ON the question of how to save the fur seals the REVIEW OF REVIEWS takes the ground that President Jordan's recommendations should be heeded at once, and that, without waiting for England's sanction, the United States should absolutely prohibit American citizens from engaging at any season of the year in the taking of seals in the open sea. All who remember Mr. Stephen Bonsai's brilliant services last winter as Cuban war correspondent to the New York -Herald" will be interested in his statement of " The Real Condition of Cuba To-day." The editor declares that the charter of the Greater New York, as passed by the legislature, is "a practical impossibility." The limitation of the mayor's power of removal to six months makes the charter, in Dr. Shaw's opinion, a huge piece of folly. "With that limitation re moved, objectionable as the instrument would remain in many respects, it would not be — what it now is for practical purposes — a self-evident absurdity." There is also a brilliant character sketch of M. Hanotaux, the French Chancellor, written by the Baron Pierre de Coubertin. THE complete novel in the May issue of LIPPINCOTT'S is "Jason Hildreth's Identity." "A Star Route Case," by Mary E. Stickney, is a tale of old days in the West, when mailcoaches were "held up" by agents of their owners. Joseph A. Altsheler, in " My Pennsylvanian," deals humorously with a supposed incident of the Revolutionary War. Alva Fitzpatrick traces the fortunes of certain " French Pioneers in America," i. e. Napoleonic exiles who came to Alabama after the downfall of the empire. Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer writes of the '• Begin nings of Liberty in New York," questioning some as sertions of S. G. Fisher.
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told. A voluminous correspondence shows how the man endeared himself to all who knew him, and Mrs. Lathrop relates many interesting incidents never be fore published. MESSRS. DEVOLFE, FISKE & Co. will publish shortly a book entitled Samuel Scwall and the ¡I'orlii He Lived Jn, by N. H. Chamberlain, author of "Autobiography of a New England Farmhouse." The author has gathered his material from the old Boston and New England life of 1630-1730. A number of interesting Sevvall portraits and other illus trations, for the most part published now for the first time, lend a picturesque value to the work. A Transatlantic Chatelaine* by Helen Choate Prince, is an interesting story of an American girl who marries a descendant of one of the oldest fami lies in France and whose money is used to build up the family fortunes. One of the characters disapproves strongly of international marriages, asserting that an American cannot realize the strong hold that the traditions and rank of the old families have on the minds of their descendants. Love has no part or place in these marriages on the part of the husband, his only idea being to keep up the family name and state. The story is strongly and well written and demonstrates that the author is a worthy descendant of her illustrious grandfather, Rufus Choate. The Wisdom of Fools 3 is a collection of stories by Margaret Deland, having a slight connecting thread. They deal with questions that trouble us all at times, questions which cannot be decided for the multi tude, but which each one of us must decide according to his conscience. They are well and strongly writ ten, and leave an impression on one's mind not easily to be effaced, — which is more than most of the prevalent short stories do. •
WHAT SHALL WE READ? NEW LAW-BOOKS.
This column is devoted to brief notices of recent pub lications, ll'e hope to make it a ready-reference column for those of our readers who desire to in form themselves as to the latest and best new books. (Legal publications are noticed elsewhere.) Ix Memories of Hawthorne,* Mrs. Lath гор pays a sweet tribute to her father and lays the reader under a lasting obligation for an opportunity to join, as it were, the family circle and see what a lovable man the great writer was. We are not over fond of memoirs, but we could linger for hours over this simple story of Hawthorne's life, so delightfully is it 1 MEMORIES OF HAWTHORNE. By Rose Hawthorne I.athrop. Iloughton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1897. Cloth. fl.OO.
AMERICAN NEGLIGENCE REPORTS. VOL. i. Nos. i and 2. A Monthly Report of all Current Cases in Negligence. Edited by JOHN M. GARDNER of the New York Bar. Remick & Schilling, New York. Price per volume, $5.50. The plan of these Reports is to furnish in a con venient form promptly each month all the current decisions upon the subject of negligence (commencing January, 1897), reporting the novel and more impor3A TRANSATLANTIC CHATELAIXK. by Helen Choate Prince. Houghton, Mifflm & Co., lioston and New York, 1897. Cloth. $1.25. 8 THE WISDOM OF FOOLS, by Margaret Deland. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1897. Price, $1.25.
