The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-18
NEW BOOK NEWS
CONDUCTED BY MARTHA YOUNG

=<<=e<sseeSS Mrs. Maybrick gives the only just and mercifu1 answer: The criminal Is mentally diseased. Ninety-nine out Of hundred criminals when not such by accident. through poverty or environ ment, come to their lot through m herited. malformed brains.
 Surely we recognize. by the human tie that makes us all akin. that no man nor woman ever sinned of delib- crate choice?
 Tt ought to be the sacred duty of earnest men to deal kindly, intelligent ly. and patiently" with these unfor- tunate ones.
 T hope" writes this woman, who speaks from more intimate knowledge than any prison reform writer can, the time is not far off when men and women will take more of heart in- terest in prisoners, and when, no mat ter how low they may have sunk, an opportunity to live honestly will be given them on their release: when tha society against which they have sinned will treat them so kindly that for very shame they will seek to do better. and repentance shall enter into the most darkened soul. The eye for an eye anu tooth for tooth Is not part of the Christian dispensation. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave his last supreme lesson. as he turned toward the thief at his side on the cross, and that put an end 10 that old law forever"
 It is safe to predict that this little book will go farther to bring about a reasonable treatment of criminals than any other ever written.
 As a life story it is of thrilling in- terest from first to last page.
 The Youth of Washington. Told in the form of an autobiography. By pr. $. Weir Mitchell.
 Dr. Mitchell has done with his pen what a great actor does with his per- sonality. He has realized ana DOT trayed the character and characteris- tics of another man. Just as Boothe has portrayed Brutus, as Sothern today portrays Hamlet. It, Is the fashion to write of the book as "Dr. MitcheH's Experiment. It is not an experiment but a success, The ef- fort is new only inasmuch as the work Is called an autobiography. This putting yourself in his place is done by every novelist, surely by ev- cry writer of the historical novel,
 It Is pity all biographies of great men could not be biographies, the work of other hands. A man rarely both lives and eventful life and writes of 1t skillfully. To put the matter in- to autobiographical form certainly gives life and a greater sense of actuality to the pages.
 Dr. Mitchell makes the father of our country give these opinions on the matter:
 General Hamilton. whose remarks have often just reason to remember. once wrote me that no man had ever written true biograp phy of himself. that he was apt to blame himself ex- cessively or to be too much prone to self-defense. He went on to state that an autobiography was written either from vanity and to present the man profoundly to posterity. or because he desired for his own pleas ure in the study of himself to recall the events of his career
 Dr. Mitchelrs insight into the characteristics of the Virginia plant ing people, and it must be admitted Virginia gives the cue in social mat ters to the whole South, Is marvellous.
 T have had some reason to believe that our friends did not regard my mothers family, being in the mercan- tile line, as on the same social level as our own" prejudice which fool ish in the extreme still lifts it's hydra head in Dixie. But. in fact, we ourselves were not until a later day considered as of the highest class of Virginia gentry. Why this was do not full know" These wire- drawn class distinctions of the South ar there today. They are unwrit- ten but imperishable. They are un- spoken, but instructive. We are al- ways taught that they are silly be- yond computation, but we all know every line of demakatlon. where every degree begins and ends. "It is certain, however, that nowhere were aristocratic pretensions and the dis functions of social rank more marked than in Virginia. For a long time families like the Lees. Byrds. Carys. Masons, etc, regarded themselves as superior to other planter families of as good or better blood" Dis tinctliy typical The mother of Wash ington is portrayed in this book as different from the accepted Spartan master type usually given her. She shows here as querulous, nervous. selfish. Perhaps she was. It would be pleasanter to hope she wasn't; of Georges learning to ride and leap and the attendant falls from his pony the text goes:
 My father hated defeat, while my mother was ever desirous of keep ing me out of danger, because it made her uncomfortable and this was strange, for I have never been able to see that she was greatly pleased when I Vls successful. or was much moved by what the great Master al- lowed me to attain in later years"
 How clearly Dr. Mitchell shows the fine reserve and shyness of his hand A reserve true mark of noble and strong souls.
 Of the meager opportunities for ed ucation of the South of that day and of a more distressing indifference to the lack we have one of Patrick Henry's bon-mots: Even if we Vir- ginians had little education. Mother Wit was better than Mother Coun- try. for the gentlemen who came back (from English Universities) brought home more vices than virtues"