“The genius of the Japanese dramatist triumphs. He has conceived the central situation with such vividness and power, he has shown us the passion of loyalty with such reality, that we accept for the moment the Japanese ethical doctrine alien as it is to our own.” H. E. Woodbridge
“It can safely be said that one of the greatest achievements in dramatic art for many years was the presentation by the Washington Square players of ‘Bushido,’ one act taken from a Japanese play by Takeda Izumo, a famous dramatist who lived during the first half of the eighteenth century. ... ‘The pine tree’ (Matzu), is another name for ‘Bushido.’ ... This little volume, with its artistic make up, consisting of a liberal sprinkling of Japanese drawings copied from the British museum, its illuminating and very readable essay on the Japanese drama and then the play itself makes a book really worth owning and reading many times.” M. G. S.
“The most interesting part of this little volume is the dissertation on Japanese literature and drama which it includes.”
TALBOT, NEVILLE STUART.Thoughts on religion at the front.*80c Macmillan 17-18383
“Mr Talbot arrives at the conclusion that ‘on the whole there is not a great articulate revival of the Christian religion at the front.’ As one of the causes, he admits, as an Anglican, that ‘religion as taught by the Church of England has a feeble grip on the masses,’ and, taking a wider view, he does not think that ‘Christianity as at present expressed and presented to men in the church (in the wider sense of the word) isprima faciethat which can win and possess them.’ Too much emphasis islaid on things not characteristically Christian; while the ecclesiasticism of ‘Catholic Christianity’ and the subjectivism of ‘Protestantism’ both interfere with the appeal of Christianity through the church.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“It contains barely a hundred pages of large type, but every page is full of matter. ... For Mr Talbot has a rare gift of insight and an unusual candour; and his study of the religion of the British soldier, officer and private, has given him an idea of the strength and weakness of British religion generally,”
“A sincere and candid little book.”
TALBOT, WINTHROP,[2]comp. and ed. Americanization. (Handbook ser.)*$1.50 Wilson, H. W. 325.7 18-1496
“This volume on Americanism and Americanization is offered as a means for further clarifying our national thought in regard to present vital problems.” (Explanatory note) The book consists of selected reprints, including both prose and poetry, arranged to form three parts: Principles of Americanism; Essentials of Americanization; Technic of race assimilation. In part 3 attention is given to the part played by school, home, library, labor union, etc, in the Americanization of the immigrant. A classified bibliography of forty pages is a feature of the volume.
“A useful book for any one interested in the problem of making a good, clean amalgam out of the heterogeneous contents of our racial melting-pot.”
“The editor has succeeded in elucidating by a sufficient number of quotations and extracts those phases of that process which just now hold public attention and permit of rapid progress in spite of war conditions.” B. L.
TARBELL, IDA MINERVA.Life of Abraham Lincoln. new ed 2v il*$5 (2½c) Macmillan 17-25788
The scheme of things that made Lincoln a leader of democracy more than fifty years ago takes on new meaning and interest as we try to throw light on the scheme of things that has forced another great president into similar leadership. Especially timely, therefore, is the reappearance of this Lincoln biography, published first in 1900. A twenty-page preface points out the notable new material that has bean added to the collections of Lincolniana in the past seventeen years; and shows both that these recent contributions enlarge Lincoln and clear up our view of him and that, in putting down the strength and the weakness of him over and over again, we know him better and can judge him more fairly both as man and leader.
“In the present crisis of the nation I do not know any better biography, any better book, indeed, any more encouraging, more illuminating, than the story of the life of the greatest of all Americans. And no one has told that story in a better, more informing way than has Miss Tarbell.” F. F. Kelly
“The seventeen years since the first publication of this book have strengthened the verdict then given that it is one of the most vivid and authentic biographies ever written of ‘the first American.’”
Reviewed by L. E. Robinson
“One of the most authoritative and reliable biographies of the martyred president. ... There is a report of what is known as the ‘Last speech,’ a most important contribution in itself.”
“The twenty-page new preface which she writes for this edition is notable for its very able summing up of the influence which recent publications exert upon our conception of Lincoln and for its firm envisaging of Lincoln in the light of this new knowledge.”
TARLEAU, LISA YSAYE.Inn of disenchantment.*$1.25 (8c) Houghton 814 17-24509
Contents: The princess and the dragon; The true story of Bluebeard; Facts; The eidolon; The new leaf; Cheering a lady; Sousa; Questions; Spring; Grand’ma Ninon; Psychical research; The irrational lady; These degenerate days; Magic advertisements; Arcadia.
“Anyone cherishing the belief that a charming and perfect style should be the characteristic of the essay and taking up ‘The inn of disenchantment’ would find in the very first sentence some color for thinking that instead of being an inn of disenchantment it was a book of disenchantment. Yet that is the end of our censure. The fifteen essays are quite delightful. The humor is subtle.” N. H. D.
“Fifteen little essays, ... written, nearly all of them, in a minor key. ... Disenchantment, the charm of the unattainable, life’s compromises—these form the bases of the themes. A delicate touch, a feeling for the values of words, makes them unusually attractive, though at times they become a little too precise.”
TASHIRO, SHIRO.Chemical sign of life. (Science ser.) il*$1 Univ. of Chicago press 577 17-8224
The author is instructor in physiological chemistry in the University of Chicago. “This little book by the inventor of the biometer tells of the discovery of a chemical method of distinguishing living from dead tissue and of measuring the quantity of life, and explains the modus operandi.” (Boston Transcript)
“Of great value to the student; the public in general will care only for results.”
TATLOCK, JESSIE MAY.Greek and Roman mythology. il*$1.50 Century 292 17-3155
“Miss Tatlock, the author of the present volume of mythology, is a teacher at Miss Spence’s school in New York City. Both for brevity and simplicity she has tried only to include the best-known and most attractive of the classical myths. In her index she makes mention of many which space has forbidden to her to include. In order that the student may be able to retain as much as possible of the subject, Miss Tatlock has tried to mention only the important names in telling the stories. Moreover by cross reference and reiteration she has striven to impress these names on the minds of readers, so that they will remain fixed.”—Boston Transcript
“In no way supplants Gayley as a comprehensive reference manual; but its simplicity of language, clearness of arrangement and distinctness of print make it especially attractive as a text book for the younger student and for the general public seeking a pleasant acquaintance with the subject. Both illustrations and quotations are taken entirely from Greek andRoman sources, and Greek names are used in preference to Roman. Thus it has more unity and is more Greek in feeling than Guerber, although gives more details.”
“In every way an admirable textbook for the use of students.”
“Appendices give the pronunciation of names and a list of poems and dramas based on the myths. Ninety-nine illustrations add to the value. ... The publishers have used calendered paper throughout and provided a neat and substantial binding. The volume is valuable alike for classes and as a reference-book in the home for those who have no dictionary of mythology.”
“There are many people who do not believe that children should be allowed to read these myths, because they are not considered as conducive to a high standard of morals. This book easily dispels such fears, for any boy or girl of high school age can read and enjoy all of the stories without any danger to his or her morals.” J. G. Glassberg
“These versions of the most famous and interesting of the stories of Greek mythology are brief, simple and readable.”
“The chief merit of this book, which places it above the Guerber and Gayley textbooks on mythology, is its unity. ... The appendixes are extremely valuable for general reference. The pictures of standard works of art are worthy of favorable comment.” Adaline Lincoln
TAUBENHAUS, JACOB JOSEPH.Culture and diseases of the sweet pea; with an introd. by Melville T. Cook. il*$1.75 Dutton 716 17-16080
“In the preface the announcement is made that this book is primarily intended to be a practical treatise for use by both growers of sweet peas and investigators. ... The first eighty-nine pages are devoted to explicit cultural directions which have been prepared for the author by specialists. The following ninety-five pages are given to a consideration of greenhouse and field troubles, including nine diseases of fungous origin, one of bacterial origin and a brief summary of the several insect pests. Due space is given in the closing chapters, in a clear, concise manner, to methods of prevention and control of these maladies.” (Science) “The author is a plant pathologist and physiologist in charge at the Experiment station of the Agricultural and mechanical college of Texas.” (R of Rs)
Reviewed by M. T. Cook
“Prof. Melville T. Cook, of Rutgers college, commends the book as both practical and scientific, equally useful to the layman, the commercial grower and the scientist.”
“The person of less than collegiate training would find himself hopelessly lost if he attempted to wade through certain paragraphs in this book. ... The book is well and amply illustrated, is unusually free from typographical errors and gives the impression of being condensed yet complete.” F. A. Wolf
“The only book of its kind to which the amateur sweet-pea grower may turn for complete instructions on the growing and care of sweet peas.”
TAYLOR, A. H. E.Future of the southern Slavs.*$3 (3c) Dodd 949.7 (Eng ed 17-29200)
“My object,” says the author, “has been to attempt to set forth the main features of the southern Slav problem as they exist to-day, and the solution at which we should aim. Of necessity, in discussing territorial questions I have assumed such a complete victory for the Allies as will result in the dismemberment of Austria.” (Preface) The book is made up of the following chapters: A plea for Serbia; A sketch of Serb history; The renascence of Serbia; The problem of the Adriatic; Proposed frontiers; Macedonia: the Serbo-Bulgarian treaty of 1912; The settlement with Bulgaria; The future southern Slav state; Some problems of the new state; The European importance of the southern Slavs. There is one large folding map.
“This book is, in fact, a conclusive demonstration of the wisdom of the buffer state theory, an unanswerable argument for the fusion of the southern Slavs, whether in a federal, dual, or unitary state. It should be widely read. Mention must be made of the ethnographic map included in the volume by permission of the Jugoslav committee.”
“Mr Taylor discusses fully and frankly the problem of the eastern Adriatic, but, like a good many ardent friends of Serbia, he is far less sympathetic to Italy than he ought to be.”
“His chapter on this topic [Italy and Dalmatia] is interesting, well argued, and adequately fortified with historical analogies. ... One of the most valuable sections of Mr Taylor’s book is his sympathetic account of the death, dormancy, and resurrection of the Serbian people.”
TAYLOR, CHARLES FREMONT.Conclusive peace; presenting the historically logical, and a feasible, plan of action for the coming peace conference, which will coordinate and harmonize Europe, and the world. 50c (1½c) Winston 341 17-4982
The author says, “In the past, treaties of peace have contained the seeds of future war because they have not provided means by which peace may lead to continued peace. Peace having been used in the preparation for war and in sowing the seeds of war, the natural and inevitable result was war. Such a peace has never been and cannot be conclusive. ... As long as the minds of Europe dwell on competitive national military power instead of on peaceful international cooperation for mutual benefit, there can be no conclusive peace.” His purpose in this book is to outline a plan for cooperation. Some of his practical suggestions are free access to the seas for all nations, a European commerce commission, a permanent international congress.
“Mr Taylor’s little book, however frankly amateurish in approach, does suggest that the average American can think about the war without overmuch affection or hostility for either side. It is neutral in the best sense. Yet it necessarily has the defects of such a virtue—while not doctrinaire, ‘A conclusive peace’ is a bit too impatient with the muddle of actual passions and hopes, too confident that the essential reasonableness of a harmonized Europe will of itself create harmony. But one genuinely constructive suggestion does emerge.”
“In the simple form in which Mr Taylor first presents the idea it is well worth considering, but he finally rides it rather fast and far and even overworks his imagination in providing it with detailed developments.”
TAYLOR, CHARLES KEEN.[2]Boys’ camp manual. il*$1.25 Century 355.7 17-22879
“A handbook of military and all-round training.” (Sub-title) Contents: Organization of camps and weekly-schedule; Establishing the camp; Physical training; Formal military drill;Signaling; Field and other exercises; Camp interests and special observations. The author is director of Camp Penn, under military-age camp near Plattsburgh.
TAYLOR, HANNIS.Cicero, a sketch of his life and works. il*$3.50 McClurg 16-20121
“This new survey of the great Roman statesman’s career, written from the viewpoint of an American student of constitutions, ancient and modern, presents Cicero as the ideal defender of the Roman constitution, and the ‘embodiment of the departing spirit of Roman republicanism.’ Some of the chapter headings may serve to indicate the way in which Dr Taylor has grouped and marshalled his materials: Stoic philosophy and Roman law; Cicero’s Greek culture; The Roman bar in Cicero’s time; The Roman constitution; Cicero as leader of the Roman bar; Cicero as a statesman; Cicero and Pompey; Cicero and Cæsar; The duel to the death of Antony.”—R of Rs
“The most interesting chapters deal with the Roman constitution and the Roman bar in the height of its power. On the whole the life is written in too laudatory a strain, and Cicero’s influence on early Christian thought exaggerated. An excellent and complete anthology of Cicero’s most striking utterances concludes the volume.”
“In dealing with Cicero as a man, Mr Taylor writes from an entirely sympathetic point of view, yielding in no particular to the Drumann-Mommsen assault, which is now very generally regarded as having injured the fame of two eminent German historians far more than that of Cicero. ... As ‘a commentary on the Roman constitution,’ the book is not adequate. ... The Ciceronian ‘anthology’ with which the book closes was a project so well worth while that it should have been based upon a very thorough and independent rereading of Cicero’s entire works. As it stands, much of the material has been picked up from secondary sources, with a certain amount of annoying and unnecessary repetition, and displaying various grades of skill, or want of skill, in translation.”
TAYLOR, JAY LAIRD BURGESS.Handbook for rangers and woodsmen. il*$2.50 Wiley 634.9 17-1185
This work, by a forest ranger in the United States forest service, is not to be considered an official publication, says the author. It has been prepared however with the permission of the Secretary of agriculture, who has given criticism and advice. Its object is “to serve as a guide for inexperienced men in woods work.” The author has had in mind the problems that confront the ranger in government, state or private employ, but he expresses the belief that the book may be of value to others whose work or recreation takes them into the woods. Contents: Equipment; Construction work; General field work; Live stock; Miscellaneous. Tables and other items of information are given in an appendix. There are numerous illustrations and diagrams, a glossary and an index. The book is of convenient pocket size.
“‘This handbook is welcome as a most valuable addition to our forest literature, since it is believed that it will be of inestimable value to both those who are just starting in the profession and to the older men who want a reference work on the various practical subjects covered.’” R. C. B.
“‘Mr Taylor has prepared a useful handbook for those who are inexperienced in woodcraft, which was compiled after eight years of field work with the United States forest service. ... Numerous illustrations aid in giving an understanding of the text.’”
TAYLOR, KATHARINE HAVILAND.Cecilia of the pink roses. il*$1.25 (2½c) Doran 17-13951
Cecilia was born in a tenement and this is a story of her gradual ascent in social life and her natural sweet-heartedness through all the trials that the process involved. Her mother died of hardship and when, after her death, through his knowledge of bricks and a kindly priest’s knowledge of the world, her father made money, everything that would have been lavished upon the wife was showered upon the daughter. It was the priest who guided Cecilia through her difficulties from childhood to marriage, and in spite of the charm of the heroine, Father McGowan remains the outstanding character of the book.
“Not since the advent of Pollyanna have we found in fiction a little girl who seemed to promise so much in the way of popularity as does this little Cecilia. ... The story is essentially a love story. Everyone, including the hero, is in love with Cecilia from the first. ... Sympathy and humor run through the story.”
“Frankly sentimental books often disarm the worldly-wise by simple charm. Katharine Haviland Taylor has done this in her first book. Apart from minor faults—such as dragging the unwarned reader too suddenly from one scene to another, and frequent repetition of the same word in a paragraph—‘Cecilia of the pink roses’ is as sweet and fresh as the flowers themselves.”
“This is the author’s first book, and while it is perhaps a bit overenthusiastic and somewhat loosely put together, it is pretty and entertaining in its picture of charming young girlhood.”
TAYLOR, WILLIAM THOMAS, and BRAYMER, DANIEL HARVEY.American hydroelectric practice. il*$5 McGraw 621.34 17-15204
“More than one-half of the volume is taken up with electrical subjects. The hydraulic material is given in the first two chapters and in a few tables and diagrams. This hydraulic material, as stated in the preface, has been largely supplied by Mr Taylor. ... The work carries the subtitle, ‘A compilation of useful data and information on the design, construction and operation of hydro-electric systems from the penstocks to distribution lines,’ which well describes its scope. A considerable portion of the contents consists of articles which have appeared in technical journals, particularly descriptions of hydro-electric plants.”—Engin News-Rec
“A useful work of reference. ... A notable and commendable feature of the book is the entire absence of half-tone illustrations. Line drawings are used throughout, thus obviating the necessity of using paper with a highly glazed surface and showing clearly, in diagrams and cross-sections, what could not be presented so exactly and with sufficient detail in any other way.” Alfred Still
“The book suffers from the limitations of the second-hand nature of its contents and from its general plan. ... Difficulties arising from the use of borrowed material are noticeable. ... Much reliance should not be placed on the material in the book without independently checking its accuracy.” L: F. Moody
“Excellent bibliography.”
TEASDALE, SARA (MRS ERNST B. FILSINGER), comp. Answering voice; one hundred love lyrics by women.*$1.25 Houghton 811.08 17-25293
The author has collected here “the most beautiful love-lyrics written in English by women since the middle of the last century.” (Preface) Only two of the hundred lyrics included are of an earlier date—Lady Barnard’s “Auld Robin Gray” and Susanna Blamire’s “Siller crown.” No long poems are included, and no translations, and the compiler has avoided “poems in which the poet dramatized a man’s feelings rather than her own.” Some of the authors included are: Amy Lowell, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, Moira O’Neill, Edith M. Thomas, Sarojini Naidu, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lizette Woodworth Reese, Harriet Monroe, Alice Meynell and Grace Fallow Norton. There is an index of first lines and an index of authors.
“Miss Teasdale has not taken away the joy of discovery by giving us only poems already belonging to us. We are the richer by many lovely things unknown before, and while all anthologies have their heights and their levels, one wanders through this one with few disappointments and with an almost constant sense of charm and beauty.” J. B. Rittenhouse
“No one has written better love songs than [the compiler] has in the past ten years, and so she brings to her task of selection a perfect understanding of the mood in all its various keys. Her very greatest service by virtue of her original ability is in purging the emotions of sentimentality, presenting only the pure gold of sentiment. ... Practically all the most important women writers of today are represented.” W. S. B.
“The bulk of the selections is from the work of American women. Of these Edith Wharton’s sonnet beginning ‘Yet for one rounded moment I will be’ for intensity of feeling, intellectual strength, passionate color and poetic grace and beauty does not suffer when compared with the sonnets of Mrs Browning.”
“The anthology does not represent one school or one period to the exclusion of any other. One or two of the poems have plots or stories connected with them, but as a rule the verses are independent lyrics—lyrics abounding in images of purity and dependence. Unlike love poems written by men, they are singularly lacking in passion.”
TEASDALE, SARA (MRS ERNST B. FILSINGER).Love songs.*$1.25 Macmillan 811 17-25236
“Besides new poems, this book contains lyrics taken from ‘Rivers to the sea,’ ‘Helen of Troy and other poems,’ and one or two from an earlier volume.” (Prefatory note) Some of the poems hitherto unpublished in book form appeared in Harper’s, Century, Scribner’s, Poetry, and other periodicals.
“Here is the impulsive, wholly unconscious charm that belongs to everything Miss Teasdale writes. She is the Elizabethan of to-day; one of the purest and clearest voices in our poetic literature.” J. B. Rittenhouse
“A gathering of her very best songs written to date. Love is illuminated in these songs as it has not been illuminated before by a single poet, in American poetry. Every mood is pure, whether it is joy or sorrow, yearning or denial; and the purity of emotion is fully matched by a golden simplicity of expression.” W. S. B.
“A bookful of loveliness is this new volume of Sara Teasdale’s verse: new not in the sense that all the poems it contains are recent ones, but that it represents a lately gathered treasury of lyrics. They are characterized, as her work has always been, by a musical facility, strong imagery, and that note of mingled joy and pain which haunts the moments of love, whether in its inception, its fulfillment, or its loss.”
Reviewed by G: Cronyn
“Miss Teasdale writes from a compelling impulse; she does not mask it nor hide it, but utters it, and so it befalls that she speaks the secret word of us all. ... She is first, last, and always a singer. ... In the present volume, ‘Love songs,’ her best and most characteristic work is presented, since it is this theme which has chiefly inspired her.”
“Miss Teasdale chooses verse forms that express her moods exactly. Generally the lines are short and simple, yet musical in the extreme. Ever in her love verse she is fundamentally a singer of the out of doors.”
TEMPERLEY, HAROLD WILLIAM VAZEILLE.History of Serbia. il*$4 Macmillan 949.7 (Eng ed 17-16315)
“Mr Temperley’s able conspectus of Serbian history begins with the coming of the Jugo-Slavs from their original home in the region of the Black sea, and around the Dniester and the Bug; includes an account of the Serbian mediæval empire; tells the sombre tale of Kossovo; describes the Turkish occupation; and relates some of the deeds of the Black George (Kara George) and Milosh Obrenovitch, which led to the expulsion of the Turks from Serbia. He concludes with a detailed review of the periods of Austro-Hungarian and Russophile influence, as well as of the thorny problems associated with Macedonia. The book ... contains a good bibliography.” (Ath) “Captain Temperley ends his narrative at the year 1910, thus omitting the Serbian triumphs of 1912 and 1913.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“The main theme of this well-documented study is the effect of the revival of Serbian independence in the nineteenth century on the Balkan situation, and the attitude of the great powers toward the country.”
“The book bristles with evidence of painstaking research; it is well documented; and it contains a select bibliography of very satisfactory proportions. Mr Temperley is a master of sound historical criticism.” F: A. Ogg
“The author has not entered into details, and deals very briefly indeed with the latter years of medieval Danubian Serbia, for which much might have been gleaned from Kritóboulos, the Imbrian biographer of Mohammed II, whom he omits from his excellent bibliography. But we can strongly recommend his book to all who desire to obtain a grasp of the salient facts in the evolution of the Serbian people. He abounds in admirable appreciations of Serbian national problems. ... A few errors of detail may be pointed out. The book contains three maps.” W: Miller
“A brilliant recapitulation of brilliant deeds by a people who for more than a thousand years fought almost perpetually for [the nation’s] existence against rabid enemies. An interesting chapter is that on the Macedonian question. The book is one that every student of the Balkans, and Serbia in particular, will find invaluable.”
“This history of Serbia is the work not only of a traveller but of a scholar. It is highly judicial in dealing with notoriously controversial subjects, and it embodies a good deal of diplomatic information acquired by careful researchat the record office. It is an engrossing story of racial tenacity which Mr Temperley relates.”
“Should be read by all who desire to know something of the complexities of the Near Eastern question.”
TEMPLE, WILLIAM.Mens creatrix.*$2.50 Macmillan 201 17-28086
“The title is chosen in compliment to Bergson’s ‘Creative evolution.’ ... It does not indicate the full purpose of the book.” (Spec) “The plan of the volume may be briefly outlined. Part 1 deals with epistemological and metaphysical questions. Part 2 is a discussion of art, its meaning and value. Part 3 deals with the problem of conduct; while part 4 investigates the general nature of religion in its relation to science, art, and morality. The preceding four divisions constitute book 1. In book 2 the writer takes up the problem of revealed religion and finds in it the ultimate solution of the issues he has raised.” (Hibbert J)
“Covers a wide field, and discusses problems of a very varied kind. Mr Temple’s work is unequal: some of his discussions are suggestive and helpful in a high degree, while others are rapid, meagre, and disappointing. But even at his worst the author is never superficial and commonplace, and when at his best he is very vigorous and stimulating. The style is always clear, and the reader is never in doubt about the author’s meaning. ... Some of the most fresh and suggestive passages in the book will be found in the section on art. He is at his best in his chapter on ‘Tragedy,’ where he works out his principles in detail and enforces them with a wealth of illustrations.” G. Galloway
“Mr Temple has not exactly shown us that all roads of human speculation lead to the Anglican communion, but has shown, with great charm of style and lucidity of dialectic, how particular types of metaphysics, aesthetics, and ethics may be made to form a symmetrical whole with Christian theology. ... He says many wise things by the way, especially in his chapter on education.” T. S. Eliot
“Mr Temple modestly disclaims any pretension ‘to do for our day the work that St Thomas Aquinas did for his,’ but his thoughtful and suggestive study will be as helpful to readers perplexed by modern difficulties as was the ‘Summa’ of the learned Dominican to the mediaeval doubter. ... His discussion of ‘The problem of evil’ must be carefully read. In essence it is an expansion of the Pauline doctrine in the Epistle to the Romans; but Mr Temple brings a fresh mind to bear on the perplexing problem. ... It is difficult even to indicate in a review the merits of a book so closely reasoned, so full of striking ideas and happy phrases, and withal so devout and modest in tone.”
TERHUNE, ALBERT PAYSON.Dollars and cents. il*$1.35 (2½c) Shores 17-13188
Dan and Madge Hilyer are living on thirteen dollars a week when the story opens. Poverty had come upon them suddenly, and their prosperity, when it comes, is another of fortune’s quick changes. During the days of pinching economy it had been the wife who bore the brunt, and when sudden wealth comes, she cannot make the transition. At restaurants Madge figured up the cost of every dish. At the opera she could not enjoy the music for thinking of the price of seats. Taxi fares were to her a criminal extravagance. The result of this state of mind on her part, combined with her husband’s jealousy of Arthur Crewe, the old lover from whom she had once borrowed money, is marital unhappiness. A crisis is averted and harmony restored by the intervention of Arthur Crewe, who succeeds in bringing both husband and wife to a saner point of view.
“The situation is an interesting and a natural one; but unfortunately the author has seen fit to lay hold of it and, instead of developing it in a reasonable way, pulls it down to the level of melodrama.”
“The action of the story is swift, almost breathless in passages. The novel is filled with ‘scenes’ which one mentally stages. The suspense is sustained until the very last page.” R. D. Moore
“The story is interesting and the action is rapid and emotional.”
THETA, pseud. War flying.*$1 Houghton 940.91 (Eng ed 17-10196)
Letters written by a young officer, barely nineteen, of the Royal flying corps, to his home people during his period of training and later when in active service. The letters are prefaced by a parody on Kipling entitled “Ordered overseas,” and an introductory chapter entitled “The development of an idea.”
“It is not so much a book on flying as it is a revelation of character. The quiet pluck, the unconscious gallantry, the serene acceptance of a world in chaos, the humor with which this young Englishman views the clash of arms from aloft, are qualities which, as displayed in this book, help to explain England’s place in this war more clearly than any mere official documents can.”
THOMAS, CALVIN.Goethe.*$2 (2c) Holt 17-25237
Professor Thomas of Columbia university, whose edition of “Faust” has long been a standard college text, has written a biographical and critical study of Goethe. “Every scholar,” he says “has his own Dante, his own Shakspere, his own Goethe. This book presents my Goethe as I see him after nearly forty years of university teaching during which he has never been long out of my thoughts. ... But this is not the work of a hierophant or a panegyrist. ... What I have tried to do is to portray him faithfully in those larger aspects of his mind and art and life-work that make him so uniquely interesting.” The first chapters, about one half of the volume, sketch Goethe’s life. The remainder of the book is critical, with chapters devoted to: The philosopher; The evolutionist; The believer; The poet; The dramatist; The novelist; The critic; Faust. Bibliography, notes and index follow.
“On the whole it is just what any student of Goethe and of German literature would desire: clear, fair and entertaining. The occasional versions of poems or prose passages are excellently done.” N. H. D.
“No matter if a new biography of Goethe were published each month, there would still be a place for a book by Professor Thomas. ... But as a matter of fact, there was an urgent need for this particular work; for unless I am mistaken, there has been no important life of Goethe written in English since the year 1855, when the notable biography by G. H. Lewes appeared.” W: L. Phelps
“A very thoughtful and sympathetic study.”
“What is most disappointing in Professor Thomas’s volume is his failure to appreciate Goethe’s importance as critic. ... With allits limitations, however, the book is scholarly, interesting, and provocative of thought. We take it that the metrical translations in chapter 9, reprinted from an earlier essay on Goethe, are Professor Thomas’s own. They are admirable.”
“It is possible now for an American scholar to put aside the trivial and ephemeral and concentrate attention on those aspects of Goethe’s life and work that ‘belong to the ages.’ That is what Professor Thomas has done in this volume.”
THOMAS, EDWARD.Literary pilgrim in England. il*$3 Dodd 820.4 17-26883
A volume of literary essays. The studies of English men of letters are grouped geographically, but there has been no effort to link them together as objects of a “pilgrimage.” A few of the modern writers are included, and occasionally there is in the grouping a pleasant juxtaposition of the old and the new, as in the section on the west country, devoted to Herrick; Coleridge; and W. H. Hudson. Pictures in color and in monotone attractively illustrate the book.
“As some of the biographies relate to Scotsmen and Scottish places, the title might have been ‘A literary pilgrim in Britain.’”
“Well-printed, artistically illustrated, entertainingly written, this book can be recommended for the pleasant employment of an idle hour.”
“The whole book, despite Mr Thomas’s pleasant vein of description and criticism, scarcely rises above the commonplace, if not the trite.”
“In the course of the studies Mr Thomas occasionally becomes the critic, and we can only say that we prefer him as pilgrim. Where, however, his sympathies are apparently unhampered, Mr Thomas pursues his pilgrimage and his criticism in a most attractive manner, of which the essays on John Clare and W. H. Hudson are two conspicuous examples.”
“Edward Thomas affords another instance of literary talent lost in the great war. This criticism, for all its unpretentiousness, is of the type that initiates new readers into the delights and consolations of books. It is full of meaning, utterly clear and concrete. There is hardly a blurred thought or impression in the whole work and there are no undiscerning judgments.”
“Never perfunctory or conventional, but always saying what strikes him as the true or interesting or characteristic thing, Mr Thomas brings the very look of the fields and roads before us; he brings the poets, too; and no one will finish the book without a sense that he knows and respects the author.”
THOMAS, GEORGE CLIFFORD.Practical book of outdoor rose growing for the home garden. il*$2 Lippincott 716 17-13518
“A new, enlarged edition at half price of the best manual on roses for the amateur as well as the rose-grower (Booklist 11:449). Growing directions and labels are excellent, also the lists of varieties. There are twenty halftones of bushes and sixteen beautiful color plates of varieties of roses.” (Wis Lib Bul) The first edition of this book was entered in the Digest in 1914.
THOMAS, W. BEACH.With the British on the Somme.*6s Methuen, London 940.91
Part of the material in this book has already appeared in print. Mr Thomas emphasizes “to a great extent, the feats of the English soldier, the Cockney especially, as distinct from the Scot, the Irishman, or the Colonial.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“Mr Beach Thomas is one of the not too many newspaper correspondents who can write acceptably about the war. He does not indulge in gush or clap-trap. His well-knit narrative is profoundly dramatic.”
“Mr Thomas has written a capital account of the battle of the Somme, sketching it in broad outlines, dwelling on some of the more picturesque episodes, but abstaining from any attempt at a formal history. He illustrates the rapid developments of modern warfare that came about during this battle.”
“Mr Thomas has been wonderfully successful in conveying all the horror and the little glory of modern war. His wish was to give an idea of the war rather than to write a continuous narrative of the things which he experienced. ... The book will be a storehouse of information. It is vivid, modest, and judicial.”
THOMPSON, CARL DEAN.Municipal ownership.*$1 (5c) Huebsch 352 17-14813
“A brief survey of the extent, rapid growth and the success of municipal ownership throughout the world, presenting the arguments against private ownership, the failure of regulation and the advantages of municipal ownership.” (Subtitle) The author argues that private ownership is wrong in theory, saying, “The private ownership of a public utility is fundamentally hostile to and inconsistent with the public welfare,” and he brings together evidence to show that it is unsatisfactory in practice. “Whatever else may be said against municipal ownership,” he says, “it is pretty hard to meet the argument drawn from practical experience.”