GIFT-BOOKS.
FOUR BOOKS FOR THE SEASON.*
MR. CLARK RUSSELL'S fascinating sea-stories have an equally fascinating supplement in this "Story of the Ship." A certain literary etiquette compels the author of such a book to go back to the beginning, but it is a fact that though much has been written, little is really known' about the ships of the remote past. The Ark is, indeed, conceivable—her dimensions corresponding nearly with those of a modern steamer—and we are not required to meet the great difficulty of propulsion ; she simply had to float. The Homeric ship, again, is easily realised, as is also the merchantman in which St. Paul suffered shipwreck. But the great warships of the Greeks offer a very difficult problem to the inquirer. We could have solved it, if time had only spared us a specimen, as it has of the Viking craft, one found in Denmark some half-century ago going back as far, it is supposed, OA the fifth century. She might be described as a "racing eight," with some 15 ft. more of length, and built on sturdier lines, but so that she could move under the oarsmen's strokes "as fast as a gale of wind could have driven her." When we come down to the great age of maritime discovery, we do not find that the art of shipbuilding has improved as much as might have been expected. The famous craft in which Columbus crossed the Atlantic was probably far less easy to handle and less seaworthy than Catullus's yacht. She was probably not the best specimen of her time, for the great dis- coverer had to take what he could get, the shipowners of the day keeping back their best. "Her figure," says Mr. Clark Russell, "was that of a cask, sawn in half length-wise, and raised up at both ends." Such a craft could sail before the wind, but she could not be as careless as the famous Roman yacht laeva sive dextera Vocaret aura. As to beauty, the highest point was probably reached in the frigates of the early years of the century. But beauty in the ship, be it of war or of peace, is a thing of the past. The fair creations of the shipwright and the sailmaker's art have, as our author pathetically says, "gone beyond the horizon to their graves, and haunt the ocean only as phantoms to the contemplative mind." But the modern ship is well worth reading about, and seeing too, for she has great practical qualities which more than make up for what has been lost. A great Atlantic liner is about as grand a specimen of human achievement as the world has ever seen.
Mrs. Miln's Little Folk of Many Lands is so interesting, in many respects so delightful a volume, that we should be sorry not to give it a prominent place in our survey of the books that are intended, in the first place, to amuse and instruct the young. But we do it with not a little misgiving, and we emphatically warn the elders that it is a thing to be used with discretion. It should not be put too freely into the hands of • children or young people, and, if read aloud, it must be read with caution. Some of the things which Mrs. Miln permits herself to say, considering the audience which she is supposed to be ad- dressing, are quite astonishing. Some of these things may be true, as in the chapter on the Esquimaux, but are most certainly out of place; some are, we beieve, absolutely mistaken, as the utterances hostile to missions. Mrs. Miln may be a very great authority, though we confess ourselves to be ignorant
(1.) The Ship: her Story. By W. Clark Russell. London : Chiitto and Windus. .]—(2.) Little Folk of Many Lands. By L. J. Milo. London : J.
Murray. 12&]—( m
3.) Under the Cactus Flag. By Nora A. South. London : Gay and Bird. [Sa.]--(4.) In the Mahdi's Grasp. By G. Manville Fenn. Leaden: SW. Partridge and Co. [is.) of her credentials, but we prefer to believe Carey anii Marshman, Moffat and Livingstone, and the Selwyns, father and son. The "blight of missionary-bred civilisation" is one of her phrases. What has she got to say of the civilisation of the trader without the missionary P But enough of this,—let us pass to the merits of the book, and these are both many and great. The chapters num- ber twenty-three, and they deal with the characteristics, the outward aspects, and, as far as it can be given, the inwardness of child life in almost every part of the world. Mrs. Miln flits about, with an errancy that produces a number of effective contrasts, from East to West, from North to South. " Pickaninnies," by which she means the negro children of the Southern States, are the subject of the first chapter. The little blacks are followed by Bretons, the Bretons again by the Burmese. Esquimaux are grouped with Arabs, and Hindoos with Norwegians. It is difficult, it is almost impossible, to indicate a preference for one chapter over another. Sometimes, however, the subject is leas familiar. Perhaps the Chinese and the Sicilian little folk are among the most effective figures. Mrs. Miln's pen has been helped, we should say, to excellent effect, by photography. Almost all the pictures are good, and some are of the first quality. Among the quaintest and most picturesque is "A Hindoo Bridegroom," a child who, were he not obviously too young, might be going to the fancy dress ball at the Mansion House. Why "a Chinese literati" ? and why " Scavolia " for " Scae- vola," and " Georgias " for " Gorgias "?
Miss Nora A. Smith gives us a really charming novelty in Under the Cactus Flag. The cactus flower with an eagle, it should be explained, is a Mexican symbol. Mary Annesley is compelled by stress of domestic circumstances to leave her home in California to become a " school-marm " in Mexico. Mary finds it comparatively easy to make up her mind to go, but to get there,—there was the rub. She has an awful stage- journey in reaching Mexico, and when she is across the frontier she finds herself in that magic atmosphere where to-morrow is as good as to-day, and better. However, at last she makes her way to Ceritas, in Sonora, and opens school. Her experiences are delightful,—at least to read. The roll of the children's names is a treat in itself, with such names as Telesforo Cortez, Trinidad de la Garcia, and Dolores de In Montana, for the school is a mixed one of boys and girls, a new experience in Mexico. Passionate little creatures, volcanoes covered with flowers, the children are at once a
delight and a plague. Happily for her, the teacher has the blue eyes and rosy cheeks which take Southern hearts by storm, and she gains devotees who think nothing too good for her. Of course the devotion goes beyond the school precincts. One day the " school-tuarm " is telling a story to some of her girl admirers, who are sitting in an en- chanted circle at her feet, when her host rides up with a cer- tain sentimental-looking Don Raim undo Altamirano, com- monly known as the "Knight of the Rueful Countenance." "Raimundo," says his companion, in one of those delightful Spanish proverbs which engross all the wisdom of the race, "if there's snow on the plain, how must it be on the moun- tain ? " But " snow " is not quite the right word. Of course there are drawbacks in this idyllic Mexican life. First there is a sharp touch of winter, for which the Mexican makes no kind of provision, and there is a revolution, in which Don Raimondo, who is the wealthiest man in the neighbourhood, is captured and held to ransom. In the tale there are Indians also, not at first hand, for that, we suppose, would be an anachronism, but in a thrilling "Tale of the Grateful Squaw." In the end, however, circumstances change, and Mary goes away, and Raimundo has the last word with Hasta /a vista, the Spanish for "Au revoir."
Mr. Manville Fenn is one of the best tale-writers of the day. He has a peculiar art of being, or at least seeming to be, an expert, whatever his theme, or wherever the scene of his story may be laid. Possibly a critic who had gone through the Sondanese campaigns might find this or that detail incor- rect, but to one who has not had that advantage the illusion seems uncommonly complete. News comes to London that a young Englishman whose death at the hands of the Mahdi's followers had been reported is yet alive, and a party of his kinsfolk sets out to rescue him. The most prominent and important member of the expedition is a great Londou
surgeon. It is he who is to be the chief instrument of deliverance, and he is equal to the task. He works what looks like a miracle of healing oa a Baggara chief, and another cure almost more marvellous upon the chief's son. The scene in which these achievements are described is in Mr. Fenn's best manner. It was no common trial of the great surgeon's nerve. It is no small thin_ 'o be calm when the patient's life hangs in the balance, but it is a very great thing indeed when not only his life, but your own also and your friend's are in suspense. The interest rises, perhaps, to its height at this part, but the tale is throughout of excellent qnality in point of construction and vivid description.
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