LITERARY NOTICES. 



269 



that as a remedial measure, " Congress must 

 therefore enforce . . . the protection of the 

 colored race in the enjoyment of the rights 

 it has conferred upon it in the face of the 

 world." 



In the chapter, Intemperance as a Cause, 

 Mr. Boies claims that alcoholic drink is the 

 direct or indirect cause of 75 per cent of all 

 the crimes committed, and of at least 50 per 

 cent of all the sufferings endured on account 

 of poverty, and that " the terrible effects of 

 this curse of humanity are displayed to all 

 the elements of our population, the native, 

 the foreign, the colored, and the urban alike." 

 As one of the remedies against intemper- 

 ance he suggests the establishment of cheap 

 coffee and tea houses and social halls, after 

 the fashion of those established by the Sal- 

 vation Army in England ; and he adds that 

 " as the way to a man's heart is through his 

 stomach," give him good, cheap food, and his 

 desire for stimulants will cease. 



The author entirely disapproves of the 

 present general conditions of the arrest, prose- 

 cution, and imprisonment, or rather the man- 

 ner of imprisonment, of criminals. He claims 

 that the penal code should be reorganized, 

 and that more consideration should be shown 

 to " youthful delinquents ; " for " county jails 

 are nurseries of crime," and he attributes this 

 to the " wrong management of the prisoners." 

 "No State," he says, "should tolerate" "the 

 infamous jails as they at present exist in 

 county towns." And, "until the whole penal 

 system is reorganized upon the basis of com- 

 mon sense," he offers some excellent sugges- 

 tions as to the segregation of the different 

 types of prisoners — the one from the other, 

 as well as to how the number of prisons could 

 be and should be lessened. 



The work is illustrated with fourteen 

 plates, and is a most valuable addition to the 

 social and economic literature of the nation. 



The Great Commanders Series. Edited by 

 General James Grant Wilson. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Co. 



Admiral Farragut. By Captain A. T. 

 Mahan, U. S. N. Pp. 333. Price, $1.25. 

 — General Taylor. By General 0. 0. 

 Howard. Pp. 386. Price, $1.50. — Gen- 

 eral Jackson. By James Parton. Pp. 

 332. Price, $1.50. 



The issue of what gives promise of being 

 a very attractive series of biographies has 



been begun under the above general title. 

 The first volume is a life of Admiral Farra- 

 gut. The career of the most celebrated of 

 America's naval heroes is sufficiently pic- 

 turesque to warrant its being given the lead- 

 ing place. Captain Mahan's account of it is 

 of a popular character, being neither a mono- 

 graph on naval warfare on the one hand nor 

 a juvenile story on the other. A few pages 

 suffice to tell of Farragut's parentage, birth, 

 and his meeting with Commander Porter, 

 which determined the course of his life. His 

 boyhood, before the beginning of his naval 

 career, was too brief for much incident, for 

 his warrant as midshipman dates from the 

 middle of his tenth year. The record pro- 

 ceeds with Farragut's first cruise on board 

 the Essex during the War of 1812. A dozen 

 somewhat eventful years followed, bringing 

 the young man to the rank of lieutenant. 

 The years from 1825 to 1860 take compara- 

 tively little space, for they represent mostly 

 the routine service of a naval officer in time 

 of peace. Then come his grand achieve- 

 ments in the civil war — the New Orleans ex- 

 pedition, the operations at Vicksburg and 

 Port Hudson, and the entrance of Mobile 

 Bay. These events are described with much 

 detail and vividness, and the several opera- 

 tions are illustrated by charts. A short 

 chapter is devoted to the admiral's five years 

 of life after the war, and a sympathetic esti- 

 mate of his character closes the volume. 



In the life of Zachary Taylor is given a 

 record rich in those details which often re- 

 veal more of the subject's character than his 

 most formal and deliberate acts. We have 

 a glimpse at his early life in the frontier ter- 

 ritory near Louisville, Ky., then an account 

 of his first few years in the army, his service 

 in the Northwest Territory during the War of 

 1812, his campaigns against the Indians in 

 Florida and elsewhere, all leading up to his 

 magnificent achievements in the Mexican 

 War. His part in this contest is described 

 in a sympathetic and picturesque manner. 

 Close upon the heels of it comes his election 

 to the presidency, and a sketch of his ad- 

 ministration, of little over a year, brings his 

 life to a close. 



In James Parton's biography of Jackson 

 is seen the hand of a master historian. Vig- 

 orous, as befits the history of such a strong 

 personality, it is everywhere judicious, faith- 



