* * * Egerton Castle has sold the serial rights of his last novel, "The Secret Orchard," to The Delineator, and the first chapter will appear in November. The Frederick A. Stokes Company are to publish it in book form. * * * "Rubaiyat," W. L. Alden says in a recent there reached its third edition. Prof. Washburn, of the State University, is the author of the most valuable work on Oregon birds extant. Prof. Thomas Condon, the veteran geologist, has in preparation a most valuable work on Northwest geology. Prof. Thomas McClelland, of Pacific University, at Forest Grove, who is aptly termed "one of the most able and popular college presidents in the United States," has been called to the presidency of the Knox College, at Galesburg, Ill., to succeed President Finley, who has accepted the newly-created chair of politics in Princeton University. * * * "Things Chinese," a book treating of all subjects connected with China, is being brought out by Chas. Scribner's Sons, and Col. E. Hofer, of the Salem Capital Journal, continues to tell "The Truth," though he frankly acknowledges in his May number that he is willing to call it something else if any one will suggest a name. There are so many people in this world who are afraid of The Truth, and Col. Hofer has evidently heard from some of them. * * The address of Francis W. Bakeman, D. D.. on the "Over-Valuation of the Critical Element-Its Danger in Ministerial Education," appears in a neat little booklet by the American Baptist Publication Society. This address is clearly the product of earnest thought on the part of an earnest thinker. His arguments in favor of his position are all that they could be, and his diction is both simple and elegant. However much the reader's view may differ from the author's, he cannot lay this little book aside without being benefitted by its perusal. * * * Scribner's was the first of the magazines to publish a special Summer Number devoted particularly to short fiction, and in it have appeared some of the most notable and best-remembered short stories of recent years. The August Fiction Number for this mation concerning the Celestial King- year will be found especially attractive, both is designed to meet the increasing demand for infor The book appeared originally in Hong Kong two months ago, and has in its stories and the unusual number of il- The Idler A DEPARTMENT OF MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC CHAT. In the Passion Play, which took place this year at Oberammergau, young Lang acted the part of the Christ, so long impersonated with grace and dignity by Josef Mayer. The new Christus is said to be less satisfactory in action, but looks the part to a truly wonderful degree. He is described as being "Very tall, lithe and upright, with regular features of a refined cast, a fair beard and long, glossy brown locks, he looked in his pale lilac robe and crimson mantle, the personification of the pictures we see of Christ in all the famous galleries of the world. He is a, blending of Lucas Cranach's and Leonardo da Vinci's version of the Ideal Character." Speaking of new actors, though, it is a far cry from Oberammergau and the Passion play to America and the popular drama. It is predicted that Richard Buhler is a rising star of the first magnitude. And the public is considerately warned to watch for his photographs, which will certainly be seen in the shop windows next season. but it is next to impossible to picture her journeying across the dull, grey level of middle-age, or being nipped by the frosts of Time. There is Ellen Terry, the sweetest woman who ever walked the boards, a grandmother twice over, yet perennially young-and Langtrymore beautiful than ever with the passing years. But actors! There are, alas, many of them who are unhappily wandering about in the waste places of life. Lily Hall Caine, daughter of the novelist, recently played "Glory Quayle in Charles Frohman's "Christian" Company in Newcastle, England, with such effect that the audience was moved to tender her a banquet immediately after the performance. Mary Mannering is to make her debut as a star under the management of Frank McKee in "Janice Meredith," in the early autumn. Sousa "Le Grand Sousa!" as the French have named him, is delighting all Paris with his music and his marches. But the Berlin critics refuse to admit his band plays better than the German bands. * * * Edward Strauss, with his orchestra, will be heard in New York and Boston early in November. Everybody is familiar with the Strauss waltzes-and who that hath a heart has not felt it thrill to the entrancing measures of the "Beautiful Blue Danube?" But the "Frifolien" is something new to us all, and will be given here for the first time by Edward Strauss, one of the composers. It was written twenty years ago by the three brothers, Johann, Josef and Edward, but a bitter quarrel prevented its public performance. In Politics The presidential campaign, which is now well under way, presents an unusual and diverting spectacle. The Republicans claim that the money question is the "paramount issue," while the Democrats are positive that it is "Imperialism." They urge, furthermore, that the campaign of '96 was fought out upon "free silver;" that Congress subsequently settled the question for some years to come by the passage of the gold standard bill, and, while the money question is still an important one, it is greatly overshadowed by the imperialistic tendencies of the administration, which threaten to change the Republic into an Empire. The Republicans take issue with all this; claim that the money question is not settled; that a President elected upon the Kansas City platform would be in a position to do untold harm; that consequently "free silver" is still the leading issue, and imperialism a bugaboo. The Democratic party is avoiding the money question, and the republican party is avoiding Imperialism as an issue. Both evidently have a very distasteful load to carry. This difference of opinion as to the real issue will doubtless disappear, in the minds of the public, at least, before the campaign progresses much further. Which can do more harm is the paramount question to decide. * * * It does not seem likely at this writing that there will be a third ticket in the field. The Anti-Imperialism Convention endorsed Bryan, and the Nationalist party does not seem to be able to get any man of prominence to accept its nomination, the overtures to Grover Cleveland having been declined by him. Gold Democrats, Silver Republicans, Populists, etc., are announcing their support of McKinley or Bryan, and it is too late now for any other nomination that might be made to seriously affect the chances of either. The Chinese situation has clarified con- cant force of the allies has a herculean * The approaching elections in England and the failure to end the Boer war, together with the Chinese imbroglio, have unsettled conditions in that small island. England has troubles of her own, and she is not to be envied. In Science A very peculiar case of skin-shedding "Mr. Buskirk has shed his skin annually 18 "The Banker and the Bear" is the title of a novel by Henry K. Webster, which Macmillan's are soon to publish. It is story of financial life in Chicago. other piece of fiction, which deals with the questions of the day, is by Francis A. Adams, and will be published by the In Art The equestrian statute of Washington, which was unveiled in Paris in July, is the first bronze cast in the United States that has ever been sent to Europe. It is from the Henry Bonnard Bronze Foundry, in New York City, and is all American. The sculptors who modeled it, Mr. E. C. Potter and Daniel C. French, are both American citizens. The pedestal is of marble from Tennessee, and it is presented by the women of America to the women of France. * * * M. Theobald Chartran, the French portrait painter, who has been spending his winters in America, has returned to Paris where, with the money earned in this country, he has built a beautiful new house. It is claimed that his most successful portrait work is of men. * * * Frank Palmer, an American artist now in London, has made a new restoration of the Venus de Milo. He claimed that the statue, which was found in the undergrounds ruins of a little Greek chapel, represented the Panagra, or Holy Virgin, that it originally wore a halo and carried a child. He says: "I am surprised that the true pose of the Venus was not discovered at once, because the muscles of the right arm, the raising of the left side of the body and the posture of the left knee all combine to prove that the Venus must have sustained a heavy weight upon her left arm. The weight could have been none other than the holy child. The statute shows that without some such weight its centre of gravity must have fallen outside the base." * Burnt wood and leather designs are growing in favor, and for interior decoration are very effective. J. William Fosdick is acknowledged to have brought the art of etching on wood with hot metal points to a stage that is remarkable, as well as profitable. In Education A prominent Boston paper has this to say of the Carlisle Indian Band: "Fifty-five Indian youths, all in charge of a full blooded Apache Indian, with no white manager or disciplinarian nor any other white man with them at an, spent a week in Boston without the smallest incident of disorder. There was no drinking, nor any other infraction of the most seemly requirements of good conduct. It is almost unimaginable that the same number of students fom Harvard, Yale, Cornell, or even Amherst, should spend a week in a distant city on a concert or any other sort of tour without some of their members indulging in a spree." * The Peruvian historian, Senor Ricardo Palmer, who is also director of the National Library at Lima, after years of study, maintains that the name America was not derived from Amerigo Vespucci, but that the explorer was named for the newly-discovered continent. Vespucci's first name was really Alberico. Senor Palma is so sure of this that he has written a book upon the subject. The history of the nations that have passed and been forgotten is being read and restored by archaeologists, for the earth has preserved the records buried in her bosom for ages. The German expedition now at work on the site of ancient Babylon has made many wonderful discoveries. The latest of importance is that of an Assyrian cylinder inscribed in the name of the Great Sardanapalus. * * * Fraterities of Yale are changing their attitude toward candidates for admission, and it is expected that the secret societies there will henceforth be less exclusive. In Religious Thought— The London Spectator holds that the interest of the English Church, both spiritual and political, are safe in the hands of a man like Archbishop Temple, the present incumbent of the See of Canterbury. In his speech in the House of Lords, the Archbishop cautions that body against any policy with regard to ecclesiastical matters that "will narrow the Church of England." The right of private judgment, which requires that men accept her teachings is, he declares, founded upon the supposition that men shall think for themselves. To deny the right of divergence of opinion would be inconsistent and even disastrous. Indeed in divergence of opinion, in liberty of thought, lies the life and safety of the Church. * A leading English weekly, in speaking of the Christian Endeavor Convention, in London, makes the most pertinent criticism yet put in print of this organization of young people. The Convention also furnished the great London editor with a text for a sermon upon the growth and vitality of the Christian religion. k * * There is in England a noticeable lack of candidates for the priesthood. Young men, the more able and seriously inclined, who feel called to labor for the salvation of the race, are attracted to the University and social settlements rather than to the Church. |