In spite of the "purpose" of the story, it will be found decidedly entertaining, much more interesting than might be expected. Joseph Smith, his new Bible of golden plates, his wife and baby, Susannah the doubter, and all the other unique American characters, catch and hold the reader's interest from the first chapter onwards. Moreover, Miss Dougall knows how to gain the reader's sympathy for her characters—a point at which many writers fail.

It would be hard to conceive a greater contrast than there is between the two volumes of short stories published recently by William Briggs. Henry Cecil Walsh is fanciful, wordy, diffuse, and very seldom dramatic. W. A. Fraser is crisp, intense, concentrated, picturesque, and always dramatic. Mr. Walsh describes all the little details which are of importance, and then all those which are of no importance. If Mr. Fraser condescends to chronicle a detail, he gives it a significance which raises it above the ordinary level. Mr. Walsh stretches out his stories through thousands of words, and you read on and on, only to find that when he has finished there is no story. Mr. Fraser's tales are active from the start, event succeeds event, his personages are always moving, and the expected does not always happen.

"The Eye of a God," which is the title of Mr. Fraser's volume, contains six stories, four from far-away India, and two from the Canadian Northwest. Mr. Fraser has lived in these districts, and he speaks as one having knowledge. Take this extract from the speech of a Medicine Man :

He

"Then they drove him forth in anger, and he stood again where the trail forks. turned to the left, and journeyed along until the smell of the sweet-grass and the sage smote upon his nostrils, and he knew that he was coming to the Happy Hunting-Ground of his own people, the Indians.

"Like the noise of the wings of the great birds that make the thunder was the sound of the hoofs of the Buffalo, that were even as the sands of the river, as the spirits of the Happy Hunting-Ground ran them in the chase."

Here we have the sweet-grass, the sage, the fork in the trail, the thunderbirds, the happy hunting-ground-all these crowded pictures of a life which must be seen to be understood. That is Mr. Fraser's secret. He is a story-teller, but he is more. He is an artist and a traveller. He has seen. Many of us are travellers, but not all of us have seen. But there is no need of praising this new volume, as five or six of Mr. Fraser's tales have already appeared in THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE; moreover, his stories have won him a leading place among the writers of to-day in both New York and London. As for Mr. Walsh, his attempt is a good one. He has lived a narrow life, but he has seen the French Canadian. He knows Quebec and the Quebecers very well indeed. That he does not describe them better in "Bonhomme : French Canadian Stories and Sketches," is because he lacks force and humour -and without these two, few men have won fame in any calling. However, there have been many worse stories published than "A Crown Courier," and "The Onion in the Wheel-Rut," two of this collection, and there have been much worse illustrations than those by Mr. Brymner.

THE BLACK DOUGLAS.

S. R. Crockett's stories are usually cheerful, but "The Black Douglas" (Toronto: Morang) is a decided exception. It is gruesome, forbidding, and at times revolting. Gilles de Retz, a more central figure in the story than the Black Douglas, is a hideous Frenchman of the fifteenth century, whose chief occupation is

the sacrifice of innocent children, youths and maidens to the Devil, and the drinking of their blood, in the vain hope that he may live forever. In the last fifty pages of the book his charnel-house is discovered, and we are blandly informed that "these vague forms, mostly charred like half-burned wood, these scraps of white bone, these little crushed skulls, were all that remained of the innocent children who, in the freshness of their youth and beauty, had been seduced into the fatal castle of Machecoul." There are twenty sacks full of these bones, and twenty more waiting to be filled. This is followed up by the almost completed sacrifice of two Scotch maidens and one Scotch lad-who are rescued only after the reader had been fully harrowed by the preparations made for their intended torture.

S. R. Crockett has taken the name of the Black Douglas in vain. The first half of the story is occupied with a history of his life and his death, and there the tale should have ended. What follows is no part of the tragedy in which he played so magnificent a part. When the hero of a story dies, is married,

or performs the highest duties of which he is capable, his story is closed. afterwards use his good name under which to describe one of the vilest of human beings is not fair to the hero or to his admirers.

Should any person prone to read of sensational occurrences or soul-moving horrors and atrocities, ask me if I should recommend "The Black Douglas, my answer would be in the affirmative. To the man or woman desirous of reading only what is pleasant, artistic or elevating, I would say "Shun it as you would an immoral story or a fourth-rate play." Every event may be justified by history, but their description cannot always be justified by common sense. The latter half of the book could only be equalled by the description in a New York daily newspaper of an unusually revolting murder. We have enough of the vulgar and debasing in our present life, without being called upon to revel in the vices and viciousness of past centuries.

ར

A BOOK OF TRAVELS.

It is a relief to turn occasionally from the omnipresent love-story, and from the omniscient manufacturer of possible and impossible romances to a thoroughly wholesome book dealing with sane adventure. William Briggs has done well to give us a Canadian edition of "The Cruise of the Cachalot," a story of a trip around the world after sperm whales. The book, during the past few months, has attracted much attention in England and Rudyard Kipling has written the following letter to his fellow author :

DEAR MR. BULLEN:

"It is immense-there is no other word. I never read anything that equals it in its deepsea wonder and mystery; nor do I think that any book before has so completely covered the whole business of whale fishing, and at the same time given such real and new sea pictures. You have thrown away material enough to make five books, and I congratulate you most heartily. It's a new world that you have opened the door to.

Rottingdean, Nov. 22, 1898.

Very sincerely,

RUDYARD KIPLING.

This story of the methods and dangers of the South Sea whale fishers is decidedly interesting, and worthy of the generous praise which Mr. Kipling has given.

MR. DOOLEY'S HUMOUR.

Mr. Dooley's talks in book form are not so attractive as in an occasional article in a newspaper. To get him all at once is to become satiated with him.

True, he is clever, witty and wise-but with all these qualities, he is digestible only in small doses. Mr. F. P. Dunne, a Chicago journalist, has made a decided discovery in his new style of humour. It was a timely discovery. Mark Twain, Bill Nye, Artemus Ward, and even our own Sam Slick, had been relegated to the back shelves of public favour. Mr. Dunne not only used his American-Irish friend to great advantage in producing humour, but he infused into the genial gentleman's remarks a satire and a sagacity which won public approval. He spoke the people's thoughts with a pointedness, a directness and a humorous turn which made these thoughts doubly acceptable to the people who were thinking them. They laughed and said "Right you are, Mr. Dooley," and if Mr. Dooley had not been right, even his wit and humour would not have made him famous. Whether Mr. Dunne's volume will be classed as "literature" in the blue books, does not really matter; the world of readers laughs, is happy -and forgets.

"The Anglo-American Magazine " for April (Vol. I., No. 3), contains "From The Great Lakes to the Ocean," by Captain Gillmore, of Ottawa, "An Open Door with Canada," by Erastus Wiman, "The Yukon Territory," by Thomas Crahan, and much other interesting material. Capt. Gillmore's article deals with the proposed canal between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa, a project which he approves with much enthusiasm.

"The Godhood of Man" is the title of a book by a Chicago man who does not approve the present religious ideas of the English-speaking Christians, because they lead to inequalities and give too much importance to church and state.

"Light Amid the Shadows" is the title of a small volume of devotional verse by Annie Clarke, a Canadian. Some of these are bright, and all exhibit a high degree of religious spirituality. (Toronto: The Revell Co.)

"Susannah," by Mary E. Mann (Unwin's Colonial Library), is a lengthy story of considerable merit. Susannah's father dies penniless, and his daughters must live with their relatives. Susannah has a difficult time with a charitymad London widow, and later on as a maid-of-all-work in a lodging house. She bears her hard luck with equanimity, and it serves but to make her strong. Of course, the knight appears in due time, and everbody is happy.

Mr. David Boyle is an antiquarian who has done much for Canadian history. He has just presented to the Minister of Education for Ontario-at the latter's expense-an exhaustive report on the Iroquois Pagans and Paganism of the Grand River Reserve. Mr. Boyle deals very generously with his subject. Rites, dances, myths, legends, festivals, music, customs, and other matters connected with the archæology and ethnology of this once famous race of redmen, are carefully discussed. Of course, the report will be read by only about a dozen people, but that does not lessen its bulk or its value. (Published by the Ontario Government.)

Any person interested in municipal reform will find the New York Quarterly, "Municipal Affairs," a very valuable work of reference. It is published at 52 William Street.

On June 1st Armour & Co., of Chicago, close their thousand dollar competition for the best finished coloured design (single or serial), for a 1900 art calendar. This competition has attracted much attention among Canadian artists, and several are sending designs. The effect of the modern style of advertising upon art is something which cannot be overlooked. Advertisers are certainly making the artists' calling much more lucrative.

"The Trail of the Sword," by Gilbert Parker, has been translated into French by N. Le Vasseur, and is published by Frank Carrel, Quebec, at fifty cents.

The New Brunswick Historical Society, of which S. D. Scott, of St. John, is President, and Jonas Howe, Corresponding Secretary, has published the fourth number of its Collections. The material included is very valuable indeed, and reflects much credit on the Society. Dr. Ganong's work in this connection is worthy of special mention.

Mr. Henry J. Morgan has bought back the publishing rights of "The Canadian Parliamentary Companion," which he founded in 1862. Mr. Morgan will soon get out a new issue which, it is said, will be a decided improvement on any previous annual effort.

The Longman Colonial Library contains nearly all of H. Rider Haggard's novels. The latest issue is "Swallow," a tale of the Boer and Kaffir, particularly of the great Trek of 1836. It is an historical novel with plenty of killing and dying.

The Macmillan Sixpenny Series has been increased by a selection of the poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The selections include "Locksley Hall" and "In Memoriam." This is a splendid volume to slip into the summer holiday portmanteau.

THE FOUNDER OF HALIFAX.

To the Editor of the CANADIAN MAGAZINE.

SIR,-Permit me to invite your attention to a palpable error in Mr. J. Taylor Wood's article on Halifax in the April number of the CANADIAN MAGAZINE. It was not Lord Cornwallis, as therein stated, who commanded the expedition sent to Chebucto Bay by the English Government in 1749, and which resulted in the foundation of the city of Halifax, but another member of that well-known family, namely, Colonel (afterwards. Lieutenant-General) the Honourable Edward Cornwallis. He became the first Governor of the Colony, and was afterwards Governor of Gibraltar. He died in 1776 while holding the lastnamed appointment. I might further say that the 8th of June was for a long time regarded as the date of the foundation of Halifax, and on that day in 1849 the centenary of the foundation of the city was celebrated. According to McCord, however ("Handbook of Cana

Ottawa, April 8, 1899.

dian Dates,") the correctness of the date came to be questioned, and, in 1862, correspondence between the Celebration Committee and the Commissioner of Public Records (the late Dr. Akins) led to the production by him of a letter written by Colonel Cornwallis, in which he stated that he had arrived in Halifax Harbour on the 21st of June. A proclamation by the Governor then appeared in the Royal Gazette, appointing the 21st of June, 1862, as the anniversary of the settlement of Halifax, and on that day it has ever since been observed. But, although Cornwallis did arrive in Chebucto Bay on the 21st of June, it was only with his suite, on board the sloop of war Sphinx. The first of the transports carrying the settlers did not appear until the 27th, and it was not before the 30th of June that the settlers landed, and that Halifax was founded.

Henry J. Morgan.