Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-27

fact possible to the author Of variant Of
this Venerable theme. But 1t is, neverthe-
less always worth telling well, especially
when it is pitched in the key chosen by the
authors of Mrs. Essngton" They have
eschewed the grosser elements that accom-
pany so many tales and have concentrated
themselves upon the embodiment or char-
acters the analysis of motives, the sugges-
ton of deeper feelings and more serious
tragedies than those that show on the sur
face Mrs Essington captures the reader S
heart from the first. There is no cause
for wondering at her great success at the
house party with Longacre the composer
THAR the society bachelor, and Holden the
railroad magnate in close pursuit of the
favor of her company. And the OlheF
Woman, daughter of the hostess, Is Wig
orous free young woman, OF aDoundlng VI
tality untouched soul, undeveloped powers
of feeling. lust a fine, handsome human ami
NAL with q voice of rare possibilities, but
unmellowed by feeling. 1t IS l-ongacre
whom both women love, and who loves
both of them. Blame the artistic temper
ament perhaps for his unwarranted act
in making love to one before he had put
an end to the other affair. He blamed him.
self Then came an accident Wnlch pre-
cipitated the climax, and-one of the wom-
en- went forth.
The Misses Chamberlain have produced
strong, significant story, which makes GOOD
use of but does not obtrude the California
setting in which it is placed. Ihey are
of an attractive volume. But MT. hut
might have stuck closer to their descrlp-
ton of tall, black-haired Julia, instead OF
presenting all the women characters as
short, rather dunpy IN Iact, anu ny ~
means raven-tressed.
sHELBURNE ESSAYS; Second Series.
BY Paul Elmer More. New YORK. ".
F. Putnam's Sons.
Mr.. More's delicate touch upon interest
in, Ea first
the "shelburne Essays" identified him as
one of the leading American essayists Of
today. He has strengthened his hold upon
his public with the publication of this sec
ond group of delightful papers. His sub
jects include Elizabethan sonnets, Shakes
peares sonnets, I.afcadio Hearn. the first
complete edition of Hazlitt, Charles Lamb.
Kipling and Fitzgerald George Crabbe, the
novels of George Meredith Hawthorne,
Delphi and Greek literature, and Nemesis,
or the divine envy. In all of them he be-
trays rather than displays his scholarship,
his acquaintance with the great book world
demanding instead OF eXcusing the products
of this scant dozen essays. His style Is
that of the expounder more than the prose
poet. He seeks to set forth the truth of
his subject and does not unduly overlap the
beauties of his theme with verbal tracery
of his own.
| ~
By Edward Claiming. Volume l. The
Planting of a Nation in the New
World, 1000166o. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Washington:
Brentano's.
Prof Channing's undertaking Is Of vast
| Importance to all students of American his
| tory. In his long career as assistant and
| finally head of the department of history
| at Harvard University he has produced sew
| eral works of great value in this line. con-
! trbutions TO elaborate volumes, shorter his
tories OF this country discussions of vari-
| Gus phases of the theme. And during these
years he has had in mind his magnum opus
| a history of the United States going to the
root of the conditions from which the new
| nation came into existence
His purpose is plainly set forth in the
| preface of the first volume of the long
| expected work. now in hand. and his own
words state the case in the best possible
| manner. He says:
Il have undertaken a new study of the
! history of the United States from the dis
| covery of America to the close of the nine
| teenth century In treating the subject the
\ word history is understood in its larger
| sense as denoting not merely the annals of
| the past, but as describing the development
| of the American people from the inception
| of the coloniZing enterprises which resulted
| in the founding of the thirteen original
states and the formation of the federal
| Union. The growth of the nation will, there
! fore be treated one continuous develop
ment from the political, military institu-
! tlonal, industrial and social points Of view
| Writers on American history have usu-
| ally regarded the colonists as living a life
| somewhat apart from the rest of mankind
| Moreover, they have been apt to treat the
| founding of each colony and state as IL 1t
| had been unlike the founding of other colo
| MES and states: and they have generally
| traced the story of each Isolated political
| unit from the point of view OF the anti
| quarian. The outlook of the present work
| is different. I have considered the colonies
l as parts of the English empire, as having
| sprung from that political fabric, and e.