Chapter 84

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“The present edition includes some epigrams from ‘A little book in C major,’ now out of print. To make room for them several of the smaller sketches in the first edition have been omitted. Nearly the whole contents of the book appeared originally in the Smart Set.” (Author’s note) Contents: Death: a philosophical discussion; From the programme of a concert; The wedding: a stage direction; The visionary; The artist: a drama without words; Seeing the world; From the memoirs of the devil; Litanies for the overlooked; Asepsis: a deduction in scherzo form; Tales of the moral and pathological; The jazz Webster; The old subject; Panoramas of people; Homeopathics; Vers libre.

“Mr Mencken is a clever and witty satirist, with an encyclopædic knowledge of the latest crazes and imbecilities.”

“The great difficulty about this book is that it will not irritate the intelligent and none but the intelligent can be amused by it.”

“Satire at times extravagantly and cheaply cynical, but also at times keen and entertaining is to be found in ‘A book of burlesques.’”

MENCKEN, HENRY LOUIS.Prejudices: second series. *$2.50 (4c) Knopf 814

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In the present volume the author continues his tirade on American letters, generalizing on his theme in the first essay, ‘The national letters.’ In spite of the prophetic optimism of such men as Emerson and Whitman and, to some extent, even the pessimistic Poe, we have so far achieved nothing but a respectable mediocrity which he attributes to the absence of a cultural background, and of a civilized aristocracy. The other essays of the book are: Roosevelt: an autopsy; The Sahara of the Bozart; The divine afflatus; Scientific examination of a popular virtue; Exeunt omnes; The allied arts; The cult of hope; The dry millennium; Appendix on a tender theme. There is an index.

“As for his second series of prejudices, they are even as his first; his prejudices have not changed; nor his manner of hurling them at the fat heads of us Philistines. Some of his missiles are true dynamite, some—in my humble opinion—are duds; but not one of them is discharged at random.” L. W. Dodd

“Nothing is sacred in his hands, and by the same token is he interesting and unreliable. His style is as vigorous and bold as his ideas. It is a little hard to keep up with Mencken, but at any rate you will not be bored if you try.”

MENDELSOHN, SIGMUND.Labor’s crisis. *$1.50 Macmillan 331

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“Looking at the question of labor reform from the employer’s point of view, the author argues that the labor scarcity is not entirely due to decrease in the number of laborers, and in support of his contention points to many effects of the unrest itself on production and on labor. In his keen introduction Mr Mendelsohn writes, ‘A labor problem still exists, and in more acute form than ever, but it concerns the welfare of society more than of labor. It is no longer based upon excess of labor, but upon insufficiency of labor; it no longer relates to an inadequate wage, but to an inflated wage; it no longer deals with an oppressed suffering class, but with an all powerful and militant element which is striving for economic dominance.’”—N Y Times

“An unusually thoughtful analysis of labor’s propositions to remedy the existing unrest.”

“Mr Mendelsohn’s thinking goes beneath the surface and his little book will be found suggestive by all classes of readers.”

MERCER, JOHN EDWARD.Why do we die? an essay in thanatology. *$2 Dutton 236

“Bishop Mercer points out that his question differs from the more usual one, ‘What happens after death?’ He finds it natural that we should speculate upon a future experience from which no one is exempt; but he wonders why no one has asked, ‘Why do we die at all?’ Neither biology nor physiology, he says, has answered this question; nor have the theologians or the philosophers approached any more nearly to the solution of it. The problem; What science teaches; Monadnology; and Higher aspects, are his four heads, under which he discusses Causes of the fear of death, The spiritual body, and other topics, closing with that of Death as a revealer.”—Springf’d Republican

“Though it is doubtful whether either scientists or philosophers would heartily endorse all the positions taken by Dr Mercer, it is pleasant to read a book written with good temper and rationality, without appeal to the prevalent superstitions of mediums and table-tipping.”

“Bishop Mercer pursues an extremely interesting and richly suggestive line of inquiry. It is one distinctly removed from that involved in psychical research. It is the purely religious inquiry of an eminent scholar and thinker who is familiar with all modern scientific thought, and whose wide culture and liberal mind endow him with vision.” Lilian Whiting

MERCIER, DESIRÉ FÉLICIEN FRANÇOIS JOSEPH, cardinal.Cardinal Mercier’s own story: prefatory letter by James Cardinal Gibbons. *$4 (3½c) Doran 940.3493

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The book consists chiefly of Cardinal Mercier’s correspondence with the German governor general in protest to the latter’s régime as imposed on the Belgians. The work of collecting and editing these letters has been delegated by the Cardinal to Professor Fernand Mayence, of Louvain university, who has supplied them with an explanatory preface. Most of the correspondence is with Baron von Bissing and Baron von der Lancken and some with Baron von Falkenhausen. The correspondence on the Belgian deportations is of special interest.

“It must remain among the permanent records of the war.”

“It is the sheer courage of the letters more than anything else which makes them impressive, but they have also a dignity, a sobriety and a definite knowledge of facts which makes them peculiarly valuable at a moment when reparations and indemnities are under discussion.”

Reviewed by Muriel Harris

Reviewed by M. F. Egan

“Every one who reads this book will feel that he has come in contact with a really great personality, and will be the better for the feeling. The story of Belgium, in which the cardinal is the dominant figure, is as fascinating, in one aspect, as ‘The pilgrim’s progress.’ The cardinal’s book, too, like Bunyan’s classic, is almost as good a story for the young as it is for the old.”

“A serious omission which ought to be supplied in any new edition is the lack of any index.” Lyman Abbott

“The correspondence, always written in the lofty tone and closely reasoned manner of state papers, is interesting throughout; but the most engrossing pages of the book are those which deal with the deportations.”

MEREDITH, MRS ELISABETH GRAY (LYMAN).Terrier’s tale. il *$1 Houghton

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“Although of a retiring disposition, I have always known that I am a person of importance, but recently I have become a person of note, and I have been asked to write my memoirs.” Thus the terrier begins his tale and it is full of interest and excitement and some wise reflections. It contains: Early days; Domestic life; Concerning baths; Sport; Travel; On being left behind; Fatherhood; Guests; Social life; As to cats; My great adventure; Through the window; Conclusion. The illustrations are by Mia E. Rosenblad.

MERIAM, JUNIUS LATHROP.Child life and the curriculum. $3.60 World bk. 375

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A work by the professor of school supervision and superintendent of university schools, University of Missouri. That the subject matter of modern life should be used as the means of instructing boys and girls is his thesis. “In working out the details of this curriculum the effort has been, not, as some critics have erroneously judged, to get away from the traditional curriculum, but, on the positive side, to get as close as possible to the lives of children as found in the home and in the larger community.” (Preface) The book is divided into five parts: Point of view; The traditional curriculum; Principles in the making of curricula; The contents of a curriculum; Methods and results. Supplementary readings are suggested at the end of each chapter, and special reading lists, as well as lists of songs, games, etc., are given in appendices. In addition there is a general bibliography of fifteen pages, followed by an index.

“Not a course that can be adopted in a moment or by any school, but a virile, well presented point of view which has something of value for every elementary teacher.”

“The reader may be unable to agree with all of the conclusions of the book, but it furnishes material for critical thought, and will be of interest to those dealing with courses of study. The manner of presentation is somewhat tedious at times, and one feels that occasional condensations would serve to emphasize the content.”

“One may find some of his conclusions from well-known studies in the field of education surprising; and may be unwilling to see measurement deferred until after the attainment of seemingly impossible conditions. Nevertheless he will recognize in the book and the experiment it reports a contribution to the great effort to provide a curriculum more closely related to life.”

MERLANT, JOACHIM.Soldiers and sailors of France in the American war for independence (1776–1783); tr. by Mary Bushnell Coleman. *$2 Scribner 973.3

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“‘Soldiers and sailors of France in the American war for independence’ is an account of the part played by our allies during the Revolution, written by one who participated in the world war. The author is Capt Joachim Merlant, assistant professor of the faculty of letters in the university of Montpellier, who, after a few months with the territorials, joined an active unit as infantry officer. Severely wounded in 1915 he never fully recovered, and being unable to fight resolved instead to write and talk for his cause. Thus he came to America, and from January to May in 1916 he lectured throughout the country. And through his gratitude toward America he decided to investigate the Franco-American alliance of 1778–1783 and retell the story of Rochambeau and LaFayette.”—Springf’d Republican

MERRICK, HOPE (BUTLER-WILKINS) (MRS LEONARD MERRICK).Mary-girl; a posthumous novel. *$2.50 Dutton

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“Ezra Sheppard is a man with a consuming ideal. A devout Quaker, it is his dream to build a seemly meeting-house instead of the dilapidated barn where the Friends have hitherto met. The lavish terms offered for the services of Mary in nourishing the Earl of Folkington’s heir would convert his dream into real stone and lime. So he lets Mary go. Mary, poor girl, with the best will in the world, finds when her year is up that the life of a working gardener’s wife is not so pleasant as it used to be. And Ezra behaves badly about it, too. He repents, it is true, and realizes that his idol has cost him too dear, but not before Mary has been brought to shame, and his repentance takes the form of attempted arson.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“‘Mary-girl’ deserves something better than so foolish and inept a designation. If it were merely one among a thousand sentimental romances, its title would be unobjectionable, but it is something more than that, and it is a pity that it should be so misrepresented. As a whole, it is a notably truthful record of a soul conflict and an absorbingly interesting story.” E. F. E.

“A delightful human and unpretentious story, well written and very interesting, the tale has realism without pessimism, sentiment without sentimentality. A delightful book, vivid, human, dramatic at times and always entertaining, is this story of ‘Mary-girl.’”

“The late Mrs Leonard Merrick was endowed with the rare gift of being able to write a thoroughly sentimental story with undoubted charm. The episode of Mary’s downfall is the least satisfactory thing in the book. It is false to the character, and for all its disguise is mere ‘novelette’ in essence.”

MERWIN, SAMUEL.Hills of Han. il *$2 Bobbs

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“Betty Doane, the heroine, daughter of a missionary, returns to China after six years in the United States. On the steamer she meets Jonathan Branchy, author, explorer and newspaper man and a somewhat unromantic love affair develops between them. The development of their emotions is interwoven with the dangers threatening all foreigners in China from a new society, a recrudescence of the old Boxer organization, known as ‘the Lookers.’ The chief item in the creed of this society is the extinction of all ‘foreign devils.’ Betty’s position becomes increasingly difficult and complicated through the intolerance of her father’s missionary coworkers, and through a want of a sense of humor on the part of her lover. The adventures of the principals attain a climax at the headquarters of a French mining concern; this form of foreign activity excites the particular antipathy of ‘the Lookers.’”—Springf’d Republican

“Both the story and the setting hold the reader though one dislikes the pictures of the mission teachers and the incidents are melodramatic. Some people will object to this.”

“As for the Chinese atmosphere and personnel of the story, one may accept them as sound—if that matters in a story of this kind, and if atmosphere and personnel can be sound when the action is unsound or patently artificial. All this, you may say, is the breaking of a butterfly on the clumsy wheel of criticism. ‘Hills of Han’ is not a butterfly; it is a sort of gilded bat with the butterfly label.” H. W. Boynton

“Samuel Merwin has written better novels than ‘Hills of Han,’ but it offers agreeable entertainment for an uncritical hour.”

“While neither as entertaining nor as vivid as some of Mr Merwin’s earlier romances, the story is an interesting one and has some dramatic moments.”

“There is good fiction stuff here, but it is clumsily put together.”

“A thoroly absorbing romance, and a most workmanlike piece of novel writing.” E. P. Wyckoff

“Through the color which Mr Merwin dashes upon his background and his descriptions of picturesque customs, and countryside, much of the unevenness of character portraiture is compensated for. Generally, the story holds the reader’s close attention.”

MERZ, JOHN THEODORE.Fragment on the human mind. *$4.50 Scribner 192

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“After having mastered the history of modern philosophy the author considers its main problem to be the relation of religion and science. The problem of this relation is best approached, the author holds, by a study of the human mind. This may be done in a number of ways, but he prefers two, observation and introspection. Observation is the method used in studying the development of the race, going back to primitive times; introspection is used in the study of the individual life, going back to the infant mind. Special attention is given to the latter in this treatise. Many of the great metaphysical problems [are discussed] and such subjects as the moral law, the world of values, the relation of science to art and the respective provinces of each, the social order and the world of freedom.”—Boston Transcript

“In this brief treatise we find the idealistic philosophy set forth by a masterly mind which includes the common sense of the practical business man, the convincing logic of the acute thinker, and the wisdom of the broadminded scholar.” F. W. C.

“Admirable both in clarity of style and depth of matter.”

“The treatise, small as it is in bulk, fragmentary as it confessedly is, is a worthy crown to a lifetime of devotion to the task of instructing and enlightening the mind of its author and his numerous readers as to the history and nature of themselves and the world they live in.”

MIDDLETON, GEORGE.Masks. *$1.60 Holt 812

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Here are six one-act plays of modern American life all more or less satiric and all with the same implication as the title play. In “Masks” we are introduced to the shabby home of a hitherto unsuccessful dramatist at the moment of his first success. While he is musing at his desk over the change in his fortune he is haunted by two of the characters of a former, rejected play, which now having been remodeled is making him rich and famous. They are the bitter reflections of one who knows that he has killed the real artist in himself in courting public favor. The other plays are: Jim’s beast; Tides; Among the lions; The reason; The house.

“The present volume not only maintains the high level of those preceding, but contains some work that challenges comparison with anything done earlier, while suggesting a new vein. This is particularly true of the title-piece. In all the six plays the trained hand of the practical theatre artist is evidenced in the stage directions and the conductment of the action.” R: Burton

“A book of plays by George Middleton promises interest for the reader, and ‘Masks’ is scarcely to be called a disappointment. Yet these dramas are rather thin in texture. The play which gives the book its title seems a bit forced in treatment.”

“Only in ‘Among the lions’ is there any deftness either of characterization or of action.” Gilbert Seldes

“Some of George Middleton’s published plays have been very bad, but they have always shown possibilities. That these possibilities have become actualities is evidenced by his latest volume.”

“His strength is in his ideas. He has thought justly and forcibly; he is clear where others are muddled, and collected where others are confused. What prevents Mr Middleton’s work a little from fulfilling one’s highest expectations of it is his dialogue. This weakness, one should add, is not wholly personal to Mr Middleton. We have little folk-speech.”

“All these plays are savagely polite, showing the ambition to achieve great satire without the ability to bite very deep.” M. C.

“Each of the plays is written with the least possible waste of words or of motion. There is a bitter tang to them, except the last, with its note of whimsical tenderness. It is a book that Mr Middleton’s readers will be glad to have, for it carries on fitly the work he has been doing, that of writing the one-act play with a true sense of its form and value and as a medium for swift and keen interpretation of modern life.” Hildegarde Hawthorne

“His art is akin to mathematics. Apart from the soundness of the fabric, his strength lies largely in the hardness, the firmness, the insistence of the individual stroke. Unfortunately for Mr Middleton, this hardness strikes inward, and the virtue of the technician becomes the limitation and incumbrance of the man.”

“Perhaps the first is the most satisfactory. ‘Reason,’ a rather grim little study, is the other play in the book which has come off. The rest are a little nebulous, especially perhaps the playlet à la Sir James Barrie at the end.”

“Whether Mr Middleton is saving his best for Broadway today, or whether the six one-act plays published in this volume are what is left over from the early literary days and published now in the hope of sharing the sun of success, it is certain that, as a group they are distinctly dull, undramatic and unconvincing. ‘Among the lions’ and ‘The reason’—both satirical comedies of the irregular relation—are better than the others.”

MILES, EUSTACE HAMILTON.Self-health as a habit. il *$2.50 Dutton 613

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“Self-health, according to Mr Eustace Miles, is mainly an affair of balanced (vegetarian) diets, good cooking and mastication, no alcohol, but habitual sipping of hot water, deep breathing, and ‘sensible exercises’—more particularly the ‘daily stretch.’”—Ath

“While experts will probably not agree with all that Mr Miles teaches, his advice is stimulating and helpful.” B. L.

“That he has a great deal that is extremely sensible to say about the individual’s life and habits, both physical and mental, all will admit.”

MILIUKOV, PAVEL NIKOLAEVICH.Bolshevism: an international danger; its doctrine and its practice through war and revolution. *$3.75 Scribner 335

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“In view of the fact that most of the criticism of bolshevism that we are privileged to read comes from non-Russian sources, we should welcome this attempt of a great Russian scholar and statesman to appraise both the doctrine and the practical outcome of bolshevist rule from an international standpoint. Professor Miliukov, who will be remembered as the leader of the first government formed after the revolution of 1917, here traces the progress of bolshevism through war and revolution into a practical experiment in government and exposes the bolshevist propaganda in other countries, showing that its leaders are aiming at nothing short of a world-revolution.”—R of Rs

“An informative study to be recommended to the well read, discerning type of reader.”

“When finally he traces the coal-strike and the steel-strike to Moscow, we regretfully set his volume on the shelf, in its alphabetical order, next to Baron Munchausen.” Harold Kellock

“Beyond any doubt, he here renders a great service to the bolshevist cause by using ‘propaganda stuff’ which is so easy to refute. One might expect from a man like Miliukov a sounder criticism of Bolshevism, because it can and must be criticized from an entirely different angle.”

“The book is too detailed and assumes too much knowledge of details to be available for the general reader, but it is for this very reason the more valuable for students.”

“M. Miliukov’s eminence in Russian politics and his first-hand knowledge of conditions in Europe and the United States make him a sure guide to those engaged in public affairs; his masterly handling and clear exposition of so complicated a subject render the reader’s task not only easy, but pleasant.”

“An instructive account.”

“His facts are wonderfully correct. No honest man reading this work on Russian politics ... can come to any other opinion than that M. Miliukov’s work carries conviction, not only because it is well compiled, but because it is—at times almost painfully—correct in every detail.”

MILLAIS, JOHN GUILLE.Sportsman’s wanderings (Eng title, Wanderings and memories). il *$5 (5½c) Houghton

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The author fired his first gun (and almost his last) at the age of six. At school his ornithological obsession repeatedly brought disgrace upon him, but he lived to become one of the most versatile of sportsmen and naturalists, as the book shows. The tropics and arctic ice are alike familiar to him and with the motto “The great thing in life is to live,” he has found being a “Jack of all trades” the most interesting existence. “In turn I have been soldier, sailor, a British consul, artist, zoologist, author and landscape gardener.” His desultory accounts include a description of his father the painter, and their family life, and of many distinguished personages. The illustrations are from drawings by the author and from photographs. Contents: When I was young; Some early experiences in shooting; Travels in Iceland, 1889; All sorts and conditions of men; Arthur Neumann, pioneer and elephant hunter; Scottish salmon-fishing; One African day, 1913; The Lofoden Islands, 1915; An arctic residence, 1916; Fealar, 1918—highland deer-stalking.

“A story that is interesting, varied, and well spiced with anecdotes.”

“Here is a readable blend of lively reminiscence and first-hand observation, without verbal or scientific excess baggage.”

Reviewed by M. F. Egan

“He ought to be able to write an interesting book, and he has done so. His reminiscences are disjointed, as—one imagines—his life has been; but they are alive with his own enthusiasm for describing live things.”

MILLEN, WILLIAM ARTHUR.Songs of the Irish revolution and songs of the newer Ireland. $1.50 Stratford co. 811

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The author of these poems is an American of Irish descent who lived eight years in Ireland as a student and who believes that the National university of Ireland will be the salvation of the country. With his love for the land of his fathers and sympathy for the “Newer Ireland spirit” he combines great faith in Ireland’s men of learning. The book falls into two parts: At the dawning; and Echoes of Erin.

“Mr Millen is obviously pamphleteer rather than poet. One cannot help feeling that he would be more pleased at winning converts to his cause than at winning laurels for himself.” F. E. A. T.

MILLER, ALICE (DUER) (MRS HENRY WISE MILLER).Beauty and the bolshevist. il *$1.50 (7c) Harper 20–18254

Ben Moreton, the radical editor of “Liberty,” runs off hastily to Newport to prevent his brother’s marriage to Eugenia Cord, daughter of a multi-millionaire. He is too late to do that but he does something else, he falls in love with her sister. Crystal finds the common ground that will unite her irate conservative father and her radical lover and brings the story to the right ending. It appeared in Harper’s Magazine, May-July, 1920.

“Not so good as some others by the author, but amusing.”

“A clever and paradoxical comedy full of repartee.”

“One has come to expect clever conversation from Alice Duer Miller, and ‘The beauty and the bolshevist’ does provide that, but it is far from being as pleasing as some of Mrs Miller’s earlier novels.”

MILLER, ARTHUR HARRISON.Leadership. *$1.50 Putnam 355

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“In the schooling of officers no course was included nor lectures given in leadership as a human science or in its relation to military success as a morale factor in peace or war.” (Preface) It is the object of the book to standardize the acknowledged methods of leadership in the army, and, for the sake of brevity, the methods and “formulae,” merely, are given without their psychological reasons. Contents: Foreword by Edward L. Munson; Leadership and morale; Character and personality; The leader and the soldier; The leader and the organization; Index.

MILLER, LEO EDWARD.Hidden people; the story of a search for Incan treasure. il *$2.50 Scribner

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“The hair-raising adventures of a couple of shipwrecked college boys among the wild Indians, ‘monkey men,’ reptiles and gorgeous birds of South America, especially their adventures among a remnant of the old Incan civilization with their horde of gold.”—Cleveland

“A scientific novel for boys, a really sound study of a remnant of an ancient South American tribe in interesting natural surroundings.”

“Neither youth nor age need form a barrier to the enjoyment of ‘The hidden people.’ Mr Miller is particularly fortunate in the way by which he applies his local color.” Kermit Roosevelt

“Is the kind of book that will appeal to all lovers of adventure.”

“Those who follow his fascinating story, gain also a knowledge of the birds and beasts, the volcanic mountains and other interesting things that a scientific observer may see in South America.”

MILLER, WARREN HASTINGS.Ring-necked grizzly. il *$1.50 (2½c) Appleton

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A hunting story for boys. Sid Colvin is recovering from typhoid and his father decides to give him a year in the open and sends him, accompanied by his chum Scotty, out to the Rockies where the boys are taken in charge by Big John, a trusted guide. They spend a winter in the mountains and the story tells of their adventures and exploits, which include, in addition to the killing of the ring-necked grizzly, other hunting and fishing experiences, snow-blindness and an encounter with outlaws. Mr Miller is author of “The boys’ book of hunting and fishing” and other works.

MILLIGAN, HAROLD VINCENT.Stephen Collins Foster; a biography of America’s folksong composer. il *$2.50 Schirmer

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By a careful sifting of material the author has sought to present an authentic account of Foster’s career, taking special pains to dispel some of the legends that have grown up around his later years and death. The early chapters give an interesting picture of American pioneer society and suggest the state of development of music in America at the time. The concluding chapter gives an estimate of Foster’s musical attainment and an analysis of the influence of his environment on his career. Contents: The family; Boyhood; Youth; First songs; Ambition; Drifting; Tragedy; The composer. Among the illustrations are several facsimile pages from Foster’s manuscript book.

MILLIN, SARAH GERTRUDE.Dark river. *$2 (2½c) Seltzer

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