LITERARY NOTES. 
about colleges. It became known that Scribner 
would publish a series of descriptive articles on Amer- 
ican Colleges, and forthwith the rush commenced. 
Nearly every college in the United States was seized 
with a wild desire to be described in the magazine. 
There is nothing surprising in this, for it is as much 
advantage to a college to go through Scribner, as for 
a boy to go through college. And so they came, — 
colleges of mature age, colleges started yesterday; 
colleges in jacket and trousers, and colleges with long 
white hair and tottering on their canes. Colleges in the 
cradle came as well as the strong and vigorous fellows, 
— base ball colleges and medical colleges ; colleges 
where they put faith in paper boats, and colleges w'^here 
they believe in paper books. Before this grand rush, 
no one had any idea there were so many colleges, and 
so many good ones, too. 
Of course Scribner cannot accommodate them all — 
it would take years and years to do them justice. But 
let us hope that those that are not chosen will look at 
the matter good-humoredly, that Scribner will be 
happy with those it takes, and that the colleges selected 
will go home whistling. 
WHO WAS ST. NICHOLAS? 
This often-asked question is to be thoroughly answered 
when the Saint’s illustrious namesake, of the magazine 
world, comes out with its December number. Not only 
are the festivities of St. Nicholas’ day, the 6th of 
December, to be described, but a lovely story will be 
given in which a young German student finds a won- 
derful gift from the Saint in his shoe. The illustration 
to this story is said to be exquisite. 
THE AUTHORS WAKING UP. 
The authors of both England and America seem to 
be waking up to a sense of the injustice of their posi- 
tion. The lack of international copyright, and the 
limit as to time with regard to their ordinary copy- 
rights, are both protested against. Dr. Holland has 
an article on this subject in ScRiBNER for December, 
in which he says, that if all the receipts from the copy- 
right of accepted American authors should be put to- 
gether, and all the authors were compelled to live from 
it, they would not live ; they would starve. 
A GOOD REPLY. 
We find the following question and answer in a 
recent number of The Christian Union^ in the column 
devoted to correspondents: “Is St. Nicholas a 
magazine that you would recommend for a boy of 13, 
or is it mostly for young children ? ” 
“ It is a delightful magazine for all children between 
five and eighty-seven.” 
St. Nicholas, as might have been expected, has had 
an entirely fresh picture of Hans Andersen made, a 
portrait that has received the highest praise from his 
personal friends, and that is likely to be adopted hence- 
forth as the standard engraved likeness of the beloved 
old poet. A fine biographical article by Hjalmar Hjorth 
Bjornsen, Andersen’s personal friend, is to accompany 
the picture. 
Editors will take a grim satisfaction in reprinting 
from the “ Bric-a-Brac ” department of Scribner for 
December, the verses, “ A Constant Reader,” written 
by some aggrieved member of the guild, and describ- 
ing that pest of editors, the bore. 
“GABRIEL CONROY.” 
-BnZ- KOVUTE. 
The Post, Boston, Mass., says of “ Gabriel Conroy: ” 
“ Mr. Harte has builded his foundations broadly and 
grandly * ^ * with materials of mountain and 
stream, cliff and avalanche. The resources of that 
picturesque nature with which he is so familiar and 
which he has used so skillfully before, he has now har- 
nessed to his muse, and with this imposing literary 
equipment he drives gallantly into notice. With refer- 
ence to the American ideal, it is too early to say how 
near this will come to being the American novel, but 
if the opening chapters foreshadow fairly those that are 
to succeed, it will stand almost unrivaled in American 
fiction, and quite unrivaled as the representative of 
that fresh and spontaneous literary culture that has 
acquired unwonted strength and freedom from contem- 
plation of nature’s grandeur in the far West. It is a 
serial that will make every new number of Scribner’s 
eagerly sought for, if it had nothing else to recom- 
mend it.” 
The New- York Evening Mail says of “ Gabriel 
Conroy:” “The narrative is in Mr. Harte’s most 
vigorous vein ; a vivid piece of word-painting, and 
intensely interesting, while with the skill of a true 
artist he saves us from disgust by suggesting, rather 
than describing, the most horrible part of the story.” 
The Post, Hartford, Conn., says of “Gabriel Con- 
roy:” “ The opening pages are full of dramatic inter- 
est, and hold the reader’s attention as if by a spell of 
magic force. There is a gracious promise in those first 
chapters, the prophecy in fact of splendid achievements. 
One thing is certain, and that is that no American nov- 
elist is equal to Bret Harte in the field which he has 
selected for his story. So far as he has gone, we con- 
fess to a rare delight in perusing him.” 
The Herald, Cleveland, says : “ ‘ Gabriel Conroy,’ 
of which seven chapters appear in the November num- 
ber, bids fair to be by far the best work of Bret Harte. 
It opens in California, as might have been expected, 
and the chapters given are full of dramatic power and 
tragic interest, while the grim humor which is never 
absent fi^om Bret Harte’s works, lightens the picture 
in places and makes the shadows deeper by contrast.” 
