has a freedom and liberality not easily obtained by the church, which must win its way by persuasion. The women's club to which Mrs. Pushton belonged was one of four. Its programme for the year included Greek art, modern literature, domestic science, national celebrities, forestry, current fiction, child study-and it tried to do something toward the improvement of the town. It was not wholly successful in this last. Once it adopted a resolution against spitting on sidewalks-but nothing happened. This it did do-it brought its members in touch with the important things of the world; it united them in helpful study. In some instances it has done much more. Many a Western city has a public library because club-women unselfishly toiled, giving "rummage sales and entertainments, soliciting books and funds. More than one has cleaner streets, beauty spots, and more sightly public grounds because of the work of the women's clubs. It is difficult to maintain an afternoon bridge club in the West-but a literary organization meets year after year with unabated zeal. Why don't you move to a big city?" asked a visitor of the Major. Why should I? What does the city man possess that I do not?" was the reply. "We have water-works, electric lights with a day current for the machin ery in my store, local and long-distance telephones in my home and business place, sewers, good schools, with the high school preparing for college, morning papers delivered before breakfast-what more has the city man ?" He might have added that soon interurban trolley lines will unite the towns, and that paving and gas are on the way. The Easterner does not understand all this unless he has seen the West--he fails to grasp it from printed pages. It would be a good investment for any Western State to send a portfolio of a thousand photographs, showing its homes, its farms, its towns, to every leading citizen on the Atlantic slope. was called a "theater." Not much going on ? Is it not something to have three weeks of ten-twenty-thirty-cent repertoire during the season? Then how about "For Her Sake,' ""The Hidden Hand," three minstrel shows, and two evenings of Shakespeare? To be sure, the scenery of "As You Like It" was much the same as in "The Little Homestead," and electric lamps from the china store were used effectively on Petruchio's banquet table-but those are trivialities. Then the lecture course-the delectation of the serious-minded! Two or three glee clubs entertain, a scientist expounds, and some famous men instruct. You mistake if you think the Westerner out of touch with the world. The greatest preachers, the leading authors, the famous generals and statesmen, are brought year after year to mid-continent towns through the united efforts of those having the good of communities at heart. The dweller in central Nebraska probably saw and heard the famous Senator before he appeared to the resident of the Bronx. Nor is this all. In nearly every town is more than one who has traveled in Europe; the college alumni are numerous enough for a colony. The other day a woman in a little mid-Western city died, and the local paper mentioned that one son was at Princeton, another was loading a steamer at Mobile to start for Rio Janeiro, one daughter was in California, and another was enjoying, in an automobile, a brida! tour of Europe. Occasionally the East shows its unconsciousness of this Western worldknowledge. For instance, a famous New York author was introduced a few months ago to a Kansas woman, and learned that she resides in a town of less than two thousand population, nearly two hundred miles west of the Missouri River. After her return home he sent her" A Tale of Two Cities " and Browning's Poems, with the hope that she would "find solace therein for her isolation," evidently commiserating her sad fate. It happens that her dwelling is furnace-heated, lighted with electricity, equipped with hot and cold water, that she belongs to three clubs, has a library of several hundred well-selected books, rides in her own motor-car, and has traveled far more extensively than he. Six months after their arrival the Pushtons' baby died. The modest parlor with its figured Brussels carpet-comparatively few houses yet have hardwood floors-was a-smile with masses of flowers sent by the neighbors, the lodges, the societies. The church choir sang; the house and porch were filled with sympathetic friends; it was as if they had been among these people all their lives. The family could scarce distinguish between lodge and church in the kind offices-nor was it necessary that they should do so, for the memberships were largely identical. The local paper expressed "the sympathy of the entire community," and told how "a large concourse of friends and neighbors followed the little form to its last resting-place, showing the high respect in which the family is held." Is it not worth while to live among neighbors of this sort? These kindly expressions of the Western church and lodge are their strength. The deficiency of the church lies in its constant struggle against the business activity and ambition of the congregation. "I can get money enough from the men of my church, but I can't get their time and attention," one minister expressed it. But despite their numberaltogether too great in most towns- -the organizations live and share the prosperity of their members. Philanthropy is little developed, because save in a few large cities it is little needed. In scores of counties are no almshouses; in many others the institutions are empty except for a few decrepit unfortunates. City mission societies in the smaller towns send wellfilled Christmas baskets and occasionally look after some family where sickness has taken the wage-earner-that is about all. Poverty in its usual form is practically unknown in the great plains region. Hence the, churches have the spiritual work in overwhelming preponderance, and their appeal is less needed perhaps by the busy Westerner than would be a personal, material demand on his helpfulness. The Pushton children went to the public schools, as did practically every child in the community. The banker's son sat with the bricklayer's son and the doctor's daughter with the laborer's girl. When the high school was reached, a weeding-out process commenced. Classes were depleted because the backward pupils left school to work or attended a "business college" where for a fee "a complete education for life" was promised in three months. The weakness of the Western school system in the towns is that it does not provide for the boy and girl who desire to work partly with their hands and need early preparation for earning a livelihood. So many improvements are needed, tax levies are so nearly to the limit, demands on the school boards are so many, that manual training and kindred plans are too often omitted. Too many pupils leave school in the early grammar and high school years. The encouraging thing is that this is being realized and corrected. Broader plans for academic education are being made, and the coming generation is encouraged to seek college training. With increased prosperity this is more easily obtained than of old. The man who cleaned Pushton's lawn owned his own home, earned by his own toil. His daughter delivered the valedictory of the Pushton girl's class; she came to the Pushton home to the class party; the same democracy extended into her later years, when she had become the wife of a grocer and a member of the literary club that so eagerly elected Mrs. Pushton. Opportunity for young people is ever present in the Western town-but it depends there as elsewhere on themselves, on their parents, on selfrespect, energy, and ambition. "Once everybody here went to everything," said an old-timer to Major Pushton one day, "but now there are cliques and crowds." He forgot that once all the eligibles could gather in the hotel dining-room or in the town hall-now it is impossible because the village has become a "city." Society is spasmodic in the averagesized Western town. A tea, an occasional dinner party, more rarely a reception-that is the list. Major Pushton had no dress suit, but he was not out of A style. When the richest man in town gave a reception to open his new house, half the men wore sack coats and cutaways, a few were in Tuxedos, a minority in "Prince Alberts" and "swallowtails," as they were known locally. mid-Western man recently went on a day's trip to attend an afternoon reception and an evening dinner party. It was considered worthy of newspaper notice that he took a trunk and made three changes of clothing while absent from home. But all that is passing rapidly, and in the larger towns even the opera hat may be worn without exciting remark. 99 "Town rows that once afflicted communities because of the unreasoning antagonisms of factions are dying out. It has been discovered that they do not pay. Town loyalty and unity of interest are stronger than before. When a few men, who had laid out the town-site, and who had grown rich from selling lots, fought with each other for precedence, the populace, largely in debt to one or A the other of the leaders, took sides. Now, when mortgages are rare, when even the day laborer owns his home, men demand intelligent business progress, good will, and co-operation in public transactions. Preceding the elder Pushton girl's wedding was a series of “ showers," breakfasts, luncheons, and teas. She was the town's princess for two weeks. The local paper devoted a column to the doings in her honor. All seemed to enjoy the opportunity to have a part in the pre-nuptial joy. The wedding itself was at her home (church weddings are rare), and was simple and cheery. Her attendants were a dozen young girls, including the daughter of a carpenter and the daughter of a State Senator. half-dozen neighbor women helped serve the supper. The town's only four-wheeler-known as the "cab "—was on duty for two hours getting guests there, and for two more taking them away. The banker and his wife were very late, the harness-maker and his wife having their carriage order ahead. In the meanwhile, business was only fairly satisfactory. Too many retail stores for the trade cut down profits. Rivalry was keen. The hope of town growth, the eagerness to reap a boom's prosperity, keeps the number of storekeepers disproportionately high. The banks have a liberal policy, and will "carry" the enterprising, competent merchant through financial difficulties. The older business houses are gradually expanding into department stores; usually one or more may be found in the city of three thousand population or over. These do not gather all the trade, but they have some advantage in close margins over the small retailer. Then there is the constant intrusion of the mail-order house, with its bulky catalogue and its attractive advertisements. One day a stranger came into Major Pushton's store and wanted to buy itotherwise he would start a rival establishment. He had just sold out in a village farther west. Pushton accepted the offer, and announced that he would move to a college town where the younger children might obtain better education. The news of the Pushtons' approaching departure was followed by outward expressions of the community's regret and good will. Mother's Sunday-school class gave her a surprise party; the Ancient Order of Trustful Knights had a farewell supper and dance in the family's honor; there was a little dinner in the next block; a few friendly calls. But changes are many in the West, and the sorrow of parting cannot run deep nor long. A dozen young folks were at the station to say good-by to the sons and daughters; two or three business friends and near neighbors came in hurriedly, but the train was late, and they did not wait. In the same issue of the local paper that expressed regret at losing "so good a citizen," but adding, "We wish Major Pushton much prosperity in his new home," was this item: "M. P. Martin, who recently bought the Pushton store, arrived with his family this afternoon. They will reside on West Sixth. We welcome them to our midst; they will be a valuable addition to our social and business life." Growth in the Western town means this sequence over and over again. Comment on Current Books One is impressed by the peWalter Pater culiar appropriateness of the definite article in the title of this large twovolume biography.' The author, Thomas Wright, has not a shadow of doubt about his work being "The Life of Walter Pater," and is positively naïve in the assumption. He speaks with mounting scorn of Mr. Benson's Pater, from which he catalogues a list of "astounding statements," "amazing errors," and "legends." He airily dismisses Mr. Ferris Greenslet's work on Pater as containing "a few apposite observations," but on the whole he regards it as "a most lamentable performance." Having thus cleared the ground before him, he rides victorious on his way. It would be amusing to follow the divagations of this enthusiastic biographer if one did not weary of so great a mass of detail and continual repetition. However, it is impossible for any one to collect data and expand even unimpressive events into a voluminous biography without adding somewhat to our knowledge. Walter Pater is positively shredded for our benefit. Subject as he was to great reversals of belief and curious artificialities of thought, yet he led a quiet, subjective life, and is not a fit subject to occupy so much space. Mr. Wright narrates many anecdotes, analyzing practically every year of Pater's life. He dissects his friendships and produces portraits of his most casual friends, as well as fine pictures of their homes, both outside and in. The two well-printed volumes overflow with pictures, most of them interesting, and we can only regard the entire work as extra-illustrated" both with pen and camera. ney north, not by the usual Palestine route, but by a long, difficult detour over the wild, bare, inhospitable, mysterious solitudes of the desert east of the Jordan. An archæologist, her researches mean top-boots and absence of women's society and journeys through regions infested by robbers. Yet she seems to have been equal to all demands both of equipment in archæology and of a fine fearlessness. If the Revue Archæologique has been the gainer in its publication of Miss Lowthian Bell's articles on Syrian ruins, in this book we are also the gainers. In it we see a woman not only brave and learned, appreciative of all that illustrates history and art, who gives us a suggestive string of archæological impressions illuminating the past; we have here a personal narrative showing keen appreciation also of the very realistic present-day Syria, as is evident in the author's description of Beduins and other natives, reinforced by a wealth of half-tone pictures. Whether describing the fellahîn of the plain or the Druses of the mountain, an Arab sheikh or a Turkish official, she does not attempt to portray them as more foreign than they arethat seems to be the resource of those who know the Orient less well. As she says, "Human nature does not undergo a complete change east of Suez." Hepworth Dixon, Cunningham Geikie, Townsend Maccoun, Margaret Thomas, and others have impressively described for us more especially the Palestine part of Syria, but who has so accurately described Syria as a whole? Our author has a genius for picking out the kernel, the color, the humor, the life-spark from everything she touches; for instance The details of Ba'albek are not so good as those of Athens; the matchless dignity and restraint of that A woman, an extraordinary personage, who seems to have combined equal erudition and courage, has explored glory among the creations of architects are not to be Syria from Jerusalem to Alexandretta, and written a book of unusual atmosphere and charm. She reaches Damascus on her jour 1 The Life of Walter Pater. By Thomas Wright. In 2 vols. G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York. $6.75, net. 2 The Desert and the Sown By Gertrude Lowthian Bell. E. P. Dutton & Co.. New York. $5, net. approached, nor is the splendid position on the hill. top overlooking the blue sea and the Gulf of Salamis to be rivaled. But in general effect Ba'albek comes nearer to it than any other mass of building, and it provides an endless source of speculation to such as busy themselves with the combination of Greek and Asiatic genius that produced it and covered its doorposts, its architraves, and its capitals with ornamental devices infinite in variety as they are lovely in execu tion. For the archæologist there is neither clean nor unclean. All the works of the human imagination fall into their appointed place in the history of art, directing and illuminating his own understanding of it. He is doubly blest, for when the outcome is beautiful to the eye he returns thanks; but whatever the result, it is sure to furnish him with some new and unexpected link between one art and another, and to provide him with a further rung in the ladder of history. He is thus apt to be well satisfied with what he sees, and, above all, he does not say, "Alas, alas, these dogs of Syrians! Phidias would have done so and so," for he is glad to mark a new attempt in the path of artistic endeavor and a fresh breath moving the acanthus leaves and the vine-scrolls on capital and frieze. Moltke Herr Dressler's "Moltke " has now been well translated into English and well published. The book has little to do with the creator of the modern German army. Instead it emphasizes the domestic side of the Field-Marshal's character, his charming home life, his simplicity and refinement. The author's long intimacy with the Moltke family well fits him for his task. Written by a musician, the book should appeal specially to Berliners, who, during the years when Joachim was first violin in the famous string quartette, never felt that a Singakademie concert could begin unless Moltke was in his place. They will remember their own impressions of the old general as they read Herr Dressler's words, "He would remain without moving for a half-hour, listening with intense pleasure. . . . I have never seen any one listen so sympathetically." In this book we learn to know, not only Moltke more familiarly, but also other Germans—the Emperors, Bismarck, Richard Wagner, for instance. Of the last named we read that, after Wagner had broken with his old friend Hans von Bülow, and had actually married the wife of that great conductor, the latter's daughters were accus. tomed to call Bülow father, but Wagner papa. One day when Bülow was sitting with his daughters a servant presented a card, which one of the daughters read, and cried out: "Father, papa is coming." The 1 Stories of the Italian Artists from Vasari. Arranged and Translated by E. L. Seeley. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $3, net. 2 Moltke in his Home. By Frederich August Dressler. Authorized Translation by Mrs. Charles Edward BarrettLennard. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $2, net. Renaissance Italian Poetry next moment the father disappeared through one door, while papa entered by another. A book is always needed by students of Italian literature to bring the creations of the Renaissance period into active relations with those of the Dantesque period on the one hand, and, on the other, with those of purely modern and contemporary literature. The plastic compositions of an Ariosto and a Tasso certainly furnish high-grade reading for Italian classes, and provide much suggestive material for the study of the development of Italian literature as affected by the epic matter and motives coming originally from Provence, the home of the troubadours. The editors of the present volume' have well realized their aim to furnish appropriate reading material relating to this period, but, as is often the case in similar volumes, have relegated their excellent notes to the end of the book, instead of printing them at the bottom of the pages. Both these volumes 2 give Two Modern modern views of Paul, but Studies of Paul both present them in unmodern form: "Paul the Mystic" interprets Paul as a mystic, but in unmystical language; "The Gospel According to St. Paul" interprets that Gospel in the terms of the New Theology, but in technical theological language. If we define rationalism as the doctrine that all our knowledge of the spiritual world is a deduction from observed phenomena, and mysticism as the doctrine that the spiritual world is immediately and directly perceived by consciousness, Paul was a mystic. And it is true, as Dr. Campbell undertakes to show, that he was a rational mystic and a practical mystic. But by its very nature mysticism does not lend itself to such a scientific analysis as Dr. Campbell attempts. The scientific or scholastic method is not applicable to the non-scientific or mystical realm. Dr. Matheson's "The Spiritual Development of St. Paul," while less avowedly is more really a treatise on the mystical side of Paul's character than is Dr. Campbell's. Paul needs translating, not only into terms of mysticism, but also into terms of modern thought. But such translation ought to be into non-theological terms. Dr. Du Bose's phraseology is as difficult to the average layman as Paul's. For example, “Our faith should be the exact correlative of God's grace or gift. The faith that saves to the 1 The Romances of Chivalry in Italian Verse. Edited by J. D. M. Ford and Mary A. Ford. Henry Holt & Co.. New York. $2. Paul the Mystic. By James M. Campbell, D.D. Andrew Melrose, London. The Gospel According to Saint Paul. By William Porcher Du Bose, M.A. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50, net. |