fervent spirit and sound common sense, it came very near being such a
one as we could have recommended for the perusal and attentive study of
the great body of Christians in our country. Unfortunately, the author,
by sundry flings at other Christian communities, and by the use of
nicknames, as Quaker, Romanist, Dissenter, etc., in speaking of them,
has restricted its usefulness chiefly to the members of his own
communion, the Protestant Episcopal Church. To such, it will doubtless
prove highly satisfactory and beneficial. A very few omissions would
have procured for it the wide range of acceptance and power of working
good to which its intrinsic excellence would then have entitled it. When
will our religious writers learn that the great battle now is not among
the various sections of the Christian camp, but with an outside enemy,
indefatigable, learned, plausible, and every day gaining ground? Who can
tell but that a careful examination of, and more accurate acquaintance
with the principles and practice of divisions serving under the same
great Captain, might dissipate many a prejudice, and reconcile many a
difficulty? One of the first requisites is, that all learn _to know_ and
_to speak_ the truth about one another.
THE SPIRIT OF THE FAIR. 1864. 'None but the brave deserve
the Fair.' Editorial Committee: Augustus R. Macdonough, _Chairman_;
Mrs. Charles E. Butler, Mrs. Edward Cooper, C. Astor Bristed,
Chester P. Dewey, James W. Gerard, jr., William J. Hoppin, Henry
Sedgwick, Frederick Sheldon, Charles K. Tuckerman. New York: John
F. Trow, Publisher, 50 Greene street.
In recommending to our readers this neatly bound volume of the daily
product of the great 'Metropolitan Fair,' we cannot do better than
extract the little introductory notice of the publisher, who says: 'By
the request of many patrons of the 'Spirit of the Fair,' the publisher
purchased the stereotype plates and copyrights of the paper, for the
purpose of supplying bound copies for permanent preservation. The
talented ladies and gentlemen who conducted the 'Spirit of the Fair,'
during its brief and brilliant career, have, by their well-directed
efforts, made a volume worthy of preservation, both from its high
literary excellence, and from the recollections with which it is
associated. Its pages are illuminated with the writings of the most
distinguished authors. Every article in the paper first saw the light of
print in the 'Spirit of the Fair.' Poets, Historians, Statesmen,
Novelists, and Essayists furnished contributions prepared expressly for
its columns; and their efforts in behalf of the noble charity which the
paper represented, should alone entitle the volume to be cherished as a
most valued memento and heirloom.
'The publisher, therefore, presents this volume to the public, in the
hope that it will not only gratify the reader of the present, but that
it will assist to preserve the 'Spirit of the Fair' for the reader of
the future.'
THE LITTLE REBEL. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. 1864. For
sale by Hurd & Houghton, New York.
A very interesting book for the little ones. It presents vivid pictures
of New England life, and is fragrant and dewy with fresh breezes from
the maple bush, the hillside, and the pasture lands. The style is
excellent, and the matter as sprightly and entertaining as it is simply
natural and morally improving.
THE POET, AND OTHER POEMS. By ACHSA W. SPRAGUE.
Boston: William White & Co., 158 Washington street. For sale by A.
J. Davis, New York.
'Miss Sprague was chiefly known to the world as a trance lecturer under
what claimed to be spirit influence. Although speaking in the interest
of a faith generally unpopular, and involved in no slight degree in
crudities, extravagance, and quackery, she was herself neither fool nor
fanatic. She was a true child of nature, direct and simple in her
manners, and impatient of the artificiality and formal etiquette of
fashionable society.' These poems are characterized by great case of
style, flowing rhythm, earnestness in the cause of philanthropy, and
frequently contain high moral lessons. But it is somewhat strange that
the poems of trance writers and speakers, so often marked by exquisite,
varied, and delicate chimes of ringing rhythm, of brilliant words, of
sparkling poetic dust blown from the pages of great writers, and
drifting through the world, should so seldom give us those great granite
blocks of originality, which must constitute the enduring base for the
new era therein announced. Is there nothing new in the world beyond the
grave which they deem open to their vision? We ask this in no spirit of
censure or cavil, for we have no prejudice against the school of
spiritualistic literature, save where it militates against the faith in
our Redeemer.
INDEX TO VOLUME VI.
A Castle in the Air. By E. Foxton, 272
Ænone; a Tale of Slave Life in Rome, 10, 149, 254, 408, 519, 610
A Glance at Prussian Politics. By Charles
M. Mead, 261, 383
A Great Social Problem. By G. U., 441
American Civilization. By Lieut. Egbert
Phelps, U. S. A., 102
American Slavery and Finances. By Hon.
Robert J. Walker, 22
American Women. By Mrs. Virginia Sherwood, 416
An Army: Its Organization and Movements.
By Lieut.-Col. C. W. Tolles, A. Q. M., 1, 223, 330, 601
A Sigh. By Virginia Vaughan, 355
A Wren's Song, 434
Aphorisms, 78, 83, 134, 222, 260, 414, 444, 609, 663
Asleep, 270
Averill's Raid. By Alfred B. Street, 326
Battle of the Wilderness. By E. A. Warriner, 207
Buckle, Draper: Church and Estate. By Edward
B. Freeland, 55
Buried Alive. A Dirge. By Martha Walker
Cook, 189
Causes of the Minnesota Massacre. By January
Searle, 174
Church Music. By Lucia D. Pychowska, 112
Colors and their Meaning. By Mrs. M. E. G.
Gage, 199
Coming Up at Shiloh, 399
'Cor Unum, Via Una.' God Bless our Native
Land! 716
Creation. By Charles E. Townsend, 531
Death in Life. By Edwin R. Johnson, 516
Docs the Moon Revolve on its Axis? By
Charles E. Townsend, 380
Editor's Table, 238, 478, 711
Excuse. By Kate Putnam, 415
Flower Odors, 469
Fly Leaves from the Life of a Soldier, 289, 534
Genius, By Richard Bowen, 705
James Fenimore Cooper on Secession and
State Rights. By Charles K. Tuckerman, 79
Letter of Hon. R. J. Walker, in favor of the
Reëlection of Abraham Lincoln, Sept.
30, 1864, London, 686
Life on a Blockader. By the Author of 'The
Last Cruise of the Monitor, 46
Literary Notices, 116, 232, 359, 475, 706
Locomotion. By David M. Balfour, 472
Lois Pearl Berkeley. By Margaret Vane
Hastings 552
Longing. From Schlegel, 454
Look-Out Mountain. By Alfred B. Street, 65
Lunar Characteristics. By Charles E. Townsend, 381
Miracles. By Rev. Asa L. Colton, 685
Negro Troops. By Henry Everett Russell, 191
Observations of the Sun. By Charles E.
Townsend, 328
One Night. By Julius Wilcox, 67
On Hearing a 'Trio.' By Mary Freeman
Goldbeck, 650
Our Domestic Affairs. By George Wurts, 241
Our Great America. By January Searle, 445
Our Martyrs. By Kate Putnam, 147
Phenomena of Haze, Fogs, and Clouds. By
Charles E. Townsend, 533
Proverbs. By E. B. C., 371
Recognition. By Virginia Vaughan, 88
Self-Sacrifice. Analect from Richter, 632
Shanghai: Its Streets, Shops, and People.
By Henry B. Auchincloss, 633
Sketches of American Life and Scenery. By
Lucia D. Pychowska, 544, 664
Some Uses of a Civil War. By Hugh Miller
Thompson, 361
Sound Reflections. By E. B. C., 314
Streck-Verse. By E. B. C., 298
Tardy Truths. By H. K. Kalussowski, 209
The Antiquity of Man. A Philosophic Debate.
By William Henderson, 356
The Constitutional Amendment. By Henry
Everett Russell, 135
The Cross. By E. Foxton, 34
The Danish Sailor. By G. T. M., 99
The Devil's Cañon in California. By Henry
B. Auchincloss, 280
The English Press. By Nicholas Rowe,
London, 36, 135
The Esthetics of the Root of All Evil. By
George P. Upton, 677
The First Christian Emperor. By Rev. Dr.
Philip Schaff, 161
The First Fanatic. By Fanny L. Glenfield, 543
The Ideal Man for Universal Imitation; or,
The Sinless Perfection of Jesus. By
Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff, 651
The Lesson of the Hour. By Edward Sprague
Rand, 455
The North Carolina Conscript. By Isabella
McFarland, 379
The Progress of Liberty in the United States.
By Rev. A. D. Mayo, 481
The Resurrection Flower. By M. E. Dodge, 84
The Sacrifice. By S. J. Bates, 296
The Scientific Universal Language; Its
Character and Relation to other Languages.
By Edward B. Freeland, 456, 572
The Seven-Hundredth Birthday of a German
Capital. By Prof. Andrew Ten
Brook, 89
The Two Platforms. By Henry Everett
Russell, 587
The Undivine Comedy. A Polish Drama.
By Count Sigismund Krasinski. Translated
by Martha Walker Cook, 298, 372, 497, 623
The Vision. By George B. Peck, 620
Tidings of Victory. By C. L. P., 676
Violations of Literary Property. The Federalist--Life
and Character of John Jay.
By Henry T. Tuckerman, 336
Who Knows? By Edwin R. Johnson, 358
Word-Stilts. By William Wirt Sikes, 439
'Ye Know Not What Ye Ask.' By Fanny
L. Glenfield, 398