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When a writer sends an article to an editor, enclosing stamps, and hears nothing from the editor, would it not be fair if, at the end of three months, the writer should conclude that the statute of limitation had "run," and should use the material in another direction? Would not such a general understanding be an advantage to both parties? The loss of the stamps and the three months' waiting would be offset by the advantage of having submitted manuscript to the publication, and learned that the editor was not of the number who are situated in a way to deal promptly with either manuscript or stamps.

E. C. G.

[As a rule, it is not wise for a writer to submit an article to more than one editor at a time. When an article has been submitted to an editor, the writer should not send a copy of it to any other editor until every possible effort to get a decision from the first editor has been made. If all such efforts fail, and a copy of the manuscript is sent to another editor, the first editor should be notified and forbidden to use the manuscript. If this is not done, the writer may get into trouble with the second editor. In most cases, if a writer uses common sense, and is not too impatient, there will be no need of recourse to such extreme measW. H. H.]

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the style of the publication) each time it is used.

(2.) Chapters of a book-manuscript may be separated by putting a band around each chapter, but there is no advantage in separating them.

(3.) Bristol board is best for drawing illustrations on, but thick unruled paper will do. If convenient, the paper should be of the same size as the paper of the manuscript, but the size of the illustration will govern the matter. The drawing should always be at least onethird larger than the engraving is to be · ]

W. H. H.

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In the Critic for March 5 there is a review of Oscar Browning's work on Goethe. The punctilious reviewer takes issue with Mr. Browning for his laxity in leaving certain words untranslated in several titles of Goethe's poems. He exclaims indignantly: "It is high time that mongrelling titles in this way should be stopped!" It is, indeed, most commendable in the critic to exercise his high prerogative to censure these signs of carelessness. reviewer presents another point of interest. In beginning, he quotes, by way of demonstrating his adequacy as a critic of poetry, "Die Kunst ist lang, und flüchtig ist unser Leben," which vilely unmusical remark he attributes to Faust; and adds, in parenthesis, that Long

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[Brief, pointed, practical paragraphs discussing the use and misuse of words and phrases will be printed in this department. All readers of THE WRITER are invited to contribute to it. Contributions are limited to 400 words; the briefer they are, the better. ]

"Massacre" and "From the fact that." - A notice of "The Log School-house," on page 250 of THE WRITER for November, ends with the phrase, "the massacre of Dr. Whitman, the missionary." It is not probable that Dr. Whitman massacred Indians, to whom he was a missionary, neither is it possible that Indians massacred him, for he was only one man, who could, at most, be assassinated or murdered. Webster makes massacre "promiscuous slaughter of many," and stigmatizes its use with reference to a single victim as a gross error."

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Miss Mylene's book is made up of advice to young writers quoted from letters and published articles written by writers of experience and reputation. The compiler's contribution to the work consists of the paragraphs introducing these quotations - chiefly fulsome eulogies of the authors quoted. The book is made to sell, and there is little in it that is either original or valuable. The title-page, moreover, makes false pretences, for it says that the hints and suggestions contained in the book are "personally contributed" by leading authors of the day, although, as a matter of fact, a large part of the work has been taken from books and periodicals previously published. W. H. H.

NEIGHBORLY POEMS, ON FRIENDSHIP, GRIEF, AND FARMLIFE. By James Whitcomb Riley. 90 pp. Cloth, $1.25. Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company. 1891.

THE FLYING ISLANDS OF THE NIGHT. By James Whitcomb
Riley. 88 pp. Boards, $1.00. Indianapolis: The Bowen-
Merrill Company. 1892.

AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE.
By James Whitcomb
Riley. Quarto. Twelve colored and monotint plates.
Cloth, $2.50. Indianapolis: The Bowen Merrill Company.
1891.

These three volumes have been added to the handsome set of James Whitcomb Riley's works published by the Bowen-Merrill Company. Neighborly Poems is a reprint of

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"The Old Swimmin'-hole and 'Leven More Poems," which was first published in a little paper-covered volume, with the pseudonym, Benj. F. Johnson, of Boone," on the titlepage. To the twelve poems of the original book twenty-four other poems have been added, all in the same homely dialect which Mr. Riley writes so well. Some of them are destined to become as popular as anything the poet has ever published-especially "My Ruthers," "Mylo Jones' Wife," "Wet-Weather Talk," The First Bluebird," and "Town and Country," all of which are equal to Mr. Riley's best and most characteristic work. Six photoengravings of Indiana scenes and characters add interest to the book.

"The Flying Islands of the Night" is a fantastic drama in verse, dedicated to Madison

Cawein. It has more odd words than Mr. Cawein, Amélie Rives, and the author of "Alice in Wonderland" together could devise.

The holiday edition of "An Old Sweetheart of Mine" is a most attractive piece of bookmaking, and gives a fit setting to a charming poem. Each verse is given a page, sympathetically illustrated with a colored or monotint design, well drawn and reproduced. The coloring is dainty and artistic, and the book is one of the most attractive holiday publications ever issued in the West.

W. H. H.

A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF BRITISH NOVELS. Compiled by W. M. Griswold. 297 pp. Paper, $2.00. Cambridge: W. M. Griswold. 1891.

Mr. Griswold's idea is to make a list of works of fiction that possess real merit, giving in connection with each title, the date of publication, the name of the publisher, and a brief review, quoted from some periodical, describing the purpose and general plot of the book, and characterizing it so that any one will know whether he wants to read it or not. The compiler says: "It is hoped that the publication of this and similar lists will lessen, in some measure, the disposi tion to read an inferior new book, when superior old books, equally fresh to most readers, are at hand." The idea of the list is a useful one, and Mr. Griswold has done his work well. The list is a practical guide to interesting fiction, and a copy of it should be in every library, public or private. The whole work includes five parts, giving lists of novels of American country life, novels of American city life, international novels, romantic novels, and British novels. The part just issued gives summaries of 917 books.

W. H. H.

PRACTICAL TYPEWRITING, By Bates Torrey. Second Edition. 156 pp. Cloth. New York: Fowler & Wells Company. 1891.

Bates Torrey's "Practical Typewriting" is the best and most practical book for self-instruction on the typewriter that has yet been published. This second edition is made more valuble by the addition of new material to the Remngton exhibit, and an adaptation of the "allfinger method" to the Hammond, Yost, and Smith Premier writing machines; also a chapter n typewriting for the blind. Every typewriter operator should own and study the book.

W. H. H.

INDEX TO SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE. Volumes I.-X. January, 1887, December, 1891. 89 pp. Cloth. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1891. This index to the first ten volumes of Scribner's Magazine, published in style to match the bound volumes of the magazine, is almost invaluable to every possessor of a file of the periodical. It shows, first of all, what important additions to literature Scribner's has made in the last five years, and how much valuable mat

ter it has published in the seven thousand pages of the volumes indexed. Names, both of articles and of authors, are included under a single alphabetical arrangement, and an alphabetical list of artists, with page references to their work, gives an easy clue to the illustrations. Every one who has a file of Scribner's will want a copy of the Index.

W. H. H. SPANISH GRAMMAR. By A. Hjalmar Edgren, Ph. D. 123 pp. Cloth. Boston: D. C. Heath & Company. 1891.

Dr. Edgren has written a little grammar intended for the use of students who would begin reading Spanish, without waste of time, on the basis of an accurate knowledge of the essentials of Spanish grammar. He explains throughout the relation of Spanish to Latin, and so lightens to any Latin scholar the labor of acquiring a reading knowledge of the language. The book serves its purpose well, and is, perhaps, the best help available for any one who wants to get a working knowledge of Spanish grammar.

W. H. H.

LADY GAY AND HER SISTER. By Mrs. George Archibald. 147 pp. Cloth. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publishing Association. 1891.

Lady Gay" is a child's book, about real children, written by one who loves them, and whose book makes others love them, too. In these degenerate days, when so much worthless stuff is published in children's books, and most of the children's magazines are filled with stories that a careful mother has to "edit" as she reads them aloud in order to make them safe for her little ones to hear, it is a delight to find such a good, wholesome, natural story of child life as Mrs. Archibald has written. If grown folks, moreover, do not enjoy "Lady Gay" quite as much as the children will, one reader at least is very much mistaken. Mrs. Archibald is a living contradiction of the slander that a woman cannot be a humorist. A delightful humor characterizes her book, and makes the unconscious humor of the children she tells about seem all the more enjoyable. Altogether, "Lady Gay" is a most enchanting book, and parents will do well to remember it when birthdays or the Christmas holidays come around.

W. H. H.

UNREST. By Mme. Higgins-Glenerne ("Lida Lewis Watson"). 227 pp. Cloth. New York: G. W. Dillingham. 1891.

The name of Lida Lewis Watson has been made familiar, especially to readers of the Boston Globe and the New York Mercury, by a series of poems, passionate and mystical by turns, published over the author's signature. Since her marriage the poet has collected these verses, with others, in a book, which is dedicated “in filial reverence and affection, to my father, entered into rest; to my beloved mother;

and with palms of peace and the pulse of passion, to my husband." The verses in the volume are of uneven merit, some of them being direct, vivid, and full of human interest, while others are mystical in conception and rough in expression. Those that will undoubtedly arouse the most general interest are the passionate poems, in which the author frankly discloses thoughts and feelings which young women, until recently, even if they had them, used to think it proper to conceal. Aside from these, there is much real poetry in the book.

W. H. H.

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This address to young men by Bishop Brooks is reprinted from the "second series of sermons by the great Boston preacher. In this form it will have, as it deserves to have, a wide circle of readers.

W. H. H. APPLETON'S ILLUSTRATED HAND-BOOK OF AMERICAN WINTER RESORTS. 168 pp. Paper, 50 cents. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1891.

All information needed by invalids or tourists intending to visit Florida, the Gulf coast, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, or California resorts, the Adirondacks, the West Indies, the Bermudas, the Hawaian Islands, or Mexico is given in this well-edited annual, which is revised each season to the date of issue. A map, illustrations, and a table of railway fares complete the usefulness of the book. It is a standard publication, and one on which dependence may be placed.

W. H. H.

CAMP LIFE. Twelve Photo-gravures from Originals. By S. R. Stoddard. Oblong Quarto. Stiff Paper. Troy, N. Y. : Nims & Knight. 1892.

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Every lover of out-door life who sees Camp Life" will be sure to grow enthusiastic over it. It is a perfect thing of its kind, and both the idea and its execution are exceptionally attractive. Mr. Stoddard is unexcelled as a photographer of natural scenery, and his pictures of woods and camp life are simply delightful. No one who has ever traversed the Adirondack lakes and rivers, or camped in the woods of Maine, can fail to be attracted by the charm of these pictures, which have been faithfully reproduced in the twelve photo-gravures that make up

the book. Best of all the pictures in the book are "Game in the Adirondacks " and "The First Snow," in both of which the grouping is as natural as if the campers were altogether unconscious that the pictures were being taken. "Camp Life" will be a perpetual delight to any lover of out-door life who may be fortunate enough to become its possessor.

W. H. H.

112 pp.

THE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON. By W. G. Steel. Cloth. $1.00. Portland, Oregon: David Steel. 1890. Mr. Steel opens his book with a description of the illumination with red fire of the summit of Mt. Hood, 10,000 feet above the sea, July 4, 1887, telling the story in a style to interest all lovers of mountain climbing. Next he devotes a chapter each to a trip to Crater Lake, a visit to the Josephine County Caves, in the Siskiyou mountains, and the story of a night spent on Mt. Rainier. Other chapters give information about the Oregon Alpine Club and Oregon bibliography, with a list of Oregon names and their significations. The book, which is illustrated with reproductions of photographs, grew out of a series of pamphlets, and does not, therefore, form a consistent whole. It is full of interesting and valuable matter, however, and it is to be hoped that the demand for the first edition may be great enough to warrant the author in issuing a second edition, rearranged, and, if possible, enlarged.

W. H. H.

THE HISTORY OF DAVID GRIEVE. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. 576 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York and London: Macmillan & Co. 1892.

It is fair to presume that the author of "Robert Elsmere" derived much profit from the criticisms directed against the artistic weaknesses of that famous novel. This presumption is warranted by the reading of her latest work, which, although it is not free from some of the faults of "Elsmere," yet skilfully evades the more conspicuous ones. In "The History of David Grieve" the author seems to have realized what she gave no attention to in the other book, viz., the novelist's first and most important duty of telling a story in an interesting way. Rightly enough, in order to accomplish this desideratum, she has subordinated the religious motive to that of human interest. More interesting character portrayal it will be hard to find in any of even the best of modern novels. Each character stands forth separately, clear, distinct, and impressive, and graphically reflective of the various phases of life and conduct with which the novel has to co. The reader knows not whether to admire the more the broad magnanimity, the keen intellectuality, and the ripe scholarship of young David Grieve, the patient self-denial and moral rectitude of

the benevolent Mr. Ancrum, or the fond and tender womanly loyalty of Dora Lomax, cherishing in her heart a secret love for David, which she never can express. The droll whimsicalities of Daddy Lomax, with his unique Tyrolese garb, and his "parlour" for the disciples of his pet notions of a vegetable diet, never fail to interest; and while we are shocked by the wild and unrestrained bursts of passion of David's sister, Louie, we cannot but picture to ourselves what a really fascinating creature the beautiful young minx might have been, if only her terrorism had been curbed by some judicious hand. Quaint old Reuben Grieve, David's uncle, and his stony-hearted wife, Hannah, both are powerfully drawn, fitting figures in the dull background of want and ignorance which surrounded David in his boyhood. Here are seven principal characters, none stronger in the portrayal than another, all contributing to the advancement of a dramatic story of singular interest, a story which possesses not only better balance and proportion than "Robert Elsmere," but, also, more intrinsic value.

O. M.

A BARGAIN IN SOULS. An Impossible Story. By Ernest De Lancey Pierson 264 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Laird & Lee. 1892.

It is surprising that Mr. Pierson should have allowed his name to be published with this story, or that a publisher could be found willing to put the book into covers. It is supremely silly, stupid, and tiresome, without a single bright feature anywhere to give it interest.

W. H. H.

BUTLER'S BOOK. By Benjamin F. Butler. A Review of his Legal, Political, and Military Career. Illustrated. 1,154 pp. Cloth, $3.75. Boston: A. M. Thayer & Co. 1892. No one can read General Butler's autobiography without recognizing the fact that he was one of the most important figures in the civil

war.

Whatever may be the popular prejudice against him in this generation, there is no question that his services to the Union were of very great value. The reading of the book shows that whatever his failings may have been as a military commander, his love of country was intense, and his ingenuity, perseverance, and more especially his administrative ability, were second to none. His claim that his being a Democrat operated to his disadvantage seems to have been based on reasonable grounds, yet his Democracy, in the face of Republican intrigues and jealousies, did not deter him from his duty. To all the slanders and accusations directed at him during and since the war - and it is well known how numerous these have been the general makes powerful reply, being aided in his defence by his brilliant legal acumen. It had been feared that General Butler would mar the historical importance of his book by vilifications of his enemies, and while it is true that to most of them he makes his adieux

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CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA, AND OVER THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. By William Seward Webb. Second (popular) Edition. Illustrated. 268 pp. Cloth. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1891.

The perfection of travel was enjoyed by Dr. Webb and his party, who crossed the continent in a special private train of palace cars, supplied with every luxury that lavish expenditure of money could bring, and then went to Alaska on a steamer specially engaged for the party, and provided with every comfort. The story of the trip was originally published in a style corresponding to the elegance of the journeya $25 edition de luxe, sumptuously printed upon the finest vellum paper, and bound in full morocco, with four full-page india-proof etchings and eighty-eight photo-gravures. Now the same matter is published in a handsome popular edition, luxuriously printed and illustrated with half-tone reproductions of photographs showing places of interest visited. The text of the book is simple and straightforward, and although the author describes only what has been well described by many other writers, his account of the journey has a special interest because of the extraordinary way in which his party travelled. The pictures greatly enhance the value of the book, which is altogether sure to excite the interest of the reader.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

W. H. H.

[All books sent to the editor of THE WRITER will be acknowledged under this heading. They will receive such further notice as may be warranted by their importance to readers of the magazine.]

PECULIAR. A Hero of the Great Rebellion. By Epes Sargent. New edition. 500 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Boston Lee & Shepard. 1892.

AN ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE HIGHER GRADES IN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. By Mrs. Sarah E. H. Lockwood. 253 PP. Cloth, 80 cents. Boston: Ginn & Company. 1892.

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1892

Illustrated.

THE STORY OF NEW MEXICO. By Horatio O. Ladd. 473 pp.
Cloth. $1.50. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. 1892.
MARRIAGE AND THE HOME. By Rev. John L. Brandt.
pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Laird & Lee.
PATCHWORK. Puck's Library, No 56. 30 pp.
Paper, 10 cents. New York: Keppler & Schwarzmann. 1892.
MR. ISAACS. A Tale of Modern India. By F. Marion Craw-
ford. 320 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: Macmillan &
Company. 1892.

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