Although his previous books have shown Mr. Spearman as an observant student of human nature, an excellent story teller and a literary artist of ability, the reader who picks up “Whispering Smith” will lay it down with the verdict that this character is a genuine contribution to literature. Without departing from the rules of literary construction Mr. Spearman has described scenes so far from hackneyed that they seem absolutely new in every element of their creation. Whispering Smith is a secret service agent for a Rocky Mountain railroad and his business is to defend the enterprise against all sorts of enemies and rough and lawless characters which abound in that region. He owes his sobriquet to a certain softness of voice, to which he adds a simple, straightforward and unaffected integrity. This is the principal character in the story, beside the heroine, a breezy, yet thoroughly feminine girl brought up on a ranch. The rest of the dramatis personae are the cowboys, railroad men, bandits and other types characteristic of the frontier, all depicted to the life by one who knows his subject. RICH MEN’S CHILDREN. By Geraldine Bonner. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co. Price, $1.50. Miss Bonner’s previous California romances, “To-morrow’s Tangle” and “The Pioneer,” have made for her a wide circle of readers. “Rich Men’s Children” is even stronger and more thrilling in interest than its predecessors. The conflicts of two generations and the bold passions of the far West are delineated with courageous directness and dramatic vigor. The whole story is absorbing and fascinating, yet the author does not allow the reader to lose sight of the purpose, which is adhered to with remarkable sincerity and fidelity. THE HEART AND THE CROWN. By H. Rhea Woodman. New York and Washington: Neale Publishing Co. Price, $1.25. This little volume contains fifty-one sonnets, arranged under the sub-titles of “The King’s Heart” and “The Queen’s Crown.” The two themes love and grief, are treated with a sustained purity and artistic restraint that will give this poetry high rank. The heart verses, of which there are twenty-five, are passionate and tender, instinct with deep feeling, vividly expressed. There are twenty-six of the crown sonnets. These tell of a great sorrow, now expressed in rapid, incisive words and now reiterated in graceful, musical measure. The volume is a beautiful example of the bookmaker’s craft, in soft morocco binding, highly ornamented with gold, deckle-edged, tinted paper, printed in two colors. THE VOICE OF THE THIRD GENERATION. By Henry Peck Fry. Chattanooga: MacGowan-Cooke Printing Co. Price, 25 cents.