China. By Prof. R.K. Douglas, of the British Museum. Edited by Arthur Gilman, M.A. Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.50. This volume comes just at a time when there is a strong demand for something brief, exact and authoritative in the way of Chinese history. Current events have brought China before the world as one of the really great powers, and one which in time will be able not only to defend herself against the aggressions of other nations but will be perfectly able to take the offensive should occasion require. In the arts of diplomacy the Chinese are a match for the keenest statesman of Europe, and since the beginning of the present troubles with France they have developed a military talent which is perfectly surprising. With the growth of the military spirit it would not be strange if, in the course of the next generation China should hold as distinct and important a place among the warlike powers as France or England.
The author of the volume before us had exceptional advantages for making such a book as just now the public demand and need. He was for several years a resident of China in an official capacity, and studied the people and their mode of life from actual observation. In preparing the book he also freely availed himself of the labors of others where they seemed capable of adding value to the narrative. In his preface he acknowledges his indebtedness to Doctor Legge's "Chinese Classics," Archdeacon Gray's work on "China," Doolittle's "Social Life of the Chinese," Denys's "Chinese Folklore," Mayers's "Chinese Reader's Manual," Sir John Davis's "Poetry of the Chinese," as well as to the important linguistic, religious and topographical writings of Doctor Edkins of Peking, and particularly to the late Professor S. Wells Williams, of Yale College, whose work on the Middle Kingdom contains more information of value than any other single volume in our language.
The various chapters of the work deal with the history of the empire in brief, its government, religions, its educational system, the nurture of the young, superstitions, funeral and wedding rites, the language, food and dress, honors, architecture, music, medicine and other subjects. It has been critically read by the young Chinese scholar, Mr. Yan Phou Lee, of Yale College, who has suggested a few notes. Its completeness is added to by an analytic table of contents and an index.
In the Woods and Out. By Pansy. Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.00. In the score or more of short stories which make up this volume Pansy is at her best. She never writes for the mere sake of filling up, but always, in the briefest of her sketches, she has something worth telling and worth remembering. There isn't a thing in the book which will not be read twice, and certain of the stones will be perennial favorites with the younger class of readers.
PHILOSOPHIÆ QUÆSTOR.
The seeker of philosophical truth, which is described as the shadowy figure of a young girl, is, throughout, very expressive of desire and appreciation. The impressions she receives are those to which such a condition are most sensitive—the higher and more refined ones—and the responsive thoughts concern the nature and character of what is heard or felt. The elevation into classic importance of Concord, its philosophers, and its School of Philosophy is due to the influence of their history and teachings in American literature, and it is pleasant to recognize in this work such reverence of their classicism. Mrs. Anagnos has written a prose poem in which the last two sessions of the Concord School of Philosophy, which include that in memory of Emerson, and its lecturers excite her feeling and inspire her thought. It is sung in lofty strains that resemble those of the sacred woods and fount, and themselves are communicative of their spirit. It will be welcomed as an appropriate souvenir.—Boston Globe.
OUR NATIONAL FINANCES.
Mr. J.K. Upton used to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Few men, therefore, have had better opportunities to inform themselves about our national finances. His volume, Money in Politics, published by D. Lothrop & Co., price $1.25, is a full history of the financial policy and legislation of this country. It is of the utmost value as a record, a book of reference, and an expression of sound theories. The intelligent reader cannot repress a feeling of shame that our national history in respect to finance should have been characterized by such continual bungling. The saddest feature in the case is the crass ignorance which Congress usually has displayed. Much of our legislation about money matters has been the merest experimenting, if not worse than this—the deliberate effort to enrich some one class of business men at the expense of the nation.