The San Francisco call. [volume], August 11, 1907, Page 13, Image 13

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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P» San Francisco Sunday Call
BOOK PAGE OF THE SUNDAY CALL
BOOKS REVIEWED
"John Bull's Other Island and ' Major Barbara" i
by Bernard Shaw.:
"A Stumbling Block" by Justus Miles For man.
"Women s Work and Wages" by Edward CaaV*
bury. M. Cecile Maihcson and George Shaun. ,
"Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson" \
by E. A. Moore. '
"The New Harmony Movement" by Ceorge\B.
L,ocl(Wood.
"A Dull Girls Destiny." by Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.
"Practical Christian Sociology" by Rev. Wil- 1
"Socialism" by W. H. Mcllock. M. A. >
"John Bull's Other Island and Major
E? Kerr.an! Eliaw, acffcor cif "Plans, Pleasant
and Ccplcajtrt." "Tb« Qnlntessence of Ib
w.!s:n." *te. Published L>y ErreUßb'a, New
York. Price $I.W.
THIS new Shaw book contains
three plays. One was evidently
not considered worth mentioning
oa the cover, but Shaw lovers
•wlfl be glad to feave it, for it Is the
little skit on "Candida." which he wrote
for Arnold Daly in 1903. Mr. Daly was
then playing Napoleon In "The Man of
Destiny," and found the play too short
to stage alone and too long to take
the place of a curtain raiser, so Shaw
wrote for him "How He Lied to Her
Husband." The preface to this play
deals with the treatment of "Mrs. War
ren's Profession," when it was played
In New York. Shaw always laughs at
I:2s audience and his mockery is never
-more plain than in a preface such as
this. His play had been printed and
sold and read for years, and people
even bragged of understanding St and
«idmired his cleverness, yet when it was
put across the footlights, a roar went
up and the theater, the manager, the
actors, everybody concerned, In fact,
was In an unpleasant mess.
••John Bull's Other Island" was.writ
ten in ISO 4 at the request of William
Butler Yeats as a contribution to the
repertory of the Irish Literary theater.
As Shaw says in his preface, 60 pages
long and all Interesting: "It was un
congenial to the whole spirit of the
non-Gaelic movement, which Is bent on
creating a new island after Its own
Jdcals, whereas, my play is a very un
compromising presentment of the real
eld Ireland." wES^
In this play the Saxon and Celtic
temperaments are powerfully and
cynically contrasted and, while the
play attracted little attention irk
America, the reading of It is distinctly
p. . pleasure. ShaWs prefaces are so
•well known now that one hardly neeJa
be reminded of their interest. He says
of this play that it was produced in
J^ondon at the Court theater and, with
delightful conceit, that it "won imme
diate and enormous popularity with
relighted and flattered English audN
«nces • • • which constituted it a suc
cessful commercial play."
Rhaw say* that a terrible miscon
ception of Irish character Is abroad:
(that the Irishman is not the theatrical
pentimentalist we hax r e always believed
Jilm to be; that he is a hard headed,
prosaic worker at heart, but that a cer
tain romantic something about the at
mosphere and soil of Ireland prevents
the natives from progressing at home,
This argument he presses home by ex
amples of the thrift- of transplanted
Irishmen In England and America.
The play Is full of stinging sarcasm
en the relations of England and Ire
land on the question of home rule, and
•while what he has to say may not do v
any present. good, he has many.practl
cal and sound common sense sugges- .
tions to offer on the whole Irish ques
tion. ' V
By far the most interesting, the most
remarkable and decidedly the most im
portant of the three plays is "Major
Barbara." It deals with the ideals of '
th« Salvation Army and brings into
relief the power of money. Shaw. gives .
with liiis play a preface or Introduc
tion; which he calls "First Aid to
Critics." One may; Degln to read It
lightly, expecting to. be amused,' but
one is • soon disabused of \u25a0 that .notion.
"The unU'ersal regard for money,'.'
cays Shaw, "Is the 'one hopeful fact in
our civilization, the one sound spot In
our social conscience. • . • * Money
represents health, strength,. honor, gen
erosity and beauty tvs conspicuously
and undeniably as the want of it rep
resents illness, weaknew. < disgrace,
mea — c£3 and ugliness. Not the, least
bf lti" virtues :i« that It- destroys bast
people e« certainly a* It forUfiw *nd
dignifies noble people. It to ojr when
It is cheapened to w»rthlessness for.
tome and made Impossibly dear to
bther* that tt becomes a curse. • _•\u25a0
*h» crying need of the nation Is not -
for better morals, cheaper bread, tem
perance, liberty, redemption
of fallen sisters and erring .brothers,
nor the grace., love and fellowship of
the -trinity, but simply^ for enough
money. And the evil to be attacked
is not eln, suffering, greed, priestcraft,
kingcraft, demagogy, monopoly, ignor
ance, drink, war, pestilence, ! nor any
other of the scapegoats which reform
ers sacrifice, but simply poverty. The
greatest Of evils and the worst oJ
crimes is poverty, and our first duty—
a duty to which every other considera*
t ion should be sacrificed — Is not to be
poor."
Shaw says that oar toleration of
poverty Is "stnpld levity," and that
"If a'man is indolent, let him be poor.
If he Is drunken, let him be poor. . If
lie is addicted to the fine arts or to
pure science, let him be poor. If he
chooses to spend his urban 18 shillings
a week or his agricultural 13 shillings
.a week on his. beer or his family. In
stead of saving up for his old age, let
him be poor. Serves him right."
Shaw goes on to explain what "let
him be poor" means: "It means, let
him be weak. Let him be Ignorant/
Let him become a" nucleus of disease.
Let him be a standing exhibition and
example of ugliness and dirt. Let him
have rickety children. Let him be
cheap and let him drag his fellows
down to his level by selling himself to
do their work. Let his habitations turn
our cities into poisonous congeries of
sliyns. Let his daughters infect our
young men with the diseases of the
streets, and his sons revenge him by
turnlng the nation's manhood into
scrofula, cowardice/ cruelty, hypocrisy,
political imbecility and all the other
fruits of oppression and malnutrition.
This being so. is it really wise to let
him be poor? Would he not do 10
times less harm as a prosperous bur
glar. Incendiary, ravisher or murderer,
to the utmost limits of humanity's
comparatively negligible Impulses In
these directions? Suppose we abolish
all penalties for such activities and
decide that poverty is the one thing we
will not tolerate — that every v adult
with less than say £365 a year shall bo
painlessly but inexorably killed, and
every hungry, half naked child, forcibly
fattened and clothed, would not that be/
an enormous Improvement on the ex
isting system, which has already de
stroyed so many civilizations and is
visibly destroying our own?"
"A Stumbling Block"
By Justus Miles Forman, euthor of "Buchan
an's Wife." etc. Published by Harper &
Bros., New York and London.
Justus Miles Forman has made his
reputation before now, but it seems
that he is not satisfied — he must have
more laurels. These will come wlti
this book. "A Stumbling Block." It is
an unusual story, one which will bear
study and^a rereading. It is the tale
of a young man with ambition for lit
erary honors. His \u25a0 guardian, an old,
disappointed man, who had in youth
loved the boy's mother, is anxious to
do all he can for him, for that old love*
sake. He begins his training treatment
by sending the boy away from a bud
ding love affair to travel and study for
at least three years. It seems to him
necessary that the boy be kept free
from "entanglements." and a -woman
would be sure to dwarf the boy's ability
and ambition.
T!" r.toi\v is developed with great
skill and the reader Is not obliged to
strain his credulities at any point. The
character drawing of Robert Henley,
the strange, sour old guardian; ; of
R6semary Crewe, the faithful love, and
of Violet Winter, the stumbling block
to David Rivers, is all done faultlessly.
It is so real, so like the tragedy of
everyday^ life that the pleasant ending
comes as a great relief. Nor is that
ending unnatural. The whole story has
led up to it perfectly. It is better than
fiction and yet is a romance with a
purpose.
"Women's Work and Wages"
By Edward Cadbury..M. Ocile Matbeson and
Geoixe Shaun. • Published/by the UniTerslty
of Chicago Press. . t :
There is a. growing demand for a...<a ...<
scientific method by which the social': '
problem may, 'be attacked, a demand
for the cxact^intormation upon which
any such metwd must be based. That !
demand, in so I far as it relates to '\u25a0',
women's place 'in Industrialism in a .
typical English-fi eld, is met "by the '.
present volume, whose' writers have ,
been, indefatigable in their . efforts to
secure precise - Information. .This book
is • based , on* personal ' interviews with .'<
6.000 working women,' 400: trades union
secretaries, managers and : foremen of
works employing women and*., upon
many, interviews; with employers and
members and ,, managers of girls' clubs. E
The r great \u25a0 British : industrial . center, j
Birmingham, was, the field for these in- <
vestlgations.l . *' \
Four; reasons are given why! women i
receive smaller wages than men, thus :->.'«
- "(a) 'Because -their 'pastltralning; or
want of training has- not \u25a0 contributed ,i
to develop • Independence, but , has been i
the r«ven^ < HHtfttsfiMHHMR' l BP9QHi
\u25a0"(.b) ; Because, she \u25a0is subsidized by i
family or.V- husband;- this ' subsidizing ]
being Itself at once a cause and effect j
Of low; wages; s and ; > - ; " r -; -:- -..• "\- - <
"(c> JBee*u*9 TTomea lack power of j
UNA H. H. COOL
self-protection, due to • their failure to
combine, -which failure Itself Is; due, to
cause (a) mentioned above and to the
fact that few women expect to -be -life
\u25a0workers, practically all looking for
ward to marriage as an escape from
work."
Many of the statistics given are In
teresting. More than 25,000 women In
Birmingham .are' engaged ..in various
kinds of metal work, many In press
.work, lathe work. Japanning and
blacking, enameling, burnishing, etc,^
The balance sheets at the close,.show
ing the: ratio, of profits, mean that the
demand of the workers for a ;falrer
and better life, throws on the nation
a moral responsibility. :>
"The nation/ say the authors, : "can
afford better conditions for those, who
win r its wealth. '\u25a0':\u25a0 The \u25a0 national 'income
is increasing by leaps and bounds and
yet the mass of, people are In poverty.'.' <
The authors feel that much should
bo/ done for the working .women' of
England; their book Is a promise and
a forecast that something will be done.
"Story of a Cannoneer Under Stone
wall Jackson" ~
By E. A. Moore, published by the Xeale pub
lishing company, New York and Washington.
».. Price ?2.
It is the spring: of 1861. At Wash
ington college books are thrown aside.
Over tfie main building ; floats ft . pat
metto flag.vholsted by the students. rA
class enters for recitation. Thepresi
dent, a union man, asks if the flag Is
still flying.;
"Yes, Mr. President/.Vthe boys answer
gravely, frightened but loyal; "yes, Mr:
President, it Is." ,
"The class is dismissed," retorts the
president. "I will never hear a reci
tation under a traitor's flag!"
The boys gather in groups in tha
halls, on the campus, on the sidewalks.
The boys from the .Virginia Military
institute, "the West Point of the south,"
join them. They talk earnestly, . ex
citedly, with: gesture and declamation.
In an hour they are men, and war ia
\u0084the business of men. The Rockbridge
artillery is organized. They drill night
and day. It Is war and they are going!
Going to fight and win fame, and die.
"It was on a beautiful' Sunday morn
ing In May," the author writes, "that
the cadets received orders to v move and
I remember how we all. were astonished
to see the Christian major galloping,
to and fro on a-' splendid . horse, pre
parjng for their departure."
: This "Christian, major," rnarshalinar
his columns of eager boys, was scon
to be known to the world as "Stones-"
wall" Jackson— Jackson, ' the fighter,
who, like Oliver Cromwell, praised God
and kept his powder/ dry; who wor
shiped God with his strong right. arm
and who. pending thes church triumph-,
ant, fought like a saint in the church
militant.
The^boys march away. Then come
long years of privation, of weary toil
and red blood flowing; years when high
hopes, glory, defeat, loss and | killing
alternate like . clouds and sunshine;
years of following the heavy guns
.through Bodden roads, years amid thun
ders of death, shouting and rolling
smoke; then— "about 8 o'clock on Sun
day morning, April9i as our two guns
were entering the', little' village "of Ap
pomattox, several cannon shots sounded
in quick succession. Immediately in our
front..*. . Without word, of command we
came to. our last halt."
Between those,- two -Sunday morn
ings — tho brilliant and' inspired boys of
'61 and the tired arid ; hopeless men of '
'65— stretched four pathetic years. This
cannoneer has told, the story, of theso
years in a clear, direct, soldierly way,
like a man who realizes the importance
of what he relates; told It,* humorously"
and sympathetically, -like ; a man. to
whom , life is a larger thing, than any
one man's experience; told It in detail
and in order, like' a man who would
convince by stating the truth as he
saw It, and all of the truth; : rendering
to each his dueof. honor, he has in-,
eluded in his narrative'a complete roll
of the officers and men" of the cdmpanv
and their records. '-It ls'fltting that this
roll . be given a , prominent place and a
form in which it can be preserved and
referred to, and such a place and form
he has given it
.It is history and romance, instruction
and delight, a chronicle ; and a : picture
gallery. T6 read it -is to \ know a ; lov
able ; and brave soldiery, ''% a? command
that proved Its rmettle'in 23 iengage
ments, 1 a company worthy. its >;inspira-
tlon; its , strength and ' its - hero— even ;
"Stonewall 1 * Jackson.; '; . " VJ,
'The New HarmonyHlovement"
By George B. Loekwood. Published by D An.
pleton & Co., New.York. :.~ ' ..-,.
This account! of the "Rappite" and
"Owenite". colonies, the; fruits of' two
remarkable movements." is J historically'
complete and - yet .- sufßcien tly ; graphic * ;
to be of r popular iinteresL The- little
villagetof- New, Harmony, on the In
dlana 'side ,bf i the iWabash; river, .upon ;
which ; the ; book , centers, o. has been,
strange to say, the > social; experiment
station : of two 'great //movements for !
the betterment" of s . the ~ conditions \ of * :
mankind.' The : establishment 'of the '
Rappite colony,, consisting j? of I German^!
peasants,, under the 'of ]
George Rapp, $in \ the * early ;\u25a0 part f of : th«^ :
nineteenth century iwas . in: xnany Iways ' ; i
a successful demonstration" of com
munism.: It cleared away many of the
difficulties and solved many of .tho
problems of social science. After its
disbandment/, Robert Owen.; "the father
of English socialism," bought' the vil
lage of, New Harmony as an eligible
site f.or' putting into practice his own
theories of communistic colonization.
The 'history of the movement -\u25a0 is fully
given by Mr. Lockwood. It is'interest
ing to know that the deathbed of, Ro
bert Owen's social system became:. the
blrthpJace of -several important move
ments. . ; ];. . \u25a0 .
There the doctrine of universal ele
mentary, education > at . public \u25a0 expense
as a duty of the -state waß first pro
claimed in; the middle west. "Through
Oweri and others , tlie Fleetalozzian sys
tem of education was to
this country. ' 'Technical training '.was
introduced, also the "infant school"
system. . '
New, Harmony the \- great
scientific center £ of. : America' and" the
headquarters of the United States geo
logical survey. ' ..
"So . it is,"; says the^.wrlter, "that ;the
little touch 'of. learning long ago kin
died Ip the .wilderness » made ] N^willar
mony-aV center of .[light, ahd" learning
while {it was yet surrounded by the
trackless .^wild." ". V; \u25a0 r ; : ; •*
The book' willvbe"; interesting; to all
readers, and ,' the ~l hlstoiy \. of - the two
colonies "should^ be^valuable data 5 for
all practical sociologists. ;,
•'A Dull Girl's Destiny! 1
By Mrs.. Baillie \ Reynolds, . author/ of. "Tha
lassa,">etc.:;.Published, by> Brentano's, New
,\York. Price »1.50.
Oriel remembers with pleasure'atib\ p el
by this; author* reviewed ;iast\y*ar| and
delights; to;flrid;a ! book so full ? of prom
ise in the v midsummer parcels ; - also,
one i forgets : to ,be - critical \u25a0in ' reading
this ; well; told |tale.' . V " -:.;
A man of great f strength rand/orig
inality fof i character ?is V the hero, j and
the heroine isi a '.woman 1 of such '; reserve
that T , she ;i is r dubbed ?."aj dull >glrl" *by
those ; who^ fall ' to'see* beneathV the 'sur
face. The! man 'j is ; a" professor? of;geol
ogy and f has i lately i attained : fame \ and
position: in 'vhJs^cbosen:fleld/7;ReTknows
little/of ; life? as: the"; frivolous fi and;-bo
hemian set of^London'ylew./It.lbut finds
himself T plunged;" Into*' its \very ;; midst.'
The : picture ,which r Mrs.': Reynold s-gives
of this | llfe'islphotbgraphlc | in ' its detail
and f verity.^ "The ; "dull % girl" ?Is :\u25a0 a '} fine
type, : not ; exactly^ tinique ?In f flctlonrbut,
featured /as .she I is ,' in I this i booJc, 1 ' quite
new— a ; girl .whose destiny,' seems ' to 7 be
misunderstood by .; all . her ; associates/
Tho -; frankly J sympathetic . reader twill
long : to > | shake jher,*' stupid; mother and
pity/ thelweak; t ather^ a»d i will detest
her ; brothers [and! elsters = Jjj- la,w.V But
all "th« -whlltJ ' b«r 4«s Unjr , 1a , wworkingw orkingorking0 rking
out. or* course, one can not But know
how ; the 'ibook will; turn out, but the
manner of reaching the conclusion Is
unusual and artistic.
"Practical Christian Sociology"
• By Rer. . Wilbur F. Crafts, Ph.D. Published
by Funk: & Wajrnalls company, New York
and London. • Price $1.50. \
This .is anew edition of the" work
by the;superintenderit of/the Interna
tional \u25a0-. reform bureau. It is revised
down 'to date, so will have a \u25a0 \u25a0 much
greater value in its present form for
the student' of sociology -than in its
former 'shape.
j ; " A^new preface explains the author's
attitude toward'; all ; the problems of
the - day and expresses his willingness
to discuss these problems at: any and
all times. .
' This is an orthodox evangelical work
and . is \u25a0; Intended to. encourage' preach
ers' to -lake a hand 'In the^work* of so
cial betterment and' not leave it all to
organized /societies ; of .laymen.
> 'Dr.'tCraftsl delivered /a-, series of lec
tures 'at /'Princeton ;; semi
nary "and [Marietta -college :on ''Moral
Reforms r and Social' Problems," and he
uses \u25a0 these lectures as a \u25a0 basis • for . the
present -work. --He treats, his; subject
under : tv four J... : parts. V FirsJ, '"The
Church"; - second,- TThe Family 'and Ed
ucati?n"; • third;: "Capital and j Labor,"
and fourth, "Citizenship." Under: each
head -he gives f his" views :• of \ what -con
ditions would become with 'the \u25a0 appli
cation-of \u25a0 practical,' everyday 'Chris
tianity. /,«\u25a0 Of \u25a0 course -the - position ; f h,e
takes will Ycause ''?" endless 'discussion.
One thing ; in- particular seeming • hardly
practicable ! ln ; present 'day. conditions—
that vhe s would f have : an / authoritative
Christian morality i tau ght - In the publlo
'schools-^ln ? the ; sense " of j being .-- '.] the
expression of ' the .will s of the " majority,
regardlessfoff- the ;"ylewsi and iwishes) of
the ' minorlty-^r-and 7this - "would .cause °'.\
wonderfulC betterment in conditions.' ; lt
requires little experience' to ; see;' what
troubles [ would " beset ; the " path of the
reformer/* .'; j_~- ;<_ : \u25a0\u25a0.'•:''
:rr^The"J author] gives • an : outline : of L'The
International \ Reform ; Bureau," I whose
organization grew "out-'of; this' very
book after 4 iits;flrst -edition. ; This bu
reau inghts"; four .big. evils-^-"lntemper
ance,' r V. "Impurity," "Sabbath" Breaking"
and VGambling."C
"\u25a0The i book /contains many interesting
statistics I and ; much\ information" of ' In
terest and value.; s'.5 '. :-' '.'\u25a0-.. ' : :
\u25a0'. - .-. \u25a0 ; it- ''; "\u25a0 \u25a0-- ."-•-' _- : \u25a0 ,
"Socialism: Positive and Negative"
„• ': By \u25a0* Robert r. Rives • La^ 1 Monte. , -, Published ' " bj
: Charlea H. • Kerr & Co.; • Chicago. . .- \u25a0\u25a0' \u25a0 v
Like all -books on socialism, Robert
Rives 'I lift"! Monte' s -"Socialism, : \u25a0\u25a0 Positive
end - Negative," * Is : wordy, verbose <•\u25a0 and
given over tjo theories and Utopian
Ideas, out of which not a single prac
tical-or working idea can be gleaned
' He has grouped his subject matter
under the following heads:
"Science 'and Socialism." "The Ma
terialistic Conception of History," "The
Law of Surplus Value/* "The Class
Struggle," "Marxism- and Ethics." "In
stead of a Footnote," "The .Nihilism of
Socialism." "The Biogenetio Law" and
"Kismet." * ;
By far the most interesting chapter
is the one on "The Nihilism of Social-*
ism." from which the following Is
.quoted:
If Is tbe purpose of this paper to «how that'
socialism : Is not a scheme for tbe betterment
Of humanity, to' be -accomplished by a suffi
ciently zealous and intelligent propaganda, bat
that It \u25a0\u25a0 Is, .on .-.'• tUe contrary. a consistent
( t houcli . to many . rppollant) i monistic philosophy
of the cosmos; that.lt is from it» Alpha to Its
Omega so closely and .inextricably - interlock* 1 !
that its \u25a0 component . parts \u25a0 cannot be disassoci
ated,' sare;by an act of \u0084 Intellectual • suicide:
that, in a word, th« nihilism of socialism Is lof
the ; Tery essence of socialism.
He quotes freely from the well known
writers Yon socialism,, namely: Karl
Marx,', Frederick Engels, "William Mor
ris. Enrico Ferrl' and Gabriel Deville.
Like all writers on the subject,' he tells
the worklngman ?"he .has nothing to
lose but his chains, and a whole world
to gain." \u0084 .
Gossip of Books and People Who Make Them
\ Justin Huntly 'McCarthy, author of
"Needles- and Pins." that brilliant ro
mance: of the poet' -.Villon ,and Louis
.the Eleventh and . other Jilghly pictur
esque lives 1 1n a charming:
seaside home in Kent, England. Tha
house is surrounded by a spacious gar
den and , stands on the Crest of ' a low
rounding •: hllL ''/ffijffiSjfißJSSH
'. : ; The house , is, known as "Herdholt,"
and this name puzzled all tha novelist's
friends, .tor they could not even make
a guess (at Jits .origin. V
", Mr." McCarthy: found -the name In one
of , his ': favorite ; books, V th& "Laxdaela
Saga." I* In ;; 4 the* Sapa a ; famous " Scandi
navian hero ; Is : described, who lived . in
a house which ! he named v "Herdholt."
This { particular/ hero . chanced <! to be of
Irish origin and doubtless that added to
Mr. McCarthy's a interest ,in him.
.It j was I at : •/Herdholt"; that "Needles
and'Plns.'i//IM /Were King*" and other,
novels of the oldtime France, which Mr.-
McCarthy so / loves to were
written. . *;\u25a0 \u25a0,
* •' •
.-'; Henry James, whose latest book,
'"The /American; Scene," was "recently
published :"byf the, Harpers, is a bach
elor,; and* his' home -is a .charming old
house; in; Sussex, , known = as ."the Charles
Lamb , house" from its , association with
the \u25a0' life lof -: that " famous .: author. Mr.
James \u25a0: maintains ; author Qughly ' well
orderejj* tfltabiisjynenV'ln mite cf feU
bachelorhood. and one of his principal
recreations Is to take long walks alone
the charming roads in the vicinity of
his home.
With a pride in -one of America's Il
lustrious sons that does us all credit.
*• = have been, inclined over here to
look upon. Luther Burbank as a pio
neer, a discoverer of new principles, in
horticulture. The truth Is, according
to the illustrious Huso de-Vries. pro
fessor of botany in' the university of
Amsterdam, that Luther Burbank has
'not enlarged human knowledge of any
thing essential In, the science of plant
breeding. His results, brilliant in
themselves. 6eem quite new in our
country because the methods and re
sults of European horticulturists are.
as . a rule, accessible to American
breeders only with difficulty. "Bur
bank has had to rediscover many of
the rules and practices which in Eu
rope were more or less universally
known." Thus Professor de Vries In
the work newly Issued by him on the
•übjeet of plant breeding. Burbank'3
•clence and Burbank's methods are "his
own work," concedes De Vries, but In
comparison with those of other horti
culturists they do not comprise essen
tially different procedures.- Not only
does Burbank's work not 'enlarge our
knowledge.. but it is not intended to do
\u25a0o. "He Is a" nurseryman, but he has
no nursery in tho ordinary sense of
the word. He Is a tradesman, but sells
nothing besides hjs novelties, and these
only to other dealers who will multiply
them and offer them to the general
public." Mr. Burbank is not engaged
In pure scientific research. — Current
Literature for July.
Mrs. Daniel Lothrop ("Margaret S!d
neyT) has just finished correcting the
proofs of the eleventh volume of the
famous "Pepper Books.- entitled "Five
Little Peppers in the Little Brown
House," which her publishers. Lothrop,
Lee and Shepard company, have in
press, and sailed June 22 on the Phil
adelphia for a year abroad. She is
accompanied by her daughter. Miss
Margaret Lothrop, a recent graduate
of Smith college. They will first visit
rr T ormandy, Brittany and the Chateau
country; then go to the Italian lake
• strict, the Engadine and the Dolom
ites, spending much time In the Aus
trian Tyrol. Mrs. Lothrop proposes to
find much - material in unbeaten paths
for some books which she has already
begun to plan out.
Introspection consists of looking at
yourself from a purely Impersonal point
of view and picking out your faults—
if you have any. You must be sure,
also, that your color matches
that of your friends, or is at least har
moniously contrasted; otherwise tho
continuity of your self analysis will go
all. to smash, you know, and splatter
the wall paper. I never saw an astral
color and neither did you. but we'vo
all got 'cm — yes, lndeedy! — July Bo
hemian.
The. delicious humor ot Carolyn
Wells' short fiction has aroused con
siderable curiosity regarding her first
novel, a detective story called "A Chain
of Evidence." This has been secured
by Upplncott's Magazine for publica
tion complete in their September lssofe
Under the general title of "Emotional
Monotones," there .appears from tima
to time in.. Lipplncott's Magazine a
clever little allegory^ signed Jane Bel-
Xleld. The author is one of this peri
odical's valued discoveries, though her
work has since appeared elsewhere.
She lives in Philadelphia In winter and
passes her summers at Cape May. The
current number of Lippincott's con
tains her story called "From the Land
of Ought"
George Edwin Hunt, author of
"Angel Paradise" In the current Lippln
cott's, and an Indianapolis physician of
standing, acknowledges that he Is "a
story writer by inclination." Having
been a classmate of Senator Beverldga
and Representative Watson, he draws
the moral that "a man can lead an up
right life if he Is determined to do so:
congress, like whiskers, is a man's own
fault.'!
.The irresistible humor and southern
charm of the stories bearing the name
of Sarah Chichester Page (frequently
a Lippincott contributor) have won her
hosts of" friends. Her home in northern
Virginia is in the very heart of the
scenes depicted in her fiction.
Ella Middleton Tybout excels in hu
morous easy-dialect darky stories, such
as "Isaiah's, Daddy." and also has sev
eral popular novels to her credit. "The
Smuggler," which ! appeared in the
March Lippincott's, is one of her best;
and' there are many inquiries as to
when this is to be published tn book
form. It is" promised for fall publica
tion.
It is scarcely known outside of Spain
that Velasquez, the^ great - painter, left
a series of remarkaWe critical notes on
the cellection of paffitings which Philip
IV sent to the monastery of San Loren
zo In 1656. Walter ,Pac6., an American
artist, ,'has translated these succinct
commentaries- and has written a pref
ace. It la illustrated with reproduc
tions of the paintings commented on.
Although Martha Evans Martin, au
thor of that fascinating book of nature
study, "The Friendly Stars," Is now a
resident of New York (where she loves
to, watch the, stars from .the roof of
a lofty apartment house overlooking
the Hudson), and spends .her summers
in New Jersey (where she studies tha
stars from the porch of her. summer
home or from points -along the wooded
ridge on which' lt stands): she is one
of the numerous Indiana-born writers
who have. won distinguished success.
She was born in Torre Hante, and ed
ucated at that De Pauw university to
which Indiana is so loyal. She then
lived for a number of years at Rich
mond and Indianapolis. She married
an -Indiana editor, and her father was
long known •as the oldest in service
.of all Indiana editors.
Books Received
"Bud." by Nell • Mmxto*; Harper &
Bros., New York.
"The Talking Woman." by May Isabel
Fiske; Harper & Bros., New York.
'"A Woman's . War," 'by Warrick
Deeping; Harper & Bros.. Netr York..
"Through the Eye of the Naedla." by
W. D. Howells; Harper & Bros., New
York.
"A Stumbling Block." by Justus Miles
Forman ; Harper. & Bros.. New York.
•'John Kendry's Idea/ by Chester
Bailey Fernald; Outing publishing com
pany. New York. «
"The Traitor," by Thomas Dixon Jr.:
Dbubleday, , Page . & Co-. New York. .
."The"; Sinner, and *Hls Friends,", by
Louis Albert -Banks ; Funk & Wagmalls
company. New York.
"Where the Rainbow Touches the
Ground.": by. John Henderson, Miller;
Funk & Wagnalls company, New York.
"T. Thorndyke. Attorney at Law," by
Herbert L ' Gosat \u25a0 the C JL Qljurla Pub* '
UaiJto* ''cam^aajv Boston, ""~