hosts. In this condition of mutual distrust the American army and the Filipinos watched each other across embattled walls for weeks, while our wretched Senate gabbled about abstract rights and constitutional difficulties. A chance shot, and suspicions, recriminations, threats, at once turned to musket volleys and shrapnel, and the grim work of reconciliation by the sword had begun. And now, that some sixty of our soldiers are dead, and a thousand of the Filipinos slain, there is not a dog from Maine to California too mean to howl at Aguinaldo's treachery. But our shouts of anger should be directed nearer home. The blame is not that of the poor deluded Filipino, but the men who misled him. And greatest of all is the blame of those babblers in Washington who prolonged a dangerous condition in order to hear themselves talk. The blood

guiltiness is on them. For Aguinaldo there should be but pity, and when the time comes, mercy.

"'Ceptin' Ike"

THE poem

"'Ceptin' Ike," which appeared in our last number, was given to a member of our staff by the person whose name is signed to it, as an original contribution. Several readers have written drawing our attention to the fact that this poem was published some years ago in a volume of verse entitled "Jim Marshall's New Pianner, and Other Western Stories," by William De Vere. We have asked Mr. Langan, who sent the verses to us, for an explanation, but up to the time of going to press he has made no reply.

BOOK

Thompson's Animal Stories.'

FROM out the ruck of cheap, machinemade lies about wild animals,-the same old annual parade of toothless and decrepit stories of fierce wild-cats, aggressive pumas, dueling bears and alligators, and child-stealing eagles, that have been going the rounds ever since Shem and Ham first invented them to kill time in the ark,-there emerges a collection of animal stories that are fresh as a prairie breeze, new in manner, true in matter, and altogether fine. For those who love to come close to the heart of Nature, a treat is now ready. Ernest Seton Thompson. artist, naturalist, and born story-teller, has written and illustrated a book of animal biographies; and he has struck twelve.

It is not often that a first-class artist is also a satisfactory author; but Thompson is an exception. His wonderful success as a delineator of birds and quadrupeds is largely due to the fact that he is also a diligent naturalist; and in Wild Animals I Have Known we learn that he can paint with words as

1 Wild Animals I Have Known. By Ernest Seton Thompson Two hundred illustrations. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.00.

well as with India ink and oil-colors. When you have finished reading "Lobo, the King of Currumpaw," you are ready to declare it hors concours-until you have read "Raggylugg." At the end of the volume you meet "The Pacing Mustang," and then you are tempted to pronounce this breezy story of the Southwest the best of all. For dramatic power, and literary "go," it really is; but it is not unique. Other writers have written brisk stories of hunting things, and with the same kind of photographic dissolving-view vividness; but "Raggylugg," "The Springfield Fox," "Redruff," and "Silverspot," represent something new under the sun. These are works of art; and when I think of the imitators who will quickly take up Thompson's trail, noses to the ground, and without his personal ac quaintance with wild creatures, I shudder.

These eight stories are the life histories of eight animals and their satellites, brute and human. "Lobo" was a famous wolf, with a thousand dollars reward on his head. Silverspot" was a crow, Raggylugg" was just a common cottontail rabbit (but what a story he makes!), and " Bingo" was

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the author's dog. "The Springfield Fox " furnishes us a rich bit of animal-life history; "The Pacing Mustang" and 'Wild Joe" thrill us with many a thrill. "Wully," the yaller dog, dies not a moment too soon, and brave "Redruff," the ruffed grouse, reminds us all too sadly that this beautiful species is doomed to early extermination. The life-stories of the five really wild creatures are crowded full of facts in natural history-mostly new-which are so charmingly set forth we are fain, like Oliver, to "want some more." They are simply irresistible.

The beautiful full-page plates, of which there are twenty-eight, and the one hundred and seventy-five margin pictures, add to these stories a wealth of interest that amounts to luxury. In the vernacular of the cattle plains, the artist-author has simply "turned himself loose" to produce a book in which his readers can revel. No wonder the volume has made a hit, or that it has already enjoyed the distinction of being twice actually out of print since its first appearance in October.

There is but one thing that it lacks of perfection. What a pity it is that an other

wise perfect book should be handicapped with the ragged and unkempt edges,-unsightly to the eye, and disagreeable to the touch, that in everything else produced by man or nature is the badge of poverty and dirt! How much longer will this abomina ble fad be thrust upon a patient and longsuffering public? It is a conundrum; and I give it up. W. T. Hornaday.

Ashes of Empire.'

THE second novel of Mr. Chambers's trilogy of the Franco-German war, Ashes of Empire, covers the period of the Siege of Paris by the Germans. The early days of the war, the times of Sedan and Metz are past, and the red days of the Commune are yet to come. It is rather a gray and depressing scene, beginning with the flight of the Empress and the closing in of the foreign army, carrying its length of endless and fruitless sorties, and ending with the terrors of the bombardment. Amid these scenes, Mr. Chambers plants an idyllic love tale of the ways of two war correspondents and two unprotected convent-bred French girls. There is plenty of action, abundant hairbreadth escapes, and many impossible feats. Miraculously opportune appearances are so frequent as to make the reader doubt if there could have been any people in Paris but the characters of this book; for they and they only, turn up in every scene. It is easy, too, to pick flaws in the possibilities, as, for instance, to question the verisimilitude of the last scene, where a pet lioness is taken on a honeymoon trip. But when all is said of this kind, there is a large residue of praise; the stirring scenes are vividly portrayed, the atmosphere is heavy with gunpowder, and in it the great events unroll themselves in a real Paris. No reader of flesh and blood will ever content himself short of the very last page.

French Revolution.2

ELIZABETH WORMLEY LATIMER, whose previous work in historical study has well qualified her for the task, has reproduced a series of vivid pictures of the

I Ashes of Empire. By Robert Chambers. New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Co.

2 My Scrap-Book of the French Revolution. Edited by Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. $250.

French Revolution which may well supplement many a pretentious history. For the author confesses that her scrap-book is but a compilation of the material collected in the preparation of a series of parlor lectures; but much of this material, being in manuscript form, is now published for the first time. The popularity of the compilation is shown by the fact that a second edition was called for before the plates of the first were well off the press.

Saintsbury's English Literature."

PROFESSOR GEORGE SAINTSBURY, of Edinburgh University, has outlined, in a volume of eight hundred pages, the nature and progress of English prosody and the periods of prose style from the earliest AngloSaxon times down to our own days. It is a careful and apparently accurate summary, yet comprehensive enough to enable the student to pursue any line of historical development. The table of contents and index are very complete, and make the volume a handy one for reference as well as a textbook of the subject.

Briefer Notice.

IN God's Prisoner John Oxenham has produced a weird and exciting story of crime and adventure, written in good style and with considerable originality of plot. It is not altogether a pleasant book to read, but there are enough lovers of the gruesome to make this story a probable success from the publisher's point of view.

MABEL OSGOOO WRIGHT, who has done much to make natural history interesting to children, has just published another book descriptive, in story form, of the life histories of the principal American mammals. The story is a thin thread of narrative on which the facts of animal life are loosely strung; and the interest thus created is enforced by the many excellent illustrations which Mr. Seton Thompson has supplied.

3 A Short History of English Literature. By George Saintsbury, Professor of Rhetoric and English Litera ture in the University of Edinburgh. New York and London: The Macmillan Co. $1.50.

4 God's Prisoner. By John Oxenham. New York: Henry Holt & Co. $1.00.

5 Four-Footed Americans, and Their Kin By Mabel Osgood Wright. New York and London: The Macmillan Co. $1.50.