certs, and Worcester, Hartford, Providence and New Bedford get three each. Concerts are to be given, also, in Brockton, Springfield, Bridgeport, and Waterbury. The usual series of concerts will be given in New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Washington, and Baltimore, and in the last week of January the orchestra makes its annual trip to the West.

Both the Maine Musical Festival and that at Worcester were very successful, from a musical as well as a financial standpoint. The Worcester Festival appears now to be on a sound business basis, a fact which must be extremely gratifying to all music lovers. Nothing could be more desirable than the development of such annual musical events in New England outside of Bos

ton.

The resignation of Mr. Ralph L. Flanders from the managership of the Boston Opera Company, while it reserves his time and strength for the important work of the New England Conservatory of Music, will, we doubt not, still allow of his generous, wise, and fruitful connection with the new enterprise which he has done so much to foster and guide in the initial stages of its development.

Mr. Flanders' connection with the whole movement will pass into the musical history of Boston as one of the formative forces that made its success possible.

BOKS

ENGLISH LITERATURE BY WILLIAM J. LONG

After the first surprise with which one sees a book on English literature written by a man already so well known in other lines, one is delighted to find that he has made a science as entertaining as his picture of the ani

mal world. The naturalist is with us still, indeed, from his intense appreciation of nature description to his occasional use of somewhat over-technical sporting phrases, as when he compares the relation between Johnson and Boswell to that of a Silver Doctor and a hungry trout. But the same zest in fishing and outdoor sports underlies his entire study of literature, as if it were a recreation in which one must exercise, indeed, great patience and care, but which is always a joy and refreshment.

The outline of the work is excellent; the method of study scientific and penetrating. The historical introductions are extremely valuable for the teacher and for the pupil who has already studied English history, though they are so closely summarized as to be only suggestive to the unprepared student. The entire book, however, is full of suggestion, packed down and overrunning, as Long himself claimsmore a stimulus to reading than an escape from it by means of condensed summaries. It is, indeed, a text-book only in the sense that one can find in it all the material for a study of English literature; it is more than a text-book in that it offers an over-sufficiency, "a storehouse," as the author says, from which one may cull and browse at leisure. In its best use in the high school classroom it will necessarily demand the use of a half elective system which will bring the great bulk of the book within a thorough grasp by the pupil.

It is, however, outside of the excellent technical composition of the book that its real value lies. There is no cut and dried criticism; the whole attitude of the author is confidential and suggestive and his interest centers on the individual more than on his period or class. Yet he does not as a rule allow his enthusiasm to make him a partisan. He enlarges on the AngloSaxon nature love and condenses the Anglo-Norman miscellaneous literature beyond the ordinary text-book, but in both he shows not personal prejudice, prejudice, but keen recognition of

what is most interesting and most essential for the pupil. Toward the underlying element of the Puritan spirit, even in Cavalier poetry, he reveals a fairness of judgment as new as it is sane. He is wise, also, attempting no final word on modern literature, but satisfying himself with the observation that whether or not they created mmortal works, their books have made the present world a better and a happier world to live in. His only purely conventional attitude is that expressed toward Boswell, who has never had friend to understand him except Carlyle and perhaps Johnson himself. The alert and unusual character of the book is reflected even in the illustrations, which, except for the vapid Portia of Millais, are very interesting.

Our

The scholarly treatment of the entire history of English literature is a difficult feat, but Long has accomplished the ideal of his introduction and made his book both "accurate" and "interesting." The accuracy is an almost unavoidable virtue where research has previously been so exhaustive and authorities are so plentiful; but the interesting writer of textbooks, like the poet, must be born, not made. It might be hoped that, if the presentation of the subject were not already so full, Long, as an unbiased American, might have included a proportionate chapter or two on American authors. But this, perhaps, must be the aspiration of a future when the bonds of nationality are broken asunder and enough perspective is gained to give American authors their integral place in an international literature, instead of remaining an independent and secondary development. At the present it is not too much to say that the book will be valuable in high school and college and, for the discursive reader, it will help to bind together and place in their environment the scattered masterpieces of literature and make of a scientific study an interpreter and a spur. The book is

a Ginn & Company publication, and is listed at $1.35.

OLD BOSTON DAYS AND WAYS

In this beautiful volume Mary Caroline Crawford has continued the work so well begun in "St. Botolph's Town," published last year. In the present volume the author tells about Boston folk and their ways at the opening of the great struggle for national independence, and brings her story down to the beginning of distinct city life.

The Boston of this book is still a town, with its great town meetings, so full of individuality and character,a strong dramatic story in itself, and Miss Crawford tells it in a clear and forcible way.

As in the earlier volume, the emphasis is on the individual men and women who are the leading actors in the drama. Miss Crawford has succeeded in finding a mass of unused material that adds greatly to the life and realism of the picture that she draws. In decision and courage, as well as in incisive clearness, the new book is decidedly in advance even of its strong and interesting predecessor. Perhaps the material was richer-but some of the new force comes undoubtedly from the growing power of the author.

The volume is amply and beautifully illustrated, and, if we mistake not, will be very prominent among the holiday books. It would make an admirable gift, both on account of its beauty and its value. And when we consider that Boston local history, at that date, is national history, the way in which this book presents local characters and conditions is very illuminating to the stuIdent of the broader theme. And to come down to a lesser, but very wide, interest, the guide-book field, Old Boston Days and Ways would make a most excellent handbook for the sightseeing visitor. It is published by Little, Brown, & Co. in a sumptuous volume and sold for $2.50.

ADVERTISING MEN IN GREAT WORK

Good advertising plays such an important part in the building up of business in New England that the work of the Pilgrim Publicity Association, the reorganized Admen's Club of Boston, is bound to be of great help in the New England co-operative movement for commercial betterment.

The Pilgrims number about two hundred and fifty, having doubled their numbers within a year; and the recruiters are working for a membership of one thousand men who are active in advertising, or, at least, interested in it. George W. Coleman, publisher of the Christian Endeavor World, is president; Carroll J. Swan, 24 Milk Street, Boston, secretary; H. B. Humphrey, chairman of the board of directors. The board meetings are held every Tuesday morning in the Chamber of Commerce building.

Included on the board are advertis

ers, presidents of advertising agencies, publishers, and advertising managers of Boston newspapers and magazines, representatives of periodicals published in other cities, and advertising managers of some of the largest concerns in New England.

There are regular monthly meetings, addressed almost invariably by New Englanders who have attained success in business through the employment of salesmanship in print. An occasional exception is made, however, as in the case of the October meeting, when President Maclauren of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chaplain A. H. Wheelock of the Massachusetts State Grange were speakers.

The Association is just now developing a plan which will bring to New England business interests a wider publicity than has ever before been attempted. tempted. This advertising campaign will present the manifold reasons why all should purchase goods made in New England, and will snapshot on the minds of hundreds of thousands of newspaper and magazine readers a vivid and lasting impression of how much of heredity, of training, of knack, of experience, and of practice go into New England-made goods.

As outlined in the constitution the aims of the Pilgrim Publicity Association are:

"To assist in the advancement of New England by studying and improving the methods of promoting business through advertising;

"To serve as a publicity bureau for all New England business associations which may desire expert assistance on questions relating to advertising and general publicity;

merchants and manufacturers a thor"To promote among New England ough understanding of the power of good advertising when applied to the building up of business for individutions; als, corporations, cities, states, or sec

"And in other ways to assist in the mercial enterprises and its resources." development of New England's com

BURLINGTON, VERMONT

Editor NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE

Dear Sir:-President William H. Taft was lately a visitor in our city, and of course had a cordial greeting. On a beautiful July afternoon, some of