Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-06-06
Gossip from the Weird u
Books-Rsvisw Of NUS
Books Authors Plane
fer the Soason-Notoo.

VI tHe JAPANESE, anu reveals 10 US tNeii
customs their emotions. their relations
to one another and to their Anglo
Saxon preceptors? The pages Of The
Breath of the Gods bring us this
revelation, and they further make ii de-
finitely clear that the writer who con-
ceals herself under the Ien-name OF
Sidney Mccall can no longer hide the
identity she SO successfully kept to her-
self during the curiosity aroused by the
vogue of Truth Dexter II is perfectly
evident that The Breath If the Gods Is
The work of writer thoroughly
familiar with the Japanese and win
the lives they live in their own Japd-
nese homes.
While, as a novel, The Breath of the
Gods might be bettered by radical
excelsior and condensation. as plctur.
of life it is scarcely open to amendment.
Beginning in Washington. the reader
finds himself in the midst of a group Of
! dign,ta:ies whose central figure is I
Western senator with diplomatic lean
ings in general and 4 fondnesS for
Japan in particular. His appointment
comes as a matter of course, and with
wife, daughter, a japanese girl who has
been educated i'm America, and youth
full Frenchman who IS in love with the
Japanese girl, he Immediately takes
passage for Toxic. The story prac-
tically opens with their arrival at their
destination. The little Yuld is well
coined by her parents, her French lover
is forbidden 20 communicate with her.
she is forced into marriage with high
and mighty Japanrs" prince, and
~, <,f
she treads the downward path to
misery disaster and Lathetic death,
Although this tale has little novelty in
it, and little skill in it's telling. the
glimpscs it offers into Japanese
home, into Japanese modes of thought.
into family relations far different from
ours. give it n striking interest and
permanent Importance. The details Of
home and family life are not merely
described. They are analysed to their
very depths. Through the means of
Yuki's tragic story and untimely end.
we can see and understand clearly the
motives that move the japanese father
in all his relations with ancestors, wife.
children. friends. acquaintance and.
above everything else. with his country
and his country's ruling rover.
The time of the story being the open
lug hours of The present war with Rus
sia, we are enabled to look into the
very hearts of the loyal Japanese peo-
pie. 'BanZai Nippon is the cry recur-
ring constantly throughout the story, a
cry that is doubtless echoed by nine out
of ten of its readers. All in ALL The
Breath of the Gods is no small literary
accomplishment for by throwing a
strong light upon .he achievements of
a remarkable people, IT enables us to
understand more clearly than ever be-
fore the reasons for their progress UNI
der changing conditions and in the
face of apparently overwhelming odds.
ITO give boy the best of all oppor-
tunities-the opportunity for self-edu-
cation-turn him loose i'm a library
advise s Prof. George Edward Wood
berry, writing of Sir Walter Scott in
the June Mcclure's:
Scott" H. says. had the education
of the school as a thing of course. and
ii was valuable to him; but he illus
trates the facts that to turn "A boy loose
in library is to give him the best of
all opportunities the opportunity for
self education. He read from child
hood widely and well. and while yet
boy had such an acquaintance with
great literature as would now seem
phenomenal, though it was precisely
the same as that which a generation
later New England boys had at the
same age. IL they were so inclined"
An excellent test of a friend is the
making of a journey in his company.
Many who are most agreeable amid the
little events of every day at home, or
in an accustomed round. says a writer
I'm st. Nicholas. are unable to with
stand the petty annoyances that come
with travel-the deferred meals, early
rising. loss Of sleep, the minor discOm-
forts we all have suffered. But none OF
these affect The temper of a favorite
| book. 1t Is ever ready for your muse
ment, yet never resents being put
| aside. 1t has no choice as to your
route. and asks no more than a little
corner OF your travelling bag or at a
pinch. will go into "A pocket as snugly
as a pet squirrel. The London Acade-
| my says: Indeed, of all travelling
comrades hooks are the most cOngenial
and the most gentle: not books of ira
vel-they are for the home fireside. but
| tales that have for background the
| scenery you are looking upon. or his
tories which deal with men and wo-
| men who have dwelt and worked I'm the
cities you are visiting
1t was not so very long ago
| that mention was made ofpRob-
ert LOveman's Coates of ST
lence." Now we have another
slender collection Of his poems with the
somewhat elongated title of Songs
from Georgia Garden and Echoes
from the Gates Of Silence" U.ippin-
cotD. From the FIRST section Of the
book we take these stanxas of literary
Characterization.
Byron. Shelley Keats and Poe.
| Wrath and rapture. wit and woe;
| Drea mers. debauchees divine,
| Frantic with a frenzy fine
| Hearts of fire. souls of snow.
| byron, Shelley Keats and Poe.
Byron. Shelley. Keats, and Poe,
Oh, sweet pain the Poets know;
To hIiSS Ilpop tho uviups of <ba,u..