Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-20
BETWEEN BOOK COVERS

IL a oCAACS VI S1OAl CUdlS uAuCA lily
title 1.-THE Schoolmaster,'' Arthur
Christopher Benson, author of 1.-THE
Upton Letters" considers the work OF
those who are intrusted with the
} teaching of the young. Although the
writer's ideas are all drawn from ex-
; perience in English schools, and es-
| pecially at Elton, under conditions
varying radically from any that prevail
in the schools of this country, he new
ertheless presents many wise and help
J full thoughts. which will aid those of
the guild who are struggling with its
heavy problems.
The Schoolmaster. BY Arthur Chris
TOPPER Benson. New York; G. p. Put
MANS Sons.
The story of the American reaper is
the epitome of invention and progress
under western inspiration. A machine
that has replaced the sickle of the
ancients is more than mechanicai
achievement-it is a vital, tremen-
dously significant economic fact. 1t
has made possible the feeding OF great
numbers of people without serious dis
turbances such as those that formerly
resulted from crop failures. The me-
chanical reaper has opened for culti-
walton enormous areas of land which
could not possibly under the old con-
ditions have been titled properly. The
men who made the reaper what 1t is
today were wizards as potent as the
necromancers of old. Just at this time
the story of the reaper has its special
significance in its bearing upon the
great trust problem. Mr.. Casson has
told this tale from the point of view
of the benefits of organization. He
| nffd0fS of the
competition which marked the early
days of reaping machine manufacture,
and in a way his volume, which is
comprised of papers which appeared
serially in Everybody's Magazine, is
plea for the International Harvester
company, which he declares to be one
of the good trusts of now celebrated
classification.
The Romance of the Reaper. By Her
bert N. Casson. New York: DOUBLE
day. Page & Co:
"The Post Girl" like many recent
American publications, is a reprint OF
an English story. Its mission, If 1t
has one, is to disclose how far away
| the rural speech in England has wan
dered from the pure English language.
Much of the story is told in the YORK.
shire dialect and many of the words
and expressions are so quaint and for
! eISn lIley are ulllDl6lllSADlC WANAAOot -
foot note giving the translation For
| the American reader they mar rather
than embellish the story. Yet they
make us wonder If ever the speech in
rural New England. the south, or Art-
IONA or California could become so d1-
vorced from the English language, and
| if there be such danger truly the
schoolmaster should be more abroad
than he is.
There is of course a love story in the
book, but in the development of the
tale the hero and heroine attract less
interest than the kindly old Catholic
father, who is human, lovable and who
willingly shoulders the burdens of all
| the heavy laden and excuses their
shortcomings.
As we finish the book and lay it aside
we cannot help loving kind and quaint
| old Father MoStyn. who in the kind
ness of his heart gives all the glory for
what is good to mother church and ex~
cuses all the bad with the hope that
the evil doer will ever after follow her
teachings.
The Post Girl. By Edward C. Booth.
New York: The Century company
Diana of Dobsons" is an improb-
able, not to say impossible tale of an
improbable, not to say impossible Lon
don shop girl who was discontinued
dreary round of toll. She becomes des-
perate in her desire to get her fling in
society and in the full-blooded round.
All at once, in the nick of time, she
falls heir to three hundred pounds, and
instantly resolves to have a time. She
| is shop girl in London, but promptly
| throws up her place. and resolves to
have a glorious time while the money
lasts. And she gets on rapidly. She
gets Paris gowns, travels in style on
| the continent, refuses two offers OF
| marriage, and does not stop in her mad
career until all her money is gone. In
real life the end would be plain, in
evitable. But Diana is saved as by
fire. She goes back to London, seeks
for work, and doesn't find it; but at the
end of her string she is found by one
of the men who had wanted her to
marry him, and he still wants her for
his WIFE, though 1t seems miraculous
that he should find her. She had told
him in the days of her high flying that
he was poor creature. who could not
earn his living, and was of no use in
this world. And, curiously enough, it
was because he had tried to prove her
wrong, that she was proved right and
they met as two poor, ragged, homeless,
hungry wanderers. But the abasement
of pride made all things pleasant. It
is a rapid-action story, vividly imag-
realistic school as possible.
Diana of Dobson's. By Cecily Ham.
ilton. New York: The Century COM
pany.
The charm that the theater and the
atrical life, off the stage as well as on,
always possesses will bring a large
audience to Charles Belmont Davis
new book, 1.-THE Stage Door," There
are ten stories in the book, all dealing
more or less with the stage or with
the people of the theater, but their in
terest lies first of all in the fact that
they are stories of living, human peo-
pie and remarkably well told. Such
tales as Beauty Kerrigan' and "Ev-
eryman's Riddle do not depend on
the theater for their interest They
are simply remarkably vivid, interest
ing, powerful stories well and effective
ly told. 1.-THE Flawless Emerald" is a
curious and ingenious tale full of sur
prises, and related with a lightness of
touch and fantastic turn of plot very
refreshing; "Coccaro the Clown" full
of the atmosphere of the business of
the theater as it is, touches deeper
note through all its quick and pictur-
esque action; "Sedgwick," "a Modern
Cleopatra" 1.-THE Cross Roads, New
York." 1.-THE Kidnapers," and others
give glimpses of the out-of-the-way
; points of view. not only of theatrical,
but of other kinds of life.
The Stage Door. BY Charles Belmont
Sons:
WANTED