The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-14
BOOK REVIEWS
AND
LITERARY NOTES

The AristOcracy OF Health. BY Mary
Foote Henderson. Washington, D.
c.: The Cotton Publishing Co.
The subtitle of the book says it is
a study of physical culture. our fav-
! orite poisons, and a national and in
ternational league for the advancement
of physical culture" AS a matter of
fact it is a temperance argument in
772 pages, and red cloth binding. The
argument, of course. is not new. In
temperance is an evil: the immoderate
and unauthorized use of alcohol and
nicotine will be followed by bad re-
suits. That is the sum and substance
of the volume. There are various di-
gressions, to be sure, but they all lead
back 10 whisky and tobacco. for the
purpose of hurting anathemaS against
them. With enthusiasm and determi-
nation the author attacks these most
hideous and insidious poisons. One can
hardly help wondering. after contem-
plating the indictment against them,
how beneficent and all-wise Provi-
dence ever permitted these Danes of
humankind to make their appearance
upon the face of the earth. If Provi-
dence had known earlier what some
people know now. manifestly Provi-
dence would not have had so many
egregious errors charged up to it's ac-
count. This thought must continually
obtrude itself upon the intelligent
teachers in the public schools forced by
law to teach the unscientific treatises
on physiology put into their hands by
a rubber-spined Legislature. Mrs.
Heuderson's book is a postgraduate
course in ultra prohibition. 1t pre-
sents in formidable array all of the
authorities opposed to the use in any
manner of stimulants of any sort. 1t
tells how delightful it is to be a per-
feet human specimen. uncontaminated
by touch Of tobacco and unweakened
by taste of spirits. 1t apparently as
sumes that probably most of the ills
suffered by civilized man are traceable
to his glass or his pipe. One shudders
inevitably upon reading what the book
says about wine and cigarettes, and
whisky and pipes. There is no escap-
ing from the conviction that, but for
alcohol and nicotine, we should by now.
have been race of the average hight
OF nine feet and average weight of 300
pounds, and that Theodore Roosevelt
would never have been able to conceive
OF any such suggestion as race sui
cide. To speak very candidly, it ap-
pears that Mrs. Henderson's book has
much more to do with the hlue-ribbon
propaganda than it has with physical
culture. AS a prohibition argument, it
leaves nothing to be desired.
The Fugitive. Reing memoirs of a
Wanderer in Search of a Home. BY
Ezra S. Brudno. New York. Double
day, Page & Co., 133-137 East Six
tenth street. Price, $3.50.
A Jews Christian. Being a story OF
Life and Love, with Side Lights on
the Modern Hypocrite. BY Trafford
Sharon. New York. ]. S. Ogilvie
publishing Company, 81 Rose street.
Price, so cents.
From time immemorial the character
of the Jew has appealed to the writer's
OF books. No people has had more to
| DO with the enrichment of literature
than the Hebrews. The race has pro-
ouced numerous writer's of genius and
great variety of characters. written
OF by others, to set us bordering the
complexity of human nature. There
was time when, in European litera-
ture, the Jews appeared as a despised
race. That time is past long since, ex-
cept possibly with Russia, and the Jew
is now appreciated for his intrinsic
merit. We can think and feel and
love with him without bigotry.
THE Fugitive" is described as an
epic or the Jew-a narrative romance
IN which love conquers creed. and a
new conception is presented respect
ing tne relationship between Jew and
semitic Mr.. Brudno Is a new author.
out he makes his debut before the
reading public in such attractive man
ner that we shall be pleased TO see
more OF him. The action OF his book
u rapid, but natural and logical Israel
Apremowiteh 10 the son Of L1thuani-