Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-02
By the Booklouer.

wrote In the lnIrOuuCtloH W ieH toi-
lection prose Every Child Should
Know" There is more religion In
editing one good book that shall carry
forth and hand down the loren OIL
life than in writing a dozen of in
different merit" 1t may be said with
equal truth that a good handbook of
quotations from great poets and
prose writer's is more valuable to
have on ones library table than a
dozen volumes of indifferent verse
and prose by writer's who have
neither greatness of message nor
charm of style. Such a desirable
handbook is to be found par excel
lence in "Putnarn's Complete Book of
Quotations, Proverbs and Household
Words" by w. Quincy Benham, first
published in 1907. With this book on
the library table, no stray moments
need be wasted. DIR. Johnson will be
good company while waiting for
dinner. and there are IT'S quotations
from him; some of the 1900 quota
tons from Shakespeare will fill in the
interval between dinner and going
out for the evening, and the AZ quota
tons from Mark Twain or the so
from Kipling may make you less I'M
patient with the friend who is late in
arriving for an engagement. For
reference purposes, this book Will
sometimes save you a trip to the
public library. If you are a club
president and must introduce a dis
tinguished scientist as the speaker
at q club meeting, you will find in the
index a whole column of references
under Science; if the speaker is an
educator, another column under
Education" is ready to help you; in
fact, no type of speaker need cause
you a moments anxiety, for there
are references on them all, even to a
short block on "Nonentities." Equally,
if you have to prepare an after
dinner speech, commencement adj
dress, a sermon or a speech before
some special group Of the community,
and wish the establishment and the
elucidation Of we'll adapted quota
lions, you will find this handbook not
the conventional mine of informa-
ton" where you may dig. but well
stocked modern storehouse, with
everything in it's proper section and
on it's proper shelf. The section and
shelf labels are the table Of contents,
the 344 pages of classified index and
the neat thumb indexes.
X y 4 \
A glance through "Putnam's Com
plete Book of Quotations, Proverbs
and Household Words" shows why it
excels among books of this type.
The quotatiOns-nearly $4,000 of
them-are from English, American,
French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Dutch, Latin and Greek authors, and
from the Bible and the Book Of Com
mon Prayer. Then there is long
section labeled WAITS and Strays,"
where are found odd quotations from
medieval times and the sixteenth,
seventeenth. eighteenth. nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, epitaphs,
nursery songs and rhymes. natural
lied phrases and quotations, house
hold phrases and words, historical
and traditional sayings, political
phrases and illusions, forensic quo
tations, toasts, folklore and weather
rhymes. London street sayings, ex-
tracts from the Koran, book inscrip-
tons and bell inscriptions. There are
163 pages of proverbs. Among them
are all the old favorites and hum
dreds less well known, as 1T is
easier to build two chimneys, than to
maintain one" and Choose not a
house near an inn, or in corner"
1t is interesting to find that the COM
monest proverbs appear in slightly
variant forms in many languages.
y y \ X
Under PHRASES and Household
Words" we discover that it was
Washington Irving in RIP Van
Wrinkle" who aptly used the express
sion "petticoat government" that
"sent to Coventry" probably origi-
mated during the English Civil War,
from the habit of parliamentarians
of sending doubtful or useless Off
GERS or soldiers to the garrison at
that "a good bedside
manner" as applied to doctors, origi-
mated in Punch, March Is, 1884, in
the letterpress accompanying draw
ing by Du Maurier. Under Political
Phrases and illusions" the informa-
ton Is given that "the classes and
the masses" was a phrase used by
Gladstone. that passive resistance"
is to be found in SCOTS Heart of
Midlothian" that "the unspeakable
Turk" was Carlyle's expression, and
that "peace with honor" was used by
Lord Beaconsfield after the Berlin
Congress on the Eastern Question,
July. 1878. Are the following quota
lions from the Bible, from Shake
speare, or from neither? There Is no
new thing under the SUM-" "The devil
hath power to assume a pleasing
shape" can honest mans the noblest
work of God" Saints, to do us
good, must be in Heaven" "Ye can
not serve God and mammon." "a
fool and his words are soon parted"
And when night darkens the
streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial flown with insolence and
wine." Were man but constant he
were perfect" ut is not good that
the man should be alone" There
were giants in the earth in those
days." If you are not sure, look them
UP and find out.
" y \ \
Several years ago German firm is
sued a complete edition of the works
of Thomas Mann, who is generally
considered the foremost novelist OF
Germany today. Some of his novels
have been we'll translated into Eng
lish by II. T. Lowe-Porter, notably the
two which are probably his best, Bud
denbrooks" and 1.-THE Magic Noun
tain" The first is long biographical
novel of a prominent north German
mercantile family; the second is de-
tailed study of life among the invalids
Of a tuberculosis sanatorium at Davos-
Platz. Other novels and short stories
of Thomas Mann which have been
translated into English are Death in
Venice and Other Stories" "Bashan
and 1" and Royal Highness." He
has been often compared with John
Galsworthy and there are many points
of similarity between the Budden-
brooks and the Forsyte families.
Thomas Mann recently passed his f1f-
tieth birthday and lives with his wife
and three sons and three daughters in
Munich. Writing ironically of his own
Socialist tendencies, he once said:
''You may see me with muffier tied
round my throat with other worthless
fellows in a cafe Of anarchists. In the
gutter, you exclaim? No. I am mar
ried to young and pretty woman, the
daughter Of university professor
land a B. A., though she doesn't de-