Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-01
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the B00kloUer.


endless talk, but often incapable of
action, has been analysed in many
pieces of fiction. Hugh Walpole, in
his two novels of Russian setting.
1.-THE Dark Forest" and 1.-THE Secret
City," has treated it in a comprehend
ing and sympathetic manner. The
great Russian noveliSts themselves
seem thoroughly to understand the
temperament and constantly represent
it. In fact, Turgeniev's '"Radin" and
Gonharov's "Oblomov" are supposed
to personify the typical Russian.
Ernest Poole, having spent some
time in Russia as traveller and mag
azine writer, has introduced into his
latest novel, with Eastern Eyes," a
cultured Russian scientist who comes
to the United States and finds fasci-
nation, and some distress, in the study
of the American temperament from
the viewpoint of the Russian tempera-
ment. Boganov, a Russian astron-
omer, comes, after the war and the
Russian Revolution, to the private
observatory of Bert Dana in the
mountains of New Hampshire. Dur
ing the months which he spends in
the Dana home, he grows to love the
Illness and helplessness because the
Americans will not give time to re-
| Election, will not talk things over,
will only act. He sees Bert Dana
and his wife Josephine about to shat
ter their lives because they will not
talk about what menaCeS them, and
when he tries to help he is frozen by
their dreadful American privacy"
| So, when he starts back to Petrograd,
he knows that he is going to poverty,
| squalor, disorder, but he looks for
ward with eagerness to many good
| long talks"
DIR. Robert A. Millikan, the dis
| tinguished physicist, has written an
| arresting article on 1.-THE Evolution
OF Religion" for the January number
of the Yale Review. He begins by
saying that "if the present effort, of
which the Scopes trial fs an illustra-
| ton, to suppress freedom Of thought
and to return to the spirit and the
methods Of the Inquisition
were to be successful in the United
| states, 1t would be the worst setback
to civilization in all history" But he
goes on to say that he is not dis
| turbed about the present situation;
that indeed the net results of the
Scopes trial and the discussion it en-
gendered have been good, since mil
lions of people have been set to re-
| fecting on the basis of their religious
conceptions. Religion ITSELF" he
says, lis one Of the most striking pos
sible examples of evolution" He then
traces the changing conceptions of
| God and of duty from primitive man,
dominated by fear of his gods, which
| were malevolent or at least capricious,
/ to the present stage in the evolution
of religion when "the idea that nature
is at bottom benevolent has now be-
| come well-nigh universal" and that
the emphasis upon making this world
better Is the dominant element in the
religion Of today. Both of these ideas,
he claims, are due directly to science.
DIR. Millikan says there are but two
points of view with respect to the
| question of religion, one the view
point of the dogmatist, the other that
| OF the open-minded seeker after truth
! THE attitude of the dogmatist is the
| attitude of the closed mind. There
are two sorts Of dogmatists in the
| field of religion. One calls himself a
| fundamentaliSt; the other calls him
| self an atheist. Each has closed his
mind to any future truth. Each has
a religion that is fixed. Each is,
| think, irrational and unsctentific.
| There is, thank God, another kind of
| religion-a religion which keeps its
1 mind open to new truth. This kind
| of religion adapts itself to a growing,
| developing world. 1t is useful in such
| a. world, while both kinds of dOgnat1c
| religion seem to me to be useless. II
| the present organizations of religion
1 in the churches can adapt themselves
| to, and keep pace with, our increasing
| knowledge, they will continue TO De
| potent factors in our progress. Ii
| they cannot do so, they Will be swept
| aside into the backWash or the cur
| rent of progress and some otner
Organization will be found to do their
work. Modern science or the
! real sort is slowly learning to walk
| humbly with it's God, and in learning
| that lesson it is contributing some
thing to religion.
Like Pierre Lott, ose real name
was Julien Viaud, Mgr. CLAUDE tar
rere. whose real name is Bargone, mas
| been an officer in the French navy,
hut has made his chief career that OIL
a novelist. Like Lott also, he has
| based most of his novels on expert
ences at sea and in foreign lanos
especially the Near and Far East
| Some OF ms ucSI Ao'Cio -
Battle" "Opium Smoke" 1.-THE Men
Who Killed" Civilized Men" and
saThe Last God" His novels are
vivid in atmosphere and full Of action
of a rather subtle and intriguing type.
He Is especially skillful in character
!analysis and creates characters which
are unusual and complex. Mgr. Far
rere was a winner of the Goncourt
prize some years ago.
| * X Is X
| With Shaw in the limelight again
| il is interesting to turn to Archibald
| Henderson's European Dramatists'
and read: 1T is the custom of those
| who disagree with Shaw to point out
that his brilliant and logical demon
| STATIONS of abuses and illusions, If
! traced back step by step to their
origin, will bring us merely to some
perverse idiosyncrasy of this wayward
Irishman In short, as Mr.. Walkley
is only too ready to indicate, Shaw
is a. pure naif, falling into line with
the more engaging naifS of imagina'
tive literature. He is as naturally
benevolent as Mr.. Pickwtck and as
Iexplosively indignant in what he con
siders a just cause as Col. Newcone
With Uncle Toby he conducts a whole
plan of campaign on quiet bowling
green and with Don Quixote tits al
windmills. He is as disputatious
Though not SO learneO as the Able
Coignard, and when in the vein can
borrow the philosophic ataraxy of
Prof. Bergeret' This method of dis
posing of Shaw on the ground that
he is a thoroughly good fellow, pas
sionately but perversely championine
futile causes which he mistakenly re-
CARDS as just and right, has all the
virtue OF cleverness without the neces
sarY modicum OF accuracy Our
greatest American philosopher, Viii
liam James; once said to me: TO me
Shaw's great service is the way he