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Current Literature.

SIBERIAN TRAVEL.*

large part of the region through which he vors the company with some grotesque passed, lying between the Amoor and the dances. Afterwards he tells of a joke reOkhotsk, had never been explored by white cently played by himself (the priest) on the men, a fact which invests his narrative with ispravnik. The two were gambling, and the priest had won one hundred roubles. He accounted for his good luck as follows:

NOTHING could be more apropos than the special interest. While, as we have said, the

writer makes no attempts at scientific display,
and describes the dangers and difficulties
through which he passed very modestly, he
succeeds in conveying a clear idea of the
country, and of the manners and customs of the

80

"At the commencement of the game the priest had drawn a hideous picture of his Satanic Majesty on the lower side of the paper upon which the record of the game was kept, and, from superstitious motives, had placed that side of the paper next the form an estimate of the quality of the book-ispravnik, believing that it would cause him which is a very handsome octavo of 529 ill-luck. As the game progressed, contrary to his expectations, the ispravnik won pages from the extracts which we give steadily that the priest became at once satbelow: isfied that, on turning the picture from himself, he had injured his own fortune. his competitor was not observing, he made three crosses upon the forehead of the picture, and having blessed and christened it the Almighty, turned it next himself; from that moment he claimed that his fortune changed.”

While

"The Gilaks are a very superstitious, pagan people, worshipping idols of wood and stone, or gold, though many of them have been baptized into the Greek Church, and wear small metal crosses suspended about their necks. *** Their funeral rites are sometimes quite impressive. The remains are house, or tomb, is erected over the ashes. first burned, and afterwards a small wooden At death, the soul is supposed to take up its made on the backs of reindeers - a mode of abode in the favorite dog of the deceased, locomotion which he found to be exceedingly where it remains until released from its con- disagreeable. The common idea of this anicilitate its escape, it has become customary to finement by the death of the animal. To fa-mal is rather poetical - he is believed to be

The first part of the author's journey was

issue of this volume in the heart of summer, when even the name of coolness is refreshing; while the mind roams amid snowy wastes, companioned by reindeer, dogs, and Tehuctchus, the discomforts of the sweltering body are forgotten; the imagination acts as a pow-people who inhabit it. Our readers may best erful frigerant, and - 68 degrees Fahrenheit, that we read about, materially abates the fervor of 96 degrees Fahrenheit, that we feel. That must be a very dull book indeed, which, treating of Siberian subjects, did not find admiring readers in these solstitial heats. Clumsy as is the title of this volume, it aptly indicates the character of the matter which it covers. The book is a narrative of travels prosecuted by the aid of reindeer, dogs, and snow-shoes. It tells us of regions about which most of us know little, and many of us nothing, and about peoples whose life seems almost to warrant the belief that there is a purgatory on earth. It is a simple narrative that we must admire for its unpre-sacrifice the dog at the tomb of its master, graceful as a high-bred lady, fleet as the tentiousness, and for the vast amount of in- the creature being first fattened for the occa- wind, and gentle as a lamb. The author teresting information that it supplies. The sion. * * * gives his opinion of the beast in three lines: story of an explorer, the object of whose "The reindeer that noble beast we had journey was wholly practical, it does not, after the manner of many books of travel, dabble with science in an unsatisfactory and vexatious way, but runs straight on among icy peaks, and frozen rivers, and vast snowcovered plains, pausing only to describe personal experiences of cold, hunger, and dangers multiform, and to give sketches of life among the Gilaks, the Tungusians, the Koraks, and other tribes, that introduce us to

a

new and wonderful phase of existence. The author is not an elegant writer, but he tells his story in a plain, straightforward style, that well suits the character of his narrative, and enlivens his pages with frequent entertaining incidents, and touches of humor. The author belonged to a party sent out by the Western Union Telegraph Company, to explore a route for a telegraph line intended to connect Victoria at the mouth of Frazer River, in British Columbia, with Nikolayefsk, at the mouth of the Amoor River, in Asia, via Bhering Straits. The party sailed from San Francisco, in July, 1865, and reached Petropaulovski, in Kamtchatka, in August. Here the party was divided-the author, with two or three companions, going by sea to the Gulf of Tartary, landing at Maringk, on the Amoor, and pursuing his journey along the shores of the Okhotsk Sea, visiting Irkoutsk, Okhotsk, Yamsk, and many other settlements along his route. He emerged at Anadyr Bay,

whence he embarked for San Fransisco.

A

*Reindeer, Dogs, and Snow-shoes. A Journal of Siberian Travel and Explorations, made in the years 1865-6-7. By Richard J. Bush, late of the Russo1 vol. Crown 8vo. $3.00. New York: Harper &

American Telegraph Expedition. With Illustrations.

Brothers.

"But not all their superstitions are as harmless and inoffensive as this. Some are perfectly barbarous. For instance, during parturition, whether in winter or summer, the unfortunate mother is ejected from her habitation thrust out of doors, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, there to provide for herself as best she may, solitary and ignored, until a certain period shall have elapsed. During this time every possible assistance is denied her, it being considered almost criminal to lend her the slightest attention, and, as a natural consequence, death often ensues."

While Mr. Bush was at Nikolayefsk, a new Russian Governor arrived, and the writer gives an amusing account of his inauguration. After a military review, and liberal festivities, the following ceremony occurred:

always associated in our minds with the hurricane, greased lightning, and things of like velocity - we found, in reality, to be among the laziest of God's creatures. No efforts on our part could induce them to go faster than a walk."

His account of these animals,

and of the dogs which afterward drew him on his way, is very readable-though it seriously mars the romance which commonly

invests them. In his remarks about the social customs of the Tungusians, we find the following paragraph:

"This custom of buying and selling wives first sight. It is designed to prevent young is a better institution than would appear at men from marrying before they are able to "At the close a general rush was made for support their wives, as the parents think her the Admiral [the new Governor] in whose station demands; besides, if the suitor is obhonor the feast was given. The band struck jectionable, it is so very simple to prevent up the Russian national air, which was nearly the match by demanding a price beyond the drowned by the cheers and shouts of the means of the disconsolate lover. Upon the assemblage. We were wholly ignorant of day of marriage it is customary for the what would follow, nor was our curiosity grati- parents to present the bride with an equal fied until the short, fat figure of the admiral number of deer as was paid for her, together suddenly appeared, shooting into the air above with a good tent made of deer-skins, and all the heads of the assemblage, and as suddenly the necessary household utensils for a good disappearing again in their midst. This was start in life, so that in reality nothing is lost repeated for some moments, until his Excel- to the husband by the purchase, other than lency could, to all appearances, survive it no the transfer of his chattels to his wife. Daughters are valued according to the longer, and his tossers were equally exhausted, wealth and standing of their parents. In cession, headed by the band, through the and then he was borne by the officers in pro- this locality they range from eighty deer streets, to his residence. To be tossed in this down to one or two, though I heard of one manner is considered a great distinction, but who was purchased for a plug of tobacco." such, I should judge, as would not bear frequent repetition."

Our lady readers who regard the possession of a set of real ermine as one of the At Oudskoi the author meets for the first brightest blessings of existence, may be glad time a Russian priest, whom he finds to be a to know that, by simply going to Tausk, they fair representative of his class-a drunkard can buy ermines for six cents apiece. At and a gambler, who "fleeces" his flock Algasee the author was astonished by hearwithout mercy. This holy person, Fathering a little Tungusian boy strike up the tune Ivan, dining with the ispravnik, or Governor, of "John Brown's Body." It appeared, on and Mr. Bush, gets quite "balmy," and fa- inquiry, that many American whalemen used

to visit Oudskoi and Tugur Bays, and from them, no doubt, the young singer had caught

the tune.

of the woes that have fallen upon that coun-
try; indeed, we are inclined to esteem it
rather as a statement of facts than as a piece

saw-mill. This marvellous story spread rapidly through the village, and came to M. Larreau's ears. That astute person saw

The business of courtship among the of fiction. It opens in a little village among money in it, and immediately took measures Koraks is conducted as follows: the mountains, whose existence was hardly to have it proclaimed that the mineral spring known a score of miles away, and whose had been pointed out by the Holy Virgin heronly claim to distinction was in the posses-self, for the benefit of suffering humanity. sion of the old chateau of the Manteigneys. How his plot succeeded, we have not space This family was very noble; but its sole to tell. surviving representative was virtually a

"When once the young beau becomes infatuated, he makes known his passion to the father of his affinity, and expresses his desire to strive for her hand. A kind of contract is immediately entered into, by which the young man binds himself to the father as Compared with George Sand's stories, a servant, for a term of years, at the expira-pauper. He had been reared in Paris, and "Around a Spring" is a very inferior pertion of which time he can have the pleasure lived the life of a gambler, duellist and roué, formance; but it is better than the average of learning whether the daughter will have after, as well as before, his marriage with of modern French novels - better in almost him or not. When the term of servitude exThe author is witty, often empires, one of the larger yourts is selected, the daughter of M. Larreau, an enormously every sense. and all the old women of the place, armed rich bourgeois. This latter at once bought ploying figures of speech that, disguised as with sticks, and pieces of seal-thong, are the ancient domain of the Manteigneys, and they are, in a translation, compel the reader stationed in the pologs suspended around fitted up the chateau in all possible magnif- to laugh, and some of his situations are exthe room. The daughter then appears, thickly clad in skin garments, followed by icence. The family came to inhabit it, and ceedingly comic. But, as we have said, there her lover, when a race ensues around the then the story really begins. The curé of is no character in the book, except the curé, enclosure, the contestants dodging about the village, Abbé Roche, a man of high that a refined reader can make friends with, among the pologs. To win his bride, he intelligence and pure life, and who had meaor in whom he can feel a sympathetic intermust overtake her and leave the print of his There is an embarras of "sots, and nail upon her person, before she can be res-gre knowledge of the great world from est. cued by the old women, who, during the which he had always been secluded, fell in fools, and cowards." The Countess herself, race, impede the lover as much as possible love with the young countess, and, though beautiful and bewitching as she is, impresses by beating him with sticks, and tripping him us as the product of a milliner's shop. Little by seizing his legs, as he rushes by them.fighting bravely against his passion, soon The advantage is all with the girl, and if she found himself involved in serious entangle- Velléda, heroine of the most objectionable does not wish to become the wife of her ments, from which there was no escape save scene in the book, is a far more charming pursuer, she can avoid him without difficulty by flight. It is the record of his struggles person than her aristocratic neighbor. It is on the contrary, if she likes him, she not only against the love which was consum- the absence of warm hearts and Christian manages to stumble, or makes known her wishes to the old women, who then only ing him, but against what seemed to be a virtues that neutralizes, to a great extent, the make a show of impeding the pursuer." fated combination of circumstances, which positive merits of this story. The curé is a entrapped and beleaguered him on every noble character; but his nobility is purely hand, and all of which had their origin in intellectual― there is no soul in it. And, inhis unholy passion, that constitutes the chief deed, perhaps the vital defect of the book charm of the story. Roche is a strong and may be said to be the lack of soul. All its striking character, and his bearing commands personages conduct themselves with excluthe reader's constant and increasing admira-sive reference to the immediately present tion, not unmixed with profound pity. In- life, and seem not to be conscious of possessdeed he is the only prominent personage in ing any nature higher than the merely phythe story that is entitled to any respect. sical, much less a prospect of another life. The others are either knaves or fools, or In a word, the book is very French. compounds of both, and the predominant char- The translation is generally well done, the acteristic of all is deceit. Such a set of peculiar idioms of the author being carefully plotters and liars it has rarely been our priv-respected. But the book is seriously marred ilege to meet in fiction.

THE

AROUND A SPRING.*

HE author of this book, who enjoys an enviable reputation in France, may be said to be quite unknown in this country. He belongs to the modern French school of novelists, who cultivate a certain realism,

which it is not easy to define, and who take pleasure in injecting into the veins of a mere

material romance the current of some fash-
ionable philosophy. Avoiding the grossness
and positive immorality of earlier roman-
cers, they yet avail themselves of their na-
tional license to be indelicately suggestive;
they seem to hold the opinion that a soupcon
of sin enhances the fascinations of their
heroines, as a soupcon of rouge enlivens a
belle's complexion. It would not be easy to
point out in this book any positive spot: but
one feels over every page, as if French fin-use the principal effects of the story. The

gers had handled it.

"Around A Spring" may fairly be regarded as a satire upon French society under

Napoleon III. It holds up the bits of glass that these twenty years had dazzled the eyes of the world, which took them for gems, and shows how cheap and tawdry they really are. The nobles are weak voluptuaries; the priests intriguers and hypocrites; the bour

geoisie vulgar and purse-proud; artists, journalists, and literati generally, charlatans; the peasantry ignorant and superstitious. In the light of recent events in France, one finds, in this story, the secret springs of many * Around A Spring. Translated from the French of Gustave Droz. 8vo., paper, 75c. New York:

Holt & Williams.

The central event of the plot is the discovery, by M. Larreau, of a mineral spring on the Manteigney domain, and his efforts to fashionable summer resort in its vicinity, proturn it to material account, by establishing a

instrumentalities employed are handled with
no little skill, though parts of the story will
be found tedious. The irreverence of the
French nature is well illustrated in the in-

by typographical errors, and in two instances, at least (pp. 105 and 129), the words of the two speakers in a dialogue are run in together in a confusing jumble.

THE LAWS OF ART.*

THE purpose of the author, as stated in

his preface, is "to render some assistance to those who desire to acquire a knowledge of the principles of taste as exhibited in the great productions of ancient and modern genious episode of the Countess's nocturnal art." He truly says that such a knowledge adventure with the cure. The two were in has come to be regarded as a necessary part the woods, bound on a secret mission, the of polite education. Evidences of this fact lady mounted on a donkey, and the priest at- are to be found on every hand, and in various tending her on foot. A little shepherd-boy forms. Not the least noteworthy among happening to be near their route, and seeing them is the publication of many works whose the figures, and bewildered by the rays of a object is not only to encourage a love of art, lantern which they carried, ran home as fast but to popularize its principles. The works as his legs would carry him., As soon as he of Jarves, that admirable book of Hamercould catch his breath he told his mother that ton's "Thoughts About Art" and, in a he had seen the Holy Virgin mounted on an ass, and St. Joseph walking behind; that she had warned him away, and by a gesture commanded him to go in the direction of an old

*Art: Its Laws, and the Reasons for them, Col

lected, Considered, and Arranged for General and Educational Purposes. By Samuel P. Long. 1 vol. 12mo. Boston: Lee & Shepard.

humbler way, Mrs. Urbino's translation of the “Princes of Art," are at once the causes and

give the half-starved apothecary in Romeo the subject, has gathered a vast amount of and Juliet. Nor can fat persons be perfectly essential facts, which he has sifted and conround: that would give John Falstaff. Nor

the products of a growing interest in the sub-beautiful, because there the muscles are too densed into the most comprehensible and ef

ject. Further evidence can be found in our very muscular persons, because there the fective form. From the essay on Color we enormous importations of fine foreign pic-terminations or insertions of the muscles make the following extract: tures of all kinds, in the infinite multiplica- are too abrupt: that would give the Hercules or Samson. tion of masterpieces of painting by chromo- perfectly beautiful, because there the muscles Nor can very young persons be lithography, in the projection of the great have not attained their completeness; nor art museum, in this city. Mr. Long has un- can very old persons, because they have lost dertaken to make a text-book, by the aid of it. Where, then, and under what condition of life, shall we look for complete human which art can be studied like grammar or beauty? Only at the precise period of mathematics, and in which the rules of art, womanhood or manhood. All before that is and the reasons for them, shall be clearly progressive; all after that is stationary for a while, perhaps, and then receding."

stated.

--

"Now although fine feathers make fine ing. Indeed, in a good colored picture, there birds, fine colors do not constitute fine coloris very little positive color- that is, pure red, yellow, or blue but all is very much subdued to a degree of negativeness; and hence the reason why Allston's paintings never show to the best advantage when hung in galleries by the side of the glaring modern productions. He once sent a picture to the English Royal Exhibition that had acquired great reputation in his studio, but, the hangthe side of one of Sir William Beechey's ing committee' having assigned it a place by highly-colored paintings of officers on review-day, all merit seemed to have been taken out of it, and it faded away into sickly insipidity. Allston, however, was not ignorant of the disease it had contracted since it left his room, nor of the mode of cure; and, as the artists always are allowed a short time before the exhibition opens, to make any amendments that the neighboring pictures suggest, purchased a half-crown's worth of pure yellow, red, and blue, as brilliant as the sun at noon-day, and laying them on with lavish liberality, soon brought it up to the requirements of the gaudy school, and it worked like magic upon a discriminating public; but

In the prosecution of his purpose the auThe most beautiful members of the human thor first takes up the subject of Personal family to-day are the Circassians and GeorgiBeauty, which, in its relations to art, he dis-ans- their pre-eminence being attributable cusses at considerable length, and with" to the unfettered training of children, the admirable clearness. Of the two leading freedom of dress, and that exemption from theories touching personal beauty, one regards care which attends a medium degree of reit as an inherent, independent quality, the finement, and leaves the countenance with other as a contingency - the pleasure de- that expression of repose so characteristic of rived from the contemplation of an object ideal beauty." This statement is worthy of depending on certain associations awakened careful attention. There is nothing specially in the mind, or on the perception of some new in it, all of our readers have had the quality, as fitness or utility. The author same thought, probably; but it is a thought favors the first theory, and proceeds to speak that ought to bear fruit. Purely hygienic of the standards by which beauty may be de- considerations seem impotent to bring about termined. These he finds in the Apollo a reform in the physical education of chil-when, after the exhibition, the painting was Belvidere and the Venus de Medici, which, dren; may it not be possible to make personal he believes, conform almost, if not quite vanity do the work? Hardly less important exactly, to the first type of the human form is the exemption from care which is assigned as it came from the hands of the Creator. as a third cause of Circassian pulchritude: The author's argument in vindication of the but that is an agency less within our control claim of these figures to be regarded as than the others. We have read this essay on standard, is exceedingly forcible and interest- Personal Beauty with very great pleasure: it ing. He next speaks of the elements ofis instructive, and practically as well as arbeauty proportion, symmetry, simplicity, tistically profitable. Beauty ranks close bevariety, and grace, defining them with sin-hind money as a power in the world, and it gular felicity. Proportion, he says, "is such an arrangement of the several portions of a figure as shall make that impression upon the

behooves every one to understand its real
nature, its causes and its conditions.

The seven essays next following that on

Chiaro

eye that a just arrangement of the notes in Personal Beauty treat respectively of Dif-
music does upon the ear." It would be diffi-ferent Classes of Painting, Invention, Com-
cult to convey, in words, a juster idea of
proportion than is here given. Symmetry is
often used as a synonym of proportion; but
the author prefers to regard it as having the
same meaning as uniformity; illustrating the
distinction by declaring that certain muti-
lations of a statue, for instance, which would
be fatal to proportion, would not mar its
symmetry. Simplicity, the basis of purity,
involves the idea of fewness of parts, and
constitutes the chief charm of Raphael's pro-
ductions. Variety is that in an object which
pleases the eye by giving it exercise; the
rectangle is more beautiful than the straight
line. The beauty of the Apollo and the
Venus results from the employment and nice
adjustment of a spirally undulating outline-
a conclusion which harmonizes with Mr.
Burke's dogma that "those objects are the
most ugly which are the most angular." We
copy some of the author's observations on
the limits of personal beauty:

position, Design or Drawing, Chiaro-Oscuro,
and Color. These are mainly explanatory,
and give the reader a clear understanding of
some of the technicalities of art.
oscuro, we are told, is "the term employed to
designate the mysterious effects of light and
dark in a picture. If design or drawing is
the giver of form, chiaro-oscuro is the creator
of space and body." It was little understood
by Italian artists, before Da Vinci, who first
employed it with effect in "The Battle of the
Standard," and "The Last Supper." The
ablest master of chiaro-oscuro, our author
says, was Correggio, the head of the Lombard
school, though Rembrandt must be regarded
as at least his equal in this specialty. In the
above-named essays there is a good deal of
shrewd criticism upon great painters, whose
strong and weak points are instanced with
fine discrimination. We have never seen
the rudiments of art-knowledge more con-
cisely and intelligibly set forth than in these
"Thin or lean persons cannot be perfectly chapters. The author does not impose his
beautiful, because there the muscles have no own opinions upon the reader; but availing
relievo, the surfaces are too flat: that would | himself of the most authoritative writers upon

returned to his studio, it appeared to have contracted another disease, which he, supposing that it might have been caused by the poison of the paint he put on, at once washed off (it being mixed only with water), and it soon appeared well enough to hold companionship in the gallery of some English nobleman, by the side of some of the good pictures of the old masters."

Three essays are devoted to the great masters of painting - Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raphael; Titian and Correggio; Hogarth, Wilkie, Reynolds, West, as representing English, and David as representing French, art. These essays are exceedingly valuable

and interesting, not only to the art-student, but to the general reader, supplying, as they do, the salient facts in the careers of these famous artists, critical estimates of their

66

comparative artistic power, and influence upon art, and pointing out with marked clearness the distinguishing peculiarities of the several schools. The author is an ardent admirer of Michael Angelo, agreeing with Sir Joshua Reynolds in assigning him the first rank among painters. His estimate of him may be understood from this passage. Having said that Michael Angelo rendered art "sublime," Da Vinci, Raphael, and Correggio characteristically expressive," and Tivoluptuously seductive," he proceeds: "With the Venetian [Titian] painting was a lady arrayed for the nuptials; with the Roman [Raphael] and the Lombard [Correggio], it was the personification of all the sweet affections and graces of humanity; with the Florentine [Michael Angelo], it was that mysterious agency that, standing upon the boundary line between the perfect and the good, the human and the divine, was found not unworthy to hold intercourse with the Deity, and to be the medium of the communication of His will and benevolence to man.'

tian

over.

"The marble is sometimes said to breathe, acts upon the blase literary appetite like sea- had passed, and they parted with heavy and the canvas to speak. If the canvas air upon the physical. This hypothesis har- hearts, each thinking that the dream was really possessed that power, while with Titian it would address us as a lover, and with Ra-monizes so well with the ardent admiration phael and Correggio speak to us like a saint, of sea-side nature that glows on every page with Michael Angelo it would talk to us like -every one of which is saturated with briny a god." love and lore-that it is pleasantest to accept it.

The author's observations upon English and French art are judicious, and many readers will be glad, with us, to see how justly he deals with West. The vindication of Hogarth's title to honorable rank, is forcible and convincing. Mr. Long holds that Hogarth was one of those rare geniuses who would have been spoiled by education that he was born a master, and that his neglect of the old masters, with which he is frequently reproached, was simply a proof of his native and self-reliant power.

The closing pages of the volume are devoted to a brief elucidation of the principles of architecture as a branch of art, to which is appended a list of terms used in architecture, with their definitions. At the end of the book is a list of the works of art referred to in its pages. A full index facilitates reference to the entire contents. We should not omit to mention that engravings of several masterpieces of painting are given in the volume, among them being Titian's "Bunch of Grapes," Michael Angelo's "Raising of Lazarus," etc., etc.

We must congratulate Mr. Long upon having done even more than he promised, in his preface, to do. He has made not only a convenient and valuable text-book in which students will find agreeable and effective help, but also a manual of art-knowledge which every person who loves and seeks culture, and recognizes art as a means to it, will enjoy. As a preparation for the study of art in its higher and abstruser departments, this book meets a positive popular want.

THE ISLAND NEIGHBORS.* THIS HIS is indeed, as its title declares, a novel of American life; but it is of life within a very limited sphere, whose boundaries correspond to the coast-lines of Martha's Vineyard. The author does not tell us that the scene of her story is laid on Patty's share of the patrimonial real estate, to whose division among the daughters of the owner tradition traces the odd name of the island; but the circumstantial evidence to the point is so strong, that we may dispense with a positive declaration. It is so quiet and unobtrusive a story, the period of its action is so brief, its characters are so few, and its incidents so homely and unsensational, that the reader will often pause and wonder why he likes it so well. For there is certainly a very potent charm in its pages- -a charm that one parts with regretfully at the end. Perhaps it is the salty flavor that exhales from it - a fresh and bracing emanation that

*The Island Neighbors. A Novel of American Life. By Mrs. A. B. Blackwell. Paper. 75 cents. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Once or twice more Fate threw them together, but pride interposed, and the words of reconciliation remained unsaid. He saved her once from drowning, but even the peril did not unseal their lips. The season had ended, and the day for the return to Boston was fixed, when a great storm came upon the island. Within sight a small craft was struggling with the waves, and her crew helpless, on the brink of death. Brand went alone to their aid, brought them safe to shore, and, when he landed, fell fainting into the arms of Margaret. Then they understood each other. A little later they were married in the Warner house, in Boston, all consenting and delighted, and thus the story ends. We have only given the thread of the love-plot, without hinting at the wealth of fresh and piquant entertainment which is found in its descriptions of the island amusements of the ride to Painted Cliffs, of the camp-meeting, the fishing parties, the drawing of the great seine, the daily peregrinations and simple pleasures of the children, and the thrilling sketch of their peril in the great storm. All these must be read to be appreciated; and we can truthfully say that we have never seen more cheerful and pleasing pictures of a quiet summer life than they present.

The Warner family, rich Bostonians, hired a furnished cottage on the island for the summer, and we are introduced to them as Capt. Percy's little sloop is bringing them near their destination. Mr. Warner is an invalid, or rather a hypochondriac; Mrs. W. practically sympathizes with him, so far as to be hypochondriacal herself; Frank Warner is a fine youth of twenty, "with no nonsense about him"; the two little girls are named Anne and Fanny; and the only other member of the household is Margaret Nelson, upper servant and factotum, and the heroine of this story. The mate of the sloop "Constance" is Alfred Brand, a bright-eyed, red-haired, manly young fellow, and between him and Margaret there pass, at their first meeting, glances which are held to be symptomatic of mutual attachment. The family get settled in their new home; Mr. Warner grumbles and complains, Mrs. Warner pets and abets him; Frank and the girls let themselves loose upon the fresh, free life of the sea-side, and Margaret moves about busy, helpful, cheery, with a kind word for everybody, and a bright eye always out for the tall, red-shirted figure But the strongest charm of the book, after which, only a day or two ago, she had seen all, is in its characterization. There are two walking the deck of the sloop. Her glance personages that, like things of beautydid not rove in vain, for often the ruddy ob- though by no means beautiful according to ject came within the range of her vision, and the Ruskinian idea - are a joy forever: we once or twice it came so near that she might mean Capt. Giles and Dennis. The little, have touched it if she had chosen. Peevish withered, apple-faced old whaling captain, an and querulous though he was, Mr. Warner octogenarian boy with a heart as big as a "knew a hawk from a hernshaw," and de- whale's, and a perennial efflatus of goodtected, instantly, indications of the presence humor that lighted up not only his own eyes, of Dan Cupid. He acted promptly, and but all others that came in his neighborhood, curtly informed Brand that his hopes were with his quaint and kindly philosophy, his vain that Margaret was beyond his reach. rarely sympathetic love of children, and his Margaret, of course, was not aware of this kinghtly, yet tender, devotion to his precious summary action of her employer; but Brand old wife Capt. Giles is a veritable saline went away sorrowful and moody. Mr. War- saint, a cetaceous Cheeryble Brother, worthy ner's policy was prompted by pure selfish- to rank with Dickens's creation. Indeed, he ness. Margaret had come to them, a poor is more fascinating than the Brothers: they and friendless Irish girl, seven years before, were rather passive in their goodness; the and had developed into a noble woman, who old captain never rested, heart and body, from virtually controlled the machinery of the making people happy. Dennis is a Yankee family, and, while nominally holding the odditya sort of good-for-naught, such as position of servant, was cherished as a dear is often seen in New England villages, enfriend by every member of the household.dowed with strong good sense, with perhaps Mr. Warner shuddered at the thought of her a touch of genius, yet shiftless and unprosmarriage, as at the prospect of pecuniary perous. His philosophy is exceedingly amusruin.

ing, and the conversations of which he bears Swiftly and delightfully the summer days the burden fill many of the pleasantest pages sped away. The senior Warners throve, of the book. Midget, one of the Captain's physically and morally, under the benignant granddaughters, is an odd little creature, and influences of their new home. Frank and the children flitted from pleasure to pleasure; and Margaret, caring for them all, kept her own grief close in her bosom, and only sighed softly as she saw the red shirt among the rocks on the beach. She and Alfred had met once or twice, when some hasty words

Totum, another, though not very positive, is pleasing, and her tendresse for Frank is skilfully indicated. We give a few extracts which will convey an idea of the lively and cheerful character of the story. Here is a scene at the camp-meeting: Frank has betaken himself to repose in one of the