“Mr Patri’s vision of what the public school should be and should do in American life, in city and country, in rich neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods alike, is an inspiring and an aspiring vision.”
“His book has in it entertainment and valuable suggestions also.”
“Patri’s book has been compared to Jacob Riis’s portrayal of the lives of the common people in ‘How the other half lives.’ Like Riis, he sees the flaws of our social and educational systems more clearly because of his foreign birth. ... His work has been done in New York, but his experiments are of interest in all American cities. ... Mr Patri was given the principalship of school no. 45, in the Bronx, and he has made it into a model Gary school—one that is a real community center.”
“There is no theorizing or dogmatizing. You see the children and the mothers and the homes with his own eyes. You unravel the snarls and tangles with him. You marvel that the despised craft of teaching could be so dramatic, could call for such skill and talent. Schoolmasters like Mr Patri would make teaching the most important of professions, and education the finest of the arts.” Randolph Bourne
PATTERSON, AUSTIN MCDOWELL.German-English dictionary for chemists.*$2 Wiley 540.3 17-6769
“The scope of the book is broader than the title would seem to indicate. It gives English meanings, not only of German words occurring in the literature of general and industrial chemistry, but includes words used in scientific and technical literature generally, as well as a good general German vocabulary.”—Quar List New Tech Bks
“Dr Patterson has filled what has long been an irritating lacuna in the average chemist’s library. ... The book should be eagerly welcomed by the steadily increasing number of young chemists in England and America and by those who, even if they have already a good working knowledge of the language, are occasionally at fault. The book is clearly printed, the German being in roman type.”
“‘The need of a book of this kind has been keenly felt by all scientific men.’”
“Dr Patterson has performed a public service in the compilation. ... His extended experience as editor of Chemical Abstracts has given him exceptional qualifications for such an undertaking and the work shows the same painstaking care which characterized his successful work as editor. ... The printing is good, the covers are flexible, and the size is suited to the coat pocket.” C: H. Herty
“Includes valuable suggestions on nomenclature.”
“Very useful to anyone who has occasion to read German scientific or technical books and periodicals.”
“Since its appearance in January it has been in constant use in the office of ‘Chemical Abstracts,’ where translating work involving every phase of theoretical and applied chemistry is done and it has stood this test of completeness in such a way as to justify the confidence with which it is used.” E. J. Crane
PEABODY, FRANCIS GREENWOOD.Religious education of an American citizen.*$1.25 (3c) Macmillan 204 17-20853
This book is “an attempt by the emeritus professor of Christian morals at Harvard to analyze the various influences which direct and go to make up the religious training of the average American.” (Springf’d Republican) Chapter eleven, The conversion of militarism, is reminiscent of William James’ “Moral equivalent for war.” The last chapter deals with The place of Jesus Christ in a religious experience.
“In vain do we look for any definite statement by the author as to the nature of Christ. And if he wavers in this fundamental belief, what light or leading can be expected from him on the momentous question of ‘The religious education of an American citizen?’”
“Some patent defects that one grieves so often to find in religious writers of prominence are an over-reliance on pretty verbosities, a habit of glib mosaic of biblical quotation designed to fit into modern problems (going back for its warrant to the infallibility of the scriptures), and a trait that naturally goes with the latter—an odd combination of sound and serious reflection with ramshackle logic. But there is plenty of meat in this book.”
“The intimate and perplexing problems of the mind, in which faith, character and modern progress are factors, are dealt with helpfully. ... The chapter on the conversion of militarism is especially pertinent, but Dr Peabody almost seems to fall into the common failure to properly interpret Jesus Christ in relation to militarism. ... If we must have militarism a while longer, we wish that we might have the courage to possess it without torturing the teaching of Jesus to justify us.” L: A. Walker
“An ideal work, the cream of long and rich experience.”
“Particularly helpful at this time is the chapter on ‘The conversion of militarism.’ Dr Peabody thinks the youth of America should be given constructive social work to fill the place which some would gladly see assigned permanently to military training. ... The book is written with distinction of thought and style.”
PEABODY, JAMES.Railway organization and management. 2v il LaSalle extension univ. 385 17-689
“This is one of a series of books on interstate commerce and railway traffic. Its purpose is to explain the functions of the various departments of the railway and the duties of the officers and employees. ... Naturally the greater part of the book consists of a detailed analysis of the three great divisions of railroad organization—operating, traffic, and accounting; but brief mention is made of the corporate organization and of certain miscellaneous departments, such as relief, pensions, publicity. Some little attention is given to the valuation work which has been forced upon the railroads by the federal government.” (Am Econ R) The author has been statistician for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé railway.
“The arrangement of the book is somewhat faulty resulting in many needless repetitions. A fairly full index remedies this defect to some extent. There is also a noticeable lack of balance in the apportionment of space to the various topics. On the whole, however, the work affords the student of transportation and the layman a considerable amount of information concerning the organization and operation of a railway though it is too superficial to be of much use to a railroad man or to any one who desires an intimate knowledge of the subject.” C. W. Doten
“No such complete list and description of railway positions has been put into any previous work. Elaborate charts show the relations of the officials to each other and guide the reader through the almost infinite complexities of the organization.”
PEARS, SIR EDWIN.Life of Abdul Hamid. il*$2 (1½c) Holt 17-31756
“A word of apology on my part may, perhaps, be expected for having included this sorry creature, Abdul Hamid, among the ‘Makers of the nineteenth century,’” writes Basil Williams in his General editor’s preface, continuing, “and yet as an influence on the political thought and action of Europe in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, as one who has handed down that evil influence to the Europe of this century, Abdul Hamid may justly lay claim to be included among those who have helped in large measure to make or mar the world into which we were born.” It is in much the same spirit that the author takes up the career of “the greatest of the destroyers of the Turkish empire.” Sir Edwin Pears is author also of “The fall of Constantinople” and “The destruction of the Greek empire.”
“An authoritative and popular history. The chapters are topical, which makes useful the chronological table of events at the end of the book. The author weaves into the history thepart played by British diplomacy. His estimate of the Sultan’s character is interesting and well balanced.”
“True, the result is a trifle disappointing, for Sir Edwin has treated his subject from a topical rather than a chronological standpoint, which frequently causes confusion and gives rise to the necessity for elaborate mental cross-referencing.”
“Sir Edwin Pears has dealt with all these matters in a most competent fashion, and his book will be the standard biography of the worst of all the Sultans.”
“Abdul Hamid is the subject of just such an impartial, clear and comprehensive study as would be expected from a man of Sir Edwin Pears’s knowledge and profundity. If it is history more than it is biography, that fact is a natural consequence of the secrecy surrounding the life of the deposed emperor, and of the necessity of judging him by his public acts.”
PEARSE, PADRAIC H.Collected works. il*7s 6d Maunsel, London 820.8
“Padraic Pearse was among the Irishmen executed after the outbreak in Dublin in the Easter of 1916. He was thirty-six years old; but already for twenty years and more he had been working for the Ireland that he saw in a vision. He learned the Gaelic language, and so well that, as ‘Padraic MacPiarais,’ he was able to write poems in it and plays and stories. At seventeen he founded the New Ireland society in Dublin. ... He edited the weekly organ of the Gaelic league. He conducted a secondary school as Gaelic in ‘atmosphere’ as he could make it.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) The stories include the tale of “Iosagan” (Little Jesus), the mysterious, barefooted boy who came to play with the village boys, but disappeared when there were grown-ups about; of little Paraig, who used to play all alone at being a priest; of Brideen and her two dolls; of “The Dearg-Dool,” “in which the kindliest intentions seem hopelessly entangled with ancient doom”; of “The keening woman,” who came to London to plead with Queen Victoria on behalf of her son, imprisoned on suspicion of murder, etc. The plays all deal, directly or indirectly, with the history and politics of Ireland. The poems are filled with a confidence which contrasts strongly with the doubt expressed in the plays.
“Those who look in the writings of Mr Pearse for that picturesque imagery which we are accustomed to find in the works of Irish authors will be disappointed, for there is little of it. There is a lack also of that humor, regarded as characteristically Irish, which by its piquant contrast adds poignancy to the homely tragedies of the Irish countryside.”
“They are what literature ought to be. Their ‘literary’ beauty is patent, even in these English translations. ... They are very finely wrought; full of fancy, of passion, of tender humour; in the treatment of children they are rarely true and tender. But their special claim to notice is that they are the many times refined expression of their author’s spiritual life. ... To the seeker after literature, the purified and exalted expression of spiritual life, it matters not a jot whether the poet be politically right or wrong. He may be a rebel and a traitor; but, unless he be cowardly and mean of soul, his literature may be noble. And the literature left by Pearse is not the literature of a coward or a mean man. ... It is the more interesting because visionaries of this kind seldom have the power of expressing themselves through the art of letters.”
PEARSON, CHARLES CHILTON.Readjuster movement in Virginia. (Yale historical publications)*$2 (4½c) Yale univ. press 975.5 17-24995
The movement which has been made the subject of this work represented a reaction against reconstruction. The author says of the book, “It is a chapter in the history of Virginia, from the Civil war to the first administration of Grover Cleveland, in which some of the forces that moulded the present state are shown in their operation; and in the showing the ‘Readjuster’ claim to liberalism, democracy, and progress is tested and due record made of the achievements and solid worth of those who stood for conservatism, aristocracy, and scrupulous honesty.” (Preface) A “bibliographical note” of six pages precedes the index. The author is professor of political science in Wake Forest college, North Carolina.
“Politics make strange bedfellows. On this score the reviewer might find a little fault with the author. For the book, while it does refer to the national bearings of his subject, does not make clear enough the entanglements and commitments of this bastard Virginia party. ... There is a fairness in the book and an appreciation of the difficulties of politicians in steering the course of any given ship of state that promise well for the future writings of the author.”
Reviewed by S. C. Mitchell
“There is a long and bald array of facts and figures; however the book shows scholarly research, is carefully written, is well provided with notes and bibliography, and should have lasting historical value.”
PEARSON, FRANCIS BAIL.Reveries of a schoolmaster.*$1 (2c) Scribner 814 17-9711
The author is State superintendent of public instruction in Ohio and has published books on “The evolution of the teacher,” “The high-school problem,” and other educational subjects. In this book he writes informally of the schoolmaster’s calling and of some of the problems of life in the light of his experience as a teacher. Homely analogies drawn from a country boyhood add an individual touch to the little essays. Among the subjects are: Retrospect; Lanterns; Complete living; Freedom; Things; Hoeing potatoes; Changing the mind; The point of view; Picnics; Make-believe; Story-telling.
“Thirty-one well-organized little essays, full of kindly, homely wisdom based on both reading and human experience. ... The book will be of especial interest to those who have to deal with young people, or to students themselves.”
“Mr Francis B. Pearson has put much homely philosophy and the results of sound reflection in this little book.”
“In nearly all are one or more common sense suggestions on wise and tactful methods of boy training.”
“They are generally sensible, they are occasionally witty; but they abound in stale anecdotes and trite quotations, and they are prone to ‘announce commonplaces as if they were discoveries.’ All these are, of course, besetting sins of teachers. It is probably better to talk over your pupils’ (or readers’) heads than to talk under their feet. The latter is Mr Pearson’s danger.”
“Although the writer avoids technical cant and disclaims any assumption of authority, the morals of his parables are plain and enlightening. The critical reader, however, may find in Mr Pearson’s style blemishes which seriously mar the charm of the whole. Rather too often is the writer ingenuous, obtrusively rustic and facetious, which, in a book of this nature, may lead one to distrust the writer’s judgment.”
PEARSON, FRANCIS BAIL.Vitalized school.*$1.40 Macmillan 370 17-4795
“The ‘vitalized school,’ according to Mr Pearson (who is state superintendent of public instruction in Ohio) is nothing but a school with a vitalized teacher in charge. In general, his book is an attempt to bring together some of the fundamental modern implications of teaching in a way that will induce teachers to incorporate them into the practice of their profession. ... It consists of a series of short treatises, aiming to be both practical and inspirational, on teaching as related to life: on ‘the teacher,’ ‘the child,’ ‘democracy,’ ‘the artist teacher,’ ‘the socialized recitation,’ ‘the school and the community,’ ‘a sense of humor,’ ‘poetry and life,’ ‘examinations,’ etc.”—Survey
“An inspirational rather than an informational book. ... The style throughout is free and easy and especially adapted to the teacher of little training and experience. The questions and exercises at the end of each chapter suggest that the author expects his work to be used both as a text and as a reading-circle book. In either of these capacities it would be more valuable for what it suggests than for what it contains.”
“There is much that teachers, and other people, too, will do well to ponder. ... The book suffers somewhat from its sustained effort to treat broad, elusive, ‘inspirational’ subjects and relationships as if they were matter for exact exposition and could be stated as facts to be acquired rather than feelings to be aroused. Perhaps (though we doubt it) this is suited to the intended audience. Then, too, Mr Pearson makes a bad guess occasionally in his illustrations: such as when he quotes a statement that the first purpose of the schools at Gary is to make efficient workers for the mills.” W. D. L.
PEARSON, THOMAS GILBERT.Bird study book.il*$1.25 (3½c) Doubleday 598.2 17-8225
This book is meant to serve as a guide to beginners in bird study. It is not a compendium of facts about birds and their habits. Facts are not lacking, but its primary purpose is to tell the student how to begin, where to look, and what to look for. There are chapters on: First acquaintance with the birds; The life about the nest: Domestic life of the birds; The migration of birds; The birds in winter; The economic value of birds; Civilization’s effect on the bird supply: The traffic in feathers; Bird-protective laws and their enforcement; Bird reservations; Making bird sanctuaries; Teaching bird study. There are illustrations from photographs and drawings. The author is secretary of the National association of Audubon societies.
“Presents briefly much information that would be overwhelming in formidable scientific publications; and is intended to stimulate rather than to satisfy. Those who are disposed to cultivate an intelligent interest in the habits of their bird neighbors, will find the necessary help and inspiration for beginners in the matter here presented for their guidance.”
“The last chapter, Teaching bird study, will be of specific value to teachers, to whom, rather than to the novice in field study, the whole book will be of considerable general value.”
PEARY, ROBERT EDWIN.Secrets of polar travel. il*$2.50 (5c) Century 919.8 17-30385
A book devoted to what might be termed the technique of polar exploration. In his former book, “The north pole,” the author gave a brief summary of his methods. In this work he has elaborated that brief account, giving details of the system which, evolving gradually thru his years of endeavor, enabled him finally to reach the pole. Contents: Building a polar ship; Selecting men; Supplies and equipment; Ice navigation; Winter quarters; Polar clothing; Utilization of Eskimos and dogs; Utilizing the resources of the country; Sledge equipment; Sledge-traveling. In a brief conclusion, he touches on air travel as a possible means of arctic exploration.
“A notable book on arctic journeys ... by the man who is more competent than any other in the world to discuss the subject.” A. M. Chase
“It presents the conclusions as to the best methods of exploration in polar regions which the author has worked out during his years of arctic journeyings, and presents them with such constant and varied illustration of incidents and facts and personal observations as to make the narrative far more interesting than the account of a single expedition.”
“It is a book for every explorer and every lover of high adventure.”
PEASE, MARGARET.Jean Jaurès, socialist and humanitarian; with an introd. by J. Ramsay Macdonald.*$1 (3½c) Huebsch. 17-26782
This book has been written to acquaint English readers with the socialist editor, author, orator and parliamentary leader whom J. Ramsay Macdonald, in his introduction, calls “the greatest democratic personal force in Europe—even in the world,” and who, after having spent the last day of his life in a vain effort to avert the war, was assassinated on July 31, 1914. Chapter 1 gives “a short sketch of the man and his career.” Succeeding chapters on Socialism, Jaurès and the Dreyfus case, Socialist methods, “The new army,” and International peace, while giving Jaurès’s views and actions, necessarily also contribute much to the history of French socialism.
Reviewed by H. A. Yeomans
“This book is cursorily written and, though laudatory, is far from making out the ‘greatness’ of its hero. As is to be expected, many hoary old calumnies are brought forward against Catholicism. Yet in reality it is not Catholicism which Mrs Pease so bitterly attacks, but something quite other, that ancient and fanciful monster we had long since thought deceased, ‘the Romish church.’ That the authoress resurrects the word is sufficient comment on the intellectual quality of her book.”
“Of particular interest at present is the discussion of the opinions of Jaurès on military policy.”
“The French accused Jaurès, more particularly in his later years, of pro-German sympathies. ‘M. Jaurès,c’est l’Allemagne,’ wrote M. Charles Maurras about a fortnight before the war; and it has not unnaturally been assumed that this was the charge which loaded the pistol of the assassin. His firm article of faith was that the German ‘comrades’ did not want war, and that war might be prevented by the open-hearted appeal of a French socialist whom they trusted. ... Mrs Pease’s volume will help readers to understand his place in recent history, though her exposition of his ideas is more enthusiastic than critical.”
PEASE, THEODORE CALVIN.Leveller movement; a study in the history and political theory of the English great civil war. (Prize essays, 1915) $1.50 Am. hist. assn. 942.06 17-9688
“Dr Pease, of Illinois university, has made a careful study of the Leveller movement led by John Lilburne during the civil war. He emphasizes the Levellers’ demand for a supreme law which neither king nor Parliament could override, because in this respect they anticipated the founders of the American constitution. Dr Pease is unusually sympathetic towards Lilburne, though he does not vouch for the honesty of that clever but unattractive man, and sees that if the Levellers had shattered the discipline of the army Charles II would have come back in 1649 and crushed Presbyterians, Independents, and Levellers alike.”—Spec
“It is unfortunate that space limitations prevented the inclusion of the bibliography in full, for which many students of the period would have been very grateful. Finally, Mr Pease is quite right in his admission that his study is ‘avowedly sympathetic.’ Whatever the admirable qualities of Lilburne and his fellow-Levellers, however glad one may be that such doctrines as they advocated found voice, it still remains a question whether, in their own day, they helped or hindered real progress. It is to be hoped that Mr Pease will add to his excellent study a supplementary treatise on their relations to every-day affairs, apart from the realm of political theory. For such a study no one is so well qualified.” W. C. Abbott
“A very solid and valuable contribution to history and political science, and much the most detailed and thorough study we have of the political theory of probably the most interesting group in a most momentous period.” C. H. McIlwain
“Reveals research work of value and importance.”
“The book is written with strict attention to the rules of sound historical workmanship and embodies the result of patient research in materials of unquestioned trustworthiness.”
“Mr Pease includes in the volume a bibliography as painstaking and thorough as his text.”
“This book, which won the Herbert Baxter Adams prize in European history in 1915, appears at a fortunate, or at least an appropriate, moment. It tells of a struggle between Moderates and Extremists in the course of a great revolution, and, though it would be very difficult to construct an historical parallel between events in England from 1647 to 1649 and events in Russia in 1917, there is a certain element of similarity in the applications of enthusiastic idealism to new conditions.”
PEAT, HAROLD R.[2]Private Peat.il*$1.50 (3c) Bobbs 940.91 17-29848
Private Peat is a Canadian soldier who experienced the whole gamut of war sensations from the thrill of enlistment to the loss of consciousness “out there” when he lay in the open two nights and a day before the stretcher bearers found him. His narrative is full of the grimness and humor of life in the trenches and behind the lines. But most of all he shows the soldier’s clear quality of courage to live because he must through an inferno of destruction and death, of murder and horror. Romance is a part of the story. The last chapter is written by the girl herself—a free lance of Fleet street—whose advertisement concerning a lost cousin was the beginning of a hospital acquaintance with the disabled private which ended in marriage after his return to Canada for discharge. The writer is on a successful lecture tour in America now.
“It is for the most part more serious than ‘Over the top,’ yet it also reflects the indomitable humor of the ‘Tommy’ and it is entertainingly written.”
“He gives a colorful, varied picture of life at the front in all its aspects.”
“If a person has ever felt a strong desire to talk with one of the boys who has been in the thick of it on the western front, let him get ‘Private Peat.’” Joseph Mosher
PEATTIE, ELIA (WILKINSON) (MRS ROBERT BURNS PEATTIE).Newcomers. il*$1.25 (4c) Houghton 17-24275
This story for older girls has appeared as a serial in the Youth’s Companion. The Wardells come to Dalroy, Illinois, as strangers. Robert Wardell has been offered his first position as an engineer on the dam which is to be built on the Rock river. His mother and two sisters accompany him. Dalroy is a sorry enough looking town at first sight, but, resolved to make the best of it, the Wardells enter wholeheartedly into its life. The tact and sympathy of the mother and the kindness and high spirits of the young people make friends for them all and several blighted lives—like that of the old school teacher who has lost his position, and of the girl who is paying for her mother’s failings—are set in happier lines by their companionship. The touch of love interest blends unobtrusively into the narrative.
“A pleasant story.”
“A good love story for girls, lively, entertaining and with frequent touches of keen humor.”
PEDDIE, ROBERT ALEXANDER.Outline of the history of printing. 2s 6d Grafton & co., London 655.1
The author is Cantor lecturer on the history of printing and librarian of the St Bride typographical library. This volume is a revised and enlarged edition of lectures delivered before the Royal society of arts in 1914. The first six chapters take up the history of printing by centuries, two chapters being given to The nineteenth century and after. Six chapters on the history of printing in colors follow.
“Mr Peddie’s volume—it reaches scarcely more than fifty pages—contains much in little about the printer and printing.” E. F. E.
PEIXOTTO, ERNEST CLIFFORD.Revolutionary pilgrimage. il*$2.50 Scribner 973.3 17-28097
“To the many American people who never visit or think of their historic places this volume will be a picturesque lesson in American history. Starting in Boston, we are shown by pen and picture the important buildings and placesconnected with the War of the revolution. From Boston we are taken over pleasant roads to Lexington and Concord, then to Lake Champlain, Saratoga, New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, Virginia and Washington. One of the features of the book is that Mr Peixotto, by letter and document, lets many of the noted characters tell their own story. Paul Revere, Ethan Allen, and Major André all recount their own adventures. ... The illustrations are in black and white from Mr Piexotto’s own hand.”—Boston Transcript
“Will appeal to all patriotic Americans, especially those contemplating a motor trip a little out of the ordinary.”
PELLETT, FRANK CHAPMAN.Our backdoor neighbors. il*$1.50 Abingdon press 590 17-30148
“These backdoor neighbors are the red tails and cooper hawks with a taste for chicken meat; ‘Foxy’ Squirrel, who likes any kind of table dainties; the screech owls, partial to mice; ... and many other little creatures not always received in polite society. ... The Naturalist, as Mr Pellett designates himself, lives in a modest Iowa farmhouse among surroundings which he has left ‘uncultivated’ to a degree deplored by his human neighbors. ... His story proves that he has had unlimited enjoyment from association with his backdoor neighbors. Quite regardless of propriety he pries into their most intimate and private affairs.”—Pub W
“They will appeal to those who are either afraid of the over-technical ‘nature book’ or are skeptical of ‘nature faking.’ There is no trace of the latter in ‘Backdoor neighbors.’ It radiates sincerity nor is there any nauseating sentimentality.” R. D. Moore
“The stories are told in a way to hold the reader’s attention, and at the same time furnish facts of value.”
PENNELL, ELIZABETH (ROBINS) (MRS JOSEPH PENNELL) (N. N., pseud.).Lovers.*$1 Lippincott (Eng ed 17-26658)
“Like ‘Our house’ and ‘Nights,’ ‘The lovers’ is largely autobiographical, and like them it is written in Mrs Pennell’s own intimate manner that brings to its pages all the graces and imagination of fiction. Its action takes its beginning just outside the windows of Mrs Pennell’s own home in the heart of London, and although it carries us to the battlefields of France, her own part in the story and her commentary upon it adds to its persistent flavor of romance, and gives it a distinctive atmosphere of reality. ... As long ago as June, 1911, there appeared in the Century a short story by Mrs Pennell called ‘Les amoureux.’ It now forms, under title of ‘In the garret,’ the first chapter of the four chapters that make up ‘The lovers,’ for what Mrs Pennell thought was a complete story was merely its beginning.”—Boston Transcript
“One of the few enduring books that have come or that are to come out of the great conflict.” E. F. E.
“One of the few bits of real literature dealing with the war.”
“‘The lovers’ is a book to bring the huge, wasteful tragedy of war strongly home to its readers.”
“Because it is so simple, so tender, so human, so true, so absolutely of the stuff of life in wartime days, Mrs Pennell’s little tale deserves wide reading. The mere story of the story is a romance in itself.”
“Among the best descriptions known to us of life under training in England and of certain sides of life at the front. Harold Chapin’s are not so vivid, so perceptive, nor so thoughtful. And the consolation is the ‘splendidness’ of this artist, lover, mystic, who could keep the flame of his spirit burning through all the drudgery, horror, and filth in which he had chosen gallantly to pass his days for his soul’s sake. Mrs Pennell has done her work with fine judgment.”
PENNELL, JOSEPH.Joseph Pennell’s pictures of war work in England; with an introd. by H. G. Wells. il*$1.50 Lippincott 940.91 17-26395
“Reproductions of a series of drawings and lithographs of munitions works, made by Mr Pennell with the permission of the British government, and accompanied by notes by the artist.” (Ath) “The drawings, etchings, and lithographs describe the activity of workshops, furnaces, forges, mine shafts, cranes, in time of war. The book really represents an apotheosis of machinery. Mere man is at a discount. When he does appear in these pages, he is but an elusive, fleeting figure.” (Outlook)
“These pictures are splendid, they are noble, they are victorious, they are inspired. The balance of light and shade, the sureness of the drawing, the keenness of observation betrayed by hundreds of valid details that have their due effect, make this book one of the most valuable documents of the great war.”
“That is his interpretation of the present war—a battle of the mechanical genii which have been evolved by human ingenuity, now become our masters—and destroyers. This interpretation is borne out by the brusque words commenting upon each drawing. There is much in this volume which it would be well for every American to ponder.”
“There are fifty-one full-page reproductions of Mr Pennell’s sketches, and for each the briefest of descriptions in choice and impressive language, sometimes tinged with laughter, oftener with tears. Every picture accents the terrible grimness of war.”
“Mr Pennell has had exceptional facilities afforded him for obtaining these pictures. No such opportunity is available to the ordinary citizen, and next to the privilege of actually visiting the works themselves, no more effective means are available for obtaining a clear and vivid idea of all that is meant by the manufacture of munitions of war than that provided in this most interesting collection of drawings.” W. Ripper
“Something of that strange anthropomorphic life with which Hardy can imbue even an ordinary cross-road, over which dead autumn leaves are swirling as if caressingly Mr Pennell lets be conveyed through his sketches of these new and tireless industrial giants.”
“Pennell’s book is one of the most valuable contributions to the literature of the present war, inasmuch as he gets closer to the truth than the writers of most of the nationalist publications with which the market is flooded.” L. G.
“That these industrial subjects should be identified with a world war is not an inspiration to him, for he puts himself on record as not believing in war.”
“Mr Pennell works with such facility and industry that his drawings are open to the charge of superficiality. There is a sameness of emphasis and diffuseness of treatment which would not perhaps be observable in a smaller number of works.”
PENNY, FANNY EMILY (FARR) (MRS FRANK PENNY).Love tangle.*$1.50 Dutton
A novel the scene of which is laid in southern India. “The wide divergence of oriental and English ideals in general is emphasized here in two particulars: in ethics the problem of a police official’s duty when one of his kinsmen is a prisoner; and in marriage the impossibility of courtship under the existing native etiquet, and the hazards of interracial unions. The story involves three couples, two English sisters, a judge and a soldier, and two young Indians educated in England and moving in the same set with the others, but oriental at heart.” (Springf’d Republican)
“The author of ‘A love tangle’ has written many romances of Anglo-Indian life. ... This one is a piece of amiable, feminine writing, relieved, for the occidental reader, by freshness of setting and motive.”
PERKINS, LUCY FITCH (MRS DWIGHT HEALD PERKINS).[2]Belgian twins.il*$1.25 (5½c) Houghton 17-29863
The author has made Belgium in the early days of the war the scene of her latest “twin” book. In the end Jan and Marie, the Belgian twins, find a haven in New York. The author says that the story is based on the actual experience of two children.
“Mrs Perkins has done well to introduce into the nursery some account of Belgian atrocities, not so gruesome that they will frighten the young reader, but sufficiently strong to leave a proper feeling in the minds of boys and girls regarding the unpardonable attack on a smaller country.”
“One reads real war history in the many things that happen to them. The author has made the most delightful sketches to illustrate the book.”
PERRY, CLARENCE ARTHUR.Community center activities. (Dept. of recreation)*35c Russell Sage foundation 371.6 17-1504
A handbook for community center directors. Its purpose is “to suggest activities for after-school occasions and to indicate sources of information about them.” The material in the main body of the book is arranged under such headings as: Civic occasions; Educational occasions; Entertainments; Handicrafts; Mental contests; Neighborhood service; Physical activities; etc. Preceding this is a classified index in which the various activities suitable for stated spaces, assembly room, kindergarten, gymnasium, etc., are grouped together. At the close a number of sample programs are given.
“A suggestive handbook for parent-teacher associations.”
“The material is unusually well organized in this report, and the activities and suggested literature so arranged that the reader can quickly find the desired information.”
“Should be of constant aid to social workers, teachers and others engaged in community organization.”
“Probably the greatest obstacle to the rapid development of social centers is a lack of leaders who know how to make them go. The Department of recreation of the Russell Sage foundation has offered one big means of equipping workers in public-school social centers in this little service-manual and reference book of something over 100 pages.” R. N. Baldwin
PERRY, L. DAY.Seat weaving.il $1 Manual arts press 689 17-13349
An elementary text-book for manual training classes, fully illustrated, which explains the processes of weaving cane, rush, reed or splint seats for chairs and stools. The author is supervisor of manual training in Joliet, Illinois.
“The clearly written directions are supplemented by seventy excellent photographs and line drawings.”
“Would also be a satisfactory guide to amateurs interested in this kind of work.”
PETERSON, ARTHUR.Andvari’s ring.*$1.25 Putnam 811 16-25216
The story of Sigurd retold in blank verse. The narrative is marked by a few innovations. Sigurd is pictured as a Norse rover by sea as well as by land. The action is placed near the middle of the fifth century, and into the second part of the narrative, after the death of Sigurd, Attila the Hun is introduced.
“An old-fashioned poem well worth reading.”