Evening star., 1924-09-27
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOvER

extricable weave one vast nexus of
saualor in which the human spirit
wallowed helpless. Waste. Waste
This Is the text upon which Robert
Herrick breaches a sermon of 449
pages in his novel, Waste For
this waste of human spirit, human
ability, human ideals, this devotion to
the money god. women are chiefly re-
sponsible. Old Prof. Cross. IA mill
tant soldier for knowledge, for pure
and exact science, against the ever
rising tide of utility. Of considering
knowledge as a handmaiden of the
technical arts and trades" seems to
express Herrick's own idea. He says
to his young assistant, Jarvis Thorn
ton: Can you live on nothing? Can
you get along without women? Wom-
en- are the worst danger--oh, don't
mean the girls on the streets---they
are poor, harmless creatures-but
mean your good women, your moth
ers of families and their daughters
who hope to be mothers Of families
If you want to do anything in
science, keep clear of the women!
They'll make you take this good job
or another-let the men honor their
profession. and 1T will honor them
If they can't live without women
well, then, let the poor devils do the
best they can and make pack horses
of themselves for their families"
In spite of all this vigorous ad-
vice. Jarvis Thornton, like most
young persons, prefers to buy his
wisdom in the market Instead of
avoiding women, he seems to have a
natural affinity for them-or they
have for him WhiIa ha * a
mere boy he is burdened with the
support of an unlovable mother and
two sisters. So he succumbs to the
evil of the age and early commercial
ICES his talent, thereby hampering its
development. Then, when he is 81
he finds himself trapped into a mar
riage with a widow six years older
than himself whom he does not love
He reflects ruefully that his little
and will perhaps be "a great com
now be two more to support on his
small teaching salary. He must give
up teaching and study and look for
something that will bring in more
money. After that there are other
women in his life, for his wife soon
leaves him, though she continues to
drain from him all the money posi-
bic. Juliana and Cynthia both seem
for time TO satisfy his ideal of
woman. but both soon show their feet of
clay. He succeeds financially, but his
spirit is dying. Finally, when he is
past 50. he gives up his money
making occupations and goes back to
teach in the technical school where he
began, in order to save some OF
them from waste. the waste / went
through, the waste of spirit l see
everywhere about me in our life to-
day"
John Galsworthy's play, "A Family
Man. develops the theme of the con-
flict between old-fashioned ideas OF
authority, both conjugal and parental
and modern ideas of youthful self
expression and individual liberty. Mr.
Galsworthy's point of view is that
this modern spirit cannot be repress-
ed. but will. indeed. be dangerously
aggravated by severe and blind at
tempts at repression. The only way
to deal with It. he contends, is by
kindly understanding and reasonable
concession. To illustrate this doctrine,
two brothers are presented: one a
stern Victorian head of the family
who has all sorts of trouble with his
wife and daughters; the other, an
easy-going, benevolent family man.
who never has any trouble at all. The
a argument is obvious, but not entirely
convincing.
The theme of the book "Crystalliz-
ing Public Opinion" by Edward l..
Bernays, is that the increased atten-
tion paid TO the influencing of public
opinion by the individuals, groups
and movements dependent on public
support, has given rise to a new pro-
tession known as public relations
counsel. The author rejects as insult
able the term press agent" and as
even less satisfactory the appelation
"pTopagandist' for the skilled expert
needed adequately to represent men
and movements before the court of
public opinion. The book describes
the conditions that have produced the
need for this profession, its scope and
functions, the character and origins
of public opinion, the technique and
methods employed by the public re-
lations counsel and his obligations to
the public. This is an important con-
tribution to the literature of the
press, a book of interest not only to
journalists, but to all who seek to
influence public opinion.
The martyr-like life and the COM
plete poems of Emily Dickinson have
recently, through the efforts of her
niece, been given to the public in two
volumes. THE Life and Letters of
Emily Dickinson" by Martha Dickin-
son Bianchi, and The Complete
Poems Of Emily Dickinson" Until
she was % Emily Dickinson led a life
of repression and family service in
the home of her father, a stern and
Puritanical man. Then she loved a
man who was already married and
although she refused to run away
with her lover and ruthlessly sup
pressed her love, this episode was the
cause of her poetry. From that time
great beauty and merit, most OF
which reflect her own suffering and
what she felt to be the Illustration OF
her life. These lyrics she wrote only
as an outlet for her feeling, and she
never intended them to be published
indeed, she directed that they be de-
stroyed after her death, but, fortu-
nately, her family did not carry out
this wish.
Many of the admirers of George
Bernard Shaw value him for his
thought, and care very little for his
them his last play, est. Joan," is in
teresting entirely apart from it's
value as a drama, for the vigorous
expression it gives to Shaw's opin-
ions on many problems of medieval
and modern religion and politics
Some of these problems are shown to
be the same today as in the time OF
Joan of Arc. For example, Shaw de-
fends revealed religion and the Wis
ions of Joan as easier to explain than
some present-day rationalism. The
1nquisitors explanation of the neces-
sity for Joan's death is Shaws own
explanation of modern political ethics
She was a radical, a menace to estab-
liShed institutions. therefore it was