WEEKLY OUTLINE STUDY OF CURRENT HISTORY BY J. MADISON GATHANY, A.M. HOPE STREET HIGH SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Based on The Outlook of February 27, 1918 Each week an Outline Study of Current History based on the preceding number of The Outlook will be printed for the benefit of current events classes, debating clubs, teachers of history and of English, and the like, and for use in the home and by such individual readers as may desire suggestions in the serious study of current history.-THE EDITORS. [Those who are using the weekly outline should not attempt to cover the whole of an outline in any one lesson or study. Assign for one lesson selected questions, one or two propositions for discussion, and only such words as are found in the material assigned. Or distribute selected questions among different members of the class or group and have them report their findings to all when assembled. Then have all discuss the questions together.] I-INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS A. Topic: Russia Accepts Germany's Con- Questions: 1. Has The Outlook made it clear that relation to this war. 6. State the reasons characteristics if he really wanted to? Dis- ing of compromising with the Central 1. For what reasons has Marshal Joffre II-LOCAL AFFAIRS ENTERTAINING THE CAMPS BY AN AMERICAN WOMAN A previous article by the same writer and under the same title will be found in The Outlook for February 20 last.-THE EDITORS. It is natural that we should be eager to do whatever we can for the boys in khaki; but sometimes, when the patriotic zeal is not accompanied by a sympathetic imagination, the beneficiary may pray to be delivered from his friends. A homesick lad is likely to want either an atmosphere like that of his own home or else the exotic flavor the expectation of which has helped him to undertake the great adventure so cheerily. In one family among my neighbors the son of the house was scandalized when one of their guests at Sunday dinner made the perfectly simple and natural request that he be permitted after the meal to repair to the kitchen where the pretty waitress was. Permission was denied, but young Romeo was not discouraged, and this letter came "To the girl that waits for Mrs. So-and-so. You are the best ever. Are you keeping company with anybody?" He added his name and a few personal details, and this delicious bit of identification: "If you don't know which soldier wrote this, it is the one that touched your hand under the dish when you passed the potatoes." It is not always the limitations of the hosts that makes the soldier's visit a qualified joy to the guest. Sometimes he has limitations of his own. In another family of our town there was all that could be asked to give a young man a good time-a Topic: New York's East Side as a Political kindly father and mother, a lively lad of a Reference: Pages 325-327. 1. What are the three stages of the po- III-PROPOSITIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. It is harder to preserve liberty than to IV-VOCABULARY BUILDING Trotsky, military reaction, civil war of his has The Outlook called attention to? son, a pretty and clever young daughter, and yet the guest seemed ill at ease and unresponsive. After an exhausting session at the table, when their choicest sallies were as stones dropped into the mud, father, mother, and brother beat a strategic retreat, leaving the young lady to entertain the defender of her country. As her ideas and her breath simultaneously expired, there was a pause, and he summoned his courage to this frank and honorable confession : ""Tain't no use-I tell ye, 'tain't no use. I left a gal of my own at hum." A nineteen-year-old cousin with no such anchor to windward volunteered for naval service, and wrote back from a French mine-sweeper to his adoring and abundant relatives that he was amply supplied with all imaginable articles of personal wear except hat-bands-of hat-bands, whatever the ship or service, he was in urgent need. His mother wondered what he would do with them, but his father replied, with a twinkle of the eye, "He'll give them to the girls of course, just as he would here." The boy corroborated this, with the naïve comment, "There are some awfully good-looking Janes here, but they can't talk much." I told this story to a lad at our Soldiers' Club. He colored ingenuously and said: "That's right. I got several of those things, so as to have them ready when I got to France; but I've given them all to the peaches here." (I may add that I know the peaches to whom the souvenirs went; they are members of the Girls' Friendly Society, and good acquaintances for any boy.) He was very shy, but anxious to talk. One of the other boys at the table, in the intervals of lemon pie, was expressing his pleasure at the thought of seeing foreign countries. "What place do you most want to see?" I asked the shy boy. His face lighted up, and he said: My mother was born in the Old Country. I'd like to see the town she came from. It would be just great if I could get to see that!" 66 Good Roads to the Rescue of the Nation! Our industrial and military mobilization has overwhelmed the railroads. Embargoes, a desperate expedient to relieve the glut, are incessant embarrassments to shippers. Even the Government cannot get its freight through. In some railroad yards the wrecking-derricks are used to get particular cars out of the jam by lifting them bodily from the side-tracks to the main-line. Switch-yards get so full that the main-lines are blocked by waiting trains. But in those sections where long level routes of good roads connect the cities, motor-trucks are accomplishing marvels of long distance transportation. More and more New England is delivering to New York that way, In order to bring the facts before taxpayers as well as road author ities, The Barrett Company has organized a Special Service Department which keeps up to the minute on all road problems. If you will write to nearest office regarding road conditions or problems in your vicinity, the matter will have the prompt attention of experienced engineers. This service is free for the asking. If you want better roads and lower taxes, this Department can greatly assist you. SPECIAL PUBLISHERS' NUMBERS Each of these issues of The Outlook will contain, in addition to the usual number of book reviews, a special article of timely interest on the general subject of books. Special reprints of the publishers' announcements, the book reviews, and the article appearing in each of these publishers' numbers, will be sent, coincident with their dates of publication, to a list of approximately nine hundred of the leading book dealers of the country, who in turn will be advised that additional reprints, bearing their own imprint, can be secured from The Outlook at cost price. Copy for each of these special publishers' numbers should be in hand not later than two weeks prior to date of publication. THE "SPRING DRIVE" W ITH this, the first week of the. On the edge of this new book season one come to the mind--such as those by ex-Ambassador Gerard, Dr. van Dyke, Ian Hay, Arthur G. Empey, and H. H. Powers's "America Among the Nations." In fiction it may almost be said that the recent English or American novel that does not at least touch upon the war is the exception; but it may be added that we are beginning to emerge from the period when it was almost ludicrously evident that novels begun before the war had been deftly adapted in their concluding chapters to the demand for war fiction. All the indications are that this natural desire to read in books about that in which our most vital interest lies will this spring call out another small libraryful of war books. What effect has the war had on the vol- about ten thousand volumes. It will surprise One indication of the popular recognition WHY did Bulgaria go into the war on the side of Germany? WHY did Greece refuse to go in with the Allies? WHY did the Kaiser and King Constantine discuss this war at a secret conference five months before the war started? These and many other questions that IN THE HEART By Demetra Vaka Author of "Haremlik," etc. Profusely illustrated. $2.00 net. At all Bookstores HOUGHTON MIFFLIN CO. Boston and New York reading the capital biographies of John Fiske (Houghton Mifflin) and Edward Everett Hale (Little, Brown & Co.), that of John Morley (Macmillan), that of Catherine Breshkovsky (Little, Brown & Co.), that of Audubon (Appleton), that of John Meigs (Dodd, Mead & Co.), the "Letters of Mark Twain" (Harpers), and the "Memories of Thomas R. Sullivan (Houghton Mifflin), from which we quoted recently. These and half a dozen others abound in human interest, and most of them in amusing anecdote also. War has not prevented authors from writing and readers from enjoying romance any more than it has abolished music, painting, drama, or poetry. Imagination is not deadened, but rather quickened, by grim reality. In the hands of the literary man who respects his work fiction is an art and not a plaything. Rarely, by the way, has this been better brought out than in Professor H. S. Canby's delightful and stimulating article in the "Century" for February. It has a suggestive idea in its very title, "On a Certain Condescension toward The "Spring Drive" of Books (Continued) Fiction." After citing the names of American novelists who have done memorable work, Professor Canby asks: "Is there finer workmanship in American painting or American music or American architecture than can be found in American novels by the reader willing to search and discriminate? A contemporary poet confessed that he would have rather written a certain sonnet (which accompanied the confession) than have built Brooklyn Bridge. One may doubt the special case, yet uphold the principle. Because a novel is meant to give pleasure, because it deals with imagination rather than with facts and appeals to the generality rather than to the merely literary man or the specialist, because, in short, a novel is a novel, and a modern American novel, is no excuse for priggish reserves in our praise or blame. If there is anything worth criticising in contemporary American literature, it is our fiction." If fiction is, as we believe, truly an art, then it must have diverse modes of expression. The old battle between realist and romanticist had only one reasonable conclusion that there was a place for each, and even a place for a combination of the two, the unities to the contrary notwithstanding. No one has expressed this better than De Maupassant, a marvelous short-story writer but a weak novelist. In a preface to one of his not very successful attempts at a novel he wrote: The public is composed of numerous groups that "Comfort me;" "Amuse me;" cry out to us: Touch my sympathies ;" "Make me sad;" Make me dream;" "Make me laugh;" "Make me shiver;" "Make me weep ;" "Make me think." Some chosen spirits alone ask of the artist: "Make something beautiful, in the form which suits you best, according to your temperament." The artist essays, succeeds or fails. The critic ought to judge of the result only by the nature of the effort: he has no right to take account of tendencies. Thus after the literary schools which have sought to give us a deformed, superhuman, poetic, tender, charming, or superb vision of life there has come a realistic, or naturalistic, school, which professes to show us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. These different schools of art must be accepted with equal interest, and the works that they produce must be judged solely from the point of view of their artistic value, admitting a priori the general ideas which gave birth to them. To deny the right of an author to compose a poetic work, or a realistic work, is to seek to force him to modify his temperament, to reject his originality, and not to allow him the eye and the intelligence which nature has bestowed on him. This is a true view of an art which has largely taken the place of the epic and the printed drama. Its cruder days in America have disappeared. If at the moment we have no effulgent geniuses, we have a great deal of honest, conscientious effort to portray life, to study motive, to create characters. To quote Professor Canby again, "We cannot afford to patronize these novelists as our ancestors did." As the stir of this spring book season blossoms out in announcements, reviews, and teeming book-shelves, that most uncertain but most powerful of critics, Mr. General Reader, will find much to please his fancy and not a little also (we hope and, from present indications, are, indeed, confident) that is worthy because its literary quality is abreast with its subject-matter. The meretricious and the flashy pass quickly; but of next year's ten thousand books many will become literature and abide with us. THE ABINGDON PRESS GOOD BOOKS WHILE spring still slumbers beneath winter's cloak there is ample time to find pleasure and intellectual profit in the genial philosophy, the kindly humor, the stimulating fiction of the printed page. A catalog of THE ABINGDON PRESS will help you choose the most select of its recent publications. Here are a few of them. GIANT HOURS WITH POET-PREACHERS By WILLIAM L. STIDGER Brief, suggestive and inspirational studies of nine modern poets-four American and five English. The author's purpose is to interest his readers in those of whom he writes and in their ethical and spiritual messages. Mr. Stidger writes con amore. He knows and loves these Poet-Preachers, and would have others know and love them too. A book wholesome and tonic in quality. 12mo. 129 pages. Cloth, gold top. THE PSALMS AND OTHER SACRED WRITINGS By FREDERICK CARL EISELEN A finely balanced and very valuable discussion, with all sides of the question stated, and the various schools of thought fairly and equitably represented. The book will be warmly welcomed by those who would understand the circumstances in which these books were written, their underlying theme and content, and their spiritual message. Crown 8vo. 348 pages. Cloth. Net, $1.75, postpaid. THE CONFESSIONS OF A BROWNING LOVER A fine interpretation of the message of Browning to our time. Believing that Browning is primarily an artist, the author holds that both by intuition and inspiration he is a philosopher and a theologian and that his teachings are of the highest order. Agnosticism and materialism are met and answered. Dr. Powell's chapter on Immortality is unusually helpful. Crown 8vo. 248 pages. Cloth. Net, $1.00, postpaid THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS DR. CARPENTER has given a popular and highly interesting account of early New England days. True to history, the rugged and heroic life of the Pilgrims takes new beauty and power under the author's skilful handling. In view of the Tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrims, this volume is most timely and will surely help to an understanding of the spirit and purpose of the sturdy pioneers to whom the nation owes so much. 12mo. Illustrated. Cloth. 256 pages. Net, $1.50, postpaid. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL AND HOME AGAIN By F. W. BOREHAM A most suggestible person is this Tasmanian essayist. To him every event and object is suggestive; wherever his glance strikes it ricochets to something else. For suggestive, original and striking ideas and putting of ideas there is nothing better than The Other Side of the Hill. 12mo. Cloth. 274 pages. Net, $1.25, postpaid. OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS By FRANK C. PELLETT Charming, intimate, and true to life are these descriptions, for the author has lived in close proximity to birds and animals, and shares their secrets. The stories he tells are vivid and fascinating, and many unusual photographs add to the value of this unique nature book. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. 210 pages. NEW YORK THE ABINGDON PRESS CINCINNATI CHICAGO BOSTON PITTSBURGH DETROIT THE NEW BOOKS This Department will include descriptive notes, with or without brief comments, about books received by The Outlook. Many of the important books will have more extended and critical treatment later FICTION His Daughter. By Gouverneur Morris. Charles In this volume of the handsome edition of Pinero's plays the two dramas by which he is best known to the public are presented. In reading them one realizes why Sir Arthur has often been called "the play KANSAS CITY SAN FRANCISCO PORTLAND, ore. wrights' playwright," for the deftness of their construction and the balance between action and dialogue are even more evident than on the stage Lost Naval Papers (The). A Story of the Secret Service. By Bennet Copplestone. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $1.50. As the title indicates, these short stories tell of the tracing of spies who infested the British naval service. In Dawson, the Scotland Yard spy-hunter, the author has invented a worthy successor to Sherlock Holmes. Tree of Heaven (The). By May Sinclair. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.60. In literary workmanship Miss Sinclair's new novel is on a high level. It has evidently at once attracted the attention of those readers of fiction who distinguish The New Books (Continued) between the ephemeral and careless tale made to sell and the carefully wrought out novel of character and situation. The book is subtle in its study of the many individuals of the family seen at the beginning beneath the beautiful tree which they love to call "The Tree of Heaven." The theme which runs through the book is the inevitable effect of the war upon the different temperaments of the children of this family, who have come to manhood and womanhood as the war clouds fall over them. The strange, individualistic character of Michael, the poet, and the cheerfully unselfish nature of his brother Nicky are admirably contrasted, as are also those of their sister and other women in the book. Apart from the inevitable war tragedies that follow there seems to be a note of depression rather than of inspiration in the author's outlook upon life. This does not mean that the book is dull or doleful, but one would like to see a little more of courageous incentive to hope and courage. HISTORY, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND POLITICS North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitra tion at The Hague. By Elihu Root. Edited by Robert Bacon and James Brown Scott. The Harvard University Press, Cambridge. $3. Miscellaneous Addresses. By Elihu Root. Collected and Edited by Robert Bacon and James Brown Scott. The Harvard University Press, Cambridge. $2.50. The collected addresses and state papers of Elihu Root are in course of publication, we are glad to say. Three volumes have already appeared. Each volume contains addresses and speeches relating to a general subject and a common purpose. One The Long, Long Thoughts of the two new volumes is made up of Mr. of a boy who sees in a commonplace wood-patch wonderful things that escape our older gaze are put down by James Lane Allen's sympathetic pen in his latest book. Seldom has he written with such insight as he shows in 66 THE KENTUCKY WARBLER" BY JAMES LANE ALLEN DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. RABBITS A PROFITABLE SIDE-LINE OCCUPATION Tells how to provide for the shortage in meat. Our book: The Rabbit; How to Select, Breed and Manage the Rabbit and Belgian Hare for Pleasure or Profit," by breeders of long experience with rabbits. Eighth edition, nicely illustrated, enlarged and much improved. Price 25 cents with sample copy of the AMERICAN POULTRY ADVOCATE containing Rabbit and Pet Stock Department. POULTRY ADVOCATE, Dept. 314, Syracuse, N.Y. Root's argument, with appropriate accompanying papers, before the Hague Tribunal in the North Atlantic Fisheries Case. The other volume includes educational, historical, and commemorative addresses, including Mr. Root's prophetic and stirring speeches in anticipation of and during the present war. Short History of Rome (A). By Guglielmo Ferrero and Corrado Barbagallo. Vol. I-The Monarchy and the Republic from the Foundation of the City to the Death of Julius Cæsar, 754 B.C.-44 B.C. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $1.90. This book, Dr. Ferrero says, has been written for the use of teachers and of advanced students. Its leading ideas are those which he has developed in his well-known work, "The Greatness and Decline of Rome" among these, that history should be regarded as organic, not as a recital of isolated facts. A pregnant sentence is this: "We have held firmly to two cardinal principles: first, that in history we cannot hope to know everything; and, secondly, that what certainty there is diminishes as we descend from great events... to the smaller incidents." ESSAYS AND CRITICISM Confessions of a Browning Lover (The). Some Modern Novelists. Appreciations and The Novelists of Yesterday here included are Meredith, Hardy, Gissing, De Morgan, |