Evening star., 1925-02-21
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY THE BOOKLOVER.


| on the tide" out to sea after herring,
mackerel and sprat. "And while the
| men are af1oat their wives and
daughters CLEAN the harvest of the
| great shingles and mud banks, un-
| covered when the tide is out These
| hats heave shining on sunny days or
| lower sullen under clouds and rain
upon the bosom of the estuary. The
cookie grounds lie there and yield a
| steadfsst return for those who go
| down to tide" Among the cookie
gatherers the most regular and en-
! ergetic is Miss Jane Shears, an I'M
| mense old woman Of 10 who pays no
Difference to increasing years and rec
| ognizes no waning of her powers
| Joseph Parable, the crotchety miller,
| about her own age, tells her con-
| temptuously that she is getting old
and didn't ought to go and rake
! cookies no more" but Jane laughs at
| him and continues to make her 3
! shillings an afternoon at the cookie
beds, taking pride in the fact that
her cookies are eaten by the poor
| factory workers in the midlands who
are cooped up by bricks and NOR
| tar from the cradle to the grave"
and never know the sea. When Jane
| dresses to go to the cookie beds she
| is a sight to astonish her great niece,
| Milly BatStone, d clerk in shoe
| shop at Exeter, who has come to her
aunt at Redcliff for a rest. 'Jane had
| changed into nondescript monster,
whose grotesque outlines under the
| dingiest covering were in truth
scarcely human. Her great torso was
now wrapped in faded green shawl
| and her shawl and her trunk reduced
| to the shape of an enormous peg-top
| from beneath which protruded solid
| legs of a size sufficient to sustain the
mass. From the knee Miss Shears
| was bare save for a pair of old
| worsted stockings with the feet cut
off, which covered her calves. Upon
her feet she wore pattens lifted on
| iron rings. A crimson girdle spanned
her waist and held her attire togeth-
er; while her head was wrapped up
| tightly in a red cotton apron, from
beneath which struggled wisp or
two of white hair" At the age Of rs
Jane Shears has serious illness,
after which young DR.. Bewes tells
! her that she must go no more to the
cookie beds. She accepts the verdict
| and bows to old age, but thereafter
| her favorite stroll is along the mud
fats, at which she casts many along
| ing glance and whose pungent odor
she shifts daily with great relish.
| x X r X
| When layman presumes to write a
! book on a medical subject, there are
always physicians who almost seem
| to think that sacrilege has been COM
| mitted. 1t is not strange, therefore,
| that many of the reviews by medical
men of j. Ellis Barker's Cancer: How
| 1t Is Caused; How 1t Can Be Prevent
| ed" have been unfavorable. Certain
other physicians, however, including
some who have specialized on the
subject Of cancer, have welcomed
| this book as truly scientific work
and g. real contribution to the sub
| ject, not less valuable because writ
| ten in simple and untechnical Ian
guage. To the layman it seems filled
| with sensible advice. Mr.. Barker
| believes that cancer is due to chronic
poisoning and to vitamine starVa-
| ton and that the prevailing diet of
| our highly civilized life, consisting
| so largely Of refined foods, is rapidly
| increasing these tendencies. He be-
| lieves that chronic poisoning is due
| to autointoxication, caused in part by
| the consumption of foods which have
| been deprived of the vitamines and
| the rougher materials, such as the
| husks Of grain, the skins of fruit and
| the coarser vegetable fbers, and
partly by the large use Of canned
goods containing poisonous preserva-
| tives. Cold storage comes in for its
| share of the blame AS result, he
| says that "the great majority is
| forced to live on devitalized, doped,
embalmed and mummihed food" He
| holds prohibition in the United States
| is in part responsible, since it has
| led to an enormous increase in sugar
| consumption, presumably. In the form
| of candy. The universality of the
\ automobile comes in for a part of
| the blame, since it reduces the habit
| of walking. which in turn induces
| autointoxication. Certain cure for
| cancer is difficult, in most cases ap-
| parently impossible. The author be-
| lieves that cancer is due to wrong
| living and that the only true remedy
for the disease is right living.
| Whenever there is trouble, there
are sure to be Jobs comforters.
Robert Louis Stevenson, and even
more, his gorgeous wife, discovered
| which they spent in journeying
| around in seach of g. small measure
of health. In his new biography of
| Stevenson, John A. Steuart tells a
| story Of hurried trip taken by Mrs.
Stevenson from Marseille to Nice in
search of her husband, from whom
she had not had News for several days.
On the way some of the kind people
who are always interested in the
misfortunes of others assured her
she need not trouble, that beyond
doubt her husband was dead and
| buried-dead Of sudden hemor-
rhage and hurriedly buried, as a
| stranger and pauper, in an unknown
grave somewhere by the wayside.' -
After she had found him and was
obliged to return to Marseille. she
met on the return journey "a dread
full old man with a fat wife," who
asked pleasantly where Stevenson
| wished to be buried. He is done
for was the cheering judgment of
this Jobs comforter and would be
put under ground with little cere-
mony by a callous population almost
before the breath was well out of his
body He inquired compassionateIy
what she meant to do, and suggested,
If she could afford it, to have the
unfortunate Stevenson embalmed.
Such at times are the inscrutable
| ways of Samaritans."
X X x
French readers now outnuniber
English readers at the American
Library in Paris. according to the re-
port Of it's librarian, w. Dawson
Johnston, to the American Library
Association. Readers show a prefer
ence for English over American
books. They display also a decided
preference for fiction over non-fic-
tion, and for cotemporary fiction
over the classics. Among the older
American novels the only works re-
Gently lent, according to this report
were Hawthornes The Marble
Faun," Aldrich's prudence Palfrey,"
Poe's "Weird Tales, and Mark
Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" and
| Mysterious Stranger" The most
popular cotemporary American writ
Edna Eserber lack London