Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-25

vHIS is Il book of sibS' antial in
trinS,c value both to the spe-
ciaIiSt III social and economic
matters and to the aver
a-e man WORKING out the day
by-Ciey problem Of food and shelter. The
subject deals directly with but srG e
phase OF our industrial and moral life,
but. by implication. /; burrows close 10
the roots OF our na;ionaiisn. The writer $
approach ~ her task IS most Interesting:
catholic In spirit. open and hos?itable in
thought. her mind suggests a feid-broad,
level. unfcncci. and flooded with unob-
structed sunlight. There is no reach ns
FOR effect. The book contains only one
dramatic teach. u picture ~ the China
man at home-ra;:ve. uuaNakencd: and
even this. Il, ;sie end. proves 10 be simply
An estimate y, hu,rau material as such.
The subject Involves running history
very clearly ard scrsely set. Of the in
dustriai and political birth aud growth OF
the state ~ California from the time
during the ecii tcr,usnt-when. out OF
economic need. the ChiuaInau was both
invited and welcomed. MP TO the rise OF
the white wSrk.aSuiaD and the fever OF
political activity. and then through a
combination ~ these TWO forces 10 the re
action against the Chinese as an element
"
ia that OF the laboratory. or that of the
most scientific-in theory. at least-of the
professions. the law. The case Is stated
Then evidence, testimony, proof. are pro-
duced, without partially or fum5llnE.
Testimonials and committee reports to
the state legislature, treaties. acts or
Congress. census and labor records, all
spread out for examination. The STU
dent. the reader, is the judge. The book
is clear. exhaustive. scholarly. expert
convincing.
SICILY; the Garden % the Medites-
ranean; the History. People. InStltu-
tions and Geography of the Island
BY Will S. Monroe. author of 'Tur-
key and the Turks etc. Boston: :.
c. Page & Co.
Until a year ago interest in the Island
of Sicily was confined. chiefly. to the
hearts OF it's own people. to the loahnS
soul of the summer idler, or artist. and
to the calculating mind of the macaroni
merchant; but last year, one winter day,
this span of earth was gripped by an
awful monster of the underworld and
then. suddenly, Messna became a focal
Point of sOlicitude and care from Wnlcn
Ias radiated an awakened interest in the
ISLAND and it's people. On the tide of this
desire for information comes the present
book. complete in substance, impressive
In appearance. Authors are bound by
plan and logic and many other of the eff
fects of much training. but the general
reader-to whom in the foreword this
book Is expressly addreSSed-is not thus
circumscribed. and since to his mind Sic
lily and Messina are. at present, inter-
changeable terms. he begins away over at
chapter XVII and reads there the story
IF the great earthquake: then he slips
oack to catch patriotic glow from the
picturesque Garibaldi with his thousand
men. all in red shirts. and from this to
the story of brigandage and the Malta:
and SO on, culling in desultory way here
and there from pastures, adjacent to his
own, till in the course Of time he. by this
backward trail, reaches chapter l. where
The geography Of Sicily Is all set out Tho
book moves In orderly fashion up through
the history Of the island, with detail. COM
pleteness, accuracy. that might we'll sat
isfy one more ambitious than the general
reader.
ON THE LIGHT-SHIP. BY Herman
Knickerbocker Viele, author of The
Inn Of the Silver Moon" etc. Intro
duction by Thomas A. Janvier. New
York: Duf1eld & Co.
Apart from the stories themselves. this
little volume has significance quite its
own. These stories, however. like the
rest Of his work, are fresh. in happy
phrase, with the authors spirit Of whm-
steal gayety. and mellow humor and that
delightful fancy. so clothed with grave.
ingenious candor that the reader DELHI
erately refuses establishment 1t is this
time the pathetic incompleteness that
makes the book specially dear and the
fact. too, that these are the last stories
that will be had from Mr.. Viele. This.
coupled with the introduction by Mr. Ian
vier. in which with the intimate heart of
friend and the skilful hand of an ar
fist he leads us to know more of this
winning personality and delicate genius
gives the present volume a conspicuous
of he NIL
THE NEW NEW YORK, a Common
tary on the Place and the People
BY John c. Van Dyke. Illustrated
by Joseph Pennell. New York: The
Macmillan Company
New Ynrk's historic celebration. which
beg rs today. causes concentration OF
natlona! interest in the largest American
city In anticipation of the Hudson-Fu-
ton fete and this direction of attention
toward Manhattan, the book presses have
been Tor some time busy producing vol
umes of historical and descriptive char
acter appropriate to such an occasion
me voiume Which has been jointly pro-
duced by Mr.. Joseph Pennell and Prof. j.
t. Van Dyke is devoted TO New York
the metropolis. as it is viewed t day, not
historically or with refei ence to its
stages of progress, but in its present vast
ness, its multitude of interests, its ince,-
SAINT pusatiOns of eager, busy humani1y
Prof Van Dyke has in the text trans
lated into dramatic, vivid Englis, the
metropolitan spirit CT cnterpr Sc and OF
ambition. Mr.. Pennell has portrayed the
city in ninety-eight black and white Illus
trations and twenty-six plates in color
he Is singularly capable of doing IL
is difficult to determine whether the text
or the Illustrations are the more attract
i've. Together they form an effective
whole, adequately and artisiically pre-
senting the New New York" Prof Van
Dyke acknowledges the embarras sment
incidental to the presentation of numer
points of view from which the gre 1t
assemblage of people can be studied. The
result OF the studies of author and Illus
traitor of their subject was the belief
that pictorially the larger aspect of tine
metropolis is the life and energy of its
people projected upon the background
of its commerce. They are convinced that
character is interesting in itself and that
true municipal beauty must be more or
less beholden to II. Thus the uEesthe ic
and unlovely aspects of New York are
given their place along with the more
formal and finished phases of the city
The publishers have given the work Il
beautiful presentation, and have produced
a volume which. FIR substant al and at
tractive qualities. will in itself form an
is about to he cummemorated
ONE HUNDRED COUNTRY HOUSES,
Modern American Examples BY Az
mar Embury II. New York: The