and " The Mysterious City of Honduras," the recent discoveries in Copan, here described by the explorer, George Byron Gordon. There are also three short stories, "The Courtship of Mr. Philip Johns," by Elizabeth Carroll Shipman; "Miss' Stacy's Buryin'-Money," by Alice M. Ewell; and "Madame Butterfly," a story of unusual interest and pathos with an attractive Japanese heroine, by John Luther Long. Appi.eton's Popular Science Monthly for Janu ary contains an instructive article on " Science and Morals," by the, eminent French chemist, M. P. E. Berthelot; an article on the immigration question by Arthur H. Hyde; " Causes and Distribution of Infec tious Diseases," by Dr. George M. Stamberg, and the first installment of " Feet and Hands," by M. Bernard. Under the title " Aborigines of the West Indies," Lady Edith Blake gives an account of the natives in habiting these islands at the time of their discovery by Columbus. We have received the first number of a new jour nal, Success. Its aim is to teach that there is some thing nobler in an occupation than mere money-get ting; that a great check-book alone can never make a great man; that he may make millions and yet be a failure; that a man may be rich without money, and may succeed though he does not become Presi dent or member of Congress; that the highest achieve ment is that which results in noble manhood or noble womanhood; that there is something greater than wealth, grander than fame; that character is success, and that there is no other. It is attractively printed and illustrated and is in form not unlike the " Youth's Companion." It is published once a month.
The leading article in the January Harper's is the first installment of " Roden's Corner," a new novel, by Henry Seton Merriman. The illustrations, includ ing the frontispiece in color, will be by T. de Thulstrup. " A Group of Players," by Lawrence Button, gives an intimate view of Booth, Barret, Lester Wallack, Montague, Florence and McCulloch as they ap peared to the man of letters who was most familiar with the great American actors of the generation just past. An amusing and very sensible account of the ven tures and adventures of amateur poultry farming ap pears in " The Blazing Hencoop," by Octave Thanet. The story of Tristan and Isolde, as told by a mural painter of the fourteenth century, is the chief feature of " Frescoes of Runkelstein," by W. D. McCrackan. The stories are, " The King of Beaver," by Mary Hartwell Catherwood; "Margrave, Bachelor," by
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Clara Maynard Parker; "The Sixth Sense," by Margaret Sutton Briscoe; " Massai's Crooked Trail," written- and illustrated by Frederic Remington; "Between the Lines at Stone River," by Captain F. A. Mitchell; and " A Holiday Episode," by John C. Ochiltree.
The feature which attracts all lovers of modern romantic fiction to the January Atlantic is the first installment of Gilbert Parker's story," The Battle of the Strong," which promises to be one of his best and strongest works. It transports the reader to the historic shores of the isle of Jersey in the year 1781, on the eve of the French attack upon the island. Among the papers of universal interest are those by Edward M. Shepard upon the recent New York election, entitled, " The Political Inauguration of the Greater New York," and "The Wild Parks and Government Reservations," by John Muir. Col. T. W. Higginson's reminiscences take him to Paris in this number, where he meets and describes many notabilities. F. Hopkinson Smith's brilliant serial, "Caleb West," reaches a dramatic climax in this issue; and Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin's wise and witty " Penelope's Progress" still continues.
WHAT SHALL WE READ? This column is devoted to brief notices of recent pub lications. We hope to make it a ready-reference column for those of our readers who desire to in form themselves as to the latest and best new books. (Legal publications are noticed elsewhere.) It makes one fairly shiver to go out into our bleak New England winter air after reading Gondola Days,1 it is so steeped with all the warmth, beauty and de licious languor of the summer in Venice. The author has a peculiar faculty for making one feel the atmos phere of Venice, both in his books and his drawings. Among these sketches, we have enjoyed especially "In an Old Garden," "Along the Riva," and "Night in Venice." The book is attractively bound in red cloth, and the illustrations are photogravures from Mr. Smith's paintings. Mr. Fiske has just added another volume to his valuable series on American history. Old Virginia and her Neighbors * takes up the story where the concluding chapter of " The Discovery of America" 1 GonDola Days. By F. Hopkinson Smith. Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1897. Cloth. Si. 50.
Houghton,
2 Old Virginia anD her Neighbors, by John Fiske. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1897. Two vols. Cloth. S4.00.
