Chapter 29

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The author of these poems is now nine years old. Amy Lowell writes a long preface to the book in which she says: “It is poetry, the stuff and essence of poetry.... I know of no other instance in which such really beautiful poetry has been written by a child.... What this book chiefly shows is high promise; but it also has its pages of real achievement, and that of so high an order it may well set us pondering.” With some biographical data on the child Miss Lowell describes her manner of working, which she considers to be largely subconscious and perfectly instinctive. The poems are grouped according to the child’s age into: Four to five years old; Five to six years old; Six to seven years old; and Seven to nine years old.

“The book as a whole is convincing, and a number of the poems are beautiful.”

“Charming and unusual. Here is a book of poems instinct with the spirit of childhood and so childlike in much of its phrasing as to make a direct and permanent appeal to children and grown people.” A. C. Moore

“Her thought has not the incoherence that might be expected of a child; she paints in each poem a complete picture, step by step, usually leading up to the last line with a fine feeling for climax. In economy of words and in power of connotation these poems resemble the translations from the Chinese and the Japanese which have lately attracted the attention of occidental poets, but there is a richness of detail that we are accustomed to associate with the tradition of English literature.” N. J. O’Conor

“Many a mature poet might be proud of some of these little gems. All of them sparkle with that faery light that enables its possessor to see things quaintly and daintily.”

“The quality which shines behind practically all of these facets of loveliness is a directness of perception, an almost mystic divination. It is its own stamp of unaffected originality, a genuine ingenuousness. It is ridiculous to talk of the ‘stages’ in the work of a ten-year-old child and yet the verses conceived between four and seven are more vivid, seem more spontaneous and less—absurd as it may seem—sophisticated than those written between seven and nine.” L: Untermeyer

“Readers will be glad of the book, not only because it was written by a child, but because it contains beautiful poetry. Not a false image is to be found in it, not a single artificial symbol, not a line of dull, stereotyped diction!”

“The gift is given us gravely and unconsciously, with none of the reticences that fears ridicule, and yet with none of the exaggeration that tries to ‘show off.’” Marguerite Wilkinson

“The present volume deserves a high place among the expressions of youthful imagination. It is vivid, fresh, and creative in no small degree.”

“The handling of the verse-form is skillful, though not masterly.” O. W. Firkins

“The ‘Poems by a little girl’ do not smack of the exotic and consciously clever; they are robust as well as delicate, with the characteristic deliberation and spontaneity of childhood seizing life with keen eyes and quick imagination.”

CONNOLLY, JAMES BRENDAN.Hiker Joy. il *$1.75 (2½c) Scribner

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Hiker, the young hero of Mr Connolly’s series of adventures, is a little gamin from the New York water front, who ships to sea with his friend Bill Green on a lumber schooner bound for somewhere across the Atlantic in wartime. The ship is wrecked in a storm and Bill gets possession of the valuable papers the captain had been carrying and turns them over to the secret service, according to orders. Other adventures follow, with German spies, U-boats, and Zeppelins, and the whole tale is related by Hiker in his own vernacular.

“Sea stories which will have their usual appeal because the author knows how to write them.”

“The whole book is sufficient to provide an evening’s entertainment of no mean quality.”

“Every page vibrates with action and glows with unforced drama. Happily, both his matter and manner are excellent.”

CONNOR, HENRY GROVES.John Archibald Campbell. *$2.25 (3c) Houghton

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The subject of this biography was a southern jurist, appointed a justice of the Supreme court in 1853. In 1861 he resigned to become assistant secretary of war for the Confederacy. He was one of the three Confederate peace commissioners who met Lincoln and Seward in 1865. The table of contents indicates the outstanding points in his career and shows the biographer’s plan of treatment; Ancestry and early career at the bar; Associate justice of the Supreme court of the United States; The slavery question before the court; On the circuit: filibustering and the slave trade; Efforts to avert civil war; Services to the confederacy and peace negotiations: The problem of restoration; The slaughter-house cases and the fourteenth amendment; Last years at the bar; Personal characteristics, intellectual and social traits; Conclusion. A table of cases follows and an index.

“The biographer’s judicial experience gives him an advantage in the treatment of legal points, while his sense of restraint eliminates bias in the discussion of matters that ordinarily arouse the keenest controversy. The method of inserting quoted portions is at times confusing, and there are numerous inaccuracies of quotation.” J. G. Randall

“Will interest students of history.”

Reviewed by J: C. Rose

CONRAD, JOSEPH.Rescue: a romance of the shallows. *$2 (1c) Doubleday

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Mr Conrad’s new tale of the South Seas is the story of a man torn between loyalty to friend and love of woman, forced to choose between faith to his plighted word and her safety. It is a story of a generation ago with civil war rife among the native tribes of the Malay straits. Captain Tom Lingard has pledged his all to the service of Rajah Hassim and has plotted and contrived to restore him to his kingdom. The enterprise has reached its climax when an English yacht blunders into the scene of activity and runs aground. Captain Lingard goes aboard her with offers of assistance, his one thought to get the intruders out of the way. His offer is met with insolence on the part of the owner and he would gladly have left them to their fate, but he had seen the woman, Mrs Travers, and her spell is on him. Thereafter these two are but puppets in the hands of fate and the outcome is the wreck of all Lingard’s hopes and the failure of the cause he had served.

“This fascinating book revives in use the youthful feeling that we are not so much reading a story of adventure as living in and through it, absorbing it, making it our own. This feeling is not wholly the result of the method, the style which the author has chosen; it arises more truly from the quality of the emotion in which the book is steeped.” K. M.

“A characteristic story, one of his best.”

“While the charm of its style is undeniable, while it is filled with glowing word-pictures of tropical scenes, we shall doubtless be held to be intellectually blind and artistically obtuse by many Conrad admirers when we say that it has none of the flowing narrative qualities which should be the chief characteristic of a story of its sort.” E. F. E.

“‘The rescue’ is characterized by that extraordinary grasp of reality and breadth of outlook for which Mr Conrad is famous.”

“It is not easy to find another name for genius. The effort to describe it is ungrateful enough. When it penetrates so deep to the roots of life one can pay it the tribute of becoming silent at the earliest possible moment.” Gilbert Seldes

“If Mr Joseph Conrad’s ‘The rescue’ is an earlier novel, as has been said, it is difficult to see why he did not leave its style intact or re-write it wholly in his later, sparer manner. Yet with all the disappointments of detail, in completion ‘The rescue’ produces a massiveness of effect which belongs only to Conrad.” C. M. R.

“Mr Conrad remains a writer who approaches greatness. In ‘The rescue’ there are prose harmonies as rich and plangent as in ‘Youth’ itself. There are glimpses of men—Shaw, Travers, Jörgenson—that are sharp as etchings. His senses are marvellously active and acute and his ability to render their perceptions into language is superb. He fails, contrary to a common opinion, when he seeks to explain the operations of the mind or the character of the passions or when he reflects.”

“The book is absorbingly interesting; dramatic, subtle, fascinating with that allurement, that sheer power and sweep of romance which is Joseph Conrad’s to command.” L. M. Field

“Begun some twenty years ago, finished last year, it combines the lucidity of his earlier work with the subtlety of his later manner.”

“We who have had a sense of groping for the old magic amongst the later tales of Joseph Conrad may find it in this book.” H. W. Boynton

“His command of what was originally an alien tongue, probably unequalled in the whole course of English letters, has gained in mastery and subtlety, and the gifts that he brings us are still rich and strange and new.”

“It matters not how often Mr Conrad tells the story of the man and the brig. Out of the million stories that life offers the novelist, this one is founded upon truth. And it is only Mr Conrad who is able to tell it us. But if the statement of the theme is extremely fine, we have to admit that the working out of the theme is puzzling: we cannot deny that we are left with a feeling of disappointment.”

CONSTABLE, FRANK CHALLICE.Myself and dreams. *$2.50 (2½c) Dodd 150

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The book is a contribution to the literature on psychical matters in which the soul is treated as a psychical subject whose physiological state is but transitory, merely an “occasion” for conduct. Part 1, Myself, includes such subjects as the relativity of knowledge, insight, self-consciousness, the intelligible universe and the sensible universe, ideas, free-will and the categorical imperative. Part 2, Dreams, includes chapters on: Sleep; Physiological and psychological theories; Multiplex personality; Hallucination and illusion in dreams; Romance and fairie; Phantasy; Ecstasy; The eternal.

CONTEMPORARYverse anthology; with an introd. by C: W. Stork.[2]*$3 Dutton 811.08

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“The editor of Contemporary Verse has selected from the pages of that magazine devoted exclusively to poetry the representative contributions printed during the past four years as examples of a style and quality of poetic expression ‘broadly devoted to the needs and interests of the general reading public.’ Among the contributors are found such well-known names as Louis Untermeyer, Witter Bynner, Clement Wood, John Hall Wheelock, William Rose Benet, Lizette Woodworth Reese, Sara Teasdale, Mary Carolyn Davies, Margaret Widdemer and Ruth Comfort Mitchell. Among the lesser known contributors are Amory Hare, Stephen Moylan Bird, Gertrude Cornwell Hopkins, Elinor Wylie, Winifred Welles, Phoebe Hoffman, Dorothy Anderson, Amanda B. Hall, William Baird, Berenice K. Van Slyke, Leonora Speyer and many another.”—Boston Transcript

“It has a little that is very good, more that is very bad, and very much that is mediocre.”

“The selections which appear in this volume, are, in the main, chosen with discrimination and taste.”

“Throughout there is an undercurrent of sane vitality, that spirit of healthy restlessness and inquisitiveness that more than anything else distinguishes the work of so many of the present American poets from that of their quieter, more smoothly flowing British brothers.”

CONYNGTON, THOMAS.Business law; a working manual of every-day law. 2d ed 2v $8 Ronald 347.7

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A two-volume edition of the work published in 1918. Volume 1 covers: The law of the land; Contracts; Sales; Agency; Negotiable instruments; Insurance; Employment; Partnership; Corporations. Volume 2: Real and personal property; Wills and inheritance; Personal relations; Suretyship; Debts and interest; Bankruptcy; Bailments and common carriers; Patents, trademarks, and copyrights; Taxation; Arbitration; Law and lawyers; Forms. Appendixes to volume 2 contain: Chart showing jurisdiction of state courts; A professional law library; Glossary, and there is an index.

“It is a valuable handbook; it can be referred to by the ordinary citizen because nontechnical terms are used and the statements of law are plain and concise.”

“It is well arranged and clearly written for the business man.”

COOK, CARROLL BLAINE (DIXIE CARROLL, pseud.).Goin’ fishin’; with an introd. by Leonard Wood, and a foreword by Wright A. Patterson. il *$2.75 (1½c) Stewart & Kidd 799

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“Weather and feed facts; the fresh-water game fish: the natural and artificial baits and their use.” (Sub-title) Besides this information the book contains the infectious exuberance of spirit which comes from the love of out-o’-doors and which, says the author, has burned like an unquenchable volcano within him from the earliest moments of his life. The motor boat in fishing, footwear and the camp commissary also receive attention and a list of recommended fishing waters—in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pacific Northwest and Canada—concludes the book.

COOK, SIR EDWARD TYAS.More literary recreations. *$2.75 Macmillan 824

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“About half the book is devoted to three charming papers on Pliny’s letters, the classics in daily life, and the Greek anthology. Other essays are on travelling companions, the art of editing, the changes and corruptions of words, and on ‘single poem poets.’”—Brooklyn

“The essays in this second volume of literary recreations, composed in the intervals of leisure snatched from his official duties during the war, are now published for the first time, and only serve to heighten the regret caused by the premature death of their author. Reserved and restrained with strangers, he here reveals a geniality and sympathy of which only the few who knew him intimately were aware.”

“There will be a good many readers of this book who, after listening to Sir Edward Cook, will take down the Greek anthology or the half-forgotten Virgil or Homer from its shelf, and so thank him in the way he would have best liked to be thanked.”

COOK, W. VICTOR.Grey fish. *$2 Stokes

“In the Shetland Islands they have a toast which they drink on New Year’s day, ‘Health to man and death to the grey fish.’ In this novel both name and toast are applied to a grim sort of hunting and of prey, the German submarines off the coast of Spain during the war. The story consists of twelve connected episodes in which two of the characters are always in the centre of interest, a few others come and go, and still more appear only in single tales. The two chief actors are a young Scot ostensibly in the employ of a British firm of wine merchants with offices at various Spanish ports. The other is a middle-aged Spaniard, a stevedore, once a peasant and an ex-smuggler. A double motive urges him into the grey fish hunting, a love of dangerous adventure for its own sake and a passionate hatred of the Germans because his brother’s boat had been sunk and his brother drowned by a German submarine.”—N Y Times

“The author of ‘Grey fish’ has provided a series of fascinating, well spiced tales so closely connected that they deserve to be called a novel, into which he has put not a little of the atmosphere and color of the Spanish coast.”

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

COOKE, GEORGE WILLIS.Social evolution of religion. *$3.50 Stratford co. 201

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“The author is dominated by one thought throughout his work, and that is ‘all religion is essentially communal or social.’ Primitive man, like the child, he asserts, does not know himself apart from the group; and he adds: ‘It must be recognized that all the evidence is in favor of the conclusion that the earliest manifestations of religion were those of a group, and not those of individuals.’ And the conclusion is drawn that man has been religious from the beginning. After a few chapters in which are described the social transmission of human experience, the creative genius of social man, and communal and tribal religion; feudal, national, international and universal religion are described; and the closing chapter is on religion as cosmic and human motive. Two fundamental points underlie and color this entire work, namely, that religion is a natural phenomenon and that it is primarily social.”—Boston Transcript

“He has collected a great mass of facts, and his interpretation of those facts, while evidencing a vigorous mind, is but the judgment of a human being; and there will be no lack of dissent on the part of readers.” F. W. C.

“The author has drawn heavily upon writers of his own way of thinking. Nowhere is there evidence of any scientific discernment.”

“The author tells us that this book contains fifty years’ study of religion but there is not the slightest suspicion in it of an old man’s conservatism. Few books about religion are more radical, more fearless, more resolutely faced toward the future than this one.” A. W. Vernon

COOKE, RICHARD JOSEPH, bp.[2]Church and world peace. *$1 Abingdon press 261

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“After discussing the demand for a League of nations and answering the question whether or not such a league is possible, and after stating the political difficulties in the way of such a league, the author concludes that the league will need all the spiritual power of the church to make it effective. He says that ‘while the League of nations may do much to prevent war, it cannot eradicate the desire for war. It would seem, therefore, absolutely essential that the physical power of the League shall be supplemented by a spiritual power, some mighty generating influence which, by its appeal to the souls of man, shall be able to cool super-heated passions, and for treasured wrong substitute desire for justice and not revenge, for peace and not war.’ There must then be a Christian league, a league of Christendom supplementing the political League of nations.”—Boston Transcript

“The book is a strong one, well argued, clearly written, and exceedingly timely. It closes with an inspiring note of optimism.”

COOLEY, ANNA MARIA, and SPOHR, WILHELMINA.Household arts for home and school. 2v il v 1 *$1.50; v 2 *$1.60 Macmillan 640.7

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These volumes are intended for the use of household arts classes in school and as a help in home work. Volume 1 describes how the girls of the Ellen H. Richards school chose the furniture and all accessories for the Sunnyside apartment of five rooms, to be occupied by two of the teachers, and to be used as a practice house for the school. The girls made all the curtains, couch covers, dresser scarfs, table doilies, towels, etc., and while doing so learned all about the decorations and furnishing of a home, its management and up-keep, the use of the sewing machine, the making, mending and cost of clothing and the care of the baby. Volume 2 is more especially devoted to the daily work in the home. The storing and canning of fruits and vegetables, cooking, cleaning and laundering, the preparation of breakfasts and dinners, keeping well and happy are discussed. Each volume has an appendix and an index and many illustrations.

“The lessons are selected with discrimination, and suitable balance is maintained between the various topics. The book does not make adequate provision for the development of thought and initiative on the part of the pupil and fails to give opportunity for the understanding of principles through experiments.”

COOLEY, ANNA MARIA, and others.Teaching home economics. *$1.80 Macmillan 640.7

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“The authors took upon themselves a large task as indicated in the statement of their aim, namely, to ‘offer suggestions for the organization, administration, and teaching of home economics subjects.’ The authors say, ‘It is taken for granted that the students who will use it will be familiar with the scope of the field,’ and that ‘the book is intended for use primarily in normal schools and colleges’ though they ‘hope that the social workers, vocational advisors, and lay readers will find in this book suggestions of value.’ They specially stress the fact that they wish to ‘attack the subject in the light of the new vision of education as a factor in social evolution.’ The attempt to cover in outline the whole field is treated under four different divisions: (1) Home economics as an organized study in the school program; (2) Organization of courses in home economics; (3) Planning of lessons; (4) Personnel, materials, and opportunities; (5) Addenda.”—J Home Econ

“One of the good features of the book is the list of questions after each chapter and the suggested references for collateral reading. While the authors have succeeded in bringing together in one volume material which will be very helpful to the discriminating teacher of home economics, the undertaking was so great as almost to prevent adequate treatment of the various parts.” Isabel Bevier

“One finishes the reading of the book with the realization that innumerable statements as to existing conditions have been given, but a feeling akin to bewilderment is not cleared away by any definite conclusion as to wise selection of material, clear emphasis on abilities to be developed, or teaching methods to be used.”

COOLIDGE, DANE.Wunpost. *$2 Dutton

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“‘Wunpost’ was the nickname bestowed on John C. Calhoun, who, though he came from a good old southern family and had ‘the profile of a bronze Greek god,’ was nevertheless so illiterate that, when he found a gold mine and decided to call it the ‘One post,’ he spelled the name ‘Wunpost.’ He had a habit of finding gold mines. During the course of the narrative he discovers no less than three, but he is cheated out of two of them by the wickedness and ingenuity of old Judson Eells and his ‘yaller dog,’ Lapham, the lawyer who thoroughly understood how to draw up a contract of the most deceptive kind. ‘Wunpost’ went to work to get even with Eells, with Lapham, and with ‘Pisenface’ Lynch, who was Eells’s ‘hired mankiller and professional claim-jumper.’ Of course he succeeded. But meanwhile he learned something about the dangers of boasting, had any number of adventures, including one with an Indian scout whom he outwitted and made a trip across the famous Death valley, besides falling in love.”—N Y Times

“The best of this book is the descriptions.”

“The work is an excellent specimen of the better class of western fiction, glowing with local color, featured by continuous and well sustained action and containing an abundance of its own variety of love and adventure.”

COOPER, HENRY ST JOHN.Sunny Ducrow. *$1.90 (1½c) Putnam

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The story of a little girl of the London slums who leaves a pickle factory to go on the stage. Her name is Elizabeth Ann but everybody calls her Sunny and it is as Sunny Ducrow that she rises to fame. Later she buys an interest in the pickle factory and moves it to the suburbs where she establishes a model village called Sunnyville. A noble lord falls in love with her and for a time Sunny thinks she is in love with him, but she finds out that she is not and gives her hand to a less distinguished suitor in her own profession.

“The book is brightly and vivaciously written, and many people will be glad to become acquainted with Mr Cooper’s heroine.”

“Sunny Ducrow is an amusing impossibility.”

“In ‘Sunny Ducrow’ Henry St John Cooper barely escapes unwittingly surpassing the ‘novels’ that first established Stephen Leacock’s reputation. His heroine outglads Pollyanna and outbunks Bunker Bean.”

“There is much that is good in the book and much that is interesting. Good types in all classes of society are here, and the writing is sincere and simple in style. Sunny is almost too perfect, too infallible, too easily successful, and all the various humans who come into her life are almost too regenerated.” G. I. Colbron

COOPER, JAMES A.Tobias o’ the light. il *$1.75 (2c) Sully

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Tobias is the light-keeper in one of the Cape Cod lighthouses. In addition, he is a born matchmaker, and when Ralph and Lorna declare they will not marry each other, although—or perhaps because—their families urge it so strongly, he tries to patch up their difficulties by telling each that the other is in financial difficulties. Their pity and chivalry aroused, all might have gone well, had it not been for the bank robbery, of which Ralph is suspected. When Lorna believes Ralph to be the thief because of his need of money, Tobias feels that perhaps he may have overreached himself in his stories. But fortunately the discovery of the part Conny Degger, Ralph’s enemy, has played in the whole affair, puts the matter to rights, and the prospect is bright for Ralph and Lorna, financially and sentimentally.

COPE, HENRY FREDERICK.Education for democracy. *$2 (2c) Macmillan 370

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“Democracy is more than a form of government: it is a social ideal, a mode of life and a quality of the human spirit; therefore it cannot be imposed on a people; it must be acquired.” How it can be acquired and how our educational plans and ideals can be made to express personal-social values and a common good will in all phases of life is the subject of these essays. A partial list of the contents is: Education in a democracy; Democracy as a religious ideal; The spiritual nature of education in a democracy; Beginning at home; the public schools and democracy’s program; Spiritual values in school studies; Organizing the community; Democracy in the crucial hour.

“This little volume contains many excellent suggestions on the subject of education for democracy, and is worth reading both by teachers and by parents. But it is not always self-consistent, nor does it seem to us well grounded in fundamental principles.”

Reviewed by J. K. Hart

COPPLESTONE, BENNET.Last of the Grenvilles. *$2.50 Dutton

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“Another story of naval adventure by the author of the widely read tale entitled ‘The lost naval papers.’ Plot and war romance abound. The area of activity covered is, as before, purely naval, and, like the former book, this not only includes stories of spies and their detection but also furnishes a true and amusing picture of the British sailor in wartime.” (Outlook) “The hero is a descendant of Grenville of the ‘Revenge,’ and his life is related from boyhood till he enters the naval service and goes through the great war.” (Ath)

“The experienced author makes ‘history repeat itself’ in excellent fashion for the youthful reader.”

Reviewed by M. E. Bailey

“Mr Copplestone knows the sea and ships as few writers know it, and ‘The last of the Grenvilles’ is a stirring example of his storytelling power.”

“No one who has read one of Mr Copplestone’s books will allow another of them to pass him unread.”

“In the sentimental episode entitled ‘The warm haven’ the author challenges comparisons with ‘Bartimeus’ and without success; a lighter touch is needed. But with this deduction the book is a spirited and enjoyable performance.”

CORBETT, ELIZABETH F.Puritan and pagan. *$1.75 (1c) Holt

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Nancy Desmond is the puritan, Mary Allen the pagan. Nancy is a painter with a studio on Washington Square. Mary Allen is a distinguished actress. Max Meredith, who has married one of Nancy’s college friends, comes to New York on business and looks her up. They see much of one another during his stay and find to their dismay that they have fallen in love. True to her instincts and her ideals Nancy sends Max away from her. In the meantime, Roger Greene, Nancy’s friend and teacher, has become infatuated with Mary and between these two there is no question of renunciation. They accept their love as a fact altho Mary refuses marriage. When Nancy learns of the affair she is crushed and finds how much Roger has meant to her. Later after a long separation, after she has seen Max again and after the other love has run its course, Nancy and Roger come together.

“Her picture will prove fascinating to those who do not know that it is not faithful.”

“There is a palpable unevenness in ‘Puritan and pagan.’ It is so surprisingly good in spots that we should not expect that an author could maintain that high level everywhere. The novel very frankly contrasts the puritan and the pagan, but it is a contrast, fortunately, which possesses no element of didacticism, no hint of moral purpose.” D. L. M.

“The author has vividly portrayed several phases of New York life and analyzed skilfully several original characters, without forgetting that her main purpose was to tell a very old and very human story.”

“The plot is sound, the dramatis personae consistently interesting, and the action logical and generally swift.”

“All the plans, hopes, fears, regrets and dreams of three young lives find their expression between the covers, and while there is much that is bitter-sweet in the reading, the sympathetic reader will follow with unflagging interest to the end.”

CORBETT, SIR JULIAN STAFFORD.Naval operations. *$6.50 Longmans 940.45

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