The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 12, 1904, Page 5

FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. B R OUR HISTORY Well Told in a Volume GOOD plan which has come to ompletion out of the contem- plation of many years is Elson’s History of the United States,™ in a single volume, complete, without being cumbersome, brief, but not bereft of the beauty of literary style nor sufficlent fullness to throw before the mind’s eye of the r more viyid realizations of well culled memorable events in our coun- try’s life than usually lie within the scope of contracted histories. set himself the task skillfully he difference between those meny volumed histories made for peo- long hours of leisure and spe- ts who must delve deeper e average, and the other ex erse chrono- v stated facts, 1 purposes, be- has evolved to mment and th rary art as ap- king crystals out of the stuff which comes amor- the orian’s hand. He hi makes no epecialty of r period of our history, hows in correct perspective all t! n eve of our country's develop- the time of the discovery ontinent, when Columbus, all | his scarlet robes, landed on dor and kneeled him there to God for the realization of rished dream—on, on, the pe pictures pass, down to this te when Uncle Sam, smiling sharpens his spade to cut great canal which shall open 2 swift way for the world’s com- merce and perchance, too, Christian ideals, to that far Cathay, the west- ern path te which Columbus sought &5 he so persistently followed the set- ting sun untll he found a something grecter than the goal of which he @reamed. The work is excellently arranged as to divisions, contents, directory, lst of maps and all so placed as to make plain the narrative as it swiftly moves, condensed chronology pages, dates ar- ranged oconve-'ently close to each im- pertant paragraph, so as not, as some books do, keep the soul of the hurried reader harried with the wonder, “When, ob when, did this decisive thing happen? and more admirable than all iz mere mechanical makeup is the contrivance of footnotes so that the swift learner can at his pleasure skip, skim, or study, special points without thereby breaking the continu- ity of the main narrative. Elson says that he has striven to be impertial and so well has the book fulfilled this effort that wers its au- thorship anonymous the reader, by put- ting two and two together, of pages recording opposing opinions and forces, might well be kept guessing as to what section the writer belonged by birth or adoption, and to what party ané principles he gave preference in bis personal being, as distinguished from his efficial capacity of fair and true historian. Not always, thus, though, and to & slip or two attention may be calied later, The book abounds with sentences which attract our harkening, some samples of which are herein culled: but no doubt the reader could llnd' many more forceful accords: fancy of the right trick of :t‘xu:: :pl: eyllables close as a skull cap te the heads of things thet happen and Iike labels to the personages whe per- form for our admiration, or detesta- tion, upon the historic stage. Here's one at randum: it's his Majesty George III; and the sentence is akin to those pictures which are so good they scarce. ly need to be mamed: “He had not the capacity to shield his natural little- y surrounding himself with great ny a mediocre sovereign has done. Here is one that tells of a great man's one great weakness: “Hamilton believed democracy to be a disease.” After giving Andrew John- son fair praise for that side of him which w & with virtues, Elson side thus, “The belli- stical, tactiess man from He does Cleveland thus: “One of ost able and honest of Americar ts found himself al- most wi chiefly through his own This is Funston, bt to fame the press has re- questioned: “Aguinaldo was by a clever though undigni- " And here’s Nathaniel ever won a2 battle, but al- the campaign, which was wh centl ways ‘won the vital thing after all” This is Henry Knox: “A Boston bookseller, a corpulent man with a winning smile and jolly laugh, who soon won his way inte Washington’s heart, and who PN - - A Logrzer Barzz. Author o * T Wz Pibors > > e - many years later became a member of his first Cabinet.” And this is the last sentence touchs he puts upon his pic- ture of the writer of the Declaration of Independence: “This vast bei the Public, has discovered his strength, and it was Thomas Jefferson above all men who awakened him to self-con- usness.” This is Lincoln, the love of whom reveals itself in every line the writer put on paper: “Apparently con- fiding with his friends, his inmost soul was fathomless and was veiled from every eye. Awkward and ungainly in appearance, there was something =o deeply impressive in his face that none who ever saw him could forget it.” One of the advantages of getting hold of a history done by a man with some terary art is that it encourages busy people to reread what they have learned long ago but half forgotten, and now to see them again in the light of other eyves than those which saw and repro- iuced them for us in the yon of unger days often gives back the rgotten with sh revealed features the whole face of affairs. This is of books; it's not the new-come foreigner the big assimi- adoles- sc! one of those kind wholly for finding out the past nature of beast which is going to try to late him, nor altogether for the cent American who is learni the first time of the misde heroic successes of his ancestors. Elson calls our attention to some things h we should not forget, but which he says the masses of the people have almost forgotten; for instance, al- though the word Saratoga still rings resoundingly in the popular ear, yet not so the name of Philip Schuyier, who is the hero with which that battle sound, should mingle as we cheer it down the ages. Technically speaking, some one else won the victory, but historic research shows that Schuyler made the thing happen; and the name of the other man is less worthy of the laurel of our recollections. Good indeed, and intensely interest- ing, are the things he has selected to tell us so graphically about the main movements and the foremost men of the Civil War. So fair has he tried to be in his descriptions that it would scem that the veterans alike of the North and the South might read of how the struggle looks to a recent historian without one angry pulse- beat in their heroic hearts against an unrestrained and ungenerous pre- judice which must perforce be born in the blood of every American for gen- erations to come. Such generous re- straint does Elson show, aithough he admits that he must probably have some of the natural prejudice of a man Northern born. 8o generous in- deed, that when he telis us of the hour wheny Southern resistance had surged to the highest point it had the power reach, the charge of Pickett's brigade up the heights to Cemetery Ridge, he swells the heart responsive to relation of heroic deeds almost as if there were something Southern in him which spoke spontaneonsly and made him ap- propriate to his own soul the glory of that flower of the Confederate army as if he feit it were not merely sectional and Southern, but American and man. As for Blson's slips into perhaps un- conscious prejudice, consider this sen- tence carefully, and with the mouth prepared to smile, for it sounds more like & joke than a prejudice: “I have refrained from using the term ‘rebel’ e & * o designate those who rose in rebellion against the Government, be- cause of my profound respect for their sireerity.” No doubt Elson is sincere, end yet the sentence sounds as who should say: “I am too courteous a fel- low-citizen, and too impartial & his- torian to call them ‘rebels,’ but, con- demn them, they were rebels, who ross in rebellion, all the same, although, out of courtesy, I don’t say it in good get terms.” Perhaps Mr. Elson meant the sentence for a bon mot; but at all events so unprejudiced is he in other ways that even a Southern man might smilingly “let that pass,” saying, he is a fairly good fellow anyway, take him for all in all (The Macmillan York; $175 net.) o KT ESSENTIALS of Perfect Home Life Company, New ‘WO recent books, the one a col- lection of essays and the other a work of fiction, have come forth strong-voiced in protest against the modern material- istic trend of the conception of home, home influences and the sacredness of child-bearing. “By the Fireside,” from the pen of Charles Wagner, the author of that inspiring book, “The Simple Life,” is a high call to a break from the artificlality and sordidness so common In the home life of these days and a return te the healthful sim. plicity of our grandfathers' hearths, Ellis Meredith approaches the prob- lem from the aspect of the high cig- nity of maternity, giving us a remark- ably wholesome and uplifting message which reflects the nobility and the beauty inherent in woman's divinest office. “By the Fireside” includes twenty- two essays, serene and encouraging, essays which have, all of them, to do with those little commonplaces of home and home life that may seem insignificant in their several essences, but which, combined, make for the broadness and the perfection of all that the true home represents. Ven- eration for the paternal rooftree and a full accord to the instinct of a per- manent abiding place for every man are two of the cardinal lessons Wag- ner would teach. A family spirit of unity and of respect for this, at once the least and the greatest unit of all government, makes a nation builded firmly on the rock of the ideal in the author’s mind. There is a “religion for the fireside.” To Cicero's conception of the worth of old age to self, to the family and the state Wagner adds an especially beautiful thought: that old age must act as the fining fire for youth not only in affairs of the world, but in mutual intercourse, the one with the other. “So when the old-time trying of conclusion between age and youth is renewed in the family circle,” says the author, “when the seething young wills rise against the institutions and customs of other days, there is no need of trembling for the future. This is just as it ought to be, always on con- ditlon that this juvenile exuberance finds its check. For, left entirely to itself, its work would be only éonfus- ing. The ardor of youth is an ele- ment of life and progress, provided it be restrained, tempered and guided by the wisdom of ag: “Heart of My Heart,” ‘Ellis Mere- dith’s book, is indeed unique in the records of fiction—so unique that there may be some who will scoff: but, have they any souls, they will re- main to ponder, at least, if not to pray. The author seeks to trace the metamorphoeis which comes to a woman's soul with the knowledge that of her body there is to be born a man. With a sureness of touch and a deli- cacy of sentiment Ellis Meredith re- veals all the store of mother love that grows with each ‘pulsing of the life nascent, every high hope and fond re- solve builded about the mystery of conception. The story is instinct with purity of ideal and exaltation of thought. (McClure, Phillips & Co., New York.) ol Nl “DOROTHEA"” HAS Merit of a High Order AARTEN MAARTENS' last novel, “Dorothea: A Story of the Pure In Heart,” is not a book for the crowd, as Henry James’' and George Meredith's are not for the crowd. Few of the terms of criticism that are brought to bear on the average novel of the day are adequate for a right judgment of Maartens’ story, for it is not of the category of the “popular novel,” Here is a work of distinction, a work on the plane of what the very best English and American contemporary writers are producing. It is all subtle, all stu- diously contrived and artistically con- structed; none of the commonplace and the shoddy trimmings of the made-in- a-month novel of to-day have a place in “Dorothea.” Not great—that word must be used guardedly—but surpass- ing the worth of the ninety and nine pleces of fiction of the moment is “Dorothea.” Maartens’ novel is one of manners; the range of English soclety is its province; life portrayed without exag- geration, without caricature, Is its theme. Problems or lire are ever the cause of being for fiction of the higher order. To trace the inner workings of the soul through its manifestations of sentiment, of greed, of hatred; of purity has ever called for the highest that there is of discernment and skill in the author and the various inter- pretations mark the attitude toward life of the several analysts. “‘Doro- thea,” which seems to be the highest and best effort of its author, shows that Maartens draws life with the fidelity to detail and exactness of line of a Durer engraving, each variation of light and shade recorded implicitly with no attempt at impressionism or the distortion of a feature for emphasis. The panorama of restless, wind driven life that Maartens presents is. above all else, life with no garnitures, no ab[)rlot:gmge:fs.m runs the story, is the motherless daughter of one Colonel Sandring, left by that worid crusted in- dividual of little heart to be reared infancy by two God-fearing maiden aunts. Dorothea lives, for twenty-one years in this ‘rarefled at- mosphere of piety and ideal purity of thought, knowing naught of the world or of the world's ways, nursing within her girl's heart 2 philosophy of cold asceticism, dogmatic as it is unyielding. Then when her father sudd kes her out into the whirl of soclety, of “high society,” drops her Into Paris and at Monte Carlo, introduces her to his circle of easy llving, free thinking friends, comes the demonstration of Dorothea's 'iron sabbatarianism. Sur- rounded by gamblers, breathing the same air with demimondaines, sneered at and cajoled alternately by aristo- cratic rakes, the distraught puritan files to the rellef of a marriage with a man possessed, in part at least, of her own spiritual exaltation. Then {8 exhibited more than ever Dorothea's intolerance and bigotry. Cold to every warm impulse of life and love, devold of sympathy for every- thing reflecting beauty or having sen- suous appeal, the “icy northern beauty” is alone to blame for her husband's lapse from the strict path of virtue. Then “God is dead,” cries this affright- ed woman who finds that the icy prison of her own house cannot withstand the warm breath of life. Long is pen- ance done by the husband and long Dorothea's fight for the maintenance of her original anchorite’s code, but in the end. the words of a dying student of religion melt down the barriers and a new life on a saner footing opens be- fore the “pure in heart.” The evolu- ticn of a husband and wife is com- plete. “Dorothea” is & book crowded close with characters, each of then contrib- uting to the grand scheme of the book's wide scope. Each is not a personifica- tion of all that is good or bad, foolish or perverse; in true similitude to life each character plays many parts, is many sided. Remarkable variety is there In the personages of the story. As droll and as distinctive, each from the other, as those anclent worthies from ftellowshl) 4 M' . we all an ims were l'l"hlf. Wllx' Canterbury 'Mfllnm" l(D, Appleton & Co.,, New York; price 60.) y YET ANOTHER Novel of High Romance HE Bright Face of Danger” is the name of Robert Neilson Stephens’ latest 'story. Here are some of the chapter head- ings: Monsfeur Henrl de Lavnay Sets Out on a Journey, The Chateau de Lavardin, Thé Rope Lad- der, Ths Sword of L.a Tournoire. Now putting two and two together, what kind of a story would you say this was upon these evidences? A historical, swash-buckling novel say you; scene laid in France of the seventeenth cen- tury; sword and rapler, doublet and casque—all the stage properties com- plete? Good, gentle and astute reader, take your place at the head of the class. Yes, here is another of the gocd old “romantic novels,” so styled, which kept everybody up nights some five or six years ago, which were dramatized, plagiarized, satirized. harried and tumbled until the book world was a bristling wilderness of pike staves, swords and daggers. And still Mr. Stephens, who was then in his heyday with his “Enemies to the King"” and his “Road to Paris,” keeps a fond eye on the scarlet robed vogue of the past and delivers himself of another child of the same spawn. “The Bright Face of Danger” forsooth; in the motley throng of “Rulers of Kings,” “The Boss,” “The Cost,” “The Lightning Conductor,” storles whirring with the jangle and rattle of the hard, materialistic present, sucha befrilled and beribboned pet of the past is as out of place as a Lon- don dandy in an Arizona grog shop. Mr. Stephens either has great belief in the magic of his name or great trust in fortune that he should produce gay sweet william in the modern garden of garish sunflowers and rankly flourishing nightshade. Henri de Launay, a youth of some- what bloodless and bookish tempera- ment, is taken in hand by the author at a tender age and made the hero of adventures such as a Prince Rupert never dreamed. At the outset his fair lady taunts him with his studiousness and distaste for the life strenuous such as it was lived in the France of Henri Quatre. Stung into a fine fury, young Henri de Launay makes a vow, assez simple, that he will show the the stuff in him by going to removing from a very truci brave residing there his 1 This laudable purpose set for him. the bookish young man starts out, kills a man in a duel within ten leagues of home and goes to the rescue of a falr unknown that he surmises to be in dis- tress. She is, of course. She is mewed up in a grim, gray castle by a count of the fnost unlovely disposition. The hero therefore proceeds to get her out, that proceeding occupying the full measure of the story. “As I could not get the dagger out of the other man’s shoulder joint in time, I drew my sword. * * * Wild with horror at the prospect of their meeting 80 hideous a death, I sprang into the alr and ran my sword straight into the panting mouth of Garoche, so that the point came out at the back of his neck. ¢ * ¢ I wiped my weapons on the clothes of the slain murderers. The Countess fell on her knees and thanked heaven for our preservation.” Thus runs this rarely wondrous tale of the bookish young man, who wades up to the top of his jack boots in floods of red and white corpuscles. And he does not gat the mustaches, but wins the Countess, & more substantfal reward of valor, we take it. “The Bright Face of Danger” is bright enough to dazzle all that still turn the backward-glance to the tiu pot and long feather days of high ro- mance. Others, not so inclined, may not read any farther than the Rope Ladder chapter, or The Parting. (8. C. Page & Co, Boston; trated: price $1 50.) 66 {llus- LANCE - AT - THE - BOOKe/ HELVE & BY ROBERT RS BRIEF NOTES on Books of the Hour HE Effendi,”s 2 romance of the 66 Soudan by M Florence Brooks Whitehs is in the main a very readable story, though protracted to the dan- gerous limit of more than f h dred pages. With Gordon's last battie with the Mullah as a prologue Whitehouse spins out a tale sumewhat melodramie in places, but replete with lively incidents, the shadows of m tery and all of the distinctive orie: ism of the nether East. Perhaps patriotism which induces the auth introduce” Into the palm shad deserts of the Soudun quite a sccre of “'way down East” folk, ) folk infaet. A Xfaine man or a N maiden Would séem to be somewhat out of place in & romance of Egypt did not the thor make them c- c n_ with true Yanke ness. The Effendi is an ¢ not without consldera tract; sound bette “entral, however, t n in cold t. “The Efferdi” is of average worth— nothing remarkable about it; nothi either, to which great exception can be taken. (Little, Brown & Co., Bostcn; price $1 50.) “A Gingham Rose” by Alice Woods Ullman is distinctly a “wishy-washy” book—that provincialism desecribes it in S0 pat a manner as to excuse its use. The story purports to be a study of the progressive phases of the artistic tem- perament, the attainment unto the high essence cf esthetic exaltation; it is, however, only a very silly, very tire- some recital of the feelings and the doings of some ludicrously machine- made individuals. The usual sauce of epigram is served up with this literary comfit in order that the stereotyped piquancy for such stereotyped stories may be present. “‘Bah!’ d the Big Bear, ‘my por- ridge is too cold! “The Gingham Rose” is cold porridge. (Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapo- lis; price $1 50.) “Modern Arms and a Feudal Throne,” by T. Milner Harrison, sounds lively enough and when you see in the front- isplece a low, rakish tug-boat plunging through a symmetrically carved hole in the earth you are certain that here you have a story that 1s a story; an- other illustration, depicting a brawny gentleman in knickers running his sword away through another gentle- man's pectoral region, but adds to the tremor of expectancy. Before you read six chapters you discover the fact that here is one of those wild, weird romances that are run serially in “The Fireside Companion” or the “Boys’ Weekly Library,” and unless your cu- riosity masters your literary sense of the fitness of things pix chapters will quite suffice. (R. F. Fenno, New York.) Dr. W. H. Tolman, director of the American Institute of Social Service, and Charles Hemstreet, author of “Lit- erary New York™ and other books abcut the historical features of the metropolis, have collaberated upon the production of “The Better New York," a unique combination of guide-hook and review of sociological conditions. The arrangement of the book is such that the stranger desiring to assure himself of the fact that New York, even with “the lid off,” is not such a bad sort of a place, may embark on a journey of observation through the eleven districts set by the authors, seelng everything that is being done for the moral and social uplifting of the great ‘“tenth estaie.” Sallors’ hcmes, free kindergartens, settlement schools and libraries for the poor are al: described in detall by the authors. The story of th regeneration of thou- sands of the hapelessly degtaded people of the tenements and the work being dere In the interests of better citizen- ship and a fuller life by these institu- tions makes “The Better New York” a book of value to every one whose alm in life is not to please self alone. (The Baker & Taylor Company, New York; illustrated.) “What Handwriting Indicates,” by John Rexford, is an odd book, which is well calculated to afford amuse- ment to its readers if it does nothing else. Although it may not be taken on faith that if a person signs his name with Jarge and aggressive capital letters he thereby reveals his exces- sive amour propre or that weak strokes in one's script indicate weak will, cowardice, flirtatiousness and a dozen other failings, yet the author certainly gives every evidence of hav- ing delved to the very hardpan of his subject. “Belief in graphology,” says Rexford, “like belief in hypnotism, de- pends upon education, experience and breadth of mind.” After following closely the very interesting deductions of the author one is led to believe that a vivid imagination must needs be not one of the least prerequisites of the perfect graphologist. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York; price $1 25.) “Charm and Courtesy in Conversa- tion” is the contribution to the litera- ture of social arts of Frances Bennet Callaway. While books of this genre e g %&m" 2 .,f.af/zo)y (B rvim; T IREISIIIET - - - are apt to be looked at rather askance by the ones, who be t only a ling”™ something t he ring of genuineness. ad of dictating formulas of conv ion to be follow ery ple ce upon guarding Th w‘r»n(b‘ 1y is thoughtless- ¢ the author’s e are others: “Do not exact too much ation for self, children or pos: “Don’t talk so fast.” * 't talk so much.” (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York; price 85 cents.) ume in the Baker & tories of the Churches™ of the Congregational- ard W. Bacon. Weil qual- s subject, as his noteworthy f American Christianity” he R Mr Bacon has pro- ok notably free from sectar- ian rancor and broadly tolerant. The subject presents pecullar difficulties, se so many churches that are congregational are outside of the tion which calls itself the ional Church. Mr. Bacon admirably in tracing the his- tory of the Congregational principle and of Co egational bodles. Ths schism between evangelical and Unitar- fan congregationalism is fairly related, the later history of Unitarianism sum- marized without acerbity, and the mis- sionary achlevements of the Congrega- tional body are warmly appreciated though they might have been more ad- equately set forth. (The Baker & Taylor Co., New York; price $1.) succeed “Little Gardens” by Charles M. Skin- ner is another semi-technical work upon horticulture for home surround- ings. This book, however, has valu- able hints for the city dwellers whose household plots are often, very sadly, not large enough to- swing a cat {n. For such unfortunate mortals Mr. Skinner has some especially valu- able hints. How to make the little city garden as gay and blooming a spot as the more open lawns of the country places is what the author has to tell. He does it in a very enter- taining manner. (D. Appleton & Co., New York; il- lustrated; price $1 25.) g oy N New Books Received. THE CASTAWAY — Hallle Erminie Rives; The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis; {llustrated by Christy; price $1 §0. FRENCHY — Willlam Sage; Scott- Thaw Company, New York; illustrat- ed; price $1 50. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY. Leslie Derville; G. W. Dillingham Com- pany, New York; price $1 50. JACK BARNABY — Henry James Rogers; G. W. Dillingham Company, New York: illustrated; price $1 DESIRE—Charlotte Eaton; Dillingham Company, New price $1. DUCHESS OF FEW CLOTHES-— Phillip Payne; Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago. NANCY, STAIR — Ellnor McCartney Lane; D. Appleton & Co., New York; price 31 50. BY SNARE OF LOVE — Arthur W. Marchmont; Frederick A. Stokes Com- pany; New York. THE WOMAN WINS—Robert Barr; Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. FELICE CONSTANT — Willlam C. Sprague; Frederick A. Btokes Com- pany, New York. THE WOMAN WITH THE FAN— Robert Hichens: Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. THE MAGNETIC NORTH—Eliza- beth Robins; Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. “IN ASSYRIAN TENTS—Louls Pen- dleton; The Jewish Publication Soci- ety; illustrated. THE FOOLISH DICTIONARY—Gid- eon Wurdz; The Robinson Luce Com- pany, Boston: {llustrated. TOMFOOLERY—James Montgomery Flagg; Life Publishing Company, New York. THE DOUBLE GARDEN — Maurice Maeterlinck; Dodd, Mead & Co., New York; price $1 40. PRIVATE LIVES OF WILLIAM I AND HIS CONSORT—Henry W. Fischer; Fischer's Forelgn Letters, Inc., Bensonhurst, N. Y., two vol- umes; $7. HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA— Vols. I-IV.; Guy Carleton Lee, general editor; George Barrie & Sons, Philadei- phia; illustrated: sold in sets only. — Owen Wister; New York: -ents. e Moore: G. w. York; SISTER TE J. B. Lippincott Cor reprint in paper: ¥ THE CAREER John Strange Win Company, Philadelphia; reprint in pa- per; price 50 cents. THE CZAR'S PARDON — Rachel Penn; J. B. Lippincott Company, Phil- adelphia; reprint in paper; price 0 cents.