The December Arena conies freighted with able thoughts on living issues, and a rich supply of lighter material. A thrilling novelette, by Helen Campbell, is entitled " In the Meshes of a Terrible Spell." It deals with hypnotism and insanity, is of absorbing interest, and possesses great scientific value. Hamlin Garland gives a delightful charac ter sketch of Western life, entitled " Uncle Rip ley's Speculations." Among the great thinkers who contribute serious essays to this number, are Camille Flammarion, the distinguished French as tronomer, Prof. T. Funck-Bretano, of the Academy of Science of Paris, Rev. C. A. Bartol, D.D., Edgar Fawcett, George Stewart, D. C. L., and the Hon. David A. Wells. Admirable full-page por traits are given of J. G. Whittier and Edgar Fawcett. Perhaps the article in the December number of the Cosmopolitan, which will be read with the widest interest, is that on "Rapid Transit," • by Capt. Lewis M. Haupt, which is illustrated by every conceivable suggestion that has been made upon rapid transit. Mrs. Burton Harrison begins a new novel, " The Daughter of the South; " and another Southern article is by a gentleman who was a Confederate officer, and is entitled " Social Life in Richmond during the War." T. V. Powderly contributes an article under the Christmas heading, " On Earth, Peace, Good-Will toward Men," explaining the great progress made in the cause of humanity during the past twenty-five years. The number contains one hundred and forty illustrations, by such famous ..artists as Wilson de Meza, C. D. Gibson, Count Jacassy, Theodore R. Davis, Dan Beard, Lee Woodward Zeigler, and George Wharton Edwards. Harper's Magazine for December is a brilliant Christmas number, unrivalled in the beauty, appro priateness, and interest of its contents. It opens with a superbly illustrated article on " The Annun ciation," by Henry Van Dyke, including among its pictures reproductions from the famous paint ings of Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Vander Weyden, and others of the old masters. William McLennan, the new Canadian writer, contributes a Christmas legend, " La Messe de Minuit," which is appro priately and beautifully illustrated. Another strik ingly attractive feature of the number is a musical pastoral, " The Maid's Choice," composed and
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written by W. W. Gilchrist, and comprised in a series of eleven quaint drawings by Howard Pyle. An article which will receive much attention and provoke no little discussion is contributed by Mark Twain, and is entitled " Mental Telegraphy, — a Manuscript with a History." Shakspeare's com edy, " Measure for Measure," is beautifully illus trated from drawings by Edwin A. Abbey, and appropriately described and commented upon by Andrew Lang. Walter Besant describes " A Walk in Tudor London." The other contents are varied and interesting. The second part of Mr. James's " Chaperon" opens the Atlantic Monthly for December. This is followed by a paper (to be the first of a series of such articles) on " Joseph Severn and his Correspondents." Miss Harriet Waters Preston and Miss Louise Dodge have a paper on " A Torch-Bearer," — the torch-bearer in this instance being the Abbot of Ferrieres, by name Strvatus Lupus. There is a short story of Italian life, by Harriet Lewis Bradley; Prof. A. V. G. Allen writes sympathetically of "The Transition of New England Theology," — a paper which is based on the teachings of Dr. Hopkins; and Mr. Lafcadio Hearn continues his Japanese sketches in a paper on " The Most Ancient Shrine of Japan," — a shrine never before visited by a foreigner, and the treasures of which Mr. Lafcadio Hearn describes with his usual vivid color. The essay on " Richard Third," by the late James Russell Lowell, will be read with much interest. The Christmas Century is pervaded with the spirit of Christmas, and both directly and indi rectly touches upon the Christmas celebration. The frontispiece is a reproduction of the painting of "The Holy Family," by Du Mond, a young American artist, who presents in this picture an original conception of the subject. The number also contains engravings of modern pictures relat ing to Christmas as follows : " The Arrival of the Shepherds," by H. Lerolle (with a poem by Edith M. Thomas); " The Appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds," by P. Lagarde; " The Annunci ation to the Shepherds," by J. Bastien Lepage; "Holy Night," by Fritz Von Uhde, and a Ma donna by Dagnan-Bouveret, accompanied by a poem by Mary Dodge, entitled " An Offertory." Quite appropriate to the season also is Mr. Still
