in one scene, performed his part, and thereupon disappeared from the stage. A clumsy artist would have dwelt upon Lincoln, hinting at his future greatness and reluctantly dismissing him; Dr. Eggleston introduces the incident (which is based on fact) with an inadvertence that enhances its interest and increases its suggestiveness. The dialect in this tale is much more critical than that in any other novel of Dr. Eggleston’s Western series. In his earlier stories, written before the scientific study of American folk-speech had been undertaken, the dialect is more general. Dr. Eggleston’s other works of fiction are: “Mr. Blake’s Walking Stick” (1869); “Book of Queer Stories” (1870); “The Schoolmaster’s Stories for Boys and Girls” (1874); “Queer Stories for Boys and Girls” (1884); “The Faith Doctor” (1891); “Duffels” (1893). “The Faith Doctor” is a novel of New York, in which the prevailing interest in what Dr. Eggleston called “aerial therapeutics” supplies the motive. “Duffels” is a collection of short stories written at intervals throughout his literary career, with scenes laid in many parts of the country, and illustrating happily the versatility and the story-telling gift of the author. Dr. Eggleston began in 1880 researches for a history of life in the United States. He pursued his studies abroad, as well as in American libraries, and assembled at his summer home on Lake George a large collection of Americana. The only published result of these studies thus far is “The Beginners of a Nation” (1896), the most serious, searching, and exhaustive essay in _Kultur-Geschichte_ yet presented by an American. The mere politics of our history and its military incidents had long received the attention of students, to the exclusion of the social and domestic. A work such as Dr. Eggleston has undertaken is vastly more difficult and therefore more important, for it requires original research in the strictest sense. His other historical works so far completed are: “A History of the United States and its People for the Use of Schools” (1888); “The Household History of the United States and its People” (1888); and “A First Book in American History” (1889).