine worth while. Reade's wit and humor permeate the book, and his vigorous ethics make it a moral tonic.

Colonel's Daughter, The,-an early

novel of Captain Charles King's, and one of his best,- was published in 1883. The author disclaims all charms of rhetoric and literary finish in the con

versations of his characters. They "talk like soldiers," in a brief plain speech. For that very reason, perhaps, they are natural and human. The author has depicted army life in the West with the sure touch of one who knows whereof he writes. The Colonel's Daughter' is preeminently a soldier's story, admirably fitted in style and character to its subjectmatter.

Bondman, The, one of Hall Caine's

best-known romances, abounds in action and variety. Stephen Orry, a dissolute seaman, marries Rachael, the daughter of Iceland's Governor-General, and deserts her before their boy Jason is born. Twenty years later, at his mother's death-bed, Jason vows vengeance upon his father and his father's house. Orry, drifting to the Isle of Man, has married a low woman, and sunk to the depths of squalid shame. Finally the needs of their neglected boy, Sunlocks, arouse Orry to play the man; he reforms and saves some money. Sunlocks grows up like a son in the home of the Manx Governor, and wins the love of his daughter Greeba. The youth is sent to Iceland to school, and is commissioned by Orry to find Jason and give him his father's money. a mission he is unable to fulfill. In trying to wreck, and then to save, an incoming vessel (which, unknown to Orry, is bearing the avenging Jason from Iceland to Man), Orry is fatally hurt; but is saved from drowning by Jason, who learns from the dying man's delirium that he has rescued the father and missed the brother whom he has sworn to kill. Throughout the story, his blind attempts at doing new wrongs to revenge the old are overruled by Providence for good; and at the last, no longer against his will but by the development of his own nature, he fulfills his destiny of blessing those he has sworn to undo.

with a tender love-sorrow, and a fine passion for concealing from his left hand the generous deeds of his right; the Rev. Dr. Davidson, long the beloved minister at Drumtochty; Burnbrae, with apt comments upon men and events; Marget Howe, whose mother heart still beats warm even after her Geordie's death; "Posty," the mail carrier; and Dr. Weelum Maclure, going through field and flood at the call of duty, these with many others are drawn with a quaint intermingling of pathos and humor. The church life of rural Scotland affords a rich field for the powers of the author.

Hoosier

School-Master, The, by Edward Eggleston, first appeared serially in Hearth and Home in 1870. It narrates the experiences of Ralph Hartsook, an Indiana youth who in antebellum days taught a back-country district school in his native State.

There is no attempt at complicated plot, the interest centring in the provincial manners and speech of the rustic characters, who find in the young schoolmaster almost the only force making for progress and culture-crude though it is. Though inexperienced, Ralph is manly and plucky, proving himself possessed of qualities which command the respect of the difficult patrons of the primitive country school.

With a keen sense of humor, and fidelity to detail, the author describes the unsuccessful efforts of the hitherto incorrigible pupils to drive out the teacher; the spelling-school, and how the master was spelled down; the exhortations of the "Hardshell" preacher; the triumphant rebuttal of a charge of theft lodged against Ralph; the sturdy help which he continually gives to the distressed; and the final success of his love for Hannah, a down-trodden girl of fine spirit, who begins really to live under the new light of affection.

With its companion volume, The Hoosier School-Boy,' the novel occupies a unique field; describing the manners, customs, thoughts, and feelings of a type full of interesting and romantic suggestiveness, humorous, and grotesque.

unique inhabitants of the Tennessee mountains, human nature enough to fill a dozen strong books. While the general characteristics are the same, her stories are all unlike. His Vanished Star' deals with mountain schemers and "moonshiners," and matches town knavery with rustic cunning. The plot rests upon the effort of one Kenneth Kenniston, who owns a tract in the mountain country, to build a summer hotel. He is indefatigable in his attempts; but as a hotel would kill the business of the "moonshiners," his tricks are met by equally unscrupulous tricks on their part. The entire story is given to the contest of wits between the whisky distillers,who are "jes' so durned ignorant they don't know sin from salvation, nor law from lying, "-and the schemer from civilization with legal right on his side, who is powerless to remove the squatters from the land which is legally his. Two beautiful mountain girls play into the hand of fate; but they serve to temper the belligerent air. Miss Murfree's glowing descriptions of mountain fastnesses are rich in color, distinct, and individual, and afford a striking back. ground for her psychological studies.

Hogan, M. P., by Mrs. May Laffan Hart

ley. In tracing the political course of a young barrister of Dublin, we have a veritable panorama of Irish life in the early seventies. The career of Hogar himself is very disappointing. At the opening of the story he is a promising young lawyer. Later, through the influence of a stock-jobber and an old lord whose interests he is to further, Hogan secures the election to Parliament from one of the southern counties. Having become dazzled with speculation, he invests all his little wealth in stocks; and when the broker absconds with the funds of the corporation, is financially ruined. Hogan loves Nellie Davoren, one of the few admirable characters in the book; but while in London he falls victim to the wiles of a superannuated belle, marries her for her property, and finally secures the position of secretary to a governor in the South Sea Islands and goes to reside in Honolulu.

While we trace with regret the tortuous and downward path of the barrister, we are treated to some very realistic descriptions of all classes of people and conditions of life, from the nuns of St.