Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-06-23
The Library Table
BIZ THE BOOKLOvER.

could De taken ike pills with q sWel-
low of water is one often discussed
both seriously and loosely. To the
nervous dyspeptfc such a discovery
would be a blessing. to the overbur-
dened housewife 1t might be a well
come means of relief. but to the cpl
cure 1T would seem like the end of all
Eating Is by no means merely
a unitarian exercise; 1t is also one
Of the most popular and universal of
This Is so much the case
that there are few people who do not
thoroughly enjoy reading about meals in
fiction.
Dickens is the great gastronomist
OF fiction. There is hardly a novel of
his which does not describe a cozy
tea, a steaming dinner or a sub
stantial meal at an inn-and then In
addition there are all the drinks!
Historic all are the inn breakfast at
which the kindly waiter helps hungry
little David Copperfeld to eat his
chop and drink his ale; the bedside
teas Of Sarah Camp. which include
evitable gin, "a bit OF picked sal
mon." "a mossel Of cheese" and "a
the roast goose and
plum pudding Of Tiny Tins Christmas
dinner: as well as the sulphur and
m n mol .s meals at Dotheboys Hall
starved Oliver Twist wanted some
more.
Scott. too. is not averse to meals
iG af da}a
de5euner composed of a pate de Peri
CORD, a delicate ragout, a ham Of q
wild boar, round loaves Of white
bread. fruit and wine, that Quentin
Durward first meets Louis XII. Dandie
Dinmont and his wife entertain
Harry Bertram, in Guy Mannering,"
at their border farmstead with
couple or fowls. a huge piece Of cold
beer ham. eggs, butter. cakes and
barley-meal bannocks. with home
brewed ale.
Shakespeare serves few meals, but
there Is the famous one which
Petruchio takes away from Katherine
in the process OF tanning her. The
ladies in Jane Austens novels and in
Mrs. Gaskelrs Crawford" consume
innumerable teas, always with great
delfcacy. The personageS in more
modern fiction do not seem to be so
well nourished. Perhaps that is why
they are less robust physically.
mentally and morally.
In Lucas Malet's last novel, THE
Survivors" is given still another pic
ture of postwar human wreckage.
The survivors OF warfare are two.
Capt. Braybrooke. hopelessly manned,
still finds hope for the future in his
adoring love for Lady Aylwin. the
presiding deity of the country home
hospital for officers where he has
been cared for. In her love for him
she is old enough to be his mother
there is something unwholesome,
damaging. The other survivor" is
Princess Zavnitska. Russian refugee
in London. She has been a famous
prima donna, with whom Rupert
Seeker. cabinet minister. has in his
youth been in love. impoverished and
aged by the Russian revolution. she
comes to London as the pensioner of
Seeker, who. on meeting her, dis
covers to his own chagrin that Of
his romantic love for her only a
chivalrous sentiment of protection
remains. This is perhaps as well,
since it turns out later that her Rus
sian husband is alive and has escaped
to France. In sense all the char
acters in the book are survivors,"
for all have been deeply affected both
mentally and in their way Of life by
the war.
Ignorance OF the Bible Is so COM
mon among the younger generation
as to be equally shocking to those
who read the Bible daily as part Of
their religious life and to the students
OF literature who realize that the
libraries. A course of study of the
Bible as literature should be part Of
the curriculum Of all schools. for the
Bible contains some of the best
poetry, fiction, history, essays, maxims
and oratory ever written. In his
Confessions of a Booklover," Maui
rice Francis Egan says:
II soon discovered that It was i'm
possible to understand the illusions
in English literature without a
knowledge of the Bible. What would
Ruth among the alien corn mean to
reader who had never known the
beauty of the story of Ruth? And
the lilies of the field. pervading all
poetical literature. would have lost
all their perfume If one knew nothing
Of the Song Of Solomon. He
who does not make himself familiar
with Biblical ideas and raseology
finds himself in after life with an in
complete medium of expression.
Strike the Bible from the sphere of
any mans experience and he is in a
versation which helps to make life
endurable."
Wizardry did not die out with the
middle ages. We have our modern
wizards. more wonderful by far than
those who made wax images Of their
enemies and then melted the images to
cause the death OF the persons repre-
scented. Marconi. Edison and Burbank are
workers OF modern miracles such as the
medieval mind never dreamed. Luther
Burbank has recently been engaged in
writing down his fifty years experience
with plant experimentation and discov-
cry. 1t is published in eight volumes.
with $50 handsome plates in full color.
For the gardener 1t will be invaluable
and for the general reader fairy tale.
1t tells. for example. all about the max
ing Of the white blackberry, why bac-
terial diseases attack plants which are
planted year after year In the same
Mace how to turn white flowers blue,
and how to make bees produce new
flowers.
Soon after the Philippine Islands
came to the United States through
the fortunes Of the Spanish American
war. the name of Jose Rial was
mentioned, for he had been executed
by the Spaniards as a traitor and was
considered by the Filipinos as a hero
and martyr and the greatest man of
the Malay race. He was, 1t appears,
a rather astonishing sort Of universal
genius-a sculptor, painter, an
-te ~ Ysly q n
novelist. a poet, an educator and an
able civil engineer He wrote a
novel, "Noli Me Tangere," which laid
bare the hideous system OF rape,
fraud and terrorism by which the
Spaniards were governing the Philip
hi