Not often are our social foibles “taken off” more pointedly than in “The Buntling Ball.”[AF] It is a really clever, and withal sprightly, satire on some of the vulnerable points of New York society. _Mrs. Buntling_, wife of a “potentate in pork,” returning from Europe, issues invitations for a ball. She has obtained a list of “all the names considered of decisive note,” and, regardless of the fact that she knows none of them issues a general invitation. The fact that everybody comes is one of the sharpest points in the play. Choruses are introduced in true Greek drama style, and the “Knickerbocker young men,” “maneuvering mammas,” “wall-flowers,” “gossips,” “Anglo-maniacs,” etc., carry on dialogues with the principal characters, in which they give the whole philosophy of New York society, in the frankest manner and in all sorts of happy, sprightly verse. The mystery of its authorship has been turned to good account by the publishers, who offer a prize of $1,000 to the successful guesser. Marion Harland, in writing “Eve’s Daughters,”[AG] has done a noble work for women. The book must exert a good influence wherever it goes, and do much toward breaking down the barrier of false modesty and ignorance in regard to herself, that woman, too often, has taken pride in rearing. It begins with the life of the baby girl and follows her as the representative of her sex, through all the years down to old age. Strong, plain, helpful things are said, and said only as a brave, womanly woman can say them, in regard to the physical life of women. Every mother ought to read the book, and read it with her daughters. “Memories of the Manse”[AH] is a quiet little picture of the life, home, family, and parish of a Scotch minister who lived, a number of years ago, in Glenarran. The rugged outlines of the stern character belonging to that northern people are well drawn, and dashes of color, showing the tender and loving side of human nature, appear here and there, brightening up the scene. The experience of the eldest son, who was “a clever lad, and had just returned after working his way through college, wearing a wonderfully clerical dress and air, an eye-glass, and a highly comfortable opinion of himself,” only to find that he was ridiculed instead of admired by his former associates, and his honest surprise at his unpopularity furnish a touch of humor to the whole work.