T

hesitates to pronounce on an outdoor book of any description. But certainly with safety and entire truthfulness it may be affirmed of Mrs. Thompson Seton's animal anecdotes ' that they are at least good reading-and that in these intimate and informal records of camp life and travel she has so well preserved the atmosphere of close companionship with woods and waters that, even to the uninitiated. what is after all the chief charm of sport with gun and rod is made quite clear. The reader who may prefer this charm disassociated from the idea of slaughter will so find it in Part IV., which tells of the new hunting of reindeer in Norway (where the camera was the only weapon used), following the many chapters of Parts I.-III., devoted to successive not so unbloody expeditions after big and little game in the Sierras and the Rockies and in Canada. The book has marginal and full-page illustrationsseveral of them Mr. Thompson Seton's, who, by the way, transparently disguised a "Nimrod," appears in the text, not only in his own character, the art-student of woodland lore, but in the less familiar rôle of camp poet.

Delia 2 is the maid-of-all-work for a "family Cat of six," and so well is she rendered that one gets an unaccustomed serious glimpse at many things perhaps before unseen, through reading her diary, the humor of which also exists independently of its simplified spelling à la Irlandais. From that phrase it follows that Delia's heart is in the right place, so we at once know where her sympathies will be in her young mistress's love affair, and divine with equal certainty and pleasure her ultimate possession of a sweetheart of her own.

Crude Western speech and the commonplaceness of the event it chronicles-the coming of a little one into a childless homedo not lessen the force of Mr. Butler's slender book's appeal,3 which is truer also for the smiles provoked quite as often as deeper emotions are stirred. All truly "daddies". and others should be interested in these "confessions."

The merry mood of Jean Webster is contagious, and we laugh over the absurdities of the situations that develop about Jerry Junior. Audacious, resourceful, and finally gayly in love, he employs the most evident devices to gain the attention of the maiden, who is quite his equal in cool daring. With but occasional lapses, the farce goes on its

1 Nimrod's Wife. By Grace Gallatin Seton. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. $1.75.

The Diary of Delia. By Onoto Watanna. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. $1.25.

The Confessions of a Daddy. By Ellis Parker Butler.

The Century Company, New York. 75c.

4 Jerry Junior. By Jean Webster. The Century Conpany, New York. $1.50.

amusing way. An Italian background and an Italian head waiter are part of the necessary property.

Lawrence Mott, in these stories of Labrador and Gloucester fishermen,' introduces some amazing dialect, and tries to indicate the sounds of raging waters and crashing timbers by combinations of italicized letters. The effect of these two devices is to puzzle and annoy the reader. The stories themselves are quite brutal, yet lightened by attempts at current popular sentiment.

Here is a pretty, wholesome fairy book,2 sufficiently mysterious to awaken interest in the children, yet very gracefully written, and having nice little morals tucked craftily away within its pages. The writer, Jasmine Stone Van Dresser, has the true gift of story-telling for little folks, and the pictures by Florence E Storer quite suit the text. They are printed in color.

Mr. John H. Whitson in his new novel 3 has prepared a complete surprise for his readers, and, in charity, we warn them not to read the last chapter first. Louis Armitage, walking in Central Park, is suddenly kidnapped by two lovely women, one of whom claims him as her long-lost husband. Given this situation of mistaken identity, the complications that arise are many and become serious. The story is well told, and modern New York is graphically pictured. How the Castle of Doubt is freed from its mystery must be learned from the book itself.

How to Understand

the Old Masters

A book stimulating the student's further consideration of a sub

ject is of more primary importance to him than is the comprehensive and authoritative volume to be consulted at the end of his course as the final word. The first word has a more influential place than the last. If this is true in the study of art in general, it is particularly true in the study of painting. Few visitors to Europe remain away from the great galleries. But of the frequenters of those galleries the even passably well informed are few. Their comprehension would be more enlightened did they realize certain things-for instance, the distortion of purpose suffered by the old masters in the transference of pictures from their original settings in church, chapel, or palace to the glare of our modern galleries,

where there is as well sometimes a too indiscriminate company of paintings. Then, again, one should have a knowledge of the old

To the Credit of the Sea. By Lawrence Mott. Harper & Brothers, New York. $1.50.

2 How to Find Happyland. By Jasmine Stone Van Dresser. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.

The Castle of Doubt. By John H. Whitson. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $1.50.

màsters' themes, often meaningless to the casual observer. A marked increase in that observer's information, as indicated above, and a consequent increase in his power of comprehension, should be the result of reading Professor Van Dyke's latest volume.' In addition, the seeker for information will find therein suggestive discussions of figure, portrait, genre, animal, landscape, and marine painting. The reason for relegating these discussions to the second part of the book, however, is not altogether evident.

Nineteenth Century Painting

The great styles in painting are the outcome of the æsthetic, intellectual, and religious tendencies of the ages. If Inness and Monet represent one kind of craving in our own time, Velasquez and Van Dyck represented another in theirs, Perugino and Memling in theirs. Thus we may discover a bond of union between widely separated men, countries, and schools. We begin to appreciate more whatever unity there is in the development of painting. We now regard epochs rather than individuals. One of those epochs was the nineteenth century. We are still too close to it properly to weigh the influence of its salient characteristics. But, so far as can be, the psychological method of measuring should be employed. A master in this analysis, Dr. Richard Muther, Professor in the University of Breslau, has already given brilliant proof of the value of this method in his "Geschichte der Malerei," a work which reviews the history of painting to the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is appropriate that, within a few weeks of the publication of a translation of that work, there should appear a revision and translation of its more detailed continuation, the "Geschichte der Malerei im XIX. Jahrhundert." The present publication is embellished with hundreds of illustrations in line, half-tone, and color, and is issued in four well-bound volumes. The revision is, of course, specially interesting in its account of the development of painting during the last decade of the nineteenth century. In this particular development Americans claim, with justice, that they have a notable share. They will feel some sense of disappointment, therefore, in not finding more pages devoted to American art in Dr. Muther's books. It does seem as if his perspective were scarcely accurate. If anything could atone for the lack of quantity, however, it would be the high quality of the German's criticism of our painters,

1Studies in Pictures. By John C. Van Dyke. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.25, net.

The History of Modern Painting. By Richard Muther. In 4 vols. (Revised Edition.) E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $25, net, a set.

particularly of Mr. Sargent. Not being so interested in the development of German art as is our historian, it will seem to American readers as if the many pages devoted to Germany might have been condensed in our favor. Here again, however, Dr. Muther's criticism is particularly instructive, espe cially in dealing with the much-misunderstood Boecklin. Indeed, this historian is at his best when he touches Sargent or Boecklin or Whistler or any one who shows a contempt for conventionality, yet, assimilating the deep underlying strength of the ages, has transformed it by the power of genius. In any event Dr. Muther writes with an incisive phrase, far removed from the ponderous, involved style of some of his compatriots. Turning from individuals to national schools, we discover, as we might expect, as hearty acknowledgment of national inde pendence, wherever found, as there is of individual excellence and freedom of expression. As his more general work would lead us to surmise, however, Professor Muther leaves us with the feeling that future schools of painting will be called, not by countries, but by principles of art. Methods are all very well, but are only vital when they are distinctive interpreters. The mission of art is to express life. What the nineteenth century's painting has done in truth, directness, power, and sincerity in such expression is well summarized in these pages.

Mr. Roberts's studies of The Haunters of animal life almost always

the Silences

have a vein of poetic

feeling and broad sympathy with nature. This book' (charmingly printed, by the way) pictures animals shy and little known to most of us, while a few chapters deal with sea life, about which Mr. Roberts modestly forewarns the reader that his personal knowledge is slight. One is glad that the author does not try to humanize and dramatize and sensationalize his animals. He talks about the wild life from the standpoint of a man who knows it well and is also a writer of refinement and of literary instinct.

One of the officers of the Round About Hampton Institute, Miss J. Jamestown E. Davis, has prepared a convenient handbook 2 which will interest all visitors to the Jamestown Exposition who wish to consider it in its historical relations. Except for these historical relations the Exposition would have little excuse for existence. In a brief series of concise but readable chapters Miss Davis relates the main

1 The Haunters of the Silences. By Charles G. D. Roberts. L. C. Page & Co., Boston. $2.

2 Round About Jamestown. By Miss J. E. Davis. Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia.

facts of the earliest colonial settlement of our country and gives a survey of the social and political genesis and development of one of the most romantic regions of the United States. Anecdotes, traditions, and especially some excellent illustrations and a clear and useful sketch map give a human quality to this little book, which may be cordially recommended to all those who want to know why the navies of the world have taken the trouble to make Hampton Roads a ren. dezvous this summer.

The key to this volume' is given Efficient by a single sentence in the prefDemocracy ace "To be efficient is more difficult than to be good." It would perhaps be unfair to say that in the writer's opinion efficiency is more important than goodness, but not to say that it is of co-equal importance. The writer's object is to point out some methods that will promote efficiency in the various departments of life, as in business, government, hospitals, schools, and the like. The principal instrument on which he depends for efficiency is an exact and accurate report of what has been done, is being done, and ought to be done, and this report presented not in general statements but in mathematical detail and with mathematical accuracy. The spirit which is essential to this efficiency is primarily a real and earnest desire to know the facts, and the intelligence necessary to understand the facts when they are presented. The author lays great stress on the value of statistics properly collated and compared and rightly understood, as a means of substituting classification for "messification." He writes in a clear, lucid, epigrammatic style, perhaps with too great fondness for epigram. The book produces a little the impression of a series of separate articles adapted for use to the several departments of which it treats. We are not quite sure that the teacher needs to understand what is necessary for efficiency in the conduct of a hospital, or the doctor what is necessary for efficiency in the conduct of a school. But the volume will be valuable to all men who are doing things if they will select from it what they specifically need, and will be especially valuable to students of the various social activities of our modern life. The Kingdom Man, as "Nature's insurgent son, ," has won, says the of Man author, dominion over her but in part, and is in peril if he neglects to make his conquest complete. In his migrations, and in his transportation of natural

1 Efficient Democracy. By William H. Allen. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. $1.50, net.

2 The Kingdom of Man. By E. Ray Lankester, M.A., LL.D. Henry Holt & Co., New York. $1.40, net.

products from clime to clime, he has converted into terrible scourges the parasitic organisms which in their natural area are beneficent, or, at most, innocuous. Governments which spend vast sums on armies and navies are blamed for their improvident neglect to spend what is necessary for the extermination of these microscopic foes. The chief seats of British culture are blamed for underestimating the importance to human life and progress of the studies on which a better control of Nature is conditioned. The author then sketches the progress made during the last quarter-century toward dominion over Nature, through the studies that have searched out her secrets to the bounds of present knowledge. As an illustration of the sort of work requisite to extend that dominion, a chapter on the "sleeping sickness concludes the volume with an account of the investigation which led to the discovery of the antidote to the terrible scourge that caused appalling mortality in Central Africa by the bite of a fly introducing a parasite into the blood. The author, one of the foremost of British scientists, does not doubt what some have questioned, that the so-called "pithecanthropus" (ape-man), whose skull was discovered in Java in 1892, is "rightly to be regarded as a 'man'"-physically intermediate between the lowest races now known and the chimpanzee. His story of the recent advance of physical science is illuminating

and well illustrated. The volume is a valuable addition to popular scientific literature. Its skeptical, almost contemptuous attitude toward certain conclusions of psychologists, quite as well established as the human nature of the "pithecanthropus," e. g. telepathy, freshly illustrates the streak of provincialism observable in men of the highest special learning.

America's

Insular Possessions

Regarded as literature these volumes' might be criticised as being sometimes encyclopædic, sometimes journalistic. But for the purpose for which they are written this is not a criticism. The encyclopædia gives in compact form information respecting the past. The journal gives the history of to-day while it is still in the making. This is just the information which the American reader wants to-day respecting our insular possessions. He wants to be told in a few pages what was the past history of Porto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines, and more fully he wants to know what Americans have done in them and for them since they became our possessions. Both pieces

1 America's Insular Possessions. By C. H. Forbes-Lind say. In 2 vols. The John C. Winston Company, Phila delphia. $5.

of information are very well given by Mr. Forbes-Lindsay. We wish that he had devoted one chapter to the fundamental constitutional question whether the United States has any right to have possessions, and to interpreting the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States upon that question. The impartiality of the book will be questioned in certain quarters. Those who think that a historian should simply give a colorless account of events, without any attempt to interpret or to pass judgment on them, will not find these volumes to their liking. We do not so judge the function of the historian. We think he ought to interpret as well as to describe events; at least that the historian who interprets as well as narrates is a greater historian than he who simply narrates, as a portrait painter is a greater artist than a photographer. Of course the historian may interpret badly, as the painter may paint badly. But all we have a right to ask of either is that he shall interpret clearly and consistently, and shall not alter the facts to sustain his interpretation. We regard Clarendon's History of England as a great history, though we do not believe that he has interpreted correctly the events he described. But a frankly royalist history is better than a colorless one. Mr. ForbesLindsay believes that the prompt recognition of the Hawaiian Republic was right and President Cleveland's attempt to restore Princess Liliuokalani was wrong; he believes that the hope of Hawaii is in her sugar crop, that the sugar crop can be developed only by large estates and organized labor, and that for these reasons Chinese labor ought to be admitted to Hawaii. He sustains the

course of the Administration at Panama, and

has no doubt that the Panama route is far better than the Nicaraguan route. He thinks that there is a good deal to be said for Aguinaldo, and states the case for him and his policy as well as we have ever seen it stated-and we are somewhat familiar with the arguments of the Boston anti-imperialists. But he apparently believes that the exclusion of Aguinaldo's forces from Manila was absolutely necessary to safeguard the foreigners, especially the Spanish, and he believes, in spite of all that can be said to explain, if not to justify, the Aguinaldo campaign against the Americans, that " to have granted independence to the Philippines at that time would have been to visit the people with a greater misfortune than continuance of the rule of the friars, and it is well that the American government did not entertain either idea." The author's views are frankly stated, but we see no indication that they have led him either to misreport any facts, to

omit in his report any facts of significance, or to present the facts in false proportions on false relations. The volumes are attractively gotten up and well illustrated.

A Sorrowful Heroine

The life of Julie de Lespi

nasse,' translated by P. H. Lee Warner from the French of the Marquis de Ségur, discloses a personality whose potent charm has certainly eluded the skill of either biographer or novelist. We are assured that this woman, who was the center of a notable and brilliant circle, was capable of the greatest intellectual and social attainments. She must have

been so, yet, after reading all that has been written of her in history or fiction, the impression left is faint, unconvincing, and of unrelieved sadness. Her position in Parisian society was attained by her own talent, backed neither by wealth nor family. She lived in an atmosphere, so curious to any but the Latin mind," where laxest morality went hand in hand with the loftiest ideas, the seriousness of which was only to be equaled by the frivolous expression given to them." She is described as one of the world's great lovers-exalted, torn, consumed, and exposed to the world through her letters published thirty years after her death, which were characterized as "the loudest heartbeats" in all the eighteenth century. She was a painfully complex nature, both in mental outlook and in conduct. She sought incessantly for some new sensation, and yet her life was conducted according to the most monotonous routine. The general public has made her acquaintance through Mrs. Ward's novel "Lady Rose's Daughter," which was founded upon this unhappy lifehistory. The present biographer unveils the secrets of her birth, her sad childhood, her troubled connection with the Marquise du Deffand, her strange comradeship with d'Alembert, her short-lived but powerful passion for the Marquis de Mora, and her painful last years spent in terrible alternations of joy and despair during her connec

tion with Guibert. Hers was a life filled with most painful emotions and no rest.

The Year of Grace

The discourses included in this collection 2 are suited to Year, and were for the most part given at the Sundays of the Christian Stanford University. Their clearness and freshness of presentation, and closeness to the needs of modern thought and life, are such as belong to the best type of university

sermons.

1 Julie de Lespinasse. By the Marquis de Ségur. Translated from the French by P. H. Lee Warner. Henry Holt & Co., New York. $2.50, net.

The Year of Grace. By George Hodges. Thomas Whittaker, New York. $1, net. Postage, 10c.