children. This she considers and believes a solemn duty for every mother, and she has gone through it in the case of her seven children with exemplary patience and fidelity. She also keeps a keen supervision over the cookery of the imperial table. The Emperor himself is not finical in matters of eating, but likes the rough ways of the camp, with a tall glass of beer and a slice of wurst, even at the lunch table. But for dinner he is more particular and delicate, even when there are no guests, and the daily consideration of the menu takes an hour or so of the Empress' time. in turn is promenaded at the castle at Osborne during the season, and receives a great number of grandmotherly attentions. Nowhere, perhaps, is the venerable Queen seen to so great an advantage as in her little summer pavilion at Osborne during the season, where she seems to get a new vivacity from the breezes. which blow continually across the Isle of Wight. This little summer house sees distinguished company every season. To it, in the beautiful, soft morning, come cabinet ministers, bishops, ambassadors, and whole processions of royal visitors from across the continent. There, seated in her easy chair, with her cane handy in case she wants to take a walk, the Queen holds what may be called her summer court, which is not at all frosty with etiquette, although it has some of the restrictions which are more conspicuous at the English court than at others. A good deal of important busines is done here in a quiet way, and people who fancy that the Queen of England has no voice in public affairs, and that she is the humble servant of Parliament, would find their notion corrected if they could sit in the summer house at Osborne for an hour or two. Queen Victoria has greatly enjoyed the many visits of her widowed daughter, whose fate on the whole has been so hard-the. ex-Empress Frederich, as she is called in Germany. She would be more than mortal if she could support without some disappointment the trials which have fallen upon her, the snatching away by death of the imperial crown of her husband after he had it only a few days, the supplanting of herself at her son's own court, and the many bitter political and personal quarrels which have made her life sad and sometimes wearisome. So much has been written and said of the private life of Queen and Empress Victoria that the public can hardly expect anything new. Yet in these later years a new phase of the palace life of the Queen is noticeable. It is her increasing love for the theater and the opera; and as queens, at least in England, do not appear in private theaters, although they think it perfectly proper to do so in other Eupopean countries, the old lady spends hours of her time in superintending the invitations of large parties to enjoy with her in her private theater the talent of Irving, of Albani, of the dainty genius of Duse, or an evening with the comics, at whose antics she laughs as heartily as any of her subjects. As the concert-rooms of Windsor Castle are not, especially adapted to modern theatrical performances the old lady has. to pay pretty roundly for the privilege of seeing the opera and comedy under her own roof. But it is also understood that beyond a fixed sum she will not go, so theatrical companies generally find themselves considerably out of pocket by a visit to the Queen. The prestige which they derive from the visit, of course, brings them a golden share of profit in return. As one by one the Queen's daughters have left her, she has given to her grand-children, who are getting to be very numerous, the affection which she once bestowed upon her own girls. Each year she seems to change her mind and have a new favorite grandchild, but this is probably done with a delicate desire not to arouse any jealousy, and to make them all happy. Each grandchild At present the ex-Empress Frederich finds her role in Germany a little easier. Her magnificent country palace in the Thanus mountains has been filled with everything that a vast fortune can buy of luxury and art to make it a lovely paradise, and now and then she there receives the visits of her imperial son, who, however much he may rage about English influence at times, never forgets his filial devotion. Queen Victoria has shown a strong desire to keep her widowed daughter much with her of late years, and the daughter's visits to England grow more frequent and longer every year. That the ex-Empress is ambitious there is little doubt. She is a keen student of political science and a liberal patron of other branches of scientific research. It is her well known ability in politics which has made the Germans a little shy of her. Perhaps they are afraid. At any rate, she has never been able to get her notions accepted by any of the state counsellors who serve her son. The private life of the Queen of Spain is always interesting, and never more so than at present, when the iron-bound etiquette which prevailed for centuries seems to have relaxed. The quiet Austrian lady who keeps the regency, and who is nominal Queen while she is bringing up the boy King to his difficult position, has never been gossiped about in the fashion that Queen Isabel used to be. Pious and laborious, modest and shrinking, it was at first feared that she would not be sufficiently brilant for the central figure of a court which contains perhaps three hundred of the most beautiful women in Europe. But it was by virtue of her very simplicitv and modesty that she obtained and kept complete control. While she always recognizes that it is her son alone who is to have supreme power, she manages in many quiet ways to exercise great influence upon Spanish affairs, and her advice in many critical circumstances is much valued. She comes of an old family, fond of formality and display. and has for generations held a conspicuous place in Austria, but she seems to work with determination to break down the old-fashioned etiquette of Spain, and substitute for it some of the simpler and ighter ways of modern democracy, which she has studied to advantage. She has shown considerable talent for finance, and one of her recent and most conspicuous triumphs is the bringing over to the support of the royal house no less a personage than Castelar, the first president of the abortive Spanish republic. It is needless to say that she sees but little of her royal mother-in-law, although he is very fond of the daughers of Isabel. One of the happiest of European queens is Queen Olga, of Greece. She is a Russian and cousin to the Czar, but is rather German in her ways. For many years she has led a quiet and pleasant life in the simple palace at Athens, interested in the gradual uplifting of Greece after its centuries of oppression by the Turk, always first in any movement for national culture, and fond of bringing about her the bright people from all parts of the world who come to study in Athens or to visit the romantic hills and dales of the historic little country. The queen is very proud of her sons, one of whom, the duke of Sparta, recently visited America and spent a laborious day in studying the Brooklyn navy yard. He is a sailor and hopes to do much toward the rebuilding of that Greek navy which twenty years ago was able to give the Turkish tyrant a shock that he has not yet forgotten. No queen could be more careless of her crown than Queen Natalie of Servia at present is. Although restored to her queenship by the annullment of the divorce once declared against her, and although her husband has gone back to Belgrade and buried himself with politics there, and despite the fact that her son is King and likely to remain so, she still lingers by the Spanish mountain seaside of Biarritz, busying herself with beautifying her home on the cliffs and with literature, of which she is passionately fond. It does not look as if during the life time of her husband she would care to return to the Servian capital to be known as the Queen mother.-New York Journal. Books OUR FOES AT HOME. By Hugh H. Lusk. CONDUCTED BY DAVIS PARKER LEACH. Macauley's New Zealander, sitting on London bridge and mournfully contemplating the ruin of England's metropolis is no longer considered an impossible figure, as formerly. The great progress that the Australian countries have made of late years have caused them to be of special interest to every one looking for living examples of model commonwealths. 'Tis here we find the best land system in the world, with the possible exception of China, and the division of products and resources are so justly divided that strikes and lockouts are regarded as relics of barbarism-as they deserve to be. In the older countries custom becomes law and any innovation is fought by the conservative majority, who would rather endure the ills they have than risk "flying to those they know not of." It is, then, to the new lands and young blood that we must look for the highest ideals in citizenship and government, and when Mr. Lusk, who is an ex-member of the New Zealand parliament, presents a series of essays on political science in this volume, one feels bound to give him a respectful hearing. He sketches the rapid progress of the United States in its first century of existence; a progress unparalleled in the history of nations. With thousands of miles of sea-board, a perfect net-work of of railroads and canals, joining lakes to gulf and ocean to ocean, it has grown to be not only the richest country on the globe, but one of the recognized great powers. In spite of his admiration for the United States and its people, the author regards our systems of politics and lawmaking as faulty; even highly dangerous. He points out the probable future tyranny of concentrated capital, the evil results of leaving the farms and herding in cities and the apparent apathy of the American citizen to the corrupt methods of partisan politics, with its tendency to practical disfranchisement. How this disfranchisement is effected is best told in his words: "In politics the peopie have ceased to rule. In each city and town a little ring of interested persons manage everything, and the mind of the people is never expressed. In each state, as a rule, there are two bosses who, with their followers-men who live ou the people and generally grow fat upon corruption in politics-make legislation a trade and sell seats in the legislature and other offices even more important, to the highest bidder. The share of the people of America is to do the shouting and voting." In the fifteen chapters of this interesting volume the different problems are taken up and handled in a masterful manner. The author is hopeful of the future, but is astounded at the negligence of the citizens of the United States in allowing the evils to have grown to such proportions. The book should be read by every voter in this country who has heretofore believed our systems infallible, and by comparing them with the more advanced ones of New Zealand and Australia, he will become somewhat thoughtful. To think is usually to act. When the American people are roused to action there need be no fears of the result. * * * THE REDEMPTION OF DAVID CORSON. "Hidden away in this worn, care-encumbered world, scarred with its frequent traces of a primeval curse, are spots so quiet and beautiful as to make the fall of man seem incredible, and awaken in the breast of the weary traveler who comes suddenly upon them, a vague and dear delusion that he has stumbled into Paradise." This opening paragraph of Mr. Goss' romance gives the keynote to the whole work. It is the old story of Eden, man's fall and his final redemption through faith and love. The author is well known to the reading public by his inspiring works, "The Optimist" and "The Philopolist," but this is his first venture in fiction. With the exception of some glaring crudities in style (which will disappear in practice) and a tendency to "preach" where the moral is obvious, the writer is to be congratulated upon his success in furnishing so enchanting a romance, based upon a great ethical question. It might be called a tragic idyl, or perhaps an idyllic tragedy, and through out it breathes the breath of the woods, brings one into the very heart of nature and combines the art of John C. Van Dyke with the elegant simplicity of John Burroughs. 3 The characters are drawn with strong hand; the peripatetic quack doctor, Paracelsus Aesculapius being especially life-like, "Pepeeta, the Queen of the Fortune Tellers," a heroine of whom Helen might have been jealous; the dissolute judge, and last of all David Corson, the young Quaker-full of the greatest possibilities, either for good or evil, as his nature swayed him. There are three classes who will read this book with pleasure; those who will enjoy the love story; those who love the communion with nature in her everchanging moods, and that class, which, while apparently beyond the reach of the pulpit, get help and inspiration from their reading. THE TRANSVAAL TROUBLE. An address THE JURY TRIAL OF 1900. 12 mo. Pp. DORSEY, THE YOUNG INVENTOR. By Edward S. Ellis. 12 mo. Pp. 297. New York. Fords, Howard & Hurlburt. BIRD WORLD. By J. H. Stickney. This neat volume from Ginn & Co., The familiar birds in the work are deis in the line of the latter-day education. scribed in a clear and interesting way, with fine half-tones and many colored plates to help identify them. The scientific side is presented in simple language and cannot fail to arouse an interest that will bear fruit later in the thorough study of this fascinating subject. These methods of instructing the young in bird life and other lines of natural history are very effective, cultivating a love for the songsters, and a more humane feeling for animals in general. Many of the drawings are by that talented artist, Mr. Ernest Seton Thompson, whose portraits of our feathered friends are wonderfully life-like and beautiful. The colored plates are the best we have seen printed by the new process of photography in colors. Literary Notes. The most interesting literary letter from abroad is by all odds that from W. L. Alden, in London. He is a most delightful iconoclast and in addition to giving all the news he usually finds time to smach a few idols or burn a literary fetich or two in the flames of ridicule. He keeps one always guessing what he will do next. It is stated that Fiona Macleod has written another book which will be issued soon. This will be good news to the many admirers of the gifted Celtic authoress whose books are too few and far between. Miss May Devereux has written a romance of the colonial era, "From Kingdom to Colony," which is receiving high praise from all who have been fortunate enough to read it. The Idler A DEPARTMENT OF MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC CHAT. There is a man in Mexico whom I should like to know. A man who is brave enough to say what he thinks. about the piano. We always enjoy meeting the people who think as we do, and this man-but let him speak for himself. It is enough for me that he knows what music is, and that it needed but Paderewski's visit to the city of Mexico to give him voice. I take no part; I am not attuned to the harmony of sweet sounds; not from a polished wooden box with a typewriter keyboard. The violin, yes; that is, indeed, a musical instrument. A great orchestra is superb; but to pass hours listening to the greatest of pianists. Adios! I, too, take horse for Guatemala. Sweet, passing all words, is the voice of the singer accompanying himself on the guitar as we glide over the waters of Lake Chapala on a moonlight night, the Andalusian "coplas" filling the ear with their magic of tenderness, piquancy and amorousness. Something of the haunting melody of desert songs, ardent passion of the lover under the balconies of Sevilla or Grenada; that is music. It blends with the lake breeze; it finds its way into the recondite corners of the heart; it is the essence, the exquisite essence, of old romance. But a stuffy theatre, a gymnast pounding piano keys. That is nightmare. From lonely huts one hears at times the strains of a melancholy music, as of some exiled race, recalling its old home; then there is the homely music of the primitive fifers and drummers with instruments of Aztec origin, as heard in front of ancient Mexican churches in little towns remote from our modern life. You hear it once. and are haunted forever after. The musical cry of the "sereno," or night watchman, in a little pueblo, "Ave Maria purisima; son las tres y ser-e-e-no-o-o!" Hail purest Mary; it is 3 o'clock and fine weather! That cry smites your ear in the darkness of the night, and years after there comes back to you the mind picture of the quaint little Mexican town, the rustling night wind, the sense of foreignness of surroundings, and you glide again into enchanted days and happy nights. The restful middle ages return. Now, that is music, that strange cry from out of the infinite, bringing tears to the eyes, suffusing one's being with a pity for one's self, exiled here far from the celestial region whence we all came. A new play by Sydney Rosenfeld is a comedy called "Master and Pupil." And Mr. Wilson Barrett, with the consent of Sienkiewicz, is engaged in dramatizing "Quo Vadis." There is, indeed, no dearth of new plays to be. Lorimer Stoddard is putting F. Marion Crawford's latest story, "In the Palace of the King," in form for the stage, and Francis Hastings has dramatized James Lane Allen's beautiful novel, "The Choir Invisible." Also the "Van Bibber" stories are being arranged for dramatic production by Clay M. Greene. The "Only Way," which is Dicken's "Tale of Two Cities" adapted to meet the requirements of the drama, is said to be one of the most touching and heroic plays ever put upon the stage, and worthy, in every way, of the master who wrote to the heart instead of to the mind of his public. It is a delightful arrangement, that of some eastern theatres of producing "The Prisoner of Zenda" and following immediately with the sequel, "Rupert of Hentzau." Jessie Bartlett-Davis, so long the chief attraction among the Bostonians, will make her re-appearance this fall as leading contralto with the Grau-Savage English Opera Company. Without her during the past season the Bostonians were woefully lacking. Nordica, who is now in Europe, returns to sing with Maurice Evan's Company next year, but as arrangements now stand, she will be heard only in the West. It is a little surprising to learn that Madame Sembrich made at least thirty thousand dollars more than Calve this Ninety-five American dollars go to swell the sum total that Sembrich carries back to Europe with her this month. year. |