Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-12


near" So she had to educate herself by
stealth. She secured a certificate unDe-
Known to her father surprised him by win
ming the vacant school and then threw him
into a state of alarming amaZement by re-
fusng to turn over all her earnings So
Titles life was one succession of trials, up
To the end of the tale. when she starts off
Into the world with every promise of hap
piness.
Mrs. Martin has written naturally of the
lives of these people, showing their manner
isns. their rough geHia1ity as well their
meanness. Jake Getz is offset by the viii
lage doctor. The submissive Mrs. GetZ is
balanced by her capable sister-in-law. An
interesting view is afforded of the peculiar
Mennonite faith, which involves the resig
nation OF all that is beautiful or pleasant by
every one who feels inspired to become
plain Tillie experiences such an emo
tionaI awakening and dons the uniform of
the processing Mennonite. bat later she
bells against the hard and fast rules of the
sect sufficiently to let her pretty brown
, curlS emerge from the edge of her cap.
FOR that she is driven forth from The
ranks Of the elect. So she returns to the
world of vauties and beauties.
Mrs. Shinu'S numerous pictures are not
uniformly satisfactory Some of them might
Proiitably have been omitted. "Tilie' is
book to hold the attention and arouse keen
Sympdthies.
THE PEOPLE OF TIE ABYSS. BY Jack
onion. author Oi lle tal or the W HI &P.
Illustrated from photographs. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Washington Brentanos.
The modern sociological investigator goes
directly at his subject, clad III the garb and
speaking the language of the people he
socks To study. Walter Wylof went thus
among the workers and Josiah Flynt
among the tramps Of both hemispheres.
Jack London put on the cast-off clothes of
stranded sailornan and plunged into the
,3-t side of the city of the same name as
his OWL. He did 50 10 make sure of meet
Ing the people there on their own ground.
He WAS not suspected. and he learned what
hr accepts as the absolute truth of the case
with the nearly half million people who con-
Suiute LoEdons submerged tenth" 1t is
"a disagreeable truth he now tells to the
world. truth rocking with shameful de-
tails. with much that is FOUL with much
that is incXpressibiy sad, but, witlfaL a
truth which should be known Not that any
great degree of good can result from the
publication of such truths in this country.
The reforms which must come to the relief
"f these wretched people-who, Mr. London
declares are merely exaggerated types of
the suffering which exists all over England
toddy-cannOt be formulated or fostered
over here. Nor are the problems which ex-
list in London similar to those which are
being attacked with more or less success by
reform workers in our own big cities Still
IL is instructive to be told thus by a first
hand investigator how that great body lives
The reader will not necessarily follow the
author in all his EXPLANATIONS against the
system which governs these suffering
beings. He may not agree with tho fore
east that the English machinery of govern
mcnt. being inadequate to the task OF GOV
erninS. as proved to the satisfaction Of
this investigator by the wretchedness of
London hopeless poor. must collapse
lie VIII search vainly for practical sugEes-
iiuus as To how the conditions may be inn
proved Mr.. London ventures upon no such
treacheruus ground. couteuting himself with
TIE description OF the utter degradation and
hop"leSSncss of the poor. He criticIses
freely. as in the matter of regulations
which forbid the men out of work to sleep
IN the parks and so rest themselves for the
next days search for employment He finds
fault with the municipal refugees where the
Unemployed are sheltered for two nights
and fed on questionable food in return for
one days toll But these are of slight in
terest to American readers who after all
are chiefly concerned in learning how the
great English metropolis teens with a
dying yet increasing horde of misera BILE
creatures who literally do not know where
TO look for the next meal
JOAN or THE ALLEN. BY Frederick orin
BARTLETT Illustrated by Eleanor winslow Eos
ton; ionghton Miaim * Co Wash,npt,;,.
Woodward y Lothrcp
Beginning with a street fight and ending
with great mill strike this story of teue-
ment life IN large city passes rapidly
through many phases OF sensationalisn 1t
deals with the belief of a Young girl of
french-lrish parentage that she is sum
moned To lead her fellow-workers In a
strike for greater liberties. She is man!pu-
lated by crafty socialist into a position Of
grave danger Various forces are ut work
10 lead to her destruction, both physical
and moral but in the end she energies from
her trials with assured happiness \ num-
b." Of wildly drawn characters pass across
tie screen during the action. There is