Byways of Nature and Life. By Clarence Deming. (G. P.
Putnam's Sons, New York.)—Mr. Deming has collected here some reminiscences of travel and sport contributed during the course of recent years to the columns of the New York Evening Post. Five of the thirty-two papers refer to England. Among other things, Mr. Deming saw the election at Northampton when Mr. Bradlaugh was elected the last time but one, and testifies to the good-humour of the mob, which, "considering the amount of drunkenness," be says, "could hardly have been equalled by an American rabble under similar conditions." "London in a Fog" is another of the author's English experiences. Among the other papers, we may mention several papers on fishing, a sport to which the author's heart is certainly given, notably one on " Deep Fishing in Tropic Seas" and "Catching the Grayling," the scene of the latter being Michigan. In the former, mention is made of the "water-glass," a contrivance by which, in those clear seas, the boatmen see down to the depth of a hundred feet. It is a "window-pane," set in a box with handles, and makes a calm surface. Another good paper is "Silver Spring," a locality which we remember to have seen described in a charming Christmas book from the other side of the Atlantic. "A Jolly Fellowship" makes the subject of another paper. Among the rest, we may mention "The Old College Ball-Ground" and "The Father of Waters." In "The Southern Planter" we have a strange picture of life. Among thirty fellow-passengers in a Mississippi boat, three were murderers. One of these had shot down a man who had insulted his wife. He was brought up before the mayor of a Mississippi town, and dis- charged. The second was a debtor, who had shot a troublesome creditor. He had been tried and acquitted by an Arkansas jury. The third had shot a fellow-gambler across the table. He had never been tried. It is interesting to hear that the number of farms in eleven Southern States had almost doubled in the ten years 1870- 1880. This is a very readable book indeed.
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