Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-15

- - RS. HALE. herself an open
IN ~ and avowed feminist, ap-
IN" pears to have outstripped
the confused and jostline
press moving under this
name. and to have gained point OF
wider vision than the most. From this
place of advantage she looks back
into the past for some explanation OF
the present, and into the present for
it's promise of the future. What this
writer sees is the world itself moving
irresistibly out into a larger freedom
and toward a more widely diffused
equality of condition and opportunity.
In this united surge of humanity to-
ward democracy, feminism has its own
place 1t is moving on with the rest.
1t is a part of the procession. This fact
is one to give the feminist movement
balance and composure. 1t is one to
do away with it's own dissensions and
utilities 1t is fact that is calculated
also to enlist sympathy and co-opera-
ton from without The writer outlines
periods of history wherein women have
risen to heights of honor and power.
She makes it clear that these groups OF
women reached eminence by sheer
force of personality and that never,
until the present time, have women
stood together as an organic part OF
any general movement toward a larger
liberty. Therefore, never until now
could the promise of permanence lie In
any of these manifestations. Looking
upon feminism as one of the many
lawful children of the new democracy,
Mrs. Hale discusses the natural weak
nesses of it's adolescence and its diff
culties with big bfother' in a vein of
discretion and good sense. The prom
1v,at, Nf
is that it will voluntarily merge with
the great advancing tide of humanlsm
wherein men and women will march
forward shoulder to shoulder, their
difficulties lost chiefly through the
open acknowledgment that the large
majority of human attributes are not
sexual. In this survey Mrs. Hale dis
cusses in generous and practical fash
ion the present problems of feminiSm,
the problems of the home, of women
fancy, and of the influence of both
radicals and reactionaries upon the
cause. In her vision of the future
there are new men as we'll as new
women, and new children, too. because
of these. There is a vastly bigger sort
of love. too, in that future, and in it also
the lost kindness of the world will have
been found again, with its miracles and
in the world. This is comprehensive
and highly intellectual treatment of
the subject of feminism. What might
otherwise have been 4 coldly logical
statement of the case is warmed by
sympathy and breadth of view into an
appealing and practical discussion of
a pressing and significant matter.
sCOMMON SENSE" APPLIED TO
WOMAN SUFFRAGE. BY Mary Put
nam-Jacobi, NJ. d. New York: G. P.
Putnam'S Sons.
N- he 1f
York. just as it has also done in the
current year, called a constitutional
convention. Upon that earlier occa
sion Dr. Mary Putnam-Jacobi delivered
an address on the subject of woman
suffrage. In this address DR.. jacob
set out the full argument used by the
suffragists of that period to back
their de mand for an equal participation
with men in the lawmaking function
of the state. The volume in hand Is
reprint Of that address, put out most
fttingly to meet and support the suf-
frage issue of the New York constitu-
tional convention of 1915. In this re-
print the original discussion is here
and there extended up to the present
in order to demonstrate that the cur
rent aspect of woman suffrage is, in
principle, in aim and in all essential
features not in any sense a different
thing from that which it was twenty
Their development, the natural twenty
year growth, of the root idea of suf-
frage that was first formally enun-
ciated in 1S4S. at Seneca Falls N. Y,
by the pioneers of that movement. DR..
Jacob writes with the vigor and or
derliness that are commonly ascribed
to the masculine mind. Her attitude is
impersonal, unsentimental, unemotion-
al. Her consideration of the subject
is conspicuously practical. bearing at
every point upon actual conditions. at
the time of this discussion. An intro
duction by Frances Maule Bjorkman
outlines the distinguished and useful
career of DR.. JacObi who was pioneer
in many lines of work for the welfare
of women, as it also makes setting
for this discussion in the present status
of the woman suffrage campaign. The
value of the book is twofold. 1t is,
the suffrage case. And it is, next,
significant and authoritative chapter
in the history of this movement.
THE PRACTICAL CONDUCT OF PLAY.
By Henry S. Curtis, author of "Edu-
Alton Through Play" etc New
York: The Macmillan Company.
1.-THE Practical Conduct Of Play" is a
text book intended for the use of those
wishing to fit themselves for play
ground work. The book meets this
purpose most efficiently. 1t Is a definite.
plain. practical and comprehensive
summary of the authors own expert
ence as organizer and director of play
grounds both in New York city and in
the District of Columbia. A part of
the book gives explicit directions for
the construction of Fairgrounds and
makes simple descriptions of the va
rious sorts of equipment for these with
full explanations of the use of this
equipment. Another part discusses the
personal qualities. the duties, the
aims and obligations of the organizer,
the director. the teacher of the play
ground. both in relation to the chill
dren of a community and to the COM
munity itself. At this point Mr. Cur
tbs gives suggestive chapter on the
training of playground directors and
teachers accompanying this with a list
of the institutions that now include
this training in their courses of in
struction. There are here many play
programs suited to children of both
sexes and to the different stages of
their development These include, as
elimination points of different kinds of
play, pageants. tournaments festivals
and team games The first chapter of
the book reviews the growth of the
play idea since the organization of the
Playground Association of America, at
Washington. in 1906. An admirable
photography adds to the practical use
fulness of this competent and highly
valuable study of the subject.
THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN
DRAMA OF TODAY. BY Barrett H.