Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/352

 Rditorial Department. translated into English by Mary J. Safford. It is one of the most remarkable historical romances of recent times, and the translator has been most happy in retaining the spirit of the original work. The scene is laid in the time of Nero and the portraiture of that Emperor's character is drawn with a master hand. The sweet and simple nature of a young Greek sculptor and the virtue and dignity of the Em press Octavia. Nero's wife, are contrasted with the vice of the age and the artificialities of the courtiers who surrounded Nero, and the portrayal of Roman life at that time is wonderfully effective. The story is thrilling and dramatic and will produce as pro found an impression as did Sienkiewicz's " Quo Vadis.'' We have only words of unstinted praise for this really great production. The Burden of Christopher ' was a burden which fell upon the shoulders of a visionary young man who undertook to reform the relations existing be tween employer and employee, applying his ideas to his own manufactory with results overwhelmingly disastrous to himself. The book is one of more than ordinary interest and enlists the sympathy of the reader throughout. The moral which it incul cates is the dreary hopelessness of the attempt of a single individual to solve the labor problem in the face of the fact that the competitive system and the (¡olden Rule cannot be harmonized. Christopher's burden was too heavy for one man to assume and the outcome was inevitable. The reader will find much to ponder over in these pages. Heretofore economic literature has appealed rather to the manufacturing and commercial classes than to the rural people, but of late a good deal of valuable information has been prepared for the farmer and the agriculturist. Among the most important works recently published, Mr. Fairchild's Rural Wealth ami Welfare* will appeal strongly to оигч great farming interests. The author does not as sume that all questions of wealth and welfare can be settled by rule, but he points out the actual trend of facts, the universal principles sustained by the facts, and the means of most ready adjustment to circumstances in the evolutions of trade and manu facture. Mr. Fairchild has had an experience of more than thirty years at the Michigan and Kansas Agricultural Colleges, and is well fitted to discuss in 1 THE BURDEN OF CHRISTOPHER. By Florence Con verse. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1900- Cloth, $1.50. ' RURAL WEALTH AND WELFARE. Economic prin ciples illustrated and applied in farm life. By Geo. T. FairchM, LL. D. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1900. .25.

323

an authoritative manner the subject covered by his book. If we are to retain the Philippines, there can be no question that the United States ought to estab lish there a civil service which shall be thoroughly efficient and free from political pressure of any kind, and hence it appears worth while to see what light can be derived from the experience of other nations. Much valuable information upon this point may be obtained from Mr. A. Lawrence Lowell's new work entitled Colonia! Civil Service? The book contains the latest information as to the British system, and the methods of recruiting officials for the Colonies of Holland and France. Both the student and the general reader will find much of interest in these pages. '•Cnri'ita. Countess of A Iburn02 "2 by Luis Colonia, translated from the Spanish by Estelle Huyck Attwell, is just issued by Little. Brown & Co. Although the work of a Jesuit priest, it is a novel of Madrid society, the corruption and follies of which it treats with a trenchant pen. " Never will a squint-eyed person," says the author, " understand his own de fect, unless a faithful mirror be held liefere him which will reflect his crooked sight. Currita. the heroine, is a typical feminine coquette and politician, whose brilliant life and intrigues are contrasted with the loneliness of her little son. This remarkable novel has had a great success in Spain. It is brilliant and powerful, and will meet a hearty welcome from American readers. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, have just published "For the Queen in South Africa" by Caryl Davis Haskins, a collection of interesting short stories, each having to do with some incident of bravery. The titles are : The Full-Back Tells the Story; The Un recorded Cross; The Winning of the Sword-Knot; At the Zariba; Judge Not; and Blood Will Tell. The reader fond of the mysterious will find The Bronze Buddha* a book decidedly to his liking. The story is one which once begun will not be laid down until the end is reached. The author has the happy faculty of deepening the interest of readers with every page. 1 COLON IAL CIVIL SERVICE, By A. Lawrence Lowell. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1900. Cloth, $1.50. ' CURRITTA, COUNTESS OF ALBORNOZ. By Luis Colonia. Translated from the Spanish by Estelle Huyck Attwell. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1900. Cloth, $1.50. 3 Тик BRONZE BUDDHA. A mystery. By Cora Linn Daniels. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Cloth, Si. 50.