BEERS, HENRY AUGUSTIN.Two twilights.*$1 Badger, R: G. 811 17-25112
“This volume includes selections from two early books of verse, long out of print; a few pieces from ‘The Ways of Yale’; and a handful of poems contributed of late years to the magazines and not heretofore collected.” (Preface) The author has been professor of English literature in Yale university since 1880.
BEITH, JOHN HAY (IAN HAY, pseud.).All in it; “K (1)” carries on.*$1.50 (2½c) Houghton 940.91 17-29361
This is the continuation of “The first hundred thousand,” promised us by Captain Beith. “‘The first hundred thousand’ closed with the battle of Loos. The present narrative follows certain friends of ours from the scene of that costly but valuable experience, through a wintercampaign in the neighbourhood of Ypres and Ploegsteert, to profitable participation in the battle of the Somme.” (Author’s note) Captain (now major) Wagstaffe and Private (now corporal) Mucklewame reappear in this volume.
“Told with the same humorous turns and descriptions that made the first book so readable.”
“Bit by bit Major Beith pieces together the tale of the fighter in the present war. He does not minimize its horrors, but he does not over-emphasize them. Through his entire story runs an undercurrent of optimism.” E. F. E.
“Ian Hay’s own narrative is full of the brightest humor, not untouched with an equally bright cynicism. ... And yet it would be a grave mistake to assume that because he writes brightly, and often humorously, Major Beith’s is a ‘light’ book. It is far from that. ... In ‘All in it’ the heroism is present always. The terrible things are not glossed over.”
BEITH, JOHN HAY (IAN HAY, pseud.).Getting together.*50c (6½c) Doubleday; Houghton 940.91 17-6208
In this little book, Captain Beith, who has been lecturing in the United States, attempts to bring Briton and American to an understanding of one another. He answers some of the questions that have been put to him: How about that blockade? What are you opening our mails for? Would you welcome American intervention? etc.
“Appeared in the Outlook, F 7 ‘17.”
“A sincere and fine-spirited effort to explain misunderstandings between the citizens of Britain and the United States.”
Reviewed by Joseph Mosher
“His brief account of the voluntary help rendered by America to the Allies before she came into the war will surprise many people. ... His manly and sensible little book should do good.”
“Ian Hay’s little essay in Anglo-American propagandism will not increase his literary reputation. ... There is no need of a presentation of the case of the Allies to intelligent Americans, and this book is not so conceived as to win over old-fashioned Yankees who entertain animosity toward Great Britain. The softness of the language defeats its own purpose.”
BEITH, JOHN HAY (IAN HAY, pseud.).Oppressed English.*50c (6½c) Doubleday 941.5 17-18156
The author of “The first hundred thousand” and “Getting together,” a Scotsman, has some witty and practical things to say on the world attitude toward the “English” as distinct from the “British” people. He writes: “In the war of to-day, for instance, whenever anything particularly unpleasant or unpopular has to be done—such as holding up neutral mails, or establishing a blacklist of neutral firms trading with the enemy—upon whom does the odium fall? Upon ‘England’; never upon France, and only occasionally upon Great Britain. ... On the other hand, ... a victory gained by English boys from Devon or Yorkshire appears as a British victory, pure and simple.” The fourth and fifth chapters make clear some of the answers to: “Why can’t you people settle the Irish question?”—the claims of the Nationalists, the Unionists, and of the Sinn Fein being put side by side for study by outsiders.
“Good-natured, humorous, but very lucid explanation of the Irish question.”
“As is apt to be the case with a book of this kind, Mr Hay’s desire to make his humorous periods leads him sometimes to sacrifice the exact truth. He exaggerates the idiosyncrasies of the Englishman to make his satire carry over. Once you have forgiven that, however, you find the little book pleasant reading.”
“The Irish rebellion was not made in Germany. It was made in England, and not a little part of it was made by just such dunderheads as Captain Beith, with their inaccurate talk of beneficences that were never really conferred and freedom that never existed.” F. H.
“As a specimen of dry Scotch humor carrying with it a large volume of matter for serious consideration, Mr Hay’s little book is unrivalled in its way, though it is, perhaps, not exactly the ‘sense of humour’ that is likely to appeal to ardent Irish patriots. ... The book contains much matter of considerable interest to Americans, for the author has much more than an ordinary grasp of the psychology of the peoples he deals with in this little volume.” J. W.
“An amusing comment on British characteristics.”
BEITH, JOHN HAY (IAN HAY, pseud.).“Pip”; a romance of youth.*$1.50 (2c) Houghton 17-9709
A happy story of irresponsible youth. Half the book is taken up with the schoolday adventures of the young hero. Pip is a valiant cricketer and when he leaves school he becomes something of a nation-wide figure. The death of his father sends him into the world to earn his living. He does so for a time as a chauffeur. There is a girl in the story, of course. Pip met her first as a friend of his sister’s, when she was sixteen. She is older and so is he when the book closes, ending with a golf match that decides an important matter for Pip.
“Up to the outbreak of the war Ian Hay was known in this country as the author of six books, all of them fiction. ... Prior to these, however, he had written another book. Its title is ‘Pip.’ ... Its understanding of childhood, youth and early manhood is keen, its ability to make the most of the zest of delicate comedy is complete.” E. F. E.
“Captain Beith writes with genial humor, and his account of the making of Pip into a man, and a man who is a thorough Englishman, is likely to bring many a smile to the face of his reader. Having been, in the days before the war, a schoolmaster himself he knows much about the life of British schools and the character of the men who conduct them.”
“As a school story it is inferior to ‘David Blaize,’ and the detailed descriptions of cricket contests are beyond the American reader, but it is nevertheless a story of decided interest.”
BELL, ARCHIE.Trip to Lotus land. il*$2.50 (4c) Lane 915.2 17-30747
The author outlines a six-weeks’ itinerary for the tourist to Japan, and states that his purpose is to convey to the reader something of the joys that such a tour holds for a traveler. He says that the book is not a guide book. “Mr Terry’s ‘Japanese empire’ and the excellent publications of the Imperial Japanese government railways” supply that need, and his pleasant narrative account of his own travels will serve to supplement them. Yokohama, Kamakura, Miyanoshita, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe, Nagasaki and Nikko are among the points visited. There are over fifty illustrations.
Reviewed by A. M. Chase
“Both instructive and entertaining.”
“[Fulfills its purpose] admirably both in text and illustrations.”
BELL, FREDERICK MCKELVEY.First Canadians in France; the chronicle of a military hospital in the war zone.il*$1.35 (2½c) Doran 940.91 17-28775
Colonel Bell, attached, as medical director, to the first contingent of Canadian troops overseas, was detailed to found a Canadian hospital near Boulogne. He chronicles the progress of that undertaking among the heterogeneous lot of men whom “the hammer of time,” with many a nasty knock, welded together. The quality that made Colonel Bell the one force that held the boys together is responsible for the grip the book gets on the reader. It is a simple recital of every day routine, without central theme or plot, told in a realistic, colloquial, normal, human fashion with an eye keen to every humorous incident that livened camp monotony.
“The writer confesses to a flavor of romancing in his story, but the reader will not feel like criticising this or seeking too closely the line between fact and imagination.”
“Clever characterization, and many amusing anecdotes.”
“Certainly, this excellent book should be read. It is so human.”
BELL, JOHN JOY.Kiddies.*$1.50 (2½c) Stokes
A collection of seventeen stories about children by this well known Scottish humorist, author of “Wee Macgreegor.” That young hero appears in several of the stories. Among the titles are: Habakkuk; Little boy; Some advantages of being an aunt; The good fairy; Mr Logie’s heart; An early engagement; Silk stocking and suedes; The ugly uncle.
“The stories are canny and full of dry humor and quaint pathos.”
“The humorous tales are, generally speaking, the best, the serious and pathetic ones being somewhat conventional and oversentimental.”
BELL, JOHN JOY.Till the clock stops.*$1.35 (2c) Duffield 17-5450
The clock, with its diamond-studded pendulum, stood in a secluded house in Scotland. It was guaranteed to go for a year and a day after the pendulum was set in motion—that being done on the death of its owner Christopher Craig. It was in some way to watch over the green box full of diamonds and the other fortune reserved for Christopher’s nephew, Alan Craig, supposedly lost in the Arctic. Its enemy was Bullard, London member of a South African mining syndicate, who knew of the existence of the diamonds and its guardians were a dense green liquid with which the case was partly filled, placed over the ominous word “Dangerous,” Caw, the faithful servant of the dead man, and Marjorie Handyside, the daughter of a doctor and neighbor. How these and others played their respective parts, and the surprise in store for all when the clock stopped make a thrilling tale. The writer is the author of “Wee MacGreegor.”
“The story is well planned, and full of excitement and suspense up to the last chapter.”
“A melodrama full of alarms and surprises.”
“Mr J. J. Bell may have had the cinematograph in mind in writing ‘Till the clock stops.’ Hidden diamonds form the mainspring of the story, and propel it forward mechanically through its allotted span; and one can imagine the pistol shots, explosions, and so forth which arise out of the search for them being reduced to a series of highly effective pictures.”
BELL, JOHN KEBLE (KEBLE HOWARD, pseud.).Gay life.*$1.30 (2c) Lane 17-6536
A happy and wholesome story of theatrical life. The author has written it to counteract some of the sensational ideas that prevail concerning the stage. Jilly Nipchin is an attractive and impudent little Cockney who determines to put her twin gifts, mimicry and an agility in turning handsprings, to use on the stage. Her family is in need, and Jilly chooses this way of helping them. The story follows her progress with a traveling company in the provinces, in the music halls, in a repertory company, and finally takes her to America. The hero, Ed Chauncey, the world’s greatest equilibrist, is as worthy in his way as is Jilly.
“The wholesome story shows a thorough knowledge of the external life of the stage, but not very deep understanding of universal human nature. The author is a theatrical manager and producer, and the editor of the Sketch, a semi-theatrical publication.”
“The thorough knowledge of the stage and of all things stagey which the author obviously possesses apparently does not include the capacity for understanding the forces that underlie the struggles and the successes of its workers. ‘The gay life’ is superficial, occasionally clever, and of fleeting value.”
“The novel is clever, amusing and graphic in its account of stage life, though developed in a somewhat jerky manner. The theme recalls certain of Leonard Merrick’s delightful tales, and of course this story suffers from the comparison, but it is an entertaining piece of work, with an attractive, very human heroine and several interesting and well-drawn characters.”
“The book on the whole is pleasant reading.”
“Mr Howard weaves a colorless romance into the narrative, but Jilly’s adventures and high spirits hold the attention without outside aid.”
“It is a jolly tale, an amusing tale, a good-natured tale. There is general truth in portions of his book, which the tale as a whole lacks.”
BELL, JOHN KEBLE (KEBLE HOWARD, pseud.).Smiths in war time.*$1.40 (2½c) Lane 17-30282
This story, by the author of “The Smiths of Surbiton,” “The Smiths of Valley View,” etc. is written in a lighter vein than most of the novels dealing with England in war-time. It tells us how Mr Smith, aged seventy-three, and his devoted wife, tried to help their country; how they rented their pleasant villa at Surbiton and attempted to live in a cottage; how they decided to dismiss Edith, one of the three maids who kept them so comfortable; how Mr Smith tried to observe a meatless day and fell into temptation; how he tried to drill for home service; and how “young George,” the Smith’s idolized grandson, was “reported missing” but returned in safety by aeroplane to his anxious relatives.
“The book is written with a thoroughly delightful mixture of humor and pathos; if we laugh at Mr Smith, it is very tenderly, and we are all the fonder of him for his whimsies and absurdities, just as his wise, sweet wife was. They are people we are glad to know, quiet, simple, human, ‘ordinary,’ and very lovable people, with something big and fine in them underneath it all.”
“A charming story; an epitome of the spirit that is making the sacrifices and upholding the nation’s determination that the sacrifices shall not be in vain.”
BELL, RALPH W.[2]Canada in war-paint. il*$1.25 Dutton 940.91 17-13337
“‘Canada in war paint’ is a series of sketches, mostly of the humorous type, of the Canadian forces across the water. Its author, Capt. Ralph W. Bell, dedicates its pages to the ‘officers, N. C. O.’s and men of the 1st Canadian infantry battalion, Ontario regiment,’ of which he is a member. He has striven to portray types rather than individuals, or as he himself puts it in the preface to give ‘vignettes of things as they struck me at the time, and later.’”—Springf’d Republican
“Among the brightest and most cheerful of the war stories from the men at the front is this crisp and relishing offering. Only a small portion is devoted to the rough and cruel side.”
“Captain Bell writes light-heartedly, and makes the best of the everyday events of life in the war zone, in the somewhat fragmentary jottings which he calls ‘Canada in war paint,’ but there is pathos, too, intermingled with the humor of his book.”
BELLAMY, FRANCIS R.Balance. il*$1.35 (1c) Doubleday 17-4706
The author has told the true story of S. Sydney Tappan, playwright, who in the later days of his fame was made the subject of an adulatory biography. To the author, the hero is always Sammy Tappan, never S. Sydney. He was always Sammy to Carrie Schroeder too. When Sammy went to New York to win fame, Carrie remained at home in Melchester, but because she was a modern young woman, requiring a purpose in life, she went into a settlement. In the settlement Carrie came face to face with reality. She learned many things, one of them that men do not throw dynamite for the fun of it. From this background she goes to see Sammy’s first play, his brilliant, shallow and suggestive “Lady in the lion skin.” The shock of this play to her newly awakened social conscience and the hopelessly diverging viewpoint which it discloses leads to the break between her and Sammy. It is not bridged until Sammy, thru suffering and defeat and personal contact with the monster, Poverty, learns to see things as she does and to use his talent for better ends.
“Above and beyond the story itself, it is the fine spirit of humanity pervading the book that makes it notable. It is free from didacticism and sermonizing; it presents no programme, but it is lighted with the flame of a great conviction and charged with human sympathy and emotion.” J. T. Gerould
“The book is full of charm and as a whole rings true.” H. W. Boynton
“If his first novel is any index of those to come, he is an author who bids fair to make his mark in American fiction.”
“You will rarely find in the writers of this country such poise, and justifiable assurance, and true sense of proportion. ... The finest thing about this exceptional novel is the masterly way in which the author has evolved his characters through the actions and incidents rendered inevitable by those characters themselves. It is this conviction of truth that remains to exhilarate, long after the story has been finished.” Ruth McIntire
“The story is logical and true to life.”
“Mr Bellamy has, indeed, a decided gift for character drawing, and most of his people are clearly sketched, definitely individualized. ... ‘The balance’ is a first novel, and the plot is not always well handled.”
“Mr Bellamy has something serious to say, and at the same time he writes a story which will probably attract a large market.” Joseph Mosher
BEMAN, LAMAR TANEY, comp. Selected articles on prohibition of the liquor traffic. (Debaters’ handbook ser.) 2d and rev ed*$1.25 (1c) Wilson, H. W. 178 17-12265
A second edition of the debaters’ handbook on Prohibition containing new material. The first edition was published in 1915, since which time prohibition has made great gains. Among the new reprints are articles for the affirmative by Arthur Capper and William J. Bryan and articles for the negative by John Koren and Rev. J. A. Homan.
BENAVENTE Y MARTINEZ, JACINTO.Plays; tr. from the Spanish, with an introd., by J: Garrett Underhill; authorized ed.*$1.50 Scribner 862 17-14040
“The plays chosen are not the best known. But they are well selected to show the author’s wide range. They are all recent and illustrative of Benavente’s latest manner. The first, ‘His widow’s husband,’ is a farcical depiction of social and political life in a provincial town. ‘The bonds of interest’ is an ingenious, modern adaptation of the old Italian comedy of masks. Crispin, Harlequin, Columbine, and Pantaloon discourse airily on important themes. ... ‘The evil doers of good’ flagellates the busybodies of a small village, who, under the guise of philanthropy, work harm with their meddlesome interference in the affairs of others. ... ‘La malquerida’ is not a thesis-drama like the rest, but a peasant play after the manner of Guimerá.”—Nation
“Well selected to represent the author’s wide range and latest manner.”
“Mr Underhill does yeoman’s service in the cause of the Spanish stage, showing us how very much we have to learn in America from dramatists already popular in Spain and South America.” T: Walsh
“Mr Underhill’s translation is fluent and generally satisfactory. Occasionally he uses ‘misery’ where ‘poverty’ seems to be the word—a common mistake in translating French and Spanish words. There are a few passages where the sense seems to be somewhat misinterpreted. ... But for the most part one forgets that one is reading a translation.” N. H. D.
“Had Mr Underhill presented us with only two of the four plays that are in this volume—with ‘The bonds of interest’ and ‘La malquerida’—we should have been inclined to accept his high estimate of the dramatic power of Jacinto Benavente.” Padraic Colum
“His psychology is more brilliant than profound, and the great passions are beyond his power to portray. He is preëminently a satirist. ... But tho his satire is cynically keen, it is never bitter, and never constructive. ... The volume commends itself to a frequent reader of printed plays for one rare virtue. These are absolutely free from the ponderous mass of descriptions, suggestions, interpretations and stage directions which encumber the text of so many modern dramas. Neither characters nor settings are described at all, and no directions are given. One is not even told the heroine’s age. ... His peasants are not real peasants, but members of le grande monde masquerading in poor clothes. The roughnesses and brutalities of life are as foreign to his genius as are the great emotions.”
“Jacinto Benavente is the central figure among contemporary Spanish dramatists, the continuator of Galdós and Echegaray. Like Galdós, he is interested in social reform, but presents his message with a delicate irony of which that ponderous declaimer is incapable. And if he is less of a stage technician, in the narrow sense, than Echegaray, he interests by his very departure from theatrical convention. In his lightness of touch he is akin rather to Bretón de los Herreros than to either of his more immediate predecessors. His range is surprisingly great. He has attempted nearly every kind of play with scarcely a failure to mark his course. ... He is chiefly known as the satirist of modern social conditions in Spain. ... It is exceptionally difficult to render into English an author so subtle as Benavente, one whose effects depend so much upon lightness. Imagine Shaw in German! But Mr Underhill has been more than successful. One detects no trace of foreign idiom in his English. His biography of Benavente and critical estimate of that writer’s work is the best yet attempted in English.”
“Benavente is a prolific and versatile writer and it would be impossible fully to represent his accomplishment with four plays, but those selected for this volume are sufficiently varied in theme and treatment to suggest the inclusiveness of his talent.”
BENECKE, ELSE C. M., and BUSCH, MARIE, trs.More tales by Polish authors.*$1.50 Longmans A17-369
The first volume of “Tales by Polish authors” appeared last year. “Two of the names that appeared in the first volume are to be found in the second also—Adam Szymanski and Waclaw Sieroszewski; and Szymanski’s two newly translated tales and Sieroszewski’s one take us again to Siberia. In Szymanski’s ‘Maciej the Mazur’ and ‘Two prayers,’ the engrossing topic is the home-sickness of the Poles in Siberia. Perhaps the ache of home-sickness has never been so ruthlessly forced home as it is in ‘Two prayers.’ ... The other stories are taken from authors not included in the first volume. The longest and the most striking is ‘The returning wave,’ by Boleslaw Prus, whose real name seems to be Alexsander Glowacki.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“The short stories in ‘More tales by Polish authors’ grip from the first to the last page by their earnestness and the power of their different authors to portray characters quite out of the ordinary. The style is exceptionally free from the abruptness so common in Slavic translations.”
“Unfortunately, half of the first volume is taken up by a tale of Sienkiewicz, ‘Bartek the Conqueror,’ which was already accessible. Chief in merit among the pieces here rendered for the first time are, perhaps, the three Siberian sketches by Szymanski. The English of the translators is excellent, with only the very smallest traces of foreign idiom.”
BENÉT, WILLIAM ROSE.Great white wall. il*$1 Yale univ. press 811 16-24833
“Timur, the Tartar, has long been a favorite subject for literary treatment. Marlowe wrote one of his best plays about this great, barbaric nomad, and later Rowe made him a dramatic hero. In ‘The great white wall’ William Rose Benét seizes upon this ancient and cruel autocrat for the central figure of a singularly thoughtful narrative poem. It is the story of Timur’s attack on the great wall of China, and the story is mostly a series of pageants.”—Springf’d Republican
“In Mr Benét’s inimitable rhythmic flare.” W: S. Braithwaite
“Elements of fantasy are happily combined with the epic story.”
“Benét, equally with Vachel Lindsay, is restoring the chant to its proper place in modern poetry; his work is always interesting and frequently completely successful.” Clement Wood
“There is a wealth of descriptive verse here, as well as insight into moral truths.”
“The poet’s metrical gifts have the fullest play here, and the verse must be heard to be fully appreciated. Mr Benét’s powers of description were never better used than in this tale of far-off things and battles long ago. The book is original in its workmanship, full of vivid description, and interesting in the life and animation that pervades it. It is Mr Benét at his best.” E: B. Reed
BENNETT, ARNOLD.Books and persons; being comments on a past epoch, 1908-1911.*$2 (4c) Doran 824 17-21768
“The contents of this book have been chosen [by Hugh Walpole] from a series of weekly articles which enlivened the New Age during the years 1908-1911, under the pseudonym ‘Jacob Tonson.’ ... Mr Frank Swinnerton approved the selection and added to it slightly. In my turn I suggested a few more additions. The total amounts to one-third of the original matter. ... I have left the critical judgments alone, for the good reason that I stand by nearly all of them, though perhaps with a less challenging vivacity, to this day.” (Prefatory note) Some of the authors included are: Wordsworth, Joseph Conrad, W. W. Jacobs, Anatole France, Swinburne, Tchehkoff, Trollope, Brieux, Henry James, and Mrs Elinor Glyn. There are also essays on such topics as “French publishers,” “The book-buyer,” “Middleclass,” “Censorship by the libraries,” etc.
“Librarians will be interested in the papers on censorship by the libraries.”
“The strife about the six-shilling and the sevenpenny novel, the attempts to censor certain novelists, and the stupid animosities of the middle class, are considered from the point of view of a wholehearted disciple of the great French realists.”
“With entertainment as his special aim, and sportiveness as his deliberate manner, Mr Bennett rambles hither and thither among the books and writers of the three-year period during which he posed as Jacob Tonson.” E. F. E.
“I think the book is chiefly interesting as a record of the casual judgements—casual in form only—of a tremendous expert on his fellow-craftsmen.” G: B. Donlin
“The volume is always readable, it is often ‘intime,’ and it is nearly always baffling. ... His judgments seem often to issue from a mind that is constitutionally fussy rather than judicial.”
“Mr Bennett knows what he is talking about in respect of Dostoievsky, as in respect of Conrad, Henri Becque, François de Curel, Tchekoff, Wilfred Whitten. But here as elsewhere he is dealing in stimulant, not criticism. He is imposing his will. ... Only when he is writing of H. G. Wells is he sufficiently moved by his subject to lose the coolness of a shrewd and judicious informant and become a passionate critic. ... In regard to W. W. Jacobs and Rudyard Kipling and Conrad and Henry James and Meredith there are exceedingly pertinent discriminations, but absorbed or inspired interpretation in no case outside Mr Wells.” F. H.
“In the main neither sufficiently importantin theme nor sufficiently careful in treatment to be worthy of permanent publication in book form.”
“When Mr Arnold Bennett appears as a critic of men and books many of his judgments strike us as irrational, or partial, sometimes to the point of absurdity. His infatuation about Mr H. G. Wells may be the fruit of friendship, but it is not justifiable on literary grounds, not even on the grounds advanced by Mr Bennett. ... Surely Mr Bennett is paradoxical when he praises Mr Henry James for clarity.”
“Of mid-Victorian novelists he has a poor opinion. ‘There is not one of them that would not be tremendously improved by being cut down to about one-half’; moreover, ‘they are incurably ugly and sentimental.’ Some of us will wonder to find the author of ‘The old wives’ tale’ casting this reproach in particular at Thackeray and Dickens, Charlotte Brontë and Mrs Gaskell; but it is only Mr Bennett’s humor.”
“This book of literary causeries is a collection of articles published in 1908-1911 in a socialist journal of somewhat exasperating and provocative type called the New Age. They are mostly skits. They are not literary criticisms, though they often reflect literary opinions—rather opinionated opinions, it may be said. ... They have no importance and for American readers no interest at all. ... The one thing that gives flavor outlasting the ephemerality of the subject is Mr Bennett’s pointed journalistic style and pungent choice of epithet. Those who are engaged in the author’s trade and are familiar with the journalists and critics of London may, therefore, read these records of a ‘past age’ with some interest. But of sound instruction or authentic inspiration they have little. To a limited extent they are diverting.”
“Mr Arnold Bennett is one of the few who can catch their sayings before they are cold and enclose them all alive in very readable prose. That is why these aged reviews (some are nearly ten years old) are as vivacious and as much to the point as they were on the day of their birth. They have another claim upon our interest. They deal for the most part with writers who are still living. We do not think this is a book of first rate criticism; but it is the book of an artist.”
BENNETT, HELEN MARIE.Women and work; the economic value of college training.*$1.50 (2c) Appleton 174 17-11904
A study of the place of the college-trained woman in the modern world. In the past half century the type of girl entering college has changed; rather, many types now enter where once there was but one. The standards demanded of women have also changed, and, to some extent, college curricula have been modified to meet the new demands. All these matters are taken into account by the author, who, as manager of the Chicago Collegiate bureau of occupations, writes from the vocational expert’s point of view. She writes of: The inflorescence of the new education; College training and working efficiency; The problem of the college girl; The problem of the vocational adviser; The psychology of the girl as related to her occupation; The physiology of the girl as related to her occupation; The girl with the dramatic temperament; The philosophic temperament; The scientific temperament; The interdependence of occupations; The college girl—her own employer; The college girl and women.
“There is a specially good chapter on the problem of the vocational adviser.”
“A suggestive book for women in and out of college, and for the college faculty as well.” Edna Kenton
“Packed with common sense.”
“She has made a mistake in adopting a more pretentious title for her work than the results of her efforts warrant. The book falls far short of being an adequate discussion of ‘Women and work.’”
“Those parts of the book which deal with the specific problem of finding jobs are interesting and valuable, but when the author attempts to characterize human traits or to give the results of psychology and philosophy she shows a plentiful lack of knowledge. ... The reader of the book is likely to be exasperated by the inexcusable irregularity of the style.”
“With its sociology Miss Bennett’s book has combined some helpful information for the college graduate who is intelligently trying to choose work to fit her abilities.”
“Written in entertaining style, and useful not only to the girls themselves but to any one helping to educate or ‘place’ them.”
BENNETT, HENRY EASTMAN.School efficiency; a manual of modern school management. il $1.25 (1c) Ginn 371 17-21650
The author is professor of education in the College of William and Mary, Virginia. He has had in mind, in writing this book, the average community school of medium size, and the teacher of average ability. “It is the only book that has come from the press in recent times which presents in non-technical language a discussion, both of the specific problems of instructionand of the broad questions of administration and supervision. The book is really a treatise on the principles and practice of education.” (El School J) The book includes a consideration of the school plant and two chapters deal with “Community coöperation” and “School extension.” “Problems” and “Readings” are appended to the various chapters.
“While the style of the book is distinctly non-technical the author presents the content of the most recent scientific investigations in the various fields of education.”
BENNETT, ROBERT JOSEPH.Corporation accounting. (Ronald accounting ser.) il $3 Ronald 657 16-25224
“This is much more than a book on corporation accounting; it is more properly a treatise on organization from the legal, industrial, financial and accounting standpoints. It appears in seven parts: Part 1 describes the process of organizing a corporation, discusses the different classes of capital stock and shows the purpose of the various corporate meetings; Part 2 takes up the special books and records required by corporations, and analyzes the distinctive corporate accounts relating to capital stock, bonds, surplus, dividends and reserves; Part 3 is devoted to special descriptions and accounting entries relating to stocks, dividends and processes of incorporation; Part 4 treats bond issues, including a description of the different classes of bonds, their security, methods of issue, amortization of discounts and premiums, sinking funds and redemption; Part 5 explains and illustrates the balance sheet, income statement, and various other special reports and statements; Part 6 is devoted to consolidation, including merger, lease and holding company; Part 7 takes up receiverships, reorganizations and dissolutions. Much more space is devoted to general descriptions than to pure accounting discussion.”—Ann Am Acad
“Mr Bennett has given added authority and interest to many of his observations by frequent citations from some of the best known corporations in the United States. In the preface and throughout the volume there is abundant recognition of alternatives of procedure. Mr Bennett’s volume will come to take rank. ... among the first ten or a dozen titles that should be owned by every one seriously interested in accountancy. The arrangement of the book makes it readily adaptable for general reference by corporation officers and accountants. When a new edition is prepared, it is to be hoped that more systematic and thorough attention will be given to the index.” C. H. Scovell
“The book will probably serve as an excellent handbook for practical business men who wish a broad view of corporate organization, finance and accounting. The discussion is unusually clear, simple and informing. Except for incidental suggestions, the book is likely to have little value to the practicing accountant, for it is too general in treatment, or to one interested in the more scientific aspect of accounting because it is not sufficiently analytical. It may serve very well, however, as a text for college classes on account of its forms and clear descriptions.” J: Bauer
“Concise yet comprehensive.”
BENNION, MILTON.Citizenship; an introduction to social ethics; with an introd. by D: Snedden.*$1 (3c) World bk. co. 323 17-20398
The author, dean of the school of education in the University of Utah says, “This book is the result of six years of experimentation in teaching ethics to college freshman and senior high-school students in the University of Utah. The topics have been developed in class discussion and afterwards written up by each student, who thus made his own text.” Part 1 treats of the nature of society and social problems; Part 2 deals with the social obligations of the individual and the opportunities society offers each one for development thru service. The book aims to meet the needs of the senior year in high school and first year in college. At the end of each chapter are questions and exercises on the subject matter of the chapter.
“On first thought the social-science teacher might feel that the book has no interest for her. Should such be her conclusion, based on a passing notice of the book, she will change her mind upon careful reading. ... By making free use of the questions a teacher could make the book the basis of a full semester’s work in social problems.”
BENSON, ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER.Life and letters of Maggie Benson.*$2.50 Longmans 17-31049
“The record of this life, largely by means of her letters, is made by her elder brother. Margaret Benson was the daughter of the distinguished Anglican clergyman who became archbishop of Canterbury in 1883, and the story of her years is necessarily to some degree the story of a family placed amid exceptional surroundings. ... Step by step we watch the progress of Margaret Benson through life, viewing the development of her mind and the eagerness with which she thought and studied. Her letters are brief and graphic, but the essential elements of her life, her work and her character are clearly summarized by her brother.”—Boston Transcript
“Such lives as the life of Margaret Benson are among those worth recording but that too infrequently give inspiration to the biographer. ... As a contribution to the history of a remarkable family, Mr Benson’s book is no less remarkable than as a contribution to the study of a notable personality.” E. F. E.
“Without moralizing or preaching, merely by recounting the simple story of Maggie Benson’s life, he does indeed succeed in showing ‘how life can be lived nobly.’”
“The life impresses her brother as a most useful one but he hardly succeeds in persuading the reader.”
“Mr Benson has thrown together a mass of notes and hurried communications which can have very slight interest for any except friends of the family. ... Mr Benson’s own additions in the way of narrative and characterization are pleasantly written.”