Part 10

There are those who choose to speak of Mr. Bunner as a humorist, because he is the editor of _Puck_. He is a humorist, no doubt, and his humor will endure, for it is founded on observation and on an understanding of his fellow-man. But he is a poet--as a true humorist must be. Perhaps his best story is "Love in Old Clothes," in which the humor and the poetry are inextricably blended, and in which there is a pure tenderness of touch I cannot but call exquisite. And yet, perhaps, I do not like it as well as the vigorous sketch called the "Zadoc Pine Labor Union." This is an object-lesson in Americanism; it is a model of applied political economy. And Zadoc Pine himself is one of the most direct and manly characters who has stepped from real life into literature. He has gumption and he has grit; he is an American as Benjamin Franklin was an American, and as Abraham Lincoln was. He could think as straight as he could shoot; and the tale of his rise in life is as potent a plea for freedom as Mr. Herbert Spencer's.

But about Mr. Bunner's writings I confess that I can never speak with the expected coldness of the critic, for the author is my friend for now many years. We have dwelt beneath the same roof for months at a time. We have exchanged counsel day and night; we have heard each other's plans and projects; we have read each other's manuscript; we have revised each other's proof-sheets; more than once we have written the same story together, he holding the pen, or I, as chance would have it. But shall friendship blind me to the quality of my comrade's art? When he puts forth a book, shall I pass by on the other side, silent, and giving no sign? That may be the choice of some, but it is not mine.

1891

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By THOMAS W. HIGGINSON.

CONCERNING ALL OF US. With Portrait. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00.

There is so much amiable optimism contained in these papers that they are well calculated to produce a cheerful frame of mind in their readers.... Their reasonableness is their merit, and they are distinguished by a ripeness of reflection and temperateness of judgment that are fortunately within reach of every average man and woman.--_N. Y. Evening Post_.

Colonel Higginson has the advantage of a sound and simple philosophy of life to show off his fine literary culture. The one makes him worth reading--strong, open-minded, and wholesome; the other gives him graces of form, style, and literary attraction in great variety.--_Independent_, N. Y.

WOMEN AND MEN. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00.

These essays are replete with common-sense ideas, expressed in well-chosen language, and reflect on every page the humor, wit, wisdom of the author.--_N. Y. Sun_.

Bright, suggestive, practical, and charming, and the work is sure to be widely popular.--_Interior_, Chicago.

Delightfully clever.... Perfect examples of what the short essay on a social subject should be.--_Boston Transcript_.

The papers have not only the merit of brevity, but they are bright, witty, graceful, and interesting. They are such papers as women delight to read, and men will enjoy them quite as much.--_Critic_, N. Y.

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

==> _Any of the above works will be sent by mail, Postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._

THE ODD NUMBER SERIES.

16mo, Cloth, Ornamental.

DAME CARE. By HERMANN SUDERMANN. Translated by BERTHA OVERBECK. $1 00.

TALES OF TWO COUNTRIES. By ALEXANDER KIELLAND. Translated by WILLIAM ARCHER. $1 00.

TEN TALES BY FRANCOIS COPPEE. Translated by WALTER LEARNED. 50 Illustrations. $1 25.

MODERN GHOSTS. Selected and Translated. $1 00.

THE HOUSE BY THE MEDLAR-TREE. By GIOVANNI VERGA. Translated from the Italian by MARY A. CRAIG. $1 00.

PASTELS IN PROSE. Translated by STUART MERRILL. 150 Illustrations. $1 25.

MARIA: A South American Romance. By JORGE ISAACS. Translated by ROLLO OGDEN. $1 00.

THE ODD NUMBER. Thirteen Tales by GUY DE MAUPASSANT. The Translation by JONATHAN STURGES. $1 00.

Other volumes to follow.

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

==> _Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price._

HARPER'S AMERICAN ESSAYISTS.

AMERICANISMS AND BRITICISMS, with Other Essays on Other Isms. By BRANDER MATTHEWS. With Portrait. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

FROM THE BOOKS OF LAURENCE HUTTON. With Portrait. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

"Some American Book Plates," "Grangerism and the Grangerites," "The Portraits of Mary Queen of Scots," "Portrait Inscriptions," and "Poetical Inscriptions and Dedications" are the topics chosen by Mr. Hutton, and the reader gets pleasure even as he gets culture from a perusal of his studies in these fields.--_Hartford Courant_.

CONCERNING ALL OF US. By THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON. With Portrait. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

Colonel Higginson has the advantage of a sound and simple philosophy of life to show off his fine literary culture. The one makes him worth reading--strong, open-minded, and wholesome; the other gives him graces of form, style, and literary attraction in great variety. It is hard to decide whether the charm or the usefulness of the present collection of essays preponderates.--_Independent_, N. Y.

FROM THE EASY CHAIR. By GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. With Portrait. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

The essays have lost nothing of their actuality; their freshness of humor; their contagion of cheerful philosophy; their breathing, historical interest; their wit, that fits like a cap on Wisdom's head; their tenderness of humanity.--_Philadelphia Ledger_.

AS WE WERE SAYING. By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. With Portrait, and Illustrated by H. W. MCVICKAR and Others. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

Mr. Warner possesses the faculty of putting his thoughts into excellent English, while the simplicity of his style, the absence of all straining after effect, and the apparently spontaneous character of his wit, sufficiently account for the high reputation he enjoys among the American humorists.--_Episcopal Recorder_, Philadelphia.

CRITICISM AND FICTION. By WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. With Portrait. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

Many a good thing and many a true thing is here clothed in the diction of a master, and giving forth the bouquet of a style as delicately vigorous, so to say, as any in English literature.--_Independent_, N. Y.

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

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The following have been changed (note of etext transcriber)

the words thus modified is a foreign word,=>the word thus modified is a foreign word,

unforgetable=>unforgettable

End of Project Gutenberg's Americanisms and Briticisms, by Brander Matthews