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like to hare our grocer keep young onions and Limburger in stock
against some neighbor's need. But it is at least regrettable that
this Trilby should hare been printed in a magazine that has earned
the reputation, and incurred the obligation, of a magazine like
Harper's Monthly. There is no harm in keeping the ideas and tra
ditions of sweet, pure womanhood that wo are so proud of in
America, uncompromised, unimpaired. There are a good many
young men and maidens throughout the country who should not be
invited to read Trilby. If to study art abroad means what Du Maur
ier has shown, let our youth be kept ignorant of it all until they go
to Paris. Of course that is not saying that Trilby has not many ex
cellencies. It is very likely as remarkable a piece of work in some
points of conception and in execution as any novel of the year. But
when we remember that its piquancy and its takingness are wholly
French, and that there a dozen stories of the Revue within three
years that have been every way cleverer and finer by the same stan
dard, we should not congratulate ourselves too strongly. It is, sure
ly, not a book that will attract us to re-read."
Of all the critics of "Trilby" it has remained for Professor Sher
man to enjoy the distinction of being almost the only person who
has found fault with the morality of the book. Most critics have,
ia the reading, found bo much real pleasure in the beauty of the
story and the exquisito manner in which it is set forth, that they
have been content with discussing the essential elements of the book,
instead of probing below the surface in a finicky spirit for some
imaginary objection. If the gifted author of the "Analytics of
Literature" can see none of the beauty of "Trilby," and is impressed
solely by an idea that it is a bad book one feels impelled to hold out
a measure of sympathy to this reviewer. Not to be able to see any
thing good in this story argues a deficiency in the quality of appre
ciation of the good and the beautiful, and a consequent impairment
of the faculty of enjoyment. Hence the professor is entitled to sin
cere sympathy. His case, to judge from the review in the News,
a serious.
The idea expressed by Professor Sherman probably has not occur
ed to one person in a hundred who have read Du Maurier s latest
work. To criticise Harper's Magazine for publishing the story is
preposterous, and indicates what in anybody else but Professor Sher
man would be called narrow provincialism. The American people
for whose moral well-being in the face of the publication of "Trilby"
in an American periodical, the professor expresses such tender solic
itude certainly have not up to the present time realized their danger,
and unless the review in question secures a much wider publicity
than now seems probable, they will in all likelihood never know that
this charming book which many of them have read with uch keen
enjoyment is bad and not fit to have around the house.
A young girl whom misfortune or fate has cast into the artist
world of Paris is first introduced to us as a model. In an atmosphere
of unconventionality Trilby's conduct, at least until she comes with
in the infiuencs of Littie Billee and his friends is not at all times in
consonance with the conventional standards of morality. But there
is naught, even in the early chapters, to which any well-balanced
mind can take exception. And one of the principal charms of the
book is the evolution of Trilby from the uncultured and
morally irresponsible girl among the ateliers of Paris
into virtuous, lovely womanhood, a lily sprung from a bed of corrup
tion. In the maturer Trilby there is purity and innocence and grace
and ineffable delicacy and refinement, and in the gradual unfolding
of her character, the blossoning of the flower, there is a deep moral
lesson, if one is looking for this sort of thihg. The effect on
the reader of "Trilby" is an increased veneration for the homely vir
tues exemplified in the lines of the three friends, and a heightened
admiration for the simplicity and ingenuousness that govern
ed the relations of all of the principal characters. There
is pure and wholesome love, friendship, unselfishness and nobility
in "Trilby." The good in it appeals to the reader, and the art in it
excites his keenest admiration.
A flood of light is thrown upon the change in the condition
of the country by the summary statement just issued from the
bureau of statistics at Washington under the direction of
Worthington G. Ford. Since that gentleman became chief of the
bureau these monthly statements have been much amplified, and
the increased speed with which they are compiled and issued
makes them of immediate and real value to the business com
munity. The number jupt at hand, for instance, covers the im
ports and exports and other data for the last month of the fis
cal year, corrected up to July 28. It appears from this that,
the merchandise imported during the year was valued at $645.
995,151, which is 9211,405,771 less than in the previous year
But this enormous shrinkage is not all. Turning to the statis
tics of imported goods in bond it is seen to be 94,434,480 larger
than it was twelve months previous, so that the decrease in the
consumption of foreign goods for the year appears to be 9215,840,
251. The actual decrease in consumption of couree, was cot so
great as indicated by these enormous figures, because traders
have refrained from replenishing their supplies to the usual ex
tent, because of the impending change in the rates of duties. It
ib curious, however, to note that while the shrinkage in the
consumption of foreign goods averages about twenty-four per cent,
the shrinkage in articles of luxury is very much heavier. In
jewelry and precious stones and imitations of the latter for
instance, the falling off is G6 per cent; in silks it is 38 per
cent, and in wines and spirits 23 percent. The decrease in
these three items for the year is as follows:
Jewelry decreased 310,570,636
SilkB decreased 14,168,282
Wines etc, decreased 3,680351
Total decrease 828,419,769
There was a remarkable decrease in the importations of the skins
of animals hides and furs. The hides imported, including goat
skins, were valued at $16,786,152, a decrease of $11,561,744 and the
furs at $7,619,218 a decrease of $248,5b9, a shrinkage of $14,510,338
in these two items, representing the former coverings of beasts. A
good many people have been omitting dessert at dinner to judge from
the fact that the amount of fruits and nuts imported for the year
was only $18,752,664 or $5,000,000 less than in 1893. A good many
smokers must have "tapered off" for imports of tobacco in its var
ious forms amounted to only $13,155,944, which is about $3,500,000
less than in 1893. We imported nearly $3,000,000 lets of earthen
and China ware and nearly $3,000,000 less of glassware. Imports of
eggs were cut down nearly one half, being only 1,791,430 dozen.
Paper and manufactures of it were cut down to $2,628,064, being a
reduction of $1,26217.
Perhaps one of the most unpleasant things to contemplate in
connection with the recent Bock Island disaster in this city is
the morbid curiosity exhibited by the people at the scene of the
wreck. The morning sun had hardly cast its first feeble light
Highest of all in Leavening Power. Latest U. S. Gov't Report
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