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 46 Aline, what tortures me night and day is the thought that it might unconsciously have been the pill which —. Never to be free from that! To have such a thought gnawing and burning always — always, like a moral mustard poultice ! (He takes more punch.) .—Yes ; I suppose there is a poultice of that sort burning on every breast — and we must never take it off either — it is our simple duty to keep it on. I, too, Haustus, am haunted by a fancy that if this Miss Wangel were to ring at our bell now —"

At this juncture, Miss Wangel does ring at the bell, but what follows must be left to imagination, or found out by our readers for themselves.

The endeavor of Mr. Henry M. Boies in "Prisoners and Paupers" (Putnam ) is to state and emphasize the alarming increase in the United States of our criminal and dependent classes. The ordinary reader will be led by his pages to conclude that our nation is fast going to ruin. Statistics of crime and poverty are given, which, on their face, show that vice is growing with tremendous rapidity and that destitution will soon become general. The author discusses the problems of intemperance, immigration, our urban population, the negro race, and jails and poor-houses, in a way to multiply our fears rather than to enlighten us respecting causes and remedies. These are indeed great problems, worthy serious attention and in need of wise action. But while Mr. Boies is a gentleman of earnestness and experience, it is clear that he has no such skill in handling statistics as Mr. Carroll D. Wright, and no such scientific ability in studying social phenomena as Dr. Amos G. Warner. In some cases, he does not seem to understand the figures which he uses, while in other cases he indulges in careless statements. He shows that since 1850, criminals have increased three times as fast as our population. This is indeed what appears upon the face of returns. But it is evident that we are not three times as wicked a people as forty years ago ! When we look at the statistics more carefully, we see that the comparison is vitiated by several factors : (1) The criminal acts of the negro race are excluded from the census of 1850, but included in that of 1890, — a fact of great importance. ( 2 ) The census of 1890 was more thorough than that of 1850 along this line ; it not only reports the facts more accurately but it reports new classes of facts. So that conclusions based upon a literal comparison must be manifestly erroneous. (3) New laws and police regulations lead to arrests and convictions where acts would have been considered innocent forty years ago. Cruelty to animals and children caused few arrests then ; violations of sanitary regulations were unknown ; offences against public order, such as drunkenness and the selling of liquor ; all these and many other acts, like the purchase of lottery tickets, though innumerable, did not enter into our criminal records as at present. That our list of criminals has grown in this direction is evidence, not of our increasing depravity, but of our moral progress. We have more patients in hospitals than the Esquimo, but it does not follow that we are physically a more feeble people. Mr. Boies does not make any such discriminations, he only alludes to the fact respecting the negro race. These defects vitiate all his discussions of these problems, which are indeed great and serious problems. His incapacity in this line is farther shown by his use of a statement from Professor Ely to support his claim that there are three million paupers in the United States (p. 205), and by his astonishing assertion that there are 17,058 county jails in our country (p. 193).

Mr. Morfill, among Englishmen, seems to have a monopoly of product on Slavonic subjects, in the field of history as well as of literature. He now gives to the "Story of the Nations" series a "Poland" (Putnam). No writer of English would seem better qualified for such a work, yet Mr. Morfill has hardly added to what one may get from an encyclopaedia on this subject. His book is sketchy, and one ends it by wishing for a guide through the maze of aimless energy which it portrays. What one needs is an explanation of Poland's failure in history, which Mr. Morfill does not give in his pages devoted to that purpose. An unpatriotic nobility, an intolerant clergy, a lacking middle class, and a degraded peasantry, were characteristics of all feudal states. That Poland did not change all this was not due solely to the fifth cause suggested the want of rulers of talent and energy, although a Louis Eleventh, a Henry Eighth, or a Ferdinand the Catholic, would have been a great blessing to Poland. But all these men had their opportunity only be- cause the principle of hereditary succession was al- ready established in their dominions. The curse and the ruin of Poland was an elective monarchy, which, as in the case of the Holy Roman Empire, made a feudal condition of anarchy possible long after the age of feudalism was gone by. The failure of success of this volume is not due to a lack of knowledge, but to a lack of historical insight on the part of a man whose forte is linguistic.

Many a guide for the amateur photographer has appeared of recent years, written either in the interest of the general public, or in that of some firm engaged in the manufacture of photographic materials. It has been left for Miss Alice French (Octave Thanet) to produce a book upon the subject which serves its readers not only as guide, but also as philosopher and friend. Every beginner in this intricate art knows how deep is at times the need of philosophy, and how consoling may be the ministry of friendship. Miss French has pursued photography through trials to triumphs (as some of the pictures in her book clearly show), but she has not acquired the air of superiority that makes the successful amateur so cordially detested by all less