Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-01
BOOK REVIEWS.
THE CONTEST FOR CALIFORNIA;
How Col. r.. ID. Baker saved tne

THE CONTEST FOR CALIFORNIA;
How Col. f. ID. Baker Saved the
Pacific state. to the frustrated.
Boston Houghton Miffiin Company
-N tie preface to this volume IT'S
author tells the story-quoted from
a New York paper-of a college pro-
fessor who. on a visit to Washing
ION. found himself at the Capltoi
making the round of Statuary han.
Standing before the figure inscrlpeu
Baker the classic man said: no
was Baker" What did he do 10 get III
here?" Maybe the story is true Mayo
II beInnes Ia the common stock OF taies
3nvented to asperse learning. In either
case T. serves To point the purpose VI
Mr. Kennedy's full and intimate record
of the life of Gen. Baker As the author
nuts it, his design Is TO DO sonlethihe
TO rescue from an unmerlteu ophNioii
thA,arie OF Edward n. Raker-as sehtie
and pure and unseiish ana generous
and eloquent and valiant man as ever
cheerfully gave his life for noble cause
A soldier in both the war with Mexico
and - tba civil war. a member of the
Hous, OF Representatives. and suose-
oueEt senator of the United states, zen
Bakers chief service. In this ahLnoI
opinion. was his cireumventioh ol t the
consniracy 10 draw California into the
secession movement The story OF the
Pacinc states at this period, ana the nie
of Gen. Baker at TINS point IN hls ealee I
blend here in single brhI,dh. SUE
of the locality, the man ana the slTusS,c.
The credit of saving California 10 tHe
Union belongs to him according 10 this
writer, rather than to any othef man. Vi
set ~ men Mr. Kennedy arralgns a
long list of accepted histories and emil
nept historians for downright neglect or
careless treatment of the PACING slope
in this period of national agitation over
slavery. a spontaneous ana uhsluuieu ap-
preciation, a deeply interesting one. Writ
ten in a fine fervor of devotion and IN d
passion to pay tribute where tribute is
due.
THE CHILDREN OF AL Gle. BY
Rene Bazin, author OF The Nun,
etc. With a preface by Dr. Angelo
S Rappoport. New York: John Lane
Company.
In temperament and true allegiance,
Alsace Is French, root ard branch rms
holds-whether the accident of victorious
armies. Latin against Teuton. writes 1t on
the map. now as the most easterly de-
partinent of the French republic, or
again as the most westerly state of the
German empire. Rene Bazin's Children
OF SAGE" is the drama of F'rench-heart-
ed Alsat.ans bound in hateful servltude
to a legion of German taskmakers. IL
is the drama of secret resistance ana I'M
conouerable antagonisms HE had re-
manned French under German rule, Is
said over and over again OF one or the
persons of this story. 1t is the Keynote
of the whole. NJ. BaZin. to obJectlfy THIS |
fact. gathers up the Alsatian village of
Alsheim. in its daily round OF occupatlon' |
and feeling and outlook. The story 10
cuses upon the career OF young Jean
OberIe, German by ira ming and vocation, |
-. oh IN q
heart and hopes toward the beloved west. |
The story, as q whole. possesses, IN run, ,
the peculiar quality of NJ Bazin 1t is
the faithful and rounded record or com,
mon men and women as they feel ana
act when their feet are set in unWonted
and unwelcome ways.
THE PROMISED LAND; The Auto
biography of q Russian Immigrant.
BY Mary Antin. illustrated from
photographs. Boston: Houghton
Mifffin Company.
This is the book that everybody wishes
he himself had written. Moreover, he
sincerely believes he could have written
il had he but set about it before its
author did. Its affairs are so close to
all. so much the simple matters of yes
terday and today-of going to bed at
night and getting up in the morning, of
breakfast, dinner and supper, of the
suns rise and Its set. of rain and gale
and dew. with all the other common
things about one-that every page is
taken, either in laughter or in tears, as
something of ones very own. 1t is the
simple and clear-moving story of little
girl, born in the Russian Jewish pale
and spending her first years there, who
later emigrated to the promised land of
America. where she lived in a crowded
city quarter. That is all. But it is a
beautiful and absorbing thing. One must
hear it as well as to see 1t: should l
he sitting here. chattering of my infan-
tile adventures. IL / did not know that l
Was speaking for thousands? Would you
he sitting there attending TO my chatter.
while the worlds work waits, If you did
lot know that l spoke also for you? |
might say you or he instead of i.
or l might he silent, while you spoke
fsr me and the rest, but for the accident
that | was born with pen in my hand.
and YOU without. We love to read the
lives of the great, yet what broken
history of mankind they give, unless sup
plemented by the lives OF the humblei
But while the great can speak for them
selves, or by the tongues OF their adj
i.lirers, the humble are apt TO live In
circulate and die unheard IL is well
silat now and then one is born among
tire simple with a taste for self-revela-
I.9n The man or woman thus endowed |
.ae 81 speak. will speak. though there are
Dnlv tine grasses in the field 10 hear and !
none bul the wind TO carry the tale.
JULIA FRANCE AND HER TIMES; A
Novel. BY Gertrude Atherton, au-
thor of Tower of IVORY. etc. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
Mrs Atherton is quite too clever to sup |
pose that a novel can muster more than |
scattered and inattentive reading, pro-
,ided that this novel is founded-as her |
new one is-on the vagarlous and child |
ish conduct of group OF suffragettes- /,
whether this group be of either the mill |
taRt or persua sive order. In this case, |
possessed 10y the cause Of woman. Mrs. |
.stnerton is. in all cases. possessed. we'll |
.l;d exclusively, OF the art of story tell |
ing as her medium. How 10 consort the |
TWO for the general acceptance OF read
is the present problem. To solve il. ,
MS ingenious author takes Very small |
piece OF suffrage cause. Around this she .
wraps layer upon layer OF light and |
elastic stuff. to, give il reckonable size /
and personable shape. These distract |
ing wrappings are Of sort to make a |
reader forgetful of the fragment within.
~ Indifferent 10 its quality. The matter !
starts at the Island Of Nevis, with a |
Young girl, as unframed a yearlng |
colt. By way Of getting her TO England. |
the author InarrieS her-almOSt upon sight /