Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1899 — BOOK REVIEWS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BOOK REVIEWS

Slason Thomiwsou is preparing an authoritative biography of Eugene Field, whose jiersonal frieud he was. It wiß be issued by the Scribners. Longfellow was especially fond of presiding over the teapot at his own table, and always made the tea for his family and guests—making it well. too. A new story by Charlotte M. Yonge is entitled “The Patriots of Palestine, a Story of the Maccabees;” and. as its title implies, it has a Scriptural background.

Susan Hale's book, “Men and Manners of the Eighteenth Century,” shows in a very interesting way the contrast between the life and customs of those days and of these.

A new literary aspirant is a New York society girl whose pen name is Cora Maynard, and who is the author o’s “The Letter and the Spirit.” She is planning a novel in the line of Mrs. Burton Harrison’s work.

“Tekla,” the historical romance by Robert Barr, deals with events of the fourteenth century. It has been compared to the masterpieces of Anthony Hope, Conan Doyle and Stanley Weyman.

Richard Harding Davis' growing popularity is apparent from the following record of the sale of his books; “The King’s Jackal,” 25,000: “Soldiers of Fortune,” 58,000; “Gallagher, and Other Stories,” 40.000; “Cinderella, and Other Stories," 13,000; making a total of almost 130,000 copies. Paul Leicester Ford, who is now in Europe, left behind him the manuscript of a volume of short stories, written in a light and humorous vein, and containing also two plays planned for amateur performances, entitled “The Best Laid Plans,” and “Man Proposes.” The book will be called “Tattle Tales of Cupid.” James Whitcomb Itlley thinks the lot of a poet a hard one. In a recent interview he said: “If you’re called as a witness in a lawsuit some little attorney himself off and says, with withering scorn: ‘Let me see, you’re a poet, are you not? H’m, yes. Gentlemen of the jury, the witness is a poet'— and your testimony is killed dead as a door nail.”