Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-14

cal delineation and grouping of main facts
to this mans life the author has fol-
lowed Mr.. Stevens biography fairly close
ly. But in point of his motives and his
ultimate aims Mr.. Dixon has seriously
straygd from the truth. so far as it is known
today. That Stevens was a radical re-
publican, that he fought the south with
AL the intensity OF his strong nature, and
that in the forwarding of his policies as to
Its treatment after the war he went further
than many OF his associates approved, is
undoubtedly true. But that he the
malignant. venomOus. vlndctive enemy of
the south after the war, seeking to Afri-
cani2e the seeding states out of sheer VEN
geanCe and for the purpose of humiiiatng
the whites Of that region. is far from the
established fact. Nor is it established that
Stevens had in mind the suDversiOn of the
republic through the deposition of Andrew
Johnson and the establishment of dicta-
tor.
TIE story of the Ku Klux Khan is con-
siderIby foreshcrtered and the rise and
fall of that organization are described
rather hurriedly and with a somewhat con-
fusing multitude of details pertaining to
other phases of the reconstruction period.
In other words. Mr.. Dixon has spent so
much time on his foundations that the
story proper, regarding it a revelation
of the true iuwardness of the great Sc
cret association of the south. is somewhat
Inadequate. The love theme involves the
mating of a northern man to a southern
girl and the brother and sister of this pair
TO each other. Mr.. Dixon has secured his
complications chiefly by making the two
young northern people the son and daugh-
ter of the great commoner.' leading up
to rather theatrical climax.
DEAR FATHERLAND. By Ey Lieutenant Bilse,
author Of life in a Garrison Town New
York: John Lane.
Ex-Lieut. Bilse's first novel caused his
court-martial and dismissal from the Ger
man army after a term of Imprisonment.
1t created an immense sensation through
out Europe. being promptly suppressed in
Germany by the government. SO vivid was
Its description of the evils of army life,
and so realistic the picture painted by the
young officer. that the officials were COM
PEELED to acknowledge the truth of the
main charges relating to brutality and ex-
travagance, and certain reforms We're in
stituted. II is evident that the former
officer believes that the curative process is
FAR from complete. for he has offered an
other story which shows German army
life in a slightly different light yet paints
II In quite revolving colors as in his
first book. Dear Fatherland" is a dis
tinctiy unpleasant book. as, indeed, il must
be to render the situation with fidelity IL
Bilses charges are well founded. 1t shows
the corrupting demoralzing influence of
the system under which il Is possible al
most inevitable, for young officer to live
beyond his means and wreck his career
The central figure is such an officer who
Is forced by the customs of his corps into
eNtravagances. and is consequently trans
iierreu 10 "a frontier post, where he comes
IN contact with a crew of reprobates who
- nave Deen similarly shipped AWAY from
their former stations for various offenses
DeSplte ms earnest efforts to reform he
20 NiSliih 10 the corTupting influences
~ OF these degenerate officers and ends his
lac after being entrapped into an entangIe-
hent with a garrison follower and baited
peyond his endurance by martinez In
haF cfA -ta IA
of the evils of German army life Some
OF them are shocking. and the Jealous
young author spares his reader nothing in
ms determination to present the truth in
It's paldest form Yet throughout the work
pulses a spirit of intense devotion To the
fatherland. and il closes with AN eloquent
trIDute to the empire despite the faults and
oahstrs OF It's army system. TX Is book
10 cause Germanys statesmen to redoubic
thelr erorts to purge the army of the ele-
ments which are undermining it's strength
BEING DONE GOOD; Comments ON the .ax.,o.
MADE by Medical Science during the past Z s,l
n,ars IN the Treatment Of rheumatism By
fdwaru u. Lent, with a foreword by Charles
NJ Skinner. Second edition illustrated RrnaS
iyn; The Brooklyn Eagle Press
Mr. Lent believes that sufferers from
rheumatism must live to a ripe old age
For he has had an experience that proves
10 MS satisfaction, that not all of the
remedies Tor that disease ever discovered
N'ii 'he Patleht, despite the tre-
mendoas strain upon his constitution. He
sets forth in this work a breezy. cheerful
account of his limping wanderings from
cure to cure and from one school of medi-
cine to another. his experiments with
nostrums and home made remedies. the
recommendations of well-meaning friends
the humping of the masseurs the dos
lngs OF quacks He wrote his book in
bed. as diversion. Reading ii to friends
ne found that they laughed at his