Evening star., 1907-08-24

Holt ABB LIB. LID, member of
the New York Academy of Political
Science. the American Political Sci
enCe Association and the American
Economic Association. author of
"Sturmsee; Man and Man" Boston:
Houghton, Mifin & Co.
The publication of Mr.. Holt's volume
draws attention to the fact that a book
of tn, sort has been very much needed
For il is designed as a text book which
shall instruct the boys and girls of the
land In the fundamental principles of cit
izensnp. 1t is not designed to reach the
college, O. even the high school class alone
although il might with advantage be used
by both classes. 1t is adapted to the larger
element of young America, who, after
grad school education, go out to take up
the active work of life. The present book,
"On the Civic Relations" is in one sense.
n third edition of Mr.. Hollis Talks on
Civics." the first edition having been issued
in May of the current year. This, in itself,
is proof of the demand for such a work.
The third edition has. however. been so
changed and developed as to be almost
new publication.
After a peliminary survey of the gov
ernment which represents societys control
over the individual. with its geographical
divisions and it's departments. Mr.. Holt
proceeds to the discussion of the protection
OF rights. After passing ulSCuSS-On OF tlS
exact significance and extent of the sup
posed right of the American citizen to life
liberty and the pursuit of happiness the
author taxes up the very TACTICAL analysis
of property rights. This includes the laws
relating to both real and personal property
and the problems associated with it. The
VoNed question of the position of capital
and the related claims of monopolists and
OF labor trusts are treated in relation to
property rights, in the law of contracts.
The first book ends with an interesting
discussion of the various schemes for dis
tributng property more evenly and
resume of what has already been accom-
rlished To that end The second book takes
up measures for the promotion OF con-
venience. There are chapters on money,
public works, help to the less fortunate
capable and chapters on the defective
classes, with a general survey of the sphere
of government. The whole of the third
book is gwen up TO the vexed question Of
taxes
Mr. Holt has an admirable conception of
the teaching point" He does not write
over the heads of the man woman who
Is not a student of economics. He presents
the subject clearly, fOrcibly and In easy,
conversational style. His use of colloquial-
isms will endear him to his boy readers.
While he preserves admirable impartiality
and gives invariably both sides to every de-
batable point, no one can doubt the strength
of his own convictions. His avowed object
is so TO present the rights and duties of the
citizen, so to show how each institution has
been, not the creation of one man or set of
men, but a growth out of the very nature OF
man and his environment, that, when the
boy comes TO cast his vote at the polls, he
may be aided by this knowledge to make
up mis- mind on the hard question that will
come up for decision.
AN ODE TO HARVARD; and other
Poems BY Witter Bynner. Boston:
Small. Maynard & Co.
Mr.. Bynner has made place for himself
among the younger poets by virtue Of char
acterstics which belong to himself and to
nobody else. His "Ode to Harvard is one
of the freshest, most spontaneous COM
pounds OF poetry, humor delightful non
sense. keen characterization and tender SEN
tment that has been published for many
years. The ode-form suffers many q meta
morphosis at his hands which, whether 1t
be a 'sea-change" or not, is certainly dis
concertIng to the classicist. 1t Is also q
question whether 1t would not have been
benefited by being shorter. This would
probably be true to any but a Harvard man,
who would not for the world, II can easily
be understood, miss one of the affectionate
recollectons with which the poem Is full.
The ode TO Harvard" is expressive, as Is
possibly no other bit of current poetry, of
the precise blending of moods with which
the college manor woman-looks back
upon four years of the sort of companion
ship that never comes again. Harvard IS
peculiarly rich in associations that take a
man back of his own day and class to q
rich and glorious past. All this Mr.. Bynner
has been able to express He has also
caught. in his whimsical lines, the very
spirit Of youth. OF the shorter poems Hey
Day" The Robin" "Grenstone River"
The HypuCrite' and many others show
OF touch; "Hill-Songs'' is effectice in its
suggestion OF varying phases of a mood.
The author is to be congratulated on the
wholesomeness and saneness of his work
world ha
accustomed To call "decadent' or ''erotic."
There is. instead. spirit OF manly belief IN
things that IS delightful.
THE TRUTH. A Play in Four Acts BY
Clyde Fitch New York: The Macmil-
Ian Company. Washington: Woodward
x LOthrop.
il is customary TO say that modern plays
are successful because they are expert In
stagecraft. not because they are good liter
ature. This play of Mr. Clyde Fitchs, how
ever, is very lively reading. 1t shows the
playwright in a somewhat more earnest
mood than he is usually accredited with.
The heroine, Becky Warder, Is charming
and lovab!e young woman. whose only fault
is an incapacity to tell, on any occasion. the
exact truth. She tells lies from kindness,
from Incidence. from the desire TO be ad-
mired She tells white and gray and brown
OisSr every Val ACNS Du( pldCh, lOE, DIS SNe
herself says, they never hurt anyone but
herself There comes time when even the
absolute trust OF the husband-whom she
devotedly loves-fails. Becky becomes in
VOWED, through carelessness and innocent
vanity. with another man. Warder is forced
10 realize that she has lied about certain de-
tails For the time he is unable to trust
her IN anything. The way in which Becky
Is saved from the ruin of her house of cards
by the awakening OF her own better nature
Is clever stage device, as well as a good
bit OF human nature.
Mr.. Fitch has sugar-coated his very moral
pill with bright dialogue and some deli
ciously farcical incidents and characters.
Mrs. Genevieve Crespigny is a wonderful
creation whose absurdity runs into pathos
and whose pathos merges into absurdity.
She is one OF the best of the playwrights
grotesques. besides having the appeal to hu-
man sympathy, which is the essence OF true
comedy.
LITERARY HISTORY OF THE ENG
LISH PEOPLE. Volume II. From
the Renaissance to the Civil War.
Part ]. BY J. J. Jusserand author of
English Wayfaring Life in the Mid
die Ages" etc. New York: G p. Put
MANS Sons. Washington: Woodward
& Lothrop.
Since the days of the History OF English
Literature by Taine there has been a keen