settles upon one side as if reclining, the point of the wings away from the wind, where it clings to the roughnesses of the rocks and is seldom blown from its foothold. In this position the peculiar gray mottling of the under surface of the exposed portions of the wings so closely resembles the gray rocks themselves, flecked with minute brown and yellow-green lichens, that it is almost impossible to discover one in its resting-place unless one has seen it alight. The resemblance is of a very marked character, and is unquestionably a great means of protection.

With regard to the Brenthis, we have here again a case of protective resemblance, though to a less extent; for in the brilliant red and ashy checkered surface of the under wings, seen when the insect is at complete rest, we have contrasted colors frequently to be met with in the subalpine region in the latter part of the season, when frosts have begun their work. But whether these protective resemblances are very necessary in a district where so few birds are found-hawks and snow-birds being almost the only persistent inhabitants-may perhaps be doubted, and the markings which we find on these insects may be only their ancestral inheritance, useful on the Arctic barrens where birds are more various and plentiful. The Brenthis, indeed, seems really doomed to destruction. In the scanty numbers that one may find upon the mountain slopes, one sees

butterfly is as abundant in its native haunts in proper season as almost any of the more favored inhabitants of lower levels. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $1.50.)- From Scudder's "Frail Children of the Air."

The King's Stratagem, and Other Stories.

HALF a dozen short stories by Mr. Weyman are here collected in a little volume that the publishers design to be the first of a series of light modern fiction. The first tale which gives the book its name was probably written to order, as it belongs to the Henry of Navarre period, and, slight as it is, is of the quality the reading public has come to expect from Mr. Weyman. The other five are of a miscellaneous character, and modern, and, as a matter of fact, very much like the short stories of a thousand and one other English writers who make their living, or part of it, writing for the magazines.

"The Body Birds of Court" is a Welsh tale; "In Cupid's Toils" has its scenes partly among the streams and rocks of Norway, partly in London, in the season; "A Blore Manor Episode" is a rather conventional love-story, while the remaining ones, "The Drift of Fate" and "The Fatal Letter," are clearly studies in the art of romance-building, or rather the art of incident-weaving, that must belong to Mr. Weyman's term of novitiate.

It is likely that all the tales, except the first,

were written some years ago, before Weyman received his first great triumph with "The House of the Wolf." They are as well worth reading, though, as most short stories that live long enough to appear in book form. (Platt & Bruce. 50 c.)-N. Y. Times.

A Comedy in Spasms. "THERE is no question as to the aptness of the title the author of 'The Yellow Aster' has bestowed upon her story in the Zeitgeist Library. It deals with spasms of good and evil fortune from the first page to the last, and it is spasmodic even in its manner of construction and narration. The author varies in style between the epigrammatic and the commonplace; she qualifies the language of intense passion with the newest of new slang. Her heroine is described by one of her friends as 'gusty about the moral sense,' and speaks of herself as half disposed to 'magenta sins' a poor sort of plagiarism on the Hebrew seer, who knew nothing of aniline dyes. But Elizabeth Marrable did herself as much injustice by talking in that way as Iota' does herself by forcing her slang and constructing jokes out of Scriptural turns of expression. This indication of feebleness was commented on in these columns when 'Children of Circumstance' was reviewed, and apparently it is the only point in regard to which 'Iota' has declined to profit by the counsel of a well-intentioned critic. Her method of story-telling has unquestionably improved; she is more shapely, more natural, less strained. Spasms notwithstanding, intensity granted and allowed for, she has drawn in Elizabeth a type of which nature produces many examples-quick-witted, a clever talker, easily fallen in love with, capable of great sacrifices for relatives who do not appreciate her, and capable of both self-abandonment and splendid renunciation for a man really worthy of her love. 'Gusty' no doubt she is, but an excellent sort of heroine nevertheless. As for 'magenta sins,' she only talks of them. There

is no lack of color in her temptations; but we should not have called Elizabeth a heroine if she had been steeped to the lips in aniline dyes. Nor should we have called 'Iota' a good novelist, on this and previous occasions, if she had not produced and confirmed the impression that she can read her own sex shrewdly and describe it with pathetic sincerity." "It is not a tract upon the 'woman question' or any

other question, it is a work of art, abounding in brilliant and delicate characterization and sparkling with flashes of keen insight into the recesses of the human heart. There is not a badly or even a carelessly drawn character in the book, though as a matter of course some of the portraits are more skilfully executed than others. The dialogue suffers from a surplusage of almost Meredithian cleverness." (Stokes. $1.)-The Athenæum, and Books of To-day and To-morrow.

The Heart of a Boy.

How the chimney-sweep lost thirty solid through a hole in his pocket, and how a lot of sympathizing school-girls made the loss good to him, and nearly buried him in flowers besides; how a boy sat for five days in the hospital at the bedside of a patient who he thought was his father, and then discovered that it was not his father at all; how little Carlo Nobis was made by his father to apologize to the charcoal man for saying to the charcoal man's little boy, "Your father is a worthless ragged man." These incidental tales, and a hundred more like them, are contained in "The Heart of a Boy," a story by Edmondo de Amicis, a book that has reached its one hundred and sixty-sixth edition in the original Italian, and that is once more published in a translation by Prof. G. Mantellini. The sentiment is a little more pronounced than our boys are apt to get in their stories, but "The Heart of a Boy" is full of interest and will find plenty of English readers. (Laird & Lee. 75 c.)-N. Y. Sun.

From "The Heart of a Boy." Copyright, 1895, by Laird & Lee. A BOY.

The Making of Mary.

THE little American story which Miss Forsyth has called "The Making of Mary" is sparkling and vivacious; and there is not a little humor in it which is inseparable from the evolution of the heroine's character. Mary Mason is a child of unknown parents, who has been deserted in an extraordinary fashion, and who gets passed on from one hand to another, until she secures a home in the house of a Michigan journalist. From this home she refuses to be dislodged, and in course of time she causes great commotion in the family. Mrs. Gemmell, the wife of the journalist, is a warm-hearted Theosophist. She endeavors to "mother" the fugitive child, whose humorous eccentricities are supposed to play an important part in her "making." But Mary soon begins to "boss the show "; and as she grows up into an attractive young woman, and flirts outrageously with every eligible and ineligible man she meets, the Gemmell household is eventually plunged into a state of despair. The situation is only relieved when Mary obtains a place in a nursing institution. Here she contracts small-pox and loses her beauty, and we are left to speculate on the future in the light of Nurse Dean's remark: "I shouldn't be at all surprised if the smallpox were just the making of Mary." Gemmell is well drawn; he is somewhat tried by his wife's Theosophic notions, and we sympathize with him when he says, "It's better to believe too much than too little, but you Theosophists swallow an awful lot." (Cassell. 50 c.)-Academy.

Sons of Belial,

THIS story of middle-class Lancashire life is far better than anything Westall has yet written. It relates the fortunes of a father and his sons who from being journeymen moulders become the great manufacturers of the town. The story is full of shrewdness, with just enough sentiment interwoven to unite that side of life to business sagacity. The son Jack is sent away to school, and there comes across a wicked uncle. The fortunes of these two persons constantly recross each other, and the culmination of events, in the recognition of his wife as Mrs. Clinchworthy, married to another man, is worked out in an admirable manner, though it is an old theme. He ceases his demands and disappears forever when he learns that his wife's second husband has brought up his child as if the boy had been Clinchworthy's own child. There is a great deal of rugged nobility in all the characters, and virtue seems of stouter stuff when clad in Lancashire dialect. With

little description the atmosphere of the story is yet so thoroughly local that one cannot soon forget the peculiarities it traces, the drunkenness it tries to subdue, and the money closeness of the men and women, but also their sturdy integrity and fidelity to each other. (Cassell. $1.)-Boston Literary World.

Lyre and Lancet.

IT is a brilliant little comedy which F. Anstey has set before us in "Lyre and Lancet a Story in Scenes." The situation upon which the plot turns can be very briefly outlined. An English minor poet of the decadent school is invited to spend a few days at a country-house through the influence of one of the feminine admirers of his writings, and at the same time a veterinary expert is summoned to pronounce judgment on a favorite horse. Through a series of misunderstandings, which seem to be natural enough as the author describes them, the identity of the two men is transposed, and upon their arrival thevet" is taken into the drawing-room and received as if he were the poet, while the poet is relegated to the servants' quarters. In the scenes that follow the horseman,, in spite of his lack of culture, shows himself to be a good deal of a gentleman, while the poet reveals himself as an insufferable cad. The story is given throughout in dramatic form, and about thirty characters are brought upon the boards, each one of them very cleverly individualized. If the situations are now and then a little strained, and if the humor runs a little thin, the reader will easily pardon this out of thankfulness for the incitement to mirth which is to be found in generous measure scattered through these pages. It is good, wholesome fun, too, that "Lyre and Lancet" affords. It is keenly satirical, yet is without a trace of cynicism, and those who take it up in an indulgent mood may be safely promised at least one hearty laugh to every chapter. The author of "Vice Versa" takes time to turn out good work, and has thus far escaped the exhaustion of providing for the insatiable magazine. (Macmillan. $1.25.)-Beacon.

Reginald Hetheridge and Leighton Court.

WHAT a delightfully bantering manner had Henry Kingsley; and he was possessed, too, of that particular and rare talent of buttonholing you peculiar to Thackeray. Then, besides, he could write such pure English. Pray you, read that page 203, where Laura sits at the organ and tries to play on it and cannot, and it concludes: "She sent away the boy who blew the bellows, and began to cry. It is hard to laugh at an utterly lone woman crying over the keys of an organ. I cannot; and I am quite sure that you cannot, either."

There are only two men who can describe a horse, and they are the brothers Kingsley. Mare Swallow and The Elk are the equine heroine and hero. Chirpy are Lady Emily and her mother, Lady Southmolton, who follow the ways of the departed Hannah More, and believe that the human species has deteriorated because the tenets of Hannah are no longer followed. Most neatly worked up are Henry Kingsley's eccentric personages, as Lord Hatterleigh, whose inside is always getting wrong.

Hatterleigh is dull and awkward, but the thorough gentleman. It is Henry Kingsley's exuberance of invention which is so remarkable, but what he wanted was something of the pose, the balance of Charles; and then the heroics of the epics of history did not suit him. In "Leighton Court" the plot is as old as the paleozoic period. There is a lover, Laura's lover, who is believed to be dead, but who comes to view again. He even appears in the opening scene as a paid huntsman, and at the close he is Sir Robert Poyn'z, and a Victoria Cross to boot.

It is by that dash of romantic color which Henry Kingsley throws in his canvas that he carries you away. He just sketches a little picture of a fight in India, and in a dozen words you have a portrait of Napier. Henry Kingsley is literature, and the appreciation of him is enhanced by the publication of his exceedingly brilliant romances. (Ward, Lock & Bowden, Ltd. $1.25.)-N. Y. Times.

Side Talks with Girls.

WISDOM and kindliness, now and then a touch of humor, and an all-pervading strain of good, sound common sense, are efficiently combined in the monitions of Ruth Ashmore, as they are expressed in her "Side Talks with Girls." The author does not make the mistake of being too obvious in her didacticism, nor on the other hand does she content herself with the enunciation of general precepts. Her aim is to stimulate a true regard for high ideals of personal conduct, and to this end she takes into consideration the broad principles that make for the development of a strong and noble character, and as supplementary to these expounds the requirements of social life in all the varying phases that come under the head of good manners. One of the most suggestive points made by Ruth Ashmore, and to which she gives significant emphasis, is that politeness is to etiquette as the greater to the less, and that true politeness is founded on goodness of heart. There are chapters explaining the conditions confronting the country girl who comes to the city for employment, and other chapters showing what the country girl may do to make her life richer and fuller and more profitable to herself and others. Other chapters deal with the question of religion, minor faults, choice of books, the use of slang, the responsibilities of friendship, home duties, the relations of hostess and visitor, the art of travelling, care of the health, courtship, betrothal and the first years of marriage. It is a sensible, wholesome little book, and every thoughtful girl will benefit from its reading; it is also fair to say that

Prepared his sweetest rose and sharpest thorn,
The witches set their heads and hoofs to work
To hunt O'Shanter from the ancient kirk;
The hills began to put themselves in tune
To voice the care that lurked in "Bonnie Doon";
The world would soon a world of love enshrine
Within the golden bars of " Auld Lang Syne ";
The cotter's home produced its greatest grief,
But fame and glory, far beyond belief-
When Burns was born!

(Harper. $1.)—From Carleton's " Rhymes of Our Planet."

The American in Paris.

IN The American in Paris" Dr. Eugene Coleman Savidge has stretched a bold canvas and painted a signally opportune picture.

Few Americans realize the significant relation of the United States to the Franco-Prussian War. Dr. Savidge shows that it was Louis Napoleon's attempt to prick the Republican bubble in North America," and its ignominious failure, which gave Bismarck the opportunity to tempt the French to allow Sadowa. Sadowa sealed the unity of Germany, and it was United Germany's menace to humiliated, unready France which led to Sedan and the Republic. The new German Empire put universal suffrage in its Constitution, and insisted upon it in the new French Republic, where Gambetta had already disfranchised the Bonapartists as well as the Orleanists.

All this will not be pleasant reading to imperialists. The American standpoint, and the