Chapter 111

20–7502

“Mr Stoddard has written an analysis of the present-day relations of the white and colored races throughout the world. What he describes as the rising tide of the yellow, brown, black and red races is graphically described in a series of tersely written chapters. This is followed by an historical account of The ebbing tide of white, and the book concludes with brief chapters on The outer dikes, The inner dikes, and The crisis of the ages. Mr Stoddard’s immediate program, involving what he regards as ‘the irreducible minimum,’ calls for a thorough revision of the Versailles treaty and a provisional understanding by which the white races will give up their tacit assumption of domination over Asia, while the Asiatics forego their dreams of migration to the lands of white and other races. Without some such understanding Mr Stoddard looks forward to a race war on a world scale.”—R of Rs

“On the resurgence of Asia Mr Stoddard writes wisely, yielding neither to panic nor to ignorant optimism. His views on the future of his own North American continent display less sanity.”

“Interesting to read in connection with Du Bois’ ‘Darkwater.’”

Reviewed by M. E. Bailey

“Mr Stoddard’s book is one of the long series of publications devoted to the self-admiration of the white race. The books must be characterized as vicious propaganda, and deserve an attention not warranted by any intrinsic merit in their learning or their logic. The fundamental weakness of all books of this type, and eminently so of Mr Stoddard’s book, is a complete lack of understanding of the hereditary characteristics of a race as against the hereditary characteristics of a particular strain or line of descent.” Franz Boas

“A brilliant and highly suggestive survey.”

“Many people will regard this book as highly dangerous and provocative. This verdict, though it might at first sight seem just, would be, we are convinced, short-sighted and unfair. When we say this we do not mean that we agree with every word of the premises put forward by Mr Stoddard or with all his conclusions; for we do not. What we do feel, however, is that it is a book which gives with vigour, and yet with essential moderation, most important and often most necessary warnings.”

“Because of its profound knowledge and eloquence this is a book that must be reckoned with. Had he been more moderate in his diagnosis and prognosis of the impending racial conflict, his book may have found fewer readers, but it would have been more convincing to the student of history and of public affairs.”

“Mr Stoddard’s work is more convincing and useful when he deals with subsidiary questions, such as the real peril of Asiatic industrial competition or the serious pressure of overpopulation brought about in ‘coloured’ lands by the humanitarian hygiene of the whites. But his vision of the ‘rising tide of colour’ fails to carry conviction.”

“Mr Stoddard’s book is the work of a pseudoscientist with a considerable skill in writing who, sincerely enough no doubt, jumbles assumptions and facts in a plausible and dangerous combination.” N. T.

Reviewed by W. R. Wheeler

STODDART, JANE T.Case against spiritualism. *$1.50 Doran 134

(Eng ed 20–4476)

“This book assembles articles from various writers, culling even from believers every clause usable as antagonistic comment. It is not backed by personal experience.”—Booklist

“Perhaps the best Protestant manual opposing the cult.”

“It will require mightier counter-thrusts than the slight rebuff of Miss Stoddart to make any headway against the encroachments of the insidious brand of personalism sponsored by psychical research.” Joseph Jastrow

“A short but effective and well-considered statement of the case.”

STOLL, ELMER EDGAR.Hamlet; an historical and comparative study. (Studies in language and literature) pa $1 Univ. of Minn. 822.3

20–2038

“A close analytical study; reaching the conclusion that Hamlet is meant for an heroic, not a pathetic, figure, and not for one who falters or who deceives himself.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“His results afford a wholesome check to introspective and romantic criticism, and may be accepted as the starting-point for a reasoned consideration of Shakespeare’s intentions.” G: F. Whicher

STONE, GENE.Cousin Nancy and the Lees of Clifford. il *$1.75 Crowell

20–15505

The Lees are a jolly western family living in a mountain valley in Nevada. Nancy is a cousin from New York who comes to spend a year with them. Nancy has been used to every luxury and there are many things about her cousins’ way of life that surprise her. She is not used, for one thing, to being introduced to delivery boys and she doesn’t see Ralph Mariner’s outstretched hand. But Nancy is a “real girl” after all. She easily adapts herself and enjoys the hearty fun and the impromptu good times her cousins offer her, and comes to appreciate Ralph’s worth, at the same time that he comes to see that she isn’t a snob. Nancy changes her mind about finishing schools too and decides to go to college and a great discovery, made on one of their expeditions, makes it possible for the others to go too.

STONE, GENE.Jane and the owl. (Sage brush stories) il *$1.50 (5c) Crowell

A series of fairy tale adventures for young readers. The initial setting is unusual. Jane lives in the sage brush country and her playground is a rocky canyon. Climbing its steep slopes one day, she sits down on a broad flat rock to rest and falls asleep and then begin her adventures in company with Oskar the owl. The stories are: Jane and the owl; The wobbly wudgets; The tremendous terwollipers; The moon sprites; The strike of the stylish young ladies of Fairtowers; The land o’ nod; The joyful mermaids; Break o’ day country.

STOREY, MOORFIELD.Problems of today. *$1.50 Houghton 304

20–18501

A volume containing the Godkin lectures for 1920. These annual lectures, delivered at Harvard, must deal in some manner with “the essentials of free government and the duties of the citizen.” Mr Storey chose five unrelated subjects of vital present interest. These are: The use of parties; Lawlessness; Race prejudice; The labor question; Our foreign relations. The author is a lawyer and member of the American bar association. He has been president of the Massachusetts civil service reform association, the Anti-imperialist league, and of the National association for the advancement of colored people.

“Mr Storey is at his best when he is considering conditions that are not complex, where rightmindedness and neighborly feeling and a willingness to do one’s share are enough to remedy human ills. When we turn to discussion of the distribution of wealth and the relations between employer and employed we find Mr Storey less adequate.”

STORM, MARION.Minstrel weather. il *$1.50 (8c) Harper 814

20–20910

A volume of nature essays, one for each month of the year, with such titles as: Faces of Janus; A woodland valentine; Ways of the March hare; The April moment; The crest of spring; Hay harvest time. The author has a keen eye for the delicate shadings of the seasons’ changes, and the book will appeal to those of similar tastes. In addition to the twelve essays for the months, she writes of Landscapes seen in dreams; Hiding places; The play of leaves; The brown frontier; Far altars.

“The style is full of color and highly charged with meaning. It is not a smooth papershelled almond, but a shagbark hickory nut. If you want the full sweetness of the kernel, you must pick it out carefully. It well rewards the trouble. I am glad she has chosen to send out her first book, not in some strange form of free verse, but in clear, spicy, juicy prose. It is alluring and refreshing, a cupful of cordial.” H: Van Dyke

STORY, A. M. SOMMERVILLE (FRANKFORT SOMMERVILLE, pseud.).Present day Paris and the battlefields. *$1.50 (3½c) Appleton 914.4

20–15940

“The visitor’s handbook with the chief excursions to the battlefields.” (Sub-title) All but one of the fifteen chapters are devoted to Paris. There are chapters on Paris of today; Fashionable Paris; Intellectual Paris; The origins of Paris; Paris of the middle ages; The art, gayety and genius of Paris; Aristocratic and pious Paris; etc. The excursions to the battlefields are outlined in the final chapter. The style is intimate and many of the conventional guide book features are omitted. There is no index.

“It is well written, interesting, accurate as far as it goes, but it is not a handbook. It has no index, no maps. A more important omission, however, is its failure to live up to its title. The book has little concern with ‘present-day’ Paris.”

STRATON, JOHN ROACH.Menace of immorality in church and state; messages of wrath and judgment. il *$1.75 (2½c) Doran 176

20–6996

A series of sermons preached in Calvary Baptist church, New York city, all dealing with “the rank paganism and ever widening indecencies of the modern age.” The author says, “After every war, there is a wave of immorality. We have just passed through the greatest war of all time, and we are now witnessing the widest wave of immorality in the history of the human race.” Among the subjects of the sixteen chapters are: Slaves of fashion: the connection between women’s dress and social vice; The awful corruption of the modern theater: should Christians attend? The scarlet stain of sexual impurity: will America go the way of the great empires of the past? The great American gambling craze; God or Mammon? a message to the millionaires of New York; Sabbath observance as social sanity.

“The book is all emphasis. Ring the bell for church a few times and it has an effect; toll the bell and the stridence of its tone wearies.”

“The value and importance of his appeal, which might have been great, are largely lost by lack of perspective, grotesque exaggeration, superficial reasoning, and inaccurate statements of important facts. To those abreast of the times in the field of social hygiene effort and accomplishment, the book offers an object lesson in unscientific method and presentation.” B. J.

Reviewed by F: H. Whitin

STRATTON, CLARENCE.Public speaking. *$1.48 Holt 808.5

20–12400

“This book on public speaking attempts to provide fundamental rules and enough exercises to train members of a class to become effective speakers before audiences. It aims to be practical. The idea underlying the treatment is that the student will be continually doing much more speaking than studying.” (Prefatory note) The chapters take up: Speech; The voice; Words and sentences; Beginning the speech; Concluding the speech; Getting material; Planning the speech; Making the outline or brief; Explaining; Proving and persuading; Refuting; Debating; Speaking upon special occasions; Dramatics. Additional exercises are given in the two appendixes and there is an index. The author is a member of the English department of Central high school, St Louis, and of the Division of university extension, Washington university.

“The chief value of the book is its excellent organization of the large variety of activities which make up a worthy course in public speaking.”

STRAUS, RALPH.Pengard awake. *$2 Appleton

20–17317

Pengard was first discovered by some English tourists, as a bookdealer in Chicago. According to the testimony of his friends, he had been queer for some time and was getting queerer, disappearing from time to time for increasingly long intervals. As he also appeared to be suffering, Sir Robert Graeme sets himself to fathoming the mystery. A famous English physician is requisitioned for the probe. That Pengard is a victim of amnesia, is coming more and more under the influence of another personality and is living in dread of complete surrender, is certain from the start. And this is what gradually reveals itself: John Pengard and Hartley Sylvester are one and the same person, and the latter, author of a book that has made him famous, is gaining in sinister influence. By the aid of psychoanalysis, hypnotism and shrewd guesses, Dr Arne achieves the unexpected result that Pengard fades away as a dream person and Sylvester comes to stay. After more patient experimenting, more startling disclosures, Sylvester transforms himself into John Mathieson, one-time pal and brother-in-arms to Sir Robert’s dead brother.

“We must admit that even an inveterate novel reader will scarcely be able to forecast the various developments which arise, and in particular the utterly unlooked-for conclusion.”

“The story becomes more and more baffling as we proceed. The mystery is well worked out and the unraveling is exciting up to the very close.”

“An uncommonly good story of this kind. Based upon actual psychological fact.”

“While the plot is clever enough to carry the book, the pleasant literary style it is that will attract the average reader.”

“Anybody who wants to be entertained will thoroughly enjoy this story, but most readers will probably agree that Lucius Arne is the least convincing part of it.”

STRAUS, SIMON WILLIAM.History of the thrift movement in America. il *$1.50 (2c) Lippincott 331.84

20–7771

The book is one of Lippincott’s thrift text series edited by Arthur H. Chamberlain. In his introduction Mr Chamberlain says of the author: “He clearly saw the wasteful tendencies of our people, and deplored the results, bound, he well knew, to come from them. He saw the problem in its totality. He appreciated thoroughly the distinction between proper spending and useless wasting; between common-sense saving and narrow parsimony.... He alone could write the history, indicate the need and significance and point the way of the thrift movement, of which he is the apostle.” The book falls into two parts. Some of the chapters in part 1 are: Characterization of thrift; America’s record of thriftlessness; The organization of the American society for thrift; The international congress for thrift; Resolutions recommending the teachings of thrift in the public schools of America. Among the contents of part 2 are: Little talks on thrift; Money-making and money-saving; How thrift shapes the character; The need of personal account keeping; Waste in the kitchen; Personal standards of thrift; Thriftlessness among the poor. There is an index and five symbolic cartoons by Rollin Kirby.

“Certainly, the gospel of thrift which Mr Straus expounds needs to be spread far and wide. The little talks on thrift contained in part II will be helpful to teachers as illustrations of the thrift idea.” G: F. Zook

STRAYER, GEORGE DRAYTON, and ENGELHARDT, NICKOLAUS LOUIS.Classroom teacher at work in American school. il *$1.48 Am. bk. 371.2

20–7789

“This volume is one of the American education series, of which Prof. Strayer is the general editor. It treats exhaustively of the organization and administration of public education, as well as of the technique employed by the teacher in his daily work. Chapters are included dealing with records and reports, the organization of public education, the classification and progress of children, the measurement of the achievements of children, the health of school children, as well as extra-curricula activities that make possible an intelligent and sympathetic cooperation with the plans of the administrator.”—Springf’d Republican

“Contains little that is new, but is a restatement of material which is already familiar to all except elementary students of education. It will doubtless be used in many introductory courses.”

STREET, JULIAN LEONARD.Sunbeams, Inc. il *$1.25 Doubleday

20–16499

Henry Bell Brown is introduced to us first as he is leaving the staff of the New York Evening Dispatch, and is given a farewell banquet. He is leaving to join a firm of “advertising engineers,” and subsequently becomes H. Bell Brown. It is only when he goes into business for himself that he rises to the glory of “Belwyn Brown.” It is his big idea of “merchandising” (one of his favorite verbs) sunshine that brings him success. He becomes a sort of a commercial Pollyanna spreading Gloomer Chasers broadcast on boiler-plate pages—something on this order: “No business is busted when there’s a smile left in the bank.” The war threatens the business of Sunbeams, Inc., but he enlarges its scope, goes to France and helps “win the war with sunshine.” Upon his return he is more convinced than ever that his name and fame shall be a household word and spares no effort to accomplish this result. At the end of a successful banquet given in his honor by the Pundits he is able to “indulge himself in a brief self-gratulatory yet philosophical reflection. ‘One thing is sure,’ he said to himself; ‘In this world a fellow gets just about what’s coming to him.’”

“Not only is the story so thin that it will hardly hold together, but it is impossible to feel any sympathy with the leading character—a state of things which often is fatal in a work of this kind. That it is not so in this instance is immeasurably to the credit of the author. It affords whimsical entertainment of unique quality.”

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

“Short story with a lot of humor and various amusing exhibitions of psychology.”

STREETER, BURNETT HILLMAN, ed.Spirit; the relation of God and man, considered from the standpoint of recent philosophy and science. *$2.50 Macmillan 231

19–19611

“The movement toward a scientific and philosophical conception of God is materially aided by the publication of a book called ‘The spirit,’ edited by Canon B. H. Streeter of the Church of England. ‘This volume,’ says the editor, ‘puts forward a conception of spirit—considered as God in action—which is definite but not scholastic, and which is capable of affording a basis both for a coherent philosophy and for a religion passionate and ethical, mystical and practical.’ The chapter on Immanence and transcendance is by Prof. A. Pringle-Pattison. Miss Lily Dougall writes on God in action. The psychology of power is treated by Capt. J. A. Hadfield of the Ashhurst neurological war hospital at Oxford. A. Clutton-Brock’s customary distinction of mind and style is apparent in two chapters on Spiritual experience and Spirit and matter. Other chapters are What happened at Pentecost by Rev. C. A. Anderson Scott, The psychology of grace, by Rev. C. W. Emmet, The language of the soul, by Miss Dougall and Christ, the revolutionary by Canon Streeter.”—Springf’d Republican

“Its temper is frank, its thought, for the most part, keen and clear, and its language, though frequently employing the terms of traditional theology, simple and eloquent.”

“Alike in its fearlessness, in its refusal to make terms with narrow types of orthodoxy, and in its strong Christocentric theology it is a characteristic product of modern English religious thought. Its main defect is that it only implicitly recognizes the affirmation of modern research that Christianity is a synthesis.”

STREIT, CLARENCE K.“Where iron is, there is the fatherland!” il *$1; pa *50c Huebsch 940.318

20–19447

The booklet comes under the “Freeman pamphlets” series and is “a note on the relation of privilege and monopoly to war.” (Subtitle) It is an exposé of the stock and bond morality of big business and shows “that the interests of a nation and the interests of private property are two separate and distinct things. Whether the money and mineral international did or did not prepare and start the war ... it is certain that the fifty-one months during which millions of men were killed was a most profitable era for these interests.” Some of the topics discussed are: The basin of Briey; Interlocking directorates; Nickel not contraband; The French trust favors Krupps; Patrioteers; When is a fort not a fort? The agreement for a Lorraine offensive; The flag of big business; Bloody profits.

“Mr Streit tells the story simply, straightforwardly, with ample citation of authority, but almost too unjournalistically. The booklet is marred by awkward translations and by careless proof-reading of place names.”

STRINGER, ARTHUR JOHN ARBUTHNOTT.Prairie mother. il *$2 Bobbs

20–11073

“Those who met ‘Chaddie’ McKail in ‘The prairie wife’ will be glad that Arthur Stringer has embodied her later experiences in ‘The prairie mother.’ Many of the characters of the earlier story of the Canadian prairie appear here. The story is in the form of a diary in which she sets down the details leading up to, and during, her greatest trial. The McKails have passed the first material difficulties of home-making in the new land, and their condition borders on opulence. But unfortunate speculation sweeps away their broad acres and solid home, and they are faced with the necessity of starting all over again. The ‘prairie mother’ gladly surrenders her charming home to the husband’s titled English cousin, and moves her household and three small tots to an unbroken half section which is in her name. The new owner of the old home is a woman who had entrusted funds to McKail. The former speedily proves the fly in the ointment, for she seems to fascinate ‘Dinky-Dunk’ and ere long there is a virtual separation. With deep sympathy, Mr Stringer details Chaddie’s efforts to mend her broken life.”—Springf’d Republican

“Mr Stringer’s public is accustomed to expect good work from his pen and we venture the opinion that in ‘The prairie mother’ he has surpassed himself.”

STRONG, EDWARD KELLOGG, jr.Introductory psychology for teachers. il $1.80 Warwick & York 370.1

A series of lessons in psychology arranged to form a classroom course. The author has planned the course on the well-known principles of proceeding from the known to the unknown, of learning by doing, etc. He describes his method in the preface: “Instead of beginning with the most uninteresting phases of psychology and those most unknown to students, the course takes up concrete experiences of everyday life, relates them to the problems of learning and individual differences, and so develops these two topics. Each general principle is discovered by the student out of his own experience in solving specially organized problems. Only after he has done his best is he expected to refer to the text and by then the text is no longer basic but only supplementary.” The sections of the book following the introduction are devoted to: The learning process; Individual differences; Some physiological aspects of psychology. There is a brief general review at the close. Charts and diagrams illustrate the book, references follow most of the chapters, and there is an index. The text is also printed in the form of seventeen booklets. The author is professor of vocational education, Carnegie institute of technology.

“There is growing up a pronounced distinction between two schools of educational psychologists. The one is interested in dealing with the relatively tangible outcomes of learning activities and is satisfied to put all explanations in the form of Professor Thorndike’s easy, but quite meaningless, formula of bonds. The other is interested in finding out in detail the steps by which a pupil acquires his mental results. Professor Strong may be described as belonging to the first type. For that school he has rendered the service of getting together a large body of interesting examples, and he has put these examples in a more teachable form than any writers of that group who have preceded him.”

STUART, SIR CAMPBELL.[2]Secrets of Crewe house. il *$2 (*7s 6d) (4½c) Doran 940.342

20–22069

Crewe house was the headquarters of the department of propaganda in enemy countries under the directorship of Viscount Northcliffe. The story of its activities and successes during 1918 are revealed in this book. According to a quotation from the Tägliche Rundschau on page 127, “It cannot be doubted that Lord Northcliffe very substantially contributed to England’s victory in the world war. His conduct of English propaganda during the war will some day find its place in history as a performance hardly to be surpassed.” The book is indexed and contains besides the portraits of the various members of the committee on propaganda and other illustrations several maps and facsimiles of the leaflets distributed by means of balloons. The contents are: Propaganda: its uses and abuses; Crewe house: its organization and personnel; Operations against Austria-Hungary: propaganda’s most striking success; Operations against Germany; Tributes from the enemy; Operations against Bulgaria and other activities; Inter-allied cooperation; From war propaganda to peace propaganda; Vale!

“Although there is much that is eulogistic of his chief, Sir Campbell does not overdraw the picture. He uses none of the arts of the professional writer, preferring at all times to tell the story without attempting the dramatic.” H. D. C.

“This complacent book is ludicrous, not because it takes for granted that all it aimed to achieve was achieved; nor because it omits due credit to French propaganda (more extensive than British) and Russian (not even mentioned); but because it tries to get glory out of war.” Heber Blankenhorn

“Sir Campbell’s lively style and his keen enjoyment of what he has to tell engross the reader.”

“‘Secrets of Crewe house’ is rather hastily put together, and is too much a eulogy of Lord Northcliffe by his chief assistant. But it contains a good deal of interesting description of the sundry ingenious devices by which Lord Northcliffe spread his propaganda.” H: W. Bunn

“In Lord Northcliffe’s mentality we have always been struck with a strong vein of simplicity, which the charitable call naïveté, and the uncharitable call knavery, or stupidity. There are two signs of this quality in this book. Again and again it is explicitly stated that the propaganda told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This is childish. No propaganda could succeed which told the truth.”

“A very lively and exciting story, which the many illustrations in the volume help to diversify. Yet the book is more than a piece of good reading about the war, and more than a historical record. It will have a permanent value as a handbook to the principles of propaganda in enemy countries.”

STUCK, HUDSON.Winter circuit of our Arctic coast. il *$6 (5c) Scribner 979.8

20–9131

This is the author’s fourth book of Alaskan travel and describes a journey with dog-sled around the entire Arctic coast of Alaska in the winter of 1917–18. It is not a record of discoveries of exploration and does not describe an already “scientifically known” people anthropologically but rather socially during their “normal life” which is their winter life. “My purpose was an enquiry into their present state, physical, mental, moral and religious, industrial and domestic, into their prospects, into what the government and the religious organizations have done and are doing for them, and what should yet be done.” (Preface) Besides many illustrations, two maps and an index the book contains: From Fort Yukon to Kotzebue Sound; Kotzebue Sound to Point Hope; Point Hope; Point Hope to Point Barrow; Point Barrow; The northern extreme; Point Barrow to Flaxman Island; Flaxman Island and the journey to Herschel Island; Herschel Island and the journey to Fort Yukon.

“There is a quiet and peculiar charm, distinctly of the North, in this narrative.” F: O’Brien

“This book is readable from cover to cover—entertaining, thoughtful, wise in its recommendations concerning our great territory, and attractive in its illustration.”

“Mr Stuck is a man of many interests, and his narrative is the more absorbing for being discursive.”

STUDENSKY, PAUL.Teachers’ pension systems in the United States. *$3 Appleton 371.17

20–2739

The book is published under the auspices of the Institute for government research, in the series Studies in administration, and is both a critical and descriptive study of the subject. It “should be not only a substantial contribution to the science of administration, but an immediate and practical aid to teachers, school authorities, legislators and all other persons interested in solving the problem of reorganizing their own systems or establishing systems ... upon bases that have been tested by experience and are in accordance with sound social, economic, and financial principles.” (Editorial introd.) Part 1: The problem of teachers’ pensions, contains: The evolution of teachers’ pensions in the United States; The teachers’ pension problem outlined; Superannuation benefits; Disability benefits; Death and withdrawal benefits; Determining the cost of benefits; The division of cost between government and teachers; The government’s contribution; The teacher’s contribution; Compulsory participation and the right to management. In Part 2 an account is given of the movement in the United States and an examination made of the history and present condition of the more important systems now in existence. There is also an appendix, actuarial tables and a bibliography.

“In his efforts to inculcate the sound principles, Mr Studensky errs rather on the side of overloading his discussion with too much detail, which for the readers most concerned will probably lead to confusion rather than clarification. While general agreement will be found with the principles of a sound pension system discussed in the volume, Mr Studensky’s acceptance of the salary scale as the basis of the pension considerably diminishes the value of his work.”

“The book covers the subject critically and thoroughly.”

“The volume will serve the purpose of a work of reference and will be of value to committees of teachers considering the establishment of a pension system. The average teacher, however, will perhaps be a little more confused by the problem after reading the book than before, mainly because it is over-loaded by too much detail and because the discussions of theory and practice are too widely separated.” I. L. Kandel

STURGEON, MARY C.Studies of contemporary poets, rev. and enl. *$2.50 Dodd 821.09

“These short studies, warmly presenting the merits of a number of contemporary poets with much illustrative quotation, first appeared in 1916. The additional chapters are on John Drinkwater, ‘Michael Field,’ (Katharine H. Bradley and Edith E. Cooper), Thomas Hardy, J. C. Squire, Contemporary women poets (Anna Wickham, Helen Parry Eden, Anna Bunston, Olive Custance, Eva Gore Booth, Margaret Radford), and W. B. Yeats.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“The best one can say about Miss Sturgeon’s work is that it is the outcome of a wide knowledge of the poets and versifiers of her time. But she fails to do justice to whatever understanding of them that knowledge might have given to her.”

“One does not receive in these pages the keen analysis, the subtle interpretation of contemporaries such as Arthur Symons gave to his public in ‘Studies in two literatures,’ but they do give an honest, workable survey of the figures and qualities among the contemporaneous poets of England that is serviceable and informative.” W. S. B.

“The fact is that Miss Sturgeon’s criticism leans toward sentimentalism, and not only because she tends always to stress the good, the true, the perennially sad. Her writing clings too close to its matter even when she is at her best, which is in interpretation of the thought and melody in giving passages; and her exquisiteness of appreciation tends in one way or another to impede the flow of critical thought. One poet seems in retrospect very much like another.” C. M. Rourke

“Miss Sturgeon’s book, taken with the necessary ‘grano salis,’ has much to recommend it. Its value as criticism would have been higher if Miss Sturgeon had not been so uniformly enthusiastic.” R: Le Gallienne

STURGIS, ESTHER MARY (OGDEN) (MRS RICHARD CLIPSTON STURGIS).Personal prejudices. *$1.65 (4c) Houghton 814

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