The Washington herald., 1912-12-22
ny A. d. JACOBSON.

YOrk: The MASsfIllan Go.
From. sympathetic point of view this
story would probably be called an IDEAL
ization Of the passion Of love. From
any point of view II could not be
called a novel; II is 4 too long to be
termed short story, too lacking in
incident to be termed anything but a
sketch, yet too vague TO be termed a
sketch. Again from. a sympathetic point
OF view II might be called an idyll We
call II depressing BIT OF sentimentality.
And depressing for a very specific rea-
sCn-its stale and Improbable confusion
OF what our forefathers quantity called
sacred and profane love. We have grown
bit tired Of this mixing Of the spirit and
the. flesh; in modern novels It has
become almost conventional. Ever since
Rossettfs The Blessed DamozeI' we
have been surfeited with poems, pseudo
poems, and raspsodic prose. stories that
have shed the luster OF fine names upon
emotions OF a very low origin. We are
weary OF it The Heroine in Bronze"
has made US still wearier
This Is the story. A youngster, fresh
from college, who is Just embarking on a
literary career, is in love with a young
lady. also fresh from college. He rooms
In New York: she lives there in her
own home. All the action OF the story
consists Of his calling upon her. His
first novel contains a character which
she believes is a prototype Of herself.
How horrid. He is using her-she is
material" She departs for a summer
trip to Europe in a high hum. leaving
him In New York TO write his novel In
lonely misunderstanding. She returns
and requests him to read her the COM
pleted masterpiece, which he does. and
she discovers that he is not using her
n To IN
famlshed cry TO her and locked en-
brace" They marry There is an ideal
lied picture Of them years after, when
they have youngsters. Seemingly his now
els are popularity successful enough to give
him comfortable royalties. for they mani
fest in worry about the high cost Of Iiv-
ing or the nearness OF fuel This may seem
an unfair summary. but il is really all
there is to the story.
Since nearly all the action (when there
Is any, talk. and observation in the book
arise through considerations of what is
known as love, II may be well to observe
that love. of all words (unless II be soul
and ideaD, Is in need OF a. severe applica-
ton Of the Socrstic method. II varies in
meaning from the sense in which it is
used by Plato to the sense in which II is
used by Casanova. There has grown up
the peculiarly modern trick OF dressing
out in the tnery of sublime language in |
stincts and feelings Of undeniable biolog-
ical origin: calling love religion, and in |
the same breath describing love as your 1
affection for a certain charming young
lady whom you desire for wife. Now. love |
may be either the attitude OF your whole
emotional nature toward Cod. or 1t may be |
what you experience when you gaze on
your fiancee's pretty face But IL GER
tainly cannot be both things. Why not
make an elementary distinction? Why
mix the two? II you must call one love-
why not call the other religious expert |
ence? Even SpInoza had sense enough to
devise the phrase: The intellectual love |
Of God" for he saw the need Of sharp
differentiation. |
In other words. love in so far as il is |
IDEAL can refer only TO the common so
cial relation that exists between any two |
human beings. You may complains Justly |
that this sort OF love will be thin, but
thinness is generally one OF the disad- |
vantages Of anything Ideal or general. |
Observe Mr.. Aliens manner: TT brought |
into my love a new elemeut-that element |
which haunts these lonely shores where !
worship Is born and must ever dwell |
With this image OF her before me, I al !
most came face to face with tenderness. |
the splendor of religion" We suppose |
that the reader will experience a mystic |
thrill when he notices that religion is |
capitalized.
''ELKAS LUBINER." By MoutsSik Gla.s New
IoTt: Dubeiay. PaEe 4 90. Prioe a0
The announcement of a new book by 1
Montague Glass is joy for the business /
man-tired or otherwise-and for all !
blythe friends of Abe and Mawru The !
present volume has to do, not with |
Potash and Perimutter, but with the
manufacturers. Marcus
Polatkin and Philip Scheikowitz. andE
with the boy who came from Russia on
another passengers ticket, 10 be first
ONCE drudge, then assistant cutter, then !
salesman. and finally partner in the firm,
this is Elkan Lubliner. American. Of
Wooster Street, New York. sometime of
Minsk.
The stories themseIves-how Elkan
came to America, how he played a win
ming and highly original game for a
smart account. how he chose his bride
in the American fashion. how he bought
a house, and how he succeeded in max
Ing several more or less sensational busi-
ness deals-the stories are interesting
enough. But Mr.. Glasss talent does not
lie in the telling OF stories. The plots OF
several Of these little tales are involved
and not to be easily understood, and the
reader is apt to lose the thread OF the
tale long before il is finished. And he
does not care II he loses It or not
For the stories in 'Elkan Lubliner'' are
The charm OF the book is
II. its conversation, its characters, its
irresistible observation of the ways or
life and thought down where trade winds
blow. From beginning to end the book is
increasingly, overwhelmingly
funny. These Americans,
appreciated and never forced
DIT burlesqued. are inimltably delightful.
Their conversation. in Mr. Glass.s book
Is worth going a long way to hear. The
best of the stories is the one In which
Eikan buys angry cat antics and
Jacobean chairs, but every page is funny
In "EIkan Lubliner. American" which
Is a good book, understand me. |;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF PsYCHoL
OGY." By Max Dessuir Protessor in the Inn
rersity Of Berlin. New You: The Macmillan
Co
Some people still hold the impression
hat a good history Of any subject Is an
impartial record of the facts. But every
student of history seeks the standpoint
of the writer before he has any hope OF
his history. This is true
Df political and social history; but II Is
sven truer OF a history of any Of the
sciences or of philosophy in any Of its
phrases. So the outlines of the history
,f psychology do not mean anything to
Is until we get the historians stand
point. In the present volume the author
ellis us that from the earliest times the
soul was an object Of interest from
.hree standpoints: the religious; that
which looks upon the soul as a principle |
" activity at work within the human
,ody- apd finally that which seeks a ,