Life, 1905-09-07 · page 26 of 42
Life — September 7, 1905 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines book reviews with satirical commentary on American social attitudes. The heading "Disillusionment" frames the content thematically. The main cartoon depicts a domestic scene where a woman reads to a man, illustrating the caption's joke: when told that grey horses indicate "gentleness and tractability," a woman responds that her husband is "quite grey" himself—sarcastically suggesting he lacks these qualities despite his coloring. The book reviews discuss contemporary novels examining American society's contradictions. Robert Herrick's *Memoirs of an American Citizen* follows a man's rise from butcher's boy to magnate, apparently critiquing how "unions" and "trusts"—ostensibly progressive institutions—actually promote selfishness and exploitation. The review suggests these social structures have "readjusted" people's idealistic notions about American life. Other reviews cover romance novels and Frank Allaben's genealogy treatise. The page reflects turn-of-century disillusionment with American capitalism and institutions, suggesting that financial success and social advancement corrupt rather than ennoble participants.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
290 Disillusionment. H™ oddly by meeting the facts of life One's notions are readjusted ! A“ union” is a promoter of strife, And a** trust” is not to be trusted Rooest HERRICK, an author whose thoughtful and keen insight into the life of his day has s been hampered in its expression by a me newhat heavy and un- imaginative, has found, in his Memoirs of an American Citizen, a medium exactly suited to talent. In its pages E. V. Harrington, country lad, butcher's boy, stock y speculator and magnate, makes the most s' clerk, opportunist, onest nd straigh extreme school otward plea for th of co! hies that has any- mporary ¢ 1d while Mr. Her- rick will doubtless be con aned by any who disbelieve in the educational value of truth, and by those who insist up sto a writer th opi an s of his ch ters, yet the unrepentant unenlightened disenchantment of Senator Harrington is a more and more suggestive commentary th; fal philippic Ii will discover and amateur of al be hoped ¢ iquities of Heloise to that romance Abelard. It is quite conceival might lose, while history was no gainer, The letters from Juliette Drouet t which Henry W. Mack has un- e 10 the recipient © the most ordinary ed and published, of love-letters, as important dou! outsider, as any Jill's to any Jack. Even Mr. Mack, who has wri sketch of Hugo's life in Gu ss, and surely as devoid of interest to the nd them a pleasant 1 of which they are the modest witnesses, rnsey a romance has draw ther know thei duction to the little volume, has tactfully ignored the: ledge nor inspiration from pages, and Francois Coppée, in his intro- The Breath porary Japan the Gods isa romance of contem- Sidney McCall, whose first novel, Truth D. ppeared some four years ago. The Breat Gos is afar more unusual and more entertaining story, although by no means without the same element of clevera foibles 0 cep! peal to the upper balcony. It has the ex- fal merit also of being imbued w {the Japanese ‘The blossoming of the political novel, » thetize the actual dramatic elements in conditions sufficiently sordid but none the less typical, will naturally be followed by a self-sown crop of political fiction, her than real va book is The Ultinra Il Mighels, a story of confl n which is too shallow to deserve cess and too showy t If we are to believe Mr. Frank Allaben, genea, logical expert and cnthusiast and author of a ‘LP E« treatise, Concerning Genealogies, ia which he offers numerous hints gathered from a long experi- ence, the collecting of ancestors is away ahead of postage stamps or Chinese porcelains. Moreover, the occupation not only does duty as a hobby, but is a substitute for sport, and the excitement of still-hunting and bagging the clusive great-grand- father is heightened by the fact that there is no closed season for ancestors Stephen Conrad's Mrs, Jim and Mrs. Jimmie is a continuation of The Second Mrs. Jim, who, successfully managed Ji boys, is now managing the sewing society of the and his two Methodist Church. Mrs. Jim, as before, does most is about y divided between good-natured gossip and homely good sense. of the talking, and her convers: Marshall P, Wilder, in the preface to 7) Side of # wnny Street, says: “In this little volume offered recollections of the many people. I have plucked blossoms from the unny Side of gardens of d pathos, which lie side by side, and in weaving them ini land claim as my own the string tha gether.” The y be described as “* plucked humor on a strin; J.B. Kerfoot Robert Herrick. (The Macmillan Company. nd Juliette Drouct. By Henry Wellington Mack. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.50.) The Breath of the Gods. By Sidney McCall. (Little, Browa and Company, Boston. $1.50. The Ultimate Passion. By Philip Vertill Mige hels. (Harper and Brothers. $1.50.) Concerning Genealogies, By Frank Allabea, (The Grafton Press.) Urs. Jim and Mrs. Jimmie, By Stephen Con- rad. (L.C, Page and Company, Boston. $1.50.) The Sunny Side of t . Wilder. (Funk and W. Street. By Marshall alls Company. $1.20.) Afterwards. ROWNE: Is your daughter going to take a post-graduate course after college Greex: Yes, Love-making, raising orange blossoms and the care of the Cisescey DE HORNER Sat in a corner Eating a police; pie. He putin his thumb And pulled out a plum, And said, ¢ What a fine boy am 1!" Mr, Country Life (reading): “1F YOU DESIRE A SAFE MORSE ALWAYS PICK A GREY OR WHITE ONE, AS THAT COLOR IS A SURE INDICATION OF GENTLE NOW I WONDER IF THAT'S TRUE. Mrs. C. : PERFECTLY ABSURD, WILLIAM! ESS AND TRACTABILITY.” WHY, YOU'RE QUITE GREY YOURSEL! comicbooks.com