OCR Text |
Show 5 isii " A STRONG NOVEL. The Turmoil. By Booth Tarkington. Published Pub-lished by Harper &. Brothers, New York. This novel has been appearing serially in Harper's Magazine and is now presented in book form. Mr. 'Parkinson's latest production is a. novel of conflict and action ac-tion and its storm-center is the Sheridan family, the head of which-ls a headstrong-, obstinate and determined old man. who has become wealthy by the arbitrary use of power, combined with indomitable energy en-ergy and close application to business. He I eels himself extremely fortunate in his Ik I'hiidren. his two eldest sons having- followed fol-lowed in his footsteps and already marked successes in the business world. His daughter, Edith, too, had fulfilled his expectations, ex-pectations, and he felt no little pride in her. His youngest son. Bibbs, however, was altogether a disappointment, and was considered "'the odd one," the weakling: of the family, and. becaupe of Ins imaginative imagina-tive nature and his aversion to business, t? disliked heartily by his father, who determines de-termines that lie will he made to work a,nd is placed in a subordinate poaition in the machine shop of the Sheridan plant. After a while, however, a reaction takes place in the Sheridan family. The oldest son, on account of overwork, takes to drink, the favorite son meets with a fatal accident, ac-cident, tlie daughter, Edith, elopes with the lover she was forbidden to see and Bibbs alone is left. "The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner." Biblical history is repeated in the case of Bibbs, due in the most part to the wonderful influence exerted over hini Jyy Mary Vertrees, and Bibbs surrendering at last to the wishes of his father. The book is a strong one and written with a purpose, as are all of Booth Tark-i Tark-i rig ton's novels, and doubtless is des-1 des-1 in--d io take its place among the best sellers. GRANDEUR OF THE HILLS. Yosemite and Its High Sierra. By John H. "Williams, Author of "The Mountain That Was God" and "The Guardians of the Columbia." Published by John H. Williams, San Francisco, with the sympathy of a nature lover, this writer of the great mountains of the west tells simply and forcefully of the wonders of the Yosemite. He describes not merely the famous Yosemite valley, but the entire Yosemite national park and the high sierra behind it . And the descriptions de-scriptions are made more irnpres-sive by t he presence of more than "00 illustrations, illustra-tions, including eight four-color plates lroin ' paintings by Chris Jorgensen. In order to make room for the largest number num-ber of views the text has been confined to those matters which persons visiting the Yosemite for the first time may naturally natur-ally wish to know an outline of the great physical features of the Yosemite country and their causes, the story of s H s native Inhabitants and their worth;, but pathetically hopeless, fig lit to hold thir Alpine fastnes? and the increasing facilities for the enjoyment of its renowned re-nowned valleys and equally inviting highlands. high-lands. The illustrations sire a revelation even to those who are familiar with the magnificent mag-nificent grandeur of the western mountains. moun-tains. The Yosemite valley has long been Known th rough its fine pictures, but much of the district, especially the high sierra back of it. has been surprisingly neglected. neglect-ed. N'ot only the big trees, the luxuriant f'.-lia.Ke, the be;nitiful flowers, t he shimmering shim-mering wacerfall, the bare, majestic cliffs nd the snow-capped peaks of the summer sum-mer season are shown, hut views of Yo-semite's Yo-semite's wonders with the snowy covering of winter are included among the illustration;-. The book is divided into five parts as fallows: "The Yosemite National Park;" "Tlie Canon of the Yosemite;" "On the 'alifornia Sky-1 hie:" "Tuolumne Grand '"anon and the Helen Hetchy," and "The King of the Korest." It is not only an important addition to 'he literature of out-door California and the great west, but a work- of especial iluo to those who wish lo "see America first." THE RIVER OF DOUBT. Thronph the Brazilian Wilderness. l:Sv 'Theodore Roosevelt . Published by Charles Scri liner's Sons. New York. This interesting work comprises a chronology of the expedition, into the Brazilian wilderness by Colonel Roose-vr-tt ;md party in tho spring of IU '.',, The "tlicuil titl.j of the expedition is that, sivf-n by the Brazilian government : Kn-P Kn-P dicao Scientidcj. Koosevel t-Hondon. Tho primary purpose, however. u;is ur res' re-s' arch iu mammalogy and ornitholocy bir Ihe America n .Museum of Natural History of New York. hater the. scope of the expedition, was en la rged and assumed as-sumed a ideographic, as well as a zoological zoologi-cal rharact cr. Fls tittered a nd enlarged form was rendered possible, as the ;m-Ihor ;m-Ihor k tales, "onlv bv the onerous i.s-Sist.'inrc i.s-Sist.'inrc nf the r.raailinn m v ei iinirnl." Aaide from the ust fund of interesting data presented concerning the zoological and geographical aspects of the expedition, expedi-tion, the work is instructive and educational educa-tional In many respects. The habits and customs, the mode of living, the pleasures pleas-ures and pastimes, and In fact everything of interest concerning the natives is related. re-lated. The personnel of the party was carefully care-fully arranged and included, besides Colonel Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt, Father Zahm, a long-time friend of the colonel ; two scientists from the Vev York museum; Colonel Rondon, a Braj zilian army ofneer; various guides, cooks, etc. A lengthy chapter is devoted to the exploration ex-ploration of the Duvida river, "the .River of Doubt," upon which the partv embarked em-barked on February 27, 1914. The other chapter headings are, "The Start," "Up the Paraguay." "A Jaguar Hunt on the Taquary," "The Headwarters of the Paraguay," Par-aguay," "Up the River of i Tapirs." 'Through the Highland Wildernesses of Western Brazil," "With a Mule . Train Across Nhambiquara "Land;" "Down an Unknown River Into the Equatorial For-.est," For-.est," and "To the Amazon and Home: Zoological and Geographical Results of the Expedition." There are appendices On "The Work of tho Field Zoologist and Field Geographer In South America," "The Outfit for Traveling in the South American Wilderness," and "Mv Hetter of May 1 to Genera! Lauro Mullcr." A comprehensive index follows. The book is a sizeable one, consisting of nearly 400 page3. including about tiftv illustrations from photographs taken by Kermit Roosevelt and others of the party, and several maps showing the territory ter-ritory traversed. BELATED CONFESSIONS. The Confessions of Frederick the Great and the Life of Frederick the Great. By Henrich von Treitschke. Edited, With a Topical and Historical Introduction, Intro-duction, by Douglas Sladen. With a Foreword by Geo. 7-Javen Putnam. Published Pub-lished by G. P. Putnam's Pons, New-York. New-York. Compiled in a single volume, iust published pub-lished in English, are the "Confessions" of Frederick the Great and Treitsc-hke's "Life" of that monarch. George Haven Putnam writes a foreword to I he book and -Douglas Sladen contributes a topical and historical introduction. The proclaimed purpose of the publication publica-tion is to reveal the origin of Vou Bernhardt';? Bern-hardt';? "Gospel of Inhumanity," and for this purpose much reliance is placed upon the confession of the "Sixth Morning." dealing with military affairs. Herein Frederick openly avows his dependence on brigands' license where he could not pay his . troops "They were Arabs who crushed the country, but won. the battles,'' bat-tles,'' and "I pretended not to mind when they took the roof off a house to make their fires" and makes plain the campaign value of a. sliding scale of discipline. Tiie wily old king also accents the wisdom of encouraging military arrogance arro-gance "confer an air of superiority always al-ways on the profession of arms" and of teaching soldiers how to travel on light provisioning, living on the country. Referring to several bad mistakes of hit own in the field, he says; "For all that, I am a. general, and no one could dispute thai. I have great abilities, for if X have lost battles I have won them also, and I have made retreats which have won me infinite honor. 3ut. my dear nephew, what has saved me is my d asperate ness and my vanity. I have preferred to bo buried under the ruins of my kingdom to yielding, and it is iny obstinacy which has worn everyone out." Frederick's "Confessions" were wri t ten to the prince who became his successor. They deal with "The Origin of Our Family." Fam-ily." "Vieligion," "Justice," "Polities" (with reflections on literature, drrss. pleasures and conduct), "Politics of the State," "Military" and "Fin. nice." WAR LITERATURE. Current Historv: A Mo)l hiv Magazine. The European War. Published by the New York Times Company, New York. The I i flh number of the Niv York Times' monthly magazine of the European Eu-ropean war is out. It differs from the other numbers in that it contains a greater number of war pictures. In all Lllere are .-.jxi y-four scenes and portraits, all of them excellent. The first part is devoted to Russia . Various writings and documents recciitly issiied arc collected under the enmpre-henshc enmpre-henshc title. "The New Russia Ppe'aks." This dep.'i v! men l bcshis wit h an app jtl by Flnhm author and a. Mors and is followed by an article on "Russia In Literature." Lit-erature." which is hiuned t;-y l hlrly-four hlrly-four English authors of ni(e. Cmc of the most interest ing articles iu this depart de-part nic'it is entitled "Russia and Kit-rupf's Kit-rupf's War," by Paul Vinoyradoff, corpus professor of jurisprudence at Oxford uni-ver-utv Professor Vingradorf is a Russian Rus-sian of liberal tendencies who has attained at-tained a high phu-e anions holars. tie v.-ts forth "itll d"ep mi !-Tiaii.j;,i ihe character and natural asuiialions uf the Russians, and points out that the Germans, Ger-mans, who now picture themselves as fighting to hold back Russian barbarism, were the allies of Russia luO years ago and were eager to give the so-cCled Russian Rus-sian barbarians free passage through Germany in order to help destroy Napoleon. Na-poleon. Idi this number appeats also the celebrated cele-brated pastoral letter of Cardinal Mer-cier. Mer-cier. which takes Its place as a historic his-toric document. Here we find also an article by Hi la re Belloc, entitled "Why England Fights Germany." It is quite different from ' ihe customary British view. It does not depict England as a modern knight errant, going forth to fight solely because he is dominated by benevolent and chivalrous motives. Many, however, w.ill not agree with his conclusions. conclu-sions. At JL hr same time they afford a striking analysts of the causes of the war. The magazine contains also mauy masterful mas-terful pieces of Avar correspondence which have appeared in the New York Times and in other newspapers. i WAR SONNETS. Pieces of Eight: A sequence of twenty-four twenty-four war sonnets. By John Armstrong Chaloper, author of "Scorpio." Published Pub-lished bv Palmetto Press, Roanoke Rapids, Rap-ids, N. C. John Armstrong Chaloner, who has figured fig-ured in recent American history as the inventor of the phrase, "Who's looney now?" has plunged into poetry. Into t he most truculent and picturesque poetry. His sonnets in "Pieces of Kight" liken Germans to the Gadarene swine and are framed in French, after exhausting the , vituperative possibilities of our Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon speech. They display a most remarkable re-markable facility not only in versification. but in the invention of excoriating ph rases. Tlie New York Tribune, in a facetious commentary, gives some sped- 1 mens of Cbaloner's verse: "Pieces of Eight" is the name of the book and Chaloner gets the range in the very first shot. Listen: Tlie swine of Gadarene are here once more. That demon-haunted, herd now scours the earth Led by Bill William Two, their great boar. Their 'antics, 'pon my soul, give cause for mirth! In massed formation do they charge, pell mel! ! Showing less judgment than a herd of swine. In massed formation are they sent to Hell That's where dead Germans go. I dare opine. , The third sonnet begins so violently that the poetic fervor flags after the fourth line, though enough rage remains lo make a tolerable ending: Thy private -murdering ruffian officers Show to what depths a learned race can sink. Tho calling grand of arms their action slurs, ' , 'Mongst soldiers make, the name of German Ger-man stink! Again. In -the seventh, the bard fairly bellows his confidence: One Briton bold two Germans equal be. One Frenchman's equal to two sauerkraut; The truth of this fqll easy Is to see Fro' th' way the allies put the Teutons out : These gross sausage-eaters surely have no show Less chance than snowball in fell hottest hot-test Hell! In Sonnet Twenty. Chaloner unlimbers against "all members and suporters of premature peace societies," whom he apostrophizes apos-trophizes thus: Ye piffling little squirts that drape the CcJi-th Limp's macaroni or spaghetti slim Vour antics make a man of humor grin ' A MYSTIC ROMANCE. The Bride of tlie Sun. By Gaston Leroux. Published by McBride, Nast & Co., New York. Mr. Leroux in "The Bride of the Pun" has gone far afield from the France which nhs- tlie scene of his series of splendid mystery stories. Most fiction readers Hre familiar with "The Mystery of the Yellow Room. ' "The Perfume of the Lady in Black" and his other de-teeti de-teeti e stories. "The Bride of the Sun" has its scene iu Peru. Jt is a romance of the Incas. Mr. Leroux us'cs a s ' a basis for his plot the mystical' Sun Festival, supposed to he held every ten ea rs by the Quh-hua Indians, In-dians, at" which some beautiful girl is the central figure of a pa nan ceremonial, .it lie coiic!uion '' winch she is buried ulivc as a bride to the mui. worshiped bv the (juichuas. These Indians ;:re tlie descendants of the Incas, who ruk-d tlie country at I he lime of the Spaniards' coining, and have retained their ancient, form of " orship. The Sun Festival and t he ceremonial of burying t he bride of I he sun a rc ela horat a nd .piendidlv d. scribed. Through the nrra I iv- runs llu- thread 'f a v- siory. ;c t he end oi which a flesh -and -blood Lnghsbman L. 'A -- i.i "Arg.Jl I Scene from "Old Dutch." is, after many perils and adventures, united to "the Bride of the Sun." after her rescue from a living tomb bv an Indian lover, who, in qualities of nobleness noble-ness a ud character, is really t he hero ot this splendid tale. SELECTIONS OF VERSE. A Poet's Cabinet: Being Passages, Mainly Main-ly Pete t leak From the Works of George Lansing Raymond, L. H. D. Author of "A Life in Song," "Dante and Collected Col-lected Verse," and Other Poems. Se-leeted Se-leeted and Arranged According to Subject Sub-ject by Marion Miller. Lttt. b. Illustrations Illus-trations by Howard handler Christy. Published bv O. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. This work could properly he classed as a cyclopedia of quotations. Professor Raymond, following the principles of his aesthetic philosophy, has written many poems upon varying subjects in many moods and measures. Throughout all a consLstetfit philosophy of both art and life is prevalent, and the work necessarily will appeal especially to those who read poetry for intellectual and spiritual inspiration. in-spiration. The contents of the volume have been arranged in tlie alphabetical order of their subjects, thus rendering Jhem available without an imdex. THE TRIAL. OF CHRIST. Jesus: A Passion Play. By Max Ehrmann. Ehr-mann. Author of "The "Wife of Maro-bius." Maro-bius." "A Prayer," "Poems." etc. Published Pub-lished by the Baker & Taylor Company, Com-pany, New York. This play by Max Ehrmann covers the last three days in the life of Jesus. There are five big acts, fifty-two characters, and several mobs. In the beginning of the book we find this statement: "The persons who founded Christianity are here stripped of supernatural embellishment: embellish-ment: and they are represented as simple, sim-ple, real, ardent orientals, in the throes of a great and impending tragedy." In the play there are no gods or demigod demi-god e. The characters are all plain, simple sim-ple Hebrews of 1900 years ago: yet they are all very much like people today. They suffer, thev weep, they laugh about the things that lie close to them, just as wo do about .the things that lio close to us. They ace real people. LITERARY NOTES. The Infanta Eulalla of Spain has been writing her recollections of the kaiser, the czar, the English royalties and the Scandinavian democracies, and the Century Cen-tury will print the articles, beginning in the' March number. The Infanta will be remembered aa tlie representative of Spain at the World's fair in Chicago in 1S93. She is clever, frank and extremely democratic, qualities which have won her tho title of the "Enfant Terrible" of Europe. Eu-rope. An official guide book for scientific travelers in the west iB being prepared under the auspices of the Pacific Coast committee of the American Association for the Advancement, of Science, and will be published during March by Paul Elder El-der and company. San Francisco. The articles will be written in popular form, but with scientific precision characteristic character-istic of the writing of the eminent authorities author-ities who will contribute the chapters of the book. General maps of t he region and maps of the vicinities of large cities, manv illustrations,' directions for reaching reach-ing "the principal points of interest referred re-ferred to. and directories of educa t inna i research institutions will also be included. In the March Woman's Home Companion Compan-ion appears a Tower Room Talk by Anne Bryan MeCull entitled "The Sincere Life," In ' the course of which she ouotes as follows from a letter which she has received re-ceived : "Is it possible for one to be very sincere sin-cere in a world where insincerity and convention play so large a pa rt '' kook at society. What is it. I'd like to know, hut systematized hypocrisy? We pretend, and then we pretend we do nor pretend. Wo say we are sorry, when ten tu one we a re plad : we say we a re ulad when we are sorry. We hold our tongues In silence when we arc lonciim U vpeak. ;nid we eha r.tcr like ma a pi v. hrm wc haven't a tiling in tlie world t-i vay. We are all tin; time hidina our feelings. Why. that is a pert !' beins: well brd. to hide what ou really ("tel. although I guess people, in other wnlks of life arc doing that all the time, too." "Tlie Limitations of Si-ici,cc" i M,- title ti-tle o:" a b"fk lo- PrntV-ssor L-uns T. More, win-It Messrs. 'J-nvy and '-or.ip.iny li:,ve jest euncludrd Hnang-iv,..iiif.- for and expect to issue iu May. Tue seven ciup- ters will r- respectively cnii'led: "The Meta physica 1 Tendencies of Modern PI: si,..c,-' Descartes and Mis Tnriwen on Recent Science." "The Sricniwi'- Method." Meth-od." "The Classical and lb.- New Mi-r'haivs." Mi-r'haivs." "Scept ) is-n and piolaM-y in Sriencc" and "Si-inn-e tin: Arbiter of L:thirs" A post Inunous hoc el by Mi-; late Mnlr-sicnor Mnlr-sicnor Hubert 1 h:! i Htc-on is a n nun ii'-ed for publication this .sprint; nnd'T the title of Loneliness?" i I.'odd. Mead and vin-pa vin-pa ny i. 1 1 ,! - is ii h Lie fortunes and i i , ra -t ci' of M a i Tr n I ird - - n. an up' ra hni whu. in pi". ' " and a f vc: 1 1 y u a a true as unci y tc i n ; . rci J ;-; cel. j |