The Washington herald., 1913-02-16
LATEST BOOKS FOR THE LIBRARY TABLE

NIT a renewal of the candidacy on the
part of his kinsman."
Since King William had publicly de-
clared TO the French Ambassador that
he was opposed to Prince Leopold
candidacy knowing that it would dis
please the French nation" the reques,
made by the Chamber was tantamount
| to an insult. implying a disbelief in
| the King OF Prussia's assertion, This
and this alone brought matters to q
! climax and gave Bismarck the whip
hand. And yet Prussia pocketed this
insult also for the sake of peace. but
| the French war-party was too powerful.
| 1t insisted upon concise declaration
which King William-not being the head
of the Catholic Hohenzollern house
had not the power to give. called his
| refusal an insult to France. and actually
drove the peace-loving Emperor Napoleon
III to declare war knowing that Il spelled
for him destruction
The true estimate OF Bismarck by Oh
livier is set forth thus: He acted dis
honorably throughout. He Matched the
Hohenzollern candidacy in the dark.
because 1t would result in the one war
which he knew would be inevitable in
order to achieve the unity of the father
land, his pet project. He was a mighty
statesman OF sinister but impressive
grandeur He has not opened, for him.
self. the gates Of paradise, by the role
he played in 1870, but he won the fore
most, the most exalted place in the
German Pantheon of terrestrial apothe-
oses."
Ny LITTLE SISTER: BY ElLabeth Robins New
Yuk-Dodd. Mead & %.
Without disclosing the full motive of
Miss Robins story it may be said that
the awakening of sex Is her theme The
lives Of two children. one OF them telling
the story herself. are unfolded Their
mother is widow, and they live seclud-
ed lives in the English country, shielded
from contact with the world, ignorant of
all knowledge of it. and absolute
ly unprepared through the folly of
mother who Is unwilling to allow others
to profit by her own experience, TO en-
counter it. Although they both fall in
love. they are ignorant OF even its most
elementary meanings, and their mother
takes no pains to enlighten them
Further than this it will be impossible
to accompany the reader, for the effect
of the story depends upon the reader
approach to it and progress through 1t,
to the very end.
MY Little Sister is told with infinite
skill ard the finest of art. Not until
it Is completed does the reader realize
its perfection. When its overwhelming
conclusion, absorbing every mental ell
ergy of the reader with its revelations,
and he RECEIVERS control of his senses.
he will see with what amazing skill
the novelist has led him step by step,
through the career of Bettina. When
BettIna and her sister so unaccompanied
to London to- visit their Aunt Josephine.
We are as blind to their future as they.
AS the hours pass, the events unfold
in RELENTLESS and rnrnorSe1oSs
sequence with the perfect logic Of fate.
Their force Is irresistible. The effect
upon the reader is as complete as If he
were with the two children. He seems
to be as helpless as they. as impotent
as was the whole Of London 10 assist
them. |
When 1t is all over. We are certain that |
we have been reading the truth, that |
these things have happened. are happen |
Ing and will happen as long as men are !
men and women are women. But it is |
the truth brought to light not with crude |
mechanism, not with an un- |
reportorial pen, not with |
clerical moralizings, not with cold-blooded |
suggestions, but with the |
skill of the literary artist.
DAWSON II-FoRTUNE HUNTER: By John I.
McCutcheon. New York-Dodd Mead & Co.
One naturally expects book by McCut-
cheon to be a story written around some
pictures" for he is better known by his
excellent cartoons than as writer, but |
In Dawson H. he has written a very
little tale of the adventures
,f a young Hoosier. who goes to Chicago
10 seek his fortune. But this young man
determines to be honest, and he lives up
10 his programme. Most of the story Is
in the form of letters from Dawson to
,fc ~set L
Ions always cheerful even when luck