Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-03

gives a play-by-play record OF the oolhss
of this theater up to the present time,
critical. prophetic, interesting summary.
Under titles of headline feature. Jon an
Drew Goes to Bed Miss N,thersole as
q Nuckraker" Booth darlington. Soph-
omore," Bare Feet and Beethoven
..rThe Bad Morals of Good Plays, ana
so on he in animated, hal1-plaSlui way,
masses out very ken dramatic estimates
of actors and plays. incidentally teachlns
the reader something about looking at
plays and measuring them one OF Ihe
very best of these discussions is me
Cheap Theater and the Young timely
survey, bringing the matter up TO DATE
and showing clearly its present weak,
ness and danger. Then; as any neipIui
critic must, the author uncoVers ways oI
diyerting this enormous influence INTO
clear channels of youthful pleasure, ana
of converting it into tremendous edu-
cative force.
THE DIGREsSIONS OF v. BY Elihu
Vedder. Boston: Houghton Miftiin.
Company.
Written for his own fun and That OF
his friends is the open avowal on the
face of this book, and the best OF 1t Is
that the author throughout holds fast
to the original intent-a volume for the
full hours of leisure, generously Illus
trated in Mr.. Vedder's exclusive art,
reminiscent and anecdotal, under d
playful pervasve whimsicality. The
digressions are rich in recoilectlons OF
persons and things. and in personal ex-
perience of travel and work, all given
in jovial and laughing mood Mr.. lie
Gallienne has a charming essay on
Books AS Medicine" suggested by the
grave diagnoses of human ailments are
followed by prescriptions of IAN hour OF
Meredith after meas, "a half hour Oh
Keats at bedtime" and so on, In place
,.,,tx ctrIn nd no.
Inducements. Now it is certain that
Mr. Vedders digressions, in addition to
their normal office of pure entertain
ment, will at once take an authorized
veloped by Mr.. LIE Caffeine, where they
will prove complete specific for disor-
derS of all sorts.
THE BANKER IN LITERATURE. BY
Johnson Brigham. state librarian or
Iowa New York: The Bankers
Publishing Company.
Were it not for Mr. Pierpont Morgan
as an arresting reminder to the contrary,
one would not stop to consider the banker
in any other light than that of con-
ductor-he prays a safe and sound one-of
the country's finances along secure and
open roads. Here, however, is a whole
book given over in most interesting detail
to the reminder that there Is an illus
in poetic numbers as well as in financial
figures. They begin to gather away back
with kubAi Khan. followed by any num-
Der of unnamed Greeks and Romans. with
Lorenzo de Medici, the banker-poet, later
Then, on to our own day, when there is
a flock of these singing bankers, among
them Fitz-Greene Halleck. Walter Bage-
hot Edward Noyes Westcott (of David
Harum' fame), Edmund Clarence Sted-
man. Kenneth Grahame-this last per
haps the most surprising example of all.
In addition to these Geographic touches re-
veal,ng this dual power the volume shows
the service of the banker to literature
as character by way of Balzac, Dickens.
Thackeray, Ibsen and a dozen others. The
book, SO fully fitted not only for general
entertainment. but for suggestion, as well.
to routined and grOoved bankers, is
happily dedicated, as example and inspira-
ton. ito John Pierpont Morgan, Ii. D..
Americas Foremost Banker and Patron
of Letters"
GREAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES.
By Edwin Z. Slosson, NJ. S., Phi. d.
New York: The Macmillan Com
pany. Washington: Brentanos.
Mr. Slosson here offers the results Of
an important study-the subject OF a
group of American colleges. AS guide
in selecting the particular schools for
inspection the author uses the list pre-
pared by the Carnegie Foundation for
the advancement OF teachings list ar
ranged on the basis OF annual expendi-
ture for instruction The choice. by tax
ing the first fourteen of these, covers nVe
state universities and nine endowed COL
leses, giving q. wide sweep OF lnforma-
ton. The aim Of the study is to put into
compact form the distinctive work o!
each of these institutions. The methou
is sufficiently comparative to fasten these
distinctions. Not attempting or even de-
string a historical view, the author
l. ha
and power of each, upon the institutional
habit and atmosphere, upon the relation
of each to community life, first to the
immediate community and last to the
nation itself. 1t is a book whose infor-
nation is OF q desirably current. vita
sort. 1t is, moreover, an uncommonly
readable book, enJoyably frank and un-
doubtedly fair.
THE NEW DEMOCRACY. By Louise
Downes. Boston: Sherman, French
A woman was once walking along th'
street looking at nothing but thinking
many things. Troublesome thoughts mar
rowed her eyes 10 unseeing Sits above
which the brows beeted and the forehead
snarIed The drawn lips fell at the cor
uers of the mouth accompanying thu
sullen cheeks toward the set chin. Thu
gloom of it. Suddenly into this vorte,
OF malcontent a rubicund face shone ant
"A hearty voice cried. My dear madam
is II SO bad as all that?" training off into
"A laugh as the stranger veered out int
the sun again. The reader closes thi
volume unsustained by the good cheer o
any optimistic stranger. 1t is a deprese,
and defeated. My! is IL so bad as THAR
that shuts to the covers of this book an,
lays it away upon the shelf searching
but wholly fruitless effort went into al
uncovering of this authors conception O
the new democracy-nOw pending
seems-whose sole sign is the ballot 70
women. In the reactionary mood o
thwarted design. the reader goes over I
the opinion that thesLondon women do
better than this. At least. the underpin
nings of their democracy are visible On
may not follow the intricacies Of thei
logic, yet he Is able. nevertheless, to ur
derstand women when they scream an
refuse to eat. even when they break wiz
dows and pound the premier. But thi
serious, exalted. symbolic. PROFESSIONS
movement, headed by the Bible and Wa
Whitman. is something different In a
early footnote the author explains tina
''all quotations in this work unless othel
wise Indicated. are from the B BILE an
Walt Whitman" Out from this curious.
combined and broadly evidential sourC