New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-27
HARPER's MAGAZINE

II ever hero worship was contagious
IL is so in Henry Fielding Diekens's
"Ctat" about his ilIustrious father 10
this number Of "Harper's." OF all the
Viceorians, his popularity has proved
to be the most enduring, the most
widely spread; his appeal has shown
ag yet no signs Of weakening or age
ing. His readers, with few and mex
plieabie exceptions, become his per-
sonal friends now as in the days when
the appearance Of a new novel OF ms
was. according to the late justin
Mccarthy, an event Of national inter-
ezt. il is With Dickens the man rather
than with the novelist that the son is
concerned, but, memory. springing TO
life. the two arc mingled in the mind Of
bis reader. Harrison Rhodes's
american Holidays" stretches from
that vanishing national institution, the
picnic to the hospitality OF the ultra
modern, ultra-fashionable American
country house, at which the guests ar
rive bringing, in addition to their own
servants, their own motor cars and
cbauFeurs, and sometimes their own
cooks, for this is the day Of many
diets. "Sueh precautions 10 insure
your own comfort while visiting are, u
appears, not merely permitted, but al
most expected, in the highest circles.
There remains, however, eonsiderA-
lie experimental region where ultra
luxurious and fashionable women are
still working to reorganize country lie
on more rational lines. Some OF these
ladies, for example, arrive with trunk
Of their own bed linen, their pillows,
and their bathroom towels-an OBJ
vious step, one would say, nearer
perfect comfort for the guest. Yet
Queer. reactonary people are found
who say that this is not a compli-
nent 70 the hostess; that it is, in
fact, distinctly the opposite. Pioneers
and martyrs for any cause have always
met such opposition. Even though one
feels it unnecessary, one would like
here to encourage these devoted women
at their work Of civilization. IL Amer
lea in the twentieth century could
really make visiting in other peoples
country houses anything but extrems
physical agony, she would have made
a historic contribution to the history
of the race-would really have con-
quered the social as she did earlier the
physical wilderness" Stephen
Graham's study of the Storage Of a
great transatlantic liner, with the
Poor Emigrants to America" is ex-
tremely picturesque, but IL also sets
one thinking. Much has been done for
the comfort of the immigrant in the
modern ships, but there appears to be
ample room for improvement still, the
more so as it is the immigrant trafie
that is the greatest source of profit
to the steamship companies. For din
ner "mugs half full of celery soup were
thrown at us; not a chunk of bread on
the table was less than an inch thick;
the hash of grisly beef and warm po-
tato was what would not have been
tolerated in the poorest restaurant, but
we set ourselves to eat IT," Those
interested will find a great deal of Sci
enee popularity presented in c. G. Alb
bolts "The Variable Sum-" which con-
tinues to present many unsolved prob
lens to the scientists. There is the
matter of sun spots and the tenn
perature of the earth, for instance,
which should rise when they are at
their maximum, whereas, in reality, il
falls. And as for the rainbow. nature
gives US in it "an impure solar spec
trum. A much better one can be
formed in the laboratory by allowing
beam of sunlight to pass through q
vertical slit and thence upon a glass
prism"