Evening star., 1924-07-19
The Library Table
by THE BOOKLOVER.


should carry with 1t the natural gift
of home making and Of understand
ing motherhood, though not as uni
versal as 1t once was, is still an &C
tive part Of public opinion. That
this idea Is no more reasonable than
it's correlative that being a man
should mean being money maker
is the contention of Dorothy Can
field in her last novel, 1.-The Home
Maker" Evangelist Knapp, a fiery,
original, ambitious woman, has for
fourteen years cast herself before the
grinding wheels Of the juggeranut
Tradition that "the mother is the
natural home maker" and has
dragged her children with her; for,
with all her efficiency, she does not
make a. happy home. Her failure
has not been because OF lack Of ef-
fort She has nearly killed herself
trying Her house is spotless. her
meals are perfect, her children's
clothes are marvels of home Dress
making, and yet her daughter Helen
is pale and thin and has a cowed
look, her husband and her son Henry
are victims of distressing nervous
dyspepsia, her small stephen shows
Sullen and almost vicious DISPOSE
tion. she herself. though robust in
every way, has a persistent nervous
ecZema-and all are most unhappy.
She is sure. though she is too loyal
to say SO, that the cause of all the
trouble is that her husband Lester.
fine as he is in character is a failure.
He agrees with her though he does
not talk about it. He has never
earned more than s1.S00 a year. Les
ter Is poet tied to Il bookkeerer's
stool and Evangeline is like "a
strong flying falcon in barnyard."
Lester is not very efficient with his
accounts, which he hates. because
account keeping interferes with
thinking--that is, the kind of think
ing he loves. If he murmurs a line
or two of poetry: some one In the
Office giares at him. Evangeline's
job is equally distasteful to her. She
loves her children devotedly and
paSSi there is no sacrifice
live with them" In the midst of
this dis-harmony, something happens
and everything is changed. In a few
months Evangeline finds that she can
easily earn $4,000 a year in business
and Lester discovers that he has a
rather wonderful gift OF understand
ing his children. Happiness grows
out of catastrophe. but overhanging
and threatening the new found hap
piness is the black cloud of tradition
that the mother is the natural
home maker" There must be some
way of escape" There is, and Lester
finds it.
The popular ideal of Florence Night
fngale as the lady with the lamp min
istering to the wounded soldiers in
81. !
Lytton Strachey's sketch of her in his
Eminent Victorians," but certain
elements are added which make her
seem less the saint and more the
woman Florence Nightingale was es-
sentially modern and not true
Victorian. She ran against all the
traditions OF her age and family when
she gave up country house life, Lon
don seasons. continental tours and
an advantageous marriage, in order
to study nursing. Later at Scutari
she showed no appropriate Difference
toward military officials, nor even to-
ward Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,
British ambassador at Constantinople.
Instead, she issued orders, circum-
vented official etiquette-and got re-
suits. On one occasion when a gov
ernment consignment for the soldiers
was at the dock waiting to be un-
packed and the official purveyor de-
clared that he could not open it with
out Board" Miss Nightingale
swept the protesting official aside and
had the consignment forcibly opened
without loss of time. She was sup
posed to be in the Crimea as nurse
but she really performed the function
of an administrative chief. She in
stalled laundries and kitchens, built
additional hospital wards, secured
supplies from England on her own
responsibility and undertook on a
large scale the clothing of the soldiers
who came pouring into the hospitals.
All of this she accomplished against
the continual stupid opposition Of Of
ficials, who attempted TO enforce
petty hampering regulations in the
great emergency with which she was
struggling. For example, the pur-
veyor tried to block her clothing OF
the soldiers. as according to regula-
tions, soldiers should bring with them
to the hospital an adequate supply OF
clothing, regardless of the fact that
most Of the soldiers had lost their
kits in the fighting which resulted in
their coming to the hospital. After
the war, for nearly half century,
she devoted her life-the life of an
invalid-to the improvement and de-
velopment of hospitals and nursing.
She vs. a driving force, merciless
both to herself and to others. Her
old friend. Sidney Herbert, member
of the cabinet during the Crimean
War, was afterWard secretary or
state for war and she took advantage
of his influence to attempt complete
REORGANIZATION of the army medical
department and even of the war office
itself Sidney Herbert broke down
under the strain and died arthur
Clough. the poet. who Tor years was
one Of Miss Nightingale's faithful
followers and tireless workers. was
also worn out by his labors and died.
Strachey says: IF Miss Nightingale
had ben less ruthless, Sidney Herbert
would not have perished: but then she
would not have been Miss Nightln-
gale
4 x y y
The John Newbery medal. awarded
annually by the American Library
Association for the most distinguish
ed contribution to American litera-
ture for children, was awarded this
year to Charles Boardman Halves for
1.-The Dark Frigate." his latest and
last book. AS Mr.. Hawes has died
since the publication of the prize
book. his widow received the medal
at Saratoga Springs in her husbands
name. Some Of the grown-up admir-
he should be classed as a writer for
children. His books, which also in
clude THE Mutineers" and "The
Great Quest" appeal to the eternal
boy, whose reading tastes are not
limited by physical years. The John
Newbery medal is named in honor Of
a London bookseller and publisher of
the eighteenth century, who was on
Of the first publishers to devote at
tention to the publication Of children's
books. The purpose Of the award is
to encourages original and creative
work in childrens literature. This
is the third year in which the medal
has been awarded. In 1922 it was
I,Htinok s&