The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-24

Books "fhe issues or Liie"-Mfs
 sheppard stsvsns' "sign of Tri.
 umphn-Many Forthcoming New
 Books.
 A strong book, and one which is excit- ing differing and clashing opinions not as to it's merits as a story. but to the authors views as to woman's duties in the home as wife and mother is The Issues of Life" by Mrs. John Van Worst, who a year ago wrote in con- junction with Miss Van Worst The Woman Who Toils," the book which brought from President Roosevelt his famous race suicide letter. The new book is a powerful arraignment of the new woman with her clubs and her idea of personal freedom and her an- tipathy to home lift. Here is her decid- edIy frank comment on the subject that brought out the presidents letter:
 Look at the wrecks with which soci- ety is strewn from this fatal shoal. All the strange ills, which range from ner- vous prostration to insanity, from the misery of the soul known as restless ness to the destruction of the body known as suicide, or the morphine hab it, every one of them so characteristic of modern women, have common cause. Our American women are pay ing for their transgression, their own Will and desire for self-development, for sterility. I see a whole generation passing like driftwood.'
 The doctor was warming to his sub ject."
 Mrs. Van vorst's attack on the so- called advanced type of womanhooa that neglects the home and her chil- dren for the club. society and various fads under the name of culture is force 2 full and unsparing.
 Thus she proceeds further to fay the new woman: They should be con- suned in flames, and the ashes of their follies should be scattered over this vir- gin land, so that after the old conti- nents are worn out in endless routine. \ once again there should be youth in the universe, a race that is vigorous, healthy, triumphant. Without natural affections to develop and mature them. without the fruit which gives meaning to the flower, they wither before they are half-blown, they are faded before z their blossoming time has come How can you expect them" he said, smiling indulgently as he looked at Aida, how can you expect yourself to have any peace of mind until you clearly under stand that there is not a creature upon earth, not even the American woman of the twentieth century, who has been put here free of natural duties, to live purely egotistical existence at the expense of others?"
 'sI suppose you are right she said. Our generation has gone wrong-has missed the aim of existence. But you should not blame us. You should have pity on us-help us. Circumstances were against us. Too much importance has been attached to money. We are all dominated by it. We need more and more if we wish to attain any sort of position And to obtain it we are < obliged to renounce all sorts of simple joys which in past times would have satisfied us. It is all I can do for ex- ample, in my home, to make both ends meet. How could I bring up child? l? How would it be possible?"
 Mrs. Van Worst further generalizes as follows: 1There is no woman so neg M lected as the American mans wife. < She has two rivals; business and sci ence She tries to make the most of the situation by mimicking her rivals. The business mans wife is capricious and a spendthrift; the scientists wife is a pedant. These are the two types America has produced. . both ab- normal, hostile to their natural destiny. No children, no domestic duties. Over strained minds in the one; passion for luxury in the other; perverted, both of them, and sure to end up at a rest cure or under the surgeons knife. It is not S their fault. It is the fault of the man. |
 The story deals with the happiness of < Phillip Dillon, his wife, Madeline and their two children. The husband leaves his country home to go to his ranch in the west on business, while the wife and the children go to New York for the winter, as the guests of Mrs. Wallace. Mrs. Dillon typifies the sensible woman of the 'sold fashioned type who pre- fers her husband and her home to the discussions of the woman's club and the gossip of the society drawng-room. Z She would rather preside happily over # a nursery full of healthy youngsters than play bridge till daylight or go z summing on the organized charity plan. She believes in love, in children and in man, mere man." She thinks the home is the proper place for the true woman, not the club.
 Ill New York society, the advanced woman leads her away from her ideals and she joins the ranks of the class of women who believe that woman should not be burdened with children or the care of the home, and that woman must break her letters and become mans competitor in fields foreign to domestic duties. How the scales fall from her eyes at last, and her old love for hus- band and home revive is vividly told. The book, as says the New York Evening Sun. breaches a powerful ser mon to the new woman and to the strenuous American husband who puts x lis business above his home. It is a story of absorbing interest, written with great power and felicitous in dic- ton. "The Issues of Life" is bound to be a healthy influence. It will do more good than thousand sermons, for ev- erybody will want to read book so sane, sweet and earnest"
 The New York American says: 1The story will probably be approvingly dis