We have received from Messrs. Kelly Walsh, La.,, a delightful story of Irish life, by the Rev. A..P. Sheehan, "Glenanaar." It is one of the latest issues in Longman's Colonial Library, and is in paper covers, with the well-known sign of the ship on it, 320 pp., 8vo. If we may believe in. the authonticity of the letter that ends the book, Canon Shechsn's story is a true one; artistically at any rate it is absolutely true. _It is the story. of an Irishman, who leaves his. country under, an undeserved cloud, emigrates.to the States, becomes wealthy, and comes back to marry the girl he had left behind him. " But while prosperity has kept him young for, all hi grey hairs, she is old and a widow, and how. with her full consent ho. morris daughter instead, is most excellently told. But attractive.as the lor real. value of the book is, in its pictures of Irish life,' and the misery, caused the country by the misgovernment, which has driven hundreds.of thousands of the young bone and sinew of, the population, to emigrate to the other, side of the Atlantic. There is now a. brighter side to this picture. Canon Sheehan tells us, that the emigrants who haya. prospered are coming back to, [reland.to.end. their days. "And the many. deserted, mansions here and there throughout, Ireland, and the many ruined castles,.stare from their gaping windows seress the sea, and seem to.say to the exiled Gael:
"Come back!, Come back, Back: the land of your fathers!.... Let us hear once more the sound of the soft Gaelic in our halls; the laughter of your children beneath our roofs, the bagpipe and the tinkle of the harp in, our courts, the shout of..our young. men in.
meadows by the river, the old hearting songs from the filds,, the seanchus here where our broken windows stare jupon weed-covered. lawns... Come back! Come back! The days. are dark wud short since ye went; there is no sunshine on Ireland, and the nights are long and dismal! And there in the moonlit Abbey by the river rest the bones. of. your kindred! Their unquiet. spirits haunt every mansion and cottage, and the wail of. their Bensheo is over the fields and up along the hills! They shall never rest in pence till your shadows sweep across their tombs; and your prayers, like the.night winds, stir the ivy on the crumbling walls We also received from Messrs. Kelly and Walsh, Ld., two books by Mr. Oliver G. Ready, of the Imperial Maritime Customs, which are among the best that have been written about things Chinese for some time. The former, Life and Sport in was published some time ago by Messrs Chapman and Hall. Ld., London, in" cloth-bound 8vo. volume of 238 pages, with a number of excellent illustrations from-photographs, Brightly and pleasantly written ds the book is, the author's intention, as expressed in his opening note, is fully carried out: " Ihave endeavoured to place before my readers sketch of things as I saw them, and to convey to their minds an ides of how Europeans live there, of their amusements, their work, and of those things which are matters of daily interest to them, so that my book may serve asa kind of - reface to that enthralling volume,.the current. his tory of China, asit is daily revealed in the Press, in magazines, and in learned works." While Mr. Ready's book will tell home eaters much that they had little iden of as to our life in China, -his experiences are full of interest for readers out here. What he has seen and done, we hive all of us seen and done, more or less, though few of us have been to all the places to which he has been sent during his career in China. His isa very easy book to read, and he has been very fortunate in his illustrations.
Mr. Ready's other book, _'Ch'un. Kwang: Tule of Of nese Love and Tragedy," is also published by Chapman and Hall, Id., London, in an a edlune of 319 pages. The object of the story," says Mr, Ready, "b-sides narrating the romance of Ch'un Kwang and Yiwén, is, to present a true picture of Chinese life and society both.as it, existed five hundred, yeats.ago, and as it exists to-day, for there. has been but little change; the same, types surviving with the same traditions, th same. literature, and the same customs." "Daring his career.in. China, Mr. Ready has Kept. his eyes open as few foreigners dd. "To most of us the real life of the', Chinese, round us is shut off bya thick' curtain; and a book like this, which might ti been written by a Chinaman, is'as much a revelation to most foreigners isis good'oné and maintains i interest a in China, ds to home readers. The story
the necessary happy ending, anda. chem of the book -will be: found in the illustrations, executed for: the purpose by a Chinese -artist.. There.is. a.sketch, map of Eastern Chinn;.to show.the. places, men-,.,; tioned in the story,.in the appendix...
A. few:.more," books may. be. re-.. commended.,.to those.who.,.are going away for.a holiday,..and.to.whom a few paper-covered. volumes, are as necessary as, clean shirts, It is one advantage of buying the colonial editions of novels, that. they have. already, beon, tried, for the worthless books, of which there are many published every year, do not attain the honour' of bein; reprinted in. paper covers for colonial readers. Here we have—and we have again to think Kelly and Walsh, Ld., for most of these books—Gertrudo 'Atherton's 'The Bell in the Fog and Other. Stories." It is impossible, for Mrs. Atherton not to write well, but it must be said-that most of these are rather perverse stories: Interesting, exciting, and', well, told as they are, they have n" endings at,, all, or unhappy endings, but the power of auch. a story as "The Desd and the Countess is undeniable. A good contrast to-Mrs., Atherton's book is Eyre Hussoy's "Miss Badsworth, M.F.H." This' iva Uiright, lively, hunting novel, with a good love-story running through it. Mr. Piffurd's frontispiece is alone enough to recommend the book, It tells how a girl, who has been brought up to ride to hounds since she could sit on a saddle, undertakes and carries through successfully the mastership of a pack, her dear uncle having made it a condition of his, will that his sister, whose name is the same as that of the niece, should hunt them through one season. The niece does the work for her. though she has one or two unpleasant experiences, and everything ends happily. Everyone who likes horses and hounds will enjoy t "Do'sot Dear: Tdylls of Country Li by M. E. Francis (Mra. Francis Blundell), will be taken to their hearts by all west country folk, and read with real pleasure by all who still have a recollection and love of country life in Evgland. The motto is from the Rey. W. Barnes Vor Do'set dear, Then give boone cheer, Dye hear? Woone cheer "There are seventeen stories in this volume, all have which appeared before in weekly papers or magazine, s0 that it is needl: ss to critie'se them. They are worthy of M. E. Francis, and whoever reads o-e will read them all up to th" seventeenth It is a far ory from "Do'eot" to India, where the greater of the scene of "The Ring: from Jaipur," by Frances M. Peard, is inid. This is not a sensational story by any means, and the ring has very little mystery about it, and has very little to do with the tale. It is just the story of a bright young girl who marries an officer in India, gets tired of India and goes home, only to find that fond as her people are of her she is somewhat in the way, so she goos back to India, and finds her husband doesn't want her. Of course all-ends happily, but one cannot have: very much sympathy with the wayward heroine Patly; a more charming girl. is Molly;
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.