Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-05
BOOK REVIEWS.
THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. BY

Charles W. Eliot New York; Fred
erck a. Stokes Company.
HE new religion forecast by DR..
Eliot will be, as have been the
Older religions behind it.
measure of the civilization oe
which II is a part and a mani
fcstation. Its title to newnesS rests in the
enormous advance since the beginning OF
the nineteenth century in the present civ
iiiZation, through the increase OF knowI-
edge, the spread of the spirit Of scientific
Inquiry and the quest for truth. This adj
vance has wrought a corresponding modi-
fcation of religious beliefs by means of
which familiar spiritual truths have SO
broadened in significance, acceptance and
application that these truths may we'll he
called new. and their embodiment in prac-
tice new religion. This new religion,
according to the theory of the author is
10 be built out of the experiences of men
and women and human society as whole.
il is to secure complete unity of purpose
and conference of plan through common
consciousness of Gods immanency-Ciod
ill man, expressing Himself through man
and in the single creed of service to hui
mainly. This at once makes of religion
a very intimate. personal concrete guide
il objectifes religion in all good works,
expressing God through these Good
laws good schools. good physicians, good
landlords, good tenants, good business
men: these In simple. and all other mani
festationS OF life. good In the highest as
poets of goodness devoted to a mission of
Individual and social amelioration, soli-
darity, welfdre-these are expressions or
The new religion. These with all that
these signify and foretell, are God ohjecti-
fled through the works of man. whose
spirit Is also His spirit. This newer. no.
bier, more hopeful hold on the religious
life relegates TO disuse outworn theories
and practices. The old God of authority
and abstract Justice, product of human
despotism, gives way before the advance
of democracy and altruiSm to One OF
liberty, to One in whom comprehension
and compassion take the place of arbi-
trary impersonal justice. Old compen-
sations and consultations, maturing in
future life i'll another world give way to
the compensating joys of service In the
present world and to the raptures OF cour
age and militancy. here, first in the re-
sistance, then in the prevention of evil.
The source of this religious forecast war
rants for It's substance serious study,
which IL made in the spirit OF modern
thought and in the light of modern move
ment, will yield to the student a hopeful
outlook and a secure foundation both for
the present and the future.
GDOy1 OF SLENDER Stt OHOSs
BY Halle ErIninie Riyes, author of
Satan Sanderson," etc. Indianapo-
lis: The Bobbs- Merrill Company.
An author of prodigal temperament
takes on risks in choosing Japan as the
theme, or even as the background, of
story. The color scheme of this eastern
land sets impressionable people on their
heads at once. and IL these chance to be
writers. the delirium passes into the un-
Tcptrr 70 nf n
Rives' story is that OF Virginia girls
experiences in Japan. Even on shipboard.
as she approaches this country, the eS-
thetic travail of mind begins. The hills
lay, a clear pile of washed grays and
green's, with saffron tinted valleys be-
tween wound in haze of tender lilac.
This unfoded, caught Sub-tones. ermine
against umbers, of warm red and flicker
ing emerald, white CLINT of sun on surf1ike
SplasheS of silver, till suddenly, above a
cluster of peaks like purple gent ans.
sfowed forth a phantom mountain. its
golden wistaria cone inlaid in the deeper
azure. 1t hung like an inverted morning
glory. mist and mother-of-pearl at .he
top, shading into porphyry veined With
streaks of verd and jade" This is only a
moderate example of the color storm that
ensues whenever the story stops to take
on scenery or atmosphere. Temples,
streets. shops, religious ceremonials, ma
1ional festivals. social functions, contrib
ute to this prismatic pageantry. The
main plot of the story is set a-going when
two well matched, energetic Americans
make counter plans for winning the hand
of the lovely girl from Virginia. There
are sub-piots, too, one of international
portent, involving the destruction of the
foreign feet about 10 visit Japanese wa
tiers. This is blewed by a discredited,
saturnine expert of munitions, who has
invented "the fighting machine of the flu
ture-an atomic engine which utilizes
some newly discovered law of molecular
action" This may sound vaguely unset
entific in description. but in action, the
machine is all right, for the inventor tries
il on a yellow dog with the conclusive re-
suit that only "whorl of yellow dust"
remains to be borne unrevealingly away
by the passing breeze. The machine Can,
therefore be counted upon to pulveriZe
the naval squadron and sift 1t like sand
over the face of the deep. At the last
moment flying machine managed by one
of the valiant lovers averts personal de-
struction and international disaster. A
genial native of Japan stands sponsor for
the matters of tradition. ceremony and
custom here set down. thus adding to this
exciting story the value of local substan-
TALLY.
THE CRIMSON AZALEAS. BY II. De
We're Stacpoole. author of The Blue
Lagoon" New York: Duffield & Co.
In the western hemisphere. the tale
here told would be but plain news
paper story of kidnapping, with subsequent
issues tracing pursuit, capture, trial and
penalty. But the tale is laid III Japan,
where romantic adventures still have
foothod, and where mere casualty may
even vet be set aside for magic. Two
Scotcflmen, tramping along the road to
Nikko, IN idle vein, engage passing
juggler TO produce the devil for their
diversion. The ultimate fiasco of the
trick, the frenzied flight Of the mad magi-
clan. and IL his stead. coming from no
where. the presence OF a tiny Japanese
girl standing among the crimson azaleas
that grow by the million and the mil
lion start the story wildly and pictur-
esquey on it's way. The immediate part
nership between the two Scots for the
adoption. the care and the keep of little
Campanula, their subsequent domestic life
at Nikko. with her as its center and mo-
tive, continue the romantic adventure to
its unhappy end. This initial invention,
al in the way Of Introduction and at
1noSphere, is but the means of localizing
and idealizing an old, old story, whose
home Is everywhere. This is the story
of the love, first OF the child, and then
OF the woman, for one to whom she Is
always child. the subject OF indulgent
careful, parental ignorance 1t is a
pathetic story, Very pure and beautiful in
its conception of the Japanese maiden
The drawings Of the japanese life and
the oriental atmosphere created, are