The Mystery of Elias G. Roebuck. and other Stories. By
W. L. Alden. (1 D. lanes and Co.)—The twenty stories included in this volume are, almost without exception, excellent. Here is a proof of our appreciation of them. We do not consider it necessary to read the whole contents of a volume of short stories. Such books may fairly be judged by samples. We found the samples so good that we were not content till we had finished the whole, and finished not without regret that there were no more. Some are very extravagant. Such is the "Darwinian Schooner," where a crew of monkeys fit out a schooner and go " pirating." "A man can't follow the sea," says the mate, who tells the story, "without meeting with a good many things which he can't explain, and that no living lands- man will believe, if you waste your time telling him about them." " Hobson's Patent Presidents" and "The Fatal Cars" are excellent samples of the same class. "Mr. Brown's Two Widows" remind us of Max Adeler ; "The Purple Death" suggests a reminiscence of Edgar A. Poe in his weird manner, and "Professor Steinmetz's Watch" the same writer in his lighter humour. Elsewhere we have what reminds us of Mr. Frank Stockton. We do not mean that Mr. Alden is a copyist,—far from it. He seems to us to possess:some of the best characteristics of modern humour, and modern humour—in prose form, at least—chiefly comes from the other side of the Atlantic.
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