Life — March 12, 1885 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

La Caricature. MADAME IS PREOCCUPIED, SHE IS DOUBTLESS THINK- | ING OF HER DIFFICULTIES, HER TROUBLES IN EGYPT? | Ou, NO! I WAS JUST THINKING OF WHAT ADVICE 1 HAD BETTER GIVE FRANCE. THE ROMANCE OF A PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY. HE considerably-talked-about novel “ Miss Bretherton,” by Miss Humphrey Ward, has reached a second edi- tion, and one may opportunely ask why ithas achieved popu- larity. It is certainly nothing more than one of the in- numerable literary “snowflakes on the river,” and will soon be “ gone forever.” The spirit of journalism is more and more pervading, and, to a certain extent, degrading literature. Drama, poem, novel—all are apt to be successful, commercially, in.the pro- portion that they reflect the sensation or the rage of the hour. With the passing event all these literary parasites disappear. They were merely one of the incidents of the epidemic. . . . HIS novel is one of the results of the epidemic of beau- | tiful actresses which England and America have for gome time endured. It depicts the development of the spirit of atrue artist in a woman whose first success upon the | stage was entirely due to her beauty. There is a great deal of common sense, it must be admitted, in the means by which the transformation is effected. Intelligent criticism, study of great dramatic writers, and instructions by a veteran actor | will work wonders, even outside the pages of romance. The sentiment of the book is something more than pretty, | and may even lay claim to truth; the beautiful woman por- trayed is well within the range of sympathy; her lover is an ideal hero of the intellectual type; and the morality of it all | is irreproachable. Take it all-in-all, it is quite a respectable snowflake. (Mac- millan & Co.) | - LIFE: R. E. W. Kemble has made one: hundred and seventy- four clever illustrations for “ Mark Twain's Adven- tures of Huckleberry Finn,” which enliven many a page of coarse and dreary fun. His sketches of Huck Finn and the | Negro (Jim) are carried through the series with a wonderful variety of laughable expressions, attitudes, and costumes. . . * LEXANDER JOHNSON, now professor at Prince- ton, whose little book on “ American Politics " has been invaluable to young men, has, with excellent judg- ment, compiled three volumes of “ Representative Ameri- | can Orations.” These are arranged to illustrate the principal epochs of our political development. Mr. Johnson introduces each period with a clear and brief essay. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.) . . ’ T is gratifying to notice that Woodrow Wilson’s book on “Congressional Government,” which LIFE was first to praise, is being widely read and most kindly received by the leading critical papers. The Matson compares it favorably with Bagehot’s “inestimable book " in the English Constitu- tion, Mr. Wilson, by the way, is of Southern birth, only twenty-eight years of age, a graduate of Princeton, class of | '79, and has just been elected to a professorship in the new Bryn Maur (Pa.), college. . * - UTNAM'S have begun the publication of an elegant edition in nine volumes of “ The Works of Alexander Hamilton.” No better editor than Henry Cabot Lodge could have been selected. The typography, paper and bind- ing are rich and substantial. The edition is limited to 500 copies. Drocu. BOOKS RECEIVED. Tee Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed. With memoir by the Rev. Derwent Coleridge. N. Y.: White, Stokes & Allen, Birthday Flowers, Designs by Susie B. Skelding. N. Y.: White, Stokes & Allen. Fifty Soups. By Thomas J. Murray. N. Y.: White, Stokes & Allen. The Peanut Plant; its Cultivation and Uses. By B. W. Jones, New York: Orange Judd Co. IMPROMPTU, ‘YO THREE LADIES WHO DISPUTED OVER THEIR BEAUTY, ADIES, let the riddle be! There is no way to meet it. Why, if, knowing each one’s worth, Paris came again to earth, He'd cut the apple into three— And eat it. comicbooks.com