Evening star., 1925-03-07
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY THE BOOKLOyER.


full bloom. The woods also will
beckon us to leave automobile roads
and paths and will invite US to
search for the blossoms that are
thrasting themselves up between the
fallen leaves Of last Winter The
comparatively few people whose legs
have not become atrophied from dis
use, with the universally OF the au-
tomobile, and who still take pleasure
in walking will find delight in hunt
Ing out the wild blossoms that the
changing seasons bring. AS wade
mecum for Identification and inter-
probation In fower-hunting ramoles
nothing better could be found than
THE Book of Wild Flowers" recently
published by the National Geographic
Society. This handsome and useful
book Is further described as an IN
PRODUCTION to the ways of plant life,
together with biographies of $50 rep
resentative species" Edited and in
large part written by DIR. William }.
Showalter, assistant editor OF the
National Geographic Magazine, the
book consists of chapters on "Explor-
ing the Mysteries of Plant Life" by
the editor; -Our State Flowers by
DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor. president OF
the National Geographic Society: "Fa-
miliar Grasses and Their Flowers by
L. J. Geske and DIR. Showalter. and
PLANT Biographies" also by DR..
Showalter
DR. Showalter's chapter on En-
ploring the Mysteries of Plant Llre
Is a graphic and revealing exposition
of the energy silently put forth ano
the methods of work by which plants
minerals into materials for the 1000,
clothing, heating. cooking. housing
furniture and books required by man
kind, He tells how plants reproduce
and wage their battles for existence
The most valuable part OF the oook
for use in Identifying wild movers is
its largest section. made UP OF terse
descriptions of plants, or plant oios-
raphies-a sort of who's who among
wild flowers" Not the least interest
ing and valuable part of this section
consists of 100 pages of hover paint
ings by Miss Mary z. Eaton These
and eight paintings of the flowers OF
familiar grasses as the microscope
reveals them, by Z. j. Geske, a"e an
beautifully reproduced in colors. IeGt
and illusl-ationc are ALI marked with
both common and botanical names
and the book is supplied with compe-
tent indexes that greatly enhance the
serviceability of the book as a practl-
cal manual.
The first fictional account of
civilian life in wartime Germany, is
the claim made by its publishers for
Bernhard Kellermann's novel, THE
sth of November" The author pic
lures Berlin as degenerating rapidly
under war pressure into city Of
misery, filth and destruction His de-
scriptions of the almost daily In
creasing squalor are those of man
who has seen. Berlin was like a
dirty sponge that some one was
squeezing Streams of dirt poured
from the black heavens, from the
roofs and the thousand -windowed
walls of the houses. The slush
stood ankle deep in the streets and
oozed in through the worn soies OF
peoples shoes" And later, when in
fuenza has become a yearly vista
ton, pale. yellowish, with waxen
ears, bent shoulders, coughing,
mournful eyes, feyerish-all of them
bore the signs. Grippe would lay them
low. today, tomorrow. in year-lt
didn't matter when-they could no
longer escape"
II the frequency with which Wash
ington gets itself written up is any
true indication, the interest and af-
fections of the American people are
each year turning more and more
toward their National Capital city.
II would be easy to fill this column
with a bare list of books of recent
publication devoted entirely to Wash
ington, its history, institutions and
objects of interest. More and more
novels have their scene laid in Wash
ington. Scores. perhaps hundreds, of
magazine articles are each year writ
ten about some phase Of Washington
life. Clinton w. Gilbert. one of the
authors of THE Mirrors of Washing
ton." has a sprightly article in the
March Current History entitled Mir
roring Washington" dealing not with
the characters on the national stage
but with the city itself as II is being
so rapidly transformed under our
eyes. He says that the old Washing
ton has gone, but that the new Wash
ington has not yet arriyed-that the
new sense of the power, dignity and
great destiny of the country" which
he expects to be reflected in the
building of the Capital has not yet
quite been realized. To him Wash
ington Is boom town. with real
estate as Washington's one industry;
the real estate speculator is here
found at his fiercest. But the real
estate spectators everywhere put
ting UP their "cubical piles of brick
as Ambassador Jusserand called them
and the haphazard building of the
submerge the planned city of Maj
LEnfant's dream. though they do
jeopardize it's complete success. In
spite of 1.-The carelessness, the neglect,
the lack of Imagination, the timidity
which often characterizes the Gov
ernment In its relation to the Cap
ital, and of the poverty of the COM
mercial spirit which has failed to
achieve the outward forms of beauty
the lure of Washington" This lure
is partly the physical charm impaired
to the city in the beginning and part
iy "the fascination that living at the
center of q nations political life al
ways exercises" To these he adds the
society here and "a sort of Old World
ureliness, for Washington Is re-
treat, an escape from the hustle,
madness, pressure of life in other
parts of the country" Mr.. Gilbert
concludes by saying that for the
moment we have turned our back
upon Imagination at the National
Capital" but Inevitably the great day
lies just beyond"
* X
have not yet had an opportunity
to read Seventy Years of Life and
Labor" the autobiography of Samuel
Gompers, recently published in two
volumes. His leadership of the or
ganized American labor movement
has been one of the most remarkably
successful achievements of the age.
My appetite to read this autobiog-
raphy has been sharpened by the in
cisively critical, but sympathetic ar
ticle entitled What Manner of Man
Was Com 2, hv Ban La min Stnlharcr