Evening star., 1923-04-14
The Library Table
by The BOOklOyer


John Corbin. since a large part of
this city's population is included in
his definition of the middle class. 1t
| comprises all persons who are
| obliged to earn their living by their
brains and not primarily by manual
labor. The class includes. according
TO the author. clerks, professional
men and women, authors and artists,
farmers, small dealers and small
manufacturers: the classification is
designed TO exclude the hand laborer
the other. Mr.. Corbin often refers
To the middle class as the "new poor"
and holds that their new poverty has
been brought about by the recent
crushing burdens laid upon them.
He says:
When wages arc raised and raised
again the capitalist survives by pass
Ing the buck to the consumer. The
whge Garner easily meets the in
creased prices with his increased
wages. But the middlc-class folk,
who cannot pass the buck and whose
| salaries remain relatively stationary.
arc crushed lower and lower in tho
! scale of living"
The worst sufferer of all In the
middle class has been the woman, and
1t is also she--"the valiant woman"
he calls her--who will do most to
pull the class up. lie says:
"If free institutions are to justify
themselves there must be an ever
increasing supply of citizens, well
born. well bred and well educated. To
allow this the middle class must win
fairer economic standing. especial
Iy its women. They must have the
new work and the sufficient pay
without which political equality is a
rnockery Votes for women"
must give way to Jobs for women"
In another place he writes: LAS soon
as children are ia school and college
the mother should have the duty and
privilege OF productive labor, re-
warded by economic standing. only
thus can women find full freedom
In self lf-expression-the opportunity
to render due service as enfranchised
citizens"
Other forces through which the
author expects to see the return of
the middle class are the Industrial
republic and the middle class union
BY the Industrial republic he means a
form of industrial organization by
which capital, brains and labor shall
cooperate. instead of working at
cross purposes as at present. Though
he does not enunciate il, the authors 8
slogan seems To De. BRAIN WcTheTS
Of the world, unite"
* x Il
Archibald Marshall has again re-
turned to the Clinton family, whom
many Of US learned to love in his
five earlier books-his best. l think
THE Squires Daughter" THE
Eldest Son." THE Honor OF the Clin-
tons" THE Old Order Changeth" and
'"The Clintons and Others" In all
these books the twins, Joan and
Nancy, were the most entertaining,
IL not the most serious, characters.
Their youthful escapades. their quar-
rels with each other and their teasing
of their much tried governess, their
growing dignity and Importance, and
finally their love affairs and mar.
riages. were all woven into the mar
rative of the Clinton family. Now
Mr.. Marshall has written another
book in the series. The Clinton
Twins and Other Stories" and we are
able to resume our acquaintance with
piquant Joan and demure Nancy.
* X x
The art of writing correct English
seems to be falling into disuse; or is
there no longer such a thing as
correct English: Is any expression
allowable, if only it is used often
enough? We know that there are
critics who defend the use of its
me" and amt" but we have sus-
picion that when writers Of standing
use what is popularity known as bad
grammar they do so accidentally and
not because they are literary icono-
clasts. The following examples have
been taken from recent books:
J. ST. Loe Strachey, The Adventure
~ ;I-ir o. would
expected TO flop down on their knees.
and again. Every one of my intimate
friends at Balliol were public school
boys
Joseph Hergesheimer, The Bright
Shawl: ut was entered through a
long corridor Of pillars capped in
black onyx with wicker chairs"
Hugh Walpole, The Cathedral:
"Polchester now could boast one of
the richest revenues of any cathedral
took every one and stretched them
upon their backs to dream"
Eden Phillpotts, The Red Red
maynes'': The annual crop of null
berry leaves in the valleys beneath
were we'll nigh exhausted"
The late Mrs. Humphry Ward was
a frequent violator of the rules of
grammar. especially in the novels of
her later years.
1t is reported that one OF our minor
American poets in answer to the
question, What book would you like
most to have written?" replied: The
Home Book Of Verse" The modesty
of the wish can best be appreciated
when It is stated that the last edition
of this portly volume of more than
1000 pages printed on thin Bible
paper contains all of the important
shorter poems in the English Ian
guage, so far as the editor. Burton
E. Stevenson. could secure the con-
sent Of copyright owners for reprint
ing.
Probably the most popular German
writer of the last decade of the nine
teenth century, at least outside his
own country. Hermann Sudermann, was
early in the twentieth century more
or less eclipsed by Gerhart Hauptmann.
when extreme realism began to give
way before symbolism and impress
sionism. Now, after a long silence,
has published. not another
novel, but the story of his early life
under the title "Das Bilderbuch
Meiner Jugend." The narrative be-
gins with recollections of his earliest
childhood in his East Prussian home,
wnere poverty anu ROBUST, "nOieSOme
living were mingled. His school life,
his apprenticeship to the village
chemist, his gymnasium studies and
his first attempts at writing. his
amorous adventures. the university
years, when he became a radical, and
his entering upon literary career
are all described with enthusiasm |
The story stops with his twenty
fourth year. 1t is announced that an |
English edition will shortly be pub |
1fshed. |
X j; X
The revival of interest in Egypt /