The Washington herald., 1912-08-18

ner in which a ship may be made unsink-
able' The author of An Unsuitable IT,
ianic." Mr.. ]. Bernard Walker. who has
for seventeen years occupied the posi-
ton of editor-in-chief of the Scientific
American. embodies In his little book
vast amount of knowledge and expert
ence which is expressed with admirable
ciearness and simplicity. Part Of the SUBJ
ject matter of the book has already ap-
peared In the Scientific American where
II has attracted a great deal of atten-
ton both in this country and abroad
A very significant book which should
appeal to all interested In the present
widespread movement for greater inde-
pendence for women Is why Women
Are So." which Henry Holt & Co. hope
to issue October 5. The author. Mary
Roberts Coolidge. has already made her
mark in her books, Chinese Immigra-
ton and "AImshouse Women" but she
doesn't treat her new book as heavily as
one might infer from the titles of those
earlier works. In fact. II is said TO be
decidedly easy reading despite Its scien-
tific value. In II she shows the develop
ment from the eighteenth century woman
to the twentieth century woman Of to-
day. and attempts to answer the ques-
ton of whether the characteristic be-
havior called feminine. as distinguished
from womanly. in an inalienable quality
or merely an attitude of mind produced
by the coercive traditions OF society.
Harper & Brothers announce that they
are putting to press this week for re-
printing Keeping Up with Lizzie, by
Irving Bacheller; Home Fairy-Tales.
by Jean Mace: Nan" by Mrs Lucy C.
Lille: Games and Songs Of American
Children" by William Wells Newell:
Seven Dreamers." by Annie Trumbun
Slosson. and The Fur-Seafs TOOTH" by
Kirk Munroe.
While suffrage and kindred topics are
interesting the women Of to-day II has
been noted by reviewers generally that
Mr. Comfort in his new novel Fate
Knocks at the Door deals with the sex
question in an original manner and yet
does not find in suffrage the solution OF
the woman question The book is dedi-
Gated to the mothers OF men and Mr..
Comforts attitude is well expressed in
the following quotation: This Is less a
mans world than II was a century ago.
II a man has good to do, or message TO
deliver, he must drive IL home through
women. II is the women who are listen
ing to-day. Women do not analyze-they
realize. Woman's cry for rights
to-day is raised from her hearts defeat
In finding her real companion. Com
merce has become her mortal enemy-as
once was war. Men absorbed in the
world. consuming in this modern pas
sion. are as far apart from woman's
sphere as If they were the pawns OF i'm
perialism"
Miss Carolyn Wells. one Of the most
brilliant of the younger American writers,
whose
dence." has just been published. is also
one OF our leading feninine humorists.
One OF the funniest stories told about
her IS that by one of her numerous pub
fishers who asked her. why do YOU
always send your book manuscripts in
five pound candy box?'' To which she
replied: When feel that I am going
to write a book I always buy a five pound
box OF candy and pint OF ink and then
l begin TO write and when the candy is
all gone and the ink all used up I know
that the book is long enough"
All lovers of literature will share the
deep regret Of a. F. Davidson's many
personal friends that his Victor Hugo:
His Life and Work" Just issued by the
J. B. Lippincott Company. is a posthu-
nous work. French literary history was
always his hobby, and the successful
publication of his Life OF Dumas sew
eral years ago encouraged him to write
the present volume Of Victor Hugo He
did not actually begin until he was in the
grip of his last long illness. Although hs
was, fortunately. able to complete II. Yet
he did not live to read and edit the
proofs. This was done by Mr.. Francis
! Gribble. who writes that II was his aim
to revise the proofs as Davidson would
himself have revised them. nowhere tam
pering with any expression of opinion,
but carefully correcting obvious slips OF
the pen. and making the few necessary
but inconsderabie additions. Unques-
tionably this work is the most impartial
English study Of Victor Hugo, alike as a
man and as an author.
When FIagler's Folly" now the
much -marveled-et railway over the Sea
TO Key West. was being built. Mr.. Henry
Flagler humorously replied to his detrac-
tors at that time: Well there is one
thing for which travellers will bless me
when they travel by rail over the keys
they will never he troubled with dust"
This and many incidents both humorous
and thrilling are reCounted in The Rail-
way Conquest of the World" by F. A.
Talbot. That fact is stranger than fiction
is striIi.ngly illustrated in this work,
! which tells in a popular manner of rail-
way construction in all parts of the
"'Elu- II IL DS L<ipplnCOtL
Company. and is one of the volumes in
their Conquest Of Science" series.
Johann wolfgaus Goethe is possibly
one OF the most romantic figures among
the great modern writer's. He still treads
the stage of the world in the character
of Faust. and all of his works are suf-
fused with personal feeling and reflect
every stage of the impassioned drama OF
his career. Every chapter in his life was
a romantic love story. Mr.. Joseph Ne
Cabe. in his Goethe: The Man and His
Character" just published by the LIP.
pincotts. has endeavored to show the ef-
feet on Goethe'S work OF every passion
ate period of his life. The material for
compiling a biography of this kind is
incidentally rich. and has been collected
and sifted by three generations OF ar
dent students. The method employed by
Mr.. McCGbe enables the reader to follow
intelligently the broad development oe
Goethes artistic genius.
Bad nerves are worst in the dog days,
but, as usual there are compensationA
Then, as rule. comes a vacation Or
lighter work or both. And there is no
time like the summer for starting in q
sanitary and sane rule of life to help
the complex human machine to run
smoothly. The man or woman who feels
the strain of hard work and Irregular
ways and wishes to turn over a new
leaf and commence a better way of life
sane" handbook by that expert psychol-
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