doors and windows, except those of wire, should remain open, as this will add much to the comfort of the birds. It is not, however, so much the heat of summer as the cold of winter that may harm our feathered pets. But, if they are free from currents of cold air, they will be happy and sing gaily in a well-lighted room in an atmosphere of from 50 to 60 degrees Fah. The aviary should be guarded against extremes of temperature. Hence, in the North, a steam pipe should run through the bird-room, lest the night be too cold for its inmates after a bright sunny winter's day. Yet I once forgot to take in at sunset a choice pair of canaries, and they passed a cold night in January on the porch, and the morning found them as bright as ever, though their water-cup was broken by the ice. Again, I have frequently seen Jinks, when at liberty in the room, bathe in freezing water, but

after such a cold plunge he would always fly to the hearth and there, before an oldfashioned wood-fire, lie on his side with tail and wings spread, enjoying the heat intensely as it penetrated his ruffled feathers.

After having arranged some evergreen trees tastefully in your aviary and placed therein a drinking-fountain or two, do not forget to cover the floor with clean sand. And, if you wish to make your birds love you and fly to you, keep always a box of lettuce, chickweed and rape growing in their room; but keep this treat covered with a wire-frame, so that the birds can enjoy it only when you remove the cover. This you should do two or three times a week. Soon the birds will know you, and will perch on the box or on your hand while they feast on the green dainties.

Jesse Talbot Littleton.

The Workingman and Dynamite.

THE large number of letters of approval from all classes of citizens, rich and poor, educated and uneducated; the free discussion of the question by the newspaper press; the great amount of abuse that has reached this office from optimists, fanatics, and those who in one form or another are in sympathy with a revolution in social institutions-all these are the very gratifying results of the publication of the first part of the forcible article on Anarchy and Dynamite Warfare, which appeared in the May issue of THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE. The letters are a study in themselves, particularly those evidently from honest, hard-working men, who appear especially solicitous that prompt and effective measures shall be immediately taken for the suppression of anarchy and dyna

mite.

The question is certainly one that requires immediate legislative attention. If the evils that are so graphically described in the article are merely imaginary; if the Anarchists are so cowed by the swift justice that overtook their Chicago brethren last year, that they will remain quiet for a time, there is no reason why laws should not be immediately enacted and enforced that will prevent any outbreaks in the future. He is a poor general who waits for an attack to be made before making preparation to resist it; and it is not only an obviously unwise, but it is a criminal policy for the lawmakers of any nation to allow a condition of affairs to exist that menaces the lives and property of a large number of citizens. Nearly every vessel that arrives brings from foreign shores a number of malcontents, to whom govern ment in any form is a bugbear that must be overthrown; and these fresh recruits, filled to the brim with "wrongs of the workingmen," render it only a question of a short time when the country will be treated to a second and enlarged edition of the Chicago massacre in one of the Anarchists' strongholds-New York, Chicago, Cincinnati or St. Louis.

It is an encouraging sign of the times, however, that the honest workingman is showing less disposition to associate with movements that have in view the overturning of society by violence, or with movements that have only visionary objects. In a word, the laborer, having almost passed through one of the periodical cycles of discontent, is once more becoming practical. He is philosophically recognizing the fact that in every community there will necessarily be evils; that nothing can be perfect in this world; and that the best, the only way towards a betterment of his condition is by industry and economy. He is beginning to appreciate the fact that no system of strikes, boycotts nor similar agencies can improve the condition of the employé when the employer is not doing a prosperous business; and he is coming to the point of seeing that the labor market, like all other great markets is controlled by the inexorable law of supply and demand; that if the demand for labor is good and the supply light, the price must advance; and if the supply is large and there is little demand, wages must decline.

The spread of such a feeling among the laboring classes is perhaps one of the strongest barriers that can be interposed against the contagion of anarchy throughout the laboring classes; but as the sentiment and sympathies of the ignorant wage-earners can be so easily inflamed, it certainly is the part of wisdom for the Legislature to prevent the possibility of a Commune in America, by adopting the sage advice, "In time of peace prepare for war."

senses.

sary result of impressions made upon the Mr. Ingersoll's argument was based upon an assumption which must be false if personal identity and consciousness are conceded, and there are few who will undertake to deny either. His first proposition may be said to contain the essence of his reasoning:

Thought is a necessary natural product--the result of what is called impressions made through the medium of the senses upon the brain, not forgetting heredity.

Now, this is not a clearly scientific statement of an old doctrine. Its form, as here given, conceals more than the usual amount of sophistry. But it will serve for our present purpose.

First, there are no impressions made upon the brain, if by this is meant the cerebral organ. Impressions stop with the organs of sense-perception, as the eye, the ear, the fingers, the tongue, the nose. Impressions of form, by the aid of light, are printed upon the retina of the eye, which is but an expansion of the optic nerve leading to the brain proper. Impressions of sound, vibrations of air, are received upon the drum of the ear, and are thence conveyed to the separate fibrous ends of the auditory nerve, and onward to the central brain. But there is no evidence that images of forms or vibrations of sound are transmitted and become permanent affections of the central tissues. Long ago, Sir Benjamin Brodie taught that thought consisted of an infinity of little images in the brain. But this theory was soon exploded. The nerves of sense do not, and cannot, repeat and transmit the impressions received by the external organs any more than does the telegraph wire throughout its length repeat the touch of the operator upon the keys of his instrument. A condition and an accompanying force are present to communicate the fact of impressions to the mind which interprets them. Impressions must be so interpreted.

Now, take any statement, say the one before us, and communicate it first through the ear; second, in printed form, through the eye; thus making physical impressions totally unlike upon the differently constructed organs.

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necessary" results should, therefore, be unlike if there is not some intelligent interpreter at hand to translate the "impressions." Thought is a created product, not a natural result; and consciousness is the main factor in its formation. Attention, with comprehension, is requisite to intelligent perception; and, in proportion to its intensity, is the clearness of knowledge. Perception is an experience over and above sense-impressions; else, why are not all impressions made under the same material conditions equally recognized. We hear only when we listen. We see clearly only when we look.

Attention is an exercise of the mind over Consciousness and above external causes. is a fact undiscoverable by material instruments, and is not convertible with any physical condition or force. Thought arises out of consciousness. In the end, knowledge and consciousness are convertible. Knowledge is a store of summarized and classified thought.

Sense-impressions and knowledge differ and vary indefinitely, we may almost say infinitely. But there enters into these an informing, regulating, determining force, which gives to the product-"thought"-its unity and permanence. Without the stamp of such a force, knowledge, itself, would be as fleeting, transient, as the passing shadow upon brick walls. Consciousness, memory, personal identity, disclose in every human mind a living fact quite in harmony with nature and necessary laws, but superior to them.

The Magazine and Newspaper Press. MUCH has been written within the past month in relation to the Magazine and Newspaper press, and efforts have been made to show that the Sunday and special Saturday editions of the large dailies are, practically, weekly magazines, and are actively appealing to and receiving the support of magazine readers.

A little reflection, however, will show that the two branches of literature are as far apart as ever. The newspaper press in America during the past ten years has, it is true, made vast progress in its literary composition; many of the best writers contribute signed articles to its columns; but the very nature of the daily newspaper prevents its becoming an active competitor in the field of the magazine. While there are some notable exceptions (which exceptions are not the most successful journals), the general tendency of the newspaper is to grasp anything that will make a sensation," no matter how shallow may be the fabric nor, sometimes, how much disregard of truth there may be interwoven. That this is the case is no fault of the editor; it is the fault of the readers. While public opinion may be molded in many ways, experience has, in numerous instances, shown us that the journal which attempts to educate public taste to an unpopular form or policy, has a very unremunerative road to travel. What is demanded is, simply, that the news shall be given in an attractive manner. In these busy days of the nineteenth century, a man wishes to take the news in at a glance on his way to business, and after that he cares only to be amused until he reaches his destination.

Papers that fill this want are usually the most prosperous, and it is not surprising, therefore, that to produce a journal of this character should be the general aim in newspaper offices.

The magazine, however, has a widely different mission, and appeals to a totally different class of readers. It is purchased for its finely selected literature, and is carefully read and often re-read. In its own way it has advanced to an extent far greater than the newspaper, as will be forcibly indicated by a comparison of the magazine of to-day and that

of ten years ago. The business man finds in it a means of rest and instruction after the day's toil; and, in fact, magazine readers, as a class, are those who seek education, combined with entertainment. The magazine and newspaper will, without doubt, maintain their respective fields for ages to

come.

"CURRENT LITERATURE is in itself an illusive something which no words nor phrases can stereotype into a present and definite reality. Every daily and weekly newspaper, every monthly magazine and review offers to its readers the "best" that by its peculiar methods can be gathered from a limitless field.

What shall be included in "literature"? The answer to the question may not be one that shall flatter the conceit of every readywriter. There is much that is printed and put between durable covers that is unworthy of the name book. And, unfortunately, there is much clear and searching thought of the wisest kind upon human life and affairs, upon the activities and transactions and associations of men, in business, in politics, in society, found in the daily press, that with perfect fitness may be named "literature," but which will not be preserved to mankind for future instruction. We do not say that such is profitable for the day and hour only, and then is wholly lost. For no real force is lost, the law of the " conservation of forces" being not less true of the intellectual than of the physical forces that move as powers in the universe of things.

When the mind of Roscoe Conkling ceases to labor in life, the intellectual world suddenly is made aware of an inestimable and irreparable personal loss. We have known and felt the influence of a strong and manly brain, with powers cultured and capable of the highest accomplishments in any field of thought, casting its forces and treasures abroad with a lavish generosity altogether unmindful of self in the memories of men. May we not trust that there will be found in the remains of this great American statesman and orator such records of his talents and works as may be formed into a fitting literary monument of his life and public

services?

Quite naturally we are reminded of another and grievous loss to society and the world this one more immediate and significant to literature. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that, in his time, Matthew Arnold was one of the greatest masters of English ex

pression. His mind was not of the class called "original," but rather the finished product of a studied and exact system of training. The son and pupil of Dr. Thomas Arnold, Master of Rugby, he exemplified in his literary life and works the effects of unsurpassed skill and ability exerted for the culture of a mind by one of the world's great teachers. As a poet, Matthew Arnold was indebted quite as much to nature as to art, and to this is due the most enduring quality of his works. As an essayist, a critic and a social philosopher, in which respects he justly ranked among the most eminent, there is much credit to be given to the lessons afforded him at Rugby and Oxford. To these must be added his widely extended studies in mature life, especially in Celtic literature.

The student of literature seeking for examples of good prose, will find in the writings of Matthew Arnold, generally, a pure and clear style, a most accurate fidelity of word and sentence to idea and thought, and a "straightforwardness" of expression that never misleads. Mr. Arnold did a great service for public education and public schools that has not as yet been duly recognized in the United States.

The one thing in which he was wanting to be regarded a perfectly trained public man, the talent of public speaking, will be lost sight of in the memory of his eminent services to English literature.

Mr. Arnold's essays in political philosophy seem not to have produced any marked effects to his credit. In this respect he falls far below the rank he appeared so ambitious to attain-the rank of Macaulay, John Stuart Mill, Gladstone and a few others, alike illustrious in politics and literature.

We find nothing more worthy of mention in current literature than Mr. Gladstone's

contribution to The North American Review for May. At an age beyond that permitted to men in general, in the midst of arduous and exacting political duties apparently borne with ease, Mr. Gladstone finds ready at his command the ability and time to write upon an issue pre-eminent in human thought, in

a manner that challenges the attention of the most thoughtful among men of letters, whether in literature, philosophy or science. It is very strange that in nearly every case the attempts to question the authorship of Shakespeare have originated in this country. The recent attempt, so widely noticed in respectable quarters, of Mr. Ignatius Donnelly of St. Paul, meets its deserved fate and dies in its minority. But it was cruel and somewhat discreditable to the sound scholarship of Prof. Thomas Davidson, that he should publicly encourage the "entirely honest" Donnelly in the "literary enthusiasm "which inspired him to assassinate the "divine" Shakespeare, that he might enthrone the "meanest of mankind" in his stead. And it is a little amusing to see how alert is Professor Davidson in hastening to save ("with the utmost regret for Mr. Donnelly's sake," regardless of the fame of the "immortal bard of Avon") a reputation for Shakespearean scholarship that has hitherto stood very high. Prof. Davidson's second article on "The Great Cryptogram" is more instructive, as well as more assuring than his first. Yet the closing sentences of this last article leave us in doubt as to his faith in our Shakespeare.

The Shakespeare Society of New York, whose membership includes many students of the great dramatist living in other parts of the country, and of which society Mr. Appleton Morgan of this city is president, has published the first volume of their edition of "The Comedies, Histories and Tragedies of Mr. William Shakespeare, as presented at the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres, circa 15911623." The plan of this edition is to give the text furnished to the players in parallel pages with that of the revision, or first folio. In this plan seems to lie the chief value of this twenty-volume limited edition, now offered to the public. Mr. Morgan edits the work, and writes an introduction to the first volume which consists of "The Merry Wives of Windsor."

It is but a short time since the Messrs. Estes & Lauriat began to issue their edition of Duruy's "History of Rome and the Roman People," edited by Prof. J. P. Mahaffy. This is an édition de luxe, consisting of 1,000 copies in sixteen imperial octavo volumes, and sold at $160 a copy. The entire edition has been placed. About three hundred copies were furnished to the public and private libraries of this city. This is noteworthy evidence of the increasing interest in historical literature. Nor does the growing interest in Roman and Greek history take from the public appreciation for new books on American history and literature. "The Narrative and Critical History of America " continues to be received with favor as each

succeeding volume of the work appears. Vol. VI. is the last published. Some readersand good critics object to the plan of many writers of unequal abilities and diversities of style in the same work. This certainly is a fault, but one which is more than compensated by the great value of the work as an exhaustive compilation of the facts of American history critically reviewed and arranged.

It is a very encouraging sign of the times that American publishers meet with substantial sympathy in their most ambitious and liberal literary ventures. It is further most gratifying to be able to note the promise of a better day for American authorship in the more favorable attitude of the National Legislature to the rightful claims of "home" writers on the Government for protection. For as we write, the hope for a just copyright law seems to be well grounded.

There seems to be no good reason why "summer readers" should drift into indolent habits of merely absorbing without mental effort the lighter works of fiction. Of course every demand will be met, and the shallow brain will be supplied with what it calls for. But true recreation for the healthfully vigorous must have suitable play for its powers. Nothing can be more wearisome to such a mind, even in the heated days of summer, than the "light literature” found everywhere on news-stands, in railway cars, and places of resort for vacation pleasures. To such readers, a new and "popular edition" of George Meredith's "Ordeal of Richard Feverel" (Roberts Bros.) will be especially welcome. Nor can we see why this, one of the greatest works of fiction, should be the exclusive pleasure and possession of exceptionally strong minds. masses are now reading Dickens and Thackeray and George Eliot. They will enjoy and profit by an acquaintance with George Meredith's works, and particularly this one, which is not the less entertaining because profound in its study of human nature. The superficial reader may find at times a seemingly obscure sentence, a paragraph difficult to understand, but the intense earnestness of the author will finally fix his interest and engage his best thoughts.

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The

Roberts Brothers give to the American public a rare treat in Katharine Prescott Wormely's fine translation of Balzac's beautiful creation "Modeste Mignon." One who reads it for the first time enjoys a delicious literary feast, the memory of which lingers in the mind and heightens intellectual desire. The description of " Modeste" is incomparable. There is nowhere in literature so perfect a portrait, so complete a picture in even the minutest details, so fine a specimen of pure art. We need go no farther to be