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

looking for a protest-for a more vigor-
Gus. warmer, clearer-sighted, gently hui
morouS volume of recOllectionS OF a rich
and varied field rarely comes to any one s
hand.
VILLAGE LIFE IN AMERICA, 1852
1872; as Told In the Diary Of q
Schoolgirl. BY Caroline Cowles
Sangster. New York: Henry Holt
& Co.
| The diary begins: November 81. 1852
| 1 am ten years old today. and I think
will write a journal and tell who I am
and what I am doing" 1t ends June II.
$780, with a marriage item separated by
eight years from the real close of the
| diurnal entries. Between these dates are
the daily doings Of the writer. and OF the
| family. and of the little town in which
| she lived. This town is Cananda1gua.
| n. Y. 1t might as well be Skaneateles'
| or Canajoharie, or Onondaga, or any
! other of the curiously named towns OF
the state or even a New York town of
| less tortuous naming-Weedsport TOT IN,
| stance. The point is that the little girl
| made such vivid picture OF village lie IN
! her daily jottings that 1t might MT any
| one of hundreds Of these little towns as
| they stood fifty years ago. and as the
| most remote of them now stand. despite
| the intervening years. The charm OF the
book lies in the perfectly childlike quail
| ity of the daily reports. 1t is exactly
| the kind Of thing that any keen-sensed.
quick-witted little girl would get out OF
her surroundings of school. holidays. Sun
day. the usual and unusual happenings
in her own home. The civil war comes
along in this period. Opening at random
in this part of the book. one reads: Sat
urday, April 8, 1S65.-The cannon has
fired a salute Of thirty-six guns to cele-
| brate the fall of Richmond. This even
ing there were fireworks, illuminations
TIE Deum was sung at church this morn
ing" 1t is such circumstance or state
ment as this that builds the little volume
into a vivid picture of village life. 1t is
a record of value as well as being very
human, a very childlike, view OF ones
surroundings.
THE COLLECTORS, Being Cases Mostly
Under the Ninth and Tenth Com
mandments. BY Frank Jewett
Mather, jr. New York: Henry Holt
e. Co.
Artists in particular will enjoy these
fresh and clever stories, written In their
own language and about the momentous
concerns of their own craft-aIbout lost
masterpieces. originals and forgeries.
about the idiosyncrasies and sins of col
of critics and cOnnoisseurs. The author
| does IA deal Of predatory explaining In
which. by way of the proper shalt not
of the decalogue, he Identifies one or
another character with the covetous. the
liar and i'll single instance. with the
near-homicide. The first adventure, that
of the honest and able forger. Campbell
Corot" is a gem OF brilliant storymak1ng.
All of them are clever OverdraWingS OF
some feature of the art mania de-
hghtful book.
THE SPELL OF ENGLAND. BY Julia
de Wolf Addison, author of The
Boston Museum OF Fine Arts" etc.
illustrated. Boston: L. c. Page &
Co
Frontispieced by an artistic color print
of Caesars Tower. Warwick Castle, this
delightful sketch Of England carries the
reader through town and country. over
fields and into cathedrals. starting In
WarwSkshire and the Shakespeare coun-
try and working along the usual tourists
lines into all sorts of places of less con-
spicuous note. The text Is written in
timately without the usual travel book
literalness and weight Of description. A
high grade accompany the text and make
the work artistic and attractive. espe-
caliy to those who have visited Eng
land and fallen under it's spell.
GRIT LAWLESs. BY F. f. Mills
Young. New York: John Lane Com
pany.,
Certain letters having fallen into the
| hands of a couple of INSCRIPTIONS black
| maiers, causing great distress and ex-
pense to unnamed personages of note in