Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-16


very little boyhood to the comparative
maturity Of school days. Maybe there
Will be more about Son hereafter. 1t is
to be hoped so.
THE THIRD MISS WENDERBY. BY
Mabel Barnes-Grundy, author of
'Gwenda, etc. With frontispiece in
color by the Reeses. New York
The Baker & Taylor Company
Diana Wenderby was probably more at
tractive than the frontispiece printed in
this volume, telling of her adventures.
would indicate. She must have been a
delightful personality. She was indie
pendent, plain spoken, witty and the best
sort of company. When through family
misfortune she was compelled to take a
position as nursery governess and found
herself under the domination of an eX-
tremely foolish woman. whose own hus-
band could not endure her vagaries for
seven days out of the week and had to
flee to London for five of them. she was
put to the supreme test of patience. and
it is to her credit that she stuck 1t out
and made good, and there will be graft
tude to the author for finally bringing
her to the point of happiness which she
came near to missing.
MEMORIES OF TWO WARS. Cuban
and Philippine Experienced. BY
Frederick Funston, brigadier gen.
eral, United States Army. Illustra-
tions by F. c. Yohn. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. Washing
ton: Brentanos.
For some months Gen. Funston's recol-
lections of his experiences in Cuba and
the Philippines have been running through
Scribners Magazine, and now they are
assembled in book form with the illustra-
tons that formed an attractive feature of
Al
a personal document than historical
contribution. but it Is none the less i'm
portant. for it throws light upon a phase
or the war with Spain and later the en-
gagement with the FilipinOs. Gen.
Funston was an American filibuster-per-
haps he might have been called SOL
der of fOrtune-Who cast his lot with the
uously employed in the often seemingly
hopeless struggle against the Spanish
power before the United States took a
hand and swept Spain off the island. His
work in Cuba stamped him as a soldier Of
resource and courage, and later in the
Philippines he did worl'tha attracted at
tention in high places and gave him a
permanent rank in the regular army. His
browning exploit in the islands was the
capture of Aguinaldo, when that erstwhile
president Of the short-lived republic was
finally run to earth. In these pages he
tells with vividness and mOdesty Of his
various engagements.
THE GREAT EMPRESS DOWAGER
OF CHINA. BY Philip w. Sergeant,
e. A.. former editor OF the Hong
kong Daily Press; author Of Cleo
patra of Egypt" etc. With sixteen
gravure frontispiece. New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co. Washington:
BrentanO's.
Present conditions in China create an
interest in all things relating to the
celestial empire. Mr.. Sergeant contributes
an important volume telling of phase
Of modern Chinese history that now
seems long. long past, though In point
of fact it has been only comparatively
few months since Tze-Hi. the dowager
woman reigned in China for a long
period, though she was never the titular
monarch. She was more than the power
behind the throne; she was virtually the
throne itself. The Emperor kwanghsu,
save for a brief period of ineffective in
obeyed her will Mr.. Ser
geant says that when he went to China to
edit the Hongkong Press it was Gus
tomary for foreign journalists and other
residents Of the Chinese coast to speak
Of the empress dowager as ''bloodthirsty
old harridan, murderous-hearted bag
and the like" Since then there has been
a reaction, and warm eulogies of the en-
press dowager have been written This
author thinks that, perhaps. the truth
lies in the middle ground, and he under
takes TO tell Of the empress dOwager as
can be ascertained through the haze of
Chinese court ceremony. She seems to
have been a normal woman I'm most re-
spects, with undeniably a bloodthirsty
strain in her character. and at the same
time capable Of gentleness. She was a
type of the far east and it was with
difficulty that she adjusted to the chang
ing conditions that were being forced
upon China. She impressed herself deep
~ upon its history and had strong in
fiuence in the development Of eastern and
western relations. 1t would be interest
ing. in the light of this disclosure Of her
character to know how she would COM