Life — August 13, 1885 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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-+ LIFE: ADVICE. (MATER LOQUITUR.) I E's young, you say ; the world 's before him. He has his brain, a good one, too. We'll let that pass. You'd best ignore him, He's surely not the man for you. My dear, pray look for talents double— Talents of mind and meta/, too. They say love thrives with want and trouble ; It isn’t true ! There, there, Miss! Now, no tears or wailing. When you have lived as long as I You 'll find that life is easy sailing, Provided you 've a proper eye To business and cash transactions. You'll find that Love 's a fickle fool In practice as he is in actions— Unfit to rule, He isn’t worth consideration Who isn’t worth a single sou. Though poverty 's no degradation, I'll tell you frankly, of the two, Look out for family and money ; Do n't meddle, dear, with love or brains, And when we catch this g¢/ded sonny, J'Ul take the reins. William S. Case. WHY WE ADMIRE OLD SILAS LAPHAM. R. HOWELLS has brought “ The Rise of Silas Lap- ham" to a logical and entirely comfortable conclu- sion. True it is that the honest old paint-dealer succumbs to financial difficulties and never disports himself in the glories of the magnificent mansion on the Back Bay. But we are left to feel that much of the dross of his character took flight with his riches, and that the somewhat broken old man, who retires to the homestead from which he set out on his career, is an altogether finer being than the mil- lionaire paint king. . . . I* estimating the measure of the novelist’s success in this creation these things must be counted to his credit: he has made the central figure of his story an old man, un- romantic, lacking refinement, a braggart, with many frailties, vulgarly rich—and yet the most notable character of recent fiction, ennobled by his transcendent honesty and unpreten- tious sincerity. To have done this is the greatest achieve- ment of Mr. Howells. By way of contrast one thinks of that other pre-eminent old man, Colonel Newcome, courtly, brave, lovable and kind, the best type of a true gentleman—the antithesis of Silas Lapham, and yet having in common with him the one trait of unswerving honesty that makes both heroes. * . . i is not possible to dismiss the book without a word of praise for Bromfield Corey. His wit is as delicate as the odor of arbutus, and yet as pungent as ammonia. His satire is as severe toward himself as toward others. It is refining and elevating to hear him gently and yet mercilessly laugh at his own weakness and the foibles of his very re- spectable relatives. There is a great sea between Silas Lapham and Bromfield Corey, but Mr. Howells has thoroughly explored both shores. . . * GLIMPSE is given in the August Century of a very notable contribution to biography, history and politics which is soon to be published—the life of William Lloyd Garrison, by his sons, ‘This work, which is now in press, will fill two large and elegantly printed volumes. It is, in effect, a history of the anti-slavery movement of which Gar- rison was the inspiration and the accepted leader. A high literary quality and unusual accuracy of statement are assured in the work by the fact that its authors are skilled men of letters, one of them having been literary editor of the Nation for many years. * * . HE Scribner's offer to lovers of out-door sport three instructive and entertaining books—a concise and suggestive hand-book on “ Lawn Tennis as a Game of Skill,” by Lieutenant S. C. F. Peile, of England, with notes by an American expert, R. D. Sears ; a spirited and graphic narra- tive of the races for “ The America’s Cup,” from 1851 to the’ present day, by Captain R. F. Coffin, who saw all the con- tests except the first; and the humorous narrative of “A Canterbury Pilgrimage,” from the Tabard Inn to the shrine of Thomas 4 Becket, on a tandem tricycle, by Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, with many clever sketches by the former. Droch. BOOKS RECEIVED. "HE AMERICA'S CUP. How it was won by the Yacht America, in 1851, and has been since Defended. By Captain Roland F. Coffin, Illustrated. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Ridden, written and illustrated by A Canterbury Pilgrimage. 4 Robins New York : Charles Scribner's Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell. Sons, Lawn Tennis as a Game of Skill, with latest revised laws as played by the best clubs. By Lieut. S.C. F. Peile, B.S.C. Edited by Rich- ard W, Sears. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Aulnay Tower. Boston : Ticknor & Co. By Blanche Willis Howard. THE CURSE OF WEALTH.—“ The public be damned.” Ir'is the turncoat who sees the seamy side of political life comicbooks.com