The Pacific Monthly/Volume 1/Literary Comment (number 1)
LITERARY COMMENT.
Under the title of "Education in France" there appears in this, the initial number of The Pacific Monthly, the first of a series of articles from the pen of that most clever writer, Samuel Jaques Brun. In 1896 Doxey brought out a limited edition of Mr. Brun's charming "Tales of Languedoc." This volume is, both in style and subject matter, delightfully original, and deals with the hitherto unwritten folklore of Southern France.
Among the new books issued this month from the publishing house of F. Tennyson Neely is "A Platonic Experiment," by Landis Ayr, an extraordinary story of unusual interest and quite impossible conclusions. That is to say, the conclusions are impossible, judged by complex human standards. But the author has written above the commonplace and the ordinary, and shows man and woman not as they are, but as they ought to be. The success of such an experiment as this portrayed by Landis Ayr may be beyond the realms of possibility, but it is well worth trying. Only to have tried is something noble, even though the attempt result, as it must in real life, in failure. The book is an expression of the higher moral tendencies of the age.
"The Rainbow's End" is a Klondike story by Alice Palmer Henderson, and is published by H. S. Stone & Company. It is a woman's account of life and conditions in the gold fields of the frozen north, and is a dispassionate view of the situation as it exists today.
"In the Saddle With Gomez," by Captain Murio Carillo, is a series of short stories dealing with the adventures of many of Cuba's famous soldiers. The capture of St. Clara, the charge at Lequetia and the attack on Camajuani, three of the most important events in Cuba's fight for freedom, are vividly portrayed. The book is both pleasant and instructive, and comes at a time when public interest in its subjects is intense. Mr. F. Tennyson Neely is to be congratulated upon the appearance of the volumes that come from his house. They are always well printed, well bound and of high-class literary merit.
Harper Brothers have just issued the last volume written by the "Daughter of the Confederacy." Winnie Davis was a bright and charming writer, and this book, "Romance of Summer Seas," is no less delightful in style and composition than those preceding it.
One of the interesting books brought out recently by Macmillan is "Brown Men and Women," from the pen of Edward Reeves. The subject is not new, volume after volume having been written descriptive of the inhabitants of the fascinating islands of the southern seas, but no author ever handled the conditions of life existing in those favored regions in quite the frank and fearless manner that characterizes Mr. Reeves' work. He spares none that are guilty, and does not veil his accusations in vague or ambiguous terms.
In the Portland library there is a copy of the history of the Plymouth colony, printed under direction of the secretary of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, by order of the general court, from the original manuscript which has recently been returned to the United States by the hands of Thomas F. Bayard, lately ambassador at the court of St. James. The restoration, as every one probably knows, was ordered by decree of the consistory court of the diocese of London, and the manuscript, all in the handwriting of Governor Bradford, with the exception of a part of the last page, is erroneously known as the "Log of the Mayflower." In 1856 a transcript of the document was secured from London through the efforts of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and put in print, but this later edition differs from the first in that it contains only the matter embodied in the original, with a brief account of the restoration, and is, of course, limited. Mr. F. K. Arnold, who presented the volume to the Portland library, is a lineal descendant of the first governor of Massachusetts.
Madame Amelie de Fonfride Smith has made a valuable contribution to the military records of the state of Oregon in the form of an "Official Roster," which is illustrated, and is a comprehensive history of the officers and enlisted men of the year 1898. It is a register that no patriotic citizen of Oregon will care to be without.
The O. R. & N., the pioneer transportation company, has recently issued an attractive book on "The Resources of Idaho. The text is the work of Colonel P. Donan, and is written in his best style. And while the salmon story and the potato picture may tax the credulity of Eastern readers, it is but fair to say that here in the West the truth of these
things is never questioned. COLLEGE CORRESPONDENCE.
LELAND STANFORD, JR. UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA.
Interest here centers upon the training of the 'varsity football team, for which there are sixty candidates; more than have ever before appeared on the Stanford field. Prospects for a victory in the annual game with the University of California at first appeared dubious, as all of last year's 28-0 team, excepting four, had graduated or enlisted in the Manila regiments. The men who played substitutes last year are now coming forward, and will form the nucleus of a strong team. Captain Fisher has plenty of men for every position excepting the center trio, which he is trying to build up from the heavy men who are volunteering. Every afternoon the candidates for the eleven practice running, tackling, punting and falling on the ball, and then line up for a few minutes' active scrimmage. Harry Cross, of Yale, who built up the 20-0 team two years ago, will again coach, assuming charge October 1. Stanford is fortunate in having on the team this year Murphy, '00, the greatest punter and runner in a scattered field the coast has ever seen, and Captain Fisher, a strong halfback, both in aggressive and defensive work. Prospects for a season of good, clean sport and a spirited intercollegiate game were never better in the history of intercollegiate athletics.
The captains of the baseball and track teams have instituted a system of light fall training for the spring contests.
A centrally located restaurant for the university community, costing $5,000, has been completed, and is now in successful operation.
Work has begun on the Thomas Welton Stanford library building, named after the donor, Senator Stanford's brother, who furnished the $150,000 needed for its construction. The library is two stories high, in the same Moorish architectural plan of the Quadrangle, and constitutes the first building of an outer quadrangle. It is modern in every respect, and will have a capacity for 200,000 volumes. It is built of sandstone, quarried on the
Mrs. Stanford is living quietly in her home on the estate, and can be seen fre- quently directing the improvements which are constantly being made on the cam- pus, and also inspecting the fast-rising buildings. Mrs. Stanford is a large- souled woman of great executive ability,
and she is wholly wrapped up in the university, and is constantly thinking of "my boys and girls," as she calls the stu- dents. In a recent conversation she out- lined her policy as follows: "I have a few hundred thousand dollars more in legacies to pay before the estate will be free from the control of the court. That will not take long. Then I shall devote my energies to completing the museum, the chapel and the chemistry laboratory. After that work is completed and the es- tate is free from incumbrance, I shall be ready to resign my stewardship to the trustees of the university."
Stanford's president has always been recognized as a scientist of the first rank, and his appointment to the Behring sea fur seal commission and the offer of the directorship of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, at Washington, D. C, are only evi- dences of this. Last May his commence- ment address was a departure from the usual order, and considered the national expansion movement and its cost to the United States. This address, "Lest We Forget," has attracted wide notice for the statesmanlike way in which the problems of imperialism are discussed and summed up. Its general trend was in opposition to the movement on the grounds that, "first, dominion is brute force; second, dependent nations are slave nations; third, the making of men is greater than the building of nations."
President Jordan was recently given a tentative offer of the presidency of the University of California, which he refused, stating that he intended to stay at Stan- ford as long as there was something there for him to do.
A new book by Dr. Jordan will soon appear, "Foot-Notes to Evolution," a col- lection of essays on evolutionary subjects. O. C. LEITER.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, OREGON.
The University of Oregon has sustained a severe loss in the death of Professor Johnson, who had been connected with the institution since its doors were opened, and who was for so many success- ful years its president. To his untiring efforts, and those of his faithful co-work- ers, in the early days of the university, is due the high rank which the school grew to hold in the educational ranks of the North Pacific. Professor Dunn, late of Willamette University, and an alumnus of the University of Oregon, is a welcome addition to the present faculty.
There is evident a determination on the part of the students to maintain the previous record of the institution in the matter of field sports. The athletic association has done much to establish and stimulate a healthy interest in football, and already material for a strong team is in sight.
CONSOLIDATED UNIVERSITY AT PORTLAND.
The opening of the newly consolidated university at Portland, Or., is equivalent to the founding of a great school whose future is assured. It is a splendid and harmonious blending of three institutions in one, a welding together of educational forces already closely akin, and the result must, of necessity, be beneficial to all concerned. The location of the buildings, the site upon which will in time be erected a magnificent group of halls and dormitories, in addition to those now in existence, is one of unequaled beauty. Far up above the silver sweep of the bright Willamette, where the ships pass up and down bearing the commerce of the nations, it stands. Mount Hood and St. Helens look in at its windows, and not so very many miles away the majestic Columbia rolls its mighty current seaward. There is room, room to turn around in, and to grow, as grow it must. Under the administration of Chancellor Crawford R. Thoburn, there is every reason to believe the university will become the leading educational institution of the North Pacific. The university began its fall term October 4, under very flattering circumstances.
DRIFT.
Oregon is holding this autumn an exposition that is attracting crowds of visitors from everywhere. Eastern people, particularly, are finding much to interest them in the comprehensive exhibition of Oregon products. The vast natural resources of the state are well represented, and the manufacturing interests are a surprise to most of the visitors to the fair.
In the early days of Tennessee there was an eminent physician by name Doxy. He never used a common word in conversation. Of him the following anecdote is related: One afternoon, as Dr. Doxy was going out to his home, some twenty-five miles from Nashville, he stopped at a tavern eight miles northeast of the city to spend the night. The tavern was a noted place, known as the Gee Tavern. Mr. Gee was an old Virginian. He had brought from the Old Dominion an old servant named Jacob. This old colored man prided himself on being a Virginian, and that he had waited on the great men of Virginia, among them General Washington. When Dr. Doxy rode up to the tavern he called to Jacob, and said: "Approach, thou noble son of Africa, and detach this quadruped from his hitching- post, and divest him of his bridle, disencumber him of his saddle, and install him, and contribute to him some nutritious aliment that will be amply adequate to sustain him. When the oriental luminary rises above the horizon, I will for your kind hospitality remunerate you with pecuniary compensation." That night the horse escaped from the barn and ran away. Uncle Jacob thought it would not do to talk to such a learned man as Dr. Doxy was in common language, so he studied up a speech he should make to the doctor about his horse getting away He went up to the room and knocked at the door, and with hat in hand and bowing very low, he raised himself to his full height and said: "Marser, dat dar quadruple beast of yourn has actually pounced the old impanelment of de pound, and skater to phisticated de equilibrium ob de forst." — Richmond Religious Herald.
Not Feminine. — "Papa, the paper this morning in speaking of the battle at Cardenas says: 'She made no response to the New York's fire.' Battery isn't feminine, is it?" "No, my boy; you can silence a battery."
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PORTLAND, ORE. THE HAWAIIANS.
EVER since the downfall of their royal government, the Hawaiian islands have drawn to themselves an amount of interest seemingly disproportionate to their size and importance. It is only seemingly, however, for this interest in reality corresponds to their worth to this country, both on account of their intrinsic value and strategic importance. The attention that they have received has been lately increased in the United States owing to the recent annexation. Any information concerning them may, therefore, be especially acceptable at this time.
The Sandwich or Hawaiian islands (as they are now known), consist of a group of eight islands lying about 2000 miles from San Francisco, and comprising an area of 6700 square miles. They were discovered by Captain Cook in 1778, who gave them the name of Sandwich islands, in honor of the Barl of Sandwich. In 1820 missionaries from America landed at Honolulu, which is situated on the island of Oahu, and this date marks the beginning of an interesting period in the islands' history. Idolatry and cannibal- ism, both of which had been practiced to some extent, were soon discarded, and the majority of the inhabitants accepted Christianity.
The natives are a most interesting people. Mr. Ellis, the famous English missionary, who visited the islands short- ly after 1820, said of them: "The inhabi- tants of these islands are considered, physically, amongst the finest races of the Pacific. . . . This in all proba- bility arises from their salubrious cli- mate and their chief articles of food."
Mr. Stevens, in his book on "Pictur- esque Hawaii," says: "One day to the luxurious Kanaka is as another. The struggle for life does not fret his soul, nor fill his thoughts with 'the winter of its discontent' Today's comfort fills his horizon, and there is only one day in his calendar. It is the luxuriant prolificness of the islands that makes the native the happy-go-lucky fellow that he is." The Kanakas delight in swimming, and they swim with remarkable skill and ease. In surf-swimming, a very astonishing sport, "they balance themselves whilst standing or sitting on a board, which is carried landwards on the crest of a great roller."
The chief products of the islands are taro, sugar cane, coffee, pineapples, rice and cocoanuts. The most important of these to the native is the taro. It forms the
national dish, called "poi," which the na- tives rely upon for their sustenance. The taro plant is easily cultivated, and the yield to an acre is remarkable. It has been estimated that an acre of land will yield on an average of 28,000 pounds of cooked and pounded taro per annum. This yield would sustain 18 men for 12 months. Mr. Stevens, in the book above referred to, says of taro: "It is excellent in case of sickness, being easily digested and withal very nourishing," and Mr. Ellis observed that the remarkable physi- cal condition of the Hawaiians is due to their food. He mentions taro as espe- cially effacious in producing good re- sults. This being true, it has long been a matter of wonder that such an impor- tant food should not be known to the world at large. Arrangements have at last been made, however, for the intro- duction of taro into the United States. It comes to us under the name of "Ta- roena," and is receiving a warm welcome. Physicians especially find in it a long- Tnoked-for remedy, and one writes from Los Angeles to this effect:
"I have noted the wonderful qualities nt taro; it has been proved of the greatest value in all cases where a food is wanted that is a system builder, easily digested and agreeable to all patients suffering from dyspepsia or any chronic digestive trouble, while as a food for the debili- tated conditions following typhoid fever, or any of the wasting diseases, it is, in my opinion, superior to all other foods."
It is said, and all trials substantiate the statement, that Taroena is an ideal food, especially for dyspeptic conditions, indigestion and consumption. It has never been known to fail as a perfect food for infants. The Hawaiians use it from the day that they are born. It is also believed to prevent seasickness, and to cure the most acute cases of vomiting.
Mr. Stevens' book has created much interest in this country, but it is not so much for the enlightenment as regards the Hawaiians, as it is for the light that he has thrown on taro and the benefit to mankind which will follow therefrom, that we feel grateful to him. Taro, or Taroena, as it is called in America, and which is taro with nothing added or taken away, is a nature-made food. It can be obtained at present from any druggist, though a movement, which it is hoped will soon be consummated, is also being made by grocers to carry it in stock.