Evening star., 1925-01-10
The Library Table
BY THE BooKLovER


| In the title story of a new volume OF
short stories by Mr.. Bennett. Elsie
and the Child" At the close of
"Riceyman Steps" Elsie marries Joe,
| shell-shocked ex-soldier, always
more or less morose and subject to
| Ats of violence, but altogether and
very dependentiy devoted to Elsie.
After the shabby deaths of the Earl
| forwards, one after the other on the
same day. Elsie and Joe go to work
for DR.. Raste, who had attended the
Earlforwards in their last illness
| that is, he had attended them as much
| as Mr.. Earlforward penuriousness
would permit. DR.. Raste IS the lead
| ing physician OF Clerkenwell and has
an establishment OF some size: Mrs.
Raste also makes some pretensions TO
formality in her housekeeping, so
Elsie rises in the scale Of labor. and
| whereas she had formerly been a
| charwoman, then a general" she
now becomes house-parlormaid. She
would have been cook, except that
Joe's inborn talent for cookery has
been discovered when he has once
cooked meal during a slight illness
of Elsie, and henceforth Joe has pre-
sided over the saucepans on the big
kitchen range. Elsie and Joe are in
their way as distinguished as Juno and
Jupiter. Every one calls them simply
| Elsie and Joe. "Once they possessed
a surname, but through disuse It had
withered away and existed no more
save in ink on their insurance cards
and medical cards"
!: = !: y
| Elsie was the active. benevolent
force OF "Riceyman Steps" though
, she shared with the two EarlfoTwards
| the character interest The delicate
| literary quality OF ELSIE and the
Chiid"-and 1t Is one OF the best Of
Arnold Benefits shorter pieces of
| Acknowledgements entirely on the char
acter of elsie. There is a story, but
| one cares little for it except as il in
wolves Elsie. Elsie had youth, kind.
dark blue eyes blue-black hair, a
| magnificent physique, the stability of
| a tower" She is both subtle and sim
| pie. When Joe has "one of his moods"
and beats the dog and smashes the
alarm clock and rips from their nails
on the wall the war medals Of Elsie 8
| frst husband. Elsie is tactful enough
to say nothing; she only glances sur
| reptitiously around to see il there are
| any knives In the room and feels that
| she Is living TO the full her private
| ceases puzzling over the peculiarities g
| Of the ''worshiped and incalculable
rulers OF the universe" who dwell
| above stairs. They are unhappy il
| they cannot have a bath every day:
! Elsie herself Is content TO throw her
| light purple uniform and all her un-
d-rgarments in one heap at night
and 70 tumble unbathed into bed.
| They must have their meals "aS COM
| plicated as a church service; Elsie
enjoys beet eating her I'LL Of one
dish. preferably cold boiled potatoes.
Elsie can never understand why II is
bad manners to knock at the draw
| ing room door. or even to cough, be-
fore she enters. Elsie is the slave OF
Miss Eva, the badly spoiled 12-year-
, old daughter of the Rastes, and the
fact that Miss Eva loves Elsie better
than she loves her mother nearly
makes serious trouble in the. we'll or
! ganized family. but Joe saves the
situation.
= !: = 1:
Representative Robert Luce of Mas
! sachusetts, in addition to a long ca
| reer Of active and useful participation
| in thea work OF law making, has for
some years been engaged in writing
an extensive work on the science OF
| legislation. When complete, this
| treatise will consist OF four volumes,
treating historically, descriptively
| and critically the legislative branch
! of government. Two fat volumes OF
this work have now appeared. OF
! these, the first, on Legislative Pro-
| cedure," was published a year ago;
the second. on Legislative Assem-
| blies" has recently come from the
press. In this volume Mr.. Luce, who.
before his election to Congress six
years ago, had In his own State
! served in the legislature. the gov
ernor's council and constitutional
convention and had been lieutenant
governor, describe the framework
| makeup, character. characteristics,
habits and manners Of legislative
| bodies, present and past, American n
and foreign. and in doing so draws on
| wealth of historical information.
| The two remaining volumes in this
| erudite and interesting series will
be devoted, respectively, to "Legis-
| lative Principles" and Legislative
Problems"
:; = =
| \ new magazine, the initial num-
! ber of which is dated January, 1925,
| is entitled the Golden Book. By de-
sign II contains nothing that has not
been previously published, and has
| stood the test OF time. IL aims to
| include only fiction and true stories
| that will live" Among the aristo-
| Gratis of letters represented in this
| first number are Anatole France,
Stevenson, Kipling, Mark Twain, Bret
Harte. o. Henry, Richard Harding
| Davis, owen Wister, Ga boriau. Maui
| PEASANT, II. c. Bunner, Tolstoi, Du-
| mas, Robert Burns and Werner Won
Heidenstam. The Golden Book is
| edited by Henry w. Lanier, with the
assistance OF an editorial board con
sisting of William Lyon Phelps, Stu
art P. Sherman, John Cotton Dana
| and Charles Mills Gayley
| (: < X !:
| Prof. J. Arthur Thomson of the Uni
versity Of Aberdeen is perhaps the
foremost present-day popularizer Of
/ biological science, so that he now oc-
| cupies the field formerly held by Hux-
ley. His book, What Is MANI" is an
| Introduction to an all-round study Of
man as an organism and as a social
| person. He avoids technicalities
quotes abundantly from we'll known
authorities and makes intricate mat
| ters clear and fascinating to the lay
| man. The book Is the result of a
course OF lectures given before the
United Free Church College in Aber-
deem. DR.. Thomson in his treatment
of the pedigree of man is an out-and-
out exponent of organic evolution
sometimes called the Darwinian the
ory, and since this course of lectures
Is the third that he has given under
the same auspices, it may be taken
for granted that the William Jen-
nings Bryans are not very numerous
on the board of trustees Of the United
Free Church College. The author be-
lieves that the evolution of man IS
not completed process. Without
haste, without rest, taking millions
or years to make a vertebrate, and
other millions to make a mammal, the
sublime process has continued It's
momentum is still behind US. WHY