Evening star., 1909-03-13


the most sober people in the world.
In sood-natured fling at the ire
preSsible interviewer OF the Space-rate
type he RECALLS the audaCious statement
published. as coming from him. that Mr.
Hall taine considered that the upper
part of ms face was like Shakespeare s
and that the lower part resembled the
Christ.
SOCIAI. LIFE At ROME IN THE AGE
OF CICERO. BY w. Warde Fowler.
MA. author of ''The City-State of
the Greeks and Romans" New York:
The Macmillan Company.
The author, In predatory note. calls
attention 10 the fact that the age or
Cicero is a critical moment in the history
of Graeco-Roman civilization. and that
in the Ciceronian correspondence OF more
than nine hundred contemporary letters
We have the richest treasure house of
social life that has survived from any
period of classical antiquity.
From this wealth of material and other
literature of the time the author has pro-
dUced an important work which he
modestly presents as merely an attempt
to supply an educational want The
average reader likes to insist that in
Structive books are correspondingIy sduu.
If that were SO this one, at least. would
represent the exception, for from the
first to- the last of the. eleven chapters
each supplies its pictures of the life, GUS
toms, work and play, religion and laws
of a period which in some respects, at
least is as important as any In the his
tory of the Roman empire.
The author, as guide, requests his reader
to dismiss all handbooks from his mind
and to concentrate 1t on Aeneas and his
ships on their way from the sea to the
site of the Eternal City" This means to
enter Rome, as Virgirs hero did. by way
of the River Tiber: an imaginary voyage
which has. for the student, at least, its
II rNtl on1a tly-n m CO
windows show only the Rome of today.
To follow SO capable a leader is TO see
the ancient city with pagan eyes. 1t is a
visit that gives one successive views or
the old noble families, with their pursuit
of pleasure and neglect OF duty: of the
lower population, who dwelt mainly In
the lower ground" of the men of bust
ness and their methods. of the education,
holidays and amusements of the upper
classes in dramatic contrast to the toll
ing lives of their slaves. And there is
final glimpse at the temples OF a religion
whose deities were failing TO satisfy a
nation that was already on the eve or
realizing the existence Of the soul and its
need OF god.
TO the value of the text is added map
of Rome in the last years of the republic.
and several plans. one of them iiIustrat-
Ing the position of CiCero's villa.
THE CENTURY OF THE CHILD. Bv
Ellen Key. New York: G. F. Put
ward a. Lothrop.
That the child is the supreme factor In
human existence is demonstrated by the
author with a forcefulness that must
compel the serious consideration of those
men and women who do the world 8
thinking. For parents who approve OF
. their own methods of rearing children the
ideas advanced will seem revolutionary In
that they conflict at nearly every. point
with the training now in vogue.
To ignore a Child's Individuality; to
alternately caress and threaten and bribe ;
TO let him see untruthfuiness and temper
in the one who Furnishes him for those
faults; to make promises and break them
TO refuse request and then Immediately
grant it: TO push him aside at one time
and at another to kiss him until he is
disSuSted: to make 81 liar aud coward of
him through fear, ard hypocrite by
promise of reward-these are a few of the
ordeals Of average childhood which. the
writer declares, would drive most men
insane IL subjected To for a single day
the child to Choose His Parents" there
are statements resulting from years of
experience in child study, which. IL car
rieti out would forever free the world
from The mental aud physical weakiinss
whom nature never intended 10 exist. The
unnecessary distortions and sufferngs in
f'iCted by ignorant or conscienceicss moth
? cTS leads the writer To a very frank eN-
preston of her views of love IN It's re-
lstion To child bearing.
Granting the blessing of the kinder
gartcn for those mothers who work. the
writer. in a chapter, The School of the
Future" believes that young children
will be taught at home. The kinder
GarteH is only a factory where "A group
Of children, regardless OF temperament
are taught to do the same things. rhe
FroebeI dictum, Let AIS live for the chill
dren, must be changed to Let us allow
the children to live.
She considers that high schools and
colleges are absolutely destructive to per-
sonality. and besreaks for coming genera
tions an individual culture for Individual
natures substitute for the canned
education" of today.
THE KING OF ARCADIA. BY Francis
Lynde. author of The QuickeninS."
etc. Illustrated. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.
When an irrigation company insists
upon locating its dam in such man
ner as TO threaten the inundation OF the
palatial home of a cattle king who
has pronounced views upon the rights
of man there is storm in prospect.
For cattle kings are strenuous people
as rule, and even more strenuous are
the men who serve them. In Mr..
Jyndes stirring story of the west these
elements of dramatic action are pres
ent. There is Il strong dash OF mystery
and a clean, appealing romance. \
Rood-looking young engineer goes out
from Boston to take charge of work
that has already cost the lives of three