New England Magazine.

The New England Magazine for April has an article of special interest for Harvard men on "Women's Work at the Harvard Observatory" by Miss Helen L. Reed. Miss Reed was the Annex student who won the Sargent prize for the best metrical translation of the Odes of Horace. The article is well illustrated and gives a good description of the work at the observatory, in addition to the part which women take there. Miss Reed offers good proof that Astronomy has use for women, for several have brought new and important discoveries to bear on the movements of variable stars and planets. Mr. S. B. Whitney's article on "Surpliced Boy Choirs in America" contains a good description of the boy choirs in our principal cities, besides an account of the best method of training boys. Mr. Whitney makes mention of Appleton Chapel among others, and among the many photographs is a very good one of Willie Macdonald of Appleton Chapel. Mr. Whitney repudiates the idea that we cannot have so good boy choirs as England is noted for. Choir masters in this country are understanding better the matter of vocal culture and it is found that the American boy can produce as good a musical tone as the English lad. "Stories of Salem Witchcraft" continue the interesting account of the trial and condemnation of witches during the seventeenth century. The writer cites many of the astonishing charges which were trumped up against the unfortunate victims and the terrible ordeals which they had to meet. It was not till 1693 that belief in witchcraft all over the world began to undergo a change. Mr. Edward G. Mason contributes a paper on "Early Visitors to Chicago" in which he gives a description of the earliest visitor to Chicago - beginning with La Salle in 1671 - and what was their reported condition of the country. "The Annals of an Ancient Parish" by Rev. W. H. Savage gives a good account, - with illustrations of familiar places in this neighborhood - of the early churches in Watertown and vicinity.

The fiction numbers are well written. "A Summer Wooing" is a pretty picture of the wooing of an old Quaker. Miss Ethel Davis contributes the first number of a serial story called "Leunett," "A Family Tree" is a simple tale but with a pleasing air of "ye olden time" in both character and description.