sake and its author's; but no one need turn to it expecting it to help him to any solution of anxieties concerning the class troubles and labor troubles of today. It could not really have thrown much light upon those of its own time, though it should have done good service as at least proving the author's sincere sympathy with the poor and their aspirations. A Wicked Girl, The One Thing Needful, and Two Pinches of Snuff, are new English novels that share the strong family resemblance of most new English novels, yet have a little more spirit and individuality than is usual in these—as, indeed, was to be expected from the names of their authors. It is customary among fastidious critics to ridicule Miss Braddon, and there is certainly much absurdity and unreality in her stories; nevertheless, they are not inane, there is frequently real feeling in them, and they have a certain vigor and ability to tell a story. So also, while neither Mary Cecil Hay nor William Westall is a great name, one who has chanced to meet other stories that bear these names will not be surprised to find in A Wicked Girl, and in Two Pinches of Snuff, signs of a stronger hand than in most novels of their class. The One Thing Needful is quite obviously modeled after Marlitt's popular German romance, "The Old Mam'sell's Secret," and is a much weaker version than the original. The Old Doctors will owe its chief claim to attention—indeed, we must say frankly, its only claim to the reputation already won by its author as a poet. As a Californian writer whose work has brought him in other lands a not unenviable reputation, Mr. Cheney stands in the position of a man whose work the OVERLAND would be glad to praise. We cannot, however, find in The 1A Wicked Girl. By Mary Cecil Hay. Handy Series. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1886. 2The One Thing Needful. By Miss M. E. Braddon. Franklin Square Library, Number 538. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1886. Two Pinches of Snuff. By William Westall. Franklin Square Library, Number 539. New York: & Brothers. 1886. Harper Old Doctor anything of which we can speak very warmly. It is what is called a "psychological" romance, full of mesmeric influences and magnetic healing. Three books of short stories close our list. One is not a collection, as it consists of only two stories, bound together-both too long to be properly "short stories," yet not in manner and motive novelettes. This is Vernon Lee's Ottilie.-- The Prince of the One Hundred Soups, the one a serious old-fashioned story, the other a Christmas pantomime, something in the manner of Thackeray's. These are both written in good, clear, and simple English, and the style is mature, having a somewhat manlike air. The two other books are both collections of short stories most, if not all, of which have appeared in American magazines: Poverty Grass, which takes its title from the starved beach-grass of sterile places on the New England coast, and whose stories are of farm and factory life among the New England poor; and A White Heron, a collection of Miss Jewett's latest stories, the first of which gives the title to the book. Several of the stories in Poverty Grass appeared in print some years ago, over the signature S. A. L. E. M. and were at the time attributed to Miss Woolson, on no stronger grounds than that they had not the manner of a new writer, and were on a range of subjects, and had a quality of thought and feeling, so different from Miss Woolson'sbeing in the main sociological, where she is individual--that it was not inconceivable that if she had written such stories she would have written them over a pseudonym, as a sort of side venture, or as a foray into regions where she did not care to be personally identified with all her facts and speculations. The stories are well enough written for Miss Woolson, but there is no farther resemblance. They are doubtless much closer 5Ottilie. The Prince of the One Hundred Soups. By Vernon Lee. Franklin Square Series, Number 542. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1886. Poverty Grass. By Lillie Chace Wyman. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1886. For sale in San Francisco by A. L. Bancroft & Co. Boston: 7A White Heron and other Stories. By Sarah Orne The Old Doctor. By John Vance Cheney. Phila- Jewett. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1886. delphia: D. Appleton & Co. 1886. For sale in San Francisco by Chilion Beach. and more literal studies of the life they describe than her short stories; and with perhaps two exceptions they are also artistically good. In representations of the rural New England type, they approach the excellence of Miss Jewett and Rose Terry Cooke. The first of these that were printed, especially "The Child of the State" associated with the author's pseudonym an intention of attacking, somewhat sensationally, abuses in the administration of State charities, and in factory life; but the collection as a whole proves to be far more genial and temperate -a collection of observations, not an indict ment. Of Miss Jewett's stories little can ever be said, except to remark afresh on their beauty, their straightforward simplicity, and above all, their loving truth to the life of rural New England not merely in its external aspects, but in its very heart and spirit. It needs only to compare such a bit of outside observation as Mr. Howells's picture of Lydia Blood's home with the studies of the same sort of people from the more intimate and sympathetic standpoint of Miss Jewett's stories, to realize how great is the mere historic importance, apart from the purely humane. or artistic value, of these stories, and the little "school" of which they, with Rose Terry Cooke's, stand at the head. They constitute the only record for the future of the real motive and temper of life among the latest (and possibly the last) distinct representatives of the English Puritan colonization of New England; as well as very nearly the only one, in any detail, of its manners and customs. In view of the current misconceptions of the Puritan temper, which threaten to fasten themselves upon history, such authentic records of its rugged kindliness, its intensity of personal affections, its capacity for liberality, are invaluable. Nor can one doubt that these bona fide Yankees, yet lingering among the remote farms, are the true descendants in character as well as in blood of the original colonists, if he will compare them with George Eliot's studies of the farmer folk from among whom they came. The community of essential character, modified by two hundred years of greater independence, more liberal thought, and harder effort, is unmistakable. A White Heron contains two or three stories that are among Miss Jewett's best; the average of the collection is scarcely equal, we think, to previous ones. The first story, "A White Heron," however, is perfect in its way--a tiny classic. episode of child-life, among birds and woods, makes it up; and the secret soul of a child, the appeal of the bird to its instinctive honor and tenderness, never were interpreted with more beauty and insight. A paragraph or two will give the heart of the little picture cut from its frame, and perhaps, like the shells that "had left their beauty on the shore with the sun and the sand and the wild uproar," almost spoiled thereby : Sylvia's face was like a pale star if one had seen it from the ground, when the last thorny bough was past, and she stood trembling and tired, but wholly triumphant, high in the tree-top. Yes, there was the sea, with the dawning sun making a golden dazzle over it, and toward that glorious east flew two hawks, with slow-moving pinions. How low they looked in the air from that height, when one had only seen them before far up, and dark against the blue sky. Their gray feathers were as soft as moths; they seemed only a little way from the tree, and Sylvia felt as if she too could go flying away among the clouds: westward, the woodlands and farms reached miles and miles into the distance; here and there were church steeples and white villages-truly it was a vast and awesome world! The birds sang louder and louder. At last the sun came up, bewilderingly bright. Sylvia could see the white sails of ships out at sea, and the clouds that were purple and rose-colored and yellow at first began to fade away. Where was the white heron's nest in the sea of green branches? and was this wonderful sight and pageant of the world the only reward for having climbed to such a giddy height? Now look down again, Sylvia, where the green marsh is set among the shining birches and dark hemlocks ; there, where you saw the white heron once you will see him again; look, look! a white spot of him, like a single floating feather, comes up from the dead hemlock and grows larger, and rises, and comes close at last, and goes by the landmark pine with steady sweep of wing and outstretched slender neck and crested head, And wait! wait! do not move a foot or a finger, little girl, do not send an arrow of light and consciousness from your too eager eyes, for the heron has perched on a pine bough not far beyond yours, and cries back to his mate on the nest, and plumes his feathers for the new day! The child gives a long sigh a minute later, when a company of shouting catbirds comes also to the tree, and vexed by their fluttering and lawlessness the solemn heron goes away. She knows his secret now -the wild, light, slender bird that floats and wavers, and goes back like an arrow presently to his home in the green world beneath. Then Sylvia, well satisfied, makes her perilous way down again Wondering over and over again what the stranger would say to her, and what he would think, when she told him how to find his way straight to the heron's nest. The grandmother and the sportsman stand in the door together and question her, and the splendid moment has come to speak of the dead hemlock tree by the green marsh. . . What is it that suddenly forbids her and makes her dumb? Has she been nine years growing, and now, when the great world for the first time puts out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for a bird's sake? The murmur of the pine's green branches is in her ears; she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air, and how they watched the sea and the morning together; and Sylvia cannot speak: she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away. Dear loyalty, that suffered a sharp pang as the guest went away disappointed later in the day, that could have served and followed him and loved him as a dog loves . . . Were the birds better friends than their hunter might have been? Who can tell? ETC. It is impossible not to perceive the general indifference of the people of this State to the political campaign, now fairly begun; and equally impossible to suggest any reason why they should not be indifferent. Both tickets are headed by gentlemen who are respected in the community. Both platforms announce practically the same views, as the theses in behalf of which each party is opposing the other. The abuse of candidates by the party organs has, for the most part, so mechanical, weary, and perfunctory an air, that it is hardly credible that it can work much on the feelings of the blindest partisan. One party claims to entertain a deeper antipathy toward the Chinaman than does the other, and adds to the common declaration in favor of repeal of the treaty, and absolute exclusion, an absurd call for "deportation"; but considering that this summary measure cannot be executed without the repeal of the treaty and the consent of the Chinese government, it is not likely that this extra touch of emphasis laid upon the anti-Chinese plank will serve as a basis for any practical discrimination between the party positions. Some effort has been made to associate the other party with a "Native American" feeling, but the party itself repudiates this distinction with prompt alarm. To the candidates themselves, and their friends, and those personally connected with their fortunes, there are serious issues at stake. There are also serious matters to come before the Legislature now to be elected; but every member's position upon these will depend upon his personal character and affiliations, and cannot be determined beforehand by his ticket. This is, accordingly, an admirable election in which to pick out the men who are most in accordance with one's own principles, from both tickets. I have carefully examined the files of the "Bulle tin," and now send you the list, in a somewhat dif ferent form, and with several additional titles. The references to the "Bulletin" marked "W," When "Date of letter" is given, it is to be underare to the weekly edition, all others are to the daily. and that the letter itself has not been found, although stood that this was the date given in the original list, the daily files have been examined, page by page, repeatedly for them. The extreme difficulty of such a task, though it has been cheerfully performed, for the sake of the multitude of Mr. Muir's admirers, must be borne in mind, in extenuation of any errors or omissions in this revised list of his writings. Gold Fields of. S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 1, 1879.. S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 13, 1880- City.. 22.1879 S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1880- Salt Lake Basin, Storm in.. Date of letter, May 25, 1877S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 16, 1880. .S. F. Bulletin, May 22. 1877S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 23, 1880. Bathing in......S. F. Bulletin, June, 14, 1877S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 15, 1881 San Francisco to Victoria..S. F. Bulletin, +, 1879S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 31, 1881 San Gabriel, Sun Valley of S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 7, 1877S. F. Bulletin, July 13. 1881 Mts., In the..S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 11, 1877.S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 10, 1880 Sea and Coast Scenery....S. F. Bulletin, S .S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 25, 1880- Shasta Bees........ .S. F. Bulletin, W., Jan. 5, 1875.S. F. Bulletin, July 13, 1881 Game...... ..S. F. Bulletin, W., Dec. 12, 1874.S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 1, 1879 Notes from........ .Date of letter, Sept. 10, 1877Northern, Nature of....S. F. Bulletin, July 13, 1881 Snow Storm on Mt...... Harper's, LV., p. 52L Onalaska.... .S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 15, 1881 Storms........S. F. Bulletin, W., Dec. 2, 1874S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 16, 1881- Sledge Ride, A...............................S. F. Bulletin, July 13, 1881.S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 31, 1881- Sheep of California, The Wild..Overland, XIV., p. 358 C/S. F. Bu'letin, Oct. 26, 1881, ..Scribner's, XXH., p. 1XXL .S. F. Bulletin, July 13, 1881- Siberia, Coast and Villages.. S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 15, 1881.S. F. Bulletin, July 13, 1881.S. F. Bulletin, Aug, 16, 1881 Plover Bay. Reindeer in. " Rivers of. .S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1880- St. Laurence Island.....S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 15, 1881 St. Michael's Island.. .S. F. Bulletin, July 13, 1881.S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 13, 1880.S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 13, 1880.S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 29, 1881S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 22, 1881S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 27, 1881.S. F. Bulletin, July 25, 1881Alps, In Heart of the Cal.. .Scribner's, XX., p. 345Alps, Snow Banners of the Cal... Harper's, LV., p. 162Arctic Sea, In the...... .S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 25, 1881 Bee Pastures of California....Century, II., pp. 222, 388British Columbia........ .S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 27, 1879California, Semi-tropical...S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 7, 1877California, Forests of..........Harper's, LVII., p. 813Coal Mine, An Arctic......S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 25, 1881Corwin, Cruise of the All in 1881; arranged under sub-title East Cape.. The Coniferous Forests of.. Scribner's, XXII., p. 710- .Overland, XIV., p. 489...Scribner's XVII., p. 478 .Scribner's XVII., p. 644.Overland, XII., pp. 393, 489..Overland, XIII., pp. 67, 174, 393, 550(Glaciers and Glacial Action) Overland, XIV., p. 64 Sierras, Summering in: S. F. Bulletin, W., Sept. 14, 1876- S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 15, 1875- |