Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-06

new world were printed originally in 1905.
being dedicated by permission to Thomas
Jefferson. then President Of the United
States The volume was based upon notes
kept in a daybook. and thus comprises
many minute details suggestive and de-
scriptive Of life in the lately emancipated
colonies. There is sketchy character
about the work which permits II being
read at random. and thus rendered a
source of prolonged delight. or course.
many of Davis observations were fmper-
feet. II being inevitable that a temporary
sojourner here could assimilate condi-
tons sufficiently to understand all that
he saw. He was only twenty-five years
OF age when he reached this country, and
his range was necessarily limited by the
necessity OF earning living, but. never
theless, he produced a work that is one
Of the most important commentaries upon
American affairs OF the period. This is
now reproduced, with an Introduction and
notes by Mr.. A. j. Morrison. not merely
as literary curiosity. but as a possible
assistant to the American student Of the
affairs OF his own country.
COURT LIFE IN CHINA. the Capital.
its Officials and People BY isaac
TAYLOR Headland. professor in the
Picking University. illustrated. New
York: Fleming III. Reven Company.
Prof. Headland spent so many years In
China as a teacher. and his wife had SO
wide an experience as a physician at the
capital. that their joint observations en-
title them to speak authoritatively con-
corning the inner conditions at Picking
The book that is put forth by Prof. Head
land involves in large part Mrs. Head
lands own comments upon court life at
the Chinese capital The volume is vir-
tualfy an appreciation Of the late Dow
ager Empress Of China. For years she
was regarded by westerners as the ex-
treme spirit of reactionism. Prof Head
land sets forth the influences which sur
rounded this remarkable woman from the
time Of her introduction into the Chinese
court. and finds numerous excuses for the
severity with which for a long time she
regarded the tendency toward innovation.
But he acQuits her Of deliberate malevo-
lence toward the western world, even
though he admits that she was for a time
completely under the influence OF the
Boxer element which brought such great
sorrow to China in 1900. Prof. Headland
traces the career of Kuang Hsu, the late
emperor, who was adopted and pro-
claimed emperor by Tsi An. the
not subscribe to the belief that Kuang
Hsu was deficient I'm intellect or that he
was incapable Of reaching sound conclu-
sions. He was intensely interested in
under a more satisfactory guidance, and
with closer sympathy with the empress
dowager would have evolved a more last
ing series of reforms than those which
he undertook and which brought about a
severe reaction.
Interesting light is thrown upon the
characters of Chinese officials who are
now in evidence in the management OF
imperial affairs. The note of the work is
optimistic, for Prof Headland believes
that China is rapidly emerging into the
field of modern progress.
The volume is richly illustrated both in
color and in black and white.
ACTIONS AND REACTIONS. BY Rud-
yard Kipling. New York: Doubleday,
Page & Co. Washington: Woodward
& LothrOp.
Mr.. kipling makes up his books now
adays chiefly from the short stories that
he prints from time to time in periodi-
Gals. The volume titles are not neces-
sarily significant OF the contents. Thus,
Actions and Reactions might apply
as well TO any one Of his collections of
brief fiction as to this one. In this vol
unle are printed the following stories:
AN Habitation Enforced" "Garm-a
Hostage" The Mother Hive" with the
Night Mail" "A Deal in Cotton The
Puzzler," Little Foxes" and The House
Surgeon Each Of these tales is accom-
panied by bit of verse appropriate to
the text just preceding. with the Night
Mall has recently had separate pubIica-
ton as a single voluma Teing perhaps.
the most vivid prophetic: presentation Of
yet been produced. TIE voNme is abund-.
antly illustrated. i
MISS SELMA LOU AND THE SOAP
BOX BABIES. BY Maria Thompson
Dayiess. With Illustrations by Paul
j. Meylan.' Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Company.
Miss Selma Lou, a spinster with a heart
OVERLOOKING with sweetness for every liv-
a grocery store, is heroine whom all
readers must love. Each soap-box baby
has its own individual claim to affection,
and the way in which dear, sunshiny Miss
Selma fou mothers them for absent par.
ents makes a story of laughter and tears.
The babies have another friend in lovely
Miss Cynthia, who lives in q mansion on
the hill, but who makes frequent visits
to Miss Selma Lou. Still another ally of
the soap-boxers appears IN Mr.. Alan
Kent, an artist. who comes to the Bluff
and rents Miss Selma Louis barn. which
is otherwise occupied by Charity, the
COW. Charity Is likewise the babies never
failing friend. Mr.. Kent and Miss Cynthia
contribute the glamour of romance. and
at the very right minute for their hap
piness a big red automobile passing by
the Bluff breaks down in front of the
grocery store and the owner. whom Miss
Selma entertains. turns out to be Mr..
kents rich father. who forgives his son
for preferring art TO business. and who
gives Cynthia, as wedding gift. money
enough to lift the mortgage on her home
He Is a very irate old father when the
accident happens to his machine, but
when Miss Selma Lou makes him rest In
the shade of a tree overlooking the river,
and when Ethel Maud and Luella fetch
n m drinninQ