linck cares not for theatrical eloquence, he cares for something far deeper. Let us listen.

Bluebeard

introduces Aryan, his Beneath

sixth wife into the palace. the windows is heard the indignant shouting of an invisible crowd. What, one more? And so beautiful, the most beautiful in the country? No, it is too much; he has already drawn down too many calamities on the surrounding country! And this sixth one has courage. . . . It is true she thinks the others still live.

The indignation of the crowd increases-but Bluebeard and Aryan enter the palace. He opens for her all his treasures; here are twelve boxes arranged according to the signs of the Zodiac, each box contains jewels and costly fabrics from different countries and of different ages. Choose! Aryan is fond of jewels, and chooses-Roman jewels.

"The Roman women were beautiful and courageous." She plunges her fingers into the jewels and is delighted. Suddenly she shivers and is sad. The sound of sad singing is borne to her from the distance. The admirer of the Roman women speaks often to Bluebeard-Does he love? It seems he loves for the first time, for this is. the first time he has met with such a woman.

He presses her passionately to his breast; she resists and screams. Her scream is echoed by another, it is the cry of the crowd beneath the windows of the palace, who, suspecting that there is to be another victim, threatens, throwing stones. Thereupon Aryan appears in the doorwayshe is sweet and strong, and the crowd is calmed.

No, Bluebeard has never before met a woman who could dominate spirit and body.

In the second act Aryan appears as the liberator. She descends to the cellar, accompanied by a nurse, who is

trembling with fear, and breaks all the locks. The sad singing of the prisoners sounds ever louder and louder. Here they are. Here in the cellar, among the numerous pillars that support the old ceiling, they lie in a darkness that is only brightened by the feeble flame of a single lamp. There are five of them and they all tremble with fear-they answer to her call with timid moaning. But Aryan's voice, full of joy, enthusiasm and energy, animates them; they approach her, and her heart is filled with warmth and sadness. Ah! how the poor things have suffered! They cannot yet believe that they are free! They cannot believe that out in the world the spring blooms, the light shines and the lake smiles. Poor things, they have forgotten the sun! Forward then, forward! Suddenly the light in the nurse's hand expires, and they can no longer see their way. But even in the deepest darkness there shines some ray. Whence comes it? It comes from yonder, where the wall ends and the rock begins. . . . A rock in the form of an altar, for it is said that this was formerly a church. Well, then, forward toward the crevice, and move away the stones! But the prisoners are overwhelmed with fear. Beyond that rock there is a sea-it will flow over them, it will annihilate them! Aryan is sad. Poor sisters! Have you then grown accustomed to the dark"Why did you wish that I should free you, if you are so fond of the darkness? Why did you weep if you were happy?"

ness.

Let us work! . . . a few more blows and the stone is broken, and the light streams in, overflowing with life, freedom and delight.

Third act.-In the hall of the palace, the liberated prisoners stand before the boxes of jewels, and alas! they are all like Eve, who, as Heine says, having eaten of the apple of knowledge,

stretched forth her arm for a fig-leaf. Scarcely has a woman grown up, than the first thing she does is to purchase a dress. Thus, also, act Bluebeard's liberated wives; they cover nature and make her hideous. The one whose golden hair shone even in the darkness, covers it with ribbons; Aryan throws them away, in order "to free that light once more." She whose shoulders breathe a charm and ask a caress, now covers them with silk; another hides both neck and arms. Aryan accomplishes the work of liberation; "No wonder," says she of Bluebeard, "had he wished even for a hundred wives, he had none."

But ere he

Then Bluebeard comes. can enter the palace he must pass that wall-like crowd that threatens him. The women are frightened and speechless. Aryan alone calls for help and begs for mercy. The people bind Bluebeard and bring him to the palace-the women flee. Aryan alone comes forward to meet the crowd, and by her queen-like mien imposes respect and obedience. And she frees the prisoner, whilst the others are only able to lament. Having freed the man, she kisses him and departs. asked the other women. yonder, where I am still needed. among you will go with me? None, although the door is open, and beyond it there is freedom, and the bright light of the silver stars?"

"Where?" "Far away Who

They look at her with indifference, the "woman of the North" alone throws herself on her bosom and thus remains. Then the door of the palace is closed-behind Aryan.

Such is the drama written with extreme simplicity, and full of strong emotions. It possesses great poetical beauties, all fresh and simple as field flowers.

The poet's relation to nature is magnificent. For a long time he has felt her slightest tremors and heard her

most secret whispers, but, strange to say, he has drawn from her only sad sounds, at times threatening and full of despair, as in "The Blind Men" and "The Uninvited Guest."

This time nature spoke to him, her language thrilled through him, awaking warm, joyful, passionate sounds, voices of the worship of nature. Here nature is a god, deliverance, happiness. As her light penetrates the darkness, the poet is intoxicated, and his words become an inspired hymn.

Aryan (when the light enters the prison): "I can see nothing. I cannot open my eyes, for long strings of pearls strike against my eyelids. I know not what flows in on me . . . is it Heaven, or sea? Is it the wind or the world? My hair is a stream of light. I see nothing, but I hear everything; thousands of rays strike on my ears . . .

Such hymns sang the ancient mystics, in honor of life. This whole poem is devoted to light, every symbol therein quivers with light.

For Bluebeard is the personification of all men. He sought a woman, and he found but feeble figures, covering and disfiguring their bodies, not covering their souls-for they had none. Consequently, he threw them into Gothic prisons, that cover the vision of the world with the remains of altars, beyond which there may be sea, or heaven-or infinity. At length things change. "The crowd," sometime invisible, begins to rebel against this state of affairs. Above it stands the figure of a woman, simple and great, and Bluebeard immediately offers her his hand. She is fond of jewels, she loves a beautiful life, but drawing from the treasury of her great soul, she carries gifts also to others. The ideal women to her are the Roman women, "beautiful and courageous.” She enters the dark prison, despite the superstitious fear of the nurse, despite lack of will and childish weakness; she breaks the

stones of the ancient altars, and admits the light, the light. .

Being unable to see that some spiritual revolution is already taking place, the crowd seizes Bluebeard, in whom it recognizes only an oppressor, unaware of the fact that he himself has suffered deeply. Simple-minded, merciless, although generous, crowd! It humiliates itself before a woman, who comes bringing light; and she dresses Bluebeard's wounds, and leaves him amongst the women. Have they understood the experiments of the past? The Fortnightly Review.

Do they know that salvation lies in imitating the virtues of the Roman women, who united courage with clear, unveiled beauty?

The poet doubts. The liberated prisoners rushed to the boxes full of glittering jewels and costly stuffs; they remained with the man who, to them, was an executioner, and they left their liberator, their good genius, alone-in solitude.

It is thus one may interpret Maeterlinck's last symbols.

S. C. de Soissons.

Margaret Sackville.

Dr. Josiah Strong's "Religious Movements for Social Betterment" (The Baker & Taylor Co.) is a succinct account of institutional churches. Christian associations and other modern forms of activity which combine the religious and social motives.

Josiah Flynt and Francis Walton are joint authors of the "Powers that Prey," published by McClure, Phillips & Co. The predatory powers referred to are, as might be guessed, gamblers and other social parasites, who live upon the community. Josiah Flynt, as is generally known, is the pen name of J. Frank Willard, and Francis Walton conceals the identity of a college professor who is deeply interested in social problems.

Here is a pleasing anecdote from the latest volume of Mr. Hare's autobiographical reminiscences:

I went to luncheon at Lady Castletown's; she was not come in from church, but I went up into the drawing-room. A good-looking, very smart young lady was sitting there, with her back to the window, evidently waiting also. After a pause, I made some stupid remark to her about heat, or cold, &c. She looked at me, and said, "That is a very commonplace remark. I'll make a remark. If a woman does not marry she is nobody at all, nothing at all in the world; but if a man marries at all he is an absolute fool." I said, "I know who you are; no one but Miss Rhoda Broughton would have said that." And it was she.

Professor Ira N. Hollis of Harvard University has written the history of "The Frigate Constitution" (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) with a fulness of detail which makes his volume equivalent to

a sketch of the whole period when the American navy was under sail. The reader of his narrative, which even landsmen will find one of absorbing interest, will gain from it a clear idea of the conditions under which the American navy originated and in which it found its early development, and also of the stirring history which it helped to make. Written con amore, out of a full professional knowledge and an abounding enthusiasm, this history of "Old Ironsides" quickens the pulse like a tale of adventure.

The Rev. Dr. William Newton Clarke dedicates his "A Study of Christian Missions" (Charles Scribner's Sons) to "the pastors of America;" and to them doubtless the book makes its first appeal. But it would be a pity if it were not also to fall into the hands of laymen of all denominations, for it presents not only the missionary character and motive of Christianity, but recognizes the present crisis and the immediate needs of the mission cause, and is at once a source of information and inspiration. It is just, well-considered and illuminating.

Mrs. Richmond Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, in a paper in The Cornhill Magazine, tells of a character called Fairy Hopstick, whom Thackeray created as a rival fairy to the Fairy Blackstick, and who appears in the manuscript of "The Rose and the Ring," but of whom there is no mention in the book itself. This fairy used to wheedle and flatter and tell lies, and she hated the Fairy Blackstick, under whose sincere glances she seemed to shrivel up and disappear altogether. There is a picture of Hopstick dwindling and

dwindling under the gaze of Blackstick, and Mrs. Ritchie still remembers seeing the gold pen emphasizing the lines of the shadows that brought out Hopstick's malevolent glare, as she vanished in bilious spite.

"The Story of Nineteenth Century Science," as told by Henry Smith Williams, M.D. (Harper & Bros.), is a rapid and graphic survey, "popular" without being patronizing, of the great achievements and discoveries of the century in the departments of astronomy, palæontology, geology, meteorology, physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, scientific medicine and experimental psychology. Separate chapters are given to each of these sciences, and the volume closes with a brief consideration of some unsolved scientific problems. There are numerous portraits and personal sketches of the leaders in research in all these different fields, and a thorough index adapts the book to convenient reference. Dr. Williams has done extremely well a very useful and inspiring bit of work.

The third volume of Professor Elisha Gray's series on "Nature's Miracles" is devoted to Electricity and Magnetism, and it gives a practical and popular exposition, in the simplest terms, of electrical and magnetic phenomena. It is a fascinating book, crowded with clear descriptions of the fruits of modern science in these departments, of which most of us are content to make daily use, without pausing long to consider how marvellous they are, or to how great an extent they have revolutionized the conditions of existence. It is a real

service which Professor Gray renders in these volumes-each of which is independent of the others-and they may be commended to readers young or old. Fords, Howard & Hulbert.

Those fortunate ones who learned to love "Le Petit Chose" first in the original will take a generous as well as a selfish delight in the translation of this idyl, as it comes from Little, Brown & Co., in their new edition of Daudet's works. Wearing gracefully its quaint Anglicized title, "Little What's-HisName," with an attractive binding in blue and gold, and a clear page that fascinates the attention, the outward appearance of this first favorite is all that could be desired. The translation, by Jane Minot Sedgwick, shows both vigor and delicacy. It is matter for congratulation that so worthy a rendering of this classic is at hand for the many who still feel less at home with Daudet in French than in English. The volume contains also that simple and charming little story, "La Belle Nivernaise."

A strong, devout and closely-reasoned statement of "The Scientific Evidences of Revealed Religion" is contained in the volume bearing that title, in which are published the lectures delivered in 1900 on the Bishop Paddock foundation, in the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, by the Rev. Charles Woodruff Shields, D.D., professor of the Harmony of Science and Revealed Religion in Princeton University. Astronomy, geology and anthropology are the sciences which Professor Shields lays under tribute in this volume for evidence in support of revealed religion; and he purposes in a later volume to present similar evidences from the sciences of psychology, sociology and comparative religion and from the philosophical sciences. There is need of just such a restatement as this, by a well-equipped and conservative theologian, of the arguments for religion which rest on scientific foundations. Professor Shields possesses the first requisite for a clear