Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-07

| forded of the people of the various coun-
tries. The work is neatly printed, with red
bordered pages. 1t is illustrated from photo
graphs and, less successfully, from few
drawings. Appended are other matters
from this authors pen, sketch entitled
The Secret of Perennial YOUTH and a
number of poems which have accumulated
since Mr.. Croffut's volume of verse was
published a decade ago.
BELLE OF THE FIFTIEs: Memoirs of Mrs.
ington and the south. 1sSs-se Put into mar mar
ratlve by Ada Sterling. Illustrated from con-
temporary portraits. New York: Doubleday,
Page Go.
Mrs. Clay-Clepton was one of the most
brilliant women of the congressional and
governmental circles in Washington dur
ing the administration of Presidents Pierce
and Buchanan. She came to the capital as
the young wife of Senator Clement G. Clay,
jr.. and was Immediately received by the
official society with warmth and admira-
ton. Although the years were swiftly
marking the approach of the greatest
crisis the nation has ever experienced and
men of all parties felt the strain of the
coming conflict social activities during the
SOS were in no degree lessened, and it is
fortunate that one who was intimately con-
nected with these activities and gifted with
the ability should now tell her story to the
end of preserving to literature memories of
the woman and men who made that period
one of the most notable in the social
history of the republic. 1t was with great
difficulty that the editor of this work per-
suaded Mrs. Clay-Clopton to tell her story.
For many years friends had urged upon
her the ACCESSIBILITY of setting forth her
recollections. and 1t was due to the per-
sistent advice of Mrs. Milton Hines of
Hunterville, Ala, a childhood friend of
Mrs. Clay-Clopton, that she finally con-
sented to do SO. Parts of the manuscript
were examined by men and women who
have kept fresh their memories of the ante
bellum days. so that it has been an thor
oughly as possible freed of all errors of
recollection and statement
The most charming feature of this book
is the franknesS with which the chief narra-
tor relates major and minor anecdotes of
those with whom she was so closely aSSo-
ciated. She points out some of the most
noted perSonageS of the period presents
full vivid portraits of Presidents Pierce,
Buchanan and Lincoln, Jefferson Davis
and other leaders of the confederacy and
sketches of not only statesmen who were
in public view of the SOS, but such inter-
esting people as Patti Jenny Lind Blind
Tom, Charlotte Cushman Mrs. Drew, Mrs
Gilbert and Thackeray, and in fact, prac-
tically all of the notables of that period
1t is interesting at this time to gain the
point of view of an intelligent young woman
Just arriving in Washington after travels
IN the north and the south concerning all
the prominent issues of the day Senator
Clay resigned in 1861 and joined the con-
federacy and was later made a prisoner
of war. The disposition of his case brought
MRS. Clay, who came to Washington to Sc
cure his release, into close connection with
the federal government at time when her
heart was probably most bitter toward it,
1; mat portion of the book which deals with
her efforts in her husbands behalf is per-
maps the most interesting of the whole and
wildly describes a period in the nations
history which has been somewhat neglected
by the historians of the war period The
memoirs close with the releasing of Clay
from Fort Monroe
THE STORY OF ART THROUGH THE AGES an
Illustrated Record BY s Reinach member Of
the Institute of France. From the French by
i hiOrenee Smmonds With nearly six hundred
Sons Washington: William Ballantyne & Sons
This is remarkably condensed yet de-
tailed history of art, arranged for the
convenience of the student in pursuit of
the whole broad subject and of the search
er for particular items of information. 1t
is strictly chronological in it's treatment,
the first chapter being on "the origin of
art and the last on ''art in the nineteenth
century" The text is printed in double
columns, and is richly illustrated with in
set half-tone reproductions of paintings,
sculptures and architectural examples per-
tanning TO the period and the school of
art under treatment. Following each chap
Ter Is photography of the period and the
class traVersed by the preceding text and
an excellent index opens the treasurers of
the volume to the reader.
COPY OF THE WILL OF GENERAL, GEORGE
WASHINGTON; and Interesting Records of the
County in which he Died. Compiled by E.
Richardson Holbrook Washington: National
Publishing Company.
George Washington's will is filed in she
court. house at Fairfax, Va, and is re-
garded justly as one of the most interest
ing historic relics now preserved in this
country. The present little volume offers
the text sof the will verbatim, and thus
places it within the reach of students of
character and history in a convenient form.
Various interesting memoranda relating to
the lie OF washington are appended with
appropriate Illustrations.
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. By James Bryce
author of The American Commonwealth" &c
New edition. enlarged and revised. New York:
The Macmillan Company. Washington: Bren-
taDos.
Prof. Bryce's Holy Roman Empire" was
first published forty years ago and has
passed through several editions undergoing
changes with each reprint to include the
results of modern research and the study
of the medieval period. In presenting the
fifth addition the author has been COM
PEELED to resist temptation to rewrite the
whole book in order to prevent it's attain
ing prohibitive size. He has confined him.
self to such changes and engagements
as seem most needed. He has written an
entire new chapter upon the Byzantine en-
pre- which was inadequately handled in
previous editions, and has prepared a new
concluding chapter sketching the constitu-
ton of the German empire and the affairs
which have given it strength and cohesion
Prof. Bryce hopes that this chapter NAV
explain the foundations and character Of
this modern representative of the empire
of the middle ages. Thus changed the work
presents the latest possible view of that
interesting period.
BOOKS RECEIVED.