Evening star., 1923-06-09
The Library Table
By THE BOOKL0vER

these perennial friends very early in
life. - There Is glamour which
you never see II you begin to read with
a serious intention late in life, when
questions Of technique and grammar and
mere words begin to seem too impor-
tant." This Is the opinion of Maurice
Francis Egan in his Confessions Of
Booklover'-a most delightful book, by
the way, and one to stir pleasant remi-
niscence in all other booklovers. With
respect to the words quoted above, his
experience has also been mine. The
books about which a glamour still
fingers for me are those which j read
or which were read TO me before ! was
fifteen. Scotts Lady Of the Lake"
read aloud to me by my mother during
one summer spent on the shore OF
clear Adirondack lake surrounded by
mountains, always brings back to me
the scene Of its reading In connection
with Scotts own Trossach country.
wildly imagined at the time and visited
some years later. Nicholas Nickleby."
read aloud during another summer, will
always be to me by far the most alb
sorbing of Dickens novels, even though
l may Intellectually agree with the
critics who assert that David Copper
field" is his best. Because I was not
permitted to read Jane Eyre until
was fourteen, ! shall always have
vague feeling that it is more or less
shocking book, though I remember that
] was disappointed at the time to find
tions. Scott's "Talisman" and Gabo-
riau's Monsieur Lecoq.' beguiled the
time for restless child during two
slight illnesses in bed, and ! shall al
ways be grateful when I think OF them.
wept over "Enoch Arden" and held
! my ha
and Stevenson's BLACK Arrow in a
way that / wish / were capable Of do
ing now over any book.
Under the striking title The South
nenbaum writes in the June Century Of
the cotton-mill village system of the
south. He finds that some Of the best
blood in the south is going into the
mill villages where it is lost to the COM
munity and the country. The inbreed-
ing and the isolation of the mill viii
lagos make a man unfit for life in an
Independent community. When a man
moves into the mill village he settles
not only his own destiny, but also that
of his children in return for the house
in which he lives at a small rental. he
Mr.. Tannenbaum emphasizes the fact
that many OF the cotton-mill men are
genuinely interested in the welfare OF
their workers. but he shows that II Is
this interest on the part Of the cotton
mill man that reduces the workers to
a state of childlike impotence and robs
them Of contact with life. Mr.. Tannen-
baum in his article discusses the bury
ing of q complete section of the south
ern people in the mill villages and the
resulting loss to the life of the south.
X y y
A strong prohibition document is to
be found in Cynthia Stockley's new
novel. "Ponjola" 1t is the story of
the part played in the life of South and
East Africa by the native alcoholic
drink. ponjola. called by the author the
black curse Of Africa" Desmond, one
of the chief characters. asks:
Does every man in Rhodesia drink.
Mr.. Sheridan"
"All the good men do" was the proud
reply. Yes. Every good man in
Rhodesia can mop up the ponjola.''
II was the first time young Desmond
had heard the magic word.
Il can't quite accept that" he said.
once met a Rhodesian in--in Europe
a fine fellow, who didn't drink
Sherry wagged his head. Not in
Europe perhaps but as soon as he got
ack to Rhodesia he did"
Even in Rhodesia a certain code
regulating drinking existed. There is
an unwritten Rhodesian law that, once
breakfast Is past no drinks shall be taken
until l o'clock. 1t doesn't look well.
1t isn't done" The course Of the story
Is strewn with human wreckage of
ponjola, and Lundi Druro, one Of the
two central characters, is reclaimed only
through the devoted and undismaved
efforts of a woman.
Scientists, alumni of Cornell. Indiana
and Stanford universities, workers for
universal peace and many others will
be interested in what one enthusiastic
reviewer pronounces the greatest au-
photography that has been published in
America in a hundred years." that Of
David Starr Jordan 1t is entitled THE
Days Of a Man: Being Memories of a
Naturalist, Teacher and Minor Prophet
of Democracy" A bare list of DR.
Jordan's books, honors and positions of
trust requires an entire column In
Who's Who in America" and his au-
photography runs to nearly 100 pages,
none of which is dull. but on the con-
trary all are packed full of interest
They tell of his boyhood life on q farm
in western New York, of his working
his way through Cornell, Of work with
Agassiz, of scientific work and travel
the world over, Of mountain climbing,
Of university teaching and administra-
ton, of discussion Of the great prob
lens of theology, science, pacifsm, edu-
cation and literature--all written in
clear and forceful English, with much
humor.
In view of the obsession of sex in so
much Of our current fiction and that
because Of this tendency there is a de-
termined drive in certain quarters for
a more rigid censorship of books pub
Iished, the article in the June Book1nan
on Sex in American Literature by
Mary Austin. is of special interest at
this time. The author attributes the
marked change of attitude toward love,
Hawthorne TO that Of Theodore Dresser,
to the greater participation and in
fiuence of writer's Of Slavic, Baltic.
south European, and especially of
Semitic origins in American letters.
X X x
/ Frederic Harrison was correcting the
proofs Of his book, de senectute," just
published. on the very day he died. In
addition to the opening study Of the
subject Of old age by its author in his
ninety.second year, it contains men,
cries of the Victorian era and essays
on literary and historical subjects. AL
together delightful are the things Mr.
Harrison, who witnessed every great
celebration of Victoria's reign from her
coronation in 1888 to her funeral in
1901. tells Of the personageS and events
Of the age of which he became so strik-
ing a figure.
Among the announcements of books
to be published in the autumn none Is