Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-21

freshing essays only is called "humanly
| speaking" it is from this speaking point
exactly that all of them are given. AS
piece of literary criticism The obvious
ness of Dickens is a model or tnis SIN
gle aspect of Dickens work. But 1t Is no
better as a touch of common human ma
ture than 1.-The Toryism of Travellers
And this is no better than any other one
of the collection. Fresh and abundantly
worth while.
INCREASING HOME EFFICIENCY. By
Martha Bensley Bruere and Robert
w. Bruere. New York: The Mac
milan Company.
The subject matter of this book comes
| just at the striking of the clock. The
home as vocation and housekeeping as
a business are here and much in evidence
! as they should be. The facts of this book
| are official in authority. It's arrangement
is better than statistical, since, though
clear tables can make ii. it is much
less forbidding. And in manner it is as
engaging as a novel. The purpose is to
give the houSekeeper schooling to the end
that she may change the common chaos
OF her house to the ease and comfort and
economy of an eXpertly administered
domestic concern. Think of being able to
manage the household budget instead OF
being ruled by it. Think of the pleasure
III cHdHSlNS the HapndZdrO assaults upon
1t to an organized adjustment by which
the relation between income and outgo
shall represent an all-around economic in
telligence and an equally all-around bust
ness sagacity.
WAYS OF ESCAPE: Book of Ad-
venture. BY Douglas Goldring. IL
Illustrated by Edgar Lander. New
York: Duffield & Co.
The authors personality so dominates
his book that the reader will find him
an enlivening comrade on a trip that
starts from 'Charing Cross. the main
gate of Europe and covers dozen
cities, with Liege as the first stop.
France and Normandy in all their his
toric and scenic charm, are visited with
a 'bolter," who leads the way along
picturesque byways. through experiences
and into adventures that most tourists
miss and which even Baedeker fails
to account for F'ull-page drawings and
margin outlines add artistic value to the
literary excellence of the text.
THE LAST LEAF; Observations Dur
ing Seventy-five Years, of Men and
Events in America and Europe. BY
James Kendall Hosmer. LII. d..
author of 1.-The Story of the Jews"
etc. New York: G. j.. Putnam's
Sons.
objections caught from the curbstone.
from the gallery of an assembly, in a
scholars study, or by the light of a camp
fire. And such they are-hundreds of
swift, near glimpses of men become IA
NOUS through one or another quality of
greatness. II felt my first political
thrill in $780, says DIR. Hosmer. and my
first powers as a singer. always modest,
first exercised on For Tippecanoe and
Tyler Too" He then turns the leaves of
this amazing volume Of memories on Lin
coin and Douglas, on Webster and Sum-
ner and Seward-just touch for each.
how he looked at the moment, what he
said, what he did-some personal illumi-
mating thing of a piece with the man S
own nature and power. To these states
men are added soldiers and scholars
men of science, historians. poets and
prophets. One can hardly overestimate,
or even explain, the face-to-face impress
sion made by these swift views. In some
thing like gentle apology Dr. Hosmer
hands us this volume, while we are
thinking how much We should have miss
ed without it. He says. 1--WE old story
tellers do our talking under heavy handi-
cap. Homer long ago found US garru-
lous, and compared us to cicadas chirping
unprotitably in the city gate In the
modern time too, DR.. Holmes could sit
and grin at one of our kind as he tot
tiers DER the ground with his cane But.
if we must totter, what ground we have
to totter over with two generations and
more behind us! The ground is ours. We
only have looked into the faces of the
great actors. and have taken part in the
epoch-making events. AS. l unroll my
panorama / may totter but hope i
shall not dodder.' If DR.. Hosmer were
woman should declare him to be