rod; The casting reel; Terminal tackle; Casting lures; Housing the
tackle; Repair kits and methods. Part 2, on Methods, has nine
chapters: A first lesson in casting; Landing tools and how to use
them; Fishing a wadeable stream; Fishing a river from a boat; Shore
casting; Casting after dark; Lake casting from a boat; Spoons and how
to cast them; Trolling for bass. There are fourteen illustrations. The
author is angling editor of Outdoor Life, in the pages of which the
chapters of the book originally appeared. He is also author of “Trout
lore.”
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:103 D ’20
“A free and easy book full of authentic information given with the
jocular assurance of the long-experienced angler.” Margaret Ashmun
+ =Bookm= 52:345 D ’20 140w
“It is good reading; but it is meant primarily to be a guide to
catching bass by casting, and such it excellently is. That it is well
and heartily written is an added virtue.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p11 N 20 ’20 80w
=SMITH, WILLIAM WESLEY.= Pork-production. il *$3 Macmillan 636.4
20–12385
This volume of the Rural science series has been prepared by an
associate professor of animal husbandry in Purdue university. “The
material in the book has been drawn from three sources: from practical
experience; experimental studies, particularly of feeding questions;
and the results of research in the field of chemistry and biology.”
(Preface) Subjects covered include handling and feeding of the herd,
size of litters, forage crops, cereals, corn substitutes, cost of
producing pork, marketing, judging, breeds and breeding. A chapter on
The prevention of hog diseases is contributed by R. A. Craig. The
volume is illustrated with eight plates and is indexed.
* * * * *
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p685 O 21 ’20 50w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:234 D ’20 60w
=SMYTH, ETHEL MARY.= Impressions that remained. 2v il *$10.50 Longmans
20–3070
Miss Ethel Smyth is an English musician and composer. In this book of
memories she writes of her childhood and girlhood in a typical
Victorian household and of her musical life in Germany, more
particularly in Leipsig where she went as a student in 1877. The story
of her friendship with Elisabeth von Herzogenberg adds a dramatic
element to the book.
* * * * *
“Relentlessly truthful about herself, she refuses to say anything that
could hurt others who still live. Her autobiography ends almost before
her artistic career began; but even so it is a wonderfully fascinating
record of a fierce, passionate and courageous life, told from the
point of view of a woman who has reached a plane of rare serenity and
detachment.” E: J. Dent
+ =Ath= p1294 D 5 ’19 1900w
“This book is a rich and irresistibly vivid panorama. The reader has
the pleasure of it that he has of a portrait gallery whose subjects,
interesting in themselves, are delineated with comprehension and an
unerring instinct of reproduction.” Pitts Sanborn
+ =Dial= 68:637 My ’20 3300w
“No one can fail to be drawn by the record of that vanished Germany.
The psychologist will study these fascinating pages for data of the
artistic temperament, its force, its egotism, its limitations, of
which it is not itself aware. But no one who begins the book can lay
it aside until he reaches the end.”
+ =Review= 2:182 F 21 ’20 950w
“Of the earlier part we can say little. Despite the fact that the
author has a nice turn for observation, an easy style, and a good
memory, we feel that much of the material is of too private a nature.
It is when the author goes to Germany that the chief interest in the
book begins.”
+ − =Sat R= 128:sup14 N 29 ’19 900w
“She writes of herself for the most part as if she were writing of
another person, with a detachment that is almost uncanny. And although
music naturally plays a large part in the narrative, these memoirs can
be read with the keenest interest by those to whom music is a sealed
book.”
+ =Spec= 124:247 Ja 10 ’20 2000w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p15a Ja 4 ’20 1600w (Reprinted from Ath
and Observer [London])
“This is one of the most remarkable books of memoirs that has appeared
in recent times. The intensity of the private life which she
discloses, with something of Rousseau’s sensitiveness yet with a
mixture of lively humour quite beyond his capacity, carries the reader
away from the very outset. Without the descent into the abyss of the
second volume there would have been matter enough for admiration in
these witty pages; but it is that descent which gives the book a power
of appeal which raises it far above the merely amusing and
interesting.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p587 O 23 ’19 2350w
=SMYTHE, J. A.=[2] Lead, including lead pigments and the desilverisation
of lead. il $1 Pitman 669.4
The author of this booklet in the Pitman’s common commodities and
industries series assumes very little knowledge of chemistry and
physics on the part of the reader and tells the story of lead from the
time the ore is dug from the earth to its finished products. Contents:
History of lead; Lead ores: their method of occurrence and mineral
associates; The finding and mining of lead ore and the preparation of
the ore for smelting; The chemical changes involved in smelting;
Smelting in the ore-hearth; Smelting in the reverberatory furnace;
Smelting in the blast furnace; Condensation of lead fume; Softening
and desilverisation of work lead; Cupellation of alloys of silver and
lead; Properties and uses of lead and its alloys; Compounds of
lead—litharge and red lead; White lead and other lead pigments; Lead
in medicine and lead poisoning; Index, map and illustrations.
* * * * *
+ =Nature= 106:241 O 21 ’20 70w
=SNAITH, JOHN COLLIS.= Adventurous lady. *$2 (2c) Appleton
20–15066
Lady Elfreda Catkin was something of an imperious young lady. Her
parents, owing to Lord Carabbas’, the father’s, impecuniosity, had
decided on a wealthy marriage for her with the newly rich, new
nobility. Lady Elfreda had decided on frustrating their plans. On the
spur of a moment opportunity offers for an exchange of rôles between
her and a poor shy little nursery governess. After a true comedy of
errors the hoax comes to light with the result that little Miss Cass
marries Lord Duckingfield and the now thoroughly emancipated Elfreda
marries George Norris, grandson of the former butler of her ladyship’s
grandfather and of a former ladies’ maid.
* * * * *
“The adventures are very little adventures and dreadfully dull.” K. M.
− =Ath= p616 N 5 ’20 240w
“Gay, crisp comedy shot through with a thread of genial satire.”
+ =Booklist= 17:119 D ’20
“The adventures of Girlie Cass may not be morally significant to a
universe in the throes of parturition, but they surely are jolly good
fun, as Elfreda would say.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p11 D 1 ’20 520w
=Lit D= p95 O 23 ’20 1400w
“‘The adventurous lady’ is perhaps more nearly akin to the history of
the delectable Araminta than to any other of Mr Snaith’s books—a
social comedy, witty and amusing, light and sparkling as sunflecked
foam. All this it is, and yet more—an admirable illustration of what a
really good writer can do with a well-worn and somewhat trite plot.”
+ =N Y Times= p18 S 19 ’20 850w
“The tale is mildly amusing, but it is a pity that the author of ‘The
sailor’ should think it worth while to write such a trifling farce.”
− + =Outlook= 126:201 S 29 ’20 50w
Reviewed by Katharine Perry
=Pub W= 98:659 S 18 ’20 290w
=Spec= 126:24 Ja 1 ’21 40w
“The story is obviously at variance with the class of work Mr Snaith
has done heretofore. It is a sprightly tale, written to amuse.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 24 ’20 400w
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p705 O 28 ’20 140w
=SNOWDEN, JAMES HENRY.= Truth about Christian science; the founder and
the faith. $2.40 Presbyterian bd. 289.5
21–397
It is the object of the book to ascertain and state, as accurately and
impartially and fairly as possible, the facts as to the founder and
the faith of Christian science and to discriminate between the truth
and error of the system. That it contains both is the author’s
conviction. Contents: The subsoil of Christian science; Life of Mrs
Mary Baker G. Eddy; Where did Mrs Eddy get her system of healing?
“Science and health”: (1) the making of the book; (2) the contents of
the book; Christian science teaching; The Christian science church;
Mind healing and Christian science cures; The appeal of Christian
science; Old truths newly emphasized; Index.
* * * * *
“‘The truth about Christian science’ is for the layman. It may be
heartily recommended.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p7 N 20 ’20 340w
“He has put together a very readable and useful account of the
movement, together with a lucid examination of its doctrines, from the
standpoint of an orthodox Christian theologist.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p12 D 31 ’20 300w
=SNOWDEN, JAMES HENRY.= Wonderful night. *$1.25 Macmillan 232
19–18544
“Egyptian history, old Greek and Roman, Persian, Phœnician, early
Jewish, historic and prehistoric; all were preparation for the coming
of Christ. Then came the first Christmas, the wonderful night. The
writer of this version has undertaken to reconcile religion and
science, to show that all thinking men could but have expected the
thing which came to pass. It is an attempt to correlate the Christian
story with ancient and modern history.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
=Boston Transcript= p6 Ja 17 ’20 600w
“If it must be done it could not be done in a more finished manner,
with more attractive illustrations and illuminations.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p4 My 12 ’20 220w
=SODDY, FREDERICK.= Science and life. *$4 Dutton 504
(Eng ed 20–12133)
“Among the investigators of radioactive substances Professor Frederick
Soddy shares with possibly half a dozen men a position of preeminence.
To the general public he is best known through his readable little
book on ‘Matter and energy’ in the Home university library.” (Freeman)
‘Science, and life’ is the outcome of Professor Soddy’s five years’
tenure of the chair of chemistry at Aberdeen; and the addresses,
together with articles here collected with them, are devoted to two
main themes—the vast significance and importance of radioactivity, and
the need of more and better science teaching in school and university.
The Evolution of matter is the subject of one of the chapters
reprinted from the Aberdeen University Review. In appendices Professor
Soddy criticizes the financial operations of the Carnegie trust for
the universities of Scotland.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
* * * * *
“It is surely a great merit in Mr Soddy’s book that it awakens in us
once more the feeling of adventure.... Being brought back to
realities, and finding that they are purely ‘material,’ we can
discover hope of essential change only in a profound alteration in the
material basis of life. Mr Soddy’s book is exciting because this is
exactly what he promises.” J. W. N. S.
+ =Ath= p301 Mr 5 ’20 900w
“The book is of special interest to men of science, because it brings
out their immense burden of responsibility. The chapters on
radioactivity are beautifully written, and, coming from Prof. Soddy,
are authoritative.” Ellwood Hendrick
+ =Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering= 23:545 S 15 ’20 680w
“Given his lack of metaphysical subtlety, Professor Soddy can not be
expected to say anything particularly new or enlightening on the
relation of religion and science. Indeed, the essay devoted to that
theme is singularly pointless. On the other hand, Dr Soddy is
refreshingly clear and sound in his discussions of the relation of
science and democracy.” R. H. Lowie
+ − =Freeman= 2:20 S 15 ’20 1000w
=Int J Ethics= 31:114 O ’20 260w
“The whole story [of research in radio-activity] is told in a
condensed form in several of the essays in this volume, and it could
not be told better. Those who are interested in such subjects should
obtain the book and read it.” W. A. T.
+ =Nature= 105:1 Mr 4 ’20 1550w
+ =N Y P L New Tech Bks= p65 Jl ’20 150w
=Review= 3:391 O 27 ’20 290w
“Professor Soddy, in urging the claims of the present and the future,
seems unduly contemptuous of the past. He should leave it to
undergraduates to make a bonfire of the ancient humanities, and should
remember that the study of the past serves to guide the present and
interpret the future.”
+ − =Sat R= 129:500 My 29 ’20 1150w
“Specially interesting to those who wish to know what light has been
thrown upon the inmost secrets of matter in the last few years are the
three papers entitled ‘Science and life,’ ‘The evolution of matter,’
and ‘The conception of the chemical element as enlarged by the study
of radioactive change.’”
+ =Spec= 124:84 Jl 17 ’20 1050w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p91 F 5 ’20 90w
=SOME= British ballads.[2] il *$5 Dodd 821.08
(Eng ed 20–8033)
“Although this charming collection is entitled ‘British ballads,’ most
of them are Scotch, but are none the worse for that. Indeed, we
suppose it may be truly said that the best ballads are those of
Scotland. There are here such old favourites as The lass of Lochroyan,
Young Bekie, Chevy Chase, The twa corbies, Binnorie, and Get up and
bar the door. There are eleven illustrations in colour by Arthur
Rackham.”—Sat R
* * * * *
“Everybody knows the drawings in color with which Mr Rackham is wont
to embellish the classics. This new volume is, if possible, more
exquisite than those preceding. It is all that heart could wish.”
Margaret Ashmun
+ =Bookm= 52:342 D ’20 160w
“It may be that when parents see Rackham’s dramatic picturing of the
ballad of ‘The twa corbies,’ they will have some misgivings as to its
suitability for young folks. For boys and girls of fourteen there is
much to be missed, if ‘Chevy Chase,’ and ‘The duke of Gordon’s
daughter,’ and ‘Sir Patrick Spens’ are passed by because of nerves or
the difficulties of dialect. Rackham is always decorative, delicate,
and dramatic.”
+ − =Lit D= p94 D 4 ’20 190w
“It is hard to decide which is the more attractive feature of this
book—Mr Rackham’s paintings or the ballads themselves.”
+ =N Y Times= p8 D 26 ’20 500w
=Sat R= 128:615 D 27 ’19 70w
=SOMERVILLE, EDITH ANNA ŒNONE, and MARTIN, VIOLET FLORENCE (MARTIN ROSS,
pseud.).= Mount Music. *$2 (*7s 6d) Longmans
20–2644
“‘Mount Music’ is a tale of Ireland in transition, beginning in the
late ‘eighties’ and ending early in this century. The years in which
the action takes place mark the passing of the old régime, incarnate
in the person of Major Richard Talbot-Lowry, a genial, improvident,
dashing, and artless sportsman. And the situation is complicated for
him by the fact that his estate marches with that of a young kinsman,
a Roman Catholic and a home ruler, the playmate, and in time the
lover, of Dick’s daughter Christian. Larry Coppinger, the young home
ruler, was ‘in tune with all the world’; and if Christian yielded to
the wishes of her father when he was broken in health, she had
personally no fear of a mixed marriage. They are both attractive and
generous young people, but the finest portrait is that of Francis
Mangan, the ‘big doctor like an elephant in his hugeness and
suppleness, his dangerousness and his gentleness.’ His relations to
his father confessor and his family, his social ambitions and real
benevolence, make a wonderful amalgam.”—Spec
* * * * *
“An Irish story, charming and wise and hard to classify because it is
such a real book.” R. M. Underhill
+ =Bookm= 51:444 Je ’20 20w
“Her Irish characters are every whit as entertaining, and presumably
as truthful as those of Mr Birmingham himself. There are none of the
stereotyped good and evil persons of modern fiction here. Everyone is
taken as he or she is, and Miss Somerville wastes no valuable time in
moralizing over the foibles of her characters. A good story,
excellently told.” G. M. H.
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 Ap 21 ’20 500w
“It is hard—nay, it is impossible—for an alien to write
sympathetically or truthfully of things Catholic, especially if there
be question of Catholic Ireland.”
− =Cath World= 111:410 Je ’20 150w
+ =Cleveland= p71 Ag ’20 30w
+ =Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 60w
“Alike in description, characterization, and dialogue preserves that
unerring felicity of phrase, wide range of sympathy, and intrepid
humour which were first exhibited in ‘An Irish cousin.’”
+ =Spec= 123:898 D 27 ’19 700w
“The authors have written many pleasanter books and many that will be
more popular, but their genius has never been more unmistakable than
in this picture of the ‘big doctor,’ so sordid and vulgar and crafty
and with something so big in him.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p766 D 18 ’19 1100w
=SONNICHSEN, ALBERT.= Consumers’ coöperation. *$1.75 Macmillan 334
19–16460
“John Graham Brooks gives a brief introduction to this volume. The
author gives a brief review of the history and explanation of the
cooperative movement, developed extensively throughout Europe during
the war and now being adopted to some extent in the United States,
especially in the middle western and western sections. He asserts it
to be the alternative, not an antidote, to bolshevism. The growing
importance of the procedure is illustrated by statistics. Its object,
the author shows, is to reorganize industry on a collective basis from
the point of view of the consumer; to create a consumers’ industrial
democracy. He points out that it proceeds by action, rather than by
talk.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
“The value of the book consists in its giving the most adequate
exposition of consumers’ coöperation yet given in this country,—a
comprehensive story of the movement, the fullest in later years, and
interesting suggestions as to future achievement.” E. P. Harris
+ =Am Econ R= 10:169 Mr ’20 450w
“The book is well written and is a clear exposition of consumer’s
co-operation.” L. E. Hagerty
+ =Am J Soc= 26:371 N ’20 360w
“Students of the coöperative movement will find some useful
information, lucidly set forth.”
+ =Am Pol Sci R= 14:363 My ’20 70w
+ =Booklist= 16:224 Ap ’20
“Informing and of general interest.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Ja 30 ’20 450w
“Of singular interest in this book is the full description which it
gives of the history of cooperation in the United States and its
present status. We cannot, however, agree with the author in his
interpretation of success and failure even though we take his
statements of fact as accurate.” B. L.
+ − =Survey= 43:622 F 21 ’20 700w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p241 Ap 15 ’20 80w
=SORLEY, CHARLES HAMILTON.= Letters; with a chapter of biography. *$5
Macmillan
(Eng ed 20–13569)
“It has been said that the death, in action, of Charles Hamilton
Sorley constituted the greatest loss of the war to English literature.
There may be some, perhaps, who will hardly commit themselves to this;
but none will be so foolish as to deny that more than sufficient
interest in his personality was kindled by the publication, in 1916,
of his ‘Marlborough and other poems’ to justify the present appearance
of this volume. These letters, edited by his parents with admirable
restraint, form an invaluable commentary on the poems themselves. The
letters really divide themselves into three groups: those written
while at school at Marlborough; those while staying (and studying) in
Germany, first at Shwerin in Mecklenburg and then at the University of
Jena; and, lastly, those while in the army at home and in France.”—Sat
R
* * * * *
“We do not receive many such gifts as this wonderful book; the
authentic voice of those lost legions is seldom heard.” J. M. M.
+ =Ath= p136 Ja 30 ’20 2500w
“His published book of poems is not alone evidence of his literary
ability. His letters reveal exceptional powers and proclaim the man
that might have been.” E. F. E.
+ =Boston Transcript= p10 Mr 27 ’20 1300w
“One approaches them prepared to find little beyond promise—a hint of
something fine cut down before fulfillment; they turn out to be very
much more than mere promise; they are in themselves achievement, the
expression of a rarely independent mind, humorous, rich and wise far
beyond its years.” R. L.
+ =New Repub= 23:231 Jl 21 ’20 1250w
“Charles Sorley was a born letter-writer. As we read we feel ourselves
to be wandering pleasantly among the green places of earth, with a
brilliantly discursive boy at our side.”
+ =Sat R= 129:281 Mr 20 ’20 1000w
“They necessarily lose something of freshness and vividness when they
are put together in a book, but they are full of amusing phrases and
interesting comments.”
+ =Spec= 124:351 Mr 13 ’20 1400w
“Quite apart from any sentimental associations, it is a more
entertaining book than the average, and it has been edited by
Professor and Mrs Sorley with a perfect restraint which has been sadly
lacking in certain other books of this kind.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p726 D 11 ’19 1050w
=SOTHERN, JOHN WILLIAM MAJOR.=[2] Oil fuel burning in marine practice.
il *$7.50 Van Nostrand 621.12
“A manual of practical instruction in oil fuel burning: contains full
and copiously illustrated descriptions of all modern oil fuel burning
systems, together with exhaustive practical information relating to
same; intended for the use of naval and mercantile marine engineer
officers, etc.” (Sub-title) The book is in six sections; The
properties and combustion of fuel oil; Fuel oil tests; Description of
oil fuel fittings; Pressure systems of oil fuel burning; Faults in oil
fuel burning; General notes on oil fuel burning. There are 102
diagrams and other illustrations. The author is principal of Sothern’s
Marine engineering college, Glasgow, and member of the Institute of
marine engineers, London, and of other engineering societies.
=SOUTHARD, ELMER ERNEST.= Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric
problems. (Case history ser. Boston State hospital, Psychopathic dept.)
il $10 Leonard 616.8
20–2508
“A comprehensive volume setting forth the conclusions of medical
experts in a field which has recently undergone remarkable development
is Dr E. E. Southard’s ‘Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric
problems.’ The data are presented in 589 case histories from the war
literature—largely French and German—of the years 1914–1918, from
these data Dr Southard draws about 70 pages of conclusions. The book
has a bibliography by Dr Norman Fenton and an introduction by Prof.
Charles K. Mills of the University of Pennsylvania.”—Springf’d
Republican
* * * * *
=Ind= 104:68 O 9 ’20 130w
“Primarily of value to physicians and army surgeons, the book is
interesting even to the layman in its dramatic accounts of the
soldiers who were victims of shell-shock.”
+ =Outlook= 124:479 Mr 17 ’20 110w
“Dr Southard presents his ideas not only with the thoroughness of the
medical expert and scholar but with a certain humor and pungency,
general literary culture and full appreciation of the relations of the
subject to military service, and, incidentally, to everyday life.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8a Ap 4 ’20 350w
“The book will stand as a monument to a man of many talents. Southard
the scholar would not object to the statement that his book is as much
a part of history as of medicine.” A. Myerson, M. D.
+ =Survey= 44:252 My 15 ’20 190w
=SPADONI, ADRIANA.= Swing of the pendulum. *$1.90 (1c) Boni & Liveright
20–774
Opening in San Francisco and ending in New York, this long novel tells
the story of a woman’s life from youth to the beginning of middle age.
The swing of the pendulum carries her from an unfortunate early
marriage thru a passionate love affair with a man who is already bound
by wife and child, to a safe and settled union based on mutual regard
and need. Jean Norris graduates from the University of California,
turns her back on teaching as a profession, enters library work,
marries Franklin Herrick, follows Journalism, discovers the settlement
movement, comes to New York as a social worker, plunges into civic
reform, loves and loses Gregory Allen, forsakes her work to return to
San Francisco, comes back and takes it up again, and after many
emotional reactions marries her co-worker, Jerome Stuart.
* * * * *
“There is a good deal of fine characterization in this book; the
dialogue is extraordinarily natural. But the prevailing atmosphere is
sultry with sex; the middle-aged reader, at least, may find the
performance as a whole both strained and wearisome.” H. W. Boynton
+ − =Bookm= 51:343 My ’20 240w
“This novel cannot be commended as a work of art. The story does not
grip, several of its chapters are so episodic that they might be
suppressed without loss, and the male characters are not men, but
marionettes.”
− =Cath World= 111:700 Ag ’20 190w
“To hold the serious attention of serious readers through nearly five
hundred pages argues at once a kinship with the wealthy mind of the
true novelist. And such a kinship Miss Spadoni undoubtedly possesses.”
+ − =Nation= 110:208 F 14 ’20 300w
“Miss Spadoni’s imagination sends forth into a real, three-dimensioned
world a troop of pale characters cursed with congenital indistinctness
doomed from birth to wander unrecognisably in the fog of a common
origin.” R. L.
− =New Repub= 23:209 Jl 14 ’20 500w
“It is sincerely conceived and written, it shows grasp of character
and its development, and it unfolds its story interestingly. It has
also its distinct crudities, technically and ethically. Like others of
its numerous kind, its prolonged emphasis upon sex will condemn it for
a large body of readers who will feel that it gives a distorted and
unhealthy view of life.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p2 F 14 ’20 600w
“Any sincere study of ‘the woman alone’—to use Brieux’s phrase—is
bound to be interesting, bound, indeed, to have a certain amount of
value. In ‘The swing of the pendulum’ there is much that is crude, but
there is real thought, real study and some vividness.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:134 Mr 21 ’20 750w
“Miss Spadoni has done some notable work in the past. Some of her
short stories were of men and women, futile, and sordid, but she cut
down beneath the events of their lives to the poetry of life. She has
not, in ‘The swing of the pendulum’ kept the pace which she set
herself in those tales.” Lucy Huffaker
+ − =Pub W= 97:175 Ja 17 ’20 700w
“There are evidences of cuts which in places make for uncertainty of
delineation—the only blemish of an otherwise almost perfect work of
its kind.”
+ − =Survey= 44:385 Je 12 ’20 150w
=SPARGO, JOHN.= “Greatest failure in all history.” *$2.50 (2c) Harper
947
20–14005
In this “critical examination of the actual workings of bolshevism in
Russia” (Sub-title) the author claims to have assembled evidence which
“must compel every honest believer in freedom and democracy to condemn
bolshevism as a vicious and dangerous form of reaction, subversive of
every form of progress and every agency of civilization and
enlightenment,” and to show it up as “the curse which during less than
thirty months has afflicted unhappy Russia with greater ills than
fifty years of czarism.” (Preface) Contents: Why have the bolsheviki
retained power? The soviets; The soviets under the bolsheviki; The
undemocratic soviet state; The peasants and the land; The bolsheviki
and the peasants; The red terror; Industry under soviet control; The
nationalization of industry (I-II); Freedom of press and assembly:
“The dictatorship of the proletariat”; State communism and labor
conscription; Let the verdict be rendered; Documents; Index.
* * * * *
“Although most of the evidence carries its own weight the
disinterested reader will wish in many cases for some critical
evaluation of authorities cited.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:55 N ’20
“Mr Spargo is a Socialist, and it is because he considers the
doctrines of Lenin and his followers a ‘grotesque travesty of Marx’s
teachings,’ and a blow to socialism, and the arch enemy of all
democracy, political, and industrial, that he exposes it as it is.
This is the great merit of the book. It compels the reader to look at
bolshevism as it is.” F. W. C.
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 Ag 28 ’20 680w
“His latest volume attains a level of even greater detachment and cool
judgment than its predecessors. The first uprush of hot revulsion of
feeling against a false and violent philosophy, masked in the forms of
the author’s own cause, has passed. Attacks upon the personal
characters of bolshevist leaders are practically absent. The argument
gains greatly in strength from this avoidance of personal invective.”
M. W. Davis
+ =N Y Evening Post= p4 S 25 ’20 780w
“Mr Spargo’s book is a stern book, but a just one. It was much needed,
and it is especially timely now.” W: C. Redfield
+ =N Y Times= p6 Ag 8 ’20 2650w
=Springf’d Republican= p8 N 16 ’20 180w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p655 O 7 ’20 30w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:235 D ’20 80w
=SPARGO, JOHN.= Russia as an American problem. *$2.25 (2c) Harper 947
20–3715
The author is a sworn enemy of Bolshevist rule and thinks that Russia
is not ready for anything like a socialist state, lacking industrial
development as she does. “At present she needs capital and capitalist
enterprise.” This makes Russia an American problem and “there should
be a very clear recognition, alike by the government and the people of
the United States, of the great and far-reaching importance of
securing for this country a very large share in the immense volume of
trade which Russia’s recovery and economic reconstruction must
inevitably produce.” Contents: Russia as an American problem; Russia
and western civilization: Russia’s subjection to Germany; Japan as
Germany’s successor; Japan and Siberia; Russia’s needs and resources;
Postscriptum; extensive appendices and an index.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:276 My ’20
=Lit D= p95 My 1 ’20 1400w
“The ultimate political advantage for the world of a Russia free from
economic vassalage to militaristic neighbors is obvious, but Mr
Spargo’s case would be equally strong if he did not magnify the danger
of Russia’s position; for whatever may be the reality of Japan’s
menace in Siberia the threat from Germany to European Russia or of a
German-Japanese alliance belongs for the present in the realm of
imagination.” Jacob Zeitlin
+ − =Nation= 110:730 My 29 ’20 2000w
+ =N Y Evening Post= p3 Ap 10 ’20 1250w
“Mr Spargo’s study is vitally interesting and illuminating, and it
contains a wealth of precise information which will be priceless to
business men in many lines when the time comes for meeting German
commercial rivalry in her new Mitteleuropa.” J: Corbin
+ =N Y Times= 25:127 Mr 21 ’20 1600w
“Vital and patriotic book.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:196 Ap 18 ’20 100w
=Springf’d Republican= p10 Ap 9 ’20 620w
Reviewed by Reed Lewis
=Survey= 44:51 Ap 3 ’20 200w
=SPEARS, RAYMOND SMILEY.= River prophet. il *$1.50 (1c) Doubleday
20–10310
A story of the “Old Mississip” and of the vagrant population—shanty
boaters, pot hunters, river pirates—that lives upon its broad waters.
Parson Elijah Rasba, from the mountains, floats down the Tug river to
the Big Sandy, down the Big Sandy to the Ohio, down the Ohio and out
onto the great river, where he exclaims “If this is the Mississippi
what must the Jordan be!” Parson Elijah is seeking a lost soul, Jock
Drones, whose mammy wants him back in the mountains, and so he joins
the motley throng that goes “dropping down” the lower river. Among the
other characters are Nelia Carline, who has left her husband, Gus
Carline, the husband in pursuit of her, Lester Terabon, a newspaper
man in search of copy, Mame Coape of the many divorces, Buck the river
gambler, and Jock Drones, the lost soul who turns back to his mammy.
* * * * *
+ |=Booklist= 17:160 Ja ’21
=SPENCE, LEWIS.= Legends and romances of Spain. il *$6.50 Stokes 863
20–26986
The literature of the romantic period in Spain treated by a
folk-lorist, who says, “Since the days of Southey the romantic
literature of Spain has not received from English writers and critics
the amount of study and attention it undoubtedly deserves.... I have
made an earnest endeavour to provide English readers with a conspectus
of Spanish romantic literature as expressed in its cantares de gesta,
its chivalric novels, its romanceros or ballads, and some of its
lighter aspects. The reader will find full accounts and summaries of
all the more important works under each of these heads, many of which
have never before been described in English.” (Preface) Among the
chapters are: The sources of Spanish romance; “Amadis de Gaul”;
Catalonian romances; Moorish romances of Spain; Tales of Spanish magic
and sorcery; Humorous romances of Spain. There are illustrations and a
brief bibliography.
* * * * *
“It is an honest attempt to interest the general reader in a
delightful department of literature. A book of this sort is in special
need of an index, especially as there are no detailed ‘Contents,’ only
general chapter-headings. But though there is a useful short
bibliography, there is no index at all.” G: Saintsbury
+ − =Ath= p516 O 15 ’20 900w
+ =Booklist= 17:107 D ’20
=Outlook= 127:32 Ja 5 ’21 60w
“Extremely readable.”
+ =Spec= 125:784 D 11 ’20 60w
“The attractive page, the good print, the popular treatment, the fine
coloured illustrations, render it exactly suitable for a present to an
intelligent youth of either sex, while the accounts and summaries of
all the important works under the various headings provide a real fund
of instructive information.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p586 S 9 ’20 100w
“‘Legends and romances of Spain’ is not only a story book. There is a
great deal of information in it and some real research. It is not
quite up to date, perhaps.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p833 D 9 ’20 660w
=SPENCE, THOMAS, and others.= Pioneers of land reform. *$1.50 Knopf 333
This book is one of the series of economic reprints of the famous Bohn
libraries. It contains an introduction by M. Beer, characterizing and
comparing the three essays. The essays are: The real rights of man, by
Thomas Spence; The right of property in land, by William Ogilive; and
Agrarian justice, by Thomas Paine.
* * * * *
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p195 Mr 25 ’20 1200w
=SPENDER, HAROLD.= Prime minister. il *$4 Doran
20–22843
In writing this biography the author has drawn upon “the memories of
twenty-seven years of unbroken friendship” and in summing up the
characteristics of his friend he says: “It is this combination of the
slow qualities, with the swift—of judgment with daring, of mercy with
rigour, of slow reflection with swift attack, of the zeal of the
Cambrian with the shrewdness of the Fleming—that marks him off from so
many of his race.” The first thirteen chapters are devoted to Lloyd
George’s childhood and youth and earlier career up to the beginning of
the war and the rest of the contents is: A war man (1914–1915); East
or west? (1915); Serbia (1915): Munitions (1915): The new ministry of
munitions; Premiership (1916); The saving of Italy; The Versailles
council; Victory; The peace conference; The new world; The man;
Highways and byways; Through foreign eyes. There are illustrations,
appendices and an index.
* * * * *
“This record has the force of an autobiography rather than of a
detached appraisal.”
+ =Booklist= 17:29 O ’20
Reviewed by D: J. Hill
+ =Bookm= 52:163 O ’20 1800w
=Boston Transcript= p6 Je 23 ’20 1800w
“The book is pitched in a high dithyrambic key which is too
laboriously sustained to be convincing and at last becomes
exasperating. The literary frills are, moreover, a trifle cheap and
shabby. Either the whole thing is the most flagrant and therefore
self-defeating sort of pamphleteering or Mr Spender’s once robust
literary sense is suffering a sad decline.” R: Roberts
− =Freeman= 1:571 Ag 25 ’20 1650w
“Mr Spender’s portrait of the Prime Minister can claim in one respect
only to be a faithful one. It is Mr Lloyd George as he appears to
himself—not to his Maker. Not merely by false interpretation of events
but by false attribution of qualities and acquirements Mr Spender
fabricates his hero.” J. A. Hobson
− =Nation= 111:sup415 O 13 ’20 1400w
“It has none of the detached judgment of a historical appraisal of a
completed career. Instead it has the militant interest of a brief
presented in behalf of one of the most brilliant statesmen of modern
times. It is not biography in the highest form of that art nor is it
great literature. But Mr Spender’s work is not cheapened or vitiated
by unseeing eulogy of his subject.” W: L. Chenery
+ =N Y Times= 25:3 Je 27 ’20 3550w
“Mr Spender knows no discrimination in his eulogy: whatever his hero
has done is not only right but so conspicuously right that it needs
neither apology nor explanation. The best we can honestly say of ‘The
prime minister’ is that it will serve as a quarry from which some
future biographer may draw useful materials.”
− + =Spec= 124:427 Mr 27 ’20 750w
=Springf’d Republican= p9a Jl 4 ’20 800w
“Much the most satisfactory part of the book is that which describes
Mr Lloyd George’s birth and upbringing, his early political
activities, his entry into Parliament, and the brilliant fighting
years in which he marked himself out as a certain minister of the
crown. The history of his career as a minister down to the outbreak of
war is vague and scrappy and generally inadequate.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p189 Mr 18 ’20 350w
=SPOFFORD, HARRIET ELIZABETH (PRESCOTT) (MRS RICHARD S. SPOFFORD).=
Elder’s people. il *$1.75 (2c) Houghton
20–5405
Through these stories of old New England we look into the hearts of
the country people, hear their gossip, learn to know their homely
religion, their superstitions, see the struggles they have with their
baser selves and glimpse their higher natures. We also learn to love
the sturdy souls that recur in all the stories and embody the best
that is in them all—Elder Perry, Old Steve, Miss Mahala, and others.
The stories are: The deacon’s whistle; A change of heart; A rural
telephone; The step-father; John-a-dreams; Miss Mahala’s miracle; An
old fiddler; The blessing called peace; Father James; The impossible
choice; A village dressmaker; Miss Mahala’s will; A life in a night;
Miss Mahala and Johnny.
* * * * *
“Undramatic, but interesting.”
+ =Booklist= 16:314 Je ’20
+ =Lit D= p102 O 23 ’20 1200w
“Mrs Spofford is not by any means a great craftsman, her limitations
are quite evident, but within her power—and she is never unduly
anxious to achieve what is beyond her—she provides some interesting
and entertaining bits of fiction.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p2 Ap 10 ’20 480w
“The series of short stories which makes up this chronicle contains
nothing particularly new or striking, but the tales have quite a good
deal of verisimilitude, and some of the characters are likable.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:198 Ap 18 ’20 280w
=Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 20w
“Mrs Spofford has finely and strongly delineated a number of choice
spirits here whom one will not easily forget. She has also
incorporated much of the quiet humor of this type of people, and, all
in all, has presented here not an especially great book but a very
interesting one.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a My 9 ’20 250w
=SPRING RICE, SIR CECIL ARTHUR.= Poems. *$3 Longmans 821
20–17907
“Mr Bernard Holland reminds us in his preface that the late ambassador
to the United States published two books in his lifetime, a book of
verse with interludes in poetic prose ‘adapted from the Persian’ and a
prose version of a Persian love tale with a veiled mystical meaning.
Besides the Persian sonnets this volume contains ‘In memoriam, A. C.
M. L.,’ and a number of miscellaneous poems.”—The Times [London] Lit
Sup
* * * * *
“His poems are like his personality and please us by some charm which
is not quite analysable. They are strangely different from the work of
most men of action. There are only a few poems in this book which are
absolutely bad, but, on the other hand, there is probably none which
is not marked by some flaw.”
+ − =Spec= 125:782 D 11 ’20 850w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p7a N 28 ’20 720w (Reprinted from The
Times [London] Lit Sup O 14 ’20)
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p654 O 7 ’20 90w
“They are true poetry. The volume may not add one to the list of great
English sonnets; but the beauty and the sincerity of these claim
attention.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p664 O 14 ’20 720w
=SPYRI, FRAU JOHANNA (HEUSSER).= Cornelli; tr. by Elisabeth P. Stork.
(Stories all children love ser.) il *$1.50 (3½c) Lippincott
20–17408
In his introduction to this story for children Charles Wharton Stork
regrets that its author should be known for one of her books only,
altho that one is the justly popular “Heidi.” In the present story, he
thinks “we find a deeper treatment of character, combined with equal
spirit and humor of a different kind.” It is the story of a
happy-hearted little Swiss girl who is changed into a sullen, morose
and unattractive child through the misunderstanding of two women in
whose care her father leaves her. A woman of different type, the
mother of a family of four, finds the secret of Cornelli’s unhappiness
and brings back the old sunny disposition.
* * * * *
“There is a breath of the mountain freshness which suggests ‘Heidi.’
The translation of the children’s speeches into formal English gives
them sometimes a rather stilted effect.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:163 Ja ’21
=SPYRI, FRAU JOHANNA (HEUSSER).= Toni, the little wood-carver; tr. by
Helen B. Dole. il *$1 (9c) Crowell
20–15071
From earliest childhood Toni had carved animals out of wood and his
dearest ambition is to be a wood-carver. But the cost of instruction
is beyond his mother’s means and he is sent up into the mountains to
herd the farmer’s cows. Here, overcome by the loneliness, he breaks
down and falls into a lethargy from which nothing arouses him. He is
taken to a great sanitarium where he finally recovers and finds a good
friend who provides the money for the desired training.
* * * * *
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:199 N ’20 90w
=SQUIRE, JOHN COLLINGS (SOLOMON EAGLE, pseud.).= Birds, and other poems.
*$1.25 Doran 821
(Eng ed A20–244)
Birds, the first poem of this collection is based on the thought that
the birds are older than man and that in the days of his infancy they
built their nests in the self-same way and with the same perfection
they do today. The other poems are: Processes of thought, Airship over
suburb, Harlequin, Winter nightfall, Two songs, and A far place.
* * * * *
“‘The birds’ is an interesting poem full of felicitous things. But it
seems somehow to lack intensity. The three poems called ‘Processes of
thought’ are naturally more personal, more intimately felt; for they
are a record of introspection. In these we seem to be getting nearer
our ideal of what the lyric inspired by science or philosophy should
be like.” A. L. H.
+ − =Ath= p783 Ag 22 ’19 1000w
“His nature minutæ, his tenderness, his color are Wordsworthian, with
a drama, a music, a diamond-cut-diamond quality, as well as a quality
of the noblest oratory, that the old bard never knew.”
+ =Bookm= 52:367 D ’20 280w
“The poem after which the collection takes its name has a common idea
but one which Mr Squire expresses with uncommon vigor and suggestion.
The advantage of Mr Squire over the average American poet of similar
gifts is his ability to express sentiment without sentimentalizing the
mood.” W: S. Braithwaite
+ − =Boston Transcript= p9 D 1 ’20 1500w
“The difficulty with his poetry, for there is a difficulty—lies in the
unfortunate fact, that despite the obvious care he lavishes upon it,
it is too lax, too impersonal. Like everyone else who has something
new to say, Mr Squire has discovered that a new idea depends on a new
form of utterance being found to fit it. It is only a pity that he has
so few new ideas, and that he is content instead with writing poems in
which neither the idea—nor the utterance—is of the slightest
importance.” J: G. Fletcher
− + =Freeman= 2:284 D 1 ’20 900w
“His head is clearer than his poetry is fine; he is sober, and he has
a vein of reflection not wholly resembling other men’s, but the
strength that he has displayed rather than implied, and his metaphors,
of which he apparently is proud, are painfully overdeveloped.”
− + =Nation= 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 80w
“The writing of verse is only one of Mr Squire’s innumerable
activities, and yet he is a poet of no small talent. Unlike most of
his brother Georgians, he is at his best when he is most metaphysical.
At his best he is fantastically powerful; at his worst he is florid
and bombastic. The present volume shows him more in the latter mood.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p11 N 6 ’20 180w
“Mr Squire in his present volume has lost none of that quiet
controlled distinction which was always his; but he seems to have got
rid of the rather hard, metallic note which was noticeable in some of
his former work. The most remarkable poem of the book is called ‘A far
place.’ To us it seems one of the most original and absolutely
successful and complete poems that Mr Squire has ever written.”
+ =Spec= 123:376 S 20 ’19 620w
“This little book is not merely a joy in itself and additional to what
is now a considerable body of work, but extremely rich in promise.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p409 Jl 31 ’19 980w
=SQUIRE, JOHN COLLINGS (SOLOMON EAGLE, pseud.).= Books in general. (2nd
ser.) *$2.50 (3½c) Knopf 824
20–16289
This is the second series of short essays, reviews and squibs on books
and writers, collected from weekly contributions to the New Statesman.
They are brilliant, witty and full of originality. Some of the topics
are: The descendants of Shakespeare; Scientific management for
Pegasus; The inferior poems of Keats; One’s favourite author defined;
Shelley’s letters; The essay in America; The humours of hymnology;
Dialect in literature; Verhaeren; On submitting manuscripts; Rupert
Brooke in retrospect.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:107 D ’20
“Even more interesting than technical success, in this sort of thing,
is the quality of mind we see at work. Mr Squire has an admirable
sanity.” K. F. Gerould
+ =Bookm= 52:263 N ’20 780w
“Mr Squire’s style is distinctly conversational. The fluent grace of
such table-talk, however, neatly disposes of the adage that all men
talk in prose.”
+ =Dial= 69:665 D ’20 70w
“Somehow the sense of leisure in ‘Books in general’ is not richly
filled; the notations are too fluent, the writing lacks spring, and
more often than not it lacks the effect of enjoyment. Scarcely one of
his papers can be read without expectancy. But the promise is seldom
fulfilled.” C. M. R.
− =Freeman= 2:382 D 29 ’20 210w
“The comments on books, politics and things in general are thoughtful,
amusing and suggestive, worth reading and thinking about.”
+ =Ind= 104:68 O 9 ’20 320w
“They are informative, witty, often merely playful. Critical acumen is
shown at times, but more often the evident purpose of the papers is to
amuse.”
+ =N Y Times= p10 O 8 ’20 550w
“Mr Squire mentions books and publications from this country only for
the purpose of jeering at them; it is gently done, but still a jeer.
‘Books in general,’ however, includes such pleasing essays ... that
most of us will forgive ‘Solomon Eagle’ for tweaking a feather or two
of the American eagle’s tail.” E. L. Pearson
+ − =Review= 3:229 S 15 ’20 180w
Reviewed by P. U. Kellogg
+ =Survey= 45:27 O 2 ’20 680w
=STARLING, ERNEST HENRY.= Feeding of nations. *$1.90 (*5s) Longmans
338.1
20–666
“This small book of one hundred forty-five pages contains a vast store
of information concerning the principles of human nutrition and the
application of these principles to the problem of feeding the
community in times of peace and war.” (N Y Evening Post) “Dr Starling
was chairman of the Food committee of the Royal society which took up
the study of the problem of feeding the nation before the government
realized that there was a problem, and afterwards scientific adviser
to the ministry of food.” (Survey)
* * * * *
“An extremely able and attractive presentation of a difficult
subject.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p5 Mr 20 ’20 500w
+ =Survey= 43:656 F 28 ’20 1050w
=STEARNS, HAROLD EDMUND.= Liberalism in America: its origin, its
temporary collapse, its future. *$1.75 (2½c) Boni & Liveright 321.8
20–1878
“The core of liberal philosophy” writes the author, “is respect for
the individual and his freedom of conscience and opinion.” To trace
the foundations of this philosophy in America and to account for its
complete break-down during the war is the main purpose of this book.
The ten chapter titles are: What liberalism is; The English heritage
and the American development; American liberalism to the eve of the
war; The emotional breakdown before warhysteria; Timidity and the
seductions of office or career; President Wilson, the technique of
liberal failure; Political symbolism and the mob; Débâcle of
pragmatism; Leadership; The future. A bibliography of two pages
follows. The author was formerly associate editor of the Dial.
* * * * *
“His plea for tolerance is marked by intolerance, for good-nature with
ungenerosity in weighing the motives of others, for nonpartisanship
and detachment with evident animus and one-sided advocacy rather than
fairness and breadth of vision. Hence the value of the work as a
critique of American liberalism is very seriously impaired for the
general reader and the serious student.” C. E. Merriam
− =Am Pol Sci R= 14:511 Ag ’20 520w
“While one cannot altogether agree with the conclusions of the author
of this extremely readable exposition of liberalism, the arguments are
in most cases clear, and fairly presented.”
+ − =Bookm= 52:173 O ’20 200w
“But for all the flat contradictions with which the book seems to
abound, it is interesting for the variety of subjects of current
interest it touches notwithstanding the author does not seem to have
completely assimilated these—as, indeed, who has? One thing that can
be said about the book in general is that it is liberal.” W. A. M.
− + =Boston Transcript= p6 F 25 ’20 800w
“Herein lies the fundamental weakness of the discussion. One gathers
no clearly defined impression of what liberalism is or expects to do,
and who are the liberals. Mr Stearns writes impassionately and with a
refreshing verve that carries the reader headlong with him.”
+ − =Cath World= 111:254 My ’20 340w
=Ind= 102:234 My 8 ’20 170w
“One inclines to a wish that the writer had brought to his task a
little more sympathy, a little more humility, and a great deal more
information, and the wish becomes very strong when one reaches his
discussion of Mr Wilson. In a considered estimate by a liberal thinker
one looks for a fair and balanced examination of causes and results.
Mr Stearns simplifies the president’s problems so that any
departmental clerk might have overcome them. He imputes low motives
without the least apparent justification.” Jacob Zeitlin
− =Nation= 110:238 F 21 ’20 850w
“The book is of great value. Its analysis of American tendencies is
more balanced and inclusive than any contemporary work upon the
subject.” C. W.
+ =N Y Call= p6 Ja 9 ’21 230w
Reviewed by W. J. Ghent
− =Review= 2:229 Mr 6 ’20 1150w
=R of Rs= 61:336 Mr ’20 50w
“It is no engaging picture of our American war mind that Mr Stearns
paints, and twenty months ago it would have been hotly resented by the
great majority of our people. That the average man of intelligence is
likely to find himself mainly in agreement with it now (although he
may hesitate to admit the fact, even to himself) is the best evidence
that the picture is essentially true.” F: A. Ogg
+ =Survey= 44:308 My 29 ’20 350w
“As a volume of broad discussions, enriched by much reflection on
books and events, and by brilliant insight into motives, this book is
a success. Yet as an ordered analysis of the basic problem of liberty
the book fails, and its chief value will be lost unless it becomes the
starting point of a much needed discussion.” G: Soule
+ − =Yale R= n s 10:197 O ’20 500w
=STEBBING, EDWARD PERCY.= Diary of a sportsman naturalist in India. il
*$5 Lane 799
20–22627
This diary is published with a purpose. The author says: “The sporting
anecdotes and material selected from my note-books, which form the
greater part of the book, are designed to lead up to and emphasize the
necessity which exists of affording an adequate protection to the game
and other animals of India.” (Preface) The book is in two parts: Sport
in the big game jungles of India; and Game protection and the
provision of sanctuaries for the preservation of the Indian fauna.
There are illustrations from photographs and sketches by the author
and others.
* * * * *
“He describes his experiences fairly graphically, although, after a
few pages, we have too much confidence in his shooting to be seriously
alarmed for him.”
+ − =Ath= p473 O 8 ’20 260w
“There is a chapter on ‘Jungle lore,’ and several real tiger stories
that outdo most of those common to fiction. All the photographs are
very good, and the little pen and ink drawings, which are the
productions of five different persons, while not equal to Mr Seton’s,
carry their own individuality, and give new life to the already
entertaining text.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p2 D 11 ’20 210w
“A most interesting collection of reminiscences. His tiger stories are
capital.”
+ =Spec= 124:245 Ag 21 ’20 250w
“As a faithful account of conditions as they have been during the last
quarter of a century, Mr Stebbing’s book is likely to have a definite
and permanent value; and he knows well how to entertain as well as to
instruct.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p497 Ag 5 ’20 750w
=STEELE, DAVID MCCONNELL.= Papers and essays for churchmen; being a
series of studies on topics made timely by current events. *$1.50 (2½c)
Jacobs 204
20–1134
The only unity that the author claims for this collection of papers is
that “they were all written to be read either to or by churchmen.”
(Foreword) The author’s mental tenor is conservative and his thinking
along the lines of his convictions is vigorous. He holds that the war
has dispelled the mist of immoral emotionalism that had begun to
envelop the churches, a form of this emotionalism being the literal
interpretation of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” He repudiates
woman’s suffrage as wholly bad, hurls anathema against labor
organisations and socialism and advises that the poor, as the
“economically sick,” are properly the charges, not of the church, but
of the state. The contents are: Effect of the war on religion; Wanted,
an American Sunday; Woman suffrage and religion; Men’s clubs and the
churches; The poor, with you always; The church and labor agitation;
Socialism—Christian and pagan; Revelation—final or progressive; The
Episcopal church; Change of name of the church; Proportionate
representation.
=STEELE, HARWOOD ELMES ROBERT.=[2] Canadians in France, 1915–1918: with
8 sketch maps. il *$8 Dutton 940.371
(Eng ed 20–10382)
“A detailed history of the operations of the Canadian Army corps,
consisting of four divisions and ‘corps troops.’ In writing this
account Captain Steele is describing in the main events that occurred
under his own observation in 1915 to the close of the war in 1918.”—R
of Rs
* * * * *
“Captain Steele has the gift of clear, straightforward description;
and there is little to be desired in the succinctness and clarity with
which he etches in a number of Homeric incidents.”
+ =Ath= p816 Je 18 ’20 80w
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 D 1 ’20 420w
=R of Rs= 62:671 D ’20 60w
“Captain Steele’s book is admirably written and full of vivid detail.”
+ =Spec= 124:49 Jl 10 ’20 200w
=STEINER, RUDOLF.= Four mystery plays. 2v *$3 Putnam 832
20–6848
H. Collison, one of the translators of these plays, describes them as
representing “the psychic development of man up to the moment when he
is able to pierce the veil and see into the beyond.” (Introd.) They
embody the author’s occult philosophy and form one continuous series.
The characters are represented on their physical as well as on their
spiritual plane and include many types—the occult leader, the seeress,
the artist, scientist, philosopher, historian, mystic, and man of the
world, also the forces of evil in Lucifer and Ahriman. Collaborators
with the translator are S. M. K. Gandell and R. T. Gladstone. The
plays are: The portal of initiation; The soul’s probation; The
guardian of the threshold; The soul’s awakening.
* * * * *
“‘Four mystery plays’ will doubtless command the attention of the
author’s disciples, but they are too formidable to win the interest of
the average outsider. The blank verse translation is adequate, but
hardly inspired.”
+ − =Dial= 69:321 S ’20 70w
“The only advantage gained by the play form is, perhaps, a little
simplicity in the treatment of very abstract subjects.”
− + =Springf’d Republican= p7a N 28 ’20 180w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p780 N 25 ’20 110w
=STEPHENS, JAMES.=[2] Irish fairy tales. il *$5 (6½) Macmillan
20–21207
The first of these ancient folk-tales tells of the subduing of Tuan
mac Cairill, the powerful heathen, by Finnian, the Abbott of Moville.
Finnian lays siege to Tuan’s stronghold by seating himself before its
gates and fasting. Heathen etiquette forbade the attack of a
defenceless man and heathen hospitality a man’s starving before the
gates. So Finnian is admitted and at once proceeds to convert Tuan.
Thereupon Tuan, the grandson of Noah, tells his story which dates back
to the beginning of time in Ireland and is wonderful indeed. The other
tales are: The boyhood of Fionn; The birth of Bran; Oisin’s mother;
The wooing of Becfola; The little brawl at Allen; The Carl of the drab
coat; The enchanted cave of Cesh Corran; Becuma of the white skin;
Mongan’s frenzy. The full page illustrations in color and the chapter
vignettes are by Arthur Rackham.
* * * * *
“This book is written by a man who has a touch a little beyond
talent.” R. E. Roberts
+ =Ath sup= p783 D 3 ’20 180w
+ =Booklist= 17:164 Ja ’21
“It is unfortunate that in the arrangement of his book he does not
give greater heed to the various cycles in which nearly all Irish
stories belong. But lack of unity is almost the only adverse criticism
that can be brought against the book. Mr Stephens has re-told Irish
legends in a volume that should take a permanent place in literature.”
N. J. O’Conor
+ − =Boston Transcript= p3 D 18 ’20 1350w
“James Stephens’ writing has the gift of everlasting youth. Arthur
Rackham’s drawings have inherent magic. Wherefore the two are
fortunately met in a new book, primarily for children, but also full
of appeal to grown-ups with a sense of humor.”
+ =Ind= 103:442 D 25 ’20 90w
“Though some of the stories as told by Mr Stephens appear to be more
in the nature of historic legends rather than fairy tales, the
collection provides good reading in which humour of a subtle kind
abounds.”
+ =Int= Studio 72:206 Ja ’21 60w
“There is enough of the hard line of beauty in his work to make one
rejoice in its amplitude.” F. H.
+ =New Repub= 25:111 D 22 ’20 1700w
“Humor shines, here, riots in wild fancy, extravagance rides by the
side of beauty.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ =N Y Times= p8 D 19 ’20 60w
“Stephens has put a lot of himself into the telling of these tales;
they are moulded by his story-telling instinct, given finish by his
English and burnished by his humor.” D. W. Webster
+ =Pub W= 98:1200 O 16 ’20 200w
“Children may enjoy it, but, like Arthur Rackham’s exquisite
illustrations, it will be fully appreciated only by more sophisticated
readers.” E. L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:619 D 22 ’20 170w
+ =Spec= 125:784 D 11 ’20 60w
“There is much good narrative, much humour, and, usually, unstrained
simplicity in the book, but above all there are passages of enchanting
beauty.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p830 D 9 ’20 310w
=STERRETT, FRANCES ROBERTA.= Nancy goes to town. *$2 (5c) Appleton
20–18766
Nancy goes to town to take nurses’ training, telling all her friends
in Mifflin that she intends to marry a rich patient. She meets two
rich patients, one an old woman, the other an old man. The two are
business rivals and they become rivals also for Nancy’s favor. One has
a nephew, the other a grandson, both put forward as candidates for
Nancy’s hand. So the rich husband is within her reach, but Nancy
chooses, after some faltering, to marry Dr Rolf Jensen, the poor young
doctor.
* * * * *
“The description of hospital life from the point of view of a lively
girl, with quick wit and a keen sense of humor, is capital.”
+ =N Y Times= p24 Ja 16 ’21 420w
=STEVENS, WILLIAM OLIVER, and WESTCOTT, ALLAN FERGUSON.= History of sea
power. il *$6 Doran 359
20–18945
This volume covers the evolution and influence of sea power from the
beginnings to the present time and treats naval history not from the
point of view of a sequence of battles but as a vital force in the
rise and fall of nations and in the evolution of civilization. It
traces its beginnings from the Island of Crete in the Mediterranean
long before the dawn of history to its present significance. The book
is indexed, has a list of references at the end of each chapter and
ninety-six maps, diagrams and illustrations. Contents: The beginnings
of navies; Athens as a sea power; The sea power of Rome; The navies of
the middle ages (two chapters); Opening the ocean routes; Sea power in
the North; England and the Armada; Rise of English sea power (two
chapters); Napoleonic wars (three chapters); Revolution in naval
warfare; Rivalry for world power; The world war (three chapters);
Conclusion.
* * * * *
“Though surprisingly condensed, an informative and authoritative
work.”
+ =Booklist= 17:143 Ja ’21
“It is a more objective and less theoretical study [than Mahan’s
‘Influence of sea power on history,’] with more interest for the
general reader; in addition to which it is a convenient reference
book.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8a D 5 ’20 620w
=STEVENSON, GEORGE.= Benjy. *$1.75 (*7s) (2c) Lane
20–5234
The book recounts the fortunes of the Ainsworth family from the time
when young Dr Ainsworth drives his bride Priscilla home in the gig, to
the coming of the children—up to the number of thirteen—with its
resultant poverty; and the varied careers and fortunes of all these in
turn. Benjy, the youngest, his mother’s favorite, follows his father
into the medical profession. Outwardly his life is drab, all its
important happenings being of the nature of disappointments. The more
brilliantly endowed brother, Basil, wins and weds Benjy’s own beloved
Clara who dies in childbirth through Basil’s light-hearted want of
foresight. When Uncle Benjy adopts little Clara to save her from a bad
step-mother, death robs him of her also. Then comes the war and offers
him a welcome escape from himself.
* * * * *
“It is only when the children grow older and come into touch with the
world that Mr Stevenson fails lamentably. The quaint, old-fashioned
children are replaced by plain, strange young men and women, and the
author in his effort to convince us of Benjy’s purity of heart pours
over him such a great pale flood of sentimentality that he is drowned
before our eyes.” K. M.
+ − =Ath= p1371 D 19 ’19 420w
Reviewed by R. M. Underhill
+ =Bookm= 51:443 Je ’20 130w
“An almost masterly understanding of human (and English) limitations
pervades the story. It is told always with a sure judgment and
reticence.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 My 19 ’20 130w
“A calm tale; interesting incident and fairly interesting characters,
but no particular point.”
+ − =Ind= 103:323 S 11 ’20 20w
“Such is the charm of Mr Stevenson’s insouciant style that we lose
consciousness of the fact that we are listening to an ‘author.’ The
author’s powers of characterization are, in fact, responsible for a
minor fault in ‘Benjy’—the diffusing of interest in too many
characters.”
+ − =N Y Times= p25 Ag 1 ’20 550w
=Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 20w
“It is well conceived and full of appreciation of individual
character.”
+ =Sat R= 129:234 Mr 6 ’20 60w
“Though the reader may become rather bewildered in trying to follow
each particular thread, the book is illuminated with many of the
author’s quiet touches of humour and is written with his usual
distinction of style.”
+ − =Spec= 124:53 Ja 10 ’20 60w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p633 N 6 ’19 80w
=STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS BALFOUR.= Learning to write; ed. by J: W:
Rogers, jr. *$1.35 Scribner 808
20–6692
“This book is a compilation of everything R. L. S. has said on
writing, both in his essays on literary art and in the casual
observations made in his letters.”—Booklist
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:306 Je ’20
+ =Freeman= 2:94 O 6 ’20 380w
“You cannot learn much about electricity by watching the lightning in
the thunder cloud. Even if Stevenson did teach himself to write as he
says he did, which is nothing more than an improbable hypothesis,
reading his extremely characteristic and technically complex
descriptions of his methods will not help a single youngster out of
the toils and troubles of the early days of his probation.” W: McFee
− =N Y Evening Post= p9 My 8 ’20 1300w
“It is to be feared that Stevenson’s confidences in regard to his own
literary processes have done all too much to foster hope in the bosom
of ‘would-be’ authors.... One is inclined to take it with several
grains of salt.” R: Le Gallienne
+ − =N Y Times= 25:8 Je 27 ’20 2250w
+ =School R= 28:628 O ’20 110w
“Likely to prove a gold mine of interesting information not only to
aspiring writers, but to people who are interested in books as well.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Jl 24 ’20 240w
=STEWART, BASIL.= Japanese color prints and the subjects they
illustrate. il *$20 Dodd 761
“Mr Stewart knows just what collectors of Japanese prints want and do
not want. But they want a handbook of 300–odd pages, with
reproductions of signatures, lists of important sets, chronological
tables, brief biographical information; of handy format and popular
style. And such is the book before us. There are a glossary, a chapter
on ‘Forgeries and imitations,’ another on ‘Actor prints’ in general,
and an excursus on the ‘Forty-seven rōnins’ in history and on the
stage.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“It is no serious condemnation to say that ‘Japanese colour prints’ is
not the book on Japanese colour prints for which we are all looking.”
+ − =Int Studio= 72:33 N ’20 200w
“The ground covered is so vast that the treatment in certain cases
inevitably seems somewhat cursory. One or two inaccuracies may be
noted.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p464 Jl 22 ’20 640w
=STEWART, WENTWORTH.= Making of a nation. $1.50 (3c) Stratford co. 325.7
20–3491
In this discussion of Americanism and Americanization the author holds
that we cannot make American citizens of aliens by formal educational
programs, that we must take into consideration the psychology of
Americanization and treat Americanism as a thing of the spirit rather
than of naturalization papers. Certain undesirable features in our
alien population—such as foreign language newspapers, religious
worship in a foreign tongue—should be treated by a process of
elimination rather than coercion, while “all anarchistic agitators,”
and unamerican labor agitators should be summarily dealt with. As one
of the educational factors for Americanization a modified form of the
open forum is recommended. Contents: The nation’s awakening; The
nation’s task of unification; Eliminating the handicaps to
Americanism; Constructive government and nation building; Providing
conditions for Americanism—or the application of constructive
government; The neighborhood and the nation; International sentiment
and nationalism.
=STILL, JOHN.= Poems in captivity. *$2 Lane 821
20–5612
The author discovered the poet in himself during his three years of
captivity in Turkey, “where each one of us was driven to seek inside
himself some alleviation of the daily dullness, many of us there found
things we had not suspected to exist.... I found these verses, all of
which were written there, and their discovery made more happy many of
the eleven hundred and seventy-nine days I spent as a prisoner of
war.” (Foreword) The poems are in five groups: Prison verses;
Woodcraft and forest lore; Tales from the Mahawansa; Various songs and
sketches. The frontispiece is a facsimile of a part of the ms. which
was concealed in a hollow walking-stick, and some explanatory notes
are appended.
* * * * *
“Mr Still’s work is undeniably interesting, and his chosen vehicle
seems to be the right one.”
+ =Ath= p1018 O 10 ’19 100w
=Boston Transcript= p4 Ap 21 ’20 280w
“He writes fluently and the Ceylonese legends that he relates are
interesting in themselves, but his medium hardly ever touches the
authentic heights of poetry.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:16 Je 27 ’20 100w
“The merit of Mr Still’s work is that it gives aptly and agreeably a
full, warm picture of scenes picturesque and historic.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p534 O 2 ’19 160w
=STOCKBRIDGE, MRS BERTHA EDSON (LAY).= What to drink; the blue book of
beverages. il *$1.50 Appleton 641.8
20–2272
In these days of prohibition this book solves the hostess’ problem of
what to serve to drink. All she needs is a stock of syrups, shrubs and
vinegars, says the author. “If, however, she is inclined to think it
an arduous task, let her turn to these recipes, and she will be
convinced that the labor and the time expended bring their own reward
in ... a delicious drink delightfully made.” (Foreword) The contents
present an exhaustive array of recipes for fruitades and punches and
drinks hot and cold—non-alcoholic cocktails, syrups, grape juice, root
beer and cider, hot drinks such as coffee, chocolate, etc., drinks for
invalids and children, sundaes and sauces, ice-creams, sherbets, etc.
There is an index.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:18 O ’20
=Springf’d Republican= p13a Ap 18 ’20 250w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p241 Ap 15 ’20 50w
=STOCKBRIDGE, FRANK PARKER.= Yankee ingenuity in the war. il *$2.50
Harper 623
20–8261
It was as a reaction of the author’s patriotic pride to the slanderous
disparagements of America’s participation in the war that the book was
written and for that reason it is limited to the consideration of
distinctly American enterprise. It has, however, not been written for
the scientist or the technologist, but for the average American,
neither skilled nor interested in technical details. A partial list of
the contents is: The mobilization of science and industry; The Liberty
motor; American military airplanes; The chemical conquest of the air;
Potash, sulphuric acid, and dyestuffs; Poison gas; Some extraordinary
ship-building feats; Some Yankee tricks in undersea warfare; The
wonders of war wireless; Medical and surgical achievements. The book
is profusely illustrated from official photographs.
* * * * *
“Interesting and informative.”
+ =Booklist= 17:67 N ’20
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:234 D ’20 70w
=STOCKLEY, CYNTHIA.= Pink gods and blue demons. *$1.50 (9c) Doran
20–10303
A story of South Africa. The pink gods and blue demons are the
lightning flashes of temptation from the facets of diamonds. Loree
Temple, a young and much indulged wife, falls under their spell. Her
husband has gone north on business leaving her alone in Kimberley. She
falls under the spell of the diamonds and so into the power of the man
who can give them to her. She is extricated through the loyalty and
generosity of another woman, and, her lesson learned, goes to join her
husband.
* * * * *
“The tale is interesting and moves swiftly forward to a sufficiently
dramatic climax.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:320 Je 20 ’20 450w
“The story holds one’s attention closely.”
+ =Outlook= 125:507 Jl 14 ’20 50w
=STOCKTON, JAMES LEROY.= Project work in education. *$1.20 (3c) Houghton
371.3
20–14397
The book is one of the “Riverside educational monographs” edited by
Henry Suzzallo. Its object is to show what can be done to replace the
traditional teaching by isolated subjects by a more vital method built
on a practical psychological basis. The project method in brief
implies “learning to do by doing,” or “self-education through
activities,” and is the result of the working-out of the most
fundamental of modern educational principles. The book falls into two
parts, considering project work both as a method and as a subject.