DARÍO, RUBÉN.Eleven poems; tr. by T: Walsh and Salomón de la Selva; introd. by Pedro Henríquez Ureña. (Pub. of Hispanic soc. of Am.) pa*75c Putnam 861 16-22622
Rubén Darío was born near León in the republic of Nicaragua in 1867, and died in that city in 1916. The introduction to this small book of poems says, “With the death of Rubén Darío, the Spanish language loses its greatest poet of to-day,—the greatest because of the æsthetic value and the historical significance of his work.” He visited the United States twice, and in 1915 was awarded the honorary medal of the Hispanic society of America. In this volume of poems the original Spanish text and the English translation are given on alternate pages.
“They have that downpour of imagery, that cascade of beauties, of which the northern temper is slightly distrustful. Eleven poems, however, cannot embrace or test a man, particularly when the reader hesitates between the rush-light of his own imperfect Spanish and the charity of English renderings which are sometimes of real worth, sometimes bad beyond credence or pardon.” O. W. Firkins
Reviewed by Clement Wood
DARK, SIDNEY.Afraid.*$1.35 (1½c) Lane 17-2344
“Courage is so common a quality,” says the author in one of the early chapters of this story, “that experience justifies us in believing that every one possesses it.” The story is a study of a boy who seemed born without it. From childhood Jasper Sedley had been afraid. Moral courage and intellectual honesty were his to a high degree, but the thought of physical suffering made him weak and helpless. His life at home and at school was made miserable. He made no friends and at a critical moment lost the woman he loved because he failed to go to her aid. One is made to feel that sympathetic treatment in childhood might have overcome the obsession, but it is left for the war to call out the latent courage in the boy’s soul.
“Real as may be his idea, I feel a lack of reality in the way he presents it. His people are too much the characters needed to enforce his idea, too little actual personalities with whom Jasper Sedley chanced to come in contact. ... More important than all this, the final event seems suggested by sentiment rather than a knowledge of what life actually is.” E: E. Hale
“We doubt if Mr Dark has solved his own problem, for his coward turns out to be no coward. The question really is whether it is a right instinct which leads society to ostracize the coward without considering his character as a whole.”
DASENT, SIR GEORGE WEBBE.East o’ the sun and west o’ the moon, and other Norse fairy tales. il*$1.25 (1½c) Putnam 17-11576
Thirty and more Norse fairy tales are brought together in this book. Gnomes and trolls and other figures of northern fancy appear in the tales. Some of them are new, others are variations of the familiar themes, among them the story of Snow-white and Rose-red.
“These quaint tales will prove of interest to older readers as well as to the children for whom they were written. For some of them are reminiscent of ‘fairy stories’ of other lands, and prove again the common origin of the folk-lore of the European nations.”
“Altogether charming.”
“Short, easily memorized fairy tales that will prove treasures to persons who have a knack of telling stories to children.”
“The tales themselves are delightfully old world in flavor and of appealing quaintness. This characteristic is occasionally marred by colloquialisms in which the translator indulges in order to make his meaning clear to young readers. The striking feature of the book consists of the bizarre illustrations by Kay Nielsen, a Danish artist, who, by going back to the original source of the stories, the Norske Folkeeventyr of Asbjornsen and Moe, has been able to get the utmost significance of the original rendering.”
DAVIES, GEORGE REGINALD.Social environment. (National social science ser.)*50c (2c) McClurg 301 17-10388
“How far does the accumulated knowledge and experience of the world modify the individual and give him control over biological factors?” is the question considered by the author of this book. He feels that the biological factor, with its emphasis on struggle and the survival of the fittest, has been too strongly stressed in reading the story of human development. His purpose is to set forth the importance of the spiritual factors, using the term spiritual to cover “the intellectual, artistic, and moral achievements of civilization.” Contents: The biological point of view; The evolution of the theory of evolution; The nature of society; Social environment and eugenics; The outlook for social organization. The author is assistant professor of history and sociology in the University of North Dakota and the book is published in a series of which Frank L. McVey, president of the University, is general editor.
Reviewed by U. G. Weatherly
“Professor Davies has hardly been fair to biology, while his emphasis on the ‘spiritual’ forces of society contributes nothing essentially new.” R. T. B.
“Hitherto there has been a dearth of literature emphasizing environmental forces in society. This little book should be welcome for its contribution to that neglected field.”
DAVIES, GERALD STANLEY.[2]Renascence tombs of Rome. il*$6 Dutton 718
“An unusual field, indeed one never before explored, is covered by this sumptuous volume, written by the master of Charterhouse school and published originally in England [in 1910].” (Boston Transcript) “The volume is divided into two parts, of which the first is given to discussion and criticism of the tombs and the artists who worked on them, with vivid biographical and historical comment, and the second to alphabetical and chronological lists of the churches and tombs; brief histories of the men in whose honor the monuments were designed, and the special and general indexes. The illustrations are half-tone reproductions from photographs, sufficient in number and, of course, indispensable as reference.” (N Y Times)
“The beautiful illustrations add much to the descriptive nature of the text. Mr Davies writes with enthusiasm and with rare critical perception of values in this decidedly unusual field of examination.” E. J. C.
“Mr Davies has broken what is practically new ground with his valuable book, which, in addition to cautiously authenticated information, contains art criticism of the most brilliant and original character.”
DAVIES, WILLIAM HENRY.Autobiography of a super-tramp; with a pref. by Bernard Shaw.*$2.50 Knopf 17-13447
“The simple and quiet chronicle of a young man who tramped and begged—and now and then worked for a few weeks at a time—in America and England for many years. ... He tells us how tramps live, how they talk, what their ideals and their habits are. He has pictures of American ‘living conditions’—as the somewhat sententious phrase goes—that are nothing short of astonishing. He has had adventures, to boot. He has much to tell of cattlemen, of berry-pickers, of longshore labor camps on the Mississippi, of tramping and working and begging in city and country and summer resort through most of the eastern half of the United States and on into Canada, of remarkable beggars and expert thieves. Strange characters live in his pages. And his own life story is itself most strange.”—N Y Times
“A human document in the best sense of that much abused phrase. Not a phrase of it is overdone, not a word in it is egotistical, not a letter in it but spells the truthful story of a life that the world wants to know about.” E. F. E.
“A rather colorless narrative of unimpeachable verbal propriety relating the day-by-day experiences of the Welshman, who seems to have been an ordinary tramp until he began at thirty-four to write in really exquisite verse. The preface by Bernard Shaw, while it reveals still further the genial tolerance of that author, is not a particularly illuminating commentary on Mr Davies’ work or psychology.”
“Mr Davies is now an established poet, who no longer has to hawk his verses from door to door. His reputation, indeed, is considerable, and it may seem unfair to consider his first book of prose quite apart from his poetry. But if ‘The autobiography of a super-tramp’ has special interest, it is precisely because it shows how completely an unfamiliar medium may refract and distort the image of himself which a writer would convey. It is another lesson in sticking to one’s last.” G: B. Donlin
“His account is so casual that you would think he was living a regular, conventional life instead of that of a hobo. The book is unique.”
“He never grew into much of a Socialist; he has too much of the pure poet, yet reading his strong and simple picture of the incredible life of the poor, we become reconfirmed in our faith that the world must be set free, and society made friendly to the life or the tenderest and most innocent temperaments.” Irwin Granich
“Mr Davies’s simplicity stands out delightfully with Bernard Shaw as sponsor. ... He will be read, and reread, for the sheer charm of his style. Yet, withal, he has so much to say that is of absorbing interest.”
“His experiences are told realistically, but would be better for judicious condensation.”
“‘All I have to say by way of recommendation of this book,’ says Mr Shaw (and his conclusion shall be mine), ‘is that I have read it from beginning to end, and would have read more of it had there been more to read.’” L: Untermeyer
DAVIES, WILLIAM HENRY.Collected poems. il*$1.25 Knopf 811 16-23556
“This is not a complete edition of the poems of Mr Davies, as many people would gather from its title. It is what is probably a better thing: a book of poems selected by the poet from all the volumes he has published. He tells us in the prefatory note that it contains ‘what I believe to be my best pieces.’ A poet is not always the best judge of what is finest in his own work. But no one can know so well as he what best represents his own mind and mood, what gave him at the time of writing, and gives him still, the greatest pleasure, what is, if not his best, at least his most characteristic, poetry. That is what we get here from Mr Davies.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Mr Davies has learnt much from Herrick, and uses his learning well—not in the least In the sense of plagiarizing, but by his clever choice and treatment of his subjects. The book is well worthy of a place in the library of any lover of poetry.”
“Mr Davies’s ‘Collected poems’ has the same magical expression as Mr de la Mare’s art, but with a firmer background in experience. ... The best critical opinion admits that the poems of William H. Davies are as likely to live as those of any English poet of his day.” W: S. Braithwaite
“The ‘Collected poems’ of William H. Davies will give pleasure to lovers of the lyric. Mr Davies, who tramped over most of this country and Canada as hungry and thriftless as other tramps, established confidential relations with birds and beasts, with flowers and trees on ‘the open road.’ Perhaps this is why his lyrics celebrate the minute, beautiful things of the ancient out of doors with effervescent joy.”
“Some of his little songs catch the charm of Herrick and Lovelace. ... His ‘The sleepers,’ ‘The little ones,’ ‘Whom I know,’ and other poems, show a deep sympathy with suffering humanity; but the intellectual understanding is not here. Davies is a delight; but the stuff is slight and echoey.” Clement Wood
“This truly lyrical poet has everywhere a definite utterance. It is rarely complex, but it is always beautiful. ... Mr Davies, by the way, who is not so well known in this country as he deserves to be, will soon have an opportunity to broaden his acquaintance when a contemplated trip to America becomes a reality.”
“A book of the most companionable poetry that any living man has given us. Mr Davies has not the energy, the eloquence, or the passion of Mr Masefield; he has not the scholarlyworkmanship which half adorns and half conceals the true imagination of Mr Binyon; he has not that magical charm, as of some singularly gifted and beautiful child, which is the special secret of Mr de la Mare. But none of these, nor anyone else, perhaps, manages to convert so much of ordinary life into poetry as Mr Davies. And that is the essence of poetic companionship.”
“Here is one of the most truly lyric voices in the world to-day. Lacking the sudden magic or the individuality of either Walter de la Mare or Ralph Hodgson, he shares with them an unstudied and always singing beauty.” L: Untermeyer
DAVIESS, MARIA THOMPSON.Heart’s kingdom.il*$1.35 (1½c) Reilly & B. 17-25432
Charlotte Powers, a beautiful agnostic with a gift for leadership, returned from a winter in New York to her home in Harpeth Valley to find that a Methodist minister, Rev. Gregory Goodloe, who “resembled one of the big gold-colored lions that lived in the wilds of the Harpeth mountains,” had brought her circle of friends under his spell, so that they had taken to attending prayer meetings instead of dances, and had started to reform her father, for twenty years a drunkard. The book gives the story of her attempted marriage to Nickols Powers, his death, her conversion, and her conquest by the “Harpeth Jaguar” (as she called the Rev. Gregory) with the “jeweled eyes” to whom she “gave back a betrothal kiss that was as complete as a great red flower.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“A doubtful mixture of poor theology and insipid romance.”
“The best thing in the book is the sketch of the youthful Charlotte, the heroine’s ‘name-daughter,’ and her child companions.”
Reviewed by Doris Webb
DAVIESS, MARIA THOMPSON.Out of a clear sky. il*$1 (3c) Harper 17-13185
With a beautiful Belgian countess lost in the Tennessee forests, a very good looking young Tennessee farmer ready at hand to act as rescuer, and a search party, with authority from the Kaiser, in pursuit, you have the material for a modern romance. Céleste, countess of Berseck and Krymn, had fled to America after the fall of Louvain. The young prince, Louis Augustus, whom she had seemed fated to marry, was not at all a bad sort, but he was a German, and the marriage had been arranged by the hated Kaiser who had robbed her of all she loved. So the Countess fled—with a wicked uncle and other enemies following after. To evade them she drops off the train into an unknown world, which happens to be Tennessee, and there she finds Mr Bob Lawrence, his horse and his dog, all equally willing to serve her.
“A charming little tale, bearing little apparent relation to the everyday affairs of reality, but full of tenderness and romance, and told with a very pretty naïve quality in its careful foreign English.”
“A romantic, improbable, modern fairy tale.”
DAVIS, ARTHUR POWELL.Irrigation works constructed by the United States government. il*$4.50 Wiley 626.8 17-14071
“Within less than fifteen years after the date of the first enabling legislation, the U.S. reclamation service expended about $100,000,000 on the construction of numerous irrigation systems scattered over our vast western domain. ... Arthur P. Davis, chief engineer of the U.S. reclamation service, has described twenty-one of the twenty-five projects in the volume under consideration. ... Except for a brief introduction and a short final chapter summing up the achievements of the Reclamation service in terms of ultimate aim—‘Settlement and cultivation’—the entire book is devoted to descriptions of the various projects. The plan followed is to give the history and a general description of each project in a few sentences, and then to describe the works in their natural order, from dam and storage reservoir to water delivery to each farm unit. Besides the descriptions of structural works, the volume contains information on a variety of special topics.”—Engin News-Rec
“Besides its value as an account of governmental enterprise in the reclamation of land, the book is a welcome addition to the literature of irrigation, and of dams, canals, pipe lines, and other structures common to hydraulic works.”
DAVIS, CALVIN OLIN.Public secondary education. $1 Rand 379.774 17-11119
“The correct title of this book is ‘Public secondary education in Michigan.’ After devoting three chapters to the colonial Latin school, the middle period, and the early Northwest, the author begins his discussion with a chapter on early Michigan. Five chapters follow this one, the three most significant being one each on the academy movement, the union schools, and the high schools. It is in these chapters that one finds the explanation of current practices in secondary education in Michigan and to a certain extent in the nation at large.” (School R) “There is no attempt to bring the story down to date, contemporary tendencies being left to another book to be published later.” (El School J)
“The first two chapters contain a short statement largely abstracted from Brown’s ‘The making of our middle schools.’ One is impressed with the fact that, in order to get a background for the detailed story of secondary education in Michigan, Professor Davis has felt obliged to condense an already available and almost classic discussion of the development of our secondary schools. The hurried reader, however, will find in these preliminary chapters a clear, fairly concise, and interestingly written background story which will orient him in his consideration of the problem of secondary education in Michigan.”
DAVIS, CHARLES BELMONT.Her own sort, and others. il*$1.35 (2c) Scribner 17-7925
Ten stories reprinted from Scribner’s, Collier’s and other magazines. The first is the story of a society girl who, deciding to earn her own living, becomes a moving picture actress. She is quite happy in her work till chance throws her in with her old associates. The old lure of the idle life calls her and she goes back to her own sort. Many of the others are stories of society, or at least of city life. Contents: Her own sort; The octopus; God’s material; The joy of dying; When Johnny came marching home; The professor; The twenty-first reason; Side-tracked; The men who would “die” for her; Her man.
“Mr Davis has the gift of seeing the humorous situations in every day life.”
“The make-up is always there; the puppets never become quite human. In the light of the author’s imagination ‘The octopus’ and ‘The professor’ may seem real, but to the rest of us they are stagy and do not arrive; they merely grimace and gesticulate.’ Exception may be made to ‘The joy of dying.’ It is a pathetic and gruesome little tragedy.”
“They are human and interesting stories, for all the cynicism in their picture of ‘the pleasure world.’”
“Short stories worth reading.”
DAVIS, GEORGE BRECKENRIDGE.Elements of international law with an account of its origin, sources, and historical development. 4th ed*$3 Harper 341 16-16751
The fourth edition of this work has been prepared for publication by Gordon E. Sherman, formerly assistant professor of comparative and international law at Yale. Changes in the text have been slight. New matter added to the book is contained in appendixes. The extradition treaty between the United States and the Dominican republic, and the text of the Declaration of London are among the documents included. A supplementary bibliography is also added.
“Professor Sherman found it necessary to rewrite important parts of the first two chapters. This he has done with discrimination and good judgment. In printing the Declaration of London he has added notes, referring to the bearing of its dispositions on the present war, as wrought out in practice. One could wish that his annotations of this nature had been more numerous, if not more extended.”
“The most valuable additions are those in the appendix.” D. G. M.
“The treatise of the late judge advocate general of the United States, and its representative abroad upon several occasions, is an authoritative and systematic statement of the best international practice of nations during both war and peace.”
DAVIS, J. MERLE.Davis, soldier missionary. il*$1.50 (1½c) Pilgrim press 16-24706
Jerome D. Davis, the subject of this biography was a lieutenant-colonel of volunteers in the Civil war and for thirty-nine years a missionary in Japan. This story of his life is written by his son, who is secretary of the International committee of Young men’s Christian associations in Tokio. In Japan Dr Davis was one of the founders of Doshisha university and the book gives a full account of the development and achievements of this institution.
“Mr Davis has succeeded admirably. His father becomes to the reader a living person, the soldier who had the missionary spirit, the missionary who never lacked a soldier’s valor, a true man, of heroic temper shown in great deeds.”
“A substantial volume of 350 pages, well illustrated and of compelling interest. ... Incidentally one gets in these chapters a history of the famous Doshisha controversy.”
DAVIS, JOSEPH STANCLIFFE.Essays in the earlier history of American corporations. 2v ea*$2.50 Harvard univ. press 338.8 17-12885
“This group of studies is presented as a modest contribution to the economic and social history of the United States before 1800, especially for the last decade or two of the eighteenth century.” (Preface) Volume 1 contains three studies: Corporations in the American colonies; William Duer, entrepreneur, 1747-99; The “S. U. M.”: the first New Jersey business corporation. Volume 2 is devoted to Eighteenth century business corporations in the United States. The author is instructor in economics in Harvard university and the work is published as volume 16 of the Harvard economic studies.
“The work bears evidence of large and minute investigations of original sources. It is not taken for granted that standard authors are always accurate in their statements or conclusions. Errors in the dates assigned in complications of high authority to some important papers are fearlessly corrected.” S. E. Baldwin
“In each volume there are appendices of useful illustrative material, and the second volume has an extensive bibliography. The work as a whole represents a comprehensive, if not an exhaustive, treatment of the topics considered; and should form an authoritative source of information.” J. A. F.
“The author has done his work well. These volumes make a distinct and welcome contribution to American economic history.” F. R. J.
“Mr Davis’s treatment of these subjects is such as to merit the gratitude of students both of economics and of history. Of the four essays of which the work is composed, the second and third, though not the most valuable, are certainly the most interesting. In these two essays we are brought face to face with many of the leading characters of the period. They are as valuable for the sidelights which they cast upon the politics of the day as for the economic information which they impart.”
“Two very interesting volumes which are based on statute books, letters, financial records, newspapers, reports, etc. The work is, indeed, an important contribution to the industrial and social history of the United States before 1800, and it should have a lasting and well-deserved reputation. ... There is a complete bibliography at the end of the second volume.”
DAVIS, KARY CADMUS.Productive plant husbandry. (Farm life text ser.) il*$1.75 Lippincott 630 17-19170
A text-book for high schools into more than 4,600 of whose curricula have been introduced courses in agriculture. The first six chapters are devoted to plant life and growth, and methods of improving plants; the next four, to soils and their improvement and maintenance; the body of the text deals with the various farm crops including fruits, vegetables, field crops and forestry; then follow three chapters on the enemies of crops—weeds, insects and diseases. In conclusion the writer discusses the business of farming and the rural community.
“From the standpoint of its pedagogical merits the book is rather superior. ... The illustrations are numerous and clear and really illustrate the text. Teachers interested in texts in agriculture providing material for a one-year course will do well to examine Professor Davis’ book with some care before they select a text for their course.”
DAVIS, RICHARD HARDING.Adventures and letters of Richard Harding Davis; ed. by C: B. Davis. il*$2.50 Scribner 17-30256
“Richard Harding Davis was almost a legendary figure from his boyhood, and certainly no American has ever known how to extract so much adventure from life. As newspaper man, war-correspondent, soldier of fortune, and storyteller he had an unfailing knack of being on the spot where the greatest possible interest and excitement were going forward. But few of his readers, perhaps, knew that he was also an inveterate and a capital letter-writer. His brother, Charles Belmont Davis, has now collected his correspondence and woven it about the personal narrative of the author’s life. The book is copiously illustrated with portraits and photographs, many of them taken in various parts of the world by Davis himself.”—Lit D
“They form a very interesting biography.”
“His letters present an array of delightful, amusing, exciting adventures. The book is excellently edited, with a running narrative that is altogether readable and informative, and the photographs are really vivid illustrations of the matter of the book. We know few books more interesting.”
“Unconventional, lively letters.”
“Readers will lay down the book with the feeling that they have become personally acquainted with an interesting man. The explanation of this feeling of intimacy with the subject of the book is that his letters, a large portion of them written to his mother, reveal him as a likable man who loved human companionship, who made friends easily and who possessed many of the attractive and worth-while qualities which have made the heroes of fiction so deservedly popular.”
DAVIS, RICHARD HARDING.Boy scout, and other stories for boys.il*$1.25 (2½c) Scribner 17-24696
Five stories that “go with especial directness to a boy’s heart and sympathies” have been chosen for inclusion in this book. They are: The boy scout; The boy who cried wolf; Gallegher; Blood will tell; and The bar sinister. “Gallegher” is an old favorite. “The bar sinister” has also had a number of years of popularity. The other stories are of later date.
“They are for readers of any age, boys included.” J: Walcott
“One cannot be too enthusiastic in recommending the story-telling power of Mr Davis. His dog story, ‘The bar sinister,’ is an ideal tale for boys who love a good and spirited account of animal nature.”
DAVISON, THOMAS RAFFLES.Port Sunlight. il*$2 Scribner 710 17-14401
“Port Sunlight is a model village established in England in 1888. As students of sociology are already familiar with its great practical and economic success, it is the purpose of this book ‘to emphasize the artistic and picturesque qualities of the village.’ To this end the book includes a little descriptive matter and a great many illustrations, photographs, sketches and plans. These show most conclusively the charming old English type of village which has been attained, a pleasure to the eye, an uplift to the spirit, without decreasing, but rather enhancing the practical value of the town.”—Boston Transcript
“We are extremely sorry that the author limited himself to a record of the artistic and pictorial aspect of Port Sunlight, a subject so closely associated with the economic aspect of the place as to leave the reader unsatisfied if this also is not described.”
DAVRAY, HENRY D.Lord Kitchener: his work and his prestige; with a prefatory letter by Paul Cambon. 2s 6d T. Fisher Unwin, London (Eng ed 17-20979)
“The well-known Frenchlittérateurgives us a graphic and effective portrayal of Kitchener’s work—a hastening, in some half dozen pages, over his earlier military career, and getting on page 29 to the outbreak of the European war and appointment of Kitchener to the war office. ... Appendices reproduce speeches by Lord Kitchener, memorial speeches in the House of commons, etc.”—Ontario Library Review
“H. G. Croser’s ‘Lord Kitchener’ contains more biographical facts of his earlier career; Harold Begbie’s ‘Kitchener, organizer of victory,’ is more popular, but, like this, only a sketch.”
“M. Davray followed events in England closely and on the spot; he has a keen eye and a gift of making the most of what he sees, and he applies these gifts successfully to Kitchener’s achievement in organizing the British military force.”
“It is probable that one object of this life of Kitchener was to reassure the people of France in regard to Britain’s part in the war and Lord Kitchener’s ability and devotion at a time when the war minister was being violently assailed by Lord Northcliffe’s press.”
DAWSON, ALEC JOHN.[2]For France (“C’est pour la France”); some English impressions of the French front. il*$2 (6c) Doran 940.91
“No other claim is made for the pictures, drawn and written, which are presented than that they record a few of the entirely independent and unbiased impressions formed by two English officers who were very kindly permitted by the French authorities to see something of the French army in the field.” (Preface) Captain Bairnsfather’s sketches of the “poilu” deal with him “often with a slight touch of caricature and always with humor and tenderness.” (N Y Times) The spirit of the French army is well brought out as is also the spirit of what Capt. Dawson calls “the reserved fighting line that is so finely held by the women of France.” One chapter, “The joyous ones” describes a battalion “recruited entirely as regards its rank and file, from the ranks of convicted criminals.” Some other chapters are: Paul Dupont, grocer; Paris; Dogs of war; One trench and another, and Verdun.
“The chapter on the war dogs is capital, as might be expected, since the author is an expert in that line. ... Captain Bairnsfather has made an effort to restrain his gift for comic types of a special English kind, and his best pictures are better, we think, than his English caricatures.”
“While in the preface both disclaim any pretension at more than a cursory glimpse of a ‘few aspects of France in war time, as seen through uninformed English eyes,’ yet the reader will feel that much of the real spirit of the land and her people has been caught by these sympathetic visitors.”
DAWSON, CONINGSBY (WILLIAM).Carry on; letters in war-time; with an introd. and notes by his father, W. J. Dawson. il*$1 (4c) Lane 940.91 17-15170
The author is a graduate of Oxford university who, after one year at Union theological seminary, New York, decided to be novelist rather than a preacher, a decision which resulted in the publication in 1913 of his “Garden without walls.” But in 1916 after the publication of “Slaves of freedom,” he left his home in Taunton, Mass., for the trenches, accepting a commission in the Canadian field artillery. The letters, which are most intimate and personal, were written to his familyfrom dugouts on the Somme battlefront in the intervals of artillery fire. Their general point of view is well expressed by the Canadian slogan “Carry on” which the novelist’s father, W. J. Dawson, has used as the title of the book. “We’ve got to win,” writes Lieutenant Dawson, “so that men may never again be tortured by the ingenious inquisition of modern warfare.”
“He is particularly effectual in putting himself on paper, and his book affords a clear view into the theological soul. The best part of it is that his letters are so full of incident that unless you are particularly interested, you need not bother with the theological interpretation at all.”
“From a literary point of view these intimate letters, written in dugouts by the light of a single candle and without thought of publication, are far and away the best work that Mr Dawson has ever done.”
“They are characterized by vividness of impression, reality, sympathetic insight, and literary grace, and breathe the spirit of heroism, and are a challenge to heroism in others.”
“His letters are those of a serious, full-hearted young man, devoted to his own family, and endowed with a natural gift for writing.”
DAWSON, CONINGSBY (WILLIAM).Pincher Martin, O. D.; a story of the inner life of the Royal navy. il*$1.50 Houghton (Eng ed 17-22561)
“The cryptic—at least, to an American—letters after Pincher Martin’s name are English navy slang for ordinary seamen, and this book, by the author who prefers to be known as ‘Taffrail,’ is an entertaining account of navy life in peace and war, as experienced by an ordinary bluejacket. The story opens about a year or two before the outbreak of the war, and we meet Martin at the moment when he joins his first ship, the predreadnought battleship Belligerent. He remains on her until she is torpedoed and sunk, then serves on board a torpedo boat destroyer, the Mariner. As one of the Mariner’s crew he takes part in the Jutland fight, but before that occurs he has quite a number of adventures.”—N Y Times
“There is, however, more comedy than tragedy in this tale of Pincher Martin, and some of it is very amusing.”
“The book is a welcome tribute to our navy, and bears everywhere the signs of intimate knowledge.”
“Makes good its claim to be ‘a story of the inner life of the Royal navy.’”
DAWSON, CONINGSBY (WILLIAM).Seventh Christmas. il*50c (8c) Holt 17-29180
This is the story of the seventh birthday of Jesus. His mother Mary tells him the story of his birth, and the golden caskets given him by the Three wise men of the East are opened.
“Coningsby Dawson’s ‘The seventh Christmas’ is so sweet a little legend that it has a value beyond the celebration of any particular feast.”
“The delicate style of Coningsby Dawson, compact of feeling and fancy, would seem to have a congenial field in a legend about the boyhood of Jesus, but ‘The seventh Christmas,’ while it presents a pathetic picture of Joseph’s poverty-stricken home, does not rise to that imaginative ‘saturation’ essential to the undertaking.”
DAWSON, WILLIAM HARBUTT, ed. After-war problems.*$2.50 Macmillan 304 17-24513
“The four main sections of this important volume—‘Empire and citizenship,’ ‘National efficiency,’ ‘Social reform,’ and ‘National finance and taxation’—are headed, respectively, by chapters on ‘Imperial federation,’ by the late Lord Cromer; ‘National education,’ by Lord Haldane; ‘The rehabilitation of rural life,’ by the Bishop of Exeter; and ‘National taxation after the war,’ by Prof. Alfred Marshall. The remaining fifteen chapters, which deal with a variety of topics, are by recognized authorities on the several subjects. Thus the two chapters treating of the relations between capital and labour are contributed by Mr G. H. Roberts, who writes from the standpoint of labour, and by Sir Benjamin C. Browne, who states the capitalist’s view; Mrs Fawcett writes on the position of women in economic life, Miss Margaret McMillan on the care of child life, Lord Meath on the cultivation of patriotism, Mr W. Joynson-Hicks on the land question; and so on. The introduction is contributed by the editor.”—Ath
“The general impression left on the mind is that the essayists are satisfied with the ‘status quo ante’ in its main outlines, but seek for improvements in it. There is no deep analysis of the social and industrial system, and no questioning of its fundamentals. The book is, however, much more comprehensive in its scope than any that has previously appeared, and many of its chapters are worth careful reading.”
“These essays are weighty pronouncements, and the volume in its entirety demands careful study.”
“One receives from the reading of these candid, revelatory documents a feeling of pride in England’s willingness to learn, to adopt new methods, to look to the future with undaunted courage.” S. A.
“While the book presents a constructive national policy for England, it seems addressed to Englishmen not vitally interested in securing a vision of the needs of the British empire as a whole, or really concerned with international welfare. The spirit is, a world safe for England. But one raises the question, if each nation at the conclusion of war deliberately embarks upon a policy of national efficiency prompted solely by the desire to acquire foreign markets and to attain self-sufficiency at home, what will become of the fruits of the war to end wars, and will such a world be safe for anybody?” V. T. Thayer
“Of particular interest is the study of imperial federation by the late Earl of Cromer, altho it comes to no particular conclusion.”
“We can do no more than commend the book to all who would understand the momentous social changes with which England is confronted, and what is being thought and planned regarding them. A survey on similar lines of our own after-the-war problems would be a task well worth undertaking.”
“A certain lack of definiteness can be charged against some of the contributors; indeed, the book as a whole does not attain high importance. But changes are coming, and those who will be responsible for these changes will profit by the spirit of some chapters of the book, even if they are not always illuminated by the proposals. ... Among the most valuablechapters in the book because the most concrete is that of Viscount Haldane, whose subject is ‘National education.’”