THE COURIER.
TO THEOCRITUS.
O Singer of Persephone,
In the dim meadows desolate
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Still through the ivy flits the bee
Where Amaryllis lies in state,
O Singer of Persephone.
Simoetha calls to Hecate,
And hears the wild dogs at the gate ;
Dost thou remember Sicily ?
Still by the light and laughing sea
Poor Polyheme bemoans his fate,
O Singer of Persephone.
And still in joyous rivalry
Young Daphnis challenges his mate ;
Dost thou remember Sicily ?
Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee,
For thee the jocund shepherds wait ;
O Singer of Persehone,
Dost thou remember Sicily ?
Oscar Wilde.
THE MOST POPULAR BOOKS.
Tbe latest returns of the New York
"Bookman" (Decembor)shows the fol
lowing to be the six most widely read
books in America, in the.order of their
popularity:
1. The Master .Christian. By Marie
Corclli.
2. Eben Holden. JJy Irving Bach
eller. :. Tommy and Grizel. By J. M.
Barrie.
1. The Redemption of David Corson.
By C. P. Goss.
,"). The Reign of Law. By James
Laue Allen.
C Alice of Old Yincenuee. By
Maurice Thompson.
Of these, the third and sixth only were
not on the list of last month, and all but
the first and third are by American
writers.
Besides these, the following are among
the most widely read or most impor
tant books:
FICTION.
Eleanor. By Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
Monsieur Beaucaire. By Booth Tark
ington. The Gentleman from Indiana. By
Booth Tarkington.
Robert Orange. By Mrs. Craigie.
The Cardinal's Snuff Box. By Henry
Harland.
Elizabeth and Her German Garden.
Dr. North and his Friends. By Dr.
S. Wier Mitchell.
The Voice of the People. By Ellen
Glasgow.
Philip Winwood. By R. N. Stephens.
UDcanonized. By Margaret H. Potter.
Richard Yea and Nay. By Maurice
Hewlett.
To Have and To Hold. By Mary
Johnston.
Richard Carvel. By Winston Churchill.
Janice Meredith. By Paul Leicester
Ford.
David Harum (illustrated edition.)
By E N. Westcott.
StriDgtown on the Pike. By John
Uri Lloyd.
HISTORY, IHOGUAl'HY, ETC.
Gliver Cromwell. By John Morley.
The Life of Shakspere. By Hamil
ton Wright Mabie.
Napoleon: The Last Phase. By Lord
Rosebery.
Thomas Henry Huxley. By P. Chal
mers Mitchell.
The War in South Africa. By Cap
tain A. T. Mahan.
Ian Hamilton's March. By Winston
Spencer Churchill.
With Both Armies. By Richard
Harding Davis.
China in Transformation. By A. R.
Colquhoun.
China, the Long-lived Empire. By E.
R. Scidmore.
The Breakup of China. By Lord
Charles Bereeford.
POETRY M DRAMA.
An American Anthology. By E. C.
Steadman.
Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Edited by J. Churton Collins.
L'Aiglon. By Edmond Rostand.
Adapted into English by L. N, Parker.
Home FolkB. By James Whitcomb
Riley.
CICITlUIbMS.
Critical Studies. By Ouida.
Critical Kit-Kat. By Edmund Gosse.
RELIGION AKI 1'IIILOSOPIIY.
By
The Riddle of the Universe
Ernest Haeckel.
The Doctrines of Grace. By Dr. John
Watson.
Theories of the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ. By James Merchant.
The Evangelization of the World in
this Generation. By John R. Mott.
Trinitarianism and the New Chrit
ology. By the Rev. Dr. L. L. Paine.
A Dictionary of the Bible. Edited
by James Hastings. Vol III. Kir
Pleiades. History of the Devil. By Dr. Paul
Carus.
Id England, as has been usual of late,
fiction is greatly in the ascendant. Some
eighty or ninety new six-shilling -novels
have appeared in London during the
past month. Tbe most widely read
books have been the following, of which
all but the sixth are by British authors:
The Master Christian. By Marie
Corelli.
Quisante. By Anthony Hope Haw
kins. The Isle of Unrest. By Henry Seton
Merriman.
The Infidel. By Miss Braddon.
Boy. By Marie Corelli.
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg.
By Mark Twain.
Rue, with a Difference. By Rosa
Noucbntte Carey.
LITERARY NOTES.
The faults and failures as well as the
successes and beauties of the Paris Ex
position are described with great frank
ness by Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith in
the Outlook's January magazine num
ber. The illustration for the article
consists or. nan a dozen or more tine re
productions from watercolor drawings
made expressly for the Outlook by the
author.
($3 a year. The Outlook Company
287 Fourth Avenue, New York).
Encouragement.
Bashful lover, (timidly) Did yeer
iver think av marryin,' Biddy?"
Biddy (coyly) Shure now th' subject
hos niver entered me thoughts.
Bashful lover (turning away) It'
sorry oi am .
Biddy (hastily) Wan minnit, Pat.
Ye've set me t' thinkin'. The Buzar.
Do you get your Courier regularly ?
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office. Do this this week.
Nodd Hang it all! do you suppose
I'll ever make a good golf-player?
Todd (pityingly) Never, old man.
You think too much of your family and
your business.
To clubs of tea taking The Courier the
annual subscription price is seventy five
cents (75 cents). Regular subscription price
one dollar per year
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EVERYDAY LIFE IN CHINA.
Toimiim trj common in China at pictured here. The optnm den. in all if pristine
gbastliness. fkrarishes in the celestial empire as nowhere else on earth. Especially is this
true of Canton, where the sketch here reproduced was made. One of the principal em
ployments of women is the sorting of tea, shown in the other picture.