The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-12-07

|, tire range of y-day knowledge, and
has been arranged in such a form that
any child may now find the answer to
his own inquiries.
AS the mind of the child natures, the
questions naturally drift toward the
things which the genius of man has
provided for his comfort and pleasure.
We have become so accustomed to the
use and benefits of these wondess pro-
duced by man that we generally leave
out of our books the stories of our
great industries, and yet the mind of
the child wonders and inquiries about
| them. We. have so long worn clothes
made of wool cotton that we have
forgotten the wonder there is in MAX
ing a bolt of cloth. Every industry
has a fascinating story equal to that
of the silkworm, which moves it's head
s. times minute while spinning his
thousands yards of silk.
Can you tell what happens when we
telephone? How a telegram gets there?
What makes an automobile go? How
man learned to tell time? How n NOV
| ing picture is made? How a camera
takes a picture? How rope is made?
How the light gets into the electric
bulb? How glass is made? How the
| music gets into the piano? and hum
dreds of others that embrace the cap
tivating tales of how man has made
use of the wonders of nature and
turned them to his advantage and com
/ fort? The book of wonders does this
with Illuminating pictures which slim
ulate the mind and give bird's-eye
view of each subject step by step.
Where shall such book begin?
| Shall it begin with the story of how
man learned to light fire-he could
not cook his food, see at night, or keep
warm without a fire; or should it begin
| with how man learned to shoot-he
could not protect himself against the
| beasts of the forest, and, therefore.
could not move about till the soil or OBJ
tain food to cook until he knew how
to shoot or destroy.
/ What was the vital thing for man to
| know before he could really become
civilized? Some means, of course, by
which the things he learned. the-knowl-
edge he had acquired--could be hand
ed down to those who came after him
so that they might go on with the in
telligence handed down to them. This
required some means of recording his
knowledge Man has to learn to write.
Without writing there could be no
Book of Wonders" and the book then
begins naturally with the story of how
| man learned to write.
capt. ZILLNER: A HUMAN DOCU-
MENT."
| By Rudolf Jeremias Kreutz. ITranslat-
ed by w. J. Alexander Worster).
George II. Doran Co.. Publishers, New
York city.
In Captain Zillner" novel of the
war originally published in Scandi-
navia we have book of intense revolt
against war which has appeared in all
the languages of the combatant ma
tions. AS the first picture for American
eyes of the real conditions in Austria
during the war. this book has par
| ticular interest.
Here the story of the Austrian army
| is told with a death of careful detail.
| It's pictures of the front line are bril-
liant and spoiled with no false senti-
ment Of the fighting men and the
| lighting officers the author writes with
affectionate insight and esteem, and
with a dramatic power that makes the
reader part of the incidents he fol-
lows. The author unfolds the story of
| this Austrian captain. in Vienna, at
| the front. and in all his stages of awak-
| ening to the horror and hopelessness
that comes to men snatched up In the
| wheels of a modern war
| Vienna with it's brilliant cafe life, the
workings of the army machine, the
| characters of the commanders and
men. the front and it's CHASTITY blunders
are all told with a frankness and con-
vincing detail that are fearfully fas-
! cinating.
austrian distrust of Prussia and