t and
latest essays. Which of his four volumes contains his finest writing it
would really be hard to say; but in structure the present book comes
nearest to "Walden"; it is within its limits a perfect monograph of the
Maine woods. All that has been previously written fails to portray so
vividly the mysterious life of the lonely forest,--the grandeur of
Katahdin or Ktaadn, that hermit-mountain,--and the wild and adventurous
navigation of those Northern water-courses whose perils make the boating
of the Adirondack region seem safe and tame. The book is also more
unexceptionably healthy in its tone than any of its predecessors, and it
is pleasant to find the author, on emerging from his explorations,
admitting that the confines of civilization afford, after all, the best
residence, and that the wilderness is of most value as "a resource and a
background."

There yet remain for publication Thoreau's adventures on Cape Cod; his
few public addresses on passing events, especially those on the Burns
Rescue and the John-Brown affair, which were certainly among the very
ablest productions called forth by those exciting occasions; his poems;
and his private letters to his friend Blake, of Worcester, and to
others,--letters which certainly contain some of his toughest, and
perhaps also some of his finest writing. All these deserve, and must one
day receive, preservation. He who reads most books reads that which has
a merely temporary interest, and will be presently superseded by
something better; but Nature has waited many centuries for Thoreau, and
we can hardly expect to see, during this generation, another mortal so
favored with her confidence.

_Jennie Juneiana_: Talks on Women's Topics. By JENNIE JUNE. Boston: Lee
& Shepard. 12mo. pp. 240.

Great are the resources of human invention, and the tiresome passion for
alliterative titles may possibly have culminated in some name yet more
foolish than that of this little green and gold volume. If so, the rival
has proved too much for the trump of Fame to carry, and has dropped
unnoticed. In the present case, the title does perhaps some injustice to
the book, which is not a silly one, though it contains very silly
things. It seems to be written from the point of view afforded by a
second-rate New-York boarding-house, and by a person who has never come
in contact with any refined or well-bred people. With this allowance, it
is written in the interest of good manners and good mora