Evening star., 1923-11-24
The Library Table
BY THE BooKLoyER

''Aoush hoiuS ana along streams. or
over sands and rocks by the sea;
that type Is the nature essay. When
the summer rambles are over, an es-
say or Thoreau. John Burroughs or
w. II. Hudson, read by the fireplace,
is not a bad substitute. with Tho
reau we can spend "A Week on the
concord and Merrimac Rivers" or
Visit walden" or make excursions
In Field and Forest" John Bur-
roughs, who lived In Washington for
nine years. will take us in his es-
says 10 many places around the Cap
ital and show us their beauties in ALI
seasons He will teach us "The Ways
OF, OF nature" and tell US Something of
signs and Seasons"
w. III. Hudson, who died only a short
time ago, devoted his life. as did BUR
roushs' to the enjoyment, the study
ana the recording of the beauties and
"onoers or nature. His books arc all
SO delightful that 1t is hard to make
cho1ce among them for any par
tlcular hour of reading. idle Days
IA shnat;' srhatatgonia'" Hampshire Days"
Long Ago" and "A Hind in Richmond
Park are among his best. Hudson
was an ornithologist; SO also was
william Beebe, another essayist in
whose work science and literature
are harInoniously mingled. An essay
ny William Beebe may frequently be
i9und IN the Atlantic Monthly. and
his hooks include Jungle Peace"
the Edge OF the Jungle" Two
Hirdlovers in Mexico" The Log Of
Wilderness"
A French naturalist who wrote es-
says so artistic in style that he
was criticized by some scientists for
making his work too popular was
Jean Henri Fabre. Victor Hugo called
him the Homer OF the insect world,
and Darwin "a savant who thinks
like philosopher and writes like a
poet" He lived to an advanced age
ana passed almost his entire life in
the study of insects. He wrote of
moths, spiders, scorpions and other
crawling and buzzing creatures al
most as IL they We're human beings.
Among his writings are epics. idylls,
tragedies, comedies. farces, of the in
sect world. The results of his de-
votion to his subject are ten volumes.
entitled souvenirs Entomologiques
Practically all of Fabres work is
now available in translation. Two
volumes have recently been pub
lished: This Earth of Ours" and
THE Life of the Scorpion" An in
teresting biography of Fabre Is The
Human Side OF Fabre," by Percy +.
Blcknen.
At frequent intervals some novel is
written which might be a document of
the AntiSaloon League, so powerful
is its prohibition argument. Such a
novel was Jack London's John Bar
ieycorn." A particularly tragic story
of this style is Gertrude Athertons g
"A Daughter of the Vine" Its out
come is. like the catastrophe in the
classic tragedies of fate, a foregone
conclusion. We know from the start
that the dice are all loaded against
Nina Randolph. Heredity and early
vicious training have made her chance
in life very poor one. but In addi-
tion, whenever she seems to be max
ing a fair fight against these two
handicaps. an evil fate. or the author,
deals her an extra gratuitous piece OF
bad luck. 1t is no wonder that after
succession OF such blows she con-
ceives of herself as born under an ad-
verse star, gives up the struggle and
rapidly sinks to such a level that san
Francisco society knows her no more.
Her lover. an Englishman Of strong,
her salvation, is at every crisis rem
dered unable to help her. again either
because of an unkind fate or the in
tent of the author. Nina's mother
Or. Richard Clough, are two as good
stage villains as are often found in
modern fiction.
K =
The newspaper furnishes such a
large part Of the reading of most
people, including the Booklover and
those like him, whose inclination,
habit and vocation lead them to read
4 multitude of books, that books de-
voted TO the press are always in
teresting. This is especially true of
the newly revised edition of the
History of American Journalism." :"
by Prof. James Melvin Lee, director
of the department of journalism of
New York University. This inter
esting and scholarly work traces the
American newspaper from its earliest
beginning in the hroadsides publish
ed in New England in colonial days.
and shows it's intimate connection
with American history, politics and
literature. II is a perfect mine Of in
formation not only of the standard
facts about great editors and cele-
brated papers, but also of odd, curious
and out-of-the- way sheets, characters
and events In American newspaper
history. In the new chapters added
to the present edition are to be found
an account of wartime Journals m
and discussion of such topics as the
adless newspaper. the municipal
newspaper, the Associated Press and
other news services. press censor
ship. the suppression of news, the in
fuence of advertising, the unfairneSS
of papers. signed editorials and pres
ent day tendencies in journalism.
* x
The pathetic quest of the slightly
crippled heir to an English estate
after love and a mate is the subject
of Loves Pilgrim" by J. D. Beres-
ford The book is not of the serious
type to which belong THE House in
Demetrius Road" and "The Early His
tory of Jacob Stahl" and its two Sc
auels 1t belongs rather with the au-
thor's lighter works. such as The
Jervafse Comedy" and THE Prisoners
of Hartling." The plight of the sem
sitive, romantic Innes-Foster seems
hopeless after three successive love
affairs have ended in failure, but the
fourth attempt is so successful that IT
obliterateS all memory of his past
humiliations. At least 1t is success
| ful from the point of view of his own
ecstatic happiness; as judged by his
mother and the uncle whose heir he
\ is. 1t leaves something to be desired.
AS he enters Ashrenny Court, after a
narrowing adventure, in the middle or
| a wild, stormy night, drenched to the
akin. and so exhausted that he Is al
most supported by Claire, he sees his
mother standing upright and calm
| by the big staircase" Instantly he
knows that the jealousy and haughti-
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