The first issue of the Atlantic Monthly for 1896 opens with an unpublished Note Book of Nathaniel Hawthorne now printed for the first time. There are also the opening chapters of a new threepart story by F. J. Stimson (J. S. of Dale) entitled "Pirate Gold."

Two political articles will be sure to attract attention, "The Emancipation of the Post-Office," by John R. Proctor, Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission, and "Congress out of Date," the latter being an able statement of the evils due to the present system of convening Congress a year after its election.

Other features of the issue are "The Country of the Pointed Firs," a short story by Sarah Orne Jewett; "The Johnson Club," being an entertaining description by George Birkbeck Hill of the meetings of Johnson enthusiasts; a sketch of provincial life by Mrs. Catherwood,"A Farm in Marne;" "Children of the Road," a study of child life among vagrants, by Josiah Flynt; and "The Schoolhouse as a Centre," by the editor of the magazine, a paper introducing the discussion of "The Status of the Teacher" in subsequent issues.

J. M. Ludlow contributes an able paper on "The Christian Socialist Movement of the Middle of the Century."

There is a powerful installment of Gilbert Parker's "Seats of the Mighty," poems, book reviews, and the usual departments.