one thing, they fill fourteen large volumes. For another, the reader must do his own sorting of their contents, must wade through an occasional morass of dullness, must sometimes extricate the naturalist from the philosopher's toils and vice versa. In the interests of this average reader, Odell Shepard has made a fine selection from the journals and produced a book which could with pleasure and profit be put into every American's library. With pleasure first; because Thoreau undoubtedly wrote for the purpose of giving it. He seems to this reviewer to have had no impulse to preach or lead. He was a mystic by nature, an ascetic in his own life, and such is not the material from which preachers are made. He hoped, if anything, to show the beauty of simple pleasures. A man who wrote, "One grain of realization, of instant life, on which we stand, is equivalent to acres of the leaf of hope ham mered out to gild our prospect," would have wished that his work, if it were read at all, be read for delight. He was wholly human, and never sentimental, although he could write of sentimental things. He wrote with equal richness and real humor of a marooned kitten signaling to a passing boat for rescue and embarrassing its rescuers, and of Mrs. S., lecturing on womanhood, and showing herself in an interview after the lecture to be "a woman in the too common sense, after all," in talking with whom "you had to substitute courtesy for sense and argument." His style may be sententious at times, but he handles words with charm and skill. He can be read always with pleasure. HE editor of this department will THE be glad to help readers with advice and suggestions in buying current books, whether noticed on this page or not. If you wish guidance in selecting books for yourself or to give away, we shall do the best we can for you if you will write us, giving some suggestions, preferably with examples. of the taste which is to be satisfied. We shall confine ourselves to books published within the last year or so, so that you will have no trouble in buying them through your own bookshop. Concerning an American Industry (Continued from page 347) and mechanized tale and give the reader a sense of immediacy to reality, to the way real men and women meet their difficulties and achieve their ambitions. When, by the way, will we see that fiction can be truer than life itself? That the artist, as creator and omni The Harper Prize Novel scient observer, can give us a fuller, rounder view of his people than we can ever hope to have of our most intimate associates? William Dean Howells once pondered the American short story and asked three questions: "Is it because American life is scrappy and desultory and instinctively GRANDMOTHERS seeks its expression in the sketch, the little tale, the miniature romance; or because the short story seems in all literature to find its development earlier than the full-sized novel? Did our skill in writing short stories create the demand for them in the magazines, or did the demand of the magazines foster the special skill?" Mr. Howells did not attempt to answer his questions. Perhaps it was wiser at the time merely to pose them, hoping that they would set minds to thinking of the novel, which he considered the proper medium for men of letters. The last question seems to belong with the riddle of the hen and the egg. Any schoolboy can answer the second. In the first there is meat as fresh as the day Mr. Howells propounded it. The most ardent patriot would hardly deny that American life has been chaotic. More than that, the task of subduing a continent has absorbed the energies of men who, in a more settled state, would rather write history than make it. The experiment in democracy became a conquest by industry; and its glorification stifled talent and maimed. genius, as Van Wyck Brooks has pointed out in "The Ordeal of Mark Twain." Life in America has been exciting, i has had grand moments; but it has als been incalculable. And the first-rat artist, contrary to opinion, does not g about his business without calculatin tendencies; indeed, he is acutely sensi tive to them. For work on a great scale for the novels that are the chief glory o a nation's literature, he must have conviction of national direction, of unit in the largest sense. He must feel thes things if only to oppose them. It is not without significance that suc writers as James Boyd and Joseph He gesheimer, whose tempers are order and aristocratic, should go back to col nial days for their materials. It is no entirely for the specious pleasures Montmarte that so many of our young men are looking at America from France. It is that they may sort o their "scrappy" impressions away fro the compulsion to be up and at it, t sell a bill of goods, to make Hokumvi bigger, better, and brighter. It is t such detachment that we owe such a fin American novel as Glenway Wescott "The Grandmothers." If we are not precisely sure where w are going, nor whether we are going to gether, we have at least entered an ag of caution. Else why is Mr. Coolidg the favorite of men? The worst chaos has passed; and out of it has com the railroad, the telephone, the radi the instruments by which our spiritu unity can be achieved. It will not hu us to be a little standardized there, our spiritual leaders are all right. The writer believes that the chans is already reflected in the publisher lists. We are not getting great novel but we are getting good ones; man more than Mr. Howells could see in h day. Let us look to them and to the authors, and not to be too much alarm for the future of our literature. Man who stays under water for 30 minutes in a sealed box. Box No. 581, Now that Roxy has called his new cinema theatre "The Cathedral of the Motion Picture," a Bronx, New York, theatre owner is founding a "Synagogue of the Movies." The following classified advertisement under the heading "Situations Wanted" recently appeared in the New York "Evening Telegram:" "COLORED girl requires cleaning, 9 to 1 morning. Phone 2285." The Billboard, 1560 Broadway, New IT has been figured out by "Capper's York City. One of the best places the New York police have for picking up escaped criminals and those wanted by the police in other cities is said to be the north side of the Times Building on Times Square. It is here that "all the home town paDers" are sold. A Sunday-school teacher was telling er class all about the missionaries who vent out to foreign lands to convert the annibals. "What do you think would be the first thing the missionaries should each these cannibals?" asked the eacher. One bright little boy answered eadily, "I know. They should teach hem to be vegetarians." THE HE most famous of Bostonian town criers was "Old Wilson," 1808-41, tho had a rude popular wit, common, e are told, to the profession. When nnouncing the Fourth of July dinner in Charlestown, certain denizens of that ncient place pestered him with inquiries s to the bill of fare, and elicited the eply that the dinner would be ample, ith a pig at every plate. Another crier, ccording to the New York "Times," as Charles H. Chase, of Nantucket. ccosted by a jocose young lady, who quired where he had obtained his bell, e replied, with a polite bow: "I obined my bell, young woman, at the me place where you got your manners the brass factory." A Scotchman applied for a position as patrolman on the London police force. Cotland Yard asked him this question: Suppose, McFarland, you saw a crowd ongregated at a certain point on your eat, how would you disperse it quickly, ith the least trouble?" "I would pass e hat," answered McFarland. "Ain't it grand," writes Abe Martin, to wake up Monday mornin' an' find e family intact?" Weekly" that the number of public officers on city, county, State, and Federal pay-rolls has increased sixty per cent in the last twelve years. "If everybody should work for the Government, would the country starve?" the paper asks, and answers: "No. Because in that case the Government would be running the farms as well as the machine shops, and also paying the salaries of the lawyers, doctors, teachers, and even editors." Mrs. Petunia Riggs, says "Life," has at last located the squeak in the rear of her car which has been bothering her for the past few days. It was her husband requesting from the back seat that she drive a little slower. From "Punch:" She: "You might get the afternoon off and come with us. Ask leave to attend your grandfather's funeral." He: "Not me. I'm not that sort of rotter. Besides, I'm in my grandfather's office." An advertisement clipped from an Alabama paper: "Comfortable five-room cottage with bath occupied by owner.' From "Life:" First newspaper headline writer: "Give me a synonym for 'finny tribe.'" Second headline writer: "How about 'fish'?" First headline writer: "Fine! I never thought of that." Can you rearrange the following letters to make entirely different words? Each unit in this paragraph contains all the letters necessary to make a new word. The red an, Cart horse, Rateably, Chesty, Tired crag, Reinmode, Flog Munuta, Talponceau, Nice water, mauls, Ocatapegs, Bryan hilt, Nathan sure, Drop a cub, Meat drill, Dewy danse. Answer next week. There's warm, dry TUCSON "Winter" means brilliant, invigorating sunshine every day in Tucson-worldfamous for rest or play. See this ideal country! Wonderful outdoor sports, mountains, hunting, golf, horseback riding, motoring-NOW! Sunshine Club invites correspondence. Rock Island or Southern Pacific. Winter rates; TUCSON Sunshine Climate Club ARIZONA (701) Old Pueblo Bldg., Tucson, Arizona CUT ALONG THIS LINE AND MAIL. Scientific Facts A About Diet CONDENSED book on diet entitled Eating for Health and Efficiency" has been published for free distribution by the Health Extension Bureau of Battle Creek, Mich. Contains set of health rules, many of which may be easily followed right at home or while traveling. You will find in this book a wealth of information about food elements and their relation to physical welfare. This book is for those who wish to keep physically fit and maintain normal weight. Not intended as a guide for chronic invalids as all such cases require the care of a competent physician. Name and address on card will bring it without cost or obligation. HEALTH EXTENSION BUREAU SUITE FC-298 GOOD HEALTH BLDG. 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REFINED middle-aged woman desire position as companion-housekeeper. Exc lent seamstress. Would travel. Reference 8,149, Outlook. TYPIST, excellent neat worker. 1 Outlook. WANTED-Responsible paying position private household; managing housekeepe companion, eutire charge of children Ex lent references. Protestant. 8,152, Outloo WOMAN, refined, practical nurse, sel position; willing, useful companion to inval or elderly person. Best of references. Ba 292, Roslyn Heights, Long Island. MISCELLANEOUS TO young women desiring training in th care of obstetrical patients a six mont nurses' aid course is offered by the Lying Hospital, 307 Second Ave., New York. A are provided with maintenance and give monthly allowance of $10. For further pa ticulars address Directress of Nurses. WANTED-Lady to join a California to 8,150, Outlook. Round the World $999 HOTEL BRISTOL Little "Ads" That Reach Far 52 The Outlook, November 16, 192 THE OUTLOOK, November 23, 1927. Volume 147, Number 12. Published weekly by The Outlook Company at 120 East 16th Street, New York, N. Y. Subscription price $5.00 a year. Single copies 15 cents each. Foreign subscription to countries in the postal Union, $6.56. Entered as second-class matter, July 21, 1893, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., and December 1, 1926, at the Post Office at Dunellen, N. J., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1927, by The Outlook Company. TH HE majority of our readers probably know already that Professor Jastrow is one of the most distinguished and widely known American psychologists. He is the author of many books on the subject, has occupied the chair of Psychology in the University of Wisconsin since 1888, and is as well a lecturer in the New School for Social Research. In effect, his article presents an intellectual view of the subject Miss Millay treated from a poet's standpoint. Μ AY we say just a word here about the new announced on another page? It has always been The Outlook's wish to be of the utmost personal service to its subscribers. Our Travel Bureau and our Classified Department have hitherto been evidences of this wish. |