obstinate blindness as to the ultimate consequences to the people as a whole, which better befits the Reds and Communists of a bygone day in Paris, than the free citizens of self-governing and prosperous United States." Mr. F. B. Thurber, an officer of the League, wrote a reply to the Tribune's editorial, and, that paper having declined to insert it, the League printed it, side by side with the Tribune's editorial, and sent it in an appeal to the press throughout the country, or at least, as its letter significantly read, "to that portion of the press which is still free from the control of corporate ownership, patronage and influence." This" carrying the war into Africa" by a journal of such prominence as the New York Tribune, in its eagerness to support the interests of the corporations, tended to bring about a very general discussion of the subject, and over so broad a field that we have, on the one hand, the contention that there can be no safety for the rights of a people short of a control by the Government of Railroads and Telegraphs, and, on the other hand, the view that the present system best protects the interests of the people, because the Corporation makes the most money which gives the people the best service at the least cost. In the course of this discussion, some one ought to write what might be called a " History of Monopolies," in which a chapter or two, from certain epochs of English history might furnish very suggestive reading. What the "Royal Prerogative" has at times done in the past in England, corporate franchises may, possibly, in some cases, do in this country, and in our own day and generation. At all events under our the gifts of the people,

system of government these franchises are and it becomes, therefore, a matter of the first impor tance to us to see that they are so given, and so used, as best to supply the wants of the people, and promote the public good. If, then, we should come to such a condition of affairs that corporations control the people, instead of the people controlling the corporations, we are subjected to a far more dangerous form of monopoly than ever existed in England, we have a state of things in which the corporations virtually control the government. Mr. Lester F. Ward gave us some very thoughtful suggestions on the subject of monopolies in his recent paper on "Politico-Social Functions," in the May number of the PENN MONTHLY; a paper which deserves a very wide reading, and we hope that portion of his subject will receive a much larger development at his hands. S. W.

NEW BOOKS.

CO-OPERATION AS A BUSINESS. By Charles Barnard. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 8vo.

This book is one of especial value to the working men of this country, for it is a sensible and practical treatment of a subject which has been written about and talked about so loosely, and with so little intelligent apprehension of its real value and the proper methodsof carrying it into operation, that it has come to be considered generally as an impractible theory. Mr. Barnard has done a good work in pointing out the great value of co-operation as a means of saving a great deal of money, and in laying before us in a clear and most interesting way the immense results which have been accomplished by it in England and Scotland in a comparatively short period of time. In our own country, with the exception of the Building and Loan Associations of Philadelphia, very little has been done in this direction, but it is gratifying to learn from Mr. Barnard's book that most excellent co-operative enterprises have been projected in various parts of the country, many of which are already in very successful operation, and promise most satisfactory results. country more than our own are there greater opportunities for the successful development of co-operation as a practical method of saving money, and in no country is there greater need of habits of thrift and economy. Any one who is interested in the well being of working men could do no better service than to circulate among them, in large numbers, copies of this valuable book.

In no

GLEANINGS IN THE FIELDS OF ART. By Ednah D. Cheney. Boston: Lee and Sheppard, 1881, Svo. Pp. 345.

This book is made up of fifteen essays or chapters, which bear no definite connection, one with the other. They are respectively Art, Greek Art, Early Christian Art, Byzantine Art, Restoration of Art in Italy, Michel Angelo, The Poems of Michel Angelo, Spanish Art, French Art, Albert Durer, Old German Art, American Art, English Art, David Scott and Contemporaneous Art, which enumeration shows the very broad expanse travelled over, and indicates at the same time the superficial treatment the various subjects must have received, to compress them within so narrow a limit. The facts set forth in the several papers are, of course, gathered from sources already in print, perhaps spread through many volumes, yet accessible to all, but they are served with a flavor of individual criticism, the result of personal observation, which gives them a very agreeable relish and makes the volume readable and companionable. In the careful examination we have given of this volume we have found a good many inaccuracies and unnecessary repetitions, which

a little care would have obviated. The chapters on American Art and English Art are particularly unsatisfactory, while that on Contemporaneous Art, does not treat the subject at all. but is wholly devoted to the dead Düsseldorf School, of Schadow, Overbeck and Cornelius. Notwithstanding the defects we have indicated-and what work is without some defects? Miss Cheney's book has some very good ideas cleverly expressed, and in closing this brief review we feel we must transcribe with approval, her words upon that latest craze known by the name of Decorative Art. "Is this a legitimate branch of Art? It is certainly a worthy occupation to make life more comfortable, more cheerful, and more enjoyable, even if by only pleasing the eye or gratifying the ear; but Decoration is not Art unless it does more than this-unless it also speaks to the mind. Michel Angelo's Prophets and Sibyls do not cease to be the grandest art of the world because they decorate the ceiling of a Chapel, but mere intricacies of carved lace work do not become so because they are within the walls of a Cathedral. The exquisite tracery of the Alhambra has delighted the souls of poets for centuries, but it is not the careless play of frost work; it has a soul in it and expresses in its delicate and seemingly wayward lines the same religious spirit as do the texts of the Koran interwoven in magic letters among its windings. A bit of color stuck upon the wall because it is the fashion is not Decorative Art. A single flower so placed as to tell you its thought more clearly may become so. Still less can that be Art which is meant to serve any purpose of display, or any gratification of the vanity of the possessor. Art is varied as life and rature are; the little chickweed is as good in its place as the appletree, with its glory of beauty in spring and its wealth of use in autumn. So the true feeling for use and beauty may express itself humbly in the ordering of a household or grandly in the building of a temple."

LOST IN A GREAT
Messrs. Lee and
Lenox Dare is a

LENOX DARE, by Virginia F. Townsend, and CITY, by Amanda M. Douglas, from the press of Sheppard, of Boston, are both interesting books. fresh and vigorous story of American country life, and the character of the heroine whose name gives the title to the book is drawn with more skill than would be apparent from a casual reading of the story after the manner of novels. It is a portrayal of a character which may perhaps not often be found in the quiet out-of-theway nooks and corners of our American Country life, but, when found, it is to be highly prized as a national possession, for nowhere except in our own country do we find existing just those conditions which are necessary for its development.-Lost in a Great City is a most touching story of the adventures of a young girl who, when a little child, is lost in the street, in New York, and falls into the

hands of a low set of people, by whom she is literally sold to a "professor" in the flying trapeze line, and the poor little thing is trained, much against her will, to be a performer on the stage. The book is extremely well written, and is far above the average of novels of the kind. It is not sensational, but is a simple narrative of the trials and difficulties of a brave little girl, whose innate refinement, loving disposition, and genuine courage win the fight against the bad influences around her and the sore trials and difficulties which come upon her. It is a book which deserves a large reading, and is likely to broaden the sympathies of the reader, for it serves to illustrate very plainly the truth of the familiar saying that one half of the world does not know how the other half lives.

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES, by Miss Anna Catharine Greene, from the press of Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, is likely to cause a dissappointment to those who have learned to admire the work of this clever authoress in her earlier books, "" The Leavenworth Case," and "A Strange Disappearance." The mere announcement of a new book by the same author raised great expectations, and the disappointment is likely to follow because Miss Greene has, in her last book, made a "new departure," and instead of giving us another of those stories in the production of which she has shown herself so capable, she has ventured into a larger field, and in doing so, has exposed certain weaknesses, without at the same time displaying the full strength of her powers. The book is not a complete success, because too much is undertaken, and consequently no part of it is thoroughly well done. Nevertheless, it bears the impress of the mind of its very clever author, and anything from her pen will be read with interest.— MR. PERKINS'S DAUGHTER, one of Messrs. G P. Putnam's Sons' · Knickerbocker Novels," is written by a daughter of Dr. William A. Hammond, of New York, under the "nom-de-plume" of the Marchioness Clara Lanza. The story is based upon a theory in morbid psychology which the Marchioness calls" periodical amnesia," mean ing,in plain English, that a person apparently in good health both in body and mind, has, at certain intervals, a separate mental existence, as of another person. This, worked into a love-story, gives a scope for complications and intricacies quite beyond that of a novelist who is obliged to deal with the ordinary and usually recognized conditions of human life, and gives to the book an interest which could hardly be claimed for it merely as a literary production.

THE LOST CASKET, and MADEMOISELLE BISMARCK, also from the press of Messrs. G. P. Putnams's Sons, are translations from the French. The first is a very well written story of Parisian life, and the interest of the reader is held closely from the beginning to the

end of the book. It deals with the plots and political schemes of the Nihilists, and on that account possesses a peculiar interest just at the present time. "Mademoiselle Bismarck" is a clever story by Henri Rochefort, in which the heroine, an obscure and uneducated woman, aspires to be the wife of one of the greatest statesmen of France, and, by various ingenious and subtle devices, such as would probably occur only to the mind of a French woman of her class, or to the imagination of a French novelist, comes very near succeeding; but, in her last and most clever stroke, that of feigning suicide, she jumps into the wrong place in the river, and really drowns herself, after the true French fashion, in the Seine.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Princess of Alfred Tennyson recast as a drama. Cloth. I 2mo. Pp. 63. Boston: Lee & Shepard. (Claxton & Co.)

Life or Voltaire. By James Parton. 2 vols. Cloth. 8vo. Pp. 639 and 653. Price $6.00. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (Claxton & Co.)

American Nervousness; Its Causes and Consequences. By George M. Beard, A. M., M. D. Cloth. 12mo. Price $1.50. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. (J. B. Lippincott & Co.)

Count Agenor de Gasparin; by Thomas Borel. Translated from the French by O. O. Howard. Cloth. 12mo. Pp. 123. Price $1.00. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. (J. B. Lippincott & Co.)

The Library, by Andrew Lang, With a Chapter on Modern English Illustrated By Austin Dobson. London: Macmillan & Co. 1881. I 2mo. Cloth. Illus. (Art at Home Series,) $1.25.

A Monograph on Privately Illustrated Books. Tredwell. Brooklyn: 1881. 8 vo. Paper.

A Plea for Bibliomania. By Daniel $1.50.