Chapter 96

(Eng ed 20–12064)

The present volume was originally a part of a larger unpublished work. The chapters of that work dealing with Japan’s internal affairs were published in 1917 under the title “Japan at the cross roads” while the chapters dealing with Japan’s foreign affairs compose the present book. It records the rapid imperialistic developments in Japan and its Chinese policy and hints at the possibility of a war between America and Japan in the making. Contents: Japan and the Anglo-Japanese alliances; Japan’s real policy in China; The first revolution in China, 1911–12; The second revolution in China, 1912–13; Japan, America and Mexico, 1911–14; The twenty-one demands; Japan’s commercial expansion, 1914–18; Note.

Reviewed by A. P. Danton

Reviewed by W. W. Willoughby

“In the present work special knowledge is manifest, but its value is vitiated from the outset by the violence of the author’s unconcealed hostility. His book is a sweeping judgment, and, like all sweeping judgments, unjust. There is evidence of this kind of haste throughout the book, from the literary as well as from the critical point of view.”

Reviewed by W. R. Wheeler

POORE, IDA MARGARET (GRAVES) lady.Rachel Fitzpatrick. *$1.75 (2c) Lane

20–11899

The heroine is an Irish girl who spends two years with wealthy relatives in London. The Fitzpatricks belong to the gentry but are very poor and gladly accept the offer that means two years of education for Rachel. At the end of the two years she goes to Germany. The war finds her there alone with her aunt’s German husband, who takes advantage of the situation to make love to her. She runs away and after many difficulties reaches Ireland. The course of the war and the Irish attitude are touched upon and the story ends with Rachel’s marriage to her sailor lover.

“The authoress’s naive Irish heroine is skilfully and naturally drawn.”

“If there is a fault to be found with this story, it is that enough is not made of the big scenes in the life of the charming heroine. Yet, this does not, somehow, detract from the pleasure of the book, which is charmingly written in a style that is too rapidly passing. A good part of the pleasure derived from the story is due to its clever characterizations.”

“A novel which is neither better nor worse than hundreds of others.”

“What is perhaps the chief merit of quite a readable story is the pictures of Irish life and character, of which the author has an intimate knowledge.”

POPENOE, WILSON.Manual of tropical and subtropical fruits. (Rural manuals) il *$5 Macmillan 634

20–15789

“The author is an expert, employed as agricultural explorer for the United States Department of agriculture. On his title page he announces his design of excluding the banana, the cocoanut, the pineapple, citrus fruits, the olive and the fig.... He begins with the avocado, which many people in the regions where it grows often call the avocado pear. He displays his scientific knowledge by giving first a botanical description of the avocado, its history and distribution, its composition and its uses.... The story of the avocado is followed with similar considerations of the mango, the date, the papaya and its relatives, the loquat, the guava and its intimates, the litchi, kaki, pomegranate, breadfruit and a great variety of other fruits of lesser fame, about which few of us have heard.”—Boston Transcript

PORTER, ELEANOR (HODGMAN) (MRS JOHN LYMAN PORTER) (ELEANOR STUART, pseud.).Mary Marie. il *$1.90 (2½c) Houghton

20–8035

Her father had wanted to name her Mary, her mother Marie. Mary Marie was the compromise. But there had come a time when compromise seemed no longer possible, followed by separation and divorce. Mary Marie spends six months of the year with her father, six with her mother, and she tells about it in her diary. In one house she is Marie. In the other she tries to be Mary. But after awhile things get so mixed up she doesn’t know which she is, for she finds her mother trying to make her into a staid, dignified Mary, while her father seems to be encouraging the Marie side of her. And then she is the means of bringing the two together, and the book closes with a postscript that gives a glimpse of Mary Marie’s grown-up story.

“The book is very readable, and occasionally amusing.”

“The story falls short of what we expect from Miss Eleanor H. Porter.”

“Beneath the light tone of the narrative may be observed a serious moral. The frequent misfortunes of divorce, especially where there are children, are pointedly apparent here. But Mary Marie will be loved for herself alone, for her quaint observations, for her unspoiled character, and for her earnest efforts to understand life.”

PORTER, HAROLD EVERETT (HOLWORTHY HALL, pseud.).Egan. *$1.90 (2c) Dodd

20–15701

When Bronson Egan came back to Plainfield, Ohio, after four years of service in France, he found his status very different from what it had previously been. He went away the only son of a wealthy father, and practically engaged to one of the city’s most attractive girls. He came back to find his father dead, their business wrecked, and the girl reengaged to a stay-at-home. With characteristic determination he set himself to gain back what he had lost. It was not all plain sailing, however, for he had keen rivals in business as well as love. But he had staunch friends as well, and the end of the story finds him re-established in business on a firmer basis than before, and happy in the love of a girl who is more worthy of him than the fickle Mary.

“The business element is particularly well developed.”

“Aside from occasional lapses, Mr Hall’s style is well adapted to his material, which is in part new.” C. K. H.

“It is the substantial characterization which makes the book finally so satisfactory. Its fresh and rapid story-telling ought to win for it a large general audience.”

“There is no letup in the interest, and the business element is especially well handled.”

“The present story is worthy of praise especially for the consistency and humanness of young Egan. Perhaps the financial and business sides of the book are a little too much to the front, but, as a whole, the novel keeps the reader’s attention on the alert, and it includes some exceedingly good character depiction.”

“The novel exists for its narrative, which is neatly conceived and marks Mr Porter’s further growth in the art of story-telling. It flows along with agreeable humor, and the reader’s interest is sustained without recourse to theatricalities.”

PORTER, REBECCA NEWMAN.Girl from Four Corners. il *$1.75 (2c) Holt

20–6861

A California story with scenes laid on a lonely ranch and in San Francisco. Margaret Garrison, disappointed in the man she loves, yields to Frederick Bayne’s sudden wooing and goes to live on his ranch in Mendocino county. The marriage is unhappy, but with fine courage she makes the best of it and trains her little daughter, Freda, to be true to the highest ideals. Most of the story has to do with the career of this daughter, who after her mother’s death goes to San Francisco where she passes thru many experiences, some of them tragic, and finally finds happiness and love.

“The story is entertainingly told, and toward the end a dramatic touch is thrown in.”

POST, MELVILLE DAVISSON.Mystery at the Blue villa. *$1.75 (2c) Appleton

20–1695

Seventeen dramatic short stories by the author of “Uncle Abner.” The settings in these stories are selected from many fascinatingly remote, and also familiar places. In the title story the action takes place at Port Said, a refuge for human derelicts, “the devil’s halfway house,” where through cleverly playing upon a guilty man’s fear of the supernatural, a dying sculptor gets money enough to die in the way it pleases him. “The great legend,” narrated by a semi-French, semi-oriental gentleman sitting beside a fire made of bleached bones, on an undulating, moonlit desert of sand, takes us to the underworld of Paris. “The miller of Ostend” is a tale of Belgium. “The pacifist” is a story of the United States and a German spy. Other titles are: The laughter of Allah; The witch of the Lecca; The new administration; The Baron Starkheim.

“Though somewhat overdramatic and artificial, the plots are clever and interesting.”

“The stories are well told and the people have much more character and individuality than is usual among inhabitants of mystery tales.”

“They have variety and freshness, and, if occasionally overemphasized, they are never trite.”

“In the matter of untangling a crime or running a mystery to its lair Melville Davisson Post can give even the immortal Holmes himself quite a brush. His latest collection in no way falls short of the Uncle Abner tales.” E. C. Webb

“All have the merit of sustaining the reader’s interest up to an unexpected conclusion.”

POST, MELVILLE DAVISSON.Sleuth of St James’s square. *$2 (3c) Appleton

20–18613

A book of mystery stories. There are sixteen in all, and in each of them Sir Henry Marquis, chief of the Criminal investigation department of Scotland yard, figures. He is not the Sherlock Holmes type of detective, for mystery and solution seem to run side by side, instead of being spread out like a pattern before him. Some of the tales Sir Henry reads from the diary of an ancestor. The titles are: The thing on the hearth; The reward; The lost lady; The cambered foot; The man in the green hat; The wrong sign; The fortune teller; The hole in the mahogany panel; The end of the road; The last adventure; American horses; The spread rails; The pumpkin coach; The yellow flower; A satire of the sea; The house by the loch. Many of the tales journey far afield from St James’s square for their setting. Some have already appeared in short story form in popular magazines.

“The stories are short, piquant and cleverly maneuvered, though the mechanism which moves the puppets is sometimes a bit too evident and there is great lack of originality in the gestures made by them either when they pause or start up again.” N. H. D.

“They are not only unusual in construction; they are very well written, and with but few exceptions, close with a twist which will surprise even the skilled and habitual reader.”

“The author’s method is unusual and some of the tales are remarkably good.”

POSTGATE, R. W.Bolshevik theory. *$2 Dodd 335

The book is a sincere attempt to state what Bolshevism is and what it is not—to clear away “the atmosphere of a dog-fight which surrounds this subject.” (Introd.) The author claims for it that it is neither pro-bolshevik nor anti-bolshevik. “It is a mere exposition. It is true that a certain amount of intelligent sympathy is necessary for the understanding of a point of view. The marks of some such sympathy may be traced in this book. This is inevitable, for it is merely the reflection of the author’s belief that bolshevik theories are neither inhuman ... nor logically ridiculous.... If these assumptions are not correct, then Bolshevism is not worth considering.” (Introd.) The contents are: What is Bolshevism? Controversies; The dictatorship of the proletariat; On dictatorship; The two roads; The pedigree of Bolshevism; Extracts and comments; Syndicalism, Blanquism and Bolshevism; Karl Kautsky; Industrial pacifism; The soviet; The future of the soviet. There are appendices and a bibliographical note.

Reviewed by Jacob Zeitlin

“R. W. Postgate has set forth in a clear and concise manner the facts about Bolshevism.”

“His historical allusions are not to be depended upon. Many of the rest of Mr Postgate’s references to the Bolshevists, past and present, and to General Denikin and other anti-Bolshevists, are equally unreliable.”

POTTER, MIRIAM CLARK.Rhymes of a child’s world. il *$2 Four seas co. 811

A book of little verses for children. It is a collection of poems about the everyday things, child fancies, and lullabies. There are three groups of poems: In the house; Outdoors at play; Twilight songs. The illustrations are by Ruth Fuller Stevens. Many of the poems have appeared in the Youth’s Companion, St Nicholas and Little Folks.

“Such quaint imagery greatly appeals to the dreamy child. The illustrations by Ruth Fuller Stevens are especially charming and nicely adapted to the text.”

“Deserves to be noted for its naturalness and fidelity to childish moods. It has a strong appeal to both old and young.”

“Both verse and illustration have the subtle quality of imagination, even when their theme sounds realistic. These poems are amusing to children and well worth the attention of their elders.”

POUND, EZRA LOOMIS.Instigations of Ezra Pound, together with an essay on the Chinese written character. *$3.50 Boni & Liveright 814

20–8532

“A collection of criticisms and essays, with an essay by Fenollosa on the Chinese written character, edited by Pound. There are short sketches of the modern French poets with quotations; a detailed appreciative criticism of Henry James and his works; another on Remy de Gourmont; a group including James Joyce, T. S. Eliot Wyndham Lewis, Lytton Strachey, the new poetry; essay by Jules Laforgue, an amusing commentary on Genesis, a discussion of Arnaut Daniel and some sharp raps at Greek translators, including Browning.”—Booklist

“An important point, however, about Mr Pound’s critical writings, which has been generally neglected, is this: they do satisfy two very conspicuous demands of the American public; the demand for ‘constructive criticism,’ and the demand for ‘first rate school teaching.’” W. C. Blum

“The ‘Instigations of Ezra Pound’ have this virtue—they badger and bully us out of a state of intellectual backwardness.” Padraic Colum

“Stimulating and provocative statements provide an intellectual shower bath.”

POWELL, CHARLES.Poets in the nursery. *$1.50 Lane 827

20–19194

To this collection of parodies on well-known poets, John Drinkwater writes an introduction to the effect that although parodies are usually a defilement of poetry and contemptible, these never outrage our love of poetry but exercise it in a very friendly intimacy. Mr Powell, he says, invariably catches his subject’s external manner with easy precision, the underlying spiritual force never evades him and he measures himself successfully against the poet’s impulse as well as against its formal expression. While Mother Goose furnishes the subjects the poets are: G. K. Chesterton, John Masefield, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Alfred Noyes, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Newbolt, William Watson, Austin Dobson, W. B. Yeats, Thomas Hardy, A. C. Swinburne, W. E. Henley, D. G. Rossetti, Walt Whitman, Omar Khayyám, Francis Thompson, Robert Browning, E. B. Browning, E. A. Poe, Alfred Tennyson.

“John Drinkwater’s introduction to ‘The poets in the nursery’ leads us to expect work of high distinction, and though we find traces of burlesque now and then, our expectations are realized.”

POWELL, E. ALEXANDER.New frontiers of freedom, from the Alps to the Ægean. il *$2.50 (5c) Scribner 914.9

20–7665

The author has traveled by motor car and by sea “from the Alps to the Ægean, in Italy, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Rumania, Hungary and Serbia” and gives his impressions of what he saw in these countries during the year succeeding the armistice while they and their people were in a state of political flux. “To have seen millions of human beings transferred from sovereignty to sovereignty like cattle which have been sold—these are sights the like of which will probably not be seen again in our times or in those of our children” and, the author thinks, may serve to illustrate an important chapter in history. Contents: Across the redeemed lands; The borderland of Slav and Latin; The cemetery of four empires; Under the cross and the crescent; Will the sick man of Europe recover? What the peace-makers have done on the Danube; Making a nation to order. There are numerous illustrations from photographs.

“Major Powell gives an excellent description of d’Annunzio. He has brought the same keenness of observation and ease of style to the other portraits in this volume, which range from picturesque peasants to exiled royalties. His treatment of the political situation in the countries he visited is marked by clarity and fairness.”

“This narrative is spirited and colorful throughout.”

“A book as interesting as it is instructive.”

POWELL, LYMAN PIERSON, ed. Social unrest. 2v $2.50 Review of reviews co. 308

20–1056

“The two volumes entitled ‘The social unrest’ present the best current thought of leading authorities as now focussed on the industrial and social problems of the day. The opinions of President Wilson and ex-president Taft are set forth side by side with those of Karl Marx, Morris Hillquit and Sidney Webb. All schools of opinion have here at least the privilege of utterance. The material has been edited and coordinated by Dr Lyman P. Powell.”—R of Rs

“We fear the editor’s somewhat hesitant attempt to link up these pieces into something looking like a methodically arranged whole has not been successful—at least we are unable to tell what the plan of that arrangement really is. But it is the collection itself that counts, and this is of great interest.” B. L.

POWER, RHODA.Under the Bolshevik reign of terror. *$2 McBride 947

20–2711

“A record of domestic experiences in a bourgeois household in Rostov, on the Don, during the old régime, the revolution, and the Bolshevik occupation.”—Brooklyn

“A lively and readable little book.”

“An intimate, readable account of Bolshevism is presented in this volume. The book is free from theorizing and statistics, but it tells of the practical effect of Bolshevism on people who lived through the first days of this sinister experiment.”

“Miss Power has given us a series of vivid sketches. They are impressionistic and full of power, but they must not be accepted as descriptive of general conditions.”

“An extremely vivid and interesting account of certain phases of the Russian revolution from the pen of an eye-witness. One would like to know how far this family, of the rich bourgeois type, was representative of its class. If there were many others like it, the appalling violence and bloodiness of the revolution cease to be matter of wonder.”

PRATT, JAMES BISSETT.Religious consciousness; a psychological study. *$3.50 Macmillan 201

20–10634

“Professor Pratt’s point of view in the present volume is avowedly scientific. He aims to describe the religious consciousness as it presents itself for observation to the modern psychologist, that is to say, without any attempt to press behind phenomena into the realm of the unknown or the unknowable. An interesting feature of his treatment is a constant use of the results of recent questionnaires sent out to ascertain the present state of the religious consciousness among various classes of Americans. He has studied the forms of Protestantism in America. Roman Catholicism he has studied in Europe and at home. Finally, he has made his pilgrimage through India, Burma, and Ceylon, seeking initiation into the letter and the spirit of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Mohammedanism in mosque and shrine and temple, from peasants, teachers, priests, and holy men. The last five chapters of the book deal with mysticism.”—Nation

“‘The religious consciousness’ is a very good book. Dr Pratt knows his subject and he knows how to write about it. There is hardly a dull page in the nearly five hundred of this volume. Perhaps the most valuable quality of the book is its quiet sanity.” R. R.

“His account of phenomena is remarkably fresh and instructive; and it differs commendably from some of its predecessors in emphasizing rather normal than exceptional types of experience.” S. P. Sherman

Reviewed by G. E. Partridge

PRENTICE, SARTELL.Padre. *$2 Dutton 940.476

19–13304

“[This book tells the] experiences of a Red cross hospital chaplain of the Dutch Reformed church, principally in Base hospital 101, at St Nazaire and in Evacuation hospital 13 where wounded were received straight from the battlefield. [It is] full of anecdotes revealing the bravery of individuals, and the gratitude of the French people toward Americans.”—Cleveland

“There is nothing particularly new in the narrative, although the fact that it comes first-hand from one who saw and lived the awful scenes he describes gives it a value of its own which cannot be gainsaid.”

PRICE, EDITH BALLINGER.Silver Shoal light. il *$1.75 Century

20–16502

When Miss Joan Kirtland, who has left town very suddenly after a disagreement with Mr Robert Sinclair, finds that the Harbor View house cannot take her in, she is at a loss for a place to spend the night. Captain ‘Bijah Dawson comes to her aid and suggests that the light house people may take her in. As Captain ‘Bijah assured her, they are “cur’ous folks,” Jim and Elspeth Pemberley and their little son Garth, but their presence in this unusual situation is explained and Joan, who had meant to stay a night, then a week, remains all summer. Joan, who had thought she did not like children, is captivated by Garth and at the end of the summer learns that Mr Sinclair is his Uncle Bob. Jim Pemberley has aspirations toward the navy and there is a German spy episode in the story.

PRICE, EDITH BALLINGER.Us and the bottle man. il *$1.50 Century

20–14292

The story of three delightful children who play pirates and send out a message in a sealed bottle that brings a surprising answer and leads to a pleasantly mysterious correspondence. And then events take a serious turn. What had been play becomes reality and the “three poore mariners” become castaways indeed for the length of one dreadful night. Their rescuer is no less person than the Bottle man himself and a war-time romance is at the same time brought to a happy culmination.

“Although somewhat adult in point of view, the mystery and adventure will interest children from ten to twelve.”

PRICE, JULIUS MENDES.On the path of adventure. il *$3.50 (5½c) Lane 940.48

20–11661

The author was war-artist correspondent for the Illustrated London News. The present work is a record of his adventures in the early months of the war, before the existence of war correspondents had been “officially admitted.” The book, he says, “does not in any way claim to be an addition to the formidable array of books on the technical side of the war. It is, on the contrary, merely a narrative compiled from the notes in my diary of a period during the early days of the war when I was ‘out’ to get all the material I could.... As my wanderings were entirely within the zone of operations, it is obvious that the incidents I have described were always more or less connected with the theatre of the war—but they were happenings rather behind the scenes than on the actual battle-front.” The book is illustrated with drawings from the author’s sketch book.

“One of the few interesting but not sordid personal narratives.”

“Mr Price puts down his remarkable escapades and hairbreadth escapes as a sportsman and an artist. There is something beautifully impersonal in the style of his book. This makes of his book something unique in war annals, a book that is ‘beautifully and completely something,’ as Henry James might have said.” B. D.

PRICHARD, HESKETH VERNON HESKETH.Sniping in France, with notes on the scientific training of scouts, observers, and snipers; with a foreword by General Lord Horne of Stirkoke. il *$5 Dutton 623.44

(Eng ed 20–12124)

“Major Hesketh-Prichard was of course, as a big game hunter, a natural sniper. He enjoyed sniping because it employed all his highly specialised hunter faculties to the full—sight, hearing, and all those analytical powers which hunters possess. His book is full of good stories. But what will make the book interesting to the soldier is the complete way in which Major Hesketh-Prichard manages to justify the art of sniping, and to show how intolerable it is to be opposed to a well-organised sniping side unless you can answer in kind. Major Hesketh-Prichard proves completely that it will always be worth while from the point of view ofmoralto maintain an efficient body of specialist snipers.”—Spec

“Before the war the author was known as a sportsman, traveller, and athlete. It is his other vocation, that of writer, which helps him not merely to give us information, but to give it in a form enthralling as any detective story.”

“Written in a style that makes it pleasantly acceptable to the general reader.”

“His book is fascinating in its records of romantic individual tales and of cunning camouflage which are intended for the general reader, but we trust that the military authorities will not on this account overlook it. Major Hesketh-Prichard has a contribution to make to military science.”

PRISONER of Pentonville, by “Red Band.” *$1.50 Putnam 821

20–8220

Poems written while the author was confined in Pentonville prison in London, between September, 1917, and May, 1918. They are written in varying meters and on different themes. Many are addressed to his wife, one is written on receiving news of his mother’s death, others recall scenes from boyhood, and one that brings to mind “Reading gaol” is written the day of an execution. The concluding poems record his sentiments as release approaches and there is an epilogue written after regaining liberty. Joseph Fort Newton, formerly of the City Temple, London, now of the Church of the divine paternity, New York, writes a foreword.

“The emotional sincerity which constantly contrives to break through a crust of indifferent and often absurd verse makes this series of prison meditations a very interesting and moving human document.”

PRITCHARD, MYRON THOMAS, and OVINGTON, MARY WHITE, comps. Upward path; with an introd. by Robert R. Moton. il *$1.35 Harcourt 810.8

20–16516

The foreword to this collection of readings for colored children says: “To the present time, there has been no collection of stories and poems by negro writers, which colored children could read with interest and pleasure and in which they could find a mirror of the traditions and aspirations of their race. Realizing this lack, the compilers have brought together poems, stories, sketches and addresses which bear eloquent testimony to the richness of the literary product of our negro writers.” All of the contributors to the volume are negroes, among them Paul Laurence Dunbar, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois, James Weldon Johnson and others who have made names in literature. In addition to these there are the less familiar names of negro educators, social workers, ministers and lawyers, and there is one explorer, Matthew Henson, who was with Peary at the Pole.

“The selections in it are ably chosen and present a great variety. But more important is the fact that it must accomplish its intent. For while giving pleasure, it will foster the love of tradition, and from the evidences of past accomplishment, an honest racial pride.” M. E. Bailey

“A collection of stories and poems by negroes—many of them very good. Perhaps whites can gain as much from it as can the blacks. The book would be suitable for junior high schools.”

PRYDE, ANTHONY.Marqueray’s duel. *$2 (1½c) McBride

20–7060

Marqueray, to all appearances, was a globe-trotter and a sportsman. In truth he was a secret spy in the employ of the British foreign office. His knowledge stands him in good stead against a certain Lord Marchmont, a millionaire Jew, implicated in illicit transactions in South America. The latter has allowed a poor innocent Irish girl, in reality Lady Marchmont, to consider herself duped by him and to be a “fallen woman,” after he had turned her adrift. Phyllida is found and rescued by Marqueray and his friend and cousin, Aubrey West. A romance grows up between Phyllida and Marqueray, who naturally wants to horsewhip Marchmont and free his beloved entirely from his clutches. Before this can be done a political election and much intrigue, involving West, intervene. In the end Marqueray is wounded by a shot from Marchmont who himself succumbs to his vicious morphia habit. Some fine touches of friendship and loyalty among men make one of the features of the story.

“The story drags somewhat in places; but ... the book as a whole may be read with a fair amount of satisfaction.”

“Very good work. Readers who liked Stephen McKenna’s ‘Sonia’ will probably like this.”

“It is evidently Mr Pryde’s first novel, and it is far and above the majority of ‘first novels.’ He writes with a good deal of style, and his characterization is excellent to the least important actor on his London stage.” G. M. H.

“The book is exceedingly well written, with a steady succession of incidents, always logical and never loosening their hold on the interest. The book is a long one, but it never becomes tedious.”

Reviewed by Isabel Juergens

“A very clever romance.”

“It is decidedly melodramatic, but the melodrama is well done.”

“The author displays much ability for character portraiture. As a romanticist he is not so capable.”

PRZYBYSZEWSKI, STANISLAW.Snow. *$1.50 Brown, N. L. 891.85

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