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LITERARY NOTES.
A NOVEL by Frank R. Stockton, "The Great Stone of Sardis,"1 begins in the June number of HARPER'S MAOA/INE. It ¡s a humorous romance of the twentieth century, a salient feature of which is a submarine expedition to the North Pole. The open ing article, •• A New Switzerland," written and illustrated by Edwin Lord Weeks, is an account of travels and adventures in the Dauphiné, a part of Switzerland as yet uninvaded by the tourist. "An Elder Brother to the Cliff-dwellers." by T. Mitchell Prudden, is an account of the Indian's experiment in civilization which was thwarted by the advent of the white man. •• Henry Gladwin and the Siege of Pontiac," by Charles .Moore, is an historical account of a hitherto obscure episode in American historycompiled from original sources. In " The Celebrities of the House of Commons," the first of two papers on the British Parliament, T. P. O'Connor, the bril liant Irish leader, sketches the life and character of his political contemporaries, and tells many anecdotes of parliamentary life. "Within the Eye of Honor, by George Hibbard. is a short story raising questions of social casuistry. It is illustrated by C. Dana Gibson. " Grandmother Stark " is one of the series of Lin McLean stories by Owen Wister. KOREA, that bone of contention between China and Japan, is a land of strange customs, some of which Prof. Edward S. Morse describes in the May number of AIM-LETON'S POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. '•Highway Construction in Massachusetts," is de scribed, with illustrations, by Charles L. Whittle — that is, the improved highway construction that has come in response to the modern demand for good roads. Prof. Frederick Starr begins a series of papers on scientific societies with a history of •• The Daven port (Iowa) Academy of Natural Sciences," giving portraits of its leading spirits and other illustrations. "The Latent Vitality of Seeds," which enables them to germinate after long keeping or extreme refrigera tion, is discussed by M. C. de Candolle. A HEAi'TlFUL cover in nine colors, from a design by Gorguet, the distinguished French artist, gives promise of the bright and spring-like contents of the May number of SCKIUNEK'S MAOAZINE. It launches a new kind of college article — a reminiscent and discursive account of " Undergraduate Life," old and new, which is always The College in the minds of its graduates. Edward S. Martin, one of the founders of the " Lampoon," and a graduate of '77, opens the series with Harvard. His account of the career of a typical Boston boy on his way through the social mazes of Harvard is not only amusing, but
of great value as a picture of real student life. Judge Robert Grant, who, as undergraduate, post-graduate and law student, spent a decade at Harvard, gives his reminiscences of •• Harvard College in the Seventies." Princeton will be exploited in the June number by James W. Alexander, and Yale in the July by Judge Henry E. Howland. H. J. Whigham, the amateur champion in America, contributes an article on '•Golf," which is almost free from technicalities and full of valuable points for the beginner or the expert. What he has to say about links will surprise most American golfers. May is the drawing-room month in London, and C. D. Gibson describes and pictures it in his fourth article. A presentation at Court is pictured for the first time from life by an American artist. Mr. Davis's "Soldiers of Fortune" has reached its dramatic climax in the description of the Revolution and flight of the President's wife. It is the strongest piece of writing Mr. Davis has ever done, and shows him a larger man in a literary way than even his admirers anticipated. THE CENTURY for May contains a group of three papers dealing in an authoritative way with a fresh topic — the scientific uses of kites. Mr. J. B. Millet writes on "Scientific Kite-Flying," with special reference to the experiments at the Blue Hill Observa tory, near Milton, Mass. Mr. William A. Eddy writes of " Photographing from Kites," giving an account also of his experiments in telephoning and telegraphing through lines suspended from kites — the first known experiments of the sort. Lieut. -Gen. Schofield con tributes the first of his records of unwritten history, his article dealing this month with " The Withdrawal of the French from Mexico," and including an impor tant letter from Gen. Grant to Gen. Sheridan showing the attitude of the United States government towards the French invasion. Affairs in the East are treated in an article on "Crete, the Island of Discord," by Demetrius Kalopothakes, a Greek writer educated in America, now resident in Athens, and in a paper on "The Royal Family of Greece," by Prof. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, late of the American School of Athens, who writes from personal acquaintance with King George and the Greek princes. THE June number of the NATIONAL MAGAZINE contains an illustrated article of unique interest which gives an account of the well-known verses of " Mary Had a Little Lamb," together with a por trait and a life of the woman who was the Marv. The sketcli is written by a niece of this lady. " Anti toxin; a Modern Triumph," by Dr. H. B. Boulden, an illustrated article on the new discoverv, also appears in this number.
