LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1886. 



483 



another, Sidney Luska's "Madam Peixada" is 

 a third, and " The Anonymous Story of Mar- 

 garet Kent " is a fourth. Nor does this by 

 any means exhaust the list. In addition to 

 "Midge," Mr. Bunner has published " In Part- 

 nership," as joint author with Brander Mat- 

 thews. " For Mamie's Sake," by Grant Allen, is 

 a story of love and dynamite, remarkable and 

 even startling in its originality of plot and ac- 

 tion. "Babylon," by the same author, tells 

 the story of two country boys, one American, 

 the other English, who have a talent for art, 

 and, after surmounting early obstacles at home, 

 meet at Rome as students. Amelia E. Barr 

 has shown exceptional strength as a writer of 

 fiction, and her three novels, "The Last of 

 the Macallisters," "A Daughter of Fyfe," and 

 "A Bow of Orange Ribbon," have been well 

 received. Louisa M. Alcott has written sev- 

 eral tales more or less supplementary to her 

 well-remembered " Little Men." The latest is 

 "Jo's Boys, and how they turned out." The 

 " little men " have quite grown up, but they 

 are still entertaining. " Domesticus, a Tale of 

 the Imperial City," by William Allen Butler, 

 is a very clever presentation, under the guise 

 of a story, of the trials, perplexities, and tri- 

 umphs of an American housekeeper in the mat- 

 ter of servants. The Latinized nomenclature 

 is often very quaint, and the author's graceful 

 wit is not dulled by the thirty years that have 

 passed since he wrote "Nothing to Wear." 

 The Moravians furnish the motive for W r olcott 

 Balestier's novel, " A Victorious Defeat." 



In spite of its unrepublican title, or perhaps 

 largely because of it, Mrs. Burnett's " Little 

 Lord Fauntleroy " is already a juvenile classic. 

 It may be confidently recommended to Ameri- 

 can boys. In this connection the new six- vol- 

 ume edition of Mrs. Burnett's works may be 

 mentioned. " On Both Sides " is a bright 

 story by Frances Baylor, cleverly showing up 

 English and American characteristics, and the 

 different social conditions of the two coun- 

 tries. With juvenile readers the name of 

 Horatio Alger is a synonym for a good story- 

 teller. "Helping Himself, or Grant Thorn- 

 ton's Ambition," has all the good qualities of 

 its predecessors. The Tennessee mountains 

 still offer a rich field for Miss Murfree (Charles 

 Egbert Craddock). Her " In the Clouds " is 

 perhaps as strongly marked as any of her very 

 popular novels. Helen Campbell has been do- 

 ing good service for the working-women of 

 large cities. " Miss Melinda's Opportunity " is 

 intended particularly for young girls of fair 

 education who are forced to earn their living 

 in town. 



Army life and the Military Academy afford 

 subject-matter for three novels: "Mr. Des- 

 mond, U. S. A.," by J. Coulter ; " Cut," by 

 G. I. Cervus ; and " Marion's Faith," by 0. 

 King, the last being a sequel to " The Colonel's 

 Daughter." 



" One Day in a Baby's Life " owes its con- 

 text to the same author, who has made a 



clever adaptation from the original French of 

 Arnaud. Marion Crawford's one novel for 

 the year was " A Tale of a Lonely Parish." 

 Harry Castlemon selects canoeing as the mo- 

 tive for his last book on out-of-door life, " Joe 

 Wayring at Home." " What Katy did next " 

 is, of course, by Susan Coolidge. It carries 

 Katy abroad, where she proves just as enter- 

 taining as she was at home. " The Felmeres," 

 by S. B. Elliott, daughter of the late Bishop 

 Elliott, of Georgia, deserves a place among the 

 meritorious productions of women in this line 

 of work. 



" ThePeterkin Papers," including an adden- 

 dum not published before " The Peterkins at 

 the Farm " appeared in small folio. Miss 

 Hale also brought out "The Last of the Peter- 

 kins, with others of their Kin." Everybody 

 will regret that there are to be no more Peter- 

 kins, but of course there is a time to stop. 



Mary Halleck Foote proves in " John Bode- 

 win's Testimony " that a woman can write of 

 life in the California mines as well and as 

 strongly as Bret Harte himself, though in a de- 

 cidedly different style. Robert Grant is be- 

 lieved to be the author of "Face to Face," a 

 strong story, touching the labor problems. He 

 is the acknowledged author of " A Romantic 

 Young Lady," in which he sustains his well- 

 earned reputation, and of " The Knave of 

 Hearts," a story in his favorite vein of social 

 satire. M. A. Foran presents the labor prob- 

 lem " From the other Side," that is, from 

 the workingman's side. The difficulty with 

 the mission of such books is, that for the most 

 part only workingmen read them, and they 

 know all about it already, so far as concerns 

 their side, from experience. 



William D. Howells, although nominally 

 holding an editorial place in New York, 

 does his work in Boston. He published dur- 

 ing the year two novels, "The Minister's 

 Charge " and "Indian Summer," both marked 

 by his keen yet kindly satirical humor, and 

 both welcomed by his large circle of readers. 

 In " Snow-Bound at Eagle's," Bret Harte 

 shows, as he has often done before, that his 

 " heart's in the Highlands," and that he does 

 his best work with the "Rockies" for a back- 

 ground. His " The Queen of the Pirate Isle " 

 is illustrated by Kate Greenaway. 



Julian Hawthorne's three stories two of 

 them bound in one volume are entitled 

 "John Parmalee's Curse," "The Trial of Gib- 

 eon," and " The Countess Almara's Murder." 



" Tales of Eccentric Life " are by Dr. W. A. 

 Hammond and his daughter, the Marchioness 

 Clara Lanza. Dr. Hammond has also written 

 " A Strong-minded Woman," which is a sequel 

 to " Lai," his popular novel of a year ago. 



It was with a sad interest that the many 

 friends of the late Mrs. Helen Jackson, " H. 

 H.," welcomed " Zeph," unfinished though the 

 story is. The tale is of homely people, such 

 as " H. H." always glorified in a perfectly nat- 

 ural and life-like way. Mrs. Myra S. Hamlin's 



