New-York tribune., 1910-12-17

Adams. illustrations by Norah Hamil-
ton of Hull House, ChlcaSo. oNo' Pp-
xyii 4s2 The Macmillan Company.
Among several reasons that led TO the
writing and publication of this retrospect
of twenty years of labor and social
service and their results Miss Adams
mentions one unworthy" motive, de-
sire namely, to start a 'back-nrs, as
II were. to extinguish two biographies tf
myself. one of which had been supi11lrted
to me in outline, that made life in a
settlement all too smooth and charming
The book is an autobiography only IN
so far as Miss At1lams's life is reflected
in what Hull House became and what 1t
stands for. Even her "reminiscences or
childhood are centred upon the tracing
of the growth within her of the desire
and the determination to serve and help
and beautify the existence Of the poor.
The feeling of personal responsibility for
the wrongs of our social system awoke
early within her. She remembers its
first stirring before she was seven years
cid.
On that day l had my first sight OF the
poverty which implies squalor, and felt the
n N1SrInC1fDn-
erty of the country and that which even
small city presents in its shabblest streets
II remember launching at my father the
nertnent inquiry why people hVed IN sucL
horrid little houses so close together, ana
that after receiving his explanation de-
clared with much frmness that When L
house but it would not be built among
the other large houses. but right IN the
midst OF horrid little houses like that
These early "reminiscences have a
charm Of their own, the charm of child
hood xividly remembered and frankly
told. They contain something or other
of the childhood of all of us, that age
Of bewildered secret graphing with
mighty problems, Of vague resolutions
and much feeling without the measures
and comparisons, the counter-welght, of
| knowledge and experience. At board
| ing-school Miss Adams fell in with
little group of girls who. all of them.
went out into the world in later days to
| give service like herself. Toward the
| end OF her college course at Rockford
| she grappled with that new field Of sci
| ence which was opened UP by Darwin
but discovered that general culture is
| n much easier understanding than pro-
fessional stuly.'' While still at college
| che had been selected as Rockford's
| renresentatiye in the intercollegiate
oratorical contest Of Illinois. the institu-
/ tion being the first college for women to
he admitted to the competition. She was
| warned that certain feminine deprec-
atory trick of hers in speaking would
| lose Woman the first place.
Woman did certainly lose the first place
and stood fifth but the ignominious posi-
t;on NAV not have been solely due to bad
uannerisns. for a prior place was easily
| accorded to William Jennings Bryan, VINO
most prophetic anticipation of the cross ct
gold but with moral SarneStheSs Wnch
we had mistakenly assumed would pc the
| unique possession OF the feminine orator
A serious illness ended in a trip of re-
generation to Europe. where the sight of
the grinding, appalling poverty OF Lon
don ended Miss Addams's period Of
preparation and decided her course She
does not remember just when the very
| simnle plan' that afterward developed
| irto Hull House first began to form
| itself in her mind, but she knows that
she did not mention it until looo, IN
| Madrid, in the course Of second Euro
pean trip. 1t was builhght that re-
vealed to her that she was deferring ac-
ton under the pretence of continued
study and travel, that she had become
the willing dupe of a self-deception that
excused idleness by pretending that 1t
was necessary self-preparation for great
things 10 be achieved some time
And SO Hull House had its modest be-
ginning. Thereafter its struggles. its
achievements, the spread of its influence,
the problems it faced and solved and
still faces and must solve form the con-
tent of the book. which is autobiographi-
cal thereafter only by reflection, for the
Settlement was and is Miss Addams's
life Great problems she discusses, and
many theories. but the human note Is not
lacking for beneath the social and IN
dustriai generalizations there are the
individual cases on which they We're
founded This part of the book is in