The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-29


There may be few Kansans who will
admit that the state requires any de-
tense, but an outsider might be of q
different mind and therefore Miss
Stephens undoubtedly took up the
cudgel in the kindliest spirit In speak
ing Of the fanaticism with which Kan
sas is charged the author saws: THE
judgment antedates our day. It was
even so far back as in the time of Abra-
ham Lincoln, when Kansas was not
near the force, nor the promise of force,
it has since become. And it was in that
earlier and poorer age of our country
when folks queTied mans suitability
and preparedness for the senatorial
office. Then when the senatorship fell
TO General James H. Lane, and some
one questioned the Free State Fighters
fitness for his duties, President Lincoln
Is said to have hit or the new senator
and the new state with, Good enough
Tor Kansas and shrug Of his 5ony
shoulders. Derogatory catch words
nave a knack at persiSting since ME :
first tried to get the upper hand of one
another by ridicule, and the terse un-
sympathy and curl of the lip of Lin
cOla's sayings have kept their use tc
our day"
Miss Stephens tersely discusses the
New England origin of the Kansas pio-
neers and follows it with this comment:
1T is in truth IN the fact last named
in the American birth of the people who
gave ana SUN give, the state It's IunQa-
mental key, that we are to find the
causes Of Kansas neOlOgism and desire
for experiment in every line that prom
ises human betterment 1t is a case Of
spiritual heir at law-the persistence
of what the great ecclesiastical reaction
ist Of our day has mathematical as
the American spirit For each new ism
the Kansans have pursued has been but
another form and working in the pop
ular brain Of the eighteenth century
RHWOIUflOniSfg a the Of Fof
time and since have put it, liberty.
equality, fraternity "
That ought to be enough to please the
most devoted citizen Of the Sunhower
state and there are other passages lust
as soul-satisfying. The author is no
longer a Kansan but she hasn't forgot
ten the charm of the daily excursions
% the top of Mount Dread or her as
sociatiOns with Kansas people.
In concluding her Kansas Thumb
Print Miss Stephens says. 1.-THE Kan
san is, after all, but phase=a mag
uIhcent present day example and striv-
1ng-ot the mighty democratic spirit
which has been cropping forward through
centuries towards its ideal. the human
races ideal Of ideals In HIS setting
forth of the genius of his people for
democracy and the tendency of his
blood for experiment and refOrnl-ac-
cording to that advice of the Thessa-
lonians of an avaunt courier of democ-
racy, to prove all things and hold fast
to that which is good-he is led at times
upon miry quaggy places and by the
very largeness of his sympathies entfced
upon Quicksands which the social plum
met OF our day has not yet sounded"
1here IS not space to devote to the
other essays that are found in the vol
0Ine They win all please the person
VINO enjoys profound and refreshing
thought Miss Stephens book deserves
q place in literature. May it receive
the consideration which it merits.
Here is the publishers introd1c+fon
Of Miss Stephens and her book.
MISS Kate stephens, the author OF
AIieFlcan Ihumb-p prints" which J. r
35dppincott company has just pub
l1shed, is a native New Yorker b,,f st
mas lived IN many different Darts of The
country and for some time dweIt i'm
the middle west. For six Years she
occupied the chair of Greek in ffe
University of Kansas, and one of ia
most interesting ESSAYS In her boot-
mas to do with that institution. she
pursued a graduate course of st1dv
az Cambridge, Mass, at Berlin and
olhcr European centers Drevio4ts ID
occupying the position in the Kansas
university. She did considerable con
SfucuVe editing of books in New
/ ork city and was, for a time. con
nected with a well known weekly. pa
per IN the capacity Of book reviewer
She also planned a successful lecture
course Tor college men and women.
ana is member of several clubs in
5osLon' New York, and elsewhere
Her work. however, has kept her so
continuously busy that she has entered
but little into social life She now re-
SIDES on the west side of New York,
IN Bohemia where the trees grow
and birds sing. Her books holds the
choicest Of those essays which she has
contributed to the Atlantic MONTHLY
ter"
The Digressions Of Polly by Helen
Rowland is delightful little book re-
gently brought out by the Baker Taylor