We prefer Dr. Holland’s stories to his essays. He possesses fine descriptive powers; his genial humor captivates the reader; his power of analysis is searching. No one can read Nicholas Minturn without recognizing the author’s ability to lay bare the vices and follies of the various classes with whom his hero is brought in contact. In doing this, however, Dr. Holland is apt to forget their redeeming virtues. This is his great fault as a novelist. He lacks the power to vitalize the subtle traits that appeal to our humanity. There is no bond of union between his people and us. He is unable to centralize our interest. When disaster overtakes the ocean steamer there is not a single figure to start out from the group and wring a groan of compassion from us. We listen to the wailing of despair and the shriek of terror with as much apathy as if it arose from a distant battle-field. In all other respects the story is far superior to the great mass of light literature.
The Eternal Years. By the Hon. Mrs. A. Montgomery, author of The Divine Sequence, also The Bucklyn Shaig, Mine Own Familiar Friend, The Wrong Man, On the Wing, etc. With an introduction by the Rev. S. Porter, S.J. London: Burns & Oates. 1877.
The Eternal Years is a republication of a series of articles from The Catholic World. A number of thoughtful readers of our magazine have expressed the great interest with which they have read those articles and their desire to know the name of the author. They will be pleased to see that they are now published in a volume under their author’s name. On the Wing will be remembered as having been one of the most popular of the series of sketches taken from scenes in European life and incidents of travel which we have from time to time published. Mrs. Montgomery possesses a very versatile talent as a writer, and passes with facility “from grave to gay, from lively to severe.” Whatever she writes is always both instructive and pleasing.
The Sunday-School Teacher’s Manual; or, The Art of Teaching Catechism. For the use of teachers and parents. By the Rev. A. A. Lambing, author of The Orphan’s Friend. New York: Benziger Brothers. 1877.
Father Lambing has done for Sunday-school teachers what M. Amond, the curé of St. Sulpice, and Father Porter have done for those engaged in the sacred ministry of the pulpit.
This manual, written in a clear and popular style, supplies a need that should have been more felt than it was. It gives those in charge of Sunday-schools a true idea of their very important mission, a deep sense of the responsibility that rests upon them, points out the various qualifications necessary for the faithful discharge of their duties, and contains many useful instructions which will aid them in becoming effective catechisers.
Iza: A Story of Life in Russian Poland. By Kathleen O’Meara. London: Burns & Oates. 1877. (New York: The Catholic Publication Society Co.)