182
"Mr. Justice Harlan, about whom less is known than of Mr. Phelps, who, at the time I mentioned and for several years after, was the American minis ter or ambassador, is a man of much more distin guished appearance. When I saw him he was on his way through to Paris to sit at the same arbitration, and he took advantage of being in London to spend a portion of a day in hearing the late Lord Coleridge trying special jury cases. Altogether, he was the finest specimen physically of any man-American I ever saw, and more closely resembled the typical English gentleman of mature age than the Ameri can."
LITERARY NOTICES. With the March issue, the Atlantic Monthly begins two important series of papers. "The Irish in American Life," by H. C. Merwin, is the first of the promised articles on " Race Characteristics in American Life." Readers of the Atlantic will re call Mr. Merwin's papers on Tammany Hall, which created so much interest at the time of their publica tion. Under the general heading " The Case of the Public School," the Atlantic will discuss the pay ment and standing of teachers throughout the coun try. Over ten thousand teachers have been requested to contribute information as the basis of these papers. The first appearing in this issue is by G. Stanley Hall, president of Clark University, Worcester, Mass. "The Presidency and Secretary Morton " is the second paper in the series of political studies, the first of which, upon '• The Presidency and Mr. Reed," appeared in the February issue.
As President Andrew's great History serial in Scribner's Magazine draws to a conclusion, the very entertaining quality of it, which has been gen erally acclaimed, is intensified. The March install ment contains a pictorial record also that is unique in magazine illustration, giving thirty-five pictures in one article — including original and very artistic views of the World's Fair, reproduced in pen draw ings of unusual beauty. The Homestead riots and the Tennessee convict troubles are also fully illustrated from instantaneous photographs. The text gives, among other striking passages, an interesting sum mary of the marvelous advance made by electricity in recent years.
The March Arena contains a magnificently illus trated paper written by Justice Walter Clark, LL.D., of the Supreme Bench of North Carolina, on " Mex ico in Mid-Winter." Incidentally the able jurist
discusses the silver question as it was brought to his attention during his recently extensive trip through out our sister republic under the auspices of The Arena. A practical and thoroughly comprehensive dis cussion of " Our Foreign Trade and Our Consular Service " is contributed to the March number of the North American Review by Charles Dudley War ner. As a strong incentive to an increasing foreign trade, Mr. Warner advocates the establishment of a permanent systemized consular service with promo tion for ability to important positions, according to fitness. L'nder the heading of " The Excise Ques tion " two carefully-prepared papers are presented. The first by the Hon. Warner Miller, who earnestly asks " What Shall We Do with the Excise Ques tion?" and the second by the Right Reverend Wm. Cogswell Doane, Bishop of Albany, who writes upon "Liquor and Law."
In McClure's Magazine for March is brought to light a speech of 1837 by Abraham Lincoln, which the biographers, until now, seemingly have known nothing of, though it contains passages still of the highest interest. For example, of politicians, Lincoln says : " A set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men. I say this with the greater freedom, because, being a politician myself, none can regard it as personal." There are also an amusingly judicious love proposal of Lincoln's, and some lively reminiscences of him as the leader in a successful manoeuvre to establish the State capital at Springfield, and as a young lawyer in that smart new town. The pictures are numerous, and include four portraits of Lincoln.
The March number of Current Literature is a marvel; it contains one hundred and three prose ar ticles and thirty-nine poems. Mere figures,do not show value, but every prose article and every poem in the number is well worth reading. The opening department contains three strong editorials on "Drink in the Public Schools," •« The Way of the Reformer," and "The Genealogy of Scientific Dis covery." Among other important articles are " Vis itors at the Gunnel Rock," a delightful story by Arthur Quiller Couch; " Chonita's Surrender," a dramatic reading from Mrs. Atherton's novel " The Doomswoman"; "In the Dead Valley," a ghost story by Ralph Adams Cram; "Forgotten Mean ings," by Alfred Waites; " Warfare of the Future," by Rene Bach; " Heine's Last Years," by Benjamin
