“Narrated in simple style by one who ‘don’t lay claim to being much of a writer,’ but who has a story to tell.”
MCCLUNG, MRS NELLIE LETITIA (MOONEY).Next of kin; those who wait and wonder.*$1.25 (2½c) Houghton 940.91 17-30691
Mrs McClung is an Alberta woman who, from the public platform thruout our states, is telling the story of Canada in suffrage and war. “Times like these” had its leader of the herd, Mike, who planted his feet firmly in the watering trough and kept the other cattle from drinking. Here was a clearly drawn prototype of the political leader who blocked women in their struggle forthe ballot. “Next of kin” has a little no-breed hen, a philosopher with personality, in spite of frozen feet and lack of pedigree. “She went down to her death with a smile, hustling and cheerful to the last.” It is so with the throng of obscure war-mothers whose hearts are wrung as they see their young sons cheated out of boyhood to assume men’s burdens on distant battlefields, yet who heroically make the sacrifice. Pervading every page is the mother spirit, triumphant in giving “bread and blood as the sacrament of empire.”
“Gives a splendid idea of the effort which Canada has made, especially the women’s part.”
“Several times this reaction of a woman to wartime conditions in Canada gives promise of some understanding of this conflict and the causes that underlie it, and of wars in general and their motivating forces. But no sooner are our hopes raised by such a suggestive flash than she plunges us down into the depths of sentimental maunderings.” C. W.
“The book is a curious mixture of sound sense and nonsense, of wit and banality, of sympathetic understanding and sentimental sophistry. Withal it is marked by that sincerity which one finds in so many pseudo-public documents, such as the letters written by the farm women of the United States in response to a governmental inquiry. The sense of cheer which makes the interspersed verse reminiscent of that of Ella Wheeler Wilcox, should give it a large vogue; while the smoothness of the style and the simplicity of the stories can only serve to contribute further to its popularity.”
MCCLURE, SAMUEL SIDNEY.Obstacles to peace.*$2 (1½c) Houghton 940.91 17-8588
The obstacles to peace are of two kinds, says the author. First there are the questions of territory, access to the sea, etc.; second, the states of mind of the peoples at war. Of the second he says, “I have tried to describe the extraordinary hatreds, contempts, and horrors that divide the warring nations; so I have given much space to the records of alleged atrocities. The most important single fact in Europe today is the feeling caused by belief in these records. This feeling constitutes the greatest single obstacle to peace.” The most important “obstacle” of the first group is Turkey. “The fate of Turkey is the issue of this war.” The author presents many original documents and writes from personal experience in the warring countries.
“Mr McClure also presents a summary which covers the crises of the decade that followed 1904 and appends a discussion of Anglo-German relations after 1912. From the historian’s point of view this is the most important portion of his work. The book is primarily designed for the general public, but every teacher of recent European history will be glad to have it on his shelves.” C: Seymour
“On the editorial side of this book, its most important quality is Mr McClure’s keen understanding of the fact that war is first of all a state of mind ... engendered, made possible and carried on by states of mind. ... A truer, more deeply fundamental thing was never said. And yet Mr McClure’s book is one of the very few books about the war in which this truth has been emphasised, and in which it is made the cornerstone of all argument.” G. I. Colbron
“The Belgian invasion and atrocities have left Mr McClure under no illusion as to German procedure, and his most interesting comment bears upon the hypnotic national illustration of that people. This is perhaps the striking contribution which Mr McClure gives us in all his 500 pages.” B. K.
“Mr McClure has many faults. He is an incurable gossip. He writes with astonishing carelessness. He continually obtrudes his own personality into events where it has no place. But, again and again, he has some useful document to transcribe, some valuable fact to record; and for these alone his book would be worth reading. As an attempt at analyzing the real aims of the belligerents the book is a failure.” H. J. Laski
“A war book which, in certain aspects, is one of the most deeply impressive works we have had on this greatest human drama.”
“In respect of its contents this book is probably the book of the year in the field of the literature of the war.”
“Perhaps the most conspicuous feature of the book is the emphasis which Mr McClure gives to the matter of Turkey. He found, and in this book he makes public for the first time, the details of the Anglo-Franco-German agreement of 1914 with regard to Asia Minor.”
“A book of great historic value; a book for editors and librarians. ... The contrast between Georg Brandes’s ‘The world at war’ and S. S. McClure’s ‘Obstacles to peace’ is interesting and suggestive. Georg Brandes, the pacifist, gives us his conclusions without facts to support them; S. S. McClure gives us facts and leaves the reader to draw his own conclusion.”
“The book strives to be and is eminently fair, but the result is a stirring arraignment of Prussian militarism. This is trenchant in itself, and is also interesting because Mr McClure has been accused of pro-Germanism by certain sympathizers with the Allies.”
Reviewed by Bruno Lasker
“Its value is enhanced because it deals not only with these matters from the point of view of the Allies, but from time to time gives us some indication of the German point of view. Perhaps the most attractive chapters are those towards the end, dealing with France, and one entitled ‘Heroic voices.’”
MCCLURE, WALLACE MITCHELL.State constitution-making. $3 Marshall & B. 342.7 16-17760
“Though designed especially as a contribution to the problem of revising the state constitution in Tennessee, [this work] will nevertheless have a wider field of usefulness. Parts 1 and 3 give a history of constitutional development in Tennessee and a discussion of peculiar Tennessee problems, but part 2, entitled ‘Current thought and action upon constitutional problems,’ will be found serviceable by all students of state government. The author brings together in convenient form the state constitutional provisions on such subjects as elections, organization of state governments, the short ballot, the budget, municipal and county government, organization and procedure of the legislature, direct legislation by the electorate, etc.”—Pol Sci Q
“Mr McClure’s effort is worthy of high praise. He presented to his fellow-citizens a history of constitution making in this country and an analysis of our federal and state constitutions which should have convinced them that the constitution of their own state was in sore need of revision.”
“He has succeeded admirably in concealing any partisan bias, if he has one, and has presented opposing views with a clarity and fairness that are greatly to be commended.”
“There is probably no other volume in print that contains so much of this material systematically digested and arranged.”
MCCOMB, SAMUEL.[2]God’s meaning in life.*75c (3½c) Harper 231 17-25739
Man’s need of God is the central thought in this book of short essays. Especially, the author holds, is this need making itself felt at the present time. The chapter titles are: “Do we need God?” God and our ideals: God the great companion; God and regeneration; God—person or principle? Christ’s idea of God; Conversation with God; Can a “finite God” satisfy? The discovery of God.
“The book is small, a companion to the volume on Prayer and faith by the same author but its viewpoint is large and the benefits of its reading should be great. Dr McComb is well-known in Boston because of his work on psychotherapy while at Emmanuel church, and this book bears evidence of that training. Not that it expounds or even advocates the movement, but through the emphasis which is constantly laid on the definition of God as a Power.”
MCCOMB, SAMUEL.New life; the secret of happiness and power.*50c (3½c) Harper 248 17-5701
A series of essays on the spiritual life. The author finds the secret of modern unrest in the lack of spiritual satisfaction in individual lives. Social and civic activities, however worthy, do not fill the soul. A new attitude toward God that will bring man into harmony with His law is what is needed. Contents: The need of a new life; Should a man worry about his sins? The real meaning of sin; The need of conversion; Is conversion possible? Sudden versus gradual conversion; The regeneration of character; The power of the new life; The Christ ideal; The sociological value of the new life; The new life atoning and optimistic.
“The book is written in simple language, and is intended for the average reader. It will prove of great value to every pastor and social worker. Dr McComb writes in a happy, hopeful vein, and his discussion of these old questions is fresh and modern. The book has a positive message, but is undogmatic in its tone.”
MCCONNELL, JAMES R.Flying for France with the American escadrille at Verdun.il*$1 (4½c) Doubleday 940.91 17-6754
The author of this little book went to France in 1915 to drive an ambulance. After some months in this service he resigned to join the flying corps. The book is made up of four chapters: Verdun; From Verdun to the Somme; Personal letters from Sergeant McConnell; How France trains pilot aviators.
“It is this note of a spiritual awakening which lifts Mr McConnell’s book out of the class of the adventure narrative.”
“It is a short book, of little more than 150 pages—and with large print and wide margins at that—but it has a deal of interesting matter in it. It is both exciting and informative. And its record is something of which, as Americans, we can all be proud.”
“Vivid and interesting account of the daily work of the American escadrille of the French flying corps, particularly over Verdun and on the Somme front.”
“Not the least interesting portions of the little volume are the touching tributes which Sergeant McConnell pays to his comrades who fell before him.”
“Written in simple, but gripping style.”
“Slight but very readable account.”
MCCORMICK, FREDERICK.Menace of Japan.*$2 (2c) Little 327 17-9690
“When the determination of the immediate question of the future of Europe comes to conference, the fate of America’s interests and the future of the United States in the Pacific will be determined by Japan and the winners of the world war. ... The only hope for American honor, international justice, protection of commerce and trade, and other American interests in East Asia in future will be either the triumph of an European-American treaty coalition over Japanese-European Prussianism, or a triumph of the military forces of the United States over those of Japan, and a mastery in Washington in the management of foreign affairs.” These are some of the conclusions voiced in the final chapter, “Back to the guns.” “The sword, which Providence and Wisdom commend to China, they also commend to America,” is its last word. The author has been a journalist and war correspondent in the Far East since the Boxer uprising.
“A book which no thoughtful reader could for a moment take seriously.”
“Distinguishing between fact and fiction in books upon the politics of the Far East is no easy task, even when the author cites his sources of information; in this book it becomes impossible, except to the expert student; for Mr McCormick informs us in his preface that ‘many things contained herein ... cannot be publicly ascribed to their sources ... many are simply extracts from my own journals and private records.’ The author’s rabid anti-Japanese bias casts suspicion, if not upon his facts, at least upon the soundness of his judgment. As the reader passes from one chapter to another he becomes convinced that he is in the presence of a propagandist, not a sober historical writer.”
“Mr McCormick, although at times unjustifiably violent in his rhetoric, has without any doubt made out a clear case against Japanese diplomacy and our own inaction.”
“Many of his assertions are too sweeping, and his conclusions are sometimes palpably unsound. With due allowance for journalistic dash and patriotic fervor, his book can be read profitably. It contains a good deal of interesting information on the ins and outs of world diplomacy since the Russo-Japanese war. It is, however, almost wholly lacking in documentary citations, and the careful student will often be uncertain what to accept at face value and what to discount.” F: A. Ogg
“The author was for years an Associated press correspondent in China, and in recent years he has been secretary of the Asiatic Institute. His personal acquaintance with the events he describes dates from the Boxer rebellion. His style is decidedly journalistic, but inplaces is commendably vivid. The book is essentially a study in imperialism. Whether the conclusions are sound is a question that admits of debate.”
“A thoroughly mischievous work. Mr McCormick’s judgment and language are not marked by diplomatic restraint, nor does he sift evidence with care or display profound knowledge of the complicated matters with which he deals.” H: R. Mussey
MCCORMICK, HAROLD FOWLER.Via pacis; how terms of peace can be automatically prepared while the war is still going on. 60c (9c) McClurg 940.91 17-5546
This suggestion for a means of determining peace terms was written in December, 1915, issued privately in July, 1916, and is now put forward for consideration by the public. The author asks that the belligerents “enunciate the objects for which they are fighting and place their peace terms in precise and concrete form in the hands of selected neutral countries—whose role would be, not that of mediators but of custodians and ‘transfer agents.’ The terms thus deposited could be changed periodically in accordance with the varying fortunes of the war, the resulting benefit being that each side could know at a given moment precisely what the other was demanding and could examine his own assets, chances and hopes accordingly.” (Foreword)
MCCRACKEN, ELIZABETH, ed. To mother; with an introd. by Kate Douglas Wiggin. il*$1 Houghton 821.08 17-13752
This “anthology of mother verse” is arranged under the headings: The young mother; Mothers of men; Christmas mother poems; Lullabies; The joy of motherhood; Old-fashioned mother poems; Sonnets on motherhood; Tributes to mothers. It includes poems by Wordsworth, Tennyson, Coventry Patmore, Eugene Field, Jane and Ann Taylor, Thomas Bailey Aldrich and other English and American poets. Masefield’s “C. L. M.” and Henley’s “Matri dilectissimæ” are not included. There is an imaginative introduction by the editor, about a child and a garden; and indexes of first lines, of titles and of authors.
“The collection shows both discrimination and wide reading.”
“A collection of verse that contains neither the sentimental nor the banal, nor does it ever descend to doggerel however well intentioned. A book that one need not apologize for sending to anybody’s mother.”
MCCULLOUGH, ERNEST.[2]Practical structural design. il $2.50 U. P. C. bk. co. 624 17-29163
“A text and reference work for engineers, architects, builders, draftsmen and technical schools; especially adapted to the needs of self-tutored men.” (Sub-title) The book is an outgrowth of a series of articles that appeared in the numbers of Building Age from 1914 to 1916, with the title “Design of beams, girders and trusses.” Before writing the articles the author had used the subject matter in evening classes where it was presented to the type of “self-tutored” men for whom in particular the book is planned. Contents: External forces; Internal forces; Problems in design of beams; Girders and trusses; Joints and connections; Graphic statics; Columns and structures. The author is a member of the American society of civil engineers and is a licensed structural engineer and licensed architect of the State of Illinois.
“If in our college days one of us had dared to tell our professor of mechanics or structures that a really comprehensive text could have been written without the use of calculus or algebra, he would certainly have been classed with the heretics. The writer has always felt, however, that such a thing could be done and now his belief is realized in Mr McCullough’s admirable work. Although containing only 293 pages, it is difficult to find a phase of structural engineering such as is likely to be encountered in the city practice of a designing engineer which is not covered in a satisfactory manner.” W. S. Edge
MCCUTCHEON, GEORGE BARR.Green fancy.il*$1.50 (1½c) Dodd 17-23981
Green fancy is a strange hidden house on the American border of Canada. In and around it royal personages, third-rate actors, a New York man of the world, a beautiful woman, an Irishman of fortune, an international crook, all play their parts in an exciting drama of European intrigue.
“The narrative gallops along at a rapid rate, with plenty of dramatic incidents and exciting situations, while the author garnishes characters, incidents, and narratives with touches of humor.”
“It is a light romance, but the element of mystery is well sustained after the manner of such writers.”
MACDONALD, ALLAN JOHN MACDONALD.Trade politics and Christianity in Africa and the East; with an introd. by Harry Johnston.*$2 Longmans 266 16-22960
“This able book won the Maitland prize at Cambridge for an essay on the thesis, ‘Problems raised by the contact of the West with Africa and the East, and the part that Christianity can play in their solution’—one of the fundamental questions, that is, which confront the Empire and cannot be evaded. The chapters on the liquor traffic in West Africa and in Ceylon are very painful reading. ... Mr Macdonald discusses the difficult question of mixed marriages, and concludes that ‘the Eurasian, so long as he exists ... must be treated, if not as a social equal by the members of either dominant race, at least as a man and a brother in the great Christian community.’”—Spec
“Sir Harry Johnston, who is rated an authority on English colonial matters, contributes an interesting introduction.”
“From first to last Mr Macdonald seeks after truth in such a temperate manner that his book will be read with pleasure even by those who will differ from some of his views.”
“Sir Harry Johnston’s introduction is a remarkable tribute to the Christian missionary.”
“An extensive, detailed, and able review of labour and liquor problems in Africa, India and China.”
“While one may not be convinced by Mr Macdonald’s argument, and there are slips in his ethnological statements ... his book is valuable for its full and impartial account of the difficulties between Europeans and natives as they exist at the present moment.”
MACDONALD, GEORGE.Evolution of coinage. (Cambridge manuals of science and literature) il*45c (1c) Putnam 332 17-8356
The introductory chapter gives in brief the early history of coinage. Subsequent chapters take up: Coinage and the state; The material of coinage; Form, and methods of production; Types; Legends; Dates, and marks of value; Key to the plates. Select bibliography and Index follow. Eight plates illustrate the volume.
“An account, admirably written and illustrated, of the development of coinage in its technical and general aspects. The economic history of the subject is not included in the author’s plan.” C. D.
“It would be difficult to imagine a better introduction to numismatics.” H.
“His illustrations are excellent.”
MACDONALD, J. RAMSAY.National defence.*2s 6d Allen & Unwin, London 172.4
“In this small book Mr MacDonald concentrates his attention not on the peace problem of the moment or on post-war international policies, but on a criticism of ‘militarism’ as a principle and as a means of national defence. He does not, that is to say, here attack the war spirit and compulsory military service on humanitarian or sentimental grounds, but on grounds of national defence as the most likely means to promote what it is supposed to prevent; ‘created to give a sense of security and to defend, whereas its very existence keeps fear alive and adds to danger.’”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“A chapter on ‘A democratic Germany and peace’ is a significant warning to those who expect the Germans to translate military defeat into a pacific democracy. The Germans may rid themselves of their reigning house, as the French rid themselves of Napoleon III in 1871, without wishing to forget the war.” M. J.
MACDONALD, JAMES ALEXANDER.North American idea. (Cole lectures for 1917) $1.25 Revell 18-273
“A course of lectures delivered in the early part of the present year under the auspices of the Vanderbilt university of Nashville, Tenn., by the editor of the Toronto Globe. ... The North American idea which the author sets forth, is a recognition of the law of the world’s good will as an infinite and immutable law of the ordered life of human society and as the law of the world’s good will. This law of good will never is broken. No more than the law of gravitation can ever be broken. The world’s good will is law for all nations. Its transgression makes inevitable Germany’s undoing. ... ‘Already the leaders of world-opinion, at all the battle fronts of the world’s mind have learned the truth of the Christ dictum in the realm of world politics, that no nation can live to itself or can die to itself alone.’ An internationalized world is to be the outcome of the present world conflict of ideas. North America must play her part in the great conflict of ideas. Her preparedness must be that of the American mind, consciousness and will. ‘Service is the measure of our civilization. Service for others is the keynote of our democracy.’”—Boston Transcript
“Dr Macdonald has gained an international reputation, which the present volume will surely enhance.”
“Of prominent importance is Dr Macdonald’s enlightening review of United States history, and that of the Dominion. Of the latter he exposes great ignorance among us. Startling is his exposure of General Bernhardi’s secret mission hither in 1913 to prepare Germans for mischief among us in the coming war.”
“The reader is, perhaps, led to share the speaker’s zeal for democracy and internationalism. But as an exposition of North America’s attitude toward these greatest of causes the book is altogether inadequate. Comparatively little of the political achievement of either Canada or the United States is presented by the speaker.”
MCDOUGALL, GRACE.Nurse at the war. il*$1.25 (3½c) McBride 940.91 17-20977
This is the story of the “F.A.N.Y. corps” in Flanders and France, told by the Scottish nurse who started the work in September, 1914. The corps has now over 50 members working in the zone of the armies, and a few more in a convalescent camp in the center of France. They are doing motor ambulance, first aid, base hospital, and convalescent canteen work.
“Here is one of the most modest books to have grown out of the war. The author’s name does not even appear upon the title page. ... Among the most inspiring parts of the narrative are those which tell of struggles against early official refusal to accept women’s service, when male prejudice and mistaken kindness prevented and delayed the entrance of woman to one of her truest and noblest fields of activity.”
“‘Graphic’ the publishers term it, and the word is none too strong. Besides being graphic, it has an air of hurry that suits well the incidents that it relates. She does not parade horrors, but her buoyancy is so irrepressible that neither does she shrink from letting them appear in all their ghastliness.”
MCDOWELL, WILLIAM FRASER.Good ministers of Jesus Christ. (Lyman Beecher lectures on preaching)*$1.25 Abingdon press 251 17-15666
“Dr McDowell is a bishop in the Methodist church. ... [In this book] he divides the work of the Christian ministry into eight divisions, using the work of Christ as a basis and guide for these aspects. He terms them revelation, redemption, incarnation, reconciliation, rescue, conservation, co-operation and inspiration.”—Springf’d Republican
“The lectures have large-mindedness as to practical problems of religion and wisdom in dealing with men. Every page has suggestions for the preacher.” A. S. Hoyt
“Bishop McDowell is, in our judgment, strongest in his chapters on redemption and rescue. The terseness and beauty of the style is an outstanding feature of the lectures.”
“Assuming that his hearers intended to enter the ministry of the Christian church, he has tried to show them in these eight lectures how they may become good ministers of Jesus Christ. He speaks as one who has had thorough training for and long experience in the Christian ministry.” F. W. C.
“The style is clear and incisive, the substance rich with accumulated wisdom and instinct with passionate earnestness.”
“In the long series of these annual lectures this last is inferior to none. It is characteristically inspirational and vitalizing.”
“The book is an interpretation of the ideals of Wesley’s followers in the light of modern needs and modern thought. ... It is interesting tonote the many divergencies of thought from the very excellent series of lectures delivered on the same foundation [Lyman Beecher foundation, Yale university] in 1915, by President Hyde of Bowdoin college, entitled ‘The gospel of good will.’ The two series, read together, give one an admirably-balanced view of the religious needs of men and women to-day.”
MACE, ARTHUR C., and WINLOCK, HERBERT EUSTIS.Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht. il*$10; pa*$8 Metropolitan museum of art 913.32 17-2044
“The first publication of the Egyptian expedition of the Metropolitan museum is this handsome quarto volume by the assistant curators of the museum’s department of Egyptian art. The work of the expedition was begun in the winter of 1906-07 on the site of the pyramid-field of Lisht, which includes the pyramids of Amenemhat I and Senusert I, of the twelfth dynasty, with ‘royal’ cemeteries surrounding them. ... Text and drawings, photogravures and colored plates present and describe the site and the tomb, the clearing of the tomb, the coffins and canopic box, the jewelry, ceremonial staves, and pottery. Appendixes contain notes on the mummy, by Dr G. Elliott Smith, and an index of names of objects from the painted coffins. Mr Albert Morton Lythgoe, curator of the department of Egyptian art, is general editor of the publications of the expedition.”—Dial
“A careful index makes reference easy. And the book, a royal quarto, printed in clear large type, is a credit to the institution that made it possible and to the authors whose wealth of learning makes one gasp with astonishment.” N. H. D.
“It will be seen that the volume under discussion is part of a large and comprehensive plan of archæological work, which neglects neither science nor the public, but has considered the needs of all with real scientific statesmanship. ... The jewelry, which is very fully presented in color plates, photographs, and drawings, makes the volume of importance to all students of the goldsmith’s art.”
“Highly specialized as it is, the record contains a good deal of general interest, and may be read with enjoyment by a wider public than that concerned merely with the results of the archaeological expedition’s work. ... It need scarcely be pointed out that the plates which illustrate the great volume—there are thirty-five of them, as well as eighty-five ordinary figure illustrations—are of the finest.”
MCFADDEN, GERTRUDE VIOLET.Honest lawyer.*$1.25 (1c) Lane 17-6331
A provincial neighborhood in Dorset a hundred years ago is the scene of this story. The hero is a young attorney who has just succeeded to his uncle’s practice. The heroine enters the tale in a most startling way, by sending a proposal of marriage to the lawyer-hero, who has never seen her. Just why beautiful, haughty and much sought after Quenride Chideock should have done this remains a mystery for some time. The answer involves a forged will, the foiling of a particularly black villain, a trial for felony, and a pardon obtained under unusual and romantic circumstances.
“Rather sensational tale.”
“The events of the story are improbable, not to say impossible; it is romance pure and simple, wholly removed from realism. ... An adherent of Mr Howells is not likely to care for the strange incidents and unheard of situations of ‘The honest lawyer’; but to those who wish to be taken out of themselves into a wholly different world from any they have known, Miss McFadden’s ingenious and well-told story may be heartily commended.”
MACFARLANE, ALEXANDER.Lectures on ten British mathematicians of the nineteenth century.(Mathematical monographs, no. 17) il*$1.25 Wiley 925 16-14318
“This posthumous publication contains most interesting biographies of ten of the leading mathematicians of the nineteenth century in Great Britain, namely, of George Peacock, Augustus De Morgan, Sir William Rowan Hamilton, George Boole, Arthur Cayley, William Kingdon Clifford, Henry John Stephen Smith, James Joseph Sylvester, Thomas Penyngton Kirkman, Isaac Todhunter. These sketches are a part of the lectures given by Dr Macfarlane at Lehigh university during the years 1901-04.”—Science
“Should appeal to all students of human nature. It is, however, of more special interest, because not only are the personalities drawn, but the work and achievements of these men are presented and discussed in considerable detail.”
“The list is truly representative.” G. B. M.
“The author’s personal acquaintance with some of these men, and with intimate friends of them, enabled him to add personal touches which will be relished by the reader. Particularly gratifying are the details about Boole and Kirkman, concerning whom little had previously appeared in print. The future historian of mathematics during the nineteenth century will find the booklet full of interesting material. ... Carelessness in the proof-reading is noticeable.” Florian Cajori
MACFARLANE, CHARLES.Reminiscences of a literary life; with an introd. by J: F. Tattersall.*$3.50 Scribner (Eng ed 17-19702)
“A man who met Shelley at Naples and introduced him to Pompeii, who saw Keats in Italy, who talked with Hartley Coleridge at Grasmere, and who knew all the London wits of George IV’s day is a very welcome acquaintance. Charles MacFarlane, whose reminiscences have been discovered in manuscript in a country bookshop, was a prolific author now forgotten save, perhaps, for his historical novel, ‘The camp of refuge,’ which may have inspired Kingsley’s ‘Hereward the Wake.’ In later life he had to seek refuge in the Charterhouse as a Poor brother, and there, before his death in 1858, he finished dictating the two stout quartos which he meant for his son as an heirloom—and probably for the public as well. The son, an Indian officer, died in 1872, and the memoirs have been preserved by some happy chance, to be published at last by the descendant of MacFarlane’s old friend, the John Murray of Byron’s time.”—Spec
“He is an extremely lucid chronicler of events and a caustic analyst of character. ... Among the many picturesque personalities brought by MacFarlane into his book is Thomas De Quincey, whom he handles without gloves. ... It seems altogether likely that these reminiscences were never completed, or that if they were the final volumes are lost or still undiscovered.” E. F. E.
“MacFarlane was a man of cultivated mind, was a fit associate of the varied personalities with whom he had contact. The chief value of his book lies in his reaction to those personalities. And along with his easy-going chatter about them goes an instinct for discerning the things which are characteristic, revealing.” Garland Greever
“One of the most entertaining books of the sort published in many a day.”
“Full of engaging details of theliteratianddilettantiof the first half of the nineteenth century, as well as some well-known Italians and Anglo-Indians. ... Writing casually, MacFarlane was not always accurate.”
“He hated Radicals, loathed Miss Martineau and De Quincey, and bore a seemingly justifiable grudge against Charles Knight, for whom he wrote ‘The pictorial history of England’ and other popular books; but there was no real malice in his nature. ... His meeting with Shelley fills the first, and best, chapter in the book. ... MacFarlane’s serious books are forgotten, but his reminiscences will be read and quoted for a long time to come.”
“He is as honest as a very determined and rather prejudiced old gentleman may be. Down go his likes and dislikes, all pat; and since he took care to know a good many of the interesting people in the first half of his century, writes about them honestly, and engagingly ‘gives himself away’ in so doing, his book is lively from start to finish.”
MCFEE, MRS INEZ NELLA (CANFIELD).Boys and girls of many lands. il*$1.25 (3c) Crowell 17-25294
It is the author’s purpose to tell for American children something of the every day lives of boys and girls of other countries. A little African boy, Carl of Australia, Our playmates in Austria, Jaurez, a lad of the Amazon, A little maid of old Quebec, Boys and girls in China, are the titles of a few of the twenty and more chapters. There are sixteen illustrations from photographs. Mrs McFee is author of “Outlines, devices and recreations in United States geography,” “Studies in American and British literature,” and other books for school use.
MACGILL, PATRICK.Soldier songs.*$1 Dutton 821 17-20683
“In his third book of the war, Mr MacGill turns from prose to verse. As his ‘Songs of the dead end’ were written out of the life of his youth in Ireland, so these ‘Soldier songs’ are the lyrical expression of the sights and sounds he encountered a few years later in the midst of ‘war’s orgies of carnage.’ To him war has a charm, but it is merely the charm of adventure that adds to the joy of living and that gives him a theme for writing. ... In a dedicatory letter addressed to ‘My dear H. J.’—which initials undoubtedly represent his London publisher, Mr Herbert Jenkins—Mr MacGill responds to a request for information about the favorite songs of the soldier on active service.”—Springf’d Republican
“In all these poems there is never absent that strong sense of the part played by nature in man’s life which is always conspicuous in Mr MacGill’s prose as well as in his verse. He responds eagerly and vigorously to the scenes amid which he is suddenly placed.” E. F. E.
“The easy dialect of the trenches predominates, but in spite of this, literary quality is not lacking in many of the poems. ‘Marching’ and ‘Before the charge’ are fine bits of verse.”
“Noteworthy for its hearty rhythm, its sturdy originality of phrasing, and for the courageous spirit which permeates it. By a strange paradox, this poet has found in battle the sanity of outlook not noticeable in the work he wrote in times of peace.”
“We recommend to all who look upon war as something worth all its ghastly horrors in the ‘purifying’ results it bestows on mankind the poems entitled ‘After the war,’ ‘Out yonder,’ ‘Red wine,’ ‘The return,’ ‘A vision,’ ‘The everyday of war,’ and particularly ‘Letters.’ Be it remembered that these poems are the testimony of a man who finds a justification for this war.” D: P. Berenberg
“Like everything of MacGill’s, they are ‘different’ from anything else. They are, besides, a genuine contribution to the few specimens of real poetry produced by the war.”
“Make somewhat grim reading, but they are not as harsh as his prose, and now and again a note of unexpected and delicate tenderness is heard. ... It is indeed a signal proof of versatility that the trench poems written in the crudest slang and the reverent and dignified lines on the crucifix in Givenchy church should have come from the same pen.”
“Criticism of the songs as works of art, beyond allowing their metrical passability, would show them to fall between two stools, since they are not poetry on the one hand, not spontaneous expression of crude emotion, on the other.”
“These songs seem perhaps more than any verse of so strictly ‘soldierly’ a type that has come from the trenches to bring home to us something that is really alive—to ‘get there,’ if the expression may be allowed—more truly and easily, and without a touch of jingling bravado.”
MACGRATH, HAROLD.Luck of the Irish; a romance. il*$1.40 (1½c) Harper 17-25084
William Grogan, born in New York, thrown upon the streets at nine, a journeyman plumber at twenty-four, is the kind of hero who, like “the Hindu Yogi, could set his body grinding corn, take his soul out and go visiting with it.” For three years from his cellar shop window he had seen the same two shapely feet, sensibly shod, trip lightly by. Saturdays minus and the gap of July and August led him to the conclusion that she was a school teacher. He had never seen her face. “There were lots of homely women with pretty feet. He hadn’t many illusions left, this young philosopher of the soldering-iron, and he wanted to keep this one.” The wheel of fortune turns. A part of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is dumped into his lap. He puts himself aboard a ship for a trip around the world. The pair of feet is on the same boat. Mystery with plenty of treachery spices the story which must be left to the reader.
“A lively tale, the interest of which depends almost entirely upon its plot, and, though in the climax at Singapore it does seem as if the author might have managed to concoct a more plausible excuse for the delay which enabled William to arrive in the very nick of time, the story as a whole is amusing.”
MACHARG, WILLIAM, and BALMER, EDWIN.Indian drum.il*$1.40 (1½c) Little 17-25511
It was an Indian superstition—that the drum, hidden somewhere in the woods at the northern end of Lake Michigan, tolled the passing of every soul lost on the lakes. Twenty years before, when the freighter “Miwaka” had gone down with all on board, the drum had beaten short. Twenty-five was the number of the lost, but the drum made the count twenty-four. And there were those who had waited many years for the return of a rescued man. The story opens with the disappearance of Benjamin Corvet of Chicago, veteran ship owner and best known man on the lakes. Coincident with this is the arrival in Chicago of young Alan Conrad of Kansas, who had been summoned by Corvet. Henry Spearman, youngest member of the firm Corvet, Sherrill and Spearman, insists that the senior partner is dead, but Constance Sherrill refuses to be convinced and encourages Alan in his search for the missing man. The mystery shrouding Alan and his relationship to Corvet, together with the explanation of the connection between Corvet and Spearman andthe lost “Miwaka” is cleared away with the wreck of Carferry 25, when the count of the Indian drum is again one beat short.