The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 21, 1906, Page 27

'\ TIRELESS ENERGY” k ench author of “The Sta#s in the Twentieth Century’ ¥ qualities the from within spa the work s taken eur won- € n wer and pros t value in thoughtful eco- by somewhat reasoning to edges abgut as the venge- the punishment an extreme sthing voltume his lurid predic- shudder-caus- of thunder. greeable ftem he brighter that we when we part birth rate higher than n element of of the the increase. maintain increase negroes will climb rapidly. blacks, he states, are an unassimilable race, and similable for a long time are tending more and more to one portion of the country, k belt,” wherein because on from civilizing contact they are relapsing into example, in the county For in s more numerous than the e two races, in fine, tend to ming “Outre Mer” how such occurred in Haytl. The % of the richest regious of 50 prevents progress. sts who think the problem ng the negro to the Leroy Beau- clever, and almost answer. He says 0 rises, even in the course tions, to the civilization , it would prove “not the in- e black race, but of ours £ would assuredly seem para- "hat sounds very catch up to us have to wait for them delay would be virtually re- Su he black cloud the French- sees hanging over us. For our Wwever, we may tell our- fiw things still left optional telieve If we will it so: The ve imitative race, and the { @od example accelerates prog- > mich the time required in im- 1ETess—progress Jmerged in ward by the momentum m#ss of environing progress—is be compared with that h the struggle up un- ded adfl unmodeled; that there is a race founding the blacks so dom- fnant tiat if the good in the blacks cannot pe uplifted the evil fn them be/so sternly held down 1eed not worry over the prob- »m; tien we have the industrial phil- osophy of Booker Washington, which may ytimately leaven the whole lump; and, ¥ightest lining to the cloud of all, the ¢hristian hope that the negro is ad to setdown then the relative | South Carolina, they are | s of different densities | Paul Bourget | rrier to white immigra- | | L)) S | |WUVRLE RN o, / yi; SRS 2 W o) 7)) BN (G2l | o (S ke LEE LTS Pl 7 n ace, re and as religion and cheerfulness powerful preservers of peace and | promoters of prosperity we retuse to | shudder over this frowning fortune as | the Frenchman sees it. | As for the trusts, Leroy Beaulieu sees | no danger in them to our welfare. Con- | centration has its limits provided by | natural law. The Overgrown corpora- tions will fail when the “lean years” come with their severe tests. He gives an example of such failure in our re- cent history, namely, the Consolidated Lake Superior Company, and he says: “ab uno disce omnes.” of our immense immigra- interestin but in it he o grave danger. The main thing have to do about that is to prop- distribute the incoming workers | and prevent congestion in the big cit- |les. One of the curious features of immigration is that the birth rate to mers is so much greater ive rate—40 to §0 com- natives at 32. As he sees the pick of courage and enterprise t we get from those who dare the ocean to try their fate in e socialistic tendency, he re- there is any of it in the as he considers it econ- itating. ting of all is his estimate eristics of the American iave been contributory to d in combination with tehless natural resources are push- ing our country to the foremost place of all nations. In that regard I would | select as the biggest thought in the | book this one, which closes his chapter “Irrigation and the Opening of the on fundamental cause of the impressive de- ment of the United States may be briefly i. Added to the immense riches of a and subsoll, there exists a two- neating all classes of the Ameri- pirit © can people—a spirit on the one hand, of asso- ciation and organization; on the other, of in- @ividual progress, energy and activity. The | success of the great majority of American ggriculturists is due In no small measure to the possession of these virile qualities. And we shall see their powerful effectz even more | Slearly when we turn to examine the prodigious | industrial development now taking piace in the | United States. | Funk & Wagnalls | York) BOOK ABOUT SHAW AND HIS DRAMAS “George Bernard Shaw: His Plays” is the title of a small book by Henry L. Mencken, who is both an admirer |and a disciple of the eccentric play- wright. He says that even the worst | of Shaw is well worth study. In order to explain Shaw, he first explains Ibsen and then lets us know that Shaw fol- lows Ibsen without being a mere im- ftator. Ibsen is contrasted with Addi- son, who wrote so strongly in the early eighteenth century against marital in- fidelity. Ibsen, through his work, asks “if there might not be evil, too, in unreasoning fidelity.” Now as Mencken estimates Shaw, his best right to be | considered a world-figure is that he stands as an embodiment of the ten- dency of the times. The idea of those who_consider the author of “Man and Company, New | Superman” as a praiseworthy gham- | smasher is very well expressed in this sentence: “Either he is exhibiting a virtue as a vice in disguise, or exhibit- |ing a vice as a virtue in vice's cloth- | ing.” The book is a collection of short com- | ments on the various plays, a very | little about his novels and other writ- 1 ings; ten pages biographical and sta- tistical; and five on “Shakespeare and Shaw.” Some of his defense is quite { plausible and clever, but in his intro- duction he flashes out in much the same sort of flippancy which makes people feel doubtful of the sincerity of Shaw himself. For instance he writes: “The Spectator, in the ’teens of the eight- | eenth century, inveighed against mari- | {al infidelity—an amusement counted among the scarlet sins since the days of Moses.” The light way in which he | fiips that sentence at you does not give you much assurance that he has a se- riously good judgment when he says of the suppressed play, “Mrs. Warren's Profession’: “Taken as a play, the drama is well nigh faultless. It might well serve, indeed, as a model to all who aspire to place upon the stage plausible records of humen transac- tions.’ The best of Mencken's comments is the one on “Candida”; and as Shaw's portraydl of the character of Candida is the whitest thing that man in motley ever did it 18 pleasing to bear witness to Mencken’s criticism being correct when he says, “As a plece of workman- ship ‘Candida’ is Bhaw at his best; as a study in the working of the feminine mind it deserves to rank with some of the best plays the modern stage has to offer.” Mencken quotes Huneker approvingly when the latter says that the play “Candlda” was not merely an a to make a clergy- man rmemm the theme is pro- L Bl A N intensgely religious and light-hearted | found and far reaching, the question \ 4 ¢ iy " THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 1906. mist ees vs; As a Fronch Feono | and some osthor Hooks. put being: “Shall a married man ex- pect his wife's love without working for it, without deserving it?” (John W. Luce & Co., Boston.) “HEART'S DESIRE,” BY EMERSON .HOUGH “Heart’s Desire” is an attractive title for & book. When Emerson Hough chose it for his story of the Southwest he made a happy selection for a happily written tale. Parts of this story were originally published as short sketches in the Satur- day Evening Post. The editor says these short stories attracted more general at- tention than anything that ever appeared in the magazine. The Impression has gone abroad that the completed book is a col- lection of short stories. This is not cor- rect, for Hough has woven the whole into an interesting novel. Another story I have heard about the composition is that when the author was putting the finishing touches to it he thought he was not long for this world, and desiring to make certain provision for those dear to him he preferred to get a round sum down than to wait for the royalties of future sales. He succeeded, and as I rec- ollect the sum, it was $10,000. This author of “The Girl at the Half- way Hause” apparently loves to write about manly men who are in love with lovely girls. I think that must be his heart's desire in a literary way. You will get that luxury good if you read his book. Heart’'s Desire is the name of a place on the southwestern border where the pioneers and cowboys live lawlessly, and yet more peacefully and to heart's de- sire than in most places afflicted with law and courts. Here live some rough, manly and good-hearted fellows whose conversa- tion and frolics and love pangs and thrills make quite entertaining reading. Among them, perhaps, the most picturesque is one Curly, a cowboy. Another is Tom Osby, a freighter. As they say it, Heart's Desire is “‘mostly men.” Sometimes they pine for the fair sex and for music and song. Out to that far isolation Tom Osby freighted a phonograph. All the long lonely way across a hundred miles of wagon route Tom had the machine set to sing “Annie Laurie,” for that was his favorite, and it Had sweet associations to it of his Georgia home. Now about this time there chanced to be an opera troupe delayed at El Paso, midway of their trip from the East to Ban Francisco. Tom Osby heard of them, and he decided that he wanted to hear a woman sing “Annie Laurie.”” The ma- chine was good, but its singing only whetted the desire of the young man to listen to the music of it as it fell from a girl's lips. So the spell came upon him to dare anything to get his desire. With the excuse of going on a business trip of freighting watermelons he crossed the plains and camped near El Paso. By sheer audacity he got into the presence of the famous singer he had heard so much about and wished to see. Although she bore the stage name of Madime Dona- telli, her early girlhood had been in Geor- gia and her real name was Alice Strow- bridge. In all Tom Osby’s mad longings back on the womanless plains to hear again a girl's voice singing his favorite Annie Laurie he always day-dreamed of her as clad in white with a blue sash round her. Bo when he ‘saw the diva richly, but not blue and whitely dressed, he was not satisfied and asked her, after he had successfully begged her to sing for him: “And when you sung that ‘Annie Laurie’ song, did you have any coschume to go along with that? ““Well now, ma'am, when us fellers was talkin’ it over, it always seemed to us, somehow, like the Annie Laurie coschume was right white.” The diva tells him he is “an artist himself,” and she is gladly compliant when Tom tells her he worships her; but let me quote you some of Emerson Hough's own words. They describe a scene which the artist has selected to il- lustrate: “In an instant she was gone from the room, leaving Tom Osby staring at the flickering fire, now brighter in the ad- vancing shades of the evening. In per- haps half an hour Alice Strowbridge re- appeared. The rich black laces, and the ripe red rose, and the blazing jewels, all were gone. She was clad in simple white—yes! a blue sash was there. The piled masses of her hair were replaced by two long glossy bralds. “By the grace of the immortal gods all misdeeds were lifted from her that night. For once in many years she was sincere. Now she was'a girl again, and back at the old home. Those were the southern mountains half hidden in the twilight: and yonder was the moon of the old days swinging up again. ere was the gallery at the window of the old Georgia home, and the gate, and the stairs, and the hedgerow, and the vines, and outh— trailing the voices of little birds; and Y Youth, the unspeakable glory of Youth— it was all hers once more! The souls of & thousand the soul of that heritage that came to her out of her environment—lay in her throat that hour, ® ¢ ® “Melody after melody, score after mw«mm«-{mm 2 e world, she gave to a listener who never definitely realized what privilege had been his. She slipped on and on, forgetting herself, reveling, dreaming. * * * “‘All at once the voice of the artist, the subsidlary voice of the piano broke, dropped and paused. And then, with no more interlude, that ggeat instrument, a perfect human voice, in the throat of a perfect human woman, swept gently into the melody of the old song of ‘Annie Laurie.’ At the beginning of it there was a schoolgirl of Georgia and a freighter of the plains, and at the end of it there was a woman with bowed head, and a man silent, whose head was also bowed.” (Macmillan Company. New York. $150.) MARTHA TARBELL'S TEACHERS’ GUIDE A remarkably fine plece of work Is “Tarbell's Teachers' Guide.” It is a guide ““To the International Sunday-School Les- sons for 190 The author is Martha Tar- bell, Ph. D. The publishers, Bobbs-Mer- rill & Co., Indianapolis, beliete it is the best Sunday-school commentary ever written. It is wonderfully thorough, full of enlightening {llustration and beautiful thoughts. The publishers’ confldence in it 18 well placed; they are right in being proud of it—in every way, from the me- chanics of bookmaking up to the wisdom of choosing something of finest thought and greatest usefulness to send out from their shop. Not only should all Sunday- school teachers have it, but it surely de- serves a still wider usefulness. The teaching of the glory things of religion 18 so excellently, so swiftly, so luminously done that every lover of religion, of hu- manity, of God, would delight and profit by the possession of it. It contains explanations of words and phrases, suggestive thoughts from helpful ‘writers, descriptions of Oriental life and customs, the personal thought, subjects for Bible-class discussion, an outline of the life of Christ, suggestions for be- ginning the lesson, lesson thoughts and illustrations, sentence sermons, lesson summary, work to be assigned, the pur- pose and authorship of the gospels, the geography of Palestine, etc. There are more than six hundred pages in the Tarbell Guide, which is adorned with many drawings, maps, charts, de- signs and photographs. In particular it is distinguished from all other books of its kind by the aptness of its {llustrations of the text and by its adaptability to stu- dents of all grades, from that above the primary up to and including the Bible- class, One of the features that make the work of so much worth to teachers and to all readers is the ‘‘suggestive thoughts from helpful writers.” A number of these fol- low each lesson. For instance, the part of the first lesson of the year is concern- ing the mystery of Christ's divinity and humanity. Among other extracts we get this from J. R. Miller: “Why God became man. The most wonderful event in all the world's history was the Son of God becoming man. This happened when he was born as a babe in Bethlehem. He came into the world that he might get nearer to the people and tell them of God’s love. A story is told of a Moravian missionary who went to the West Indies to preach to the slaves. But they were toiling all day in the flelds, and he could not get near them. So he had himself sold as a slave and went among the other slaves, toiling with them in the fields that he might tell them the story of God's love. This {llustrates in a way what Christ did.” (Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.) EEETRS SR “CAPTAINS ALL,” BY W. W. JACOBS The collection of short stories called “Captains All,” by the richly humorous writer, William W. Jacobs, will be sure to bring a smile to the face of every reader. He is a consummate artist in his special line of light amusement. His tales’ are about low life, or rather, let us say about humble and uneducated life; but it is on the pleasant side of it he dwells and makes us laugh. It is written in dlalect which sounds very natural and unforced. He uses no superfluous sen- tences in preparing you for the acme of his tale’s funniness, but takes you up the climax swiftly—holding you on the sum- mit only long enough to be sure that you feelingly see the comicality of the situa- tion he has created for your amusement. He deals a good deal with the love pas- slon and is skillful enough in his good- natured sport of it to make medicine sentiment running awry into silli- ness. A sample of this is given in the short story, “Captains Al,” which has first place and gives title to the collection. The “captains all” were three old sailors who, half jokingly and half in earnest, MR - - PP 2 I L A LG = e, +— ILLUSTRATION FROM A RECENT NOVEL AND FROM A NEW MAGAZINE. e Boatswain’s Mate,” 1is one laughingly qualified to drive dull care away. It is one of that type wherein the author breaks off the end of his tale and leaves the reader to rough hew an end to It as he will. We may prefer not to do it for ourselves, and wish for a fine finish done by an adequate artist; but at the cut off place Jacobs virtually says, “as you like it,”” and quits. If the joke-loving widow of that story loves a joke as much as did the bogus burglar who-at midnight from an imprisoning cupboard complimented the all alone but audacious lady thus: “You look too nice to do anything hard; leastways, so far as I can judge through this crack,” she will no doubt see to it that the incompletely reported story ends s0 as to gloriously and gladsomely round oulyto a finish the joke which the love- sick boatswain’s mate began, the bogus burglar continued and improved upon, and the widow’'s consent is alone needed to romantically and ludicrously complete. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. $1.50.) POWER OF THOUGHT FULLY DESCRIBED To keep from carrying a thought which indulged in moderation may be sensible into an extreme which is absurd seems t00 much to expect of the enthusiasms of the “new thought” and “mind cure” peo- ple who are these days putting forth a considerable flood of literature which is helpful in a way if people will only re- frain from going wild about it. One of the fresh books on this line is “Right and Wrong Thinking, and Their Results,” with the subtitle, “The Undreamed of Possibilities which Man may achieve through his own Mental Control.” It is written by Aaron Martin Crane, who is sald to have ranked for years among the leaders of advanced thought and to have lectured before learned professors who have found his logic unassailable. No doubt there is a large measure of very useful truth in it, but there are some sentences that have that characteristic exaggeration which all readers of “new thought” books, poems and paragraphs are now quite familiar with. Ever since Shakespeare’s day, and per- haps long before it, men have realized that there is nothing good or ill but thinking makes it so. Nevertheless, we are compelled by the realities of things to act as if that sweeping generality had its sharp limitations. We cannot make a rattlesnake a good thing by thinking it is 80, and then give it to our child to play with. We cannot sit down and think a hole through a thick cast-iron pot simply R;resulving it shall be so; nor can a n who 1s only five foot five give him- self the lordly proportions of one who is six foot six by the mere mental process of resolving it shall be so. The new thought writers do not assert that such ings could be, for that form of state- ent sounds too absurd on the face of it, but they make other statements that will tempt extremists into trying the impos- sible at some critical time when a more moderate estimate of the miraculous powers of the mind might have saved a situation, or even a life. " For instance, take this sentence from the book on right and wrong thinking: “However, it still remains true that to attain to perfect health it is only neces- sary to stop thinking all discordant thoughts.” That is an example of carry- ing what is relatively a truth to an ex- treme of error that is so deadly many a child, woman and man has died of the doctrine. By being on guard against some of these exaggerations much of profit can be gained from a perusal of the work. It is most encouraging and inspir- ing to read of man’'s wonderful powers of controlling events by his thought, and of the autocracy of his willl over his sharply defined human thought and human will, and the will smile at this | taught very valuable & ’ knowledge and understanding increase.” Some remarkable facts are related in the book In illustration of the power over thought. There can be no doubt that by paying attention to the philosophy of right and wrong thinking as herein lessons may be learned of the art of living happily and prosperously. (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, Boston. $150.) LIFE OF ORATOR THOMAS WILLIAMS A large contribution to American his- tory is made by Pennsylvania in “The Life and Speeches of Thomas Williams,” who was orator, statesman and jurist, 1806-1872: a founder of the Whig and Re- publican parties. It is written by Bur- ton Alva Konkle, who was formerly as- sociated with the Pennsylvania Bar As- sociation historical work, and is a mem- ber of the Pennsylvania Historical Soclety and of the American Historical Assocta- tion. The work is done on what is sald to be the modern scientific method, name- ly, that which emphasizes original docu- ments and sources. The writer iy labor- ing with purely historical purposes, and an evidence of this spirit is that just as he publishes this big two volume work about the life and speeches of an ag- gressive Whig and Republican, he is finishing the manuscript of the life and work of a conservative Democratic leader of almost exactly the same period. No doubt the books ill be of much value to the historics® student. They are too voluminous t¢ be of interest to the general reader, who would, of course, want some condensing done for him of the T50 pages of long, long speeches and bulky documents. To those who are spe- cially interested enmough to give time to | the research the character and scope of the volumes may be gathered from these words: “The location of the papers of Thomas ‘Williams, 1806-1872, and the fresh light they cast on the great period from Jack- son to Grant, led the author into the preparation of the present work; and chiefly because Willlams was an orator of widely recognized culture and power, among a generation now all but past, whose speeches, at the various crises in a period of almost forty years of public life, 1f taken consecutively and in their appropriate setting, are in themselves elo- quent and vivid contemporary history of every step in that wonderful period— carrying with them its very atmosphere.” (Campion & Co., Philadelphia., GOSSIP OF BOOKS AND THE AUTHORS For the exceedingly modest sum of cents per year a pretty little new period- ical called the Mother’s Magazine is being published at Eigin, Illinofs. It starts out on its career so bravely, so brightly- and attractively, that one cannot with- hold wishing it godspeed. It has very neat type, good pictures and numbers of short stories. One of these is entitled “A Little Mother of Cheer: Being her own adventures as related by herself.” It is by Harrie F. Friedel. Here is how it starts out: “I don’t suppose I ought to tell this story on myself, but my oldest boy says that I must, and that, when I fall down, he'll finish it, so I am going to make the start. All you mothers that have a big family know what it is to be right ‘up against {t,’ and at the same time have a big. hunger in your hearts to be in close ;D“‘:lh with your sons, daughters and hus- and. “My life has had much of that kind of battle—three sons, two daughters and a husband. If I had had only the husband it would have been easy, but I wouldn’t trade off one of the ehildren for the big- gest slice of the Philippine Islands Presi- dent Roosevelt might be able to give me. The Presidént said to me one day after a cordial handshske: “ ‘I like mothers. I had one.”” (Mother's Magazine. Elgin. Il 50 cents.) . s« Sir Oliver Lodge. author of the logical and well written treatise termed ‘Life and Matter,” has rightly decided that, considering the wide publicity Haeckel's book has been given, it is but justice to the general reader that some answer In refutation be forthcoming.- Not that he condemns Haeckel in toto or believes that his writings will harm the advanced stu- dent or man of learning; on the contrary, with every fair-minded truth seeker, he welcomes the Introduction of subjects de- manding sober thought and consideration. He says that his book has an aim be- yond controversy, in that it attempts to reformulate certain doctrines concerning the nature of men and the interaction between mind and matter, incidentally re- futing two rather prevalent errors—the notion that material energy is constant in quantity, therefore its transformations and transferences constituting terrestrial actlvity, are insusceptible to guidance and control; and the idea that life is a i i The poor little heart was broken.- Yes. just exactly m two! $0nd words of comfort were spoken.G t what could our comfort do? 2 st the door come Molly, , with curls of brown: FROIT SraE FrorANERS? NXETZIIE law of substance, the development of life, materiallsm, religion and philosophy, mind and matter. hypotheses and analo~ gles concerning life. will and guidance, and future speculation about the origin and nature of life. The book should be distributed widely, not only as an antidote for Haeckel, but for its own soundness and sanity. “Life and Matter,” an answer to Haeckel's “Riddle of the Universe,” by Sir Ojfver Lodge. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.—Louisvile Courier-Journal. o “This year 12,000 pounds of choice tea will be shipped from what is, at present, the only tea farm in the Western Hemi- sphere,” says Freeman Tilden in his arti- cle, “Great Chance for Tea Growers,” in the February Technical World Magazine. “This farm s at Summerviile, South Carolina. In the face of difficulties that at times seemed insurmountable, but onm the other hand, with the kindly assistance of the United States Government, the Summerville tea farm has grown to a point where it can offer serious compe- titlon with the best grades of tea shipped from China, India, Formosa or Java. But, above all, it has been demonstrated that, barring the question of labor, the finest tea can be successfully grown at home; and there is nothing that gladdens the heart of an American more than the dis- covery that he can enter into competition in a fleld hitherto denied him."—Tech~ nical World, el o Famillar words and times keep alive the memory of the author better than any | statue; the work is itself a memorial re- produced in thousands of copies. Yet the author of good and familiar words and tunes is often forgotten. Not many per- sons can say ofthand who wrote “My Old Kentucky Home.” It is now proposed to erect a monument to the author of this song, which is known all over the world— Stephen Collins Foster. He was born in Pittsburg and lived in New York, yet by right of his song he belongs in Kentucky, and In that State he is not without honor. He aiso wrote “Old Foiks at Home,” “Old '* “Massa’s in the Cold, Cold “Nellle Was a Lady,” "Oh, Susannah, don’t you cry for me,” and “Come where my love lies dreaming.” A man who writes popular songs that en- dure has an uncommon genius.—Youth's Companion. . v . “Salve Venetia,” Mr. Marion Craw- ford’s book on Venice, went out of print immediately on publication, in spite of the fact that the Macmillan Company pre- pared an unusually large first edition to meet the expected demand. The two vol- umes, including the photogravure plates, require nearly a month for printing and binding; but the publishers hoped to have the second edition ready by January 1. . ‘The House of a was not due to a freak flight of the author’s fancy. It sprang from a characteristic and long- establisheq predilection for candles and candelabra. Mr. Nicholson has a re- markable collection of both—candles in all shapes and sizes from the little farthing dip of our ancestors to tall cathedral tap- ers, candlesticks that range from rickety colontal pewter to enormously heavy mon~ uments of brass and silver. . . . L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wizard of Oz *“The Marvelous Land of Oz etc., hag lately returned to Chicago from his summer home in Michigan. While here he will revise a book of fairy tales for early publication. Mr. Baum has ad- vised his publishers, the Reilly & Brit- ton Company, that about January 15 he and Mrs. Baum will sall for the Mediter- to spend some time In Italy, States next summer Mr. Baum will writs a new book dealing with fairies of the Nile—The Inter Ocean. . o .afi i g H i H i 35"“55 HA i l f 4 ; (HES i i ? i By i i 2 g 5 BOOKS RECEIVED FROM PUBLISHERS