Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Reviews of 1920 Books (continued 29)

MERZ, JOHN THEODORE. Fragment on the human mind. *$4.50 Scribner 192

(Eng ed 20–10637)

“After having mastered the history of modern philosophy the author considers its main problem to be the relation of religion and science. The problem of this relation is best approached, the author holds, by a study of the human mind. This may be done in a number of ways, but he prefers two, observation and introspection. Observation is the method used in studying the development of the race, going back to primitive times; introspection is used in the study of the individual life, going back to the infant mind. Special attention is given to the latter in this treatise. Many of the great metaphysical problems [are discussed] and such subjects as the moral law, the world of values, the relation of science to art and the respective provinces of each, the social order and the world of freedom.”—Boston Transcript

“In this brief treatise we find the idealistic philosophy set forth by a masterly mind which includes the common sense of the practical business man, the convincing logic of the acute thinker, and the wisdom of the broadminded scholar.” F. W. C.

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Boston Transcript p6 Je 30 ’20 850w

“Admirable both in clarity of style and depth of matter.”

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Sat R 129:63 Ja 17 ’20 900w

“The treatise, small as it is in bulk, fragmentary as it confessedly is, is a worthy crown to a lifetime of devotion to the task of instructing and enlightening the mind of its author and his numerous readers as to the history and nature of themselves and the world they live in.”

+ −

The Times [London] Lit Sup p97 F 12 ’20 2000w

MIDDLETON, GEORGE. Masks. *$1.60 Holt 812

20–8218

Here are six one-act plays of modern American life all more or less satiric and all with the same implication as the title play. In “Masks” we are introduced to the shabby home of a hitherto unsuccessful dramatist at the moment of his first success. While he is musing at his desk over the change in his fortune he is haunted by two of the characters of a former, rejected play, which now having been remodeled is making him rich and famous. They are the bitter reflections of one who knows that he has killed the real artist in himself in courting public favor. The other plays are: Jim’s beast; Tides; Among the lions; The reason; The house.

Booklist 16:337 Jl ’20

“The present volume not only maintains the high level of those preceding, but contains some work that challenges comparison with anything done earlier, while suggesting a new vein. This is particularly true of the title-piece. In all the six plays the trained hand of the practical theatre artist is evidenced in the stage directions and the conductment of the action.” R: Burton

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Bookm 51:472 Je ’20 700w

“A book of plays by George Middleton promises interest for the reader, and ‘Masks’ is scarcely to be called a disappointment. Yet these dramas are rather thin in texture. The play which gives the book its title seems a bit forced in treatment.”

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Boston Transcript p4 My 12 ’20 380w

“Only in ‘Among the lions’ is there any deftness either of characterization or of action.” Gilbert Seldes

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Dial 69:214 Ag ’20 120w

“Some of George Middleton’s published plays have been very bad, but they have always shown possibilities. That these possibilities have become actualities is evidenced by his latest volume.”

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Drama 10:355 Jl ’20 350w

“His strength is in his ideas. He has thought justly and forcibly; he is clear where others are muddled, and collected where others are confused. What prevents Mr Middleton’s work a little from fulfilling one’s highest expectations of it is his dialogue. This weakness, one should add, is not wholly personal to Mr Middleton. We have little folk-speech.”

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Nation 110:693 My 22 ’20 900w

“All these plays are savagely polite, showing the ambition to achieve great satire without the ability to bite very deep.” M. C.

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New Repub 24:26 S 1 ’20 500w

“Each of the plays is written with the least possible waste of words or of motion. There is a bitter tang to them, except the last, with its note of whimsical tenderness. It is a book that Mr Middleton’s readers will be glad to have, for it carries on fitly the work he has been doing, that of writing the one-act play with a true sense of its form and value and as a medium for swift and keen interpretation of modern life.” Hildegarde Hawthorne

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N Y Times 25:228 My 2 ’20 880w

“His art is akin to mathematics. Apart from the soundness of the fabric, his strength lies largely in the hardness, the firmness, the insistence of the individual stroke. Unfortunately for Mr Middleton, this hardness strikes inward, and the virtue of the technician becomes the limitation and incumbrance of the man.”

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Review 2:632 Je 16 ’20 300w

“Perhaps the first is the most satisfactory. ‘Reason,’ a rather grim little study, is the other play in the book which has come off. The rest are a little nebulous, especially perhaps the playlet à la Sir James Barrie at the end.”

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Spec 125:280 Ag 28 ’20 150w

“Whether Mr Middleton is saving his best for Broadway today, or whether the six one-act plays published in this volume are what is left over from the early literary days and published now in the hope of sharing the sun of success, it is certain that, as a group they are distinctly dull, undramatic and unconvincing. ‘Among the lions’ and ‘The reason’—both satirical comedies of the irregular relation—are better than the others.”

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Theatre Arts Magazine 4:258 Jl ’20 80w

MILES, EUSTACE HAMILTON. Self-health as a habit. il *$2.50 Dutton 613

20–6058

“Self-health, according to Mr Eustace Miles, is mainly an affair of balanced (vegetarian) diets, good cooking and mastication, no alcohol, but habitual sipping of hot water, deep breathing, and ‘sensible exercises’—more particularly the ‘daily stretch.’”—Ath

Ath p62 Ja 9 ’20 40w

“While experts will probably not agree with all that Mr Miles teaches, his advice is stimulating and helpful.” B. L.

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Survey 45:103 O 16 ’20 180w

“That he has a great deal that is extremely sensible to say about the individual’s life and habits, both physical and mental, all will admit.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p770 D 18 ’19 80w

MILIUKOV, PAVEL NIKOLAEVICH. Bolshevism: an international danger; its doctrine and its practice through war and revolution. *$3.75 Scribner 335

(Eng ed 20–10286)

“In view of the fact that most of the criticism of bolshevism that we are privileged to read comes from non-Russian sources, we should welcome this attempt of a great Russian scholar and statesman to appraise both the doctrine and the practical outcome of bolshevist rule from an international standpoint. Professor Miliukov, who will be remembered as the leader of the first government formed after the revolution of 1917, here traces the progress of bolshevism through war and revolution into a practical experiment in government and exposes the bolshevist propaganda in other countries, showing that its leaders are aiming at nothing short of a world-revolution.”—R of Rs

“An informative study to be recommended to the well read, discerning type of reader.”

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Booklist 17:54 N ’20

“When finally he traces the coal-strike and the steel-strike to Moscow, we regretfully set his volume on the shelf, in its alphabetical order, next to Baron Munchausen.” Harold Kellock

−

Freeman 1:620 S 8 ’20 550w

“Beyond any doubt, he here renders a great service to the bolshevist cause by using ‘propaganda stuff’ which is so easy to refute. One might expect from a man like Miliukov a sounder criticism of Bolshevism, because it can and must be criticized from an entirely different angle.”

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Nation 111:sup423 O 13 ’20 1150w

“The book is too detailed and assumes too much knowledge of details to be available for the general reader, but it is for this very reason the more valuable for students.”

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Outlook 126:67 S 8 ’20 120w

R of Rs 62:221 Ag ’20 100w

“M. Miliukov’s eminence in Russian politics and his first-hand knowledge of conditions in Europe and the United States make him a sure guide to those engaged in public affairs; his masterly handling and clear exposition of so complicated a subject render the reader’s task not only easy, but pleasant.”

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Sat R 130:463 D 4 ’20 110w

“An instructive account.”

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Spec 124:725 My 29 ’20 1300w

“His facts are wonderfully correct. No honest man reading this work on Russian politics ... can come to any other opinion than that M. Miliukov’s work carries conviction, not only because it is well compiled, but because it is—at times almost painfully—correct in every detail.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p375 Je 17 ’20 1200w

MILLAIS, JOHN GUILLE. Sportsman’s wanderings (Eng title, Wanderings and memories). il *$5 (5½c) Houghton

20–26324

The author fired his first gun (and almost his last) at the age of six. At school his ornithological obsession repeatedly brought disgrace upon him, but he lived to become one of the most versatile of sportsmen and naturalists, as the book shows. The tropics and arctic ice are alike familiar to him and with the motto “The great thing in life is to live,” he has found being a “Jack of all trades” the most interesting existence. “In turn I have been soldier, sailor, a British consul, artist, zoologist, author and landscape gardener.” His desultory accounts include a description of his father the painter, and their family life, and of many distinguished personages. The illustrations are from drawings by the author and from photographs. Contents: When I was young; Some early experiences in shooting; Travels in Iceland, 1889; All sorts and conditions of men; Arthur Neumann, pioneer and elephant hunter; Scottish salmon-fishing; One African day, 1913; The Lofoden Islands, 1915; An arctic residence, 1916; Fealar, 1918—highland deer-stalking.

“A story that is interesting, varied, and well spiced with anecdotes.”

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Booklist 16:232 Ap ’20

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Boston Transcript p11 My 1 ’20 330w

“Here is a readable blend of lively reminiscence and first-hand observation, without verbal or scientific excess baggage.”

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Dial 68:666 My ’20 50w

Reviewed by M. F. Egan

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N Y Times 25:285 My 30 ’20 220w

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Sat R 129:107 Ja 31 ’20 1250w

“He ought to be able to write an interesting book, and he has done so. His reminiscences are disjointed, as—one imagines—his life has been; but they are alive with his own enthusiasm for describing live things.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p707 D 4 ’19 1000w

MILLEN, WILLIAM ARTHUR. Songs of the Irish revolution and songs of the newer Ireland. $1.50 Stratford co. 811

20–8530

The author of these poems is an American of Irish descent who lived eight years in Ireland as a student and who believes that the National university of Ireland will be the salvation of the country. With his love for the land of his fathers and sympathy for the “Newer Ireland spirit” he combines great faith in Ireland’s men of learning. The book falls into two parts: At the dawning; and Echoes of Erin.

“Mr Millen is obviously pamphleteer rather than poet. One cannot help feeling that he would be more pleased at winning converts to his cause than at winning laurels for himself.” F. E. A. T.

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Grinnell R 16:357 F ’21 200w

MILLER, ALICE (DUER) (MRS HENRY WISE MILLER). Beauty and the bolshevist. il *$1.50 (7c) Harper 20–18254

Ben Moreton, the radical editor of “Liberty,” runs off hastily to Newport to prevent his brother’s marriage to Eugenia Cord, daughter of a multi-millionaire. He is too late to do that but he does something else, he falls in love with her sister. Crystal finds the common ground that will unite her irate conservative father and her radical lover and brings the story to the right ending. It appeared in Harper’s Magazine, May-July, 1920.

“Not so good as some others by the author, but amusing.”

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Booklist 17:118 D ’20

“A clever and paradoxical comedy full of repartee.”

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Cleveland p105 D ’20 30w

N Y Evening Post p9 N 6 ’20 210w

“One has come to expect clever conversation from Alice Duer Miller, and ‘The beauty and the bolshevist’ does provide that, but it is far from being as pleasing as some of Mrs Miller’s earlier novels.”

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Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 23 ’21 110w

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Wis Lib Bul 16:238 D ’20 80w

MILLER, ARTHUR HARRISON. Leadership. *$1.50 Putnam 355

20–8069

“In the schooling of officers no course was included nor lectures given in leadership as a human science or in its relation to military success as a morale factor in peace or war.” (Preface) It is the object of the book to standardize the acknowledged methods of leadership in the army, and, for the sake of brevity, the methods and “formulae,” merely, are given without their psychological reasons. Contents: Foreword by Edward L. Munson; Leadership and morale; Character and personality; The leader and the soldier; The leader and the organization; Index.

The Times [London] Lit Sup p442 Jl 8 ’20 50w

MILLER, LEO EDWARD. Hidden people; the story of a search for Incan treasure. il *$2.50 Scribner

20–16498

“The hair-raising adventures of a couple of shipwrecked college boys among the wild Indians, ‘monkey men,’ reptiles and gorgeous birds of South America, especially their adventures among a remnant of the old Incan civilization with their horde of gold.”—Cleveland

Cleveland p106 D ’20 40w

“A scientific novel for boys, a really sound study of a remnant of an ancient South American tribe in interesting natural surroundings.”

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Ind 104:380 D 11 ’20 30w

N Y Evening Post p25 O 23 ’20 80w

“Neither youth nor age need form a barrier to the enjoyment of ‘The hidden people.’ Mr Miller is particularly fortunate in the way by which he applies his local color.” Kermit Roosevelt

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N Y Times p5 N 14 ’20 1150w

“Is the kind of book that will appeal to all lovers of adventure.”

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Outlook 126:378 O 27 ’20 50w

“Those who follow his fascinating story, gain also a knowledge of the birds and beasts, the volcanic mountains and other interesting things that a scientific observer may see in South America.”

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Springf’d Republican p10 Ja 28 ’21 80w

MILLER, WARREN HASTINGS. Ring-necked grizzly. il *$1.50 (2½c) Appleton

20–7922

A hunting story for boys. Sid Colvin is recovering from typhoid and his father decides to give him a year in the open and sends him, accompanied by his chum Scotty, out to the Rockies where the boys are taken in charge by Big John, a trusted guide. They spend a winter in the mountains and the story tells of their adventures and exploits, which include, in addition to the killing of the ring-necked grizzly, other hunting and fishing experiences, snow-blindness and an encounter with outlaws. Mr Miller is author of “The boys’ book of hunting and fishing” and other works.

Wis Lib Bul 16:198 N ’20 70w

MILLIGAN, HAROLD VINCENT. Stephen Collins Foster; a biography of America’s folksong composer. il *$2.50 Schirmer

20–9485

By a careful sifting of material the author has sought to present an authentic account of Foster’s career, taking special pains to dispel some of the legends that have grown up around his later years and death. The early chapters give an interesting picture of American pioneer society and suggest the state of development of music in America at the time. The concluding chapter gives an estimate of Foster’s musical attainment and an analysis of the influence of his environment on his career. Contents: The family; Boyhood; Youth; First songs; Ambition; Drifting; Tragedy; The composer. Among the illustrations are several facsimile pages from Foster’s manuscript book.

N Y Evening Post p14 O 23 ’20 520w

MILLIN, SARAH GERTRUDE. Dark river. *$2 (2½c) Seltzer

(Eng ed 20–4268)

Human destinies rather than events form the interest of this South African story. Of the three men and three women that figure in it, John Oliver and René van Reede bungle their lives through defects in character. George Buckle possesses the substantial social virtues that make good in this workaday world and even enable him to take his rebuff in love philosophically. The three women, sisters, untouched by feminism, are more passive instruments in the hands of fate and are reduced to watchful waiting for the right man. Alma’s marriage to George is frustrated through the untimely interference of the flighty René, who goes off and forgets. Hester, feeling youth slipping away from her, marries the regenerate John, to her sorrow. Ruth, the youngest, eventually becomes the happy wife of George, although Alma’s shadow occasionally flits by.

“To read ‘The dark river’ is, after so much wind and brass, to listen to a solo for the viola. Running through the book there is, as it were, a low, troubled throbbing note which never is stilled. Perhaps a novel is never the novel it might have been, but there are certain books which do seem to contain the vision, more or less blurred or more or less clear, of their second selves, of what the author saw before he grasped the difficult pen. ‘The dark river’ is one of these.” K. M.

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Ath p241 F 20 ’20 380w

“So well does the writer of this story know her South Africa, and more particularly the diggings, that she has not attempted to add the glamour usually found in tales of these regions. In fact, so clearly defined has been her purpose to tell ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’ that the story would be rather depressing in its sombreness and worse than drab details were it not enlivened by bits of real humor and by a delightful background of local color.”

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N Y Evening Post p10 O 30 ’20 270w

“‘The dark river’ is well written, in a clear and vigorous style, it is interesting, it gives that sense of reality which makes us feel that we are actually observing the lives and fortunes of a group of living people. Moreover, it has the rare quality which distinguished Arnold Bennett’s ‘The old wives’ tale’—it gives an effect of the passing of time. ‘The dark river’ is a notable novel.”

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N Y Times p28 Ja 2 ’21 780w

“Outside of Hardy it would be difficult to find a setting which affords a more harmonious background for the characters whose sombre destiny is recorded in Sarah Gertrude Millin’s ‘The dark river.’” Joseph Mosher

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Pub W 98:1192 O 16 ’20 310w

“It is written not unpleasantly, but with a serious simplicity, and the characters introduced are well and distinctly drawn.”

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Sat R 129:478 My 22 ’20 70w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p89 F 5 ’20 90w

MILLS, ENOS ABIJAH. Adventures of a nature guide. il *$3.50 (5½c) Doubleday 508

20–2049

“Storm, sunshine, night, desert, stream, and forest are crowded with waiting attractions and moving scenes. To have the most adventures and the greatest enjoyment in a given time, ramble the wilds alone and without a fishing-rod or a gun.” (Preface) This is the author’s advice to nature lovers. He calls the wilderness the safety zone of the world and declares its experiences less dangerous than staying at home; while the hunter, armed and killing, multiplies dangers and enjoys less variety and fewer adventures. The book gives a solitary and unarmed camper’s adventures in the wilds of the continent. Contents: Snow-blinded on the summit; Waiting in the wilderness; Winter mountaineering; Trees at timberline; Wind-rapids on the heights; The arctic zone of high mountains; Naturalist meets prospector; The white cyclone; Lightning and thunder; Landmarks; Children of my trail school; A day with a nature guide; Play and pranks of wild folk; Censored natural history news; Harriet—little mountain climber; Evolution of nature guiding; Development of a woman guide. The many beautiful illustrations are from photographs by the author.

“Boy scouts will like it.”

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Booklist 16:201 Mr ’20

Reviewed by LeRoy Jeffers

Bookm 51:103 Mr ’20 1450w

“The humor with which he relieves a tense situation, and his keen observations on the habits of the wild life of the mountains add to the interest of the book. A number of remarkably good photographs.”

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N Y P L New Tech Bks p15 Ja ’20 80w

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Outlook 124:203 F 4 ’20 40w

“It is altogether a fascinating book; and its best title to recognition is that it approaches nature study from new angles, and with an unflagging and ever new interest.” Phillip Tillinghast

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Pub W 96:1697 D 27 ’19 380w

R of Rs 61:448 Ap ’20 70w

MILLS, JOSEPH TRAVIS.^[2] Great Britain and the United States. *$2.50 Oxford 327

20–9352

“An English scholar’s critical review of the historical relations between the two countries. The book is made up mainly of extracts from lectures that were delivered to various units of the American army of occupation in Germany in May and June, 1919. The author naturally takes the ground that in the family dispute of 1776 ‘Britain’s policy was logically defensible, however unwise her action.’ In other words, he contends that there really is a British ‘case.’”—R of Rs

“His audiences considered, Mr Travis Mills was outspoken indeed, and there must have been some shaking of wise young heads over the Kiplingesque patriotism of this Britisher. No harm is done, however, by a ‘straight talk,’ and the lecturer advanced a sound argument when he contended that want of understanding, rather than the intention to oppress, produced the rupture between the American colonies and Great Britain.”

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Ath p12 Jl 2 ’20 370w

R of Rs 63:111 Ja ’21 80w

“Much of it will probably be new to English readers, whose notions of the American revolution are derived from text-books with a strong Whiggish bias.”

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Spec 124:659 My 15 ’20 220w

MILN, LOUISE (JORDAN) (MRS GEORGE CRICHTON MILN). Invisible foe. *$1.25 (1½c) Stokes

20–11300

This story, adapted from a play by Walter Hackett, is based on the possibility of communication with the dead. Helen Bransby is loved by two brothers, Stephen and Hugh. Thwarted in his love by Hugh’s success with Helen and smarting under a business failure as well, Stephen commits a crime which he contrives so that Hugh is blamed for it. The only person to discover the true state of affairs is Helen’s father, and the shock of it proves too much for his weak heart and he dies before he can right the wrong. Helen is positive of Hugh’s innocence, and as time goes on she is made more confident by the impelling feeling that her father is trying to get some message thru to her from the other world. The crisis of the story comes when she actually receives the message, and the hiding place of the paper that clears Hugh is psychically revealed to her.

“‘The invisible foe’ could easily stand on its own merits as a crime story without the aid of the spooks.”

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N Y Times 25:29 Jl 18 ’20 650w

MILN, LOUISE JORDON (MRS GEORGE CRICHTON MILN). Mr Wu; based on the play “Mr Wu” by H. M. Vernon and Harold Owen. *$1.75 (2c) Stokes

20–7524

Wu Li Chang, one of the richest, most powerful of Chinese mandarins had had an English education and was an Oxford man. His daughter, Nang Ping, whose mother died when she was born, and who was reared in the utmost Chinese luxury, was betrayed by a young Englishman. How Wu, the father punished his daughter’s transgression in the time-honored Chinese way, by killing her, and how he took revenge on her seducer through the latter’s mother makes an impressive tale. It abounds in vivid descriptions of Chinese social customs and traditions and reflections on the habits of Englishmen in China, that are not much to the credit of our western civilization.

“It differs from most novelized plays in that the bones are not visible or even suggested. Mrs Miln must have put into it sufficient of her own personality to make the story quite her own. It is probable, moreover, that all three authors contributed something to the impression we have of being for the first time actually in the heart of China.” D. L. M.

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Boston Transcript p6 Mr 24 ’20 420w

“Though the vengeance of Wu Li Chang’s forms the climax of the book the best and most interesting part of it is the introductory portion, closing with the tragic fate of poor little Wu Nang Ping.”

+ −

N Y Times 25:128 Mr 21 ’20 500w

“Poignant emotions and a portrayal of oriental manners and customs combine to make ‘Mr Wu’ of more compelling interest than the ordinary run of adventure fiction.”

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Springf’d Republican p11a My 30 ’20 330w

MILNE, ALAN ALEXANDER. First plays. *$2 Knopf 822

(Eng ed 20–12856)

A volume of five plays, written during 1916 and 1917. They are not, the author says, “the work of a professional writer, but the recreation of a (temporary) professional soldier.” The first, “Wurzel-Flummery” is a one-act comedy in which two distinguished members of Parliament are offered an inheritance of fifty thousand pounds—on condition of accepting the name Wurzel-Flummery. A two-act version of the play was produced in London in 1917. “The lucky one” is a three-act play. “The boy comes home,” a comedy in one act, is the one war play in the volume. “Belinda” is a comedy in three acts that has been performed in London and in New York, where Ethel Barrymore played the title rôle. “The red feathers,” the final piece, is an operetta.

“The lightness and irresponsible gaiety of Mr Milne’s dialogue are equalled by his wit.”

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Ath p1017 O 10 ’19 150w

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Booklist 17:22 O ’20

“They are intelligently amusing and have all the quality of admitting a thousand technical imperfections and carrying them off with wit or the grace of nice human relations.” Gilbert Seldes

+ −

Dial 69:214 Ag ’20 140w

“Throughout all these ‘First plays’ of Mr Milne’s the word whimsical haunts us. It is the trademark of the school, the school of Barrie; and as in so many plays in the Barrie manner the form has taken the place of the substance. What these plays show is simply that no glamour of pictorialism, no colouring of language can atone for an indifference to the fundamental requirements of drama.” J. C. M.

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Freeman 1:406 Jl 7 ’20 200w

“No young continental artist, discovering himself to be a playwright during the very years of the war, would have written with this sobriety, good humor, and straightforward realism. Such an artist would, no doubt, have written more profoundly and imaginatively, but also more obscurely and, in no low sense, less usefully. Mr Milne, to be sure, is capable of being both trivial and sentimental. But his dialogue is deft and natural, and his observation of human nature cool and sane. His best play, The lucky one, is an admirable piece of dramatic writing.” Ludwig Lewisohn

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Nation 111:18 Jl 3 ’20 280w

“Mr Milne’s plays belong to what might be termed the Barrie school of drama. It is the idea of whimsicality raised to terms of life. Situations that in the hands of another would be either broadly comic or broadly depressing are made by this school of dramatists into a fantastic realism. While these plays are extremely diverting to read, one will sometimes doubt their adaptability to the stage.” H. S. Gorman

+ −

N Y Times 25:22 Jl 18 ’20 550w

“The others are excellent entertainments, they abound in high spirits and good nonsense, but ‘The lucky one’ cuts deeper. They are all excellent fun, superficial, naturally, but thoroughly sound and wholesome of its kind.”

+ −

Spec 123:477 O 11 ’19 750w

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Springf’d Republican p8 S 9 ’20 360w

The Times [London] Lit Sup p501 S 18 ’19 70w

“They are delightful parlour-games, all five. They do not affect, like the newest of Mr Shaw’s parlour-games, to be fantasies in the Russian manner. They are modestly and tactfully and good-humouredly in the English manner.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p564 O 16 ’19 700w

“‘Wurzel-Flummery’ is what high comedy should be—satirical yet not bitter, amusing yet not farcical. The reader of a play is perhaps too apt to dwell upon its style; but, other qualities being equal, a play is really none the worse for being well written. And Mr Milne writes well.”

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Theatre Arts Magazine 4:257 Jl ’20 240w

MILNE, ALAN ALEXANDER. Not that it matters. *$2.50 Dutton 814

20–13982

“Mr Milne, who was formerly assistant editor of ‘Punch,’ contributed to that weekly many verses and paragraphs about his experiences in the war. He has left ‘Punch,’ chiefly because he wearied of having to be ‘whimsical’ once a week. In this book he writes about a score of subjects,—games, books, thermometers, snobbery, and the seasons.”—Review

“One of the most gracious things about these essays is that Mr Milne knows when to begin and when to stop.” E. F. E.

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Boston Transcript p7 Ag 18 ’20 520w

“No better book for vacation reading has been published this summer than ‘Not that it matters.’”

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Review 3:173 Ag 25 ’20 280w

“To all that he attempts Mr Milne brings a style of perfect suppleness, ease and grace, albeit possessing that almost excessive informality that Charles Lamb is charged by some with having introduced into English prose. But when he rambles on, struggling with a subject that doesn’t yield much fruit one wishes that Mr Milne would adopt a somewhat severer principle of selection when collecting his writings for the pages of a book.”

+ −

Springf’d Republican p8 Ag 27 ’20 500w

“There is the satisfaction of knowing that wherever you may dip into this book you will be amused. So much of modern literature is only rough hewn that a finely finished work—even on goldfish—is welcome. In that respect ‘it’ does ‘matter.’”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p693 N 27 ’19 680w

MINNIGERODE, MEADE. Laughing house. *$1.90 (3½c) Putnam

20–18258

Laughing house is another name for Shirley House, the ancestral home of the Shirley family in Shirley, Connecticut. It is packed with family lore and tradition, which Francis and Mary Elizabeth love and respect. There they have a happy childhood, whose joys are shared by Newell and Isabelle Rushmore and Billy Vane, who are almost as much at home at Shirley House as the Shirleys themselves. When the children grow up they are still the best of comrades. In fact, they know each other so well that all their future relations are taken for granted and it is tacitly understood that Mary Elizabeth is to marry Billy. But then a stranger comes into their midst, a nouveau-riche neighbor who tramples on their traditions and upsets all their calculations. But altho her methods are a trifle ruthless, she opens the eyes of several people to their real feelings toward various other people. Billy suffers most, but deservedly so. Mary Elizabeth does not marry him, but Newell, and Isabelle who had fancied herself in love with Billy, too, finds it is Francis after all.

“When Mr Minnigerode is dealing with this family he is altogether charming. Perhaps he cannot write of ugliness: when he brings in a member of the nouveau riche, and introduces us to a vulgar and ‘designing woman,’ his skill departs.” W: L. Phelps

+ −

N Y Times p8 O 31 ’20 380w

“There is a pleasantness about the tale, and the reader will relish the quiet old Shirley homestead, the quiet of the village and surrounding hills, and the principal characters. The story is natural in its telling.”

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Springf’d Republican p9a D 5 ’20 120w

“Slight both in matter and in length, and not free from preciosity.”

+ −

The Times [London] Lit Sup p801 D 2 ’20 50w

MIRZA, YOUEL BENJAMIN. When I was a boy in Persia. (Children of other lands) il *$1 (3c) Lothrop 915.5

20–7997

The author is a young man of Persian birth who served in the United States navy during the war. He begins his story with an account of his parents’ marriage, thus giving a glimpse of the Persian caste system as well as of marriage customs. Subjects covered in other chapters include: The birth and care of a child; Schooldays; Persian games, amusements and massalie (stories); Persian fasts and festivals; Persian rugs and rug-makers. The final chapter, Preparations for a far journey, tells of the departure for America.

“An unaffected sincerity and a ring of truth and intimate knowledge are the fascinating things in this story.”

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Booklist 16:316 Je ’20

“This is a delightful book.”

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Boston Transcript p4 S 29 ’20 360w

Lit D p96 D 4 ’20 20w

Wis Lib Bul 16:198 N ’20 70w

MISCELLANY of American poetry, 1920. *$2 Harcourt 811.08

20–16870

“This volume is as its name half implies, a miscellany of the most recent work of eleven American poets. These eleven form no particular group, illustrate no single influence, constitute no one ‘movement.’... Each poet has been his own editor. As such, he has selected and arranged his own contributions.... The poems that follow are all new. They are new not only in the sense that they have not been previously issued by their authors in book form but, with the exception of seven poems, none of them has ever appeared in print.” (Publisher’s foreword) The eleven poets are: Conrad Aiken; Robert Frost; John Gould Fletcher; Vachel Lindsay; Amy Lowell; James Oppenheim; Edwin Arlington Robinson; Carl Sandburg; Sara Teasdale; Jean Starr Untermeyer, and Louis Untermeyer.

Booklist 17:105 D ’20

“Some of the poems have come out in magazines; and, what is really important, most of them are below the author’s level. For a first number this volume might pass. But the next should be made to count by the contributors looking ahead and planning for it. Otherwise it is only a pleasant venture.” Stark Young

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Bookm 52:266 N ’20 550w

Boston Transcript p8 O 2 ’20 1200w

“An eminently sane and revealing experiment, and one which justifies itself in the results.” Lisle Bell

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Freeman 2:213 N 10 ’20 490w

“Containing whatever it does, it vindicates with unusual accuracy the critical preferences which seem to prevail just now and so embarrasses the reviewer who would like to declare something newer than that John Gould Fletcher, Robert Frost, Vachel Lindsay, Amy Lowell, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Carl Sandburg are better than other poets today.”

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Nation 111:481 O 27 ’20 840w

“The most interesting thing about this volume is the curiously stratified cross section which it offers of contemporary poetry in America.” J: L. Lowes

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N Y Evening Post p5 S 25 ’20 2200w

“Here are all fashions, from free verse to the most conservative lines, and all done with exceptional finish and comprehension of poetic values. The book suggests in its general scheme those excellent Georgian anthologies. But a difference must be noted between these books and this American miscellany. In the American book is a wider range, the dissimilitude of the poets included is far greater than that of the Georgian group.”

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N Y Times p11 D 5 ’20 1250w

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

Review 2:292 O 6 ’20 350w

MITCHELL, ROY. Shakespeare for community players. il *$2.50 Dutton 822.3

20–3019

“Mr Mitchell’s authority as director of the Hart House theater of the University of Toronto and former technical director of the Greenwich Village theater, New York, is unquestioned. Taking Shakespeare as his text, he teaches the fundamentals of stagecraft which are applicable to community production, starting with the choice of a play, and discussing organization, rehearsal, stage-setting, furniture, dresses, lighting, make-up, music and other important elements.”—Survey

Booklist 16:304 Je ’20

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St Louis 18:227 S ’20 40w

“His advice is sufficiently detailed to permit a clear grasp of all that is required. His principles are sound and scholarly.”

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Survey 44:308 My 29 ’20 220w

“Many a professional man of the theatre could learn something from Mr Mitchell’s book. The ordinary amateur actor will find it full of ‘tips.’ To the community theatre it will be necessary.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p79 F 5 ’20 700w

“Suggestions on acting and stage-directing, and full illustrations covering every phase of the text, round out the volume as one of the most helpful of the many recent contributions to what may be termed the practical literature of community drama.”

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Theatre Arts Magazine 4:258 Jl ’20 300w

Wis Lib Bul 16:116 Je ’20 80w

MIX, JENNIE IRENE. At fame’s gateway. *$1.75 (1½c) Holt

20–6128

Josephine Prescott was a musical prodigy in her little town of Parksburg and the admiration of her townspeople made it possible for her to continue her studies on the piano with a famous teacher in New York. There her personal charms secured her many friends among musical and literary people whose Bohemian life she shared. A great violin virtuoso chose her for his inspiration and she loved the man in him while the artist left her indifferent. Her teacher, the great Brandt, dubious about her artistic testing, tried her out; one year, two years. In the third year he tells her that, with all her talent, she will never be a great artist, for she lacks understanding. Despondent and with all her hopes shattered, she again hears the great violinist and suddenly awakes to the realization that she understands and thrills to his music, that she no longer loves the man but the artist. And outside of the hall on the sidewalk romance stands waiting for her.

“Although conventional, the well-sustained suspense and the pleasant characterization give it an interest that will appeal to women and girls.”

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Booklist 16:313 Je ’20

“The illuminating discussions of temperament, technique and the larger understanding necessary to genius, should prove valuable to many seeking a career in music, or indeed in any of the arts.”

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Cleveland p71 Ag ’20 80w

“A moral tale but interesting, it has a lot of musical good sense and is highly to be recommended to the concert-stage struck girl.”

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Ind 103:323 S 11 ’20 50w

“The book lacks character development. The novel drags badly at times, but some of the scenes are well written. Brandt’s speeches are usually good, and as a whole it is a conscientious piece of work with an excellent moral.”

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N Y Times 25:321 Je 20 ’20 450w

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Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 22 ’20 180w

MOELLER, PHILIP. Sophie. *$1.75 Knopf 812

20–13983

Sophie Arnould, famous Parisian singer, actor and wit of the eighteenth century, is the heroine of this comedy in three acts for which Carl Van Vechten writes a prologue giving the historical background of the play with a brief sketch of the life of Sophie Arnould. Although it is based on history, says Mr Van Vechten, the historical facts of the play are negligible while the author has “lighted up the atmosphere and the period, and re-created character. Sophie lives in this comedy, lives as she must have lived at the height of her career.” We see her as a triumphant lover, get glimpses of her as the superb artist, as the kind-hearted woman, but chiefly as the resourceful wit who cleverly outflanks her enemies.

“Philip Moeller, the creator of ‘Madame Sand’ and of ‘Moliere,’ has developed in ‘Sophie’ more searchingly his gift of satire and sparkling repartee. The lines of his play are closely interwoven in thought, and their significance is often multiple. In the repartee and in the rapid interplay of ideas lies the individuality of Mr Moeller.”

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Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20 450w

“The play fails not because its plot is unreal, its ‘morality’ frankly unmoral, its characters exaggerated. All this is true of many of those great comedies ‘which are in the best traditions of the English stage.’ It fails because it is not good of its kind.”

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Theatre Arts Magazine 4:258 Jl ’20 200w

MONASH, SIR JOHN. Australian victories in France in 1918. il *$8 Dutton 940.394

20–11507

“The part played by the Australian corps under Lieutenant General Monash in France during the closing months of the war is recorded in this volume. The corps commanded by Lieutenant General Monash was the largest on the western front, and while the body of his troops were Australians it contained some imperial divisions and the 27th and 30th American divisions. These troops went into action in the defence of Amiens when it was menaced by the great drive of the ‘Kaiser’s battle,’ and fought up to the taking of Montbrehain on Oct. 5.”—Boston Transcript

“Not only a valuable document but a human chronicle that adds distinctly to the literature of the war.” W. S. B.

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Boston Transcript p6 N 10 ’20 730w

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Spec 124:244 F 21 ’20 1050w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p95 F 12 ’20 850w

MONEY, WALTER BAPTIST. Humours of a parish, and other quaintnesses. il *$2 Lane 827

20–16287

Mr Walter Herries Pollock in the introduction to this book of reminiscences pays tribute to the author as clergyman and cricketer. The book itself is a collection of anecdotes and stories, part of the accumulated store from thirty years of work as a parochial clergyman.

“Mr Money’s anecdotes are good, but one has the tantalizing feeling as one reads them that the printed version is only the palest reflection of the real thing.”

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Ath p273 Ag 27 ’20 140w

“Embedded in Mr Money’s book of anecdotes there are an extraordinarily large number of really delightful stories; but the book on the whole suffers, as do most books of good stories, in being too long.”

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Spec 125:153 Jl 31 ’20 500w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p453 Jl 15 ’20 490w

MONKHOUSE, ALLAN NOBLE. True love. *$2 (2c) Holt

20–13704

A psychological novel with special emphasis on the psychologic reactions of the war on its characters. Geoffrey Arden is an introspective journalist and playwright in love with Sibyl Drew, an actress. The war finds him on neutral ground and his comprehensive view leaves small room for narrow enthusiasm. Nevertheless the patriotic appeal wins out and he enlists. On proposing to Sibyl he finds that her stage name covers a German ancestry and that she is German to the core. They make a compact to be “chivalrous enemies” and lovers at the same time and in this lies the gist of the story: that to intellectually honest, well meaning people the war has presented two phases—the one the international human aspect, the other the national and patriotic.

“Mr Monkhouse is a professional novelist, quietly confident, carefully ironical, and choosing always, at a crisis, to underrate the seriousness of the situation rather than to stress it unduly. Admirable as this temper undoubtedly is, it nevertheless leaves the reader a great deal cooler than he would wish.” K. M.

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Ath p1259 N 28 ’19 800w

“‘True love’ adheres to a course as conventional as its title, unrelieved by plot invention and unredeemed by emotional significance.”

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Dial 69:432 O ’20 50w

“But those who like much fine and high feeling and good talk and whose interest in character study is strong will find it very satisfying. There is in it a great deal of clever, sometimes brilliant, and always interesting, conversation that covers a wide variety of subjects.”

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N Y Times p24 S 5 ’20 600w

“As fiction the book is not appealing, but it is keenly and sometimes brilliantly written.”

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Outlook 126:111 S 15 ’20 150w

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

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Review 3:561 D 8 ’20 270w

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Sat R 128:589 D 20 ’19 400w

“‘True love’ is an interesting and painfully engrossing story, in which the author practises a most artistic self-effacement.”

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Spec 122:733 N 29 ’19 750w

“His style is careful, neat and polished. His skill at play-writing has taught him how to make his novels dramatic, and the book advances in a good, orderly well-drilled fashion. Mr Monkhouse has given us a most readable novel.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p712 D 4 ’19 620w

MONTAGUE, JAMES J. More truth than poetry. *$1.75 Doran 811

20–19075

A volume of reprinted newspaper verses, many of them for or about children. Irvin Cobb, who writes the introduction, confesses that his favorites are “Healthy” and “Thoughts on pie,” of the Doughboy ditties, and “The Sleepy-town express.” Other poems are: The evening suit; Around the corner; The pictures on the panes; Why the katydids sing; Peter Pan; The mine sweepers; The road to success; The farmer’s idle wife; In behalf of the movies.

MONTAGUE, MARGARET PRESCOTT. England to America. *$1 (14c) Doubleday

20–8625

A reprint of a short story that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in September 1919. It is the story of an American soldier on leave who visits his English friend’s family in Devonshire. The strange reserve of his hosts puzzles him and he interprets it, as coldness towards himself or his country. On the last day the truth comes out and he learns that for his sake they have been concealing the tragic news that had just preceded his own arrival. John Drinkwater writes an appreciative introduction. The story was awarded the O. Henry memorial prize for the best American short story of 1919.

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Booklist 17:73 N ’20

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Cleveland p70 Ag ’20 40w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p669 O 14 ’20 30w

Wis Lib Bul 16:195 N ’20 80w

MONTAGUE, MARGARET PRESCOTT. Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge. *$1 (11c) Doubleday

20–11895

A short story reprinted from the Atlantic Monthly. The old southern mountaineer known as Uncle Sam, for his likeness to that national figure, has carried the fervor of the Civil war patriotism all through his life. In that spirit he gives up his only son and receives the tidings of his death in France without flinching. After the war he is heart and soul for the treaty and at the news of its rejection by the Senate takes his own life in the mystic belief that he is offering atonement for his country’s failure. The story has been commended by President Wilson.

Booklist 17:34 O ’20

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Freeman 2:118 O 13 ’20 200w

Ind 103:323 S 11 ’20 30w

“The simple, homely, genuine appeal of the central figure of Miss Montague’s parable makes a much needed call to the better spirit of the country, the real spirit of the great masses of the people.”

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N Y Times 25:15 Jl 18 ’20 600w

“It is one of those rare, great little books that all patriotic people will read eagerly and pass on to their friends, just as sixty or seventy years ago people read and passed on ‘Uncle Tom’s cabin.’”

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Springf’d Republican p6 S 7 ’20 220w

MOODY, JOHN. Masters of capital; a chronicle of Wall street. (Chronicles of America ser.) per ser of 50v *$250 Yale univ. press 332

19–19139

“In the course of the forty-first volume in the Chronicles of America series, Mr Moody discusses the necessity and value of capital as an accumulation of wealth, either money or substantial property, for use in the production of more wealth, and he outlines in a series of nine chapters the leading factors in its development. His starting point is the rise of the house of Morgan, and thereafter he chronicles briefly, in scarcely more than two hundred pages, the development of American railroads, the rise of the ironmasters and the Standard oil company, with successive chapters on The steel trust merger, Harriman and Hill. The apex of ‘high finance,’ The panic of 1907 and after, and Wall street and the world war.”—Boston Transcript

“Both books are written from the Wall Street standpoint. However, Mr Moody has given us two interesting, authoritative, and impartial narratives describing dramatic and not unimportant episodes in our economic history. And his firm biographies and stories of great financial deals—accompanied as they are by a constant flow of informing comment—enable an understanding reader to deduce more than he specifically tells.” V: S. Clark

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Am Hist R 26:120 O ’20 380w

“The entire story of the development of American capital and capitalists is picturesque in itself and especially romantic as told by Mr Moody.” E. F. E.

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Boston Transcript p8 Je 12 ’20 1250w

“One of the most fascinating volumes in the entire series.”

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N Y Times p16 O 31 ’20 130w

MOODY, JOHN. Railroad builders; a chronicle of the welding of the states. (Chronicles of America ser.) il per ser of 50v *$250 Yale univ. press 385

19–19138

“The fascinating story of the projection and welding of the leading American railway systems and the careers of the men of vision who pushed out across the Mississippi valley and the Rocky mountains in this bold enterprise.” (R of Rs) “Has photographs and drawings of first locomotives and trains in America. Maps of routes. Author founded and edited until 1907 “Moody’s manual of railroad and corporation securities.’” (St Louis)

Reviewed by V: S. Clark

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Am Hist R 26:120 O ’20 380w

“A piece of high-class journalistic history that avoids obvious pitfalls without gaining any special elevation of interpretation. In the absence of the careful studies based upon original research in transportation that ought to be available and are not, Mr Moody’s volume is entitled to rank among the best of our summaries. His bibliography is sensible and his maps are good.” F. L. P.

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Mississippi Valley Hist R 7:158 S ’20 250w

“The final chapter in this volume, ‘The American railroad problem,’ is an excellent historical summary of this question as it presents itself at the present time.”

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N Y Times p16 O 31 ’20 130w

“Popular works in this field are not many, and Mr Moody has contributed to the ‘Chronicles of America’ series one of its most distinctive volumes. The narrative as a whole makes one of the most vital and thrilling chapters in nineteenth-century achievement.”

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R of Rs 61:672 Je ’20 70w

St Louis 18:100 Je ’20 30w

MOOKERJI, RADHAKUMUD. Local government in ancient India; with a foreword by the Marquess of Crewe. (Mysore univ. studies) *$5.65 Oxford 352

20–4025

“As Dr Mookerji points out, the subject of local government in ancient India has both an historical and a practical interest. Dr Mookerji’s survey is limited by the inscriptions of southern India, which from the tenth to the fifteenth century are the most fruitful of all sources of information. The systems of self-government, which communities, bound together by birth, profession, or locality, evolved for their own protection and for the promotion of a common welfare, were founded on the model of the family; and they have formed a strong social framework which has resisted for ages the shock of political changes. Dr Mookerji contrasts the Indian guilds and corporations, which he regards as ‘practically sui generis’ with the various institutions which are now comprehensively included under the term ‘local government’ in the United Kingdom and other countries of modern Europe.”—Eng Hist R

Dial 68:668 My ’20 50w

“Many students of Indian history may be unable to accept some of Dr Mookerji’s conclusions; but all will feel grateful to him for the real service which he has rendered to scholarship by collecting together and arranging in a convenient form the widely scattered evidence for the early history of local government in India.” E. J. Rapson

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Eng Hist R 35:260 Ap ’20 1050w

The Times [London] Lit Sup p433 Ag 14 ’19 1050w

MOORE, ANNIE CARROLL. Roads to childhood. *$1.50 Doran 028.5

20–20904

Papers on children’s reading by the supervisor of work with children in the New York public library, in part reprinted from the Bookman. Contents: Roads to childhood; Writing for children; A Christmas book exhibit; Viewing and reviewing books for children; Holiday books; Children under ten and their books; Two lists of books for children; A spring review of children’s books; Books for young people; Vacation reading. An index lists authors, titles and illustrations mentioned in the text.

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Booklist 17:92 D ’20

“The volume’s special contribution is its discussion, neither sentimental nor over-theoretical, of the psychology of children’s reading.”

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Ind 104:379 D 11 ’20 150w

“Her vast experience in weighing the tastes of young people is drawn upon on every page, and she approaches her task with freshness and with an abounding love for childhood necessary for the work.”

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Lit D p90 D 4 ’20 110w

Reviewed by Annette Wynne

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N Y Evening Post p2 Ja 8 ’21 520w

“Miss Moore knows these roads and talks of them delightfully.”

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Outlook 126:558 N 24 ’20 100w

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

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Review 3:531 D 1 ’20 120w

MOORE, EDWARD CALDWELL.^[2] West and East. *$4 Scribner 266

(Eng ed 20–12838)

“After a long time of waiting we now have the Dale lectures delivered at Oxford in 1913 from the hand of a master in the related sciences of history and missions. The publication of “The spread of Christianity in the modern era” by the University of Chicago press in 1919 increased the desire to have this treatise. There are eight lectures, setting forth the impact of the forces of the West upon the East.” (Bib World) “Many of the stock objections made to missions take no account of the fact that a large number of modern missionaries have conceptions of their work and of the Christian message very different from those of missionaries fifty years ago. Professor Moore sets forth the modern theory of missions. The great point upon which it insists is that missions should not seek to destroy the native religious traditions, but Christianize them from within.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)

“Dr Moore marshals his facts with consummate skill. He is able to hold our sustained interest through the complex story, which he renders clear and fascinating by his style. We enjoy the freedom of the page from a multitude of footnotes and references.”

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Bib World 54:650 N ’20 210w

Booklist 17:149 Ja ’21

“It is the breadth of view which gives its special quality to Professor Moore’s book.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p566 S 2 ’20 2000w

MOORE, FRANK FRANKFORT. Garden of peace. il *$3.50 (4c) Doran 710

20–19679

The book is rightly named in its sub-title “A medley in quietude,” for it consists of a succession of sallies from the safe retreat of “The little sheltered garden” of Yardley Parva into the surrounding world, past and present. Mingled with domestic pleasantries between the author and his family are reflections on historical, literary, artistic and philosophic subjects. Contemporary history—the war et al—comes in for a goodly share of the author’s animadversions. A number of illustrations of beautiful gardens adorn the pages.

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Ath p1353 D 12 ’19 90w

“A good book to while away an evening of leisure. Has only slight value as information.”

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Booklist 17:106 D ’20

“Personal reminiscence and gossip reaching over a half-century; shrewd criticism and philosophy on a hundred subjects, make up a running commentary pleasant to read. Like the famous after-dinner speaker that he is, Mr Moore has put his medley tactfully together.”

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Bookm 52:274 N ’20 220w

“Mr Moore has given us a charming book that has no end of rambles into the fascinating realms of nature, literature and life.” W. S. B.

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Boston Transcript p6 Ja 8 ’21 800w

Brooklyn 12:131 My ’20 30w

“‘A garden of peace’ is a gracious book, a haunt of healing from the stress and agony of the great war.” K. L. Bates

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N Y Evening Post p9 D 31 ’20 820w

“The book will delight people who like to mix imagination and reflection with their gardening and their reading.”

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Outlook 126:334 O 20 ’20 40w

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

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Review 3:314 O 13 ’20 90w

“To amateurs of the quieter pleasures this book may be confidently recommended.”

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Review 3:424 N 3 ’20 270w

“Mr Moore’s ‘medley in quietude’ is spoiled by a good deal of elderly jocosity and ferocious jingo politics.”

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Sat R 129:109 Ja 31 ’20 950w

MOORE, FREDERICK FERDINAND. Isle o’ dreams. il *$1.50 (3c) Doubleday

20–5120

A party of three Americans hire a schooner in Manila and go out in search of an island of gold, on the say-so of a crazy ex-captain. The captain of the schooner and the crew, with a few exceptions, are a criminal gang who are bound to come to their reckoning whichever way the trip turns out. The island is reached but no gold is found, except the gold of love between Marjorie Locke and Robert Trask. The wicked captain and crew are outwitted, after a trial of strength, and the party returns safely to Manila.

Booklist 16:282 My ’20

MOORE, FREDERICK FERDINAND. Sailor girl. *$1.75 (2c) Appleton

20–5774

A tale of adventure in the China sea. Eleanor Glendon, sole owner after her father’s death of a fleet of ships, has reason to believe that all is not well with her affairs in the Far East and she goes out to investigate on her own account. With a friend, Harriett Wade, she arrives in Manila to find that the “Coral Queen” is on the point of sailing for Hong Kong, and without warning to the captain, goes on board. She finds that the first mate is one John Strang, accused of complicity in a recent daring piece of piracy, and on hearing rumors of a plot to sink the ship readily connects him with it. But she is to learn that he is not the culprit, and following a series of stirring events, the truth comes to light and there is a reorganization of her company with a new man at its head and a wedding in prospect.

“A satisfactory adventure-comedy-romance, stirring enough but never distressing.” H. W. Boynton

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Bookm 51:582 Jl ’20 80w

“The reader will probably feel that the love story is perfunctory, while the adventure story is hair-raising enough for anyone.”

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N Y Times 25:29 Jl 18 ’20 300w

MOORE, FREDERICK FERDINAND. Siberia today. il *$2 Appleton 915.7

19–19482

“As one of a number of intelligence officers dispatched by the United States to Siberia in the summer of 1918, Mr Moore had opportunity to see something of the diplomatic and political conditions of that distracted country, as well as much of its peasant life. His volume is a lively narrative devoted rather to description than to analysis.” (N Y Evening Post) “He has much of interest to tell about the people, the prisons, the Cossack chiefs, the work of Bolshevists, and the German propaganda, and there are a great number of photographs.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)

“A breezy account with serious convictions set down in journalistic style.”

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Booklist 16:201 Mr ’20

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Boston Transcript p10 F 7 ’20 320w

“Captain Moore has a good journalistic sense, and he has enlivened his criticisms by many vivid and lively pictures of life in Siberia today.”

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Cath World 111:682 Ag ’20 480w

Cleveland p43 Ap ’20 60w

“An interesting journalistic account.”

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Ind 102:66 Ap 10 ’20 60w

“It is an easy, chatty chronicle that Mr Moore writes, filled with apparently insignificant details, the cumulative effect of which is to create an arresting portrayal.”

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N Y Evening Post p8 F 14 ’20 650w

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R of Rs 61:221 F ’20 70w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p175 Mr 11 ’20 60w

MOORE, GEORGE. Avowals. *$8 priv ptd Boni & Liveright 801

19–15898

“A literary criticism in beautiful prose, much of it in the form of imaginary conversations between Moore and Gosse in which they discuss achievements in English fiction. Another conversation between Moore and an American gives the author an opportunity to state his opinion of censoring literature according to standards of morality, instead of according to art. Discussions of Tolstoy, Tourgueneff, Kipling and Pater, whom he admires greatly. A lecture in French on Shakespeare and Balzac is reproduced, together with Paris impressions.” Booklist

Booklist 16:196 Mr ’20

“With all its side-issues, its personalities, its portraits, its wisdom and wit and perversity, ‘Avowals’ is fundamentally an essay on the English novel of quite extraordinary subtlety and of rare charm and stimulating power.” S: C. Chew

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Nation 110:239 F 21 ’20 1000w

“Mr George Moore’s ‘Avowals’ is one of the most companionable books of criticism I know.”

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Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 30 ’21 440w (Reprinted from New Statesman)

“Here is Mr George Moore talking about books, and giving us the most delightful example of printed talk that we can remember to have met with in English.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p606 O 30 ’19 2100w

MOORE, JUSTIN HARTLEY, comp. World beyond. (World Bible ser.) *$1.50 Crowell 208

20–12826

The compiler has selected passages from oriental and primitive religions bearing on life, death and immortality. The selections are arranged under three headings: The world beyond; The higher knowledge; Life.

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Boston Transcript p6 Ag 25 ’20 430w

MOORE, JUSTIN HARTLEY, and HOUSTON, CHARLES A. Problems in business law. (College of the city of N.Y. ser in commerce. civics and technology) *$2.50 Appleton 347.7

20–9488

The present volume confines itself to stating all the various problems of a legal nature that a business man has to deal with. It is a case book, pure and simple, designed for use in classroom discussion and quizzing, giving carefully selected cases, that have actually come up for decision in court, without the answers. It is intended for business colleges, corporation training schools, commercial high schools and universities where business law is a subject of study. After giving a table of the cases cited, the subjects are grouped under: Contracts; Quasi contracts; Sales; Personal property; Chattel mortgage; Lost property; Pledged property; Bailments; Agency; Carriers; Master and servant; Suretyship and guaranty; Negotiable instruments; Checks; Insurance; Partnership; Corporations; Bankruptcy.

Am Econ R 10:829 D ’20 30w

“This is perhaps the most interesting and excellent case book of commercial law ever published for use in the classroom.”

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R of Rs 62:336 S ’20 150w

MOORE, THOMAS STURGE. Little school. *$1.50 Harcourt 821

This is an enlarged edition of the book by the same title, and contains children’s poems on subjects of everyday life and of special interest to children as some of the titles show: Beautiful meals; To cook; Leaf-land; A song of cleanness; Picture folk; Nursery enactments; The house we built; The wild cherry; A child muses; Snow.

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Booklist 17:123 D ’20

“I have been charmed with the poems in this collection.” W. S. B.

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Boston Transcript p6 Je 23 ’20 580w

“An extremely charming book of poems for children.”

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Dial 69:548 N ’20 70w

“Sturge Moore forfeits our interest, if not our respect, by a sort of timid refusal to come out and stare life in the face; his negative shrinking pleasantness betrays him. He has none of that deadly facility which is a symptom that besets even some great poets. One feels that he thinks deeply on language and on form, and that his music comes from a keen, individual understanding of both.” J. G. Fletcher

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Freeman 1:476 Jl 28 ’20 250w

“He deliberately fumbles his rhythms in order to secure quiet, brown, ingenuous truth. His halting syntax, unauthorized and quaint, often makes for stupidity, but it makes occasionally for solemnity and honesty of prattle which beyond doubt is effective.” Mark Van Doren

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Nation 111:sup415 O 13 ’20 120w

“Strange to say, he is successful in several of the poems. For the most part, though, he does not quite hit off the elphin twist and whimsicality of de la Mare.” H. S. Gorman

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N Y Times 25:18 Jl 25 ’20 190w

MOORE, THOMAS STURGE. Some soldier poets. *$1.75 Harcourt 821.09

20–17758

A series of essays on a group of young poets who are associated with the war, concluding with an essay on The best poetry, written for the Royal society of literature in 1912. Contents: Julian Grenfell; Rupert Brooke; A half pleiade [Robert Nichols, Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon]; R. E. Vèrnede; Sorley; Francis Ledwidge; Edward Thomas; F. W. Harvey; Richard Aldington; Alan Seeger; The best poetry.

“Mr Sturge Moore’s volume is interesting because it contains, besides much acute and serious criticism, an illuminating summary of the poet’s artistic psychology.”

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Ath p1397 D 26 ’19 570w

Booklist 17:62 N ’20

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Boston Transcript p6 Je 23 ’20 580w

“Within a fixed circle, Mr Moore’s criticism is honest and impassioned, but his vision is limited by the horizons of the nineteenth century and he abhors anything modern or irregular.”

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Dial 69:434 O ’20 100w

“The book brings nothing particularly new to the comment of the Georgians, but it does furnish the most compact and pleasurable volume put together so far about these men. Mr Moore’s chapter on Alan Seeger is particularly gratifying to an American.” H. S. Gorman

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N Y Times 25:16 Jl 4 ’20 860w

“Our view is that Mr Moore has failed, first, because he has let himself be seduced by the prevailing fashion into dealing with writers who in some cases owe more to their gallantry than to their verse, and secondly, because in his heart he does not, possibly with the exception of Brooke and Grenfell, at all believe in those whom he here praises.”

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Sat R 129:61 Ja 17 ’20 560w

“He is a coach rather than a judge, and this is partly what will make his book so agreeable to the general reader, for, owing to his desire to help, his approval is never insipid nor his blame cantankerous. He is also a master of the comparative method.”

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Spec 124:243 F 21 ’20 720w

The Times [London] Lit Sup p678 N 20 ’20 80w

MOREL, EDMUND DEVILLE. Black man’s burden. *$1.50 Huebsch 960

(Eng ed 20–22707)

The purpose of the book is to convey a clear notion of the atrocious wrongs which the white people have inflicted upon the black, and to lay down the fundamental principles of a humane and practical policy in the government of Africa by white men. As a comprehensive survey of Europe’s relations with Africa is not within the scope of the book the author has sectionalized the determining impulses of European intervention and has given specific examples under each section. He has also shown the inter-action between European affairs and the proceedings of European governments in Africa, making the former an inevitable aftermath of the latter. The first two chapters are explanatory of the white man’s and the black man’s burden and the rest of the book is divided into three periods: (1) The slave trade; (2) Invasion, political control, capitalistic exploitation; (3) Reparation and reform.

“Mr Morel writes in a clear, hard style, without prejudice or sentiment, and it will be impossible for any normal human being of white origin to read these two hundred and forty pages without a feeling of profound shame.” Llewelyn Powys

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Freeman 2:522 F 9 ’21 1100w

“His attitude toward the black men is that of the liberal Englishman: that is to say, he is opposed to the past atrocities and wants Africa helped in every benevolent and philanthropic way. He has, however, no conception of a self-governing, independent black Africa.” W. E. B. Du Bois

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Nation 111:351 S 25 ’20 640w

The Times [London] Lit Sup p174 Mr 11 ’20 280w

“The book can be judged on its merits. The merits consist in recalling and setting forth undoubted and glaring injuries inflicted upon Africa and the Africans by European individuals, companies, and governments, and in warning against the danger of repeating the injustice and wrong. The warning is needed at the present time. On the other hand, like other books of the kind, it lends itself to criticism both in detail and on general grounds. Though the author can discriminate and does, when he likes, discriminate, there are wholesale and one-sided statements and generalizations which are far too wide.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p194 Mr 25 ’20 1200w

MORELAND, WILLIAM HARRISON.^[2] India at the death of Akbar. *$4.50 Macmillan 954

“The opening of the seventeenth century—the period selected by Mr Moreland—was a critical epoch in the history of India. It was immediately antecedent to the appearance of new forces destined to influence India profoundly, and may be described as the close of the medieval history of India and the beginning of its modern history (it was in the year 1608 that the English ship Hector reached Surat.) For the economic story of the next three centuries substantial sources of information are available, and Mr Moreland’s aim is to supply an introduction to the study of that period. List of authorities, 5pp.’—The Times [London] Lit Sup

“Certainly no one could accuse Mr Moreland of forcing from the facts a too confident conclusion. His judgment is so cautious, so balanced, so hesitating, that if the one object of his book had been a definite comparison in material wealth and prosperity between 1605 and 1914, a captious critic might complain that the results arrived at hardly compensate for the sedulous care lavished on the inquiry. There are many shrewd reflexions on matters political and financial, the outcome of independent study and an original survey.” P. E. Roberts

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Eng Hist R 35:455 Jl ’20 950w

“Mr Moreland’s excellent study of the condition of India in 1605, at the death of Akbar, shows how the subject should be approached. If we are to determine whether India has advanced or declined in wealth, we must have some standard by which to measure the changes.”

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Spec 124:794 Je 12 ’20 1650w

“It is pleasant to record a further advance in the study of Indian economics. All scholars will be delighted that Mr Moreland has resisted the obvious temptation to defer publication until the sources of our information had been more fully explored. No pioneer can hope to write the definitive work upon a subject of this magnitude, and Mr Moreland may reasonably hope to earn the more enviable distinction of founding a school and seeing others build upon his foundation.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p360 Je 10 ’20 1550w

MORGAN, ANGELA. Hail man! *$1.25 Lane 811

20–86

With a few exceptions—which include the title poem, reprinted from the New York Times—the poems of this book appear here for the first time. They are arranged in eight sections: Symbols; Man in light; Man in darkness; Enchantment; Contrasts; Fancies; Tributes; Man tomorrow.

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Cleveland p86 O ’20 30w

“Her note is ecstasy con fuoco; her exaltation is unremittingly fortissimo. Often on the point of a crashing success she fails because of this very too-determined vigour. Miss Morgan can and has done far better than this. Gifted with an ease and fluency, she lets her rippling sentences run on till they become a mere babble of words.” L: Untermeyer

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Dial 68:529 Ap ’20 250w

Nation 111:248 Ag 28 ’20 30w

“The best things in this book are the shorter and less pretentious poems, ‘Common things,’ ‘Steam’ and ‘Gardens.’ Many of the others have the energy and feeling essential to the making of poetry, even the imaginative touches, occasionally, and the love of natural beauty, but lack the masterly touch of proportioned art which might make of these spiritual conflagrations a serene and permanently shining light.”

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N Y Times 25:173 Ap 11 ’20 360w

MORGAN, ANNA BLUNT. Little folks tramping and camping. il *$1.75 (3c) Lothrop

20–17826

A bird book for children with information presented in story form. The Marsden children learn about birds from an uncle who is an enthusiast. Their study begins in the winter with tramps through the snow to the haunts of cedar waxwings, grossbeaks and other winter habitants, and for Marshall, the eldest, who is an invalid, a feeding shelf is arranged outside the window to attract nuthatches and chickadees. The expeditions are continued into the spring and early summer and in July the children are taken on a camping trip where they learn more about wild life and where Marshall grows strong and well. The birds studied are those native to Wisconsin.

MORGAN, BYRON. Roaring road. *$1.75 (3c) Doran

20–9273

Stories of automobile racing, first copyrighted by the Curtis Publishing Company. The titles are: The junkpile sweepstakes; The undertaker’s handicap; The roaring road; The hippopotamus parade; Second-hand ghosts; The bear trap. The same characters appear in all the stories.

“A chain of stories, that stir the blood and keep the attention in a manner that is sometimes called ‘breathless.’”

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Boston Transcript p4 Ja 15 ’21 290w

“Mr Morgan’s style is perfectly suited to his matter; the sharp staccato of his sentences is like the clean-cut crash of a flaming exhaust, and the sustained, compelling flight of his narrative matches the speed of the plunging, pounding cars of which he writes.”

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N Y Times 25:309 Je 13 ’20 450w

MORGAN, JOHN DAVID. Principles of electric spark ignition in internal combustion engines. il *$3.50 Van Nostrand 621.43

(Eng ed 20–12283)

“During the past few years a large amount of research has been carried out on ignition problems, and the object in the following chapters is to bring together the main results which are of direct value to designers and students interested particularly in the patrol[petrol] engine. Discussion of design and constructional details of ignition apparatus has been excluded, for the reason that the need for information of this kind is already well supplied.” (Preface) Contents: Gas characteristics; Spark characteristics; Interaction of spark and gas; Spark plug and test gap characteristics; Spark generator characteristics; Index. References follow the chapters and there are thirty-nine figure illustrations in the text.

“A wide circle of readers will feel grateful to the author for providing in this convenient form an account of the more important work along these lines, and for the reference which he provides to the sources from which information in fuller detail may be obtained. Mr Morgan puts them still further in his debt by the lucidity with which he writes.”

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Nature 104:372 D 11 ’19 340w

N Y P L New Tech Bks p9 Ja ’20 30w

MORGAN, WILLIAM THOMAS. English political parties and leaders during the reign of Queen Anne, 1702–1710. (Yale historical publications) *$2.75 Yale univ. press 942.06

20–7448

“In this book the author embodies the results of many years of painstaking and fruitful research. He has carefully studied ‘the new evidence that has become available in the last thirty years’—in the archives of England and Holland, in the recent reports of the Historical manuscripts commission, as well as in a mass of pamphlets and periodicals—and has reread, with a keen eye, all the older literature on the period, including the materials on which it has been based. He has been able to show that Queen Anne was a much more assertive person than is commonly believed, and that, from the beginning, the Duchess of Marlborough exercised much less influence on the policy of her sovereign than most writers on the period have assumed. On this perplexing period when personalities counted for so much, and when cabinet and party government were still in such an inchoate state, new lights are thrown; moreover, much fresh vivid detail is presented on the iniquitous methods of conducting elections which had come into vogue.”—Am Hist R

“Building on such secure and broad foundations he has succeeded in constructing a sound and enduring work.” A. L. Cross

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Am Hist R 26:132 O ’20 600w

“The author has been able to gain access to a large amount of hitherto inaccessible material which has enabled him to produce a critical discussion of this era of much value to the historical student.” E. J. C.

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Boston Transcript p4 N 13 ’20 540w

“Mr Morgan has written ably for scholars, and has performed just that sort of task which it is incumbent upon contemporary scientific historians to accomplish.” J. W. Krutch

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N Y Evening Post p8 O 30 ’20 780w

“The book is extremely interesting, too, for its sketches of the leading politicians, as illustrated from their correspondence. Mr Morgan would have added to the value of his numerous citations from unpublished papers if he had dated them. It is sometimes difficult to follow his argument for lack of the dates of the letters to which he refers.”

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Spec 125:340 S 11 ’20 1450w

“Professor Morgan has his merits, but he takes himself very seriously. His predecessors on the same voyage are swept aside with minute omniscience. He seems to us to mistake the phases of influence for the permanence of character, and to be indiscriminate in the party labels he applies. But in the process of his criticism he has rendered a real service to history.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p628 S 30 ’20 1850w

MORGENSTERN, JULIAN. Jewish interpretation of the book of Genesis. il *$1.50 Union of Am. Hebrew congregations 222

19–11743

“This book is addressed to two publics: teachers in Jewish religious schools, that their instruction may be more authoritative and effective; and non-professional students of the Bible, to help them in getting a first-hand knowledge of Judaism. The author stands squarely on the assured results of thoroughgoing critical scholarship, recognizing clearly the presence of myth, legend, and tradition in Genesis, and relative little authentic history, but he is not content to stop with analysis. Whereas most scholars wholly ignore the motives and ideas controlling authors and editors in the process of producing the book as it now stands, the investigation of these motives and ideas is the point of departure for Rabbi Morgenstern, for whom Genesis is ‘a Jewish work, written by Jewish authors, and edited by Jewish thinkers, the product of Jewish religious genius, and a unit of Jewish thought and doctrine,’ hence to be interpreted from a positive Jewish standpoint.”—Bib World

“The author selects his materials wisely, and his comments, critical and practical, are discriminating. Rabbi Morgenstern has succeeded admirably in accomplishing his purpose.”

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Bib World 54:315 My ’20 300w

Booklist 16:258 My ’20

Nation 111:482 O 27 ’20 390w

MORISON, JOHN LYLE. British supremacy and Canadian self-government, 1839–1854. *$2.50 Oxford 342.71

“In ‘British supremacy and Canadian self-government, 1839–54,’ Professor J. L. Morison of Queen’s university, Kingston, Canada, makes an interesting study of the manner in which imperial ascendancy and colonial autonomy were reconciled in the years of early Victorian Canada. He emphasizes the thought that the evolution of colonial Canada into a self-governing dominion was the wisest and best solution of the great problem that confronted the British and Canadian statesmen; through it, he holds, there was great gain to all concerned—gain to the empire as well as to the people across the Atlantic. That it caused no weakening of the tie between the mother country and the daughter land was demonstrated, we are reminded, by the magnificent conduct of Canada in the great war with Germany.”—N Y Times

“The volume is indeed thrice blest; it is felicitous in expression, scholarly in treatment, and broad-minded in its interpretation of public affairs. Notwithstanding its limitations, this volume easily stands out as the best contribution to Canadian history in recent years.” C. D. Allin

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Am Hist R 25:531 Ap ’20 900w

Ath p963 S 26 ’19 140w

“By far the most important contribution of the volume is the series of vitally human studies of the four Canadian governors-general from 1839 to 1854—Sydenham, Bagot, Metcalfe, and Elgin. Apart from the personal equipment of the author in scholarly training, fair-mindedness, absence of racial prejudice, and attractive literary style, his work has the great advantage of a first-hand study of documents, hitherto unavailable, or but slightly employed by writers on Canadian history. The closing chapter, The consequences of Canadian autonomy, is much the least satisfactory.” Adam Shortt

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Canadian Hist R n s 1:77 Mr ’20 1450w

“In thanking Dr Morison for a very able and stimulating volume one may be allowed to enter a caveat against the attitude of somewhat contemptuous superiority assumed towards past statesmen.” H. E. Egerton

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Eng Hist R 35:145 Ja ’20 1000w

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N Y Times 25:254 My 16 ’20 160w

“Excellent book.”

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p523 O 2 ’19 1300w

MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON. Hide and seek. *$1.50 Doran 811

20–19297

A volume of Verses, Sonnets, and Translations from the Chinese, varying from the broadly humorous to the whimsical and tender. The “translations,” the author frankly states, are based on a rather rudimentary knowledge of the language gleaned from laundry slips. The poems are reprinted from the New York Evening Post, Philadelphia Public Ledger, Life, and other periodicals.

“Christopher Morley is not quite so successful this time. He still tries to blend sugary light verse with even more sugary lyrics. He is at his best in the lowbrow translations from the ‘Chinese.’” Clement Wood

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N Y Call p8 Ja 9 ’21 120w

Reviewed by E. L. Pearson

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Review 3:376 O 27 ’20 160w

MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON. Kathleen. il *$1.25 (5c) Doubleday

20–5771

The story is an Oxford undergraduate prank. The Scorpions, literary club, agree to write a serial story on shares. In lieu of ideas they make up a tale around certain names mentioned in a letter accidentally found and signed Kathleen. They work themselves up into some romantic fervor about their heroine and eventually go on an expedition to find the real Kathleen at the address mentioned in the letter. She is all their fancy has painted. Under various disguises they gain entrance to her home and after an orgy of mystification, Blair, the Rhodes scholar from Tennessee, makes a clean confession and carries off the palm of victory.

“A slight and amusing tale.”

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Booklist 16:314 Je ’20

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Ind 103:323 S 11 ’20 10w

“‘Kathleen’ is forced from beginning to end. ‘Kathleen’ is a warning to all writers who ignore the fact that there are difficulties even in the construction of a trifle designed for an hour’s entertainment.”

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N Y Times 25:170 Ap 11 ’20 260w

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Review 2:404 Ap 17 ’20 160w

MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON. Pipefuls. il *$2 Doubleday 817

20–20442

“Pipefuls” is apropos of the brevity of the sketches in this collection compiled from the New York Evening Post, the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger and other journals. The author characteristically declares: “These sketches gave me pain to write; they will give the judicious patron pain to read; therefore we are quits.... And yet perhaps the will-to-live is in them, for are they not a naked exhibit of the antics a man will commit in order to earn a living?” (Preface) In one of the sketches, Confessions of a “colyumist,” in which he expatiates on the task of conducting a newspaper column, he thus parodies Wordsworth:

“The meanest paragraph that blows will give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for sneers.”

The illustrations are from drawings by Walter Jack Duncan.

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Booklist 17:146 Ja ’21

“Short crisp amusing papers with the mellowness and pungency which are characteristic of this fluent author’s work.” Margaret Ashmun

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Bookm 52:348 D ’20 30w

“Mr Morley is like a painter who converts the commonplace into a work of art.”

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Bookm 52:368 Ja ’21 30w

“In other words, if one wants to believe things honestly worth while, despite unquestioned difficulties, if one wants to walk in the reflected sunshine he sheds on the ‘sunny side of Grub street,’ if one longs to see the ultimate value of unconsidered trifles, if, in fact, one asks for a lifting grin at the bad crossings, or only some fun, humanwise, by the way, read Christopher Morley.” I. W. L.

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Boston Transcript p13 D 8 ’20 1000w

“Mr Morley, one is glad to see, seems to be shaking off the sugar-crystals which were threatening to encase his style; and in this volume one rejoices in passages of real charm, the product of an alert and sensitive imagination.”

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Freeman 2:260 N 24 ’20 180w

MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON. Travels in Philadelphia. il *$1.50 (2c) McKay 917.48

20–5213

In his introduction to this collection of sketches, originally printed in the Evening Public Ledger, A. Edward Newton says: “Where else shall we find simplicity, the gayety, the kindly humor, and the charm of this gentle essayist? Who, other than Morley, could make a walk out Market street of interest and a source of fun?... Who, but he, could find in the commonplace, sordid, and depressing streets of our city, subjects for a sheaf of dainty little essays, as delightful as they are unique?” Some of the titles are: Little Italy; Meeting the gods for a dime; Trailing Mrs Trollope; The Ronaldson cemetery; Chestnut street from a fire escape; The recluse of Franklin square; Up the Wissahickon; The Whitman centennial; Anne Gilchrist’s house; Penn treaty park; At the mint; Madonnas of the curb; On the sightseeing bus; Putting the city to bed. The illustrations are from drawings by Frank H. Taylor.

“These articles combine a happy, not too studied description with pleasant humor into a congenial guide book to Philadelphia.”

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Booklist 16:309 Je ’20

“The book is here for everybody to read and take pleasure in whether or not they have ever seen Philadelphia. Perhaps some day Mr Morley will come hither and give us a like book about Boston.” E. F. E.

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Boston Transcript p9 My 29 ’20 650w

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Cleveland p76 Ag ’20 110w

“To an old Philadelphian the insight of Mr Christopher Morley is really wondrous.” M. F. Egan

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N Y Times 25:284 My 30 ’20 550w

MORLEY, LINDA H., and KIGHT, ADELAIDE C. 2400 business books and guide to business literature. *$5 Wilson, H. W. 016

This is a revision of the work called “1600 business books,” compiled by Sarah B. Ball and published in 1916. It has been prepared by Linda H. Morley and Adelaide C. Kight of the Business branch of the Newark public library, under the direction of John Cotton Dana. “The sub-title ‘Guide to business literature’ is added to make it plain that the book is far more than a list of 2400 volumes. It is an index to the contents of those volumes; that is, it lists, in alphabetic order, under 2000 different headings, the subjects which are treated in these 2400 books. These headings are in addition to those entries which give the names of the writers of the 2400 books and in addition to the entries which give their titles.” (Introd.) The entries are arranged in one alphabet, with a publishers’ directory at the close.

Booklist 17:136 Ja ’21

MORRIS, EDWIN BATEMAN. Cresting wave. *$1.75 Penn

20–4440

“An American story of a young, successful, but unscrupulous, financier, giving a picture of society financial markets, and the conflict of business methods and the passion of love.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup

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Booklist 16:349 Jl ’20

“Edwin Bateman Morris’s preceding novels have prepared us for moderately good tales from his pen, and ‘The cresting wave’ is no disappointment.”

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Boston Transcript p10 My 1 ’20 160w

“The author here has taken a safe course in his novel of more than four hundred pages, and if he presents us with nothing especially new, at least he does no violence to no tradition and does not attempt to paint his hero in impossible colors.”

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N Y Times 25:330 Je 20 ’20 400w

“‘The cresting wave’ is built upon one of the very oldest of ideas or morals: namely, that it is better to be decent than successful, better to serve than to grasp. Perhaps my gratitude to young William Spade for neither trying to write a novel nor spouting free verse nor hanging about cafes and studios in search of ‘life’ prejudices me unduly in his favor.” H. W. Boynton

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Review 2:393 Ap 17 ’20 250w

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Springf’d Republican p11a My 16 ’20 240w

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The Times [London] Lit Sup p285 My 6 ’20 50w

MORRIS, HARRISON SMITH. Hannah Bye. *$1.75 Penn

20–7646

“The Quaker life and character is sketched in this simple and sweet story of Hannah Bye. The scene is in a Quaker community and the characters are varied. Here is Deborah Bye, cold, harsh, uncompromising, whose conscience forms her whole character and whose personality rather than her religion, forms her conscience. Her daughter, Hannah, the heroine of the story, is a far sweeter character and one which appeals strongly to the reader. Ruth Blake, her nearest friend, makes the acquaintance of a city visitor to the country, of whom Hannah warns her without success. The fall comes and Hannah, in her effort to keep and save Ruth, draws upon herself her mother’s anger. The peaceful home is shattered but Hannah in the end restores its peace.”—Boston Transcript

“The story is restful, with here and there a dash of humor, but one which will appeal to all in its quiet delineation of character, which appears to be drawn from real life.”

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Boston Transcript p6 O 13 ’20 150w

“Mr Morris’s descriptions of the country are sympathetic and reveal an artist’s eye; he has handled the Quaker jargon with some success, but not exhaustively or to the complete satisfaction of the insider. Any Quaker will, certainly, take exception to the hard, domineering character attributed to Hannah’s mother, Deborah Bye. The Quaker meeting for worship is also incongruous, and the dance and its sequel are inappropriately melodramatic.” W. W. Comfort

+ −

Nation 111:621 D 1 ’20 500w

“The picture of a little rural community centered about the quaint meeting-house of the society of Friends is delightful.’”

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Springf’d Republican p11a Je 27 ’20 150w

MORRISON, ALFRED JAMES. East by west; essays in transportation. *$1.50 (3½c) Four seas co. 382

20–26869

“A commentary on the political framework within which the East India trade has been carried on from early times, starting with Babylon and ending very near Babylon.” (Subtitle) The book begins with the twentieth century before Christ describing the avenues of trade to and from Babylon, “formed by position for a seat of empire and commerce,” and falls into two parts, part one ending with Venice as the great commercial center in the fifteenth century. Part two begins with the trade ascendancy of Portugal, at the time of the discovery of America, and ends with the Bagdad railway and “The great transportation war.” An edition of the book was published by Sherman, French in 1917.

“The book was probably not designed and is certainly not adapted to fit the needs of a serious student, but may attract the casual reader by its rapid movement and informal style.”

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Am Hist R 26:138 O ’20 150w

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Booklist 16:331 Jl ’20

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Cath World 111:554 Jl ’20 140w

Nation 110:773 Je 5 ’20 220w

“Some of the remarks seem but remotely connected with the subject of transportation.”

+ −

Review 3:626 D 22 ’20 380w

“The underlying causes which caused the movements of civilization are dealt with in a lively style, which is not often found in books of this kind.”

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Springf’d Republican p10 Ap 30 ’20 120w

MORSE, EDWIN WILSON. Life and letters of Hamilton Wright Mabie. il *$3 (3½c) Dodd

20–20980

A biography of a distinguished author, editor and lecturer, quoting liberally from his letters and from the letters written to him by others. There are chapters on: Ancestry, boyhood and youth; At Williams college in the ‘sixties; Recollections of Dr Mark Hopkins and Emerson; In the uncongenial law; On the staff of the Christian Union; Associate editor of the Christian Union; A memorable decade; Non-professional activities; Literary honors; The middle period; Ambassador of peace to Japan; The world war; The last year; Editor, author and lecturer; Character and personality. There is an index of names and places.

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Booklist 17:153 Ja ’21

“Mr Morse’s ‘The life and letters of Hamilton W. Mabie’ is conceived and carried through in the spirit of its subject. It is clear, sympathetic, and convincing.” H: Van Dyke

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Bookm 52:355 Ja ’21 1150w

“Mr Morse has performed his task excellently, with sufficient fulness and good judgment in selection of his material. The book is also well illustrated.”

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N Y Evening Post p9 N 27 ’20 160w

“The reviewer does not mean to suggest that Mr Morse’s volume is dull, but is far from exciting. The subject of it led an uneventful life, in the sense that there were few dramatic happenings in his life.”

+ −

N Y Times p20 Ja 16 ’21 1950w

R of Rs 63:110 Ja ’21 90w

“Shows careful and sympathetic study of an influential American.”

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Springf’d Republican p5a Ja 23 ’21 600w

MOSHER, MRS ANGE (MCKAY). Spell of Brittany. il *$3 Duffield 914.4

20–21069

This volume by an American woman who had lived long in Brittany is devoted largely to its history, traditions and folklore. There are chapters on Madame de Sévigné; Folk-lore and Jeanne de Pontorson; Mont St Michel and its legends; St Malo and Chateaubriand; A folk song of St Malo; Dinard, Dinan and excursions; Félix de Lamennais; The legend and pardon of St Yves; Breton wedding; Brest and the adjacent islands; Audierne, and the legend of Ys; Saints and fairies; Nantes and Anne of Brittany, etc. Among the illustrations are reproductions of paintings. There is an index. The introduction by Anatole LeBraz is in the nature of a memorial to the author, who died in 1918.

“Good print and make-up.”

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Booklist 17:151 Ja ’21

Reviewed by Margaret Ashmun

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Bookm 52:345 D ’20 80w

“Exceedingly bright and fascinating are these chapters out of the life of a lovely woman who made the study of these people her avocation, if not her actual vocation.” E. J. C.

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Boston Transcript p5 D 4 ’20 580w

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N Y Times p22 D 12 ’20 270w

R of Rs 62:672 D ’20 50w

MOTON, ROBERT RUSSA. Finding a way out; an autobiography. *$2.50 (4½c) Doubleday

20–10075

In writing his story it was the hope of the author “that the telling of it would serve a useful purpose, especially at this time, in helping to a clearer understanding of the hopes and aspirations of my own people and the difficulties which they have overcome in making the progress of the last fifty years which has been so frequently described as ‘the most remarkable of any race in so short a time.’” (Preface) Contents: Out of Africa; On a Virginia plantation; Through reconstruction; Doing and learning; A touch of real life; Ending student days; Black, white, and red; With north and south; From Hampton to Tuskegee; At Tuskegee; War activities; Forward movements in the south; Index. The author succeeded Booker T. Washington as head of Tuskegee institute.

“This autobiography not only impresses one with the worth and dignity of its writer but charms and amuses the reader with the sense of humor and the sweetness which the author has carried with him.”

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Booklist 16:344 Jl ’20

Reviewed by M. E. Bailey

+

Bookm 52:304 Ja ’21 110w

“If not so romantic as the autobiography of his predecessor, Dr Booker T. Washington nevertheless this story of the life of the present head of Tuskegee, is a document of vital interest. The chapters on From Hampton to Tuskegee and At Tuskegee are among the most important of Dr Moton’s autobiography.” W. S. B.