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NUSUALLY prolific in good fiction has been the past month, although there is no book that will take the world by storm. Works of history are lacking, but there are good. descriptive studies of what has been aptly called "history in the making.' Two important biographies have been issued, and a few volumes of wellwritten essays.

THE SON OF ROYAL LANGBRITH.

The latest novel by William Dean Howells, "The Son of Royal Langbrith," is interesting as a faithful picture of New England life, written in perfect style; no less than as the work of an author long a prominent figure in American literature.

BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK.

A sequel to "Graustark," but not a continuation of that story, is "Beverly of Graustark," the latest novel by George Barr McCutcheon. There is a new hero and a new heroine, the latter an American girl, who meet with many adventures. The leading characters of "Graustark" form the background.

THE AFFAIR AT THE INN.

The personality of Kate Douglas Wiggin, creator of "Rebecca," predominates "The Affair at the Inn," which is the joint production of four authors. It is an up-to-date novel, based on amusing episodes at a Devonshire Inn.

BLACK FRIDAY.

Jay Gould, Jim Fisk and other leaders in the financial movement having for its purpose a corner in gold, just after the Civil War, are made to live again by Frederic Isham in "Black Friday." General Grant appears for a moment. Romantic feeling in the business man is one of the themes.

THE HOUSE OF FULFILMENT.

A cleverly written biography of a girl is "The House of Fulfilment," by George Madden Martin, author of "Emmy Lou." It is not an "Emmy Lou" story. Its theme is that no woman can gain happiness without true love.

THE LOVES OF MISS ANNE.

Mr. S. R. Crockett goes back to his older style in "The Loves of Miss Anne." It is a novel of a light-hearted. irresponsible girl who has many lovers; made enjoyable by flashes of Mr. Crockett's sprightly wit.

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O call Dr. Wilbur Morris Stine a modern poet is to be guilty of no exaggeration. The very fact that his profession is purely scientific and prosaic, while all his inclinations are ideal

WILBUR MORRIS STINE Author of "The Palace of Vision"

istic and poetic, makes him a man worthy a second glance. But when one has come into contact with his personality, the fact of inherent poetry and an ever-present idealism is so plainly in evidence that one no longer doubts the sincerity of his efforts at verse or the aspirations that have led him to come out independently with work that aims not only at being poetry but at being pretentious poetry at that.

To understand Dr. Stine's verse one must understand a little bit about the author. To begin with, it is a matter of extreme interest to know that he prints his own books. Two years ago he bought a lot of Caslon types and began to set up the type for a proposed volume of verse. As the pages were made up, always carefully and with an eye to the very best possible artistic effect, Dr. Stine sent them to

Philadelphia to be electrotyped. From the electrotypes was printed his first book, "The Wreck of the Myrtle," a collection of miscellaneous poems. At the time of the publication of this first book he had on hand a number of books, the work of years, ready for printing. So at once he began to set up the type for a second volume. He then bought presses, had them put up at his home and had the book printed there. Both books bear the imprint of The Acorn Press, which is the name by which he has called his miniature printing establishment. But more of this later.

"The Palace of Vision," the second volume issued by Dr. Stine is now ready, and one may be forgiven for praise of it, which in a day when it seems to be an aforesaid conclusion that no new good poetry can be produced, may sound extravagant.

The poem, for "The Palace of Vision" is a single piece of work, makes a book of 144 pages. It contains something over 1100 lines, and its metre is the metre of "Locksley Hall." It is divided into nine parts, which are titled as follows: Fancy, Devotion, Nobility, Nature, Affliction, Incarnation, Wisdom, Tenderness and Humanity.

The poem is allegorical, as may be readily conjectured, the "Palace of Vision" being an imaginary edifice in which are gathered the greatest achievements of the centuries now glorified and exalted, and to which the soul may in moments of inspiration and through the force of aspiration, flee.

We have not the space here to gratify the desire for a study of the poem in detail. One must read it to understand it, to come under the spell of its majestic music, its spiritual force. That it has a majesty of music, that it has a spiritual and elevating atmosphere is enough to call the attention of earnest-minded readers to its pages. Its author is an earnest seeker after the highest ideals, after the things that are for all time, for eternity; in "The Palace of Vision" his inspiration has flowed forth in fountains of exquisite

harmony to afford refreshment to lips dry with the dust of a world commercial ridden and to open up new avenues of escape to souls chafing under the burden of a rank materialism that deadens every finer sensibility and crushes every upward and outward movement.

"The Palace of Vision" carries one away into more expansive fields, where life is a more serious business, and where peace and solitude afford scope for earnest thought and contemplation.

Hear this from "Devotion,"

"By the wistful stress of music; by the deep, cool woodland charm;

Past the haunting forms of dryads,-beauty free from taint and harm:

which only those who come with earnestness in their hearts and a sincere purpose can penetrate.

But to those who do penetrate there is spread a wondrous land, all color-tinted, as it were, a million rainbows against unnumbered sunsets, the whole permeated with exquisite harmonic sounds,-music in its highest phases, and the state is one of far-outreaching exultation.

Thus we find that spontaneous impulse essential to the loftiest lyrical verse in "The Palace of Vision." We find also artistic execution, the result of a long study of poetic forms and a constant application of the knowledge derived from that study.

In this wise we discover a piece of real poetry among the mass of jingle and medley of rhyme and we find a poet living. amid poetic surroundings, working without the least mercenary intention, independent of reward save where it comes voluntarily given.

Dr. Stine lives at Swarthmore, Pa. At Swarthmore College he is Professor of Civil Engineering. But his heart is nonetheless in his poetic work. He lives on the college campus in a picturesque cottage that has been fitted out with every modern convenience. One small room is called the "composing room," and is, indeed, a miniature composing room, complete in its equipments. An outside building has been erected to accommodate the presses. The grounds are large and there is a pear orchard in front of the house. As Dr. Stine laughingly remarked, "Poet Hayes (that is, John Russell Hayes, who is the intimate friend of Mr. Stine) comes along now and then and steals my pears." NORMA K. BRIGHT.

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