davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

from flows his present strangcness.
there is hardly word of his beloved
Kathleen in this volume few lines
called "An Irish Airman Foresees His
bcath' give the only message:
Know that shall meet my fate
T12,neWhere anons the clouds above;
Those that ] guard do not love;
Ny country is kiltartan Cross.
KY countrymen ktltarlan's poor.
no likely end could bring them loss
or leave them happier than before
There is the method of the true
scholar in Lady Gregory. and her work
gloWs with the spirit Of poet as well.
mat is a rare conjunction, and this
nttlc volume of translations from the
Cache is Its precious product. The
originals came from the lips of the
Irish people, farmers and potato dig
gers and old men in warehouses and
bcggars at the door," as Lady Gregory
writes IN her Introduction, as interest
ing as any part Of the book. An Aran
man, repeating to her "Thc Grief of a
Girfs Heart in Irish, told her it was
with that song his mother had often
sung HIM to sleep as a child. at was
from an old woman who had known
Mary Hyncs and who said of her The
sun and the moon never shone upon
anything so handsome that | first
heard Raftery's song of praise of her"
Ihero Is group of poems by Raftcry,
and they are all of high quality. "Prose
translations" Lady Gregory calls her
pieces, and most of them are printed as
prose. A few, and among them one of
the best, "a Lament for Fair Haired
noNough That Was Hanged in Galway, -
are printed rs verse spaced prose
would be more accurate term Be-
yond these minstrel songs of Ireland.
running back to the Chaucor davs.
stand the old legends, the heroic poems.
of Cuchulain and Deirdre and Grania.
and Lady Gregory has included mum
Der of these. Part of the material has
appeared in earlier volumes, and the
effort here is to display the genius of
old Irish poetry in its various aspects.
Lady Gregory speaks feclingly of
the preponderance of lament and justi-
iies it in the history of her people.
Whatever the cause, it is the one weak
ness Of the volume, welding the
monotony of q pail. 1t is not re-
curing strain of melancholy as in
Polish music, for instance, which
blares forth its gorgeous polonaiscs
IN the midst of detection. 1t is habit
of thought that masters subject and
manner equally, as in a woman who
mourns lost child to the blasting o.
her whole later life and household.
Both Of these little volumes have
much beauty and both will be doublv
welcome for their utter disconnection
with the war and its works. 1t is onlv
when one tries to comprehend what
must have been happening or not hap
pening in these sensitive Celtic souls
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
By Haywood Broun

Fake ssl pages Price. s3.'5. Houshton. Mn
fsa Company.
Professor George Pierce Baker does
NOT assert that his book is a short cut
for dramatists. On the whole he is
more concerned with telling beginners
,bat they must not do rather than
what they must do. After all this
serves the useful purpose Of clearing
the ground. 1t is undoubtedly feasible
60 teach playwriting apprentices the
things they must not do. 1t is per-
hans debatable whether any great
nrogress can be made in helping the
worker in any art to the things which
aro creative and positive.
Professor Baker has excellent evi-
dence to prove that many ambitious
roung dramatists are handicapped from
tho beginning by the fact that they do
not Srow the very rudiments of COM
position for the stage. There is sup
mort for the policy of beginning from
the ground upward in the following
quotation from an article by Henry W.
Savage. the we'll known manager,
which was printed in The Bookman"
several years ago:
MANY Of the manuscripts which are
sent to the New York managers are
such impossible oddities that few read
srs would REGARD description of them
es really accurate. 1t was The priv
jeee of the writer to look over col
lection OF plays that has been mailed
recently to several of the theatrical
. Offices, and among the number, he
came across q dozen that were each
about fifteen to twenty pages in length.
This included the scenic descriptions
md stage directions. Such plays is
enacted, would be Of about ten to
eleven minutes duration instead of
two and quarter hours. Three manu-
scripts, called for from ninety to one
hundred characters and from nine to
fourteen different scenes. Eight
manuscripts were divided into nine
acts each and judging from their
thickness, would have run on for days,
after the fashion OF Chinese drama.
One play was laid in the year 2200
A. D., and called for twelve actors to
portray "the new race of men"-each
man to be at least seven feet tall.
These characters we're to make all their
entrances and exits in airships. Sew
eral manuscripts that the writer ex-
amined would have required profess
sioral strong men in their enactment,
so different we're the physical feats
outlined for some of the actors"
BIT Professor Bakers book is by no
means devoted solely to such rudi-
mentary propositions as that play
with one hundred characters can
hardy ind a place on the modern
stage. Many nice points of dramatic
practice are discussed at length. The
author serves to make his opinion not
only clear but weighty by a constant
recourse to specific illustrations. The
underlying thesis of the book is that
In spite Of the frequent change in
dramatic styles there is a certain resi-
due Of permanent technique. Accord
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
TIERS BOOK TO AID FZEDGLLNG PLAYWRICIzTS

mcnt, characterization, dialogue, max
ing scenario, and the dramatist and
his public.
dramatic Technique' may never
make a playwright. bat it should start
Z certain number in the right direction.
The author realizes all the handicaps
which surround the teaching OF play
writing, and it is this very keen reali-
zaton which makes his book the bost
one yet published on the subject. His
own estimate Of the book, stated in the
preface, is eminontly fair. This book"
he says, tries in the light of historical
practice merely to distinguish the per
manent from the impermanent in tech
nique. 1t endeavors, by showing the
inexperienced dramatist how expert
enccd dramatists have solved problems
similar to his own, to shorten little
the time of ship"
There is every reason to believe that
the book will live up TO this cndeavor.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
Dramatic Apprenticeship
Shortened by e q k G T.
Now Book bv Harvard u rofessor Seeks TO Point
Out What Things in Theatrical Technique
Seem To Be Of Perm anent Value

ingly, Baker supports some contention
Or other by scene from "Othello"
and then proceeds to prove it by an
other scene from Edgar Sclwyns,
"1hc Country Boy" One Of the most
interesting chapters in the book con-
Germs The highly controversial subject
of dramatic action. On this theme the
author is more liberal than the aver
age New York manager who is often
inclined to think that dramatic action
is necessarily physical action and that
any play without three murders, two
rapcs and one mayhem "lacks Incl
dent"
"In brief writes Baker in arguing
for q broader Interpretation of the
word faction" marked mental ac-
tivity may be quite as dramatic as
mere physical action. Hamlet may sit
quietly by his fire as he speaks the
soiiloquy TO be, or not to be- yet by
what we already know of him and
what the lines reveal, we are moved
to the deepest sympathy for his tor
turcd state"
His final word on the subject is we'll
expressed in the summary, I'VE may
arouse emotion in an audience by mere
physical action; by physical action
which also develops the story, or illus
trates character, OK does both; by men
tai rather than physical action, if
clearly and accurately conveyed to the
audience; and even by inaction, II
characterization and dialogue by means
Of other figures are of high order"
In fact in the last analysis Baker
shows that the emphasis on action
merely for the sake Of action is due
to misconception of the fundamental
need Of drama. "Whilc action is pop
ularly held to be central in drama"
he writes, "emotion is really the essen
tial. Because it is the easiest express
sion of emotion TO understand, ply
steal action which without illuminate
ing Characterization and dialogue can
express only a part of the world of
emotion. has been too often accepted
as expressing all the emotion the stage
can present.
Professor Baker is sceptical of most
attempts to define drama or to reduce
it to a formula. He prints Brunctiere's
fine definition, "Drama is the repre-
sentation of the will of man in con-
trast to the mysterious powers of
natural forces which limit and belittle
us; it is one of US thrown living upon
the stage, there to struggle against
fatality. against social law, against one
of his fellow mortals, against himself,
if need be, against the emotions, the in
terests. the prejudiccs, the folly, the
maleVOlence OF those around him.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
New Land Laws S
Urged by Howe
In Recent Book
Close Study Of Reforms III
SSIhc land and the Sol.
tlier7 to Meet Conditions
of To-day

Frederic G. Hove Price SI.25. AS
pages. Charles Scrbners Sons.
While the bands are playing and
Welcome home committees are in a
state of pleasurcable agitation there
may intrude into the mind of the plain
citizen watching the parade from the
curb the disturbing consciousness that
the preparations for receiving the SOL
dicr back into civil life are somewhat
inconclusive. This unworthy thought
will doubtless be pushed back by the
reflection that plenty of experts arc
at work on the problem, and that
things viii somehow adjust them
solves. They always do. And any
way. there is always the ancient gen
erosity OF the bestowal of lands of
the public domain as way Of grace
full retreat.
1t is this phase Of the problem that
Dr Howe opens up to searching con-
sideration in his exceedingly simple
and concise little book, The Soldier
and the Land The magnificent and
sllpshod generosity that followed the
Civil War is no longer possible We
have no more vast areas Of new Lands
to give to the returned soldier And
the failure Of giving away stretches
Of land too large to be worked with
small capital is demonstrated by what
has happened to the majority Of these
quartersections. They have been
sucked into The holdings of large com
panies, while the number of tenant
q
With deep intelligence DR.. Howe
sees IN the reinstatement of the sol
dier on the land more than the solu-
ton of pressing and immediate neccs-
sity. 1t is a test Of the resiliency of
our democracy. To be SUCCESSFULLY ac-
complshed it must be accompanied by
farreaching agrarian reforms - re
forms over which we have quibbled
and haggled in pre-war days. 1t means
the fostering of the new farmer with
credits. loans and expert assistance
from the government. 1t means safe
guarding him from eXploitation-w which
in turn means the control Of transpor-
tatlon and Of markets. 1t means bring
ing the sociaNzing influence of modern
ilfe to the farm. Dr.. Howe has made
wide survey Of farm conditions in
many countries and professionally of
fers the idea Of a small model farm
community based on the most success
full experiments of this sort conducted
IN Denmark, New Zealand and our own
Cahtornla. The particular scheme it
self is not the theme of the book. It's
goal is the realization that the whole
condition of the farmer stands in radi-
cal need OF revision if the soldier who
returns to the land is to have a fan
chance
To turn him out to follow the chimcrs
Of the farm reclaimed from waste
lands. unsupported by group action, un-
der the old handicapped conditions o.
the farm worker is to insure his aban-
donment of the farm for good, hi,
drifting back to the cities-and tht
consequent slums and unemployment
To prevent this the same boldness o
imagination is needed which has ac
complishcd fresh and unheard o
things during the var. To do less thar
the utmost is to fail entirely.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

TIE IETTEES OF ALGERNON CHARLES
SWINEUENE." Edited by Edmund Cossc L. D
and Thomas James Wise II two volumes Pub
lished by John Lane Co. COO pages. Price )
per set.
The first comprehensive edition of
Swinburnc's letters comes in too late
to be reviewed in this weeks Tribune
1t viii be commented upon next Satur-
day, but as a forerunner the following
letter may suggest something of the
quality of the book. The quotation is
from letter to Edmund Clarence Sted-
man, written in 1875:
"Your rcbuke on tho subject Of
American poetry is doubtless as we'll
deserved as it is kindly and gently cx-
pressed. Yet | must say that while [
appreciate Il hopc) the respective ex-
cellence of Mr.. Bryant's Thanatopsis
and of Mr.. Lowell's Commemoration
Ode, cannot say that either of them
leaves in my ear the echo of single
note of song. 1t is excellent good
speech, but if given us as song it's
first and last duty is to sing The
one is most august meditation, the
other a noble expression of deep and
grave patriotic feeling on supreme
national occasion; but the thing more
necessary, though it may be less noble
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
Yeats ForsaIxes Ills Lutte
For Clanggor of CymbaIs
Softer Music in Lady Cregory's New Volume
--Aline kilmer's B ool of Short Verse

TIE Wild SWANS AT cooLB. BY
w. r. Yeats. ia PIP. The Macmillan
Company
TIE KILTARTAN POETRY BooK. BY
Lady Gregory. 112 Up. z. b. Putnam's
Sons.
Something has plainly happened to
Mr.. Yeats's immortal soul. The soft,
wan beauty OF thought and line has
largely disappeared. He thinks almost
sharply with something very close to
cynicism for stanzas at a time; and,
stranger yet, with humor, as if Mr.
George Moore had put something in his
tea. His style is crisp in spots and
crude in others, Intentionally crude, as
if he had wearicd of the monotony of
the lutte and must have the clangor of
cymbals in his ears. Think of Mr..
Yeats forsuking his bcan-rows and wat
tles for such fun as this:
Sang Solomon to Shcba.
And kissed her duskv face.
AN day long from mid day
We have talked in tho one place.
an day long from shadowless noon
We have gone round and round,
In tho narrow theme OF love.
Like an Old horse in pound"
The title poem has been critici ised
for the crudities and uneven flow. But
it is a work Of great beauty, and,
barring q rather weak cnding-and Mr..
Yeats has often had trouble with his
last lincs-it seems to us of Mr.. Yeats s
best. Oddly enough, the lines of two
stanzas hold an emotion like that Of
Bryant's code to n Water Fowl" Chat
Peter Ibbctson helped make famous)
poles apart as the two poems are:
| have looked upon those brilliant creatures.
And now my heart is sore
All's changed since I. hearing at twilight.
The first time on this shore;
Tho hcll-hcat OF their wings above my
head
rrod with a lighter tread.
Unwcaricd stil, lover by lover.
They paddle in tho cold.
Comparatively bic streams or climb the air.
Their hearts have not grown cold.
Passion or conquest, wander where they
Will,
Attend upon them stil.
Somewhat aloof is Mr.. Yeats in Sim
I'cin Ireland of to-day. Perhaps there
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
SHALL NOT BE AFRAID

shall not be afraid any more,
Either by night or day:
What would it profit me to be
afraid
With you away?
Now I am brave. In the dark
night alone
All through the house go,
Locking the doors and making
windows fast
When sharp winds blow.
For there is only sorrow in my
heart,
There is no room for fear.
But how wish were afraid
again,
My dear, my dearl
--Aline kilmer.
From candles That Burn"
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
'"The Greater Patriotism"
Speeches of John L. CrifisIs
Gathered in Book

"THE GREATER PATRIOTISM: PUBLIC
ADDRESSES BY JOHN LEWIS GRlF-
tlTHs. $50 pages. john Lane Com
pauy.
After a more or less active legal
and political career in his native state
of Indiana. Mr.. Grifths accepted an
appointment as American consul at
Liverpool in 1905. He was later trans
fcrred to the more important post at
London, and spent his time in England
almost uninterruptedly until his death
in 1914. In the performance OF his
functions he missed no opportunity to
promote friendship and understanding
between the two English-s speaking peo-
Pies The speeches included in the
present volume, digntied, felicitous,
touched with certain oldfashioned
exubcrancc and richness of diction, al
most invariably lay stress upon the
community of spiritual and intellectual
ideals between the two countries.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
Ar11on,s e e Those Present

THE LORDS OF THE WILD. BY Jo-
seph a. Altsheler. Illustrated. PIP.
29s. Price $3.50. D. Appleton & Co.
A picturesque account Of American
life during the French and Indian Wars,
in which Robert Lennox, young
American, Willett, hunter. and Ia
yoga, an Onondaga Indian, engage in n
succession Of battles and manage to
make several miraculous and thrilling
escapes from the enemy.
RUNNING EAGLE. BY James Willard
Schultz. Illustrated. PIP. 81. Price
Sl35. Houghton Miillin Company.
The story of mak-an, or Run
ming Eagle, a maiden warrior of the
Blackfoot tribe. The book is written
by man who is himself Blackfoot
by adoption, and dedicated to Mary
Roberts Rinehart, the second woman
to bear the Blackfoot name Pitamakan.
TWEEDIE, The Story of True Heart
Bv Isla May Mullins. Illustrated.
Dp. -JI, L iltc pI.JO. hO HbN NSiiA
pany.
All about Ruth, girl who makes up
her mind she is going to be an author
and adopt a baby and forswear any
man as a husband, with the inevitable
marriage in the last chapter. Tweedie,
another one of the glad" people who
seem to exude optimism in inverse
ratio to their apparent blessings, has
much to do with Ruth's change of
heart.
SPEARS OF DESTINY. BY Arthur D.
Howden Smith. PIP. 342. George H..
Doran Company.
Laid in the latter half Of the twelfth
century, this book deals with the gay
panoply of love and war during the
third Crusade Sir Hugh de Chesby,
lad of Norman descent, leaves Eng
land to join the crusaders and follow
to Constantinople his onetime play
mate, the Lady Edith Halcroft. The
natural vicissitudes Of travel during
that era, coupled with intrigue and
war. add to Hughs difficulties; but
eventually the two are united as Con
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

DORMITORY DAYS. BY Arthur Stan
wood Pier. Illustrated. PIP. 296.
Price $l50. Houghton Miflin Com
pany.
Lake Piers other books, this one pict-
urcs life at St. Timothy's School, and
is live with baseball. football, tennis
and the good-natured rivalry Of boys
in the upper forms Barnard, more
interested in athletics than in the
proper length of cuff and cut of waist
coat; Whitney, nearing the cane and
girl age; Tallentyre, whose southern
father had fought in the Confederate
army at the age of fifteen, and Roger
in boarding schools eNerywhere.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

."poEMs." By Michael Strange. Price
$50. l72 pages Brentano's.
Michael Stranges volume is re
viewed in spite of the fact we have
not read his book through to the end
1t does not seem to us significant
or sincere piece of work Ungainly
phrases are not necessarily strong
phrases. Pose is marked in the book.
We are thinking, for instance, Of The
poem "To Mademoiselle Leginska.
which begins "Swift, powerful hands
insistently naked We think that
even a poet should not be surprised
to find pianist playing without the
aid of mittens. Again, we wonder just
what Michael Strange means in the
same poem when he speaks of "Your
barcbacked personality Personally,
we rather think the phrase should
have been saved for poem to Mary
Garden. And yet no line in the col
lection has impressed itseIt so strong
ly upon our imagination as the refrain
of Fifth Avenue and Forty-sccond
Street" with its plant an bunches,
always In bunches.'
HEYWOOD BROUN.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19
NIXOIA OF WALL STREET. Bv Felix

$50. The Century Company.
romance of the business world
in which Nixola, private secretary,
makes her stand for capabiity in a
woman and against the complete bust
ness absorption OF the modern man.
Incidentally, the author takes his
knock at the present fetch Of Efficiency
and System.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

that the war returns to bother and per-
pick. The silence of Mr.. Yeats be-
comes as clamorous as his wild swans.
No wonder it is hard for the rest of
the world to understand this strange,
aloof and stricken people!
GEOFFREY PARSONS.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

stantinople falls and Baldwin II be-
comes Emperor OF the Roman Empire.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

- LES LIZA lSU KIN. by Aline
Kilmer- Price Sl.95. Gs pages. George
II. Doran Company.
Aline Kilmer's small volume of verse
is skilfuNy done. Melody is never
absent. Much OF it is pretty. Occa-
sionally it is a good deal more than
that. There is whimsy and humor in
the verse, and once or twice a surge
of appealing emotion In the lighter
vein The Mothers Helper" is perhaps
among the best. "EXpcrience" is also
charming.
81 Shall Not Be Afraid" seems to us
the most significant poem in the book.
This is good versifying, but in this
poem, more than in any of the others,
The reader appreciates the form with
out being acutely conscious of it. It
IS not so much a little poem as poem.
OF course, the effect is helped in the
mind of every reader by the circum-
stances under which the poem was
written, but above all that we think
Mrs. kilmer has written truthfully as
we'll as beautifully.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

CANDLES THAT BURN" BY AIine
killner Price Sl.95. 6s pages. George
II. DOran Company.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-19

from flows his present strangeness.
There is hardly a word of his beloved
Kathleen in this volume A few lines
called AN Irish Airman Foresees His
peatI' give the only message: