Evening star., 1930-06-21
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookIover

Charlemsgne aS the father Of modern
education is an aspect Of the great me-
dieval conqueror and frst Emperor Of
the Holy Roman Empire which espe-
cially interests Charles Edward Russell
in his book, "ChArlemagne, First of the
Moderns." In intervals Of his expedi-
tions against the Lombards, the Saxons
the Saracens, the Frisians. the Avars,
the Serbs and many Of his other neigh
bors, Charlemagne found time to es-
tablish q court school which became
famous in history and which Mr.. Rus
sell calls "the first genuine public
school in France, in Europe, or in the
modern world" Eager for learning for
himself and for his subjects, Charlie
magne imported scholars from parts
of the civilized world where aristocratic
culture had already gained a foothold
Foremost of them was Alcuin, native
OF Northumberland, England, who had
helped to make famous the center of
learning at the York Cathedral School.
There came also Paulus DiaconuS, his
torian and poet; PauluS of Aquileia,
Arno of SalZburg and Amalar of Treves.
Peter of Pisa, the grammarian, had been
brought to the court earlier by Pepin
the Short, the father of Charlemagne.
with the coming of Alcuin the Aachen
school reached its best development. 1t
was no longer q filling station for the
youths in and around the court, but
expanded into a national establishment
of scope and efficiency. King and monk,
working together, made it model and
example. From this partnership and
these discreet laborS are to be dated
some of the most famous seats Of learn
ing in Europe. The University Of Liege,
which q few years ago all the world
thought of with tender solicitude, is
one Of them.
The difference between this school
of Charlemagne and earlier palace and
cathedral schools was in its democracy.
Candidates for the priesthood were the
chief students in most Of these other
| schools. and sons of royalty spent a
short time in them. ITO the people In
the mass and to the less fortunate was
accessible not one agency Of education
To Charlemagne's school, boys OF all all
classes were not only admitted, but
urged to come. "The King expressly
stipulated that the children Of the poor
est should have equal rights with the
children of the most fortunate" He
sent his own children to 1t, ordered his
courtiers to send theirs, and himself en-
tered the school as q pupil. sat book
in hand, and drank from tne
stream Of knowledge" Similar schools
were established elsewhere throughout
his realm, with the same rule OF the
open door "Self-appointed secretary OF
education, head superintendent, or what
else, he went about the country looking
narrowly after these institutions he had
founded and tautening them to his own
ideas of order, SeemlineSS and efficiency.
For this reason they lived and died not,
and we see that this was really an un-
usual person"
Other cultural affairs received the at
tention of Charlemagne-art, archltec-
ture. music and the growth OF the vine
| He had on his visits to Rome observed
and studied Roman architecture and
determined to introduce its types into
his kingdom. He brought down from
Frankland a native architect and or
dered him to take lessons from Roman
master. He carried away with MN
models of pillars, capitals, tr1ezes, IA
cades, plans for buildings. The
architecture he brought from Italy ne
used in q new palace Cat Aachen) des-
tined to a peculiar place in history" He
priced the classical texts and Sagas eX-
| tant in his kingdom and had them du-
plicated by copyistS. The library begun
by his father Peptn, became under ms
fostering care the most valuable one on
the Continent. His interest in choral
music was somewhat dictatorial When
he visited the churches and found the
choir singing OF key, he administered
| a public rebuke and showed the correct
method. All this he did while his main
preoccupation was the establishment oi
his domain and government. While he
was establishing schools, gathering
scholars, collecting manuscripts, anc
changing the music Of his day, he was
often planning, directing, and occasion
/ ally leading the wars that kept circle
| of foes from Strangling him and his
empire. And at all times he must bt
| administering the affairs of composite
! state made up of so many incongruou;
peoples of so many different origins that
| the mind wearies to keep track OF them.
| The story OF how Charlemagne intro
| duced to medieval civilization the in
| dustry and the luxury of Rhine wine
| gives another view of his versatile char
acter. THE Rhine wine laurel wreath he
added by virtue of two sharp eyes,
habit of observation and an inquirins
| mind. One of his palaces stood at In
gelheim, about IL miles below Mainz
From his windows there he noticed that
| in the Spring the snow melted first on
the tops of the hills along the river
This led him to believe that as the eli
mate was plainly milder on the hillSideS
than elsewhere, grapes might be grown
upon them. He sent to Tirol for the
vines, had them planted, and launched
an industry that for all these centuries
| has clothed with vineyards that long
| nf SlCA0G
traveller looks with wonder and pleas
ure."
I Death Valley" by Bourke Lee, is a
study of the sinister personality Of that
hottest of desert stretches, in California
on the Nevada border, where the tenn
perature often goes to 1870 degrees, with
something of its tragic and romantic
/ history. Death Valley, once part of the
sea, then bed Of lake, is geologically
between seven and eleven million years
old. In some Of its parts the extreme
heat prevents all vegetation, but tr
others there are many varieties OF plant
life. The scenery of valley and noun
tainS is shown In the book by many
| photographs. The warning name of the
valley was given because of the expert
enceS of some parties of adventures
who tried to enter California through
1t in 1849. Before this time the valley
had been known by the Indians fol
many years and they had had better
success than the white men in finding
sources of water and food.
|
THE Women of Cairo" Is the title
under which Voyages en- Orient" by
Gerard de Nerval, is translated. 1t is a
two-volume book of travel of unusual
interest and information. The scenes
described are not those of today, for
the book was originally written about
1843, as a result of visit of the author
to Egypt In order to divert his mind
| from grief over the death of a young