Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-11
THE ESSENTIALS OF AESTHETICS in

Music, Poetry. Painting, Sculpture and
Architecture. BY George Lansing
Raymond, Lid, professor of aes-
thetics in the George Washington
University. New York: G. p. Put
MANS Sons. Washington: Woodward
& Lothrop
Prof Raymond whose lectures on aes-
thetics have introduced him to a large cir
Gle i'm this city has in this volume gath
cred together the product of many years of
thought. He is the author of a system OF
comparative aesthetics presented in series
of thoroughly significant volumes comprising
Art in Theory THE Representative Sig
nificance of Form" Poetry as a Repre-
sentative Art" Painting, Sculpture and
Architecture rs Representative Arts The
Genesis of Art Form Rhythm and Har-
mony in Poetry and Music and 'Propor-
ton and Harmony of Line and Colour In
Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He
says the object of this special book is to
determine for the reader, If possible, the
qualities causing excellence in the higher
arts and to increase appreciation of them
THE phenomena of the arts Of the highest
class have been traced to their sources in
material nature and IL the human mind,
the different arts have been shown to be de-
veloped by exactly similar methods. and
I
terize the entire work of artistic mag ma
ton, from the formulation of psychical
concepts to that of their most physical eX-
pressions in rhythm, proportion and har-
mony Conformity with the subjects, the eff
fects of all arts together unon everything
that makes for culture and for humanity
have been considered in themselves, as we'll
as in their relations to religion and to sci
ence.''
The book is beautifully prepared and is
copiousfy and entertainingiy illustrated.
GHETTO COMEDIES. BY Israel Fang
will. author of The Grey Wig" New
York: The Macmillan Company. Wash
ington: Woodward & Lothrop.
Comedies these stories of latter-day
Hebrews, may be; they are grim and IRON
ical enough in tone to create an impress
sion of profound depression. Mr. Zanswili
| has gathered together all that he knows OF
unlovely weaknesses and oddities among
his race and has embodied them in a series
of sketches Of great originality and power
| In the first story, "The Model Of Sorrows.
! is expressed it may be inferred, Zangwilfs
conception of the race. Its greatness ana
| its pitiful weakness. AS the reader pro-
crosses, he gains a succession of exceed
| ingly clear impressions of racial short
cOmings which are both cause and result
| of the tragedy of Jewish history; snoos'
| imitators, factionalists, secretly distrust-
| full and contemptuOus of each other-tnls
| these comedies of the ghetto declare the
! Jews to be. AS to their virtues. their real
| their genius Mr.. Zangwill is equally vivid
! in his portraiture. The emphasis, how
ever, Is placed upon the unpleasant char.
acteristic. AS whole Ghetto Comedies
produces the impression of an almost VIM
dctive arraignment of the race.
LANGFORD OF THE THREE BARS.
By Kate and Virgil D. Boyles. With
illustrations in color by N. c. Wyeth.
! Chicago: A. c. McClurg & Co.
This is one of the best western romances
that has been published for long time.
The great cattle grazing region of Dakota
provide the theater for drama of stirring
and compelling interest. Paul Langford.
a splendid type Of young America. has de-
creed that cattle rustling is to be put down.
With him is associated Dick Gordon, a
contrasting, but admirable type of manly
force. Two girls, one from the east, the
other a frontier heroine. and the father of
one of them, are almost alone In their fight
against lawless aggression. The story OF
their struggle is admirably told. 1t Is
difficult feat to lay the book down before
| the contamination, and 1t abounds in dra-
matte and thrilling episodes. The gentle
! chivalry of the rough westerners In the
presence of womanhood is one Of the de-
| lightful features of the tale. while the mas
culine atmosphere marks the truthfulness
lions, in color, are admirable.
-FOUR SEASONS IN THE GARDEN. BY
| Eben E. Rexford. illustrated and
decorated. Philadelphia: ]. B. Lip
pincott Company.
Mr. Rexford's notes on flowers are so well
known that any encomiums of his practi-
cality and clearness are unnecessary. Re-
garded as the foremost amateur in the
United States, his book will be of interest
to every homemaker with undeveloped gar
den instincts. He treats of lawns, flower
beds, native plants, work for all seasons,
bulb and palm culture. tn. window garden
anG home greenhouse. decorative plants
and table decoration, and gives his volume
more than an individual interest by treat
ing of such community topics as village i'm
provement and rural and village improve
ment societies. The text is so well Illus
trated and is in itself so definite that every
man should soon be able, with its direction,
to dispense entirely with the services of
professional and make his flower beds
personal expression.
CHRISTOPHER LAND. By Margaret
Warner Morley, author of The Bee
People," etc. Illustrated. Chicago.
A. c. McClurg & Co.
This book" says the author as not for
children. 1t is for their grandfathers and
grandmotiers who were once boys and
danger, after all these years, of forgetting
about grasshoppers. If the children per-
sist in reading SO old book they must not
grumble at the long words, but quietly
hunt them up in the dictionary, or else
wait until they themselves are grand
fathers and grandmothers, when they will
understand it all quite easily" Which all
means that the author has confidence in
the long life of her book, and she has rea-
son, for the book is good and no eager
child will wait, for he will want to know
all about it right now.
THE PENALTY. By Harold Begbie.
New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. Wash
ington: Brentano's.
A tragedy which Is wholly a matter Of
clashing religious and spiritual concep-
lions is not common thing in the field OF
fiction In the Society of Nicodemus,' a
secret organization which, while originally
intended to create a spirit of tolerance in
British evangelicaiism, has become an ac-
tive emissary of the Church of Rome, the
author of 1.-The Penalty has found the
handspring of powerful novel. The
study of the tortured old bishop and the
record of the moral evolution of Mrs. Rev
ington furnish the central interest of the