Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS,

WOMAN'S SHARE IN PRIMITIVE CULTURE.
BY Otis Tuition Mason, AN, PhD., Curator Of
States National Museum With numerous IL
lustrations New York: ID. Appleton & Co.
There is wonderful magnetism in Prof.
Mason's latest and most prominent work
From the dedication, which is ITO all good
women, living. or dead, who with their
brains or by their toll have aided the pro-
gress of the world" to the comprehensive
index, there is not dull page. One of the
discoveries noted by the professor is well
worthy careful study. Herbert Spencer
divided the life history of civilization into
two periods-miltancy and industrialism.
Militaney-savagery and barbarism. when
man and man and man and nature warred
against each other-came first; then sue
ceeded the period of industralism,i in which
the greater nations dfgnified themselves
by labor Prof. Mason, without calling
into question Spencers classification, in
quires whether these two words in the
early history of our species at least, did
not mark sexual Observation-Disclosures instead
of an age we should not rather say a
sex of miltancy and a sex Of industrial
ism? The professor directs attention to
the fact that there never was an age In
which there was more of preparation FOR
war than our own, and in those prepare
tions woman has practically no part. In
contact with the animal world" says the
professor, and ever taking lessons from
them, men watched the tiger, the bear,
the fox, the falcon-learned their language
and initiated them in ceremonial dances.
But women were instructed by the spi-
ders, the nest builders, the storers of food
and the workers in clay like the mud
wasp and the termites. 1t Is in the
apotheoss of industrialism that woman
has borne her part So perslstently and
well. At the very beginning of human
time she laid down the lines of her duties
and phn 10, r1xv
The comfortless condition of the first wo-
man who stood upon this planet is graphi
cally sketched and the economy of her
dowry cleverly commented upon. She
seems to have lacked almost everything;
even her genius for invention was I'M
awakened, and the fingers now so cum
ming were utterly without experience.
Through the long course of years Prof.
Mason follows woman in her capacities of
the food-bringer the weaver, the skin
dresser the potter, the beast of burden,
the Observation-Disclosures, the artist, the lin
guist, the founder of society and the pa
iron of religion, and then he says: IF wo-
men now sit on thrones, If the most beau
tiful painting i'm the world is of a mother
and her child, IL the image of woman
crowns the dome of the American Capitol
if in allegory and metaphor and painting
and sculpture the highest ideals are wo-
men, it is because they have a right to be
there. By all their drudgery and patience
by all their suffering and kindness, they
Guiding the volume for which womankind
must ever be deeply indebted. the pro-
feSSor makes an interesting comparison:
I'm the Worlds Columbian Exposition, the
place Of honor was occupied by colossal
statue of a young woman represented in
FURNISHED gold. In one hand she held the
world, in the other the cap of emancipa-
ton or liberty. Upon her right hand stood
the building devoted to manufactures ana
liberal arts upon her left hand the tenn
Pile of agriculture In the distance the
dairy, the leather and the horticultural
buildings. In the anthropological building,
at the extreme south of the grounds, was
an exhibit from the cemetery of Ancon, In
Peru. One figure was of especial interest
in this connection-the skeleton of an an
cient Peruvian woman. 1t was in a crouch
ing attitude, wrapped in the customary
grave clothes, and about II were the spin
dies, cradle frame, pottery and dishes of
vegetables with which she was familiar In
her life and from which her spirit was not
to he separated in her, death. Spontane-
ously the thoughtful mind connected this
Crouchine figure with the statue in the
place of honor and with the noble build
ings and scenes about her. How wonder
full the Transformation. wrought by no
magic or legerdemain. but with woman's
hands and heart and ingeruity"'
SUGGESTIONS on GOVERNMENT. Hy S. E. Mof-
fett. Chicago: Rand, McNalIy Co.
Mr.. Moffett Is convinced that there is
urgent need for reform. For him there is
| no consolation in our Constitution, for the
| is certain that that instrument lacks many
| provisions 1t ought to have. He would
wage war against the bosses and the
| trusts and in this unassuming but earn
est book he unfolds the plans the opera
ton of which would, he believes, bring re-
lief. Students of American government
will find much to think of in what Mr..
Moffett says. Most of his accusations are
D,,l,r ,xy.l faI NOV -h.ro ic Ia in
direct; throughout he is specific and force
full. In the introduction he straightfor-
wardly AYERS that our executive admins
tration, local, state and national is inetfi-
cicnt. 1t is in the hands Of political pro-
fessionals, who are necessarily administra-
tive amateurs Devoting their chief atten-
tiCn to the science of politics, they are
naturally unable to go deeply into the
science of government. Brought up in the
idea that Offices exist for the purpose of
paying salaries on various scales to poll
ticianS of varying degrees of influence, 1t
seems natural to them to appoint a man
postmaster at Oshkosh under one admin
istration, send him as consul to Bordeaux
on the next accession of his party to power
ard recognize his services on a future &C.
cason by making him governor of Arizona.
At its best an administrative system man
aged on such principles is incapable; at
it's worst 1t is both incapable and corrupt.
Our legislative bodies are suffering from
the general paralysis OF parliamentary gov
ernment all over the world, and this pa
ralysis Is especially marked in Congress,
where intelligent energyshould be most con-
spicuous 1t is becoming almost impossible
to pass an important measure to which
powerful interests are opposed The time
of Congress is wasted In roll calls, futile
attempts to hold evasiye Quorums. floods
of superfluous talk, and obsolete ceremo-
MES and all the channels of legislation are
choked by gorges of unnecessary bills.
State legislatures have generally fallen
into contempt, and city councils beneath
it. Local government, the peculiar prov
ince of the English race, the province in
which our capacity from prehistoric times
has been most conspicuously marked, has
been reduced to a condition of imbecility
and corruption, for whose match we must
look to the rule OF a Chinese mandarin"
WILD BEASTS. study OF Characters and IIah-
its of the Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Panther,
JaCusr, Tiger, Puma, Wolf and Grizzly Bear
BY J. Hampden Porter. illustrated. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Many men have written many books
dealing with the stronger and more Zero
cious of savage animals, but it may rea-
sonably be asserted that DR.. Porter has
given us much more interesting work on
the most exciting, and. therefore, the most
attractive, features of natural history than
any that have preceded 1T. Every chapter
in this volume has in it all Of scientific