The Minneapolis journal., 1903-12-25

While severe critic, Mrs. Gilman
has essayed her task in the spirit
of the surgeon who uses the knife
only to locate the seat Of trouble, and to
remove diseased tissues. She states at the
outset that the purpose Of her examination
IS TO maintain and 4 improve the home
Criticism there is, deep and thoro; but
not with the intention Of robbing us of one
essential element Of home life-rather OF
| saving us from scondi3 iohs not only un-
life
Mrs Gilman's main thesis lies. in this
statement "The home is human insti-
| tuition. All human institutions are oper
to Improvement, and she argues that by
reason Of the veneration felt for it it has
| been withdrawn from the march Of inn
provement and is very much behind the
times, 1ndustrially and socially. Readers
are urged forcibly to- bear in mind that
! their comfort. or even happiness, in a
given condition does not prove it to be
good. Comfort and happiness are large
ly a matter of prolonged adjustment. We
IKE what we are used to- Readers are
also hidden to remember that happiness
| is not all that life is for
| The argument is brilliant and while it
will not wholly alter the general attitude
OF its readers towards the problem it treats
IN many ramifcations, it will take strong
hold on them by reason Of its keen analy-
sis of existing defects and it will influence
IN some measure even those whom its
| daring 1conoclasm antagonizes. The au-
! thor sums up her criticism of the home in
this: THE home has not developed in
proportion to our other institutions. and
by it's rudimentary condition it arrests
development in other lines. Further that
the two main errors in the right adjust
ment OF the hcme to our present life are
these: the maintenance of primitive indus
tries in modern Industrial community,
and the confinement Of women to those
industries and their limited area of express
sion."
monument is to beserected to Nathan
lel Hawthorne on the site of the Little
Red House in the Berkshires, where he
wrote THE House Of the Seven Cables
and "Tanglewood Tales" The house was
burned down in June, 1890. 1t stood on
the north shore Of the lake christened by
Mrs Sigourney '"The Stockbridge Bowl .
within the territorial limits Of Stockbridge,
but near the village, of Lenox.
Miss Peabody's rarely sweet poems
largely published in the magazines, with
some, hitherto unpublished, appear in a
tasteful volume under the alluring title,
The Singing Leaves. Her verse re-
veals delicious refinement and loving
appreciation Of natural beauty, which can
not fail to charm the reader.
The taste of the public for romances of
the ticker and the speculative pits is GER
ta1nly supplied with a rapidly growing
volume Of such iterature-good, bad and
Indifferent. Whether the tragedies of
reckless speculation related in these books
deter anybody from the fervid excitement
of the speculative arenas is questionable,
Mr.. Adams John Burt is a late example
I OF such books. But he makes the stock
speculation and pit tragedy incidental
only in the story of fight of three men
for Miss Jessie Garden of Boston, very
attractive young lady of decidedly high
principles. The hero John Burt met her
when she was young girl and fell in love
with her, boy fashion, and in girl fashion
young girl fashion-slle admitted she
had a tenderness for him. Burt's past
trouble was his attempt to punish a rich
young dude for speaking disrespectfully
of Jessie. during which Morris tried to
shoot Burt and, instead, wounded himself
with his pistol Charged with attempted
murder Burt fed to the Pacific coast.
where he got rich and ultimately came
back to New York as promoter Of stocks.
Morris tried to ruin him but was himself
ruined by a stock combination organized
by Burt against him, after which Morris
is killed in attempting again to kill Burt.
The book is written in rapid. nervous style,
Mr.. Adams jumps swiftly from one situa-
tion to another. People who do not fancy
details will like the story.