Evening star., 1901-12-07
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-tne people and Its force was convincing.
He felt deeply what. he saw and
he graphically described it. He brought
to his aid the Photographic camera
and the fashhght pictures he took
Of the slums of Mulberry Bend told their
own story. But he did more than uncover
the foul places of New York. He worked
to replace them with something better. He
had remedies for the evils he described.
1t took many years of strenuous patient
work, but Mulberry Bend was at last wiped
out, and where once were rookeries and
plague spots, haunts of murderers and
thieves, is now a beautiful park breath
ing place for that .congested part of the
city. OF course. he did not accomplish the
task unaided. He now pays full tribute to
many noble men and women who contrib
uteG to the results achieved. In fact, he
delights in asserting that mankind is most
ly good and desires to see right prevail.
The heart of uptown is touched he says,
as soon as it finds out that distress ac-
tually exists. 1t is sometimes slow in max
ing the discovery, but once ii is made, up
town" responds nobiy to the call. An in
stance will indicate this: After he had
moved out to his country home his little
ones would load him down with flowers to
give TO the poor children on reaching the
city. He was touched with the delight
of the youngsters who crowded about eager
" to get the ''posies'' that he wrote about
II in his paper and urged other commuters
to bring flowers into the city for the poor.
He offered to distribute all flowers sent to
his office. The response was astonishing.
Ii took half dozen policemen to distribute
the blossoms that poured in upon him.
Many home of poverty was made brighter
through the flower mission. The heart of
the poor hungering for the beautiful was
satisfied. The work thus begun in a small
way. grew to immense proportions and the
influence for good can hardly be estimated.
But while Mr.. Riis has a soft heart for the
poor and the distressed he is not friend of
the soup houses, especially when the soup
houses are conducted by newspapers for ad-
vertising ends. He believes in giving all
chance to earn their living. Especially has
he pleaded for the children. He found that
there were in New York $4,000 children
without educational facilities, and he fought
for more school houses. He opposed the
practice of sending truantS to herd with
criminals in Jail. He strove to show that
New York was manufacturing lawbreakers,
and tried to stop the process. In the city
without homes" he tried to build up home
feeling as the true basis of patriotism One
reform he has sought to accomplish but it
has only been started. He has endeaVored
to make the public school the social center
of the neighborhood He has urged that the
school houses be opened at night that
the boys might go there and hold club
meetings and thus be kept off the streets
and away from the saloons. He urges that
the parents be permitted to cOngregate in the
school rooms in the evening. to be allowed
to feel that they belong to them-in other
words. that they have a stake in the coun-
try. He loves the school house and would
bring the people into closer relations with 1t.
The story of RiiS' life is exceedingly in
teresting in every phase, yet outside of his
warfare for the unfortunates there is no
great event. 1t comprises the simple an
mails of the poor but there is so much of
human interest in it, the brave heart is so
frankly barred. that the tale becomes more
fascinating than a novel. The details of
his career as a reporter on a great metro
politan newspaper and as an editor
of a weekly in South Brooklyn make a
hiP rNint nf hoh ind ha
scenes. Then his experiences as a miner
a wOOdsman, carpenter, lecturer and can
vasser, are absorbing. From the first page,
where he pictures the little girl with the
bronze boots with tassels, he carries with
him the readers sympathy in the romance
of his life. One rejoices in his winning the
little girl with the tasseled boots and is
glad that he did not have to walt for his
Rachael as long as did that other Jacob.
THE wASHINGTONIANS BY Pauline Bradford
Of ''Ye LyttIe Salem Mafde.'' etc. Frontispiece
by Philip R. Goodwin. Boston, L. c. Page &
Co.
Avowedly based upon the efforts of a
certain woman, once distinguished in
Washington society, to cause the election
of her father as President, this novel in
vites close attention by Washingtonians
without regard for it's literary merits. The
Immediately affected by the
ly passed away although many elders now
living can recall them. The scene is laid
in the capital city during the last days of
the rebellion, Immediately prior to the ma
tional convention which renominated Pres-
dent Lincoln and shattered the hope of one
of his cabinet officers to succeed him. The
daughter of this officer, who recently died,
was one of his most assiduous political
In the story she goes far be-
yond his wishes in her efforts, which are
frustrated largely because of blunder of
judgment. The portraits are clearly drawn
so that the readers interest in the plot is
somewhat obscured by the interest aroused
by the tracing of personalities. A minor
love story of pallid character accompanies
the main thread of the novel to it's
conclusion. The frOntispiece reveals Presi-
dent Lincoln. of his young sons and
the aspiring Secretary. 1t would be more
if it followed the text as to the
Presidents attire.
THE SCREEN. BY Paul Bourget. New York: J.
F. Taylor x Co.
THE Screen was a married woman who
unconsciously shielded the love affair of her
most intimate woman friend, also married.
The man who was the supposed lover of the
screen" and the actual lover of the other
woman finds his true nature after a char
acteristic French episode of intrigue That
puts an end to the affair as far as he is
The story leaves good i'm
preston, but a a rather high cost. 1t Is
almost too native to the French taste to be
acceptable to the American.
TILE FORTUNE OF CHRISTINA McNAB. BY S.
Macnaughtan. New York; D: Appleton & Co.
Christina McNab was left an orphan at
twenty-five with a gigantic fortune, after
having been kept down all her life by her
hard-fisted, accumulative father, a Scotch
She aspres to a swell life
and to the capture of a lord for a hus-
band She finds her most helpful friend in
this enterprise in Colin McCrae her erst-
while lover, who with a tact and magnan-
unity almost too good to be true forwards
her scheme and gives her the best of ad-
vice. Christina is led through many inter-
esting experiences and finally finds her
best self and her ideal husband. But he is
not lord" Therein lies the story. 1t is
well told, with freshness of character
drawing and a spice of cleverness in situa-
ton and dialogue. 1t is one of the pleas
antest books of the season.
RILEY FARMRHYMEs. James Whiteomb Riley.
With pictures by VIII Nawter Indianapolis:
The Bowen Merrill Company.
These are old friends, farm ballads of the
Hoosier poet which have become endeared
TO Americans In years past In consequence