The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-02-09
MAKING THE GRADE

| One of the most interesting and vital
topics today is. that of success. 1t
touches intimately the life of every
individual, and it is essential that
every scrap of intelligence that will
help to Increase the percentage of sue
cesses be given wide distribution.
Making the Grade" isea book, the
reading of which it is hoped will in
crease the number of those who WIN
in life's battles. 1t may not contain
anything new, but undoub tedly it tells
something abou. the essentials of life
in new and interesting manner and
It's public suggestions are virile and
convincing. The style of the author
is pleasing and the book is full OF
| red-blooded punch. The author is un-
known, but his message strikes home
| and Will. we believe, be of service to
the world.
! PATRIOTISM AND RADICALISM.'
BY Mercer Green Johnston. Sherma n
French &c Co., publishers, No. 6
Beacon street, Boston.
The great plea of the volume is for
social justice and for patriotism On
I
like DR.. Arnold, speak or burst" The
sincerity of the authors position on
/ beth counts is atteste6 by deeds. So
cial Justice he believes in breakfast
| less, dinnerless and supperless, if need
! be- and his active interest in its be-
half for the laboring men in his par
| ishes has more than once cost him his
| Job" His present service with an
ambulance corps in France attests to
his patriotism
| Socialism--the socialism that will
allow every man to become the man
| God intended him to be--is accepted
unequivocally. For it's sake bold
words are spoken. Patriotism the au-
| thor finds compatible with and highly
| important to this socialism. THE man
| who does not know how to be loyal
| to the flag of the state of which he
| is now citizen" he writes, will
never be loyal to the flag of any far
| off dream state save in his dreams"
| The flag is not responsible for the
| individual; every individual, however
/ is responsible for what happens be-
meath his flag. Socialism must and will
| be made a fact by constant, con-
| structive action, building up to high
and higher ideals, not by sitting by
| the roadside hating everyone who can
! own a Ford.
| The pacifists are severely dealt with,
| especially the socialist pacifists who
| hitve recently so discredited that party
| by obscuring it's high aims through an
anti government policy, pro-German
rather than ro-humanity.
| There is much packed into these 218
pages. Plain words are used; the au
| thor is too fiercely in earnest to waste
| time upon a euphonious phrase when
| n single Rooseveltian word viii serve.
Yet linked with the sternness of the
prophet is the sweetness of a lover
of mankind. and however burning the
denunciation, sense of humor and a
keen intellect keep him from fanati-
cism.
1t is a stirring call to action, to
high national ideals for government
truly "of. for and by the people," and
to a realization of the dignity and
opportunities of citizenship" better
antidote for classsm or pacifism it
would be hard to find.
"THE.TOP OF THE WINE JAR"
(Being selections from the writings OF
Frederick Rowland Marvin.)
Gathered and arranged with an intro-
duction by Livingston Stebbns.
Sherman French & Co, publishers,
Boston.
Music, art and poetry and literature
and literary fame are especially for
the bookish reader. They are brina-
ming with odd anecdotes and telling
comments in the authors own mimi
table vein on everything connected
with these topics. books-his dearest
intim ates--especially. The profession
al critic is not allowed to escape, and
every author will enjoy this brief
turning of the tables. To the poet
philosopher Old Age and Death are
beautiful and a rightminded old age
is found to be an Elysium to be jour
neyed toward with happy anticipation.
Versatility of interest and express
sion and the same individuality char
acterize both prose and verse from
DR.. Marvins study table, vet word
must be said regarding the present
selections from his poetry. These in-'
ciude the hest of his work, both orig
inal and TRANSACTIONS, already familiar
through their previous publication in
book form; also a few new poems.
One of these latter is The Kaiser's
Soliloquy, which occasioned much COM
ment upon it's appearance in the New
York Herald recently. Two others were
the cherished personal possessions of
the editor, who felt so strongly that
the real Frederic Rowland Marvin
was not rightly represented without
touch of the whimsical humor at
which his published work hardly more
than hits. that their inclusion seemed
to him imperative In The Revolt of
the oyster and Ye Eallade of Woe
full Publisher the dignified Emerson
becomes for the moment Lewis Car
roll or William Cowper whose de-
llshtful nonsense and odd conceits add
appreciably to the worlds gaiety
Matthew Arnold summed the volume
UP good bit ago--althorSh quite UNI
consciously, no doubt IT is salutary
from tine to time to come across
genius Of this kind. and to extract his
honey
"THE LIFE OF ROBERT f. LEE
(FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.)
by +. G. deRoulhac Hamilton and
Mary Thompson Hamilton. Houghton-
Mifflin CO., publishers Boston.
Today Robert L. Lee belongs not to the
south alone. but to the whole nation
and it is time that the story of his life
should be told from a national point of
view.
Such biography has at least been
written by Prof. j. G. deRoulhac Hamil-
ton of the University of North Caro-
lima, and Mary Thompson Hamilton UNI
der the title THE Life of Robert e. Lee
for Boys and Girls"
Although told throughout with sim
plicity and vividness that makes it es-
pecially good for young people, the book
is no less valuable for grown men and
women: for in completeness and accuracy
it leaves nothing to be desired.
Everyone knows something of Lee, but
it is astonishing how few people have a
really comprehensive knowledge of his