Evening star., 1923-10-20
The Library Table
Bx THE BeOKLovER

oftener used in fiction is w. B. Max
wells new novel. The Days Jour-
ney." In explanation of his title the
author quotes on the title page the
following from Fables of an East
ern Land:
"Is life. then. no more than a days
Journey"
L mo more and no less"
But who shall be my companion
for the days journey?"
ut does not matter. Chance will
decide. And one may be as good as
another so that you both keep to-
gether till the journeys end"
Chance decides very early in their
lives that Wilfred Heber and Car
rington Bird are to begin their days
journey together When both are
boys Bird lives with hig parents at
place in Hampshire and Heber spends
his holidays with an aunt in the same
place. They become pals, friends,
companions. inseparables. There is
nothing unusual about this. for they
are nearly of an age; they are thrown
together. and boys must play with
boys. The unusual thing Is that,
through many vicissitudes, including
not very satisfactory marriage on
the part of each, they remain pals.
friends. companions, almost insep-
arables. Heber Is tall, lank and
bilious. both In appearance and dis
position: Bird is short, rotund, bald
and jolly. In their later years, after
the war. when they make their an
nual summer pilgrimage to Beach
End, chiefly for golf, their fellow
members Of the golf club often call
them Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
These same fellow members are also
much annoyed by the incessant and
often violent Quarreling of the two,
and more than one grumbling sug-
gestion Is made that they be asked TO
resign from the club. The life story
of Heber and Bird, often humorous,
often pathetic, is remarkably well
told. They are like many married
couples. who must nag and quarrel,
but cannot get on without each
other. who criticize each other freely,
but rush to the defense Of each other
from outside criticism. A brief but
effective climax in their story is
which both are participating actively
In spite of middle age, each believes
the other to be killed or wounded in
dangerous night expedition. and
goes back, under heavy shell fire, in
the darkness, through the mire, to
find his pal. We are glad that they
find each other, glad also that the
book ends with them both still alive
and with, as Bird says, some happy
years before US both yet. old boy"
= X
Astronomy stripped of mathemat-
zeal science and embellished by
imagination forms the subject mat
ter of Camille Flammarion's new
book, Dreams of an Astronomer"
The author is one Of the most noted
popular astronomers of France, and
for years has also been an ardent de-
fender OF various theories OF spirit
ualism. The present book opens with
the author seated at a window in
Venice, on a clear night, gazing at
the moon. planets and stars and al
lowing his mind to wander where it
VIII among the unprovable possibil-
tiles of the universe. Some of these
possibilities are that Mars is in
habited and that its people are so
far superior to those of our world
that we cannot even conceive their
intellectual life. and that the citizens
of Mars have for centuries been try
ing to communicate with astronomers
on our planet Flammarion's discus
sion of the relativtty of time Is In
teresting and more lucid than much
of Einstein's theory of relatively.
Time. he says, is merely relative to
human state of mind. When one Is
asleep, seven or eight hours seem
no more than as many minutes. If
TO exist. The publication OF "Dreams
of an Astronomer" recalls the fact
that Flammarion's trilogy on psychic
research was recently translated into
Death" "At the Moment Of Death"
and After Death" In these volumes
he attempts to prove by nearly 5000
authentic incidents the continued ex-
istence of the soul after death.
x X
The Gentleman With a Duster."
who caused so much guessing a few
years ago with his Mirrors of Down
ing Street" has published new book,
intended to be the story of the de-
velopment of the human mind. 1t is
called Seven Ages: A Brief and Sim
pie Narrative of the Pilgrim Age of
the Human Mind as 1t Has Affected
the English-speaking World" The
seven ages are the periods Of Soc
rates. Aristotle. Jesus, Augustine.
Erasmus, Cromwell and Wesley. The
author believes that these great men
originated most existing philosophi-
cal viewpoints and methods of
thought. Nothing has seriously or
permanently displaced their teach
ings. which are still powerful in their
influence over modern life.
X x
Chinese literature Is discussed au-
thoritatively and interestingly in the
new edition of "a History of Chinese
Literature" by Herbert A. Giles, pro-
fessor of Chinese in Cambridge Uni
versity, who was at one time a Brit
ish consul in China. The author has
divided his book into eight sections,
according to dynasties. He shows the
general course of literature and the
special forms that predominated un-
der each dynasty. Considerable at
tention is given to the Chinese drama,
which began in the thirteenth CEN
tury, including the peculiar Chinese
technique Of the stage.
"Girth Control is the humorous I'll
tie of a humorousiy serious book by
Henry T. Finck. 1t is book which
should be read by every one who tips
the scales at a figure beyond that al
lowed by life insurance tables for his
age and height. The solution of the
problem of overweight. the author
says, is slow eating. simple foods.
deep breathing and plenty of outdoor
exercise. Mr.. Finck believes that
Oxygen gluttons" are the only ex-
cusable ones. Since the person who
is fleshy eats for pleasure, not for
flesh, why does he not "eat with his
nose"-that Is, eat a small amount.
very slowly, and enjoy the odor and
flavor? A tribute is paid to DR.. Har-
vey w. Wiley for his fight on adulter-
nt tod and driIpped foods There a