The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-01-01

his good right arm at the evils or the
mysteries. the superstitions or. corr
victions of this universe, he is as mis-
taken as poor Don Quixote. His at
tacks, for instance, on The greatest
periods of art because they do not
speak the. language of to-day failed
to lessen our admiration Of the Italian
masters. and reacted. something like
Windmill upon the critic. But to
show timidly about the influence OF
such masterpieces as Tom sawyer
and 'Huckleberry Finn is to give to
| the angels one of their too frequenr
opportunities TO weep"
A Word from Helen Keller.
Probably no girl in all the world
has so many friends, known ana un-
known. as Helen Keller. Her growth
| from a pathetic living death into a
healthy, joyous intellectual life is one
| of the miracles of the age. Now thai
| she has come to a point where she
| can herself write Understandings or
| her life and especially of her COM
nlunication with others, spite of
deafness, dumbness, and blindness.
but Of value. Easily first, then,
| In interest and importance among
the January Century's contents will
be Helen Keller's "A Chat About the
Hand" which will be illustrated with
Il number of portraits of Helen Keller
alone. and with Joseph Jefferson. Miss
Sullivan, Edward Everett Hale and
Professor Alexander Graham Bell.
I In the leading article of Success
| Magazine for January, Hosmer Whit
HELD. who went to Manchuria last
llspring as a special commissioner or
| that magazine, TO study the war be-
\ tween Japan and Russia, has convinc-
ingly set forth his reasons why
Japan Must Win" Mr.. Whitfeld's
article was written after a careful sur
4 vey of the situation and from facts
4 supplied in the interviews with suct
I men as Marquis Ito, General Kurot.
| Baron Kaneo, and officers of the RUS
| sian army, whose names are with
/ held for obvious reasons. In keeping
with the article is the beautiful cover
design, by c. ID. Weldon and many.
| fine photographs taken on the field OF
war. William Jennings Bryan has
written for this issue a timely ar
/ ticIe entitled THE Democratic De-
feat" in which he, says: "a careful
survey of the field Will lead a Demo-
crat to face the future with confidence
land hope The fact that the ~arty
| lost all over the Unien makes certain
that it will not again YIELD its position
as a reform party in the hope of WIN
| ming the support of the plutocratic
| element" How Treaties Are. Made"
is the subject of the first of new
series of Diplomatic Mysteries by
Vance Thompson. in which he tells
Of the difficulties encountered and the
diplomacy needed In the making OF
! treaties.
Scribner's magazine for January be
gins new volume and several OF the
very interesting projects which are TO
be features of the coming year. Edit.
! Wharton starts her first long novel OF
contemporary American life. entitled
| THE House of Mirth.' Ii deals With
the life of the very rich in search for
| changing amusement. and the tragicai
predicament of a young, charming
woman who has a right. by birth aid
tradition. to take her place iii society.
While the story is full of satiressit
also touches depths OF emotion, Thar
Mrs. Wharton's previous work has
mot revealed Each ihstallmeut wifi
| be Illustrated Ey 4. =. WcnIen.
The critics of The Law of the Land
Emerson Hough's new novel, are aNy
cusing the author of, an intense south
Tern partisanship on the negro Dues
ition. He adopts they say. a bitkes
spirit of hostility, exhibits an anti
pathy to the negroes felt by few
southerners, and seems TO be doing
| his best to stir up the South against
1.-The North.
An this is decidedly unjust TO Mr..
Hough. Although accused of southern
| prejudice, he was born in Iowa am
| has lived for many years in Chicago.
He is a Republican. has been so All
I his life, ana his father was a Repub-
can before him. His people weer Nlf-
ginia Quarkers. who freed all their
4 ~1o, fNfI s.c, I.af IVA
The family plantation was more thar
half suspected to be station on tine
| Underground Railway" But though
| a Republican and a Northerner Mr.
| Hough is thoroughly convinced that
the North has fiagrantly misjudgeu
the South and that. before. 1t passes
| Judgment, it shoull get the facts. His
lconviction is set forth with passion In
| The Law of the Land.
| Can an author write about town
land continue to live in 1t? Meredith
Nicholson's novel of two years ago
1.-THE Main Chance. created so tumul-
tuous row in Omaha that he has
never dared go back. The brothers
land fathers of several young women
who were supposed to have been tile
originals of "the Girl that tries hard
IhaVe threatened to horsewhip the au-
thor the next time he appears on the
Missouri. Mr.. Nicholson has now de-
scribed his own city of indianapolis
| in Zelda Cameron. 1t is the first novel
with this habitat since From Dawn TO
| Daylight, gloomy tale written by Mrs.
| Henry Ward Beecher about 1850. The
good lady dealt rather severely with
some of her husbands Indianapolis
Pensioners. Mr.. Nicholson gives a
newer and more cheerful idea of the
Hoosi4r capital, on which he is GER
tainly entitled TO his point of view. as
ne has written a history of the social
and educational progress of Indiana
land has moreover, lived there nearly
Iall his life
Note Il copied this from his novels
in 1867 and used IT'D k.