Life — September 29, 1904 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘LIF Be LTHOUGH fiction is not usually employed as a vehicle for serious philosophical discussion, William H. Malloch has so employed it in The Veil of the Temple and, on the whole, employed it to advantage. The discussions which are the object of the story take place at an English country seat, and are participated in by a company of men and women drawn from fashionable, religious, political and intellectual circles, who find themselves involved in an attempt to canvass and reconcile the modern materialistic philosophy as voiced by Haeckel and the intuitive human need of the Faith which this philosophy denies. The book, in short, is an attempt to square the mental circle, deeply interesting, but necessarily futile. The Last Hope, the final work of the late Henry Seton Merriman, deals, like Mrs, Catherwood’s Lazarre, with one of the many attempts to identify some nameless wan- derer with the son of Louis XVI. The period of Mr. Merriman’s story is about 1850, its scenes lie in England and France, and the characters are as well drawn and the story is as well developed as in his more characteristic fiction of contemporary life. After a few pages of Balthazar the Magus, the bewil- dered reader will discover that the author, A. van der Naillen, is one whom much spiritualistic learning hath made mad. If the reader be curious and persistent, he will close the book with sympathy for the author, who at least believes himself serious in what he has attempted to express in his attempted story. But what will he say of the publishers, who, “with great satisfaction,” offer such a book to the public, with an enthusiastic recommendation on the cover? In the two years which have elapsed since we enjoyed Mr. George H. Lorimer’s Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, we have had ample time to get up an appetite for more, and Mr. Lorimer has had time to write a second volume of letters, which fully equal the original collection in quality and appositeness. O/d Gorgon Graham is the title of the new book. Six stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman appear in 7he Givers. They are typical New England sketches in Mrs. Freeman's earlier and well-known style, and are marked by a decided holiday flavor. Some years ago these tales would inevitably have appeared in December, but now that we have egg-plants at Christmas, we are not surprised by Christmas stories in July. The Daughters of Nijo is one of the prettiest of the Japanese tales which its author, Miss Onoto Watanna, has published. It shares with contemporary Japanese fiction the simple directness of a fairy tale, or a good child's story, or a specimen of a young literature, and indeed Japanese literature, awakening from its long sleep of classic conven- tion, is in effect a literature newborn, Both the bill-boards and the book-stalls bear witness that the present political campaign is a campaign of advertis ment, The bill-boards show us Uncle Sam genially en- dorsing the President with a slap on the back, and the book-stalls are full of biographies. A new book, called The Roosevelt Doctrine, compiled by E. E. Garrison from the speeches and writings of the President, also belongs to this literature of “publicity and promotion.” J. B. Kerfoot. The Veil of the Temple. By William H. Malloch. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.) The Last Hope. By Henry Seton Merriman, (Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.50.) Balthazar the Magus. pany. $r.50.) Old Gorgon Graham. and Company. $1.50.) The Givers. By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman ers. $1.25. The Daughters of Nijo. By Onoto Watanna, pany. $1.50.) The Rootevelt Doctrine. Cooke. $1.00.) By A. van der Naillen. (R. F, Fenno and Com- By George Horace Lorimer. (Doubleday, Page (Harper and Broth- (The Macmillan Com- Compiled by E. E. Garrison. (Robert Grier Restore the Canteen! HE officers of the army continue to be contumaciously blind to the blessings that have resulted in the sup- pression of the army canteen by the W. C. T. U. Various commanding generals are just now sending in their annual reports. General Baldwin from the Department of Colo- rado, General Carter from the Philippines, General Jesse Lee from Texas, all bewail the increase of drunkenness, deser- tions and court-martials, which they allege to have resulted from the abolition of the privilege of selling beer in the post exchanges. It is a shame that members of Congress will not make fair inquiry into this canteen matter and settle it on its merits. So far, the effect of the post exchange canteen on the soldier has been the last thing considered. What Con- gress has been concerned about has been the effect of the canteen on the imaginations of the wives of sundry voters. IN DOUBT. “You SHOULDN'T BE AFRAID TO CO TO BED IN TH DARK, DOROTHY. REMEMBER, THE LORD WILL COME AND WATCH OVER YoU.” “DUT, AUNTIE, MAYBE THE NEW JANITOR WON'T LET Hat 1N."” comicbooks.com