davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
Books and Overalls

We mentioned in the Gallery re-
Gently our interest in learning from
John Emerson and Anita LooS in their
book Breaking Into the Movies that
many movie directors were formerly
automobile mechanics. The Informal
ton seemed to us to explain part of
the trouble with the movies. Just now,
in an article by Charles r. Walker.
Jr.. on What the Worker Reads" in
the current issue of The Bookman.
we have observed Mr. Walkers men,
ton Of helper on blast furnace who
was also a scenario writer This man
was illiterate and dictated his stuff to
friend
"I have a book" he told Mr.. Walker.
"that tells you the dope. no write
myself I dictate. no write English"
He was Serb
Mr. Walker spent two years in over
alls. working in steel mils. rubber
factories, refineries. What the worker
reads. he points out. depends on how
much "unfatigued leisure" he has. II
ne puts in ten hours mauling a 200
pound bar of redhot metal he prob.
ably reads nothing.
Even more than the New York
cummuter." says Mr.. Walker "the
workman who -eads anything beyond
the number on his time check reads
the newspapers
Such voracious readers as Mr..
Walker found were all exceptional
And their tastes varied just as widely
az those of any other readers. THE
matter Of fact working man reads "A
Manual for Sheet Metal Workers and
The Whole Art of Molding.' &C.; the
aspiring working man. the Alexander
Hamilton Business Course; the &C.
clesastical. the Bible and the Fathers:
the historical. Duruy, Gibbon and Mr..
Wells"
We are looking for the man who
reads Gibbon nowadays.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
The Dagger in the Desert

Every now and again, for years
back, there has flashed through our
mind a mistily remembered incic snt
in a book we read by Capt, Mayne
Reid when we were small boy. Some
where in that book the villain OF
the story, alone in the desert with an
other man, stuck q dagger-or was 1t
dirk--in the sand and bade his VIC
tim look at it. when the dirk no
longer casts shadow" he said, with
one of those thin villainous smiles,
you die"
We can't remember whether we ever
read anything else by Mayne Reid, and
worst of all we cannot remember the
name of the book we refer to. That
dagger in the desert has stuck firmly
in our mind about eighteen years. but
we are not able for the life Of us to
recall a single other incident in the
book or any one of the characters in
the story.
We hope that some one who knows
the book will be good enough to iden-
tify it for us, for we want to read the
dagger incident again. just to see If
we get the thrill that came with the
first reading.
And while we are on the subject of
The New York herald., 1922-01-15

are here dealt with are more extreme
sex impressions than. fortunately.
come the way of the majority of girls
living in the kind of home she did. In
spite of these and the secret brooding
which ensues. and Notwithstanding
the accusations brought against her
at school of corrupting another girls
mind by the things she discusses. she
reveals herself essentially healthy
minded. sweet and guileless.
What stands out chiefly is the pitiful
mistake made. first by the mother in
not giving che right information in
time to be of real help, and then by
10th parents in not realizing the
troubled thoughts that prey upon her
We learn that though I'm awfully
fond of mother I can't imagine having
her as friend. There are some things
it's impossible for girl to speak about
to her mother. A mother never knows
what children are talking of together.
Why do mothers not want us TO know?
Mother said II was better for one girl
to tell 1t TO another" So with this
barrier erected Rita follows yelled
hints from other girls. Mysterious
gives little help, but gradually she be-
lieves that almost every word has
second meaning of that sort -one must
be fearfully careful when one is talk
ing. II would be best to make list of
all such words. but there are such
frightful lot Of them that one never
could" other sources are open to
her-highly colored fiction--a woman
OF doubtful character acting for awhile
as French Eoverness--a boy compan-
ion--the coarse minded maid Resi-
ether schoolgirls. The resul. of these
questings is n strange medley OF ex-
aggeration. misinformation. false at
titudes. doubts, suspicious. apprehen-
sions Above all is the necessity for
both Hellas and herself TO guard from
their parents the fact that they know
anything. "Of course. had 10 fib. IL
was absolutely impossible TO tell the
truth. She acted the innocent to her
mother. If she knew nothing at
ALL" Overhearing Hella's father refer
10 them as innocent children, I'VE
did laugh so. we are innocent chill
dren! What our fathers really think
OF us: we Innocent"
All this and much more is a strong
unconscious plea for adequate instruc-
ton given in time to direct the emo
tions in a clean and wholesome way
and TO forestall any mistaken ideas,
and shows us how the policy Of silence
defeats Its own ends at best.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15

professional career, resentful of her
sisters attempts at overlordship, igno-
rant but interested in matters of sex.
During the. three years and more that
she recounts for us her thoughts and
feelings about events we see changes
through a federation of her sister to q
greater companionship with her-the
sex interest very fully aroused but
most imperfectly meta growing ap-
probation OF traits of character in
others--a deepening loyalty to her
special friend.
There is evidenced the heightened
self consciousness. the ready offense
when adults speak to or of her as a
child, the elation over growing up and
attracting attention from men. She
passes through a succession of pseudo
love affairs with boy friend. young
woman whom she names the Gold
Fairy and worships from afar, her
friends cousins, young officers. a sum-
mer hotel acquaintance. Dora is
quoted as saying that Rita has a
fresh enthusiasm each year: last year
II was Frau Doktor Malberg, and this
year it's Professor Wike." Rita tells
us of this last, "He is quite different
from all others. When he strokes his
beard become quite hot and cold
with ecstacy. Hella and take turns
to put our penholder on his desk so
that he can hallow 1t with his hand
as he writes When she gets over
this infatuation she writes. II really
icds madly In love with him." At ID
n long continued admiration for a
woman teacher ripens into a very vio-
tent alteration. when this comes she
compares II with an earlier attach
ment thus: "Jeno does not interest
me i'm the very least. That was not
n real love. don't care for any one
in the whole world except her. my one
and only" We see her writing late
into the night an account of a
heavenly time she and Hella have
when this lady, recently married. in
vites them to call. She winds up.
sleep well, my sweet, glorious. &C.
static, golden and only treasured God.
I am so happyl"
Have we here a normal Develop
ment of young girl, especially in her
marked interest in matters of sex?
The answer must be in the afiirma-
tive. qualified by the circumstances Of
her upbringing. similarly frank
transcription by girls in different en-
vironments, trained with more SYM
pathetic insight. might naturally show
other emphasis.
Crowded into the three years which
The New York herald., 1922-01-15

Neville sent me word this morning
that Bernard Shaw was sitting to him
for his portrait and / looked in (his
house is next to mine) and spent an
hour with him Shaw was in the
papal robes in which Neville is paint
ing him, seated in an ancient cinque-
cento chair. a grotesque figure. with
his trousered legs showing through
the lace Gotta transparent to his
knees. He is an ugly fellow too his
face pasty white. with red nose
and rusty red beard and little slatey
blue eyes. Neville's portrait is won-
derfully like. Shaw's appearance.
however, matters little when he begins
to talk. II he can ever be said to be-
gin, for he talks always in his fine
Irish brogue. His talk is like his
plays. a string of paradoxes, and he
is ready to be switched on to any sub
ject one pleases and to talk brilliantly
IN all.-From my Diaries (1SSS-
1910" by wilfrid Blunt tKnopD.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
Declaration Translated

We are indebted to Earle F. WAL
bridge. librarian Of the Harvard Club
for calling to our attention Mr.
Mencken's inclusion in the appendix to
the new edition of a translation of the
Declaration of independence into
American. Mr.. Mencken states that
although the translation is his own
he had the aid of suggestions from
other scholars.
1T must be obvious" he says, "that
more than one section of the original
is now unintelligible to the average
American Of the sort using the com
mon speech. What would he make
for example. of such a sentence as this
one: He has called together legisla-
tive bodies at places unusual. uncom-
Portable and distant from the deposit
tory of the public records for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into compli-
ance with his measures
Mr.. Mencken's revised version of the
Declaration is a,nusingly impudent.
as was Robert Benchleys use of the
original for an introduction to his vol
ume "Of All Things" We quote part
of the translation in the hope that
somebody has read the document since
he f. st saw a framed reproduction of
j. In school:
When things get so balled up that
the people of country have to cut
loose from some other country, and
go to it on their own hook without
asking no permission from nobody. ex-
cepting maybe the God Almighty.
then they ought to let everybody know
why they done it. so that everybody
can see they are on the level, and not
trying to put nothing over on nobody.
"All we got to say on this PROPOSE
ton is this: first. you and me is as
good as anybody else. and maybe a
damn sight better: second. nobody
amt got no right to take away none
OF our riohts; third. every man has
got right to come and go as he
pleases. and to have good time how
ever he likes, so long as ne don't in
ter'ere with nobody else
"The administration of the present
King. George III. has been rotten
from the start. and when anybody
kicked about II he always tried to get
away with 1t by strongarm work. Here
is some of the rough stuff he has
pulled:
HE made the Legislature meet at
one horse tank towns out in the al
falfa belt, so that hardly nobody could
get there. and most of the leaders
The New York herald., 1922-01-15

T HE announcement that II. L
Mencken had written a book
on 1.-THE American Language
(knopf) amused US to begin with
When we saw. the other day, a copy
of the second and enlarged edition
a stout volume with a bibliog-
raphy of thirty pages we were more
amused than before. We think ii
highly pleasing to discover that Mr.
Menrken, who has thrown more rocks
and hurled more bolts and jabbed
more pins in the general direction of
the academic fraternity in this coun-
try than any one else we can think
of. mas written book with longer
photography than most of those pub
lished by the professors he delights
in boarding.
In it's new form "The American
Language has a most learned look.
But we implore you not to let the
length of the photography, or the size
OF the book, or the scholarly references
which are strewn through it frighten
you away. Nothing strange has hap
pened 10 Mr.. Mencken. He has not
turned sharp in his tracks and become
q pedant over night. What he has
done Is to write much more than we
believed could be written about the
American language as it exists to-day
and the manner of its growth. And
in doing 1t he has beaten the profess
sors at their own game.
For although we have not finished
reading 1.-The American Language" we
are ready to say that 1t is at once
highly interesting and Informative.
Still, we cannot completely share Mr..
Meme ken's faith that I.ardnerian Eng
lish. or something closely resembling
l.. is certain in time to replace the
English OF The univer stiles.
No one can with sureness predict
how far the subtle changes which are
taking place IN the English tongue
VIII go. 1t is possible, of course, that
to readers a thousand years hence, and
perhaps many less than that, the writ
ings and speech OF this day will have
the flavor of pleasant antiquity which
we ourselves now find in the English
Of the Elizabethans. 1t is possible that
the president of Harvard University,
delivering the baccalaureate sermon
to the graduating class of POOL, will
proceed something after this fashion:
"They amt no use for me, boys, to
try to load you up with inside stuff
before you light out for the big town.
You gotta dig that out for yourselves.
They amt thing ! can tell you what
you won't learn better on your own
hook. We done our best to give you
all the dope We got for four years
back. an all I can say is go to It..
There was a guy named Pacon who
once got Off the remark ths' ~ =, ~
too much time in studies is sloth.'
Well, boys. all l cay say is it looks
like you musta been readin' this bird
Bacon. You ain't been s'othful. You
got the pep. Go to it."
II Is possible. we say. but somehow
we can't believe as fervently as Mr..
Mencken. But we are inclined to
agree with him when he says that here
in America we are going to determine
the future form of the language we
brought from England. American. he
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
Reviewed by
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS.

TN this book by competent au-
thority in naval matters We
= need not expect any reference to
American precedents, or facts stated
by American authors. however in
forming or authoritative. British
writer's Oh Japan have most persist
ent habit of ignoring American books.
even when written by eye witnesses
of things seen and described, and de-
spite the fact that the first residents
in Japan and teachers of the English
language were Americans.
An American in "Corea the Hermit
Nation" has already told the story of
the Corean Admiral who, in 1852, in
vented an ironclad ram which ami
hiated the Japanese fleets. The
peninsulars again anticipated Euro
pean civilization" when 9hey in
vented iron bombshells and most eff
fectually used poison gas to destroy
the invaders of their country-of
which. however. the British naval Of
ficer does not tell. Admiral Ballard
has had to depend on other investi
gators in Corean and Japanese his
tory Nevertheless, In no book thus
far written or published is so full
vivid and detailed an account of the
great Japanese invasion of Corea dur
ing the years from 1892 70 1897 Then
the islanders made what they tell in
their nurseries and schools was their
second conquest" of the peninsula
The first made in the second century
is fairy tale exalted into history. but
the second taxed the resources of the
empire. Hideyoshi put across the
narrow sea several hundred thousand
men. These soldiers were fed chiefly
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
The Conservation
of Human Beings

TAKING 1T ON HIGH: BODY
STRENGTH AND BRAIN POWER.
BY r. r. Daniels and Bertrand Lyon
With Program of Daily Exercises
by DR.. William B. Newhall and
Series of Menus and Recipes by Mrs
r. r. Daniels. Bobbs-Merrill Com
pany.
KEEPING FIT AT FIFTY. BY Samuel
G. Blythe. Bobbs-Merrill Company
"HE first treatise is called "a book
for the person who wishes to
L do more. do il better and do it
more easily" The authors say lit
appeals to all who are ambitious to
take It on high to all who would
learn to do big things in big way.
It considers the human physical ma
chine and gives detailed directions for
it's care, for it's conservation. for its
proper fuel and for the most "effi-
cient" way of operating it. The book
Is written in the modern vernacular.
and the analogy of the automobile Is
carried on throughout Strict rules
for diet are given. and in general tn,
attitude of the authors is uncompro.
missing; some of their statements
is simple. sensible and wise. Dr. R. R.
Daniels is the editor of the Hy0ienist
a magazine of health and efficiency"
published in Denver Mr.. Bertrand
4 ie n NJ,
man wants to feed his physical
vitality more than anything else about
his makeup. he is willing perhaps to
concentrate wholly upon that side
This book Is written in the simples.
possible language. and its appeal will
and should be very wide among the
many thousands to whom it is ad-
dressed 70 the highly energetic and
single minded business man. At the
very end the authors sum it up with
a chapter of Practical Working Scbed-
ules," beginning with rising at 6
A. NJ. sponge bath. exercise. morning
toilet. shaving and doing a shor.
walk; a. Z a. NJ morning study
hour. and breakfast at s A. M."-witb
such casual remarks as "avoid tha,
morning coffee and omit that after
breakfast smoke" 1t is counsel of
perfection; but the authors declare
that "if you will spend few minutes
each day following the working sched
ules of this book or applying the prin
ciples outlined. you will double your
physical and mental working force.
These few minutes each day will pay
you rich dividends in abounding
health. real. happiness and actual
dollars"
Samuel c. Blythe has written
much shorter book in the same gen
eral style of expression. in which H.
tells how he got himself into good
working order at so. and he declares
II Is worth while 10 do II. Mr.. Blyth
is a rood humored man and his ad-
vice is given with less thunder OF au-
thority than appears in the Daniels
Lyon volume. but he insists just as
strongly upon certain exercise. diei
ard general good behavior His smile
peyvades his pages. and is pretty good
evidence that he finds something in
life worth living for even under his
prescribed restrictions. 1t seems evi
dent that one may not retain the ful
vigor of youth up to so and be able
TO work like a horse all the time with
out giving up some of those things
which men usually find make life more
agreeable. even II shorter.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
In Which We Consider the Prophecies OF Mr.
Mencken Concerning the American Il an
guage and Try to Find Dagger in the
Desert
BY DONALD ADAMS.

contends. is already spoken by three
times as many persons as the Kings
English. There may come day." he
goes on, when our 'theirns and
'would'a hads will take on the bar
barrie ctateliness of the peasant locu-
tions of old Maurya in Riders to the
Sea-"
1t is fact not to be lightly thrust
aside that much of our periodical lit
erature is already being written-that
is, stories are being told-in the Ian
guage heard on the bleachers at the
Polo Grounds, in the subways, in busi-
ness offices. These published confir-
nations of the changing tongue cannot
but have their effect
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
Reviewed by MARY THEODORA
WHITLEY, Phi. D.
Assistant Professor OF Education of
CoIum bid University.

CoIum bid University.
~ NLY too often we forget. as
l adults. the inner feel of the
years that have gone. and we
affirm. when confronted with adoles-
cent vagaries, that never could we
have had such sentiments or behaved
in this manner. Occasionally II hap
pens 70 us unbelievers to come across
some long forgotten letters. journals
or what-not. and there in black and
white is depicted the being we were.
with the vanities, jealousies, caprices,
longings. vivid thrills and eager
questings now so disdainfully denied.
More often such records. II ever writ
ten. have been long ago destroyed. so
that IL will be all the better for the
sympathies of parents and teachers
to get and read "A Young Girls
Diary" Here have been set down.
with a naive candor that is delight
fully refreshing. the thoughts. hopes,
secret fears and loves during the
years IL to IL. just as they we're felt
at the time.
It ibNit dhAuOIt NiiOhki
crudities in composition characteristic
OF her age, possesses a remarkable
fluency. For American readers IL is
a quantity delightful combination TO
get the Austrian atmosphere inter-
preted in current English schoolgirl
Slang. The translators are to be con-
graduated In having preserved the
vivid directness of the language. as
are also the New York publishers for
having prepared a volume in so at
tractive fashion. The reader may
also be assured that Notwithstanding
an anticipation of vulgarity In a book
prefaced by Freud, there is not
touch of 1t from beginning to end.
The writer belongs to an upper mid
die class family consisting of herself,
a sister Dora, three years older; a
brother three years older yet, and the
adored parents. There is also an init
mate girl friend, Hella, in whose in
terests. indeed, the diary was begun.
We meet at first warm hearted
child. anxously expectant about her
birthday and Christmas gifts, some-
what greedy over candy. keen on
sports Of skating, tennis. tobogganing:
sublimcly Indifferent as to her fathers
The New York herald., 1922-01-15

story of an American girl Of Scottish
blood, bred in one of the Western
States, who married Chan-King Liang
and came to love the ways Of his hon.
orable ancestors. well worth the read
ing.
You will find In 1t a picture of
Chinese life and the Chinese attitude
toward life, written from the most in
innate contact, which makes China
more real than a hundred travel leo
lures and color films could possibly
make it. And that is all aside from
the interest the story has as an appar-
ent sincere personal record Of an un-
usual love affair. and the happy adj
justment of an intermarriage which
the world looks upon askance.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15

books for boys, we want to add few
words of rejoicing over the fact that
the school of Oliver Optic appears to
be dead Some of you must remember
those insufferable young prigs that
Optic wrote about. There was one
book we remember-the title has
slipped from us-in which group of
these budding Galahads formed boat
club. They had a fleet Of eight-oared
and six-oared and four-oared boats,
and no boy could row in one of those
boats who said darn" or who stole ap-
pies from farmers orchards.
They were the most irritating lot of
youngsters that ever found their way
into the pages of story. So far as
we are aware, they and their like have
vanished from Juvenile fiction"
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
THE WHISPERING GALLERY

would stay home and let him go to
work and do things as he pleased.
when a man was arrested and
asked for jury trial. not letting him
have no jury trial."
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
Old China

was concerned, but the old China that
lies back in the hills Of the hinter
provinces We have just caught a
delightful glimpse of it in my Chi
nese Marriage" by M. T. F. (Duffield).
In these days when we in America
are thinking Of China, and the new
relation she is to bear in the recon-
structed world for which we hope. any
book which brings that country and
it's people closer, particularly if it is
a book that penetrates beyond the de-
tached observation Of the traveller. is
certain of attention.
Personally we have found this
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
THE INFLUE

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEA ON
THE POLITICAL HISTORY Oh
JAPAN. BY Viee-Admiral G. A. Bal
lard. E. p. Dutton Co.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
B o o k Exchange.

HIGHEST CASH PRICES PAID FOR
complete libraries and small lots Of hooks
Encyclopaedia Britannica. II edition. BOOK
OF Knowledge and sets Of standard authors
particularly wanted. Calls made anywhere.
THoMS a ERON, INC. "a Barclay ST.. N. Y.
Phone SO62 Cortlandt.
The New York herald., 1922-01-15
The Adolescent Girl Stranger to Her Parents

A YOUNG GIRLS DIARY. Preface by
Sigmund Freud. Translated by Eden
and Cedar Paul. Thomas Seltzer.