A timely feature of the May number of Current Literature is the compilation of newspaper verse entitled, " Remember the Maine! " A new depart ment of French letters is also a noteworthy feature. Frank L. Stanton, the popular verse writer, is the American poet of to-day, considered by F. M. Hopkins. At a moment when war and all its appliances and aspects have an especial interest, no doubt the first thing turned to in McClure's Magazine for May will be Kudyard Kipling's poem on the torpedo. This number contains two excellent short stories by new writers. One is a story of " The Polar Zone," by John A. Hill. The other is a kindly, humorous Memorial Day story — "Uncle Luther Dowell's Wooden Leg" — by Ray Stannard Baker. Charles A. Dana's personal recollections of Meade, Hancock, Sedgwick, Humphreys, and the other generals serv ing under Grant in the Army of the Potomac are in structive and entertaining.
The complete novel in the May issue of Lippincott's is " The Uncalled," by the colored poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar. Though understood to be his first essay in extended fiction, it is an extremely strong and thoroughly readable story. "No. 87,617 Colt," by George Brydges Rodney, recounts the experiences of a small party of Americans in Cuba during a former insurrection. Theodore Gal lagher describes one phase of a very wild western town in "The Election at Cayote." "Woman's Work and Wagesi" are discussed by Eleanor Whiting. Dr. Charles C. Abbott has a brief paper on " Blun ders in Bird-Nesting," James Weir, Jr., writes on "The Faculty of Computing in Animals," and Wil liam S. Walsh inquires, " Do Animals Drink?"
WHAT SHALL WE READ? This column is devoted to brief notices of recent pub lications. We hope to make it a ready-reference column for those of our readers who desire to in form themselves as to the latest and best new books. Familiar as is the name of Maximo Gomez, but few Americans have any true idea of the character of the man. Mr. Grover Flint, who was with the Cuban general in field and camp, in his book enti tled Marehing with Gomez ' gives a very interest ing account, of his experiences and draws what is probably an accurate portrait of this famous 1 Marching with Gomez. A war correspondent's field note-book kept during four months with the Cuban army. By Grover Flint. I llustrated by the Author. Lamson, Wolffe and Co., Boston, 1898. Cloth.
man. From his representation of Gomez we may set the chieftain down as a military des pot, who allows nothing to stand in his way, and who openly displays the utmost contempt and disre gard for the Cuban " Civil " government which our Congress has been so anxious to recognize. A man of iron will, of inflexible determination, Gomez re gards all who are not with him as against him, and his treatment of innocent " neutrals " seems to be as harsh and vindictive as are the Spanish atrocities of which we read. The book is valuable as giving a graphic and truthful account of the Cuban side of the controversy, but we doubt if it will serve to increase sympathy for the insurgents. Many interesting illus trations by the author are added to the text. Mr. Joel Harris is always interesting, but he seems to us to be especially so in his new Tales of the HomeFolks in Peace and War.1 Twelve stories make up the contents of the volume, and they cover a wide range of scene and action. Among the best (if any can be called best when all are so good), may be mentioned " A Bold Deserter," and " A Baby in the Siege." The New York Ghetto (the Jewish quarter) fur nishes Mr. Cahan with the scene for a number of stories which have just been published under the title of The Imported Bridegroom and other Stories.* These pen pictures are evidently drawn from life, and introduce us to characters and scenes which the reader has hitherto known but little. Mr. Cahan is a writer of more than usual ability, and his delinea tion of Jewish character is remarkable for the faith fulness with which he holds the mirror up to nature. The fact that these stories are so different from anything to which we have been accustomed, lends an added interest to their intrinsic merit. A great nation like ours ought to have a fair idea of its first foundation, and Mr. Alexander Brown, in his new work The First Republic in America * upsets a good many of the ideas we have hitherto cherished, and demonstrates the fallacy of the claims and pre tensions of Captain John Smith, as set forth in his history, in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the reader's mind that it gives anything but a correct view of our foundation. Although John Smith's history was licensed by the Crown, and we 2 Tales ok the Home-Folks in Peace and War. By Joel Chandler Harris. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1898. Cloth, gi.50. 3 The ImporteD BriDegroom and other Stories of the New York Ghetto. By Abraham Cahan. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1898. Cloth, $1.00. 4 The First Republic in America. An account of the origin of this nation, written from the records then (1624) con cealed by the Council, rather than from the histories licensed by the Crown. By Alexander Brown, D. C. L. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1898. Cloth, 57.50.
