10 have good and new stories of fa

T

mous people to tell and to know how to tell them well is enough to make any book enjoyable. But Mr. Bok has put much more than this in his volume of reminiscences. He lays stress on his title. Here was a little Dutch boy, six years old, who came to America with parents of moderate means and without knowledge of English. What did America do for him and wherein did it fail? He devotes a chapter to each question with homely and concrete illustrations. Thus, looking back, he sees that he had to practice thrift in a land of waste, that there was too much emphasis on quantity rather than quality, that lack of thoroughness was the " of America," that the public schools failed to provide rightly for the education of a child of foreign birth, that there was not respect enough for law and order, that America did not teach its young voters rightly as to the significance of the franchise. On the other hand, it offered Edward (for so Mr. Bok speaks of himself in a detached way, avoiding the first person) high idealism and "the most priceless gift that any nation can offer, and that is opportunity."

curse

The story of Edward's boyhood shows that he had a naïve self-assurance-not in the least impudent or offensive. That his boyish personality was attractive is proved by the friendly spirit in which his advances were met. Thus his collection of autographs began with a letter to General Garfield, then candidate for the Presidency, asking whether a cyclopædia story of "the tow-path boy" was accurate-Edward wanted to test his newly bought cyclopædia, not to get an autograph. Mr. Bok remarks:

Of course any public man, no matter how large his correspondence, is pleased to receive an earnest letter from an information-seeking boy. General Garfield answered warmly and fully. Edward showed the letter to his father, who told the boy that it was valuable and he should keep it. This was a new idea. He followed it further; if one such letter was valuable, how much more valuable would be a hundred !

So it came about that "General Grant sketched on an improvised map the exact spot where General Lee surrendered to him; Longfellow told him how he came to write Excelsior;' Whittier told the story of The Barefoot Boy;' Tennyson wrote out a stanza or two of The Brook,' upon condition that Edward would not again use the word 'awful,' which the poet said is slang for "very," and I hate slang."

Out of this autograph hunting came articles for newspapers and the beginnings of Edward's work for publishers, which was to end in his establishing a new type of magazine, the "Ladies' Home Journal," the success of which made him a remarkable figure in the publishing world.

Soon we find Edward attracting President Hayes's attention by simple sincerity, calling upon General Grant at the Fifth Avenue Hotel and being asked to stay to

1 The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fitty Years After. By Edward Bok. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

dinner with the General and Mrs. Grant. A trip to Boston to see the famous New England authors resulted in an invitation from Oliver Wendell Holmes to breakfast and have a piece of pie with me," in a delightful interview with Longfellow, who got him to say grace in Dutch and to read in Dutch "The Old Clock on the Stairs," in friendly talks with Wendell Phillips and Phillips Brooks, and even in a glimpse of Emerson in his pathetic old age. What is noteworthy about the accounts of these boyish experiences is the cheerful, friendly intimacy with which every one seems to have welcomed the boy Edward. There

Edward W. Bok

From a photograph by Gutekunst

was certainly something about him that was pleasing and interesting.

As he advanced in literary and publishing circles Edward-or Bok, as he now begins to call himself-saw many people of note. Here is a delightful little impression of Harriet Beecher Stowe:

He [Bok] was sitting in Mark Twain's sitting-room in his home in Haftford waiting for the humorist to return from a walk. Suddenly sounds of devotional singing came in through the open window from the direction of the outer conservatory. The singing was low, yet the sad tremor in the voice seemed to give it special carrying power.

"You have quite a devotional servant," Bok said to a maid who was dusting the room. "Oh, that is not a servant who is singing, sir," was the answer. "You can step to this window and see for yourself."

Bok did so, and there, sitting on one of the rustic benches in the flower-house, was a small, elderly woman. Keeping time with the first finger of her right hand, as if with a baton, she was slightly swaying her frail body as she sang, softly yet sweetly, Charles Wesley's hymn, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and Sarah Flower Adams's "Nearer, My God, to Thee." But the singer was not a servant. It was Harriet Beecher Stowe.

With Henry Ward Beecher Bok young had associations in work and of friendship. One incident that is really dramatic in

its relation is of Edward's helping Mr. Beecher hunt for some papers and accidentally coming across a box of papers marked Tilton vs. Beecher. Edward had actually never even heard of the case, which was tried when he was twelve years old, and he asked Mr. Beecher what it was about! Mr. Beecher said, "You will some day hear about that suit. And I don't know "-then he hesitated-" but-but you might as well get it straight." Then for two hours and until after midnight Mr. Beecher told this young fellow the entire history of the attack upon him from point to point. "It was interesting then," says Mr. Bok, "as Mr. Beecher progressed: but how thrice interesting that wonderful recital was to prove as the years rolled by and the boy realized the wonderful telling of that of all stories by Mr. Beecher himself."

Later, in response to a letter from Mr. Bok about an absurd story, which still survives, Mr. Beecher wrote him as follows: My Dear Friend:

No, I never did begin a sermon with the remark that "it is d-d hot," etc. It is a story a hundred years old, revamped every few years to suit some new man. When I am dead and gone, it will be told to the rising generation respecting some other man, and then, as now, there will be fools who will swear they heard it! HENRY WARD BEECHER.

There are other stories not familiar to readers about Mr. Beecher and about Eugene Field, Andrew Carnegie, Stockton, Gladstone, Cleveland, and many celebrities, and letters from Mark Twain, Whittier, and others.

Another contradiction of a widespread myth came later from Rudyard Kipling, in connection with his story "William the Conqueror." Mr. Bok had suggested that something relating to drinking might be modified:

From this incident arose the widely published story that Bok cabled Kipling, asking permission to omit a certain drinking reference, and substitute something else, whereupon Kipling cabled back: "Substitute Mellin's Food." As a matter of fact (although it is a pity to kill such a clever story), no such cable was ever sent and no such reply ever received. As Kipling himself wrote to Bok: "No, I said nothing about Mellin's Food. I wish I had."

It was in connection with another story by Kipling that arose the not altogether popular publishing plan of "running over stories and articles from the body of the paper back into the advertising pages:

One day Bok was handling a story by Rud yard Kipling which had overrun the space allowed for it in the front. The story had come late and the rest of the front portion of the magazine had gone to press. The editor was in a quandary what to do with the two remaining columns of the Kipling tale. There were only two pages open, and these were at the back. He remade those pages, and continued the story from pages 6 and 7 to pages 38 and 39. At once Bok saw that this was an instance where necessity was the mother of invention." He realized that if he could run some of his front material over to the back he would relieve the pressure at the front, present a more varied contents there, and make his advertisements more valuable by putting them next to the most expensive material in the magazine.

One other publishing story may be quoted because it reveals for the first time, we

think, the fact that Theodore Roosevelt was the author of the anonymous department called "Men," which ran in the "Ladies' Home Journal" in 1916. Laborious care was taken at the time to preserve the anonymity, because Mr. Bok believed that this would stimulate public curiosity, and because he wanted to see "how far Theodore Roosevelt's ideas could stand unsupported by the authority of his vibrant personality." He comments:

It was natural that the appearance of a department devoted to men in a woman's magazine should attract immediate attention. The department took up the various interests of a man's life, such as real efficiency; his duties as an employer, and his usefulness to his employees; the employee's attitude toward his employer; the relations of men and women; a father's relations to his sons and daughters; a man's duty to his community; the public school system; a man's relation to his church, and kindred topics.

The anonymity of the articles soon took on interest from the positiveness of the opinions discussed; but so thoroughly had Colonel Roosevelt covered his tracks that, although he wrote in his usual style, in not a single instance was his name connected with the department. Lyman Abbott was the favorite " guess first; then after various other public men had been suggested, the newspapers finally decided upon former President Eliot, of Harvard University, as the writer.

at

All this intensely interested and amused Colonel Roosevelt, and he fairly itched with the desire to write a series of criticisms of his own articles to Doctor Eliot. Bok, however, persuaded the Colonel not to spend more physical effort than he was already doing on the articles; for, in addition, he was notating answers on the numerous letters received, and those Bok answered "on behalf of the author." There is a great deal that is stimulating to energy, originality, and resourcefulness in this autobiography, as well as much that is amusing and agreeable reading.

R. D. TOWNSEND.

THE NEW BOOKS

FICTION

Captain Macedoine's Daughter. By William McFee. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City.

There is less sea and more siren in this novel than Mr. McFee's readers would perhaps expect. It is strong meat for seasoned fiction readers; it deals frankly with the love theme in unconventional relations; and if some of the rather bookish phraseology of the character who tells the story seems unconvincing," Mr. Spenlove" nevertheless makes us feel that he knows right well how to spin a yarn. Few readers will resist the charm of the style; some will think the dénouement unsatisfying. Old Reliable in Africa. By Harris Dickson.

The Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. Jovial tales of the doings of an old school darky servant who goes to Africa with his Colonel. His adventures are as queer as they are funny.

Poor Wise Man (A). By Mary Roberts Rinehart. The George H. Doran Company, New York.

A thoroughly interesting study of afterthe-war conditions in a Mid-Western city. The struggle is on between old-fashioned reactionary capitalism, red-handed revolutionism, and plain, simple prohibition and good citizenship-the last represented finely by Will Cameron, a lame young drug clerk returned from war service with the Y. M. C. A. He is the "poor wise man" of the title, and he helps save his town from

extremists of both sides. There are romantic and dramatic incidents in abundance. The novel is alive and vigorous. World to Mend (A). By Margaret Sherwood. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Described by the author as "the journal of a workingman." It is an informal record from day to day of the experiences and reflections of a symbolic "cobbler," a man who, stung by the war to an intense consciousness of his own failure as a citizen, begins a new life of active, homely relationship with humanity, in an endeavor to discover a finer citizenship for himself and for others.

Wounded Souls. By Philip Gibbs. The George

H. Doran Company, New York.

Only in a limited sense a novel. There is a thread of fiction, but in the main the book is a series of pictures of what this famous war correspondent saw and heard in Belgium and Germany after the armistice. Again, as in his other books, he drives home the physical horror and moral hatefulness of war and calls upon the peoples of the world to prevent their "old men "-diplomats and soldiers-from playing with ambition and greed to the imminent danger of world peace. He writes with passion and vividness.

BOOKS FOR YOUNG FOLKS

Sandman's Mountain (The). By Louis Dodge. Illustrated. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

One is affected pleasurably at the outset by the tasteful way in which this book for children is printed and illustrated. It is really an admirable piece of work in its physical aspects. It is also charming and imaginative in its conception. It certainly will take its place as one of the best of children's books of the season.

Trail of the White Indians (The). By A. Hyatt Verrill. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.

Hair-raising adventures of two boys who encounter Huns, Indians, jaguars, and other objectionable creatures in South America. Rapid-fire conversation blazes on every page, and there is not a dull moment in the book.

Young Citizen's Own Book (The). By Chelsea Curtis Fraser. Illustrated. The

Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York.

Many young citizens who are realizing for the first time the responsibilities of the American voter will find this book an excellent one for helping them to bear those responsibilities intelligently. It discusses in simple and informal fashion our Government, State and National, the political parties, and cognate themes.

BIOGRAPHY

George von Lengerke Meyer: His Life and Public Services. By M. A. De Wolfe Howe. Illustrated. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.

Every chapter of this well-written biography is worth reading. It reveals a wholesome, likable character. It describes years of service, first in the Massachusetts Legislature, then in the Ministries to Italy and Russia, and finally in Cabinet positions. The most interesting part of the book to many will be the narration of the RussoJapanese negotiations of 1905 and Meyer's relationship to Theodore Roosevelt.

Margaret Fuller. By Katharine Anthony. Harcourt, Brace & Howe, New York. This is a brief and somewhat sketchy narrative of the events of Margaret Fuller's life. Its distinctive interest lies in the psychological analysis which accompanies

it. Miss Anthony is both keen and sympathetic-perhaps a little too sympathetic. But she is neither an apologist nor a eulogist; she is an analyst. Margaret Fuller's genius was akin to madness, and how far such an analysis of so abnormal a character is of real value is questionable. It is, however, unquestionably well done.

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Accepting the Universe. By John Burroughs. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

66

Frequent attempts have been made to explain the universe. That Mr. Burroughs has failed where no one has eyer succeeded is not strange. He disarms criticism by admitting that "there may be some contradictions." In fact, his philosophy is a mass of contradictions. In his preface he calls nature "the great Mother." On page 5 he denies that the love of the Eternal is a parental love "the love of the mother for her child ;" and further on he characterizes her as an "impartial mother." On one page he declares that "man can know and feel and love only man;" on the next, that 66 we need not fear alienation from God. I love him when I love my friend." He sees religion as necessary to man. “The man who has it not is like a plant that never blooms." But a little further on man is only a part of nature," and nature is a vast machine with neither thoughts nor feelings is what it must be, acts as it must act. Generally the spirit is left out of Mr. Burroughs's picture of life. Nature's power to hurt man is abundantly illustrated. Nature's function to heal what she has hurt is ignored; of man's power over nature, compelling her to do his will, almost no mention is made. The struggle for existence is abundantly illustrated and its benefits are pointed out, but the struggle for others, which Drummond has abundantly illustrated in the "Ascent of Man," Mr. Burroughs ignores. The reality of moral evil he recognizes; but in his mechanical theory of the universe there is no place for either good or evil. It is impossible to de-spiritualize the universe and leave in it logically any place for either religion or ethics; and it is impossible to interpret life without recognizing as unquestioned facts reverence, justice, pity, love. Mr. Burroughs in accepting the universe drops out from it its most important phenomena. Philosophy of Faith and the Fourth

Gospel (The). By the Rev. Henry Scott
Holland, D.D. Edited by the Rev. Wilfrid
Richmond. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.

WAR BOOKS

Ladies of Grecourt. By Ruth Gaines. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. Rising Above the Ruins in France. By Corinna Haven Smith (Mrs. Joseph Lindon Smith) and Caroline R. Hill. Illustrated. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

In the pages of the first volume descriptions of the Valley of the Somme find prominent place. The Smith College Unit. had its headquarters at Grécourt. The authors of the second volume tell us that no department of France had the record of the Somme, for almost its entire population was twice driven out. Both books give a personal touch. As opposed to the opinion that the best good is gained in more centralized efforts, we see here certain sure results obtained by units of helpers who went to live in the devastated regions, to share the conditions there, to doctor ailments, to restore community life. Both volumes would have been improved by indexes, and especially by adequate maps.

T

HE OUTLOOK is of the opinion that the result of the National election shows that the American people believe that President-elect Harding does not stand for a policy of American isolation. Can you give evidence in support of The Outlook's opinion? Do you expect that President Harding and the Senate will put the United States in the League of Nations?

The Outlook gives several instances of misleading newspaper headlines. How do you account for so many of these in our dailies? What responsibility do you attach to such headlines?

Do you know of American citizens who depend headlines for their facts? If upon so, what kind of citizens are they? Would it be better if no headlines appeared in our papers, as is true of the French daily press

What is a parochial school? Are all such schools under Roman Catholic control? How do these schools differ from other schools?

If you had been a voter in the recent Michigan election, would you have voted for or against the so-called Parochial School Amendment to the Constitution of that State? What are your reasons?

What arguments can you give why the Supreme Court should not pass upon the constitutionality of a law before it is enacted? Does it? If not, what are its reasons?

Several times recently The Outlook has made the very important statement that the unique contribution [italics mine] the American people have made to the history of democracy is its public school system. Once before I asked, and again I ask, is this so? Are there any readers of The Outlook who can successfully challenge The Outlook's contention?

Would it be well to abolish all parochial schools and require the study of Biblical literature in the public schools?

Some towns have enacted legislation requiring all resident aliens to support the public schools financially. Do you think all of our States should enact such legislation?

The Cuban Election

For what reasons should American citizens be interested in the Cuban election?

The present Cuban election law was proposed by General Enoch Crowder. Who is he? What are the provisions of that law? Would it be well for our States to adopt it?

Do the Cubans divide easily into parties or are they inclined to follow leaders?

1 These questions and comments are designed not only for the use of current events classes and clubs, debating societies, teachers of history and English, and the like, but also for discussion in the home and for suggestions to any reader who desires to study current affairs as well as to read about them. -THE EDITORS.

How would you answer this question if applied to Mexico? Which tendency is better for a self-governing republic? Who are General Gomez and Dr. Zayas? Are there any political leaders in the United States with whom these leaders might be compared?

The Outlook refers to the Cuban Revolution of 1898. What were its causes? Was the action and the attitude of the United States Government towards that revolution in any wise questionable?

The Outlook also refers to our second intervention in Cuba. What occasion was there for this? Have we any right to intervene in Cuba? If so, should we have?

In a recent conversation the writer of this study was told that " Cuba is just as dependent upon the United States as a child upon its mother," and that "Cuba has been the great altruistic adventure in international politics." Are there good reasons justifying such comments?

Do you know of any other nations that would not have annexed Cuba had they been in our place in 1898?

What do you know about the work of General Leonard Wood in Cuba? How many schools did he find there? How many did he leave? How many dollars did he find in the Cuban Treasury? How many did he leave? How long did he serve Cuba?

If you want further information on Cuba, read "Leonard Wood," by Eric Fisher Wood (Doran); "Cubans of Today," by W. B. Parker (Putnams); "Cuba Past and Present," by A. H. Verrill (Dodd, Mead); "Cuba," by I. A. Wright (Macmillan).

What Started the Republican
Avalanche ?

Do know of Democrats who voted you the Republican ticket? If so, what were their reasons?

From reading the noteworthy mail and telegraphic post-election correspondence found in this issue of The Outlook, what and how many reasons do you find why the country went so overwhelmingly Republican?

Do you expect the contrast between the present and the next National Administrations to be very sharp? If you do, what are your reasons?

What words and expressions found in the correspondence of critics from the various parts of the country do you not understand?

Of what educational and political value is this correpondence to you?

Read the editorial entitled "The Flood Tide of Republicanism." How would you describe and define the responsibility of the Republican party as you see it?

What lessons do you think the result of the National election should teach the incoming Congress and our next President?

You will do well indeed to read, in connection with this topic, two books: "Political Systems in Transition," by Charles G. Fenwick (Century), and "The Federal Executive," by J. P. Hill (Houghton Mifflin).

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