Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-26
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By The BookIorer

times less than strictly philosophical
in regard 20 their personal affairs
Rousseau, for example, wrote an ideal
system of education for the young and
abandoned his own children at found
ling asylums. And when philosophers
attempt to be consistent the world is
so unphilosophical that the results
are often of the nature of q catas-
trophe. These ironies impress a read
err of 1.-The Story of Philosophy, by
WIN Durant. We read that Plato
went to the court Of Dionysius, ruler
of Syracuse. the fiourishing capital
of Sicily, in order to establish
there his ideal republic. But when
Dionysius found that the plan re-
quired either that he should become
a philosopher or cease to. be d King
he baked, and the upshot was bit
ter quarrel Story has it that Plato
was sold into slavery" Aristotle 5
philosophy was one of calm skepticism;
his motto was mil admirari," to ad-
mire nothing. with the corollary to
hate nothing. But he was a natural
fighter who admired and hated vigor-
ously and he became embroiled with
both Alexander the Great and the
Athenian populace.
* X r u
Hegel. the philopher Of political re-
bellion, in his old age denounced the
radicals as dreamers, and carefully
hid away his early essays. He allied
himself with the Prussian govern
ment, blessed it as the latest express
sion of the absolute, and basked IN
the sun of its academic favors." But.
Mr.. Durant comments, lat so man
has a right to ask for peace. Schopen-
hauer, the archpessimist, had his
fling at love and the world" Nietzsche,
the apostle of the superman and the
blood-and-iron philosophy, was him.
self sensitive, nervous, shrinking.
Smoking and drinking We're repug"
nant to him, ''he would have been
glad to get exemption from military
service) as near-sighted and the only
son of a widow" and "even for nurs-
ing he was too sensitively delicate;
the sight of blood made him ill., HE
attacked Christianity because there
was so much of It's moral spirit in
him How he longed to be a
sinner, this incorrigible saint
Perhaps Voltaire and Herbert Spen-
GER were as nearly consistent as
theorists could be. Voltaire once said,
you must have the devil in you 10
succeed In any of the arts" and even
Has GIlIlCS dIlu HIS EiiCIIliCS adtilAtlC1
that he himself met this requirement
perfectly" He lived his own philos-
ophy of cynicism to the very end.
when in his last illness he sent away
with a bitter jest the priest who
came to shrive him. Ironically, his
burial was a piece Of cynicism. He
was refused Christian burial in Paris,
but his friends sat him up grimiy in
a carriage and got him out of the
city by pretending that he was alive. "
His doctrine of tolerance he also prac-
ticed all his life and reiterated in a
death-bed statement; II die adoring
God, loving my friends. not hating
my enemies and detesting supersti-
ton" Herbert Spencer, organizer of
human knowledge on the principles of
evolution, consistently followed his
plan through a long life, evincing
interest neither in the personal and
emotional side of life nor in art and
the imaginative forms of literature,
which could not be organized. He
was incorrigibly sincere, and offended
every group by speaking candidly on
every subject He grew old
alone"
Dickens. like Scott. portrayed
women of the people more realistical-
ly than women of the upper classes, -
probably because in the latter case he
was handicapped by chivalry, and, as
In the days OF knighthood, chivalry
did not apply to the common people
SO 1t happens that Nancy, the
Marchioness. Lizzie Hexam, Jenny
Wren, Mrs. Nickleby, Mrs. Squeers,
Susan Nipper, Peggotty, Sairey Camp
and Betsey Prig are more convincing
Maybe, Rose Maybe, Bella Wilfer
Lady Dedlock, Ada Glare, Edith Dom
hey and Agnes Wickfield. Some of
the women of Dickens are the subject
OF book by Edwin Charles, Some
Dickens Women" The author is a
lecturer ON Dickens and has written
a clever explanation of "The Mystery
of Edwin Brood" left unfinished when
Dickens died. He analyzes the char
acters of II Dickens women. first out
Inning the novels in which thev an
pear.
Romances of China and Chinese ND.
heavals are timely at the moment.
and probably will be for some time to
come. Louise Jordan Mines ut Hap-
pehed IN Peklng," a story of the
Boxer uprising, gives a reader al
actually in on0 of the concessions at
Hankow, in January, 1927. with a
Chinese mob bowling outside and a
small body of United States OF: Brit
ism Marines in the offing Another
romance. THE Manchu Cloud" nv
James W. Bennett. is of the era, of
the Chinese republic and tells of q
counter revolution of the Manchus in
an attempt to regain their power.
Three white men and white woman
are involved in the plotting and.
of course, the dangers, which are
many and unique.
X X y
One of the autobiographic novels
OF some time ago, before novelists
fell SO inevitably into the autobio-
graphic type, was "Jorn Uhl." bv .
German pastor. Gustav Frenssen. It
was book of unusual power, mingline
realism with tdealism, sometimes in
congruousiy. It's author was much
talked OF for year or more and
little has been heard of him in this
country since. But he has evidently
been at work all these years. and
now another autobiographic novel of
his has appeared in Germany. otto
Babendiek. 1t will probably soon be
translated. Otto. like the hero of
Jorn Uni IS Low German. He is a
poor village boy who becomes an an
thor. About him are grouped mn.
merous Low German characters. of
many types, so that the book becomes
q portrait collection equal to some of
those created by Thackeray, Dickens,
Trollope, Tolstoy and Victor Hugo.
X * u n
Scotland Yard, ridiculed by Conan
Doyle under cover of Sherlock
Holmes. has its true achievements
told by George Dilnot. in 1.-THE Story
of Scotland Yard" The very name
Scotland Yard requires historical an
notation, for Scotland Yard TODAY is
nothing but the massive architectural
nil 10