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Show BOOK NOTICES. The Maid of Sker, a novel, by K. D. Blaekmore, author ot "Crndonk No-well," No-well," etc, etc.; Harper& Bros., New York; paper, l8i pp., To cts. For sale by Jas. Dwyer. This is a story of Wales, told by an old fisherman of the coast of Glamorganshire. Glamor-ganshire. It is cleverly written, in a style original, pcculiai, and entertaining, entertain-ing, with no great depth of sentiment, yet with many a passago full of truth and beauty. A talc of gipsies and sea life, love, lamentation, and excitement, and ono once fairly entering upon it is t;mptcd to follow .onj'unto the end, where an appropriate- fate meets the actor?, one and all. There arc many excellent descriptions and' the story is full of power. Common Sense in tho Household, a marine) of practical housewifery, by Marion Unrland; New York: C-crib-nor, Armstrong A: Co.; cloth, pp., $1. .For sale by Jas- Dwycr. j This is a valuable collection of re-, cipes, not only iocludiog those of the old time cook book of Mrs. Leslie, but addirjg thereto many of a later day, with an addenda, to those for the cuisine, cui-sine, of sick room, nursery and sundry recipes giving tho widest range so as to make the work really "a manuel of housewifery." In the author's talk with her reader she says: "I have tried to set forth a variety, savory, economical, nourishing, and often elegant. ele-gant. In preparing; these acceptably everything depends upon your own taste and skill. Should jour cupboard be bare of aught more sub- stantial than crackers and cheese, do not yield to dismay; split the crackers, oast the inside lightly and butter while hot. Grate your cheese into a powdery mound, garnishing the edge of the plate. If you have no beverage bever-age but water, let it be cool, and pour it out yourself, into an irreproachable glass. A dirty table-cloth, a smeared goblet, or a sticky plate will spoil the most luxurious least. A table well set is half spread." Tho Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens; Harper & Brothers, New j ork ; L5i3 pp. 7drts. 1 For sale by Jas. Dwver. To maoy, although the name of Dickens is world wide, the reading of "Old Curiosity Shop" is yet an no-tisted no-tisted feast. One of the author's earliest works, this ia one of the most touching. Tho picturo of child-life and child-thought child-thought given in "Little Nell," we never have found surpassed. Those who, long years ago, traced the wanderings wan-derings of the old man and tho young girl have always tender memories of the Sid way journeyed; while, Dick Swivcl-lir.Sally Swivcl-lir.Sally Brass, and Mrs. Jarley, and all the othcrsof tho shadowy kith and kin, mingle in a grotesque setting to the picture. And when death at last came to her They carried her to ono old nook where she had many and many a time sat musing, and laid their burden softly on tho pavement. The light streamed on it through the colored window a window where the boughs of trees were ever rustling, in the summer, sum-mer, and where the birds sang sweetly all day long. With every breath of 1 air that stirred among those branches in the sunshine, sonic trembling, changing chang-ing light would fall upon her grave. The service done, tho villagers closed around to look into tho grave. Unc called to miud her sitting upon that very spot, her book upou her lap, with pensive face gazing upon the sky. Another wondered that one so delicato could be so hold. A whisper went about among the oldest that she had seen and talked with angels; and when tbey called to mind how she had looked look-ed and spoken, and her early death, some thought indeed it might be so Then when the dusk of evening had come on, and not a Found disturbed the sacred stillness of the place in that calm time, when outward things and inward thoughts iccm with assur-anecs assur-anecs ot immortality, and worldly hopes and leais are humbled in the dust-then, dust-then, with tranquil and submissive k iVS h7 ",lrDcd av'' aI"i Id' the child with God. |