ENERAL articles in this month's

G magazines cover a wide variety of

1

subjects, and strengthen the impres

that the present tendency is toward a study of current topics. Whether it is that we so much wonder at our own achievements that we never grow tired of reviewing them or whether the world of to-day is so marvelous a phenomena that we cannot refrain from pointing out all its remarkable features, one can scarcely say; but we seem to enjoy, as a nation, all that appertains to contemporary events and conditions, and to entertain not only a pride in our own doings and possessions, but also an inordinate curiosity regarding the doings and attributes of others.

In "Munsey's" for June we find such articles as "Social Life at the White House," "Senator Warner of Missouri,” "Belgium's Business King," "SocialismIts Growth and Its Leaders," "The Moslem Power," and "The Czar's Wife and Son." To the "Delineator" F. Berkeley Smith contributes one of a series of articles, "Little Sketches of Travel," taking up in this number "A Corner in Normandy." In the same magazine Allan Sutherland writes of "Lead. Kindly Light" in the series "Famous Hymns of the World."

The principal articles in "Leslie's" are "The Jews of Wall Street," "The Bad Boy: How to Save Him," by Judge Lindsey, and a conclusion of the account of the Pinkerton detectives. "Scribner's" offers "Some Aspects of the Island of Crete," "A Day Among the Quantock Hills," by Dr. Van Dyke; "The Use of Dogs in War" and "The Everetts in England." The "Atlantic Monthly" remembers the season with "Dull Plumes and Gay," by John Burroughs: while other interesting papers comprise "Village Improvements, "The Spirit of Japanese Art" and the "Causes of South American Revolutions."

The general article in the "Smart Set" is on the "Art of Giving Grand Opera," by Herr Conried. In "Ainslee's" Lady Willshire writes on "Americans in London:" in the "Metropolitan" a study of Alaska is a prominent feature, and an entertaining

paper is by John D. Barry, "On Being a Dramatic Critic."

"Harper's" has a treat in a description of "Elizabethan Gardens," by Edmund Gosse, and "McClure's" contains "The College Athlete," "Typhoid: An Unnecessary Evil," "Scott," in "Great Masters of Literature," by Gorge Edward Woodberry and "An At gy for Going to College," by Helen K lege," by Helen Ker. The special articles in the "Cosmopolitan" include "Society Amateur Actresses," "The World's Competitor to Be" and "A Beaver's Reason," by John Burroughs.

Among the serials for the month are "The Occultation of Florian Amidor," by Herbert Quick, in the "Cosmopolitan;" "The Conquest of Canaan," by Booth Tarkington, in "Harper's;" "The Mystics," by Katherine Cecil Th... ton, and "Outside the Law," in the "Metropolitan;" "The Deluge," in "Ainslee's;" "The House or Mirth," in "Scribner's;" "Plain Mary Smith," by Henry Wallace Phillips, in "Leslie's," and "Fair Margaret," by F. Marion Crawford, in "Munsey's.

The principal writers of the short stories are Justus Miles Forman, Holman F. Day and Charles Battell Loomis, in "Leslie's;" Sewell Ford, who has a novelette, "On the Newport Road," and Edith Rickert and Edwin L. Sabin, in the "Smart Set" James Huneker and Alfred Henry Lewis in the "Metropolitan:" Cyrus Townsend Brady, who writes the novelette, "The Lady from the Sea," and Caroline Lockart and Ina B. Roberts, in "Lippincott's," and Marie Manning, Marie Van Vorst and Arthur Colton, in "Harper's."

An art feature in the "Century" consists of reproductions of several of Miss Violet Oakley's mural decorations for the new capitol at Harrisburg.

The first number of "Country Calendar" deserves a word. Among its contributors are Grover Cleveland and John Burroughs, and typographically and pictorially the magazine is excellent.

The "Masters in Music" for June has for its subject Brahms once more "Mas ters in Art" treats of Benozzo Gozzoli.

T

HERE are few surprises among the best selling books. Mrs. Ward's book appears on the list as a matter of course, and one expected to see the advent of "Sandy" to the group almost as soon as the volume left the bindery. It is pleasant to see "The Garden of Allah" holding its own so long, and if "The Princess Passes" continues as it has begun it will reach more thousands than "The Lightning Conductor." Why do these books sell? "The Marriage of William Ashe," probably because it is Mrs. Ward's, and because it is also an excellent story; "Sandy," chiefly because it is such a delightful little tale. Mr. Hichens' book appeals through the strength and convincingness of its atmosphere and its grip upon the emotions.

Among the general works that people are buying, "Japan" still recommends itself; "The Opening of Tibet" is finding the appreciation that it deserves for its timeliness and merit, and "Another Hardy Garden Book" is a volume in season. It seems as if more garden books should be on the list.

At Wanamaker's, Philadelphia. FICTION:

The Marriage of William Ashe. By Mrs. Humphry Ward.

Pam. By the Baroness von Hutten.

Rose of the World. By Agnes and Egerton Castle.

Constance Trescot. By S. Weir Mitchell. The Quakeress. By Charles Heber Clark (Max Adeler).

Sandy. By Alice Hegan Rice.

The Princess Passes. By Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Williamson.

The Vicissitudes of Evangeline. By Elinor Glyn.

The Divine Fire. By May Sinclair.

The Tyranny of the Dark. By Hamlin Garland.

Hurricane Island. By H. B. Marriott-Wat

son.

MISCELLANEOUS:

De Profundis. By Oscar Wilde.

Fiction

AS THE WORLD GOES By. By Elisabeth Willard Brooks. 375 pp. 12mo. Little, Brown & Co.

The story opens in the calcium lights of "behind the scenes" in the Holway Theatre, where one of the minor actresses is badly hurt. She is carried to the leading actress's room and later taken to a hospital. There is much complication, as the actress has a daughter, whom she is pleased to regard as a sister. The actress has been separated from her husband for many years, but through the inadvertent recital by the doctor of the accident, the father learns of his daughter being "grown up" and seeks to see her. A tenor, who falls in love with the daughter, and she with him, the sudden death of the actress through an automobile accident, many incidents of more or less interest, and the return of the tenor when "he gathered her hands within his own," and settled the question for all time, fills the balance of the volume.

CASTEL DEL MONTE. By Nathan Gallizier. Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. 446 pp. 12mo. L. C. Page & Co.

This historical novel begins at the death of Urban Fourth, 1265. It opens in Palermo just before the battle of Grendella. Manfred is a conspicuous figure, and the contact between the Christian and Mohammedan civilization is freely used. The romantic apparatus of the early novel, secrets, potions, philters, magic plots and conspiracies are all fully used.

CONSTANCE WEST. By E. R. Punshun. 304 pp. 12mo. John Lane.

After twenty years, Constance West seeks to find her husband, who in a moment of drunken

frenzy has knocked her down, for which he serves a term in prison. When she at length discovers him, she finds that he has been married again, and has a son and daughter. She does not disclose her identity and with the help of a hotel proprietor, who falls in love with her, practices a series of ignoble and petty bits of revenge upon her erstwhile husband. The story ends with a reconciliation after much unpleasant event and adventure.

CHARLES THE CHAUFFEUR. By S. E. Kiser. Illustrated. 189 pp. 12mo. Frederick A. Stokes Company.

A dialect narrative of the experiences and adventures of a chauffeur, which appeared in the Sunday Magazine Supplements of leading papers in larger cities, during the last six months.

CRIMSON BLIND, THE. By Fred M. White. Illustrations by Victor Prout. 378 pp. 12mo. R. F. Fenno & Co.

This novel opens with an author, two of whose novels have reached their fourth and fifth editions, leaving publishers ready to offer £500 within two months of the delivery of the copy of his third novel. In spite of this prosperity, he needs $5000. At this crisis in his fate, he finds a gun metal cigar case with $1250 and is promised $500 if he will visit a certain address given to him in a woman's voice over the 'phone. There he finds a dead man, which causes trouble enough to occupy the rest of the volume.

The story of an Englishman and his little son who have journeyed to the far West to evade revenge sworn by an Irishman, because of the Englishman having evicted some of his Irish tenants. Later Lady Bashannon joins them. The story is replete with adventure. "Curly," one of the chief characters in the numerous adventures, turns out to be a girl, and eventually marries the Englishman's son.

DAUNTLESS VIKING, A. By William Hale. 332 pp. 12mo. Richard G. Badger.

A study of the life of Gloucester fishermen in which one of the Norse crew of the Viking boat sent to the Chicago Fair, finds his way to the fishing fleet. Succeeding chapters carry him through all the risks and perils of life on

the Banks. A little love story runs through the volume, but its one claim to notice is the pains with which the daily life of the men whom it describes is presented. The tone of the book is a little pretentious. Too much like a landsman's view.

FOR A FREE CONSCIENCE. By L. C. Wood.

414 PP.

12mo. Fleming H. Revell Company.

The persecution of “friends” at the close of the Seventeenth Century, while Fox and Penn were still alive, opens this novel, which aims to make this religious movement the setting of a story which ends in the landing of the "Welcome." Swarthmore, Coniston and other places in which Fox preached figure in the story. Throughout, the object is to give a historical picture of the period in the guise of a romance rather than a romance set in the framework of history.

GIFT OF THE MORNING STAR, THE. By Armistead C. Gordon. Frontispiece by George Senseney. 373 PP. 12mo. Funk & Wagnalls Company.

A story laid in Ocquon Glade, in a portion known as Galilee, quaint in speech, and odd in setting, and is replete with Biblical references and quotations. "Benammi Youart," though forty years old, courts "Tirzah" not yet twenty. Her grandfather tells her pitilessly that he knows "the breed." Tirzah remonstrates and says she thinks he is a good man. Benammi goes away after a dramatic parting with Tirzah -prospers, and after many incidents in which a blonde stenographer plays her part, comes back to the Glade, where Tirzah tells him "I have waited for ye so long."

been estranged, meet and pick up the thread of their love-story once more. Plot, mystery and adventure give interest to the tale. JUSTIN WINGATE, RANCHMAN. By John H. Whitson, author of "The Rainbow Chasers," etc. Illustrated by Arthur E. Becher. 312 pp. 12mo. Little, Brown & Co.

Mr. Whitson has won attention through his virile stories of the far West. In his present volume, he presents a tale full of graphic local color, showing the development of the ranch section, with attendant perils. A strong political element permeates the story, though enough love interest is introduced to give the needed touch of romance to a story otherwise rather descriptive and discoursive than narrative. Close familiarity is shown with the methods of raising cattle and the inevitable struggles between the ranchmen and farmers of the region. There are many characters, all depicted with the keen insight shown in Mr. Whitson's previous works.

LUNATIC AT LARGE. THE. By J. Storer Clouston. 312 pp. 12mo. F. M. Buckles & Co.

A fantastic tale of a young doctor and a patient, a man who "has lately suffered from a severe mental and physical shock." The doctor is asked to take charge of him on a trip to the continent, dreads the work, as the patient is liable to homicidal mania, and conspires with a friend to put the patient into a lunatic asylum while the friend impersonates the patient in a trip with the doctor. The framework of the story is better handled than the conversation and the dialogue.

MATRIMONIAL BUREAU, THE. By Carolyn Wells and Harry P. Tabor. Illustrated. 282 pp. 12mo. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

The efforts of a middle-aged maiden lady, whose maid has secured a husband through a matrimonial bureau, to obtain husbands for her three nieces, together with the adventures of a house party which she has asked, constitute the setting in which the rapid conversation and humor of Miss Wells, and illustrations of Harry Parsons Tabor, play their part. The fun is somewhat strained.

MISS BILLY. By Edith K. Stokely and Marion K. Hurd. Illustrated by Charles Copeland. 349 pp. I2mo. Lothrop Publishing Com

pany.

Financial reverses force "Miss Billy" and her family into a new neighborhood. Her letter to Margaret, in Cologne, is typical of her happy character. Nothing is so bad it could not be worse, in her opinion. A "family meeting" to discuss pros and cons is full of a homely humor and a charm that is irresistible. A "whole load of black dirt" fills Miss Billy's heart with ecstasy, for now she could have pansies, and sweet-peas and geraniums. She does wonders in the neighborhood, and after a very grave and serious illness, all Cherry Street pays back to her its debt of gratitude in a manner all its own.

ON THE FIRING LINE. By Anna Chapin Ray, author of "By the Good Sainte Anne," etc., and Hamilton Brock Fuller. Illustrated. 289 pp. 12mo. Little, Brown & Co.

Miss Ray's success, "By the Good Sainte Anne," is followed by the present story, which opens with an interesting account of a spirited conversation between the heroine and hero on board a "liner." The conversation is of a familiar kind and makes the reader acquainted with the characters without delay, always an agreeable process. Our hero goes to Cape Town to join the "firing line." The movement is rapid and carries the characters through the usual social life of a barracks, with here and there a battle and sudden death, a series of guerrilla raids, with the inevitable little love tale which winds its way from the first to last chapter. The volume is replete with a close familiarity with the region in which the scene is laid, and a happy descriptive quality of the Boer War.

OLD MAN'S IDYL, AN. By Wolcott Johnson. 264 pp. 16m0. A. C. McClurg & Co.

An intimate, immediate, introspective account of the life of an American family, father and mother, and two daughters. Babyhood, girlhood, travel, the high-school and marriage are all reviewed from the reminiscent standpoint, between the years of 1879 and 1902, in pages cast in the form of a diary, somewhat self-conscious, but full of a naive American optimism.

ON TYBEE KNOLL. By James B. Connelly. Illustrated. A. S. Barnes & Co.

Tybee Knoll is at the mouth of the Savannah River, where the scene of this novel, part of which passes on a steam yacht, is laid. The Government operations for the sake of deepening the channel furnishes a thread upon which the story is strung.

with the object of his surveillance. The story is rife with repartee. Many complications follow each other in rapid succession, but all ends happily.

PURPLE PEAKS REMOTE.
Driver.
& Lee.

By John Merritte
Illustrated. 418 pp. 12mo. Laird

Frankly written in imitation of Opie Reade, as the dedication indicates, this romance links life in Naples, Florence and Rome with the Italian colony in Chicago. The style is exaggerated and the theme unpleasing.

VAN SUYDEN SAPPHIRES, THE. By Charles Carey. With frontispiece. 333 pp. 12mo. Dodd, Mead & Co.

A detective tale, interesting, but without a new feature. A popular actress contrives to have a necklace of rubies stolen, but at the same time a set of sapphires, family jewels, disappear. The complications that arise are manifold, and it takes some three hundred pages to clear up the mystery.

SERENA. By Virginia Frazer Boyle. With frontispiece by Elizabeth Gowdy Baker. 378 pp. 12mo. A. S. Barnes & Co.

Some interesting girls, a garrulous and pugnacious old "mammy" who does not hesitate to express her opinions in somewhat forcible dialect; a maiden lady who adopts a new doctrine and forsakes all her old-time frivolity, much to the dismay of her relatives, are the characters in this volume, with a little love story. There is an attempted duel, and the story is carried through the varying phases of the war, in which Greycoats and the Stars and Bars play their part.

STORY OF AB, THE. By Sidney Waterloo, author of "A Man and a Woman," etc. Illustrated. 351 pp. 12mo. Doubleday, Page & Co. To his earlier work on the development of the first man, the author has added a romance of the stone age, during a period when the The cave bear was still in North Europe. artist has, however, given the figure and face of the developed man instead of the sloping forehead and spindling figure of the stone age.