Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-25
ENVOY FROM FRANCE
ON GREAT AMERICANS

Best Vein-New Books, light
and Otherwise, for Summer
Reading
Now dean of the ambassadorlal corps, Nj. |
j. j. Jusserand has won a unique place III |
American hearts. He is one OF the teW lor-
egners who are really interested IN Amer.
lea, and not given to superficial Analyses o''
our national character and characterlstlCS
So, when he speaks or writes OF US ne
makes an appeal deeper than either tne
subject or his charming treatment alone
would warrant. We want ardently 10 pe
Judged by him. He Is trusted
His book, with Americans OF Past anu
Present Daysr CScribners). justihes every
confidence. 1t is the work of an historian,
Of student of manners OF an eloHueilI
friend, His story of Rochambeau' anu OF
the splendid expedition which sacriilceu
Frances ambition in Canada to our own
emancipation, Is a restudying OF an oid
question, based on unpublished documents
giving a sdelight on the time. Ihe same
may be said Of the brief article on MAJOR
LEnfant Tho essay on Lincoln Is all 100
short. In It one finds, perhaps for the
first time, q suggestion of how dear this
country is to French hearts, how trehch as
piratons follow us, how we stand Tor them,
as they for us The two great republics are
always looking at each other Tor ehcour-
agcmeut and for support.
NJ. Jusserands book ia not controversial
1t has no bearing on the war II makes
no plea FOR the United states to come to
Frances aid What aid indeed could be
offered the defenders Of Verdun2 But 1t Is
more potent than any piece Of propaganda
literature of the last haggard years. For
this book persuades us, as no propaganda
has persuaded us, that we have an interest
In this war and that the descendants of
Rochambeau are looking out for it.
A slender volume more closely packed
with great ideas than many OF the en-
cyclopedc books of the year is Woodrow
Wilson's THE President of the United
States" appropriately reprinted now from
the Presidents work on Congressional
Government AS editorally indicated some
time ago in this paper, this little work
provides n standard by which the President
is to be judged. II indicates the gravity or
many of his failings, but 1t shows, also, the
high spirited and wholly noble ideal of his
office which has animated him. 1t was
written in 1908, when Mr.. Wilson was head
of Princeton, and starting with the theory
of American government, 1t outlines In
simple, snuOus sentences, the forces which
have worked on the presidency and the
force which the office may be called on to
exert. In the references to foreign affairs
Mr. Wilson was prophetic. In every part
of the book, theoretical and practical the
brochure IS cleanly thought, clearly ex-
pressed. 1t Is standard, almost classic,
work.
The Letters From a Living Dead Man."
which Elsa Barker set down and gave to the
world, were of such puzzling such inescap-
able stuff that more material from the
strange dead hand was to be desired. There
came war Letters" and now Songs of u
Nagrom Angel" All these books were die
tated to the poctess by the spirit of Judge
David p. Hatch, and since Miss Barker
possesses another, and wholly adequate.
medium of expression, there is no reason to
question her account of the origin. Par
ticularly at present, with the emergence of
Patience Worthless these poems are impor
tant because they are finer poems than the
st. Louis appaiition has written through
the ouita board, and the character Of the
transmitter Is also more poetical and more
just. The simplicity and calm, the myst-
csm and cOmmonness of the songs are
equally remarkable.
In THE War for the World" (Macmllan
| Company, New York;, Israel zangwill has
gathered n number of his letters to the
British press and his articles in periodicals,
supplementing them with some original
matter. The flctionist Of the Ghetto treats,
among other themes, the wars effects on
Jewry and the great conflict in relation to
the stage. He is, as might be expected,
violently partisan against Germany. Some
of his chapters make rather difficult
reading.
A breezy gust that clears solstitial lit
erature of some of the malodorous miasm
of sex fiction is found in Samuel Hopkins
Adams's "The Unspeakable Perk" (Hough-
ton Miffiin Company Boston). Mr.. Adams
in his most recent story prior to ''Perk"
developed vein of light and delightful
humor. This lead from Little Miss
Crouch" he continues in the newer novel, |
He also evidences his command OF charac- |
terization and his skill at plot building re-
vealed in THE Clarion" the fine newspaper |
with-an-ideal" story. Consequently. The |
Unspeakable Perk" combines all that is ia |
vorable in Mr.. Adamss powers as a styi!st |
and constructor, The movement is agile |
from the opening chapter. The persons of |
the drama are the daughter of an American |
millionaire, cruising in the Caribbean Sea, |
and a remarkable goggle-disguised indi- |
yidual known as Perkins. Behind his quaint |
mask is sterling character with which the |
maid promptly falls in love. There is a |
late Richard Harding Davis touch in a lit |
tie revolution, which clarifies a number OF |
mutual MISUNDERSTANDING without which |
there would be no romance Not n mere |
contribution to hammock literature. this
Something oddly familiar came to the
readers OF Scribner's Magazine a few |
months ago. 1t was memory of Little |
Lord Fauntleroy. The mystery was solved |
when the readers saw that Reginald Birch |
was illustrating another child story Now
Scribners Sons nave puDllshed the story,
Bonnie May" by Louis Dodge. It Is
delightful tale of a little child. daughter
of a player, vague as to ancestry, but in
fintely capable of taking care of herself.
Gifted with stage talk and common sense,
the little creature finds herself in the most |
prim of prim households. At that point the
story flags little, for we are face to face
with the old story of regenerating family
through child the Servant in the House.
Passing of the Third Floor Back" episode,
and not a little of Fauntleroy himself.
But there is plenty OF humor, and IL Bonnie
May isn't always credible, she is always
pert and delicious.
Mr.. James L. Ford author OF ''Waitful
Watching (FredeTick A. Stokes & Coz, is
comparatively well-known writer. Pre-
sumably he writes so much that he never
reads the papers Had he read them be-
yond the headlines, and thought about them
little, he could hardly have written so
ill-natured so false and SO pointless satire
as this one. That the mechanism of the
satire is weak and the working out dun
need hardly be mentioned Apparently Mr.
Ford has not read the British reports that
frVErH al a. he /