Evening star., 1934-04-29


Beecher Stowe. the ancestors are
both interesting and famous. The title of the
book is quoted from saying of DR.. Leonard
Bacon of New Haven, friend Of the BeecherS,
that this country is inhabited by saints, sim
ners and Beechers." Mr.. Stowe adds: There
never was a Beecher who was pious or con-
ventonal enough to qualify as saint ana
vet they could hardly be confused with sinners,
since they were always pursuing them with
sharp stick. Who knows whether the Beechers
were good and great? I don't but I do know
they were amusing, lovable and outrageous
OF the many illustrations in the volume the
frontispiece is a group picture OF the Beecher
family in 1855 showing Lyman Beecher and
his 10 children, two of whom were Henry
Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe
The first scene in the Beecher story which
is presented to is in the blacksmlths shop
of David Beecher in New Haven, when Con-
gressman Roger Sherman, back from Washing
ton. drops in to talk politics, chiefly incidents
of the clash between Hamilton and Jefferson,
with the learned blacksmith" David Beecher
was the father of Lyman Beecher, famous
preacher Calvnst who was tried for heresy,
crusader against dueling alcohol, nllteracy ana
slavery; father of famous children. Beecher
qualities found in all the family, from David
on, were "a powerful physique, exceptional
manual skill avid intellectual curiosity absent
mindedness, dyspepsia and sense of humor.
To these should be added absolute inability
considered public business and public welfare
their business So, according to the point OF
view, they were great humanitarians and ad-
vancers of civilization meddling nusances.
OF Lyman Beecher's children, Henry Ward
3eecher was the most famous. Inc most
popular preacher of his time, he also furnished
one of the most popular scandals OF the day.
Mr. Stowe tells a story including the attack
in Woodruff 8, Clalins Weekly the exonera-
ton of Beecher by the committee of Plymouth
Church. and the legal trial, and expresses the
opinion that Beecher'S many enemies, among
whom were the benefciaries of commercialized
vice political corruptionists and even the
rigidly orthodox must have contributed hand
somely" Harriet Beecher Stowe became an
international figure through Uncle Toms
Cabin" The Beechers almost all became
preachers; even though they planned other
wise the church claimed them. The women,
though not ordained were in effect as militant
preachers as the men-Catherine seminary
principal, writer and lecturer; Isabella, suf-
frage speaker and organizer; Mary, teacher,
and Harriet, anti-slavery advocate. Mr.. Stowe
has more than justified his multiple ancestral
biography. The Beechers worth writing
about, and he has done the writing with
perfect mixture of humor and seriousness.
OUT OF THE TEST TUBE. BY Harry N.
Holmes, Phi D. New York: Ray Long &
Richard r. Smith.
THE professor of chemistry at Oberln College,
| past president of the American Chemical
Society, dedicates this book to the Intelligent.
vet non technical people who have some inter-
est in chemistry, who would like to penetrate
beyond its wonders to an appreciation of its
methods" and to 'relate chemistry to daily
life to economics, to social relations, to the
arts, to national defense and to world affairs -
It reads like fiction but is all true. The science
of chemistry existed before there were any
text books, any laboratories back in the days
when thousands of hunters roasted their kills
over fires casually built on earth rich in iron
ore, when one hunter. superior to his brothers
in the knack of observation Can embryo
SCIENTIST dug last morsel Of roasted bear
from the embers and found lump of some
thing heavy and soft which could be hammered
into shape. That was the beginning of the
Iron Age.
From that dateleSs time the road is long to
the twentieth century, which should be called
the Age of Chemistry, rather than the Age of
Machine Chemistry has assisted the ply
sician and surgeon by synthesizing the
hornones Of the ductless glands separating
insulin from animal pancreas, furnishing
carbon tetrachloride as a for hook
worm, producing an growing number OF
improved anesthetics, and In many other ways
1t has through celuose, made it possible for
every woman to appear elegantly dressed IN
what looks like silk, without paying the price
of silk It has chained the sun" to certain
extent through ultra violet rays, has made pos
sible synthetic rubber "of Sort" has made
known to us great variety of vitan1ins, which
we must capture in our daily dietar1es II we
wish to escape long list of diseases. One o1
the entertaining illustrations shows COW feed
ing from a basket of mustard greens and bears
the inscription, "a possible result of great
kodak company's discovery that minute traces
of mustard oil in hide gelatin are essential to