Evening star., 1915-02-21
E;Z h kI6eRealnl1 1fUterature aoa1Arte N1

background of ancestry snd religion
both of which. united have moved for
ward to shape and define the quality
OF successive civilizations and which
are as much a living force today as
they were thousands of wears ago. The
hope underlying this finely diScrimi-
native study is TO contribute something
toward a truer knowledge of the Jap
panesc character, in order that COM
prehension may ultimately take the
place OF prejudice.
CHILD-- IN OF EARTH, Play Of
New England. BY Alice Brown, au-
thor of My Love and H. etc New
York: The Macmillan Company.
One is bound to approach play that
has won a ten-thousand- dollar prize
with a good deal of respect and as
much curiosity. BY an exercise of tho
second of these impulses he discovers
that this drama, according to its claim.
is a true bit of New England life
worked out through the revival of a
spinsters withered romance and its se-
quence of helated disillusionment. Be-
yond this point the play opens into tho
deep channels of Mary Ellen's unal-
lowable love for Pete Hale James hus-
band, and progresses through struggle
and self-conquest. In bare outline such
land. where love tempests brew per-
petually and uncontrolled. The char
acters and outlook, however; the phys
zeal surroundings and spiritual
theme to the boundaries of New Eng
land Strongly dramatic in develop
ment and humanity broad In appeal.
this prize play stands as a fine exam
pie of American play making
AMERIC, IN FERMENT. BY Paul Le-
land Haworth, author of Recon-
struction and Union" etc. Indianap-
oils; The Bobbs-M Merrill Company
Mr.. Haworth gathers into this VOL
ume the general unrest that. in tho
present appears to animate the mass
of people in the United States In ad-
dition, he organizes this discomfort in
to the various channels that it has TAX
en-. giving one by this process BIRDS
eye view. to speak. of the streets.
and avenues. and boundary limits OF
the forces of ferment that are working
throughout the country. Leading up
to this broad survey is a chapter of
American history whose purpose is to
review the changes that from time to
time have come over our national ideal.
and for the purpose also of analyZin2
the conditions and influences that
wrought these changes. The bulk OF
the volume. however, is given over to
a discussion of these various lines o.
discomfort. Having place among these
topics are the troubles of labor, and
the troubles OF big business. the
dreams of socialism. immigration the
color conflict. our changing political
institutions, the revolt OF the women
and the growth of social justice. The
author treats each of these subjects
to concise review of its general pur-
pose and its history. He gives, be-
sides, a fair and unbiased estimate of
4 -tn = IL
outlook upon its ultimate ossibilities.
The book stands a body of authen-
tic current fact. 1t gives also in COM
pact and seiZable form, "A salient and
importunate phase of national life. A
very useful and opportune study.
THE LITTLE HOUSE. BY Helen S.
Woodruff, author of THE Lady of
the Lighthouse" etc. New York.
George III. Doran Company.
That supposedly extinct character
the unreconstructed Confederate SOL
dier-provides the one shadow In the
otherwise bouyant lightsome story.
Col Lee Talliaferro Nelson of Ala
bama refuses to forgive his daughter
for marrying a man from Main,
though the civil war has been over
for nearly forty years. Dorothy, ths
one small daughter of the young cou-
pie, becomes an orphan, and Cousin
Billy is sent north to escort her to
her grandfather's home-the colonel
having sworn "a sacred VOW never
to cross Mason and Dixons line
again $50 long as life lasted" Dor
othy finds compensation for her grand
fathers coldness in the love of Cousin
Billy, who had wanted to marry her
mother: in the tenderness of black
Nanny Caroline and in the comrade-
ship of impish Leila Byrd, next
neighbor. and her small black satellite,
Rochellesalts Paregoric Johnson-with
ra bbit foot attached. The joyousnesS
OF children at play, the unstudied mel
ody of negro laughter and the Ginning;
of wedding bells for Cousin Billy and
Leila Byrd's aunt have for contrast the
mind -clouded occupant of the little
house in the coloners garden. which
is forbidden ground. Small Dorothy
innocently disobeys orders, and in the
doing of il lifts the shadow and brings
her grandfather to the realization that
his exaggerated patriotism has de-
generated into a crouch