Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-08
Between New Book Covers

various observances Of the day, onward
to twelfth night. The holly branch and
mistletoe bough, the yule log. the Christ
mas feast, the wassaile bowl Christmas
carols and lullabies, the Christmas tree
and Christmas giving are but few of
the subjects into which the selections
have been grouped. Jennie Day Haines
has several volumes of unusual compila-
tions already to her credit--but none more
happy in conception and more pleasantly
developed.
Christmas tide, we are told, "the twelve
days of Christmas" embraces the period
between Christmas eve, December "a. and
epiphany, or twelfth night, January s.
Great as the feast of Christmas is, moth
ing can be definitely traced as to it's
origin; nobady knows who first celebrated
IL, or when, or where, or how. Yet Of all
red letter days of the calendar none Is SO
generally observed, none brings with it
such universay Joy and good will and
none has been so generously memoralized
in verse and song,as this holy day.
The volume, as an example of harmoni-
Gus combinations of printing paper and
binding, is noteworthy. The topographic
scheme embraces an elaborate design of
hand mitered rule work executed by j.
III. Nash in old missal style, printed III
antique red, the text in rich black The
paper is mellow cream antique from
France; the frontispiece, printed in many
exquisite tints. is on handmade tissue
from Japan, and the binding is of hand
made Ancona boards from Italy, with a
back of golden Sugiyama fiber. Such, in
part, is the making of a Christmas book.
Christian Tyde. Compiled by Jennie
Day Haines. San Francisco: Paul Elder
& Co.
'The Fruit of the Tree" published
serially in Scribner's Magazine during
the year and which now is issued in
book form, is one of the notable fiction
publications of the year. 1t deals with
a problem of moral responsibility, de-
parture from conventional standards and
its consequences. The tone is serious:
but there is not the impression of over
subtlety which is, to some readers, baf-
fling and to some a delight.
John Amherst, the central character,
is a strong. virile being. His intense
sense of personal responsibility toward
his self-elected wards is admirably lal-
anced by his distinctively masculine feel
ings and obtuseness. In this way the
character is prevented from being mere
study of an idealist, reformer, it Is pri-
marily the study of a man. The two
women in the book, Bessie and Justine,
are also sharply defined womanly types,
opposite and yet mutually comprehending
by reason of feminine freemasonry. The
minor characters are individual. OF these
Mrs. Ansell with her science of adapta-
bility, which, sophisticated and without
definite standards as it sometimes seems,
is yet capable of the softest charity, is
chief.
''The Fruit of the Tree" is, as it could
not help being, a fine book, a thoughtful
book, more optimistic in it's tendency
than we are accustomed to associate with
the genius of Mrs. Wharton. But it is
not, like 1.-THE House Of Mirth' or like
in different field-"Madame de
Treymes, a significant work. 1t lacks
the human appeal and the sensation of
inevitability that marked the former and
the unerring analysis of social forces
that made the greatness of the latter.
The Fruitebf the Tree. BY Edith Whar-
ton. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Nine. Sarah Bernhardt. foremost act
ress of her time, has written her autobi-
ography which now is published in this
county by the Appletons. The book reads
like fiction. Apparently the writer has
succeeded in detaching her literary from
her other self. Her work thus seems dis
passionate. though sufficiently intimate
to give it the charm autobiography we'll
written always possesses.
1t is a book of surprises. Nine. Bern
hardt has been the judge as to what to
omit and has shown good sense in her
expurgations. She therefore appears here
as woman of eccentric but, on the
whole, correct taste, of big, generous
heart. not so capricious as critics have
painted her, as caprice is generally mo-
tiveless, and her startling actions have
always something of reason to create and
color them.
1t is not altogether with the stage that
Madame Bernhardt chooses to concern
herself in these memories. AS a section
of the history of Paris few accounts will
be found better than her pictures of the
siege. with it's suffering and privation,
of the Commune, with its ruthless de-
struction and cruelties.
During the siege she turned the Odeon,
the theater that had witnessed so many
of her triumphs. into a hospital and
nursed the wounded on both sides night
and day. One wounded German she fed
on chickens fattened i'll her own bed
room, so that he might not know the
straits of the enemy, who was really
near starvation, his citadel on the verge
of capitulaion. The spontaneousness of
these accounts impresses their truth. In
spite of the authors vividness and inten-
sity, one knows that she speaks the truth