Evening star., 1926-03-20
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookI0ver.

Washington political and social life
Is satirized. rather specifically, in
GLASS Houses" by Eleanor Gizycka.
The story itself. triangle or per-
haps a quadrangle intrigue followed
by an international marriage, Is In
no way remarkable. What will in
terest most readers, both inside and
outside Of Washington, is the ironic
view of certain phases Of Washing
| ton life and certain personages play
ing part there. The Senate in ac-
ton. with snapshots of some Of the
Senators (called by name), fur
rlshes material for one clever chap
ter. The ruthlessly self.seeking and
rude society matron Is portrayed in
Judith Malcolm, the fortune hunting
foreign diplomat in Andre de Servaise.
the independent, unconventional, mod
ern girl in Mary Moore, the ingenue
heiress in Constance Sturgess. The
identity of Bob Millar, an ex-Sen-
| ator. will be a subject for guessing
by readers. There is also the trav-
! eIed American man, who draws his
income from the United States, has
a brief connection with the diplo-
matte service, lives much abroad and
is ashamed of his country. His
| clothes came from Bond street, his
linen from the Rue de la Paix. His
accent was hybrid, Of course,
but he practically never omitted to
roll the r. and point the Il in Amer
lea" Countess Gizycka. formerly
Eleanor Patterson of Chicago, is a
first cousin of the late Senator Medill
Mccormick.
| Not at all in accord with the ideas
| of Nine. MonteSsori or with Freudian
psychology, but certainly having great
practical convenience, were the rules
of Susannah Wesley in bringing up
her many children. Her regulation
that no child was permitted to cry
aloud when turned a year old" has
been often quoted. but other parts of
her family discipline were equally
adapted to produce hardy character.
These rules are given in letter of
Mrs Wesley to her most famous son,
John, dated July "a. 1882. The letter
is quoted by him in his journal
Three meals a day were the regular
allowance and eating between meals
was never permitted. "They were
never suffered to choose their meat,
but always made to eat such things
as were provided for the family" In
dependence of will was not encouraged
among the Wesley children. The old
fashioned idea of breaking the will
of children seemed good to SuSannah
Wesley. She says: 'In order to form
the minds of children, the first thing
to be done is to conquer their will,
land bring them to an obedient tenn
per. insist upon cOnQuering the
l " nf hot hapa1lSp
Is the only strong and rational founda-
ton of a religious education: without
! which both precept and example will
| be Intellectual" At the age of D, each
child was taught to read by the
mother, and one day only was allowed
l child to learn its letters. When the
alphabet was thus mastered, each
child was given the first verse of the
book of Genesis to spell out, and so on
through the Bible. Six hours a day
were devoted to schooling in the home
and during those hours "rising out
of their places, or going out of the
room, was not permitted unless for
good cause; and running into the yard,
garden or street without leave "as
always esteemed capital offense.
Yet we are surprised to learn that as
babies the children were rocked to
sleep. Modern mothers are not as len
lent as this. They were, if possible,
laid into their cradles awake, and
rocked to sleep; and so they were kept
| rocking, till il was time for them to
awake. This was done to bring them
to a regular course of sleeping Mrs.
| Wesley expresses regret that after
the fire which burned down their
| home, when the children were for a
time placed in the families of various
friends. that civil behavior which
made them admired when at home, by
all who saw them, was in great meas
ure lost. and d clownish accent and
many rude ways were learned, which
were not reformed without some diff
Guilty.
W. J.. George. the English novelist
who considered himself leading
authority on women of all types
died January 80. at the age of 43. 4
week after his death his novel. This
Gifts of Sheba." was published. On
the last page of this novel Mr.
George seems to sum up his opinion
of the modern woman in general. II
is to the effec1 that the only way
d man can get along with a modern
woman is to be indifferent to her
because only so does he leave her
free. The gifts of Sheba brough,
to Mr.. Georges most recent heroine
, Isabel Eden. in the form of the love
of her first two husbands, Hugh
Brodick and Peter Keith. fail to make
her happy or to hold her not very
devoted affection. Her third hus-
, band, Angus Hallam. offers her
wealth. but emotionally. only the
cynical admiration of a connoisSeur
in women. Her first marriage ends
in the infidelity of her husband and
divorce. Her second ends with the
death of her husband after he has
become first a drunkard. then a
cripple. The book ends with her third
marriage, but we are given to under
stand that it is going to be happy
Angus says to her as a sort of
prothalamion: Unwilling to rule
with kindness or to be ruled with
vigor, the only kind of man the mod
ern woman can live with is the kind
that doesn't care. Only the man who
doesn't love her can make modern
woman happy
"The Adventure of Old Age" by
Francis Bardwell. has a sound of
idealistic philosophy. We look for a
prose rabbi Ben Ezra" perhaps not
| as beautiful as Brownings, but of the
} same tenor We do not find it. how
ever, for this is a book of realism,
. based on much observation. by one
who has had the best of chances to
, observe. The author has been for
II years State visitor to aged people
, in almshouses in connection with the
/ Public Welfare Department of Mas.
/ sachusetts. In long Introductory
/ chapter Mr.. Bardwell gives some of
, his conclusions about old age, espe.
J cially old age combined with poverty
Then follow many character sketches
, ] a nd tr1le stories Of old peOple show.
ing the psychology, their whims, their
, humor, their hopes and their retro
spects A number of poems about