Evening star., 1933-03-18
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.

THE RISE OF THE CITY. 1S7S-lseS
By Arthur Meier Schlesinger. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
Thomas Jefferson visualised our
country As permanently agricultural
and did not live to know that his ideal
was to become q vanishing one. For
normal occupation and life close to
the soil, with wide, open spaces for
every one, was the only life productive
OF happiness and wellbeing. Early in
our history cities began to develop. on
bors and on rivers at junction points
with other rivers or with Indian and
pioneer trails. This volume. which Is
volume X Of the History Of American
Life" series, does not 60 back to the
periods Of colonization and early inde-
pendent government in the United
States. It begins with the post-Civil
War period, when city industries began
to replace agriculture with what was
perhaps dangerous rapidity. DR.. Schles-
niger, who is professor of history in
Harvard University, says: American
civilization in 1873 was, in one essential
respect, like that Of earlier times; it
rested upon the farms and country
towns OF the Nation. OF the 50,-
100000 people counted in the census
Of 1880, three-fourths, or nearly 40,-
600, 900, lived on the open land or in
villages Of less than 1000 inhabitants. "
Especially were Southerners farmers
The chapter, THE New South" de-
scribes the economic revolution which
turned the South into an important
industrial section of the country and
developed the cities Of New Orleans,
Louisville, Atlanta Memphis, Chatta-
nOOga, Birmingham and others.
The growth of cities in the West Is
also traced. with the significant changes
which they brought. The influence OF
inventions, foremost among them the
telephone and the various manifesto
tionS Of electricity, upon the shifting OF
population frCm country to city was
marked from the beginning and has
steadily become more powerful. In the
cities, as they multiplied and grew more
and more inflated, many advantages for
the inhabitants became obvious-public
hygiene, education, recreation, easy
transportation, more abundant human
associations. The disadvantages were
almost as soon discovered-"crime, vice
and graft. deeply rooted in the slum
and the saloon" Populations increased
too fast for human ingenuity to handle
the problems which they brought-tran-
sit, lighting, sewage disposal, water sup
ply. f1re protection, general sanitation.
The effect of city life upon American
women and their status in society is an
interesting subject. in the discussion Of
winch TACT and theory are mingled. The
welfare OF the child, religious observ-
ance, art, literature, science and poll
tics. all in their relation to the city. are
factors in this, one of the most vital of
sociological problems Whatever may
De SAID by the heirs Of the older
american tradition" who believe with
Jefferson that cities are ulcers on the
come to stay and man must increasingly
struggle With the evils it has brought,
such as an upward leaping divorce rate
and ever augmented numbers in insti-
tutions for the insane. This is an ex
ample of excellent analytical social his
tory. which gives material for thought
on every page.
JOHN MASEFTELD. By Gilbert Thom-
as, New York: The Macmillan Co.
An English journalist and critic has
mere given in the compass of a not
very large book a satisfactory bio
graphical sketch of the British poet
laureate, who recently visited this coun-
try. critical estimate of his lyrics.
oaisaos, narrative poems, plays, and
prose. and an excellent bibliography
Mr.. Thomas begins by saying that
ROBERT Bridges. late poet laureate, and
Masefield represent antithetical schools
OF poetry-the one a vorshiper of
pure beauty in the abstract" and the
other seeking the fitful flashes OF
beauty in everyday life" When Mase-
field was appointed laureate by the
Labour government the partisans OF
the purely esthetic school disapproved.
Even the admirers of poetic realism
were divided in their opinion. Is he a
genuine prophet. pointing poetry to a
new Promised Land? Or is he a false
lea ader. beckoning it to destruction?"
Mr.. Thomas himself offers a balanced
Judgment. He believes that Masefeld's
work is spontaneous, free from self
consciousness. and perhaps too free
from self-criticism. His sincerity and
independence have caused him to go
ms own way, "undisturbed by the
storms he has aroused" His very
popularity has caused him to be scorned
by the superior critics. who are inclined
to look askance at poet who achieves
popular success in his own lifetime.
His vigorous narrative gift has
brought him this success With other
critics his religious emotion diequalifies
him as a poet in this sketptical age
That he often mingles coarseness,
pathos and triviality with beauty and
sublimity is perhaps the most serious
charge against him. But while others,
upon excuse or example, may rake in
human cesspools for the sake of their
filth. Masefield rakes in them only for
the hidden beauty which life has re-
vealed to him there I may
finally repeat that it is neither the
beauty nor the dirt which Masefield
wishes to exhibit so much as the mira
Gle that the one may be found in the
other"
THE MIDDLE GENERATION. BY ].
D. Beresford. New York: E. P. Dut-
ton g. Co.
The Hillington family. whose history
was begun in Mr.. Beresford's earlier
novel. The Old People" is here safely
brought into the twentieth century. A
third novel Is to show the family in
present day setting Owen Hillington
Is the center Of interest in THE Mid
die Generation" The second son of old
Miles Hillington, he has left Middle
thorpe and come to London to be arti
cied to his uncle, Neil Gordon. an elec-
trical engineer. 1t is q bit disappoint-
ing to find in the first pages that the
atmosphere of this central volume is to
be that of London and an engineers
Office. but before the end the scene
shifts back to Middlethorpe. Owens
London experiences are probably helped
in the telling by photographed re-
miniscence, for Mr.. BereSford himself.
at the age of 18, Owens age. went to
London and was articled to an archi-
tect. At the end we leave Owen hap
PLY married to his second wife and
both of them puzzling over modern
problems of education, votes for women,
labor governments and other questions
which are breaking up their fixed opin-
ions. Mr.. Beresford is one of the Eng