so grave as to constitute its passage an invasion of the rights of the landowner. The presence of even a single aviator, circling around or shooting through the air, introduces serious risk, not merely to property, but also to life or limb.

The Aerial Navigation Bill, as presented to the House, made it highly penal to navigate an aircraft "recklessly or negligently, or in a manner which is dangerous to the public." But this vague proposal did not pass muster. Such, indeed, are the difficulties of observation and identification, that any legislation of this perfunctory kind, inadequate as it has been shown to be in the case of motor-cars, would prove quite futile when applied to aircraft in rapid motion a thousand feet above the surface of the earth. It may, however, soon become of urgent necessity to devise some checks upon reckless or dangerous aviation such as would operate even where no mishap has actually occurred. But upon what lines would legislation proceed? Is there any ground for believing that the statutory restrictions would be based on the principle of attaining the greatest happiness of the greatest number? We fear not, when we reflect upon the complete failure of existing legislation to suppress the frightful abuses of the motor-cars, which minister to the pleasure of a few at the expense of the whole popu

The Economist.

lation; the daily destruction of life in the streets of our towns, and even in our country lanes; the grave damage to house property; the noises which make night and day alike hideous; the disease-scattering dust; and finally the wholesale destruction of roads, whose maintenance, often at double the old cost, falls upon the general ratepayer. But after years of experience there seems to be no chance of obtaining from Government Departments or Parliament any amendment in the laws regulating motor traffic. And why? Probably because most influential people are motorists.

An acute lawyer confesses he can propound no practical method whereby a private citizen could, under existing laws, enforce his rights or protect himself against peril or apprehended loss from aircraft. One learned writer suggests, as a preliminary to more drastic measures, that blank cartridge should be fired as an invitation to the airman to fly away or alight, just as a gunboat warns a trawler fishing in prohibited waters by firing, in the first instance, a blank shot across the trawler's bows! But the problem, even if approached on these lines, seems insoluble where the danger arises from some unknown craft, 1,000 or 1,500 feet above the surface of the land, travelling with the velocity of an express train.

Charles E. Van Loan's "The Big League" (Small, Maynard & Co.) contains nine short base ball stories, each of independent interest although the same characters reappear in several. The author is apparently well-versed in the slang of the "bleachers," which he uses fluently. The stories are spirited

but pitched on rather a high key and with a superfluity of fracases and knock-outs.

The two latest volumes in the "First Folio" Shakespeare present the first and second Parts of Henry the Fourth. One has for frontispiece a view of

Warkworth Castle and the other a view of Westminster Abbey. Miss Charlotte Porter, who is now the sole editor, furnishes notes, an excellent introduction, a glossary, lists of variorum readings and bits of selected criticism. All the editorial work is painstakingly done, and in typography and all mechanical details the volumes leave nothing to be desired. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.

Certainly an enticing anthology is "The Book of Love," edited with an introduction by Madison Cawein, and presenting twelve groups of selections in prose and verse, expressing all phases and aspects of the great passion,-its tenderness, its unreason, its caprices, its tragedies. Writers ancient and modern, from Theocritus and Sophocles to Tennyson and Swinburne are drawn upon and there is almost as wide a range in sentiment as in source. There are several illustrations from drawings by W. T. Benda, and in form the book is a dainty companion to Mabie's Book of Christmas and Lucas's The Gentlest Art. The Macmillan Co.

"The Sovereign Power," by Mark Lee Luther, is almost as up-to-date as a daily paper, and rather more exciting. A young and charming American girl, travelling abroad with her aunt and uncle, becomes interested suddenly and simultaneously in aeroplanes, a Servian prince and a penniless American inventor whom she has met and liked before. The story is a rather simple tale of her struggles to keep her love-affairs straight and at the same time to help the Servian prince outwit his diabolically clever diplomatic enemies. The book is entertaining and the superficial characterization telling, particularly in the case of the heroine's shrewd American uncle. The Macmillan Company.

A pleasant style, a discriminating selection of facts, and an impartial historical spirit are combined in Dr. William Elliot Griffis' latest book, "China's Story." The rise of the Tartars, the slow evolution of a national spirit, the feudal system, and the great Mongol invasions of China and Europe are vividly described The chapter on Chinese socialism is full of curious interest for the student of modern economics. The more recent developments, the influence of missions and the problems of the future are effectively treated. Numerous illustrations and an excellent outline of chronology add to the value of this compact and interesting volume. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Etta Anthony Baker, already pleasantly known as a writer of books for girls, opens a series for boys with a book called "The Captain of the S. I. G.'s" These mystic initials stand for a boys' club, the Staten Island Giants, formed chiefly for base ball but having other uses besides. The captain of the club differs from most boyheroes in being quite human and endowed with some faults. He and his most intimate friend, Sidney Armstrong, have various exciting experiences not only at base ball, but in racing, swimming, and off shore in a tug; and an element of older interest is supplied in the vicissitudes of young Armstrong's parents. The story is brightly told and well illustrated. Little Brown & Co.

In "The Case of Paul Breen" by Anthony Tudor, are involved a forsaken woman, a deceived husband, a child bearing a name not rightly his, a runaway girl whose corpse is found after a railway accident in a trunk in a burning freight-car, a brother suspected of having shipped it in a trunk to conceal murder, an aberration of memory,

following injuries received in a laboratory, a villainous rival, an unjust verdict, a blind court-crier with an infallible instinct for truth in the voice, an ambitious politician, a jealous wife, two beautiful girls, a young professor of chemistry, a return of memory with a repetition of the original experiment, and an explosion which kills the villain at the same time that it clears the hero and ends the book. L. C. Page & Co.

A volume of so great and obvious value that it is amazing that it has not been presented before is "The Holy Gospel," edited by Frank J. Firth, and published by the Fleming H. Revell Company. In this volume the editor has placed side by side in four parallel columns the King James version of the four Gospels, the English Revised version, the American Revised version, and the Roman Catholic or Douay version.

This arrangement makes it possible to compare at a glance, verse by verse, the different versions. A brief history of the several versions and a subject-index add to the value of the volume. Attractively printed and bound in an octavo volume of nearly 500 pages, the book,-in furtherance of the editor's purpose to promote a more careful study of the gospels-is sold at the low price of one dollar.

The "Miss Billy" of Eleanor H. Porter's readable novel, is a bright, generous-hearted girl of eighteen, orphaned, though not penniless, and quite alone in the world. The natural misunderstanding which leads her father's old college chum-a widower of many years, living with his two bachelor brothers, their butler and their Chinese cook-to welcome her to the old Beacon Street house which

they have named the "Strata" on account of the different fads represented on its different floors, the confusion which follows the appearance of an attractive girl instead of the expected boy, the hasty introduction of a chaperone, and the prompt transformation of the household routine make a lively opening for a plot which gradually develops a love interest involving all three brothers and keeping the reader in agreeable uncertainty to the last chapter. Amateur gardening and philanthropy diversify a story of a light, wholesome type not too common nowadays. L. C. Page & Co.

In describing his studies and observations as "A Philadelphia Lawyer in the London Courts" Mr. Thomas Leaming has produced a noteworthy and illuminating record of English legal procedure which American readers, whether lawyers or laymen, will find extremely interesting. It pictures accurately the London courts, and the habits and activities of those who practise in them. It throws light upon the different functions of barristers and solicitors, a matter which will be new to many Americans, even those of the legal fraternity. It describes in detail the traditions, processes and involved etiquette of the English courts and outlines the methods which make possible a speedy settlement of all sorts of cases. Constantly the English and American courts are compared,-fairly but with no disparagement of American methods; and both civil and criminal proceedings are carefully analyzed. A scintillating humor and bits of piquant description make the book the easiest reading even for a layman. There are a half dozen photographic illustrations reproducing oil sketches by the author. Henry Holt & Co.

SUMMER UNDERGROUND.

A boy came into the Tube with roses,
Roses, roses, fragrant and red;
We were many and we were dead,
Half asleep, as a dead man dozes,

Earth at his feet and earth at his
head.

But a boy came into the Tube with roses,

Crimson roses, dewy with rain. He was ragged and round and smiling,

He looked up with an air beguiling,

"Will ye buy roses?"-Oh, we were fain

They were fragrant, fragrant and red. Then we waked, we were living again,

We came suddenly back from the dead, For a boy came into the Tube with roses,

Crimson roses, dewy with rain.
Ethel Talbot.

The Academy.

FROM THE CHINESE OF PO-CHU-I. (A.D. 772-846.) THE FEAST.

In crowds along the street, with pomp and pride

Upon their richly-harnessed steeds they ride.

The Mandarins in bright official dress, The Generals clad in purple. Numberless

Their hurrying horses gallop to the feast,

Bright as a cloud at sunrise in the East.

The very dust upon the road doth shine

With gleams from gold and crimson trappings fine.

Now at the banquet they are gathered, where

From furthest seas and lands are

dainties rare

Fruit from the Ting T'ung orange trees, and fish

From Heaven's Lake, in many a splendid dish.

Jolly at heart, with faces flushed and red,

They feast upon the fare before them spread.