Literary Notes

The 5,000 best books. -Vhen a roman sends her subscription to The Ladies' Home Journal special privileges seem to go with it, besides geltlng her full money's worth in the magazine. She can take the fullest advantago of a perfect educational plan by wbiota she can edúcate her daughters or sons at the best colleges in the country free of charge, and novv the Journal has ar,-aned it so that she can buy her books -even a single book at a time- at rices heretofore obtaineu only by large buvers. There comes to us from this magazine a very arUscally-gotten-up illustrated booklet of over 250 pages, called "5000 Books," which serves as an easy gtiide to the bost books in any department of reading. The best literary experts of New York, Boston and Philadelpbia, were engaged, by the Jurna! to select the five-thousanü books wbich it presents as the most deslrable ior a home library. "5000 Books" is nnquestionably the best and casiest guide to a wise selection of books that has been issued for a long time.- The Ladies" Home Journal. Philadelpbia, Pa. The Personal Recollections of .loan oí Aro, of whieh two installments have already been published, has, in addition to its intrinsic merit, the charm of timeliness ; for, as the New York Tribune f or April 21st says: "The Harper serial dealing with Joan of Are . . . svnchronizes with the swelliug of the Ñapoleonic tide. The latter represents one current, the maid its antithesis. Napoleon speaks for the purely sophisticated side of the French genius. Joan is the type of her nation's saving g-race, and the mystical envelope in whioh she survives is identifted with the healthier impulses of the French apirit Joan of Are will become something more than the heroine of a cult, for she was inspired by a spiritual fervor, and it is a spiritual inspiration whidh lives in her name." Harper's Bazar will, during the month of May. publish very elegant fashion designs appropriato to the season. The Worth toilettes are both elabórate and simple, and include beautiful calling and reception gowns, house dresses, and dainty effects in turne f or the early summer. Among iiterary features will be stories by Maria Louise Pool and Duffield Osborne; a practical series, by a practical hou8ö-keeper, on Laundry Work; a paper on Breathing, by Lillie Hamilton Frenen, who is again at home, and, having conclüded her Mediterranean áotes, will give us Mrs. Van Twillcv's agreeable afternoons in New York once more; and spectator, always popular and -ugestive. will write oí The Domestic Froblem, of Visiting, and of How to Entertain Visitors.- Harper A Brothers, New York, The editor of the Review oí Reviews gives his testimony, based on personal observation, to the suecess of the South Carolina liquor syátem. '-Drunkenness and disorder," he says, '-have decreased to a remarkable extent: and whereas the negro laborer was formerly accustomed to spend his week's earnings in carousing on Saturday night and Sunday, he is now spending more upon his family. or elee -aving his money to buy land." Sportsmen will welcomc Üutin: tor .May. The frontispieee shows the angler on the stream, and many othor good things folio w. Notable features of an excellent number are: "A Kangaroo Hunt," "After Trout in Ireland," "A May-Day's Canoeing," "A Fishing Tramp in North Carolina," ''The l'hantom Trout of Sullivan County,"' 'Whitmore's Brook," "Fitting Out for a Cruise," and "On Summer Seas." Outtng Publishing Co., N. Y. The Soui-ces of the Social Bvil. Mr. B. O. Flower, the Editor of Area, contributes a very forcible paper to the May issue of that i-eview outlining the sources of the social evil in modern social and industrial conditions. He gives examples of the conditions under which hundreds and thousands of girls working for the sweaters in large American cities are compelled to livo, and shows how they are reduced to the desperation of starvation and forced to make a choice between suicide and dishonor. If cheap clothes mean cheap souls, which are we going to choose? - Arena Pub. Co., Boston, Mass.