Evening star., 1913-04-12
BOOK REVIEWS.

A GUIDE TO THE MONTESSORl
METHOD. BY Ellen Yale Stevens
New York: Frederick A. Stokes
Company.
- HE school Is well nigh as con-
servative as the church. 1t is
cold toward innovation. II
makes ;cceptances reluctantly
and only under irresistible pres
sure. In it's time-consuming hesitations
and maladjustments it fails to reach the
head of the great procession where 1t SO
clearly belongs. AT the present moment
one of the agitations of education Is a
controversy over what, from its Itaiian
founder. is known as the Montessorl
theory. Its advocates. lifted to a high
pitch of enthusiasm, are making eXpan-
sive claims for it. Its opponents, divided
into two camps, on the one hand dis
pose of it easily under the contemptuous
name of fad" and on the other declare
its essentials to be no more than are
now In use in all good primary modern
education. Discussion on the subject null
;iplies, and books about 1t tumble daily
from the press. One who has studied
or read DR.. Montessoris own book. trans
lated by Miss George. wonders why any
other writer should go to the pains OF
explaining what DIR. Montessori herself
has already made so perfectly simple
and clear. Just as one so often wonders
why ponderous books. are written to ex-
plain the words of Jesus in the gospels OF
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Ex-
plantations are dangerous. The more pre-
cious the message, the more dangerous,
since every new medium Of transmission
loses of necessity some part of the orig
inal substance. However, II books on
Dr. Montessori's great book must be
written. as it appears that they must be,
Miss Stevens is undoubtedly highly quail
fed to do this. Scholarship. broad
teaching experience sympathy, restraint
and an American point of view combine
in this study. 1t is also a concrete and
workable presentation of the subject,
we'll supplied with specific plans and di-
rections adapted to an American environ
ment. 1t is not, nor does it claim to be,
a substitute for DR.. Montessori's book
THE AMERICAN CHILD. BY Eliza
beth McCracken. Illustrations from
photographs by Alice Austin Bos-
ton: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Miss McCrackens delightful and useful
little book makes double appeal. 1t is
concrete and individual, rather than alb
stract and collective. 1t is. moreover.
an affectiOnate and understanding record
calculated to confirm one in this theory
that children are natively good as well
as to support his claim that of all human
beings children are the most original and
interesting. The book is made up OF
anecdotes records of the authors expert
ences with children, her observations of
them-all intimate and on perfect level.
1t IS a study of real children, with names
of their own. with real fathers and moth
ers. and with situations so common as
own perplexity over some particular Ann
or Mary. Tom or Dick. The book is in
no sense designed to Gust that somewhat
terrible product of modern scientific in
rather, for those who lack the training
TO resolve this composite child back to
the individual in hand for whom immedi-
ate appreciation and care are in demand.
NOGI, q Man Against the Background
Of a Great War. By Stanley Wash
burn. author of THE Cable Came"
etc. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
At Port Arthur and in subsequent
events of the Russo-Japanese war Mr.
Washburn. news correspondent had un-
usual opportunities of approach, to Gen.
Baron Nogi. In this volume the author
does surprisingly better than to attempt
a narrative of the life of Nogi. Instead,
he uses the war period as a solvent to
OF the mans character and to throw
these into relief against the dramatic
background OF war. Dominating this
vivid war picture is Nogi. the modern
nan-soldier, statesman, patriot. Look
ing out from 1t here and there is the
other Nogi, the unchanged embodiment
OF race ancientry. The first led his coun-
try to victory in the perfection of mod
ern scientific warfare. The other one
deliberately walked out of life when the
object in whom his ideaism centered was
removed from it, II is hard for a western
mind to understand this curious admix-
ture Of cold materiaism and subtle ideal
ism In single individual. And just here
Mr.. washburn's study becomes a good
deal of a revelation. For this is TO an
uncommon degree an intimate and SYM
pathetic study of great figure set as
the center of a momentous event.
THE INVADERS. By Frances Newton
Symmes Allen, author of "The Plain
Path" Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company.
The first attracto of this good story
is its warmth. One seeking this quality
In fiction has come TO look askance at the
New England romance-a bleak affair. as
a rule Not SO here, however This is a
warm, rich, human story, which takes
its substance from the successful inroads
Of thrifty Irish and Polack and the whole
whatnot of foreign newcomer upon the
lean New England land. with the desper-
ate resentments growing out of this us,r-
patton and the futile attempts to stem
the tide of encroachment. The story i'm
mediately settles to the affairs of a small
neighborhood in which the natives hold
themselves aloof in sullenlv superior
fashion from the most delightful Irish
trio that ever crossed the sea. These are
Michael Joyce. with his nephew and
niece, Patrick and Bride Ioyce In ~
easy. haphazard way that daily life ap-
pears TO take there are constant meetings
between these two sets of villagers. meet
ings calculated to wear off the edges of
resentment out of the pure whole heart
edness of the invaders. With anger slow
ly melted. acquaintance and friendship
love and marriage come along in the most
natural manner as the time-honored
method OF effectually settling race antip-
athies- This is romance, pure and sim
pie. dealing with superior foreigners and
natives alike. In this respect 1t is a re-
freshing departure from the multitude