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"Ah! you will never cry half so much as I have made you laugh!"

decease, they can but say with Scarron, who retorted to his weeping domestics on his death bed,

Ernest L. Hancock.

THE

INCANDESCENT EYE

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HAT has happened to the eyes of the hero and heroine? In the stories our mother used to read the heroine's "luminous or lustrous orbs" "shone gently" or "flashed their light" through several volumes, while for an equal space the hero's eyes glowed "like coals" or "like coals of fire," or like "fiery coals." When the author had done this much he considered his task in regard to eyes over and done with.

The modern writer takes his duty more seriously. Since the orb became obsolete he has borrowed similes from all the lights of earth and heaven-we will not have long to wait for the radium eye.

It requires strong nerves to encounter with calmness eyes "which are the centres of incandescence." Eyes which are "two mad dancers," "are disquieting;" other eyes frighten us with "the changeless phosphorescence of of their

gaze.

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THE BOOKMAN'S TABLE

OUR PRESIDENTS AND HOW WE MAKE THEN. By A. K. McClure. Illustrated. New York: Harper and Brothers.

This represents a second revision and enlargement of Colonel McClure's well-known book, and in its present form it is made to inIclude the Presidential election of 1904. The additions made since the first appearance of the volume in 1901 seem to have been rather hastily put together, and the writer often uses the present tense of events which are now four or five years old. Nor has he detailed with anything like sufficient fulness the last three Presidential campaigns. The best part

of the book is, very naturally, the part which has to do with that period of political history of which Colonel McClure was himself no small part-the period from the birth of the Republican party to the Blaine-Cleveland contest of 1884. Here we find many a touch of personal reminiscence and anecdote to vivify the records of conventions and elections. As a whole this is a convenient and reasonably accurate handbook of American national politics, and only here and there does the author make a statement that seems questionable. Thus it is hard to accept his rather romantic story of how Tilden lost the Presidency

through feminine influence. According to Colonel McClure, Tilden prevented the Democratic Convention of 1868 from nominating Chief Justice Chase as its candidate against General Grant, and secured instead the nomination of Horatio Seymour. When Tilden's election hung in the balance in the critical days of 1877 and when Congress hesitated over the electoral votes of Louisiana, Roscoe Conkling, who believed these votes to belong to Tilden, was about to lead a Republican revolt against counting them for Hayes. He refrained from doing this, and let Hayes be counted in, says Colonel McClure, because Chase's daughter, Mrs. Sprague, used her great influence with Conkling to keep him silent, thereby avenging her father upon Tilden.

This is a very interesting bit of inner history, if true; but there is no evidence to support it. Tilden apparently had nothing to do with the nomination of Seymour, which, so far as one can see, was as spontaneous a thing as ever happened at a national convention. Nor in the twenty-one preceding ballots had Chase developed any strength at all. Therefore the rest of the story seems to fall of its own weight. More valuable are Colonel McClure's personal recollections of Blaine, and the explanation of Dana's estrangement from Cleveland. This last is said to have come from Dana himself and to have been afterwards confirmed by Cleveland. If correct, it makes Dana's personal feeling against Cleveland comprehensible, without justifying the outrageous way in which that feeling received expression in the columns of the Sun. Indeed, it affords an interesting illustration of how absolutely Dana's emotions and prejudices controlled his editorial policy. The explanation is interesting enough to justify us in quoting the essential parts of it.

"Dana had very earnestly supported Cleveland's nomination and election for Governor in 1882, and after the election he wrote a personal letter to Cleveland asking the appointment of a friend to the position of AdjutantGeneral. His chief purpose was to give a position on the staff to his son, Paul Dana, who is now his successor in the editorial chair. Cleveland received that letter as he received thousands of other letters recommending appointments, instead of recognising the claim Mr. Dana had upon him for the courtesy of an answer. Beecher had a candidate for the same position, and Cleveland gave it to Beecher's man without any explanation what

ever to Dana, who felt that he had been discourteously treated by Cleveland. Mr. Dana gave no open sign of his disappointment, but some time after Cleveland's inauguration, when it became known that Dana felt grieved at the Governor, some mutual friends intervened and proposed to Cleveland that he should invite Dana to join with some acquaintances at the Executive Mansion. To this Cleveland readily assented. Dana was informed that Cleveland would tender such an invitation if it would be accepted, and he promptly assented. Cleveland then became involved in the pressing duties of the Legislature and allowed the session to close without extending the promised and expected invitation to Dana. Mr. Cleveland told me that he was entirely to blame for neglect in both instances, as Dana would doubtless have been satisfied if he had courteously informed him of his conviction which required him to appoint another for AdjutantGeneral; and he had no excuse to offer but that of neglect for not inviting Dana to dinner. "Dana naturally assumed that Cleveland had given him deliberate affront, and Cleveland could make no satisfactory explanation. As Governor and as President he was first of all devoted to his official duties, which he discharged with rare fidelity, and he gave little time even to the common courtesies which most Governors and Presidents would recognise as justly belonging to their friends. Efforts were made to conciliate Dana, but he never would discuss the question, and he sacrificed half the circulation of his paper in the campaign of 1884 in his battle against Cleveland." H. T. P.

AMERICAN THUMB-PRINTS. By Kate Stephens. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.

The title of this little volume of essays does scant justice to its contents, or rather it gives the reader no clue to the store of good things that are here provided for him. Miss Stephens has wide reading, genuine erudition, humour, and pungent sarcasm all at her command, and she uses them very tellingly. These essays have a distinct flavour of their own, whether they touch upon such unrelated subjects as the Gargantuan feasts of Tudor England and the Humours of Benjamin Franklin, or whether she pictures the New England woman as she really is, and the Western college girl as perhaps she is no longer. The paper on "Up-todate Misogyny" has interested us perhaps more than any other, in spite of the fact that the

expression "up to date" has long since become a vulgarism. The value of this paper in particular lies in the circumstance that it reveals in Miss Stephens an attitude of mind which is very characteristic of many women when they come to judge men's utterances about the other sex. Thus, our author classifies as misogynists pretty nearly every man of importance who has had his fling at femininity. From Hipponax and Euripides and Aristophanes down through Martin Luther, Boileau and Pope, to big-hearted, gentle Walter Scott-the catalogue is formidable. But were all these and others of more recent date actually misogynists? Euripides, no doubt; though apparently he had special reasons of his own. But the rest? Hardly. A man may note a few delightful inconsistencies in woman; he may laugh goodnaturedly at many of her works and ways; and he may even say some things that are not wholly just, rather than lose an epigram. But still he is very far from being a misogynist. Miss Stephens and many other clever writers of her sex are fond of getting in a welldirected shaft at masculine perfectibility; yet we are sure that they are far from being misanthropes. Indeed, however sharply a woman may flout his sex, no man ascribes to her a general hatred, but simply recognises and admires the skill with which she does it.

MIRABEAU AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By Charles F. Warwick. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co., $2.50, net.

Mr. Charles F. Warwick, who was Mayor of Philadelphia in the days before the Revo

lution against the machine, has, as he tells us in a preface, "stolen moments from the duties of an exacting profession" to "group the principal events" of the beginnings of the French Revolution about Mirabeau. He is going to "group" subsequent events about Danton and about Robespierre. He began this task with the plan of giving lectures, and possibly as lectures his material might have been acceptable to those persons who do not care to read a book—indeed, perhaps those might be found whose hearts would thrill in response to the lecturer's extraordinary flights of oratory. But considered as reading matter, the book offers nothing new; it is a rehash of well-known books, with a strong flavour of McCarthy. It does, however, offer much that is old; perhaps it may be useful as a volume of familiar quotations about the Revolution. They are all here, all the fine old catchwords; l'Etat, c'est moi again points a moral; après moi le déluge again adorns the tale; once more it is not a revolt, sire, it is a revolution; no longer do we need to search through the bookshelves for the "happy thoughts" and the dear old anecdotes-even the discredited old story of Robespierre and his borrowed coat lives again unquestioned by Mr. Warwick. In this connection it may be well to note that the author seems not to have been very careful in the verification of ancdotes. But for this fact, and also for a number of minor inaccuracies and carelessly worded statements, Mr. Warwick's book might be held harmless though unneces

sary.

NOVEL NOTES

THE WALKING DELEGATE. By Leroy Scott. New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1905.

Taking his plot almost bodily from the experiences of the iron workers' union of New York under the leadership of the late unlamented Sam Parks, Mr. Leroy Scott has contrived to give us a novel, The Walking Delegate, which impresses one from the start as a work of uncommon power and realism. Buck Foley, the grafting labour leader of the story, is painted no blacker than the facts of the case thoroughly warrant, probably not nearly so black as most novelists who should essay a

Mr.

similar task would have made him. On the other hand, the man's wonderful skill in managing men, and the fund of rough humour ever at his tongue's end are so well presented that the reader comes to regret his final exit. Baxter, president of the employers' association, who is willing in the end to buy off a strike, is a very finely conceived character. As to the hero, Tom Keating, not so much can be said. His honesty, his fearlessness, and his persistence finally enable him to overthrow Foley and to save the strike for the union. His love entanglement with a very superior sort

of typewriter girl, in spite of the fact that he is already married, is neither convincing nor very much in place, however pleasing it may be to the hammock gods and goddesses of summer fiction. The story is essentially a man's story, the fight is a fight between men, and so romantic a note rings conspicuously false in the midst of the strike's alarms. One feels that the tragedy of the hero's married life could be made quite deep enough and much more real without this artificial byplay. As to the rest of the plot, Mr. Scott has presented the strike and the struggle inside the union with a vividness which gives the reader the impression that he has looked into the very centre of the labour conflict. Nor is this effect obtained by the neglect of details. Witness the episode of Nels Petersen, "the Swedish terror," who married a Salvation Army lassie and forsook the prize ring under her influence, but goes back to it to get bread for his starving family during the strike, and wins his last fight. The forgiveness of his wife and her half suppressed joy over her husband's unholy victory close an incident that could hardly be told better. Mr. Scott deserves the highest credit for having given us in The Walking Delegate not only a fascinating story but also a picture of a part of the labour world which is far more accurate than the reputed facts of the plain-clothes sociologists.

WOODMYTH AND FABLE. By Ernest Thompson Seton. New York: The Century Co., $1.25.

"Most boys gather in the woods pretty and odd bits of moss, fungus and other treasures that have no price. They bring them home and store them in that universal receptacle, the Tackle-box. Some boys, like myself, never outgrow the habit. One day a friend observed that my Tackle-box was full and suggested that a selection be given to the public." Thus Mr. Seton introduces his newest book, explaining that most of "the booty" he gathered in the woods himself, but that an Indian and a Chinaman contributed some fragments.

From this it will be seen that there is no doubt in the author's mind as to his discrimination as a collector and that we shall find here none of those worthless odds and ends that usually cumber even the best regulated collections. Personally we could dispense with the verse, however sentimental a significance it may have for Mr. Seton, in the hope of substituting more such general favourites as "How

the Giraffe Became," "The Converted Soapboiler," "The Three Phoebes of Windygoul," and "The Doings of a Little Fib," are likely to become. Mr. Seton has great facility and a very pretty wit in these matters-especially when self-illustrated.

AT THE FOOT OF THE ROCKIES. By Carter Goodloe. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons' $1.50.

These eight stories concerning the Northwest Mounted Police in British Columbia, while lacking in individuality, are yet pleasantly readable and should prove especially so to all such as are still in the throes of what, in English military circles, is diagnosed as "scarlet fever." Here are plenty of those officers who seldom contribute more than the immemorial "Oh, I say!" or "By Jove!" to the conversational cause the world over, and those salient features of any English army post in any land-Scotch whiskey and scarlet tuniced orderlies, polo ponies and government traps.

The present grouping of these romantic possibilities finds an effective background in the Rocky Mountains always ready to hand, while the secretive Indian, darting steathily to and fro, sheds over all abundant mystery. As Miss Goodloe says:

"It is impossible to get away from the Indian in Western Canada, especially at a military post. He is, in fact, the raison d'être of the post itself. The Indian is there, consequently the British soldier is there. It is part of the policy with which England has always followed up her conquests or her colonisations -the policy of placing on the spot a gentle but firm reminder that she has her eye on things, and that treaties and promises may not be broken with impunity. The discipline of that magnificent constabulary force we found maintained in all its integrity at the foot of the Rockies, and the 'eyes r-right' and 'attention' were as grim at our little Spitz detachment as at Aldershot, and the men as well uniformed and as efficient as though under the eyes of General Lord Roberts himself."

Miss Goodloe has not been at any pains to hunt down the elusive mot propre nor has she attempted literary effects or finishing touches outside of her carefully expressed preface. She has simply spent such a glorious summer at the Mounted Police detachment in Alberta that the slighest thing connected with it seems worth recording and nothing else matters very much.

READERS' GUIDE TO BOOKS RE

CEIVED.

NEW YORK CITY.

The Century Company:

Indian Stories Retold from St. Nicholas.

The first in a series of volumes of historic tales retold from "St. Nicholas." The stories are not connected history, but aim to give the young reader an idea of the true spirit of the times which they portray. There are fifteen stories in the vol

ume.

G. W. Dillingham Company:

The Silly Syclopedia. By Noah Lott.

A good illustration of the general style of this book is found in its sub-title: "A terrible thing in the form of a literary torpedo which is launched for hilarious purposes only. Inaccurate in ever particular, containing copious etymological derivations and other useless things." The title-page also states that it is "Embellished with numerous and distracting cuts and diagrams by Louis F. Grant." The following are examples of some of the definitions: Ice, "A substance the world uses to put a damper on swelled heads"; Joy, "Gladness with the lid off"; Oats, A substance invented by Nature and intended for a breakfast food, but because pine shavings are cheaper it is now obsolete."

Doubleday, Page and Company:

The Missourian. By Eugene P. Lyle, Jr.

A story of Maximilian in Mexico. The Missourian, a young Confederate officer who comes to Mexico with offers of assistance from General Shelby, is the hero; and Marquise Jeanne d'Aumerle, called Jacqueline, who has come from France to save Mexico to her country, is the heroine of the tale. The romance which is formed between the two diplomatists and the numerous adventures encountered while fighting the cause of Maximilian furnish the material for what is said to be an unusually good "first" story.

R. F. Fenno and Company:

Black Butterflies. By Berthe St. Luz.

The unknown, unrevealed, and the forbidden predominate in this story. One of the principal characters is a Hindu who exerts his marvelous power to an alarming extent. There is also a rich hunchback, his handsome brother, a very beautiful widow, and a noble woman who is disfigured by the branding of a vile word on her forehead. The Hindu plays many

tricks with the bodies and personalities of the two brothers. The tale is said to have a happy conclusion.

Funk and Wagnalls Company:

The Church of Christ. By a Layman.

Believing that most people follow blindly in the faith of their fathers, as a result of early training, the author has made an investigation of the "subject pertaining to religious truth, considering it from the heathen, the Jewish, and the Christian standpoints." This volume, which is the result of the investigation, is designed to "unfold the simple truth in regard to the Church of Christ, both in faith and practise." The author claims that there are several hundred churches, denominations, sects and parties which are wrong, arguing from the point of view that Christ's Church was a unit and divisions were forbidden; therefore, no two beliefs can be right.

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Love's Cross-Currents. By Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Although a well-known poet, "Love's Cross-Currents" is the only novel which Mr. Swinburne has ever written. It is dedicated to Theodore Watts-Dunton, who, the author says, is responsible for its revival, and contains a prologue of some length. The story is told in a series of letters which passed between several persons in a year's time. One of the principal characters is a clever old lady who endeavours to disentagle the love affairs of her grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Henry Holt and Company:

Russia. By Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace.

An entirely new and much enlarged edition, revised and in great part rewritten. Five new chapters have been added to the edition of 1877: "Three on the revolutionary movement, which has come into prominence since 1877; one on the in

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