Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-09

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BOOK REVIEWS:
LAFcADIo HEARN. BY Nina ID Ken;
nard. New York: u. Appie'on .
Co.
4 SYMPATHETIC comprehension
"a the man, Lafcadio Hearn. fine
feeling for the unique quality OF
his genius. and plain good tt1dg-
ment in the use of material
achieved this admirable study by MISS
Kennard Hearn. Of all people must be
taken in his totally. A man Of extremes
now afioat in the empyrean, now avail
low in the mire only at long intervals on
the common levels Of action-any frag-
nent concerning him IS bound to give but
. distorted view. Why a life of Lafcadio
Hearn, while better men go unsung?
headers. discriminating and exacting
readers, ara more and more and In great
ar u,unbera coming under the spell Of
Hearn's Aaanting thoughts and intuitSve
reaches ct feeling. under the spell OF MS
Axuusfe literary mannen Curiosity.
Sshippsd up by humor. turns eaGly to the
source Of this charm The man himself
becomes Q subject OF Interested con-
lecture That wayward. passionate.
sensitive. shy Iafcadio Hearn, mingled
torment and Joy to friends. q frequent
anront to respectability, haoitual one
70 conviction. A. child-man. expatriating
himself to the far east in q manner notn
tragic and fantastic. and crying at the
last for home and his own Kind ike
any other homesick boy. Hearn was
rarely Just merely a man. OIten more
than this In a curious divining power
more often much less than this IN many
ways, he himself is the best support OF
his theory of myriad souls. one sus-
poets this to be q large part or his per
sonal appeal-as IL he stood little near
er to the sphinx than most, a favor1te 70
whom the tantalizing riddle might pe un-
raveled And the ring closes around mn
to catch, il may be, some slight over
tone Of the supreme secret
AS far as this is possible, Miss kennard,
by way of intimate personal letters ano
recollections. wisely lets the man reveai
himself. When her own turn comes she
is admira ble-frank. tactful, friendly,
unsparing in a fine big way, and above
Ali imbued with a sense Of her own debt,
and incidentally with that OF the world,
to the genius of Lafcadio Hearn.
ERENEZER LOCKWOOD HOARs A
Memoir. BY Moorfeld Storey and
Edward w. Emerson. Boston: Hougn-
ton Miff1in Company.
The ledge who covers with his hat
More Wit an guniption an shrewd Yankee sense
Than there is mosses On an Ole stone renee.
Thus. in loving tribute, these authors
call upon James Russell Lowell to charac-
terize Ebenezer lockwood Hoar. the
average reader, slipping around on his
United States history. may lean toward
merging the personality of Ebenezer Hoar
in that of hts brother, the great senator.
George Frisbie Hoar. Such delinquent is
speedily set on his feet by this warmly
personal tribute to the former. Set about
by q multitude Of easy and vivid incidents
to portray character and personality.
Mr. Hear II appreciattvely followed in his
course as . brilliant lawyer, . noble judge
q public-spirited citizen Of pure Yankee
stripe and as Attorney General In the
first cabinet of Ulysses 8. Grant. This is
the kind Of biography, the kind both IN
subject and treatment, that warns ana
personifies history out Of its cool and for
gettable distractions Of mere events stip-
pied with innumerable names of people
and places. The Hoars. the Websters,
the Summers, tho Whfttters, the Longfel-
lows, the Lowells objectify and envisage
New England, and their biographies, made
in comprehendins spirit, as this one is.
are the true history Of New England.
SOCIALISM AND THE ETHICS OF
JESUS. BY Henry c. Vedder. pro-
lessor Of church history In Grocer
Theological Seminary. New York:
The Macmillan Company.
Socialism is rooted In ethics. not in
economics Its great exemplar is Jesus.
His gospel and practice are the beating
heart Of true modern socialism. Under
lying the full doctrine, defining its form
and directing it's movements, are but two
simple principles: One, Every man must
work; two. Every man should enjoy the
fruits of his labor. The force by which
j these principles are to open out into a
perfect political instrument is not revo-
luton, but mans moral advance-the
birth of a social conscience, the drawings
Of a common brotherhood, the complete
pattern Of Jesus Up to this point Mr..
Vedder's exposition Of socialism sounds
like that of the mere religionist. Beyond
this. however. he Joins the majority OF
socialistic theorists, assuming with them
the scientific attitude, pursuing course
midway between the conflicting emotions
Of the religionist on the right hand and
the reyolutionist on the left. With this
majority he counts the present economic
tools-competition giving way to private
combination and capital with its sequence
Of privilege-as only stages, logical but
transitory stages, on the way to uni
versal ultimate socialism. Like all ex-
positors of any doctrine. however far
apart they may be in essential views OF
origin and growth, Mr.. Vedder takes ad-
vantage of the compliant and flexible
moods of history to gather arguments for
his particular contention. The book Is
clear. convincing. interesting. Most
treatises on socialism are interesting.
Perplexing. too. No sooner does one, bent
on comprehending this swiftly spreading
gospel. settle himself comfortably into
one mans teaching on the subject-say
that of Karl Marx with his appealing and
plausible theory that governments take
on their peculiar forms out of their
economic environment-thanh he is routed
out by some adversary of his host with
warnings that his shelter Is one of leaky
roof, nosome cellar and rotting walls.
IL the teachers of socialism could but get
together their classes would increase and
their propaganda would spring like a
new-fed flame.
WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES,
19Os-1O1O, q Study Of State and
Federal Wage Statistics. BY Scott
Nearing. Phi. n, author of Social
Adjustment" etc. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Washington:
Brentano's.
Cost OF living squares itself-or fails to
do so-by its relation to wages. Stand
erdS ne individual aud community life