368 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1898. 



1897," was the work of W. I. Fletcher and R. R. 

 Bowker; the "Trade List Annual, 1898," and "An- 

 nual American Catalogue, 1897," were issued as 

 usual, and A. Growoll drew up a ' Book Trade Bib- 

 liography in the United States in the Nineteenth 

 Century. In the Thumb-Nail Series selections 

 from Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack" were 

 edited by Benjamin E. Smith, and Dickens's " Crick- 

 et on the Hearth " had an introduction by Joseph 

 Jefferson. 



Education. From the authority of Hon. W. T. 

 Harris in matters of education there is no appeal, 

 and his latest work upon the " Psychologic Founda- 

 tions of Education." an attempt to show the genesis 

 of the higher faculties of the mind, appeared in the 

 - InuTiiational Educational Series, of which it 

 formed No. 87. Another issue of the same series 

 was " Tlif St udy of the Child." a brief treatise on the 

 p-yrhology of the child, with suggestions for teach- 

 -i udents, and parents, by A. R, Taylor, and from 

 Louise E. Hogan we had "A Study of a Child," 

 illustrated with over 500 original drawings by the 

 child: "The Development of the Child" was also 

 studied by Nathan Oppenheim. "New Methods of 

 Education" were dwelt upon by J. Liberty Tadd. 

 The Meaning of Education, and Other Essays and 

 Addresses" of Nicholas Murray Butler were col- 

 lected into a volume, as were essays and addresses 

 of President Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard, upon 

 " Educational Reform." " University Problems in 

 the United States" were discussed by President 

 Daniel Coit Gilinan, of Johns Hopkins University, 

 and " The Evolution of the College Student " was 

 briefly traced by President William De Witt Hyde, of 

 Bowdoin. " Ideals and Programmes" in education, 

 by Jean L. Gowdy, may be mentioned with Nora 

 Archibald Smith's speculations as to " The Children 

 of the Future." " The History of the Lowell Insti- 

 tute " was written by Harriette Knight Smith, and 

 " The Story of Obe'rlin, the Institution, the Com- 

 munity, the Idea, the Movement," was told by Del- 

 avan D. Leonard, D. D. Among text-books are to 

 be noted " The Automatic Instructor," a practical 

 system for home study, by G. W. Read ; " An Ele- 

 mentary Course in the Integral Calculus," by Dan- 

 iel Alexander Murray, in the " Cornell Mathematical 

 Series" ; a " Course of Study in History and Litera- 

 ture," with suggestions and directions, by Emily J. 

 Rice ; " A Three Years' Preparatory Course in 

 French." by Prof. Charles F. Kroeh; "Applied 

 Physiology, for advanced grades, by Frank Over- 

 ton, M. D. : a " Natural Advanced Geography," by 

 Jacques W. Redwayand Russell Hinman; a" Phys- 

 ical Geography," by William Morris Davis and 

 William 11. Snyder; "The New Century Speaker," 

 for school and college, by Henry Allyn Frink ; and 

 "The Strength of Materials," a text-book for man- 

 ual-training schools, by Mansfield Merriman. 



Fiction. Seven hundred and twenty-four new 

 novels were published in 1898, and 181 new editions 

 of novels, against 713 new books and 156 new edi- 

 tions in 1897. The number of books by American 

 authors, including new editions, was exactly the 

 same for both years, viz., 358. While many were 

 excellent and had a large sale, not one attained 

 striking prominence. 



William Dean Howells told "The Story of a Play," 

 and Henry James, in addition to his novel "In the 

 Cage," published two short stories in one volume, 

 exemplifying the power of " The Two Magics " of 

 good and evil. " Red Rock," a chronicle of recon- 

 struction, by Thomas Nelson Page, was widely read 

 as illustrative of conditions prevalent in the South 

 to-day ; " Caleb West, Master Diver," was the hero of 

 Francis Hopkinson Smith's latest story ; and " The 

 Adventures of Francois" were related by Dr. S. 

 Weir Mitchell with much of the charm that char- 



acterized " Hugh Wynne," and with painstaking 

 accuracy of description and delineation. Harold 

 Frederic's novel of " Gloria Mundi " was issued in 

 book form, and from his facile pen- we had also 

 " The Deserter, and Other Stories." a book of two 

 wars of widely different periods of time. Captain 

 Charles King wrote " Ray's Recruit " and a " Wound- 

 ed Name": Arlo Bates, "The Puritans," of modern 

 Boston ; Albion W. Tourgee, " The Man who Out- 

 lived Himself"; and Nathan Haskell Dole, "Omar 

 the Tent-Maker," a romance of old Persia. Frank 

 R. Stockton was amusing as ever in " The Girl at 

 Cobhurst " and in describing " The Associate Her- 

 mits," while Paul Leicester Ford was responsible 

 for " Tattle Tales of Cupid." John Kendrick Bangs 

 published " Peeps at People " of distinction, taken 

 by a typical female " interviewer " for the news- 



Sipers, and made us familiar with " Ghosts I have 

 et and Some Others." Richard Harding Davis 

 laid the scene of his novel, " The King's Jackal," in 

 Tangier, and "From the Other Side" was the title 

 of stories of transatlantic travel by Henry B. Ful- 

 ler (Stanton Page). Bret Harte told "Tales of 

 Trail and Town" and "Stories in Light and 

 Shadow," and " Tales of the Home Folks in Peace 

 and War" came from Joel Chandler Harris. ^Irs. 

 Margaret W. C. Deland published a series of " Old 

 Chester Tales." ' The Loves of the Lady Arabella " 

 were detailed by Molly Elliot Seawell ; " The Dur- 

 ket Sperret" and the difficulties it created in a 

 family among the Cumberland mountains of Ten- 

 nessee was the theme of Sarah Barnwell Elliott ; 

 " Penelope's Progress " through Scotland was traced 

 by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Riggs) ; "A Revolu- 

 tionary Love Story " and " The High Steeple of St. 

 Chrysostom's " were the titles of two stories bound 

 in one volume, by Mrs. Ellen Olney Kirk (Henry 

 Hayes) ; while from Alice French (Octave Thanet) 

 we had " The Heart of Toil " and " A Slave to Duty, 

 and Other Women," both books of short stories, the 

 first dealing, as its name indicates, with the rela- 

 tions between labor and capital. The names of 

 well-known women are to be found on the title- 

 pages of many of the novels of the year. Mrs. Sarah 

 Pratt McLean Greene wrote amusingly of " The 

 Moral Imbeciles " ; Eliza Orne White's hero was 

 distinguished as " A Lover of Truth " ; " At the 

 Sign of the Silver Crescent " was the latest from 

 Mrs. Helen Choate Prince; Ellen Glasgow, the 

 avowed author of " The Descendant," the anony- 

 mous novel of 1897 which aroused favorable com- 

 ment, followed it with "Phases of an Inferior 

 Planet " ; Julia Magruder published two novels, 

 " Struan " and " A Realized Ideal," while three rep- 

 resent the last work of Maria Louise Pool, entitled 

 respectively " The Red Bridge Neighborhood." " A 

 Golden Sorrow," and "Friendship and Folly." 

 " Rosin the Beau " was a sequel to " Melody " and 

 " Marie," by Mrs. Laura Elizabeth Richards, from 

 whom we had also a sketch of " Love and Rocks." 

 Mrs. Constance Gary Harrison (Mrs. Burton Harri- 

 son) traced the evolution of "Good Americans"; 

 " A Great Love " was the theme of Mrs. Clara 

 Louise Root Burnham, who published also"Lati- 

 mer : A Story of Casco Bay," and " A Romance of 

 Summer Seas" was the title of an old-fashioned 

 love story by Varina Anne Jefferson Davis. Mrs. 

 Harriet Prescott Spofford told " Priscilla's Love 

 Story"; "Madam of the Ivies" had her affairs 

 finally adjusted by Elizabeth Phipps Train. " New 

 York " was the suggestive title of a novel by Edgar 

 Fawcett, and Julian Ralph was responsible for the 

 flutterings of " An Angel in a Web." Volume I of 

 a new library edition of the works of Edward 

 Everett Hale contained " The Man without a Coun- 

 try, and Other Stories " of that well-known author, 

 and among books more or less historical in char- 



