Chapter LXII: Part 3: treats of the present utility of the beliefs in personal (13)

These stories from old Persian tales, adapted for boys and girls, are
retold from authentic translations. One of these sources, “Tales of
the genii; or, The delightful lessons of Horam the son of Asmar,”
appeared in England in 1765, ran thru many editions, and formed part
of the youthful library of Charles Dickens. Miss Olcott says, “All the
stories have been recast with great freedom, and moulded into a
continuous narrative; the aim being to keep them truly oriental and at
the same time to preserve all the detail that will delight the
imaginative modern boy and girl.” Each story has an ethical lesson,
but in addition to their moral teaching, she believes they will foster
a love of rich color and an appreciation of beautiful objects. The
pictures are by Willy Pogány.

=A L A Bkl= 14:137 Ja ‘18

“The reteller of these oriental tales has gathered her material
carefully, both in its fictional quality and in its atmospheric
background. She has been greatly aided by the colorful imagination of
the Hungarian artist, Willy Pogány.”

+ =Lit D= 55:54 D 8 ‘17 70w

=N Y Times= 22:512 D 2 ‘17 70w

“The stories will prove very entertaining for they transport the
reader to fragrant oriental gardens where many-colored birds and a
thousand fountains make music all day.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p15 D 1 ‘17 280w

=OLGIN, MOISSAYE JOSEPH.= Soul of the Russian revolution. il *$2.50 (2c) Holt 947 17-27862

In the year 1901-‘02 the author of this book was a student in the
University of Kiev. He was one of 200 students who were sentenced to
one year’s military service in punishment for political activity. In
1905-‘06 he took part in the thwarted revolutionary uprising. He is
now in New York and has written this book in English for American
readers. He has attempted to give a review of the movement as a whole
and to show the character of the different elements concerned in the
revolution. The first of the four parts which compose the work deals
with Social forces. Part 2 covers the years 1905 and 1906, and the
establishment of the Duma. Part 3 draws on Russian revolutionary
literature as an aid to understanding the spirit of the movement. Part
4 covers the actual revolution of 1917 up to the formal abdication of
the czar. The illustrations are taken from revolutionary periodicals,
most of which were not allowed to circulate. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch
contributes an introduction.

“A popular but scholarly study.”

+ =A L A Bkl= 14:162 F ‘18

=Boston Transcript= p9 D 5 ‘17 600w

“He is silent on hidden motivating forces which reveal the moral
poignancy of the Russian struggle for the civilized world. The people,
the soul and meaning of their revolt, are absent; what we have is the
story of the industrial proletariat led and betrayed by a militant
revolutionary minority. All Russian life is looked at from the vantage
ground of party bias. The main value of Mr Olgin’s book consists in
the clear exposition of the revolution of 1905 and the exposé of the
ideology of the professional revolutionists.”

– + =Nation= 105:638 D 6 ‘17 1300w

“It is impossible to read him without gratitude for his clarity, his
objectivity, his documentation; and impossible not to conclude from
reading him that the first fact about Russia is still the Tsardom that
has been deposed.” F. H.

+ =New Repub= 13:220 D 22 ‘17 1450w

“Mr Olgin has succeeded wonderfully well in clarifying and defining
for American readers, who really know very little about any other than
superficial aspects of Russian affairs, the origin and significance of
the many varied currents of influence and tendency that led
revolution-ward. In the third section Mr Olgin does something that all
readers of Russian literature will thank him for and makes a novel
attempt to link Russian literature and Russian life.”

+ =N Y Times= 23:14 Ja 13 ‘18 820w

“The author has true dramatic power.”

+ =Outlook= 117:654 D 19 ‘17 80w

“To trace the varied economic and political influences at work for all
those centuries of Russia’s history was indeed an enormous task. No
one man could hope to accomplish it completely, even to his own
satisfaction, but we are not likely to see in our time a better résumé
of this complicated subject than has been provided by this Russian
journalist.”

+ =R of Rs= 57:214 F ‘18 220w

=OLIVER, SIR THOMAS.= Occupations from the social, hygienic and medical points of view. (Cambridge public health ser.) *$1.80 (5c) Putnam 613.6 (Eng ed 16-15036)

A book devoted to the relation of occupations to health. It has to do
with conditions in England but will doubtless prove of value to all
who are interested in similar problems in America. The work was begun
before the war and problems rising out of war conditions are not
touched on. The subjects covered are: The air we breathe; The air of
factories, workshops and workrooms; Work, wages, efficiency and
fatigue; The health and comfort of the worker; Occupation and age
fitness; Choice of a career; Dusty occupations; Gases; The chemical
trades; Injuries caused by electricity; The skin and occupation.

“It will prove valuable and interesting to public health workers, and
will give much information to the general citizen who wants a
bird’seye view of the subject.” Carl Kelsey

+ =Ann Am Acad= 70:330 Mr ‘17 90w

“Although the book contains a mass of interesting information, the
reader constantly receives the impression that he is being presented
with a succession of disconnected and unrelated statements. No stress
has been laid upon fundamental principles. ... The least satisfactory
portions of the book are those dealing with the causation of fatigue,
and with the action of gases on the body; these are not up to
date. ... In spite of these defects the book contains much that is
useful, especially in the chapters on factory hygiene and on dusty
occupations, and although it cannot be recommended from a scientific
point of view it may prove of value to the general reader.” F. A. B.

+ — =Nature= 97:377 Jl 6 ‘16 570w

=N Y Br Lib News= 3:125 Ag ‘16

=Pratt= p23 Ja ‘17

+ =Sat R= 121:422 Ap 29 ‘16 1500w

=OLMSTEAD, FLORENCE.= Anchorage. *$1.35 (2c) Scribner 17-12956

“A cloistered romance,” a story of the Little sisters of the poor, and
“Father Bernard’s parish,” a book presenting an unusual aspect of New
York life, are the two novels by the author that precede this one. For
her third book, she has chosen still another setting, a quiet country
community in Georgia. The friendship between Paul Osborne and Harriet
Sterling had flowed on quietly for many years. The man was a
semi-invalid, shut out by his lameness from active participation in
life. In his friend Harriet, he found companionship and the
encouragement and mental stimulation his brilliant powers required.
Harriet, on her part, found satisfaction in serving him, and if her
heart asked for more than this, she gave no indication. This is the
situation when Harriet’s young cousin Hilda comes to visit her. Hilda
brings a new element into Paul’s life. She comes and goes, leaving
bitterness behind her, but out of the bitterness grows wisdom and an
understanding of the gift that had always lain ready at his hand.

=A L A Bkl= 13:451 Jl ‘17

“Miss Olmstead places her scene in Georgia, but her characters seem
rather typically of New England. Many individual personages are
admirably set out in the tale, so admirably that the reader is a
little impatient they should be wasted on so trite a plot.”

+ — =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 11 ‘17 150w

=Nation= 105:40 Jl 12 ‘17 220w

“The young girl Hilda, the best-drawn character in the book, is very
cleverly drawn indeed. ... Louisa, the middle-aged, commonsense
spinster, is also cleverly sketched, and would be amusing if we did
not hear quite so much about her. But Paul, around whose character and
whose invalidism the entire story revolves, never becomes more than a
lay figure.”

+ — =N Y Times= 22:195 My 20 ‘17 450w

=ONIONS, BERTA RUCK (MRS OLIVER ONIONS).= Girls at his billet. il *$1.40 (1½c) Dodd 16-23626

The three of them, Evelyn, Nancy and Elizabeth, their ages ranging
from eighteen to twenty-two, lived in what Elizabeth called “a
God-forsaken village on the bleakest part of the east coast of
England.” They lived with an elderly aunt and their lives were as
bleak as the coast itself, for the village was devoid of men. Then
comes the war and the establishment of a training camp in their midst
and the billeting of a young officer in their very household. But what
is one man among three girls! So two friends and fellow-officers are
brought forward and in course of time (and not a very long time),
there are three war-time engagements to be announced.

“Light, pleasant, and showing none of the horrible side of the war.
Not as entertaining as her other books.”

=A L A Bkl= 13:356 My ‘17

“The novel is, of course, the lightest sort of whipped cream fiction,
but few purveyors of that delicacy whip their cream to so dainty and
airy a froth as does Berta Ruck. ... Moreover, she writes with a
certain joyousness which is very attractive.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:115 Ap 1 ‘17 350w

+ =Wis Lib Bul= 13:159 My ‘17 50w

=ONIONS, BERTA RUCK (MRS OLIVER ONIONS).= Miss Million’s maid; a romance of love and fortune. il *$1.40 (1c) Dodd 15-21422

Miss Million’s maid is Miss Million’s former mistress, Beatrice
Lovelace. When the little Cockney maid of all work inherits a fortune
from an uncle who lived in America and leaves Aunt Anastasia Lovelace,
Beatrice, who has tired of her aunt’s maxim, “Better no society than
the wrong society,” runs away and persuades the highly embarrassed
Miss Million to take her as lady’s maid. They go to the Hotel Cecil,
lovers appear on the scene and many complications ensue.

=A L A Bkl= 14:170 F ‘18

“Mrs Onions treats the complications with ready humour and
considerable freshness. Her characters are much more probable than her
story.”

+ — =Ath= p244 My ‘16 50w

“Not so clever as certain of Berta Ruck’s novels, but pleasant and
entertaining.”

+ — =N Y Times= 22:468 N 11 ‘17 420w

“A very diverting and by no means unexciting story, which, considering
the motif, loses nothing by the note of caricature which runs through
the whole.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p203 Ap 27 ‘16 140w

Operation and tactical use of the Lewis automatic machine rifle; based on the experience of the European war. il *60c Van Nostrand 355 17-20406

This pocket manual, clearly printed and illustrated, has an
introduction by Col. I. N. Lewis, U.S.A. (retired). Colonel Lewis
says: “The descriptive text is full and accurate in detail, while the
system of preliminary and practical field instruction as outlined
follows closely that now employed at the various machine gun schools
and special instruction camps in England and France. In our own
service, the machine gun is as yet a new and untried weapon, and I
therefore believe the general principles governing the present
operation and tactical use on the great battlefield of Europe, as
briefly presented herein, will be of interest to all officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men of our army, navy and marine
corps.”

=N Y P L New Tech Bks= p16 Jl ‘17 50w

=OPPENHEIM, EDWARD PHILLIPS.= Cinema murder. il *$1.35 (1½c) Little 17-15545

One likes Philip Romilly from the first and continues to like him thru
all his checkered career; yet, all the time, one wonders if he really
did murder his cousin back there under the bridge in England. When he
takes passage for America he is traveling under Douglas Romilly’s name
and wearing his clothes. Once arrived in New York, he adopts another
name and begins a new life. On board ship he had made friends with
Elizabeth Dalstan, the actress, who later produces his play. She is
ready to go further to show her loyalty to him, and the question of
his guilt is of no concern to her. Fortunately for their future
happiness the one person in the world who knows the real truth about
the occurrence under the bridge puts in an appearance at the most
critical moment.

“His portrayal of stage life is as before, highly idealized and ultra
romantic, and it brings to the reader all the glamour of the
footlights that persists in the midst of those who know nothing of
life behind the scenes. But realities are not Mr Oppenheim’s forte,
and we are certain to like the stories he tells all the better because
they are not.” A. A. R.

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Je 13 ‘17 380w

“Suggests that it does not pay to be too good in this world. The
outcome of the story justifies the hero in his departure from
rectitude.”

— =Dial= 63:73 Jl 19 ‘17 150w

“A swiftly moving story, so cleverly told that its weak spots are
easily overlooked, with plenty of color and many effective contrasts.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:214 Je 3 ‘17 400w

“Not one of Mr Oppenheim’s best stories either in writing or
construction. Few habitual readers of crime stories will fail to guess
early in the tale, at least in a general way, the true outcome of the
murder mystery.”

— =Outlook= 116:160 My 23 ‘17 39w

“It will be well for Mr Oppenheim, if he intends further to employ the
American vernacular, to take a course in George Ade. ... The story is
characteristic and therefore diverting.”

+ — =Springf’d Republican= p19 Je 10 ‘17 350w

=OPPENHEIM, EDWARD PHILLIPS.= Hillman. il *$1.35 (1½c) Little 17-698

Mr Oppenheim has laid aside his preoccupation with international
intrigues to tell a love story. Louise Maurel, a distinguished
actress, motoring from Edinburgh to London, is stranded in the
Cumberland hills. Her car breaks down and she is forced to accept the
grudgingly offered hospitality of Stephen Strangewey for a night.
Stephen Strangewey is a misogynist and he has brought up his younger
brother in the creed that all women are to be despised. But John
Strangewey is too human to resist the spell of Louise, and he follows
her to London where he is caught up by the whirl of fashionable
society. The author’s hand does not lose its skill when it turns to
new themes and the reader is left in doubt as to the outcome to the
last page.

+ =Ath= p103 F ‘17 60w

“Never before has Mr Oppenheim been more ingenious in the weaving of a
plot, never before has he so skilfully led his hero and heroine
through many dangers—in this case they are wholly moral dangers—with
such logical success.” E. F. E.

+ =Boston Transcript= p8 Ja 3 ‘17 1300w

“There are, of course, two kinds of Oppenheim books—those that are the
best of their kind and those that are not so good. ‘The hillman’ is
one of the latter. Yet even so it will be read with unabated pleasure,
and the reader will not be disturbed by questions of social science,
nor, indeed, by questions of reality.” E: E. Hale

+ =Dial= 62:104 F 8 ‘17 750w

+ — =N Y Times= 22:5 Ja 7 ‘17 450w

“A new though quite successful departure on the part of the author.”

+ =Spec= 118:392 Mr 31 ‘17 20w

“Some of the minor characters are sprightly and amusing, and the hero
is always virile.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p15 F 18 ‘17 180w

=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p95 F 22 ‘17 40w

=OPPENHEIM, JAMES.= Book of self. *$1.50 Knopf 811 17-13552

“In ‘The book of self’ James Oppenheim tilts against the flesh and the
devil in a series of poems that are put forth as intimately related to
the struggle America is undergoing and from which a new national life
shall emerge. The poems are divided into three sections: ‘Self,’ a
revelation of a man’s life, his desires, ambitions, and hopes; ‘The
song of life,’ a history of youth’s encounter with life, and
‘Creation,’ the drama of cosmic life unfolding through the individual
life of man.”—R of Rs

“Greater restraint in production and a sharper focus of theme, to
obviate the cosmic tendency of his mind,—these are necessary to the
artistic side of Mr Oppenheim’s work; but we are not disposed to cavil
at the poet who makes us think, nor who in his highest moments stirs
us with something of the fire of Hebraic prophecy.” J. B. Rittenhouse

+ — =Bookm= 46:439 D ‘17 360w

“There is in it something of the intense striving for truth of the
scientist who will use every means of experiment to discover if his
conclusions are trustworthy. With just such seriousness has Mr
Oppenheim delved into the deeps of consciousness to learn the secrets
of life.” D. L. M.

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 15 ‘17 1550w

=N Y Br Lib News= 4:85 Je ‘17

“The book is a great, though an uneven, volume.” Clement Wood

+ =N Y Call= p12 Ap 22 ‘17 230w

“Vigor is his characteristic mark—vigor of thought, vigor of phrase;
and, though there are undoubtedly many who, like the present reviewer,
totally disagree with his thought and his message, there can be no
question as to the power with which that thought and that message are
presented. ... Whitman is the antecedent from whom he chiefly
derives—in his rhythm, his democracy, and his unfettered naturalism.
Indeed, it is matter of regret to us that in this last respect he only
too closely resembles his prototype, and that like him he too often
permits his splendid powers to run in praise of a perilous and
devouring animalism.”

=N Y Times= 22:207 My 27 ‘17 350w

“A remarkable and virile book that voices the under-currents of revolt
and flings aloft the banners of the ultimate triumph of spirit over
materialistic forces. The rhythmic quality of the poetry is inferior
to ‘Songs for a new age,’ however, and more frequent melodic lines
would improve the scaffolding that upholds the thought.”

+ — =R of Rs= 55:661 Je ‘17 140w

=St Louis= 15:183 Je ‘17

=ORCHARD, WILLIAM EDWIN.= Necessity of Christ. *$1.25 Dutton 232 17-13313

“The view propounded by Dr Orchard is that modernism in philosophy and
religion confirms the position of Christ as held by the historic
Christian faith; that He is shown to be necessary to thought,
religion, Christianity, personality, society, and to God; and, lastly,
that the application of the faith to modern problems is subversive of
the old order of things—indeed, that the Athanasian creed, thought to
be ‘the last bulwark of things as they are,’ has been found to ‘read
more like the first charter of socialism.’”—Ath

=Ath= p474 O ‘16 80w

“Not since the days of the schoolmen has there been closer or more
subtle reasoning in matters of theology and Christian relationships
than is found in this little book. ... Orthodox in creed, fearless in
criticism, constructive as well as iconoclastic, this diatribe will be
sure to arouse thought even when it fails to command assent.”

=Boston Transcript= p7 My 5 ‘17 100w

“The author is too vague and indefinite to be convincing, and his
statement that the old evidences for the divinity of Christ are now
presented in a way which only stimulates revolt, is unproved.”

– + =Cath World= 105:845 S ‘17 160w

=N Y Times= 22:171 Ap 29 ‘17 40w

“We greatly recommend this very original little book to those who are
interested in modern theology.”

+ =Spec= 117:510 O 28 ‘16 400w

=ORCHARD, WILLIAM EDWIN.= Outlook for religion. *$1.50 Funk 17-31685

“Dr Orchard stands to-day at the head of the non-conformist pulpit of
England. ... He thinks it necessary to face and state a calm and
dispassionate diagnosis of present conditions in the church and the
world. This diagnosis he undertakes, and then suggests the remedy for
the condition he finds. The present volume has twelve chapters in
three parts—The question of the hour, The cry of the times, and The
hope of the age. The conditions are: skepticism and materialism
overabundant, a confused and apathetic church, a Christianity that has
wandered far from application to life of the Sermon on the Mount, and
consequently has largely lost its power. Sectarianism is one of the
outstanding evils to be abolished. Dr Orchard stands for ‘a social and
international application of Christianity in a new catholicism.’”—Lit
D

— =Ath= p345 Jl ‘17 1000w

“Dr Orchard’s writing is tense and highminded as ever.” James Moffat

+ =Hibbert J= 15:677 Jl ‘17 110w

+ =Ind= 92:110 O 13 ‘17 60w

=Lit D= 55:51 D 1 ‘17 280w

=N Y Br Lib News= 4:117 Ag ‘17

=ORCUTT, WILLIAM DANA.=[2] Burrows of Michigan and the Republican party; a biography and a history. 2v il *$6 (3½c) Longmans 17-29460

The subject of this biography, who was born in 1837, entered national
public life in 1872 when he was elected to Congress as a member of the
House. In 1895 he was elected to the Senate, and represented his state
in that body up to 1911. These two volumes are taken up almost wholly
with his public career and his relation to his party. Four chapters of
volume 1 are given to his early life and his service in the Civil war.
The McKinley bill, Reciprocity, The Wilson bill, Currency, Mormonism
and the Smoot case are matters made the subject of special chapters.

“To the student of American history during this vital and highly
dramatic period, Mr Orcutt’s work will be of distinct value; for his
endeavor to explain the conditions leading up to every important act
of his hero involves either a clear statement of facts with a very
broad bearing on the national life, or a suggestive grouping of those
of minor consequence which will indicate to the student the direction
in which it might be profitable to continue a search.”

+ =Nation= 106:15 Ja 3 ‘18 1500w

“In freely using the public utterances of Senator Burrows, Mr Orcutt
has wisely followed the best writers in another branch of literature,
whose characters are left, as far as possible, to reveal themselves in
dialogue. To these utterances in and out of the national capitol we
must refer the reader who seeks to obtain an adequate idea of the
senator from Michigan as a constructive statesman and an orator of
rare gifts.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:499 N 25 ‘17 660w

=ORCZY, EMMUSKA (MRS MONTAGU BARSTOW), baroness.= Sheaf of bluebells. *$1.35 (1½c) Doran 17-17973

For her latest novel of the Napoleonic era, the author devises a tense
situation. The story opens with the return to France of Mme. la
Marquise de Mortain and her son Laurent. Altho she returns by the
decree of the emperor, she does so with full intent to plot against
the “Corsican upstart.” In this design she must take account of Ronnay
de Maurel, her son by a former marriage. Ronnay de Maurel has been
brought up by an uncle and has absorbed his simple democratic ideals.
He dresses like the workmen in his own foundries and makes no pretence
to knowledge of the world. But he has fought at Austerlitz and has
received the “grand eagle” at the hands of his emperor. It is part of
the mother’s purpose to win over this son, that his wealth and his
iron foundries may be devoted to the service of the king. In this she
has at first the aid of her niece, Fernande de Coursan, but the time
comes when Fernande can no longer go on with the part she is cast to
play.

“Interesting, if you like historical romances.”

+ =A L A Bkl= 14:171 F ‘18

“The plot is ingenious, and is well worked out.”

+ =Ath= p312 Je ‘17 100w

+ =Cleveland= p3 Ja ‘18 40w

“This new novel is full of excitement in event, of rich color in
background, of real interest in character presentment.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:446 N 4 ‘17 350w

“The action is lively, and the local scenes are admirably done.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p15 D 23 ‘17 300w

“An historical tale worthy of this spirited romancer.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p238 My 17 ‘17 50w

“Unhappily Baroness Orczy not only uses as a medium a kind of highly
coloured cinematography, but employs tricked-out puppets instead of
living mimes for her dramatis personæ.”

— =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p272 Je 7 ‘17 500w

=ORVIS, JULIA SWIFT.= Brief history of Poland. *$1.50 (2c) Houghton 943.8 16-22948

For descriptive note see Annual for 1916.

“Among the short histories of Poland that we now possess in English
(Morfill’s, Bain’s, Phillips’s), Miss Orvis’s work seems to the
reviewer by far the best. ... The book is, in general, accurate and
scholarly. It is to be regretted, however, that the author’s spelling
of Polish names is often incorrect. ... Some errors of fact have crept
in here and there. ... The account given of the migrations of the
early Slavs is open to grave objections, and the author’s description
of the appanage system of the twelfth century would apply to Russia
much better than to Poland. ... Such errors, however, are not
sufficiently common to mar seriously what is, on the whole, a very
interesting and praiseworthy historical work.” R. H. L.

+ =Am Hist R= 22:701 Ap ‘17 400w

“Compact, popular and readable.”

+ =A L A Bkl= 13:261 Mr ‘17

“The writer shows herself to be not well acquainted with the history
of the Catholic church in the few passages in which she touches on
ecclesiastical matters.”

=Cath World= 104:833 Mr ‘17 580w

“Significant not only for its information about Poland itself, but for
the suggestions and allusions that show the development of the present
problems of Eastern Europe and the place of Poland and the Slavs in
the life of Europe as a whole.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:271 Jl 22 ‘17 670w

“Just the thing for readers who want to read up on a confusing section
of European history. Comes down to the present day.” P. B.

+ =St Louis= 15:154 My ‘17 23w

=OSBORN, EDWARD BOLLAND.= Maid with wings, and other fantasies, grave to gay. *$1.25 (2½c) Lane 824 17-29645

A collection of short stories and sketches. In the title piece, a
scene on the firing line, with Joan of Arc appearing to a wounded
British soldier is described. Several of the others are related more
or less closely to the war. One of a quite different type is the
account of the simplified spelling conference, a protest meeting of
the English words with the Rev. Mr Damn presiding. Canada is the scene
of several of the sketches. They are reprinted in part from the
Morning Post of London.

“The author has a vivid descriptive touch, which makes ‘The
million-pound eight,’ a futurist picture of the prize-ring, readable
in spite of its feeble climax. A Roman patriot dying at Cannae; a
squad of pacifists waiting at Heaven’s gate, while the real
peacemakers, the soldier and the sailor, are welcomed by the King in
person; and things like the meeting of spelling-reformers, are done
with actuality, though the manner has had more attention than the
matter, and the style is a clever blend of jaunty deshabille and fine
writing.”

+ =Ath= p471 S ‘17 150w

“Yet for the most part the book does not thrill. The two wounded
soldier pieces, ‘The maid with wings,’ and ‘The silver eagle,’ are not
quite up to the required level of human pathos. The only clever
article in the volume is that entitled the ‘Fighting generation.’”

– + =Boston Transcript= p6 Ja 5 ‘18 380w

“This rare and invaluable art of being able to give the force and
interest of an essay without the well-known deadening process so much
favored by essayists, is perhaps the most admirable of all Mr Osborn’s
gifts.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:584 D 30 ‘17 840w

“The range of subjects is bewildering in its variety, and Mr Osborn’s
attitude is in the main more provocative than persuasive. But he is a
stimulating companion, and, whatever his theme, he enriches it with
curious lore set forth in an incisive and picturesque style.”

+ =Spec= 119:63 Jl 21 ‘17 500w

“All are clearly the work of a practised writer—of one who has
profited by his familiarity with classical and French models to
present what he has to say in a form to be read with pleasure and to
be understood at sight, and who can assume a cheery and justified
confidence in his power to entertain even when an amateur would have
thought the material too thin to be worth working up.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p330 Jl 12 ‘17 1100w

=OSBORN, HENRY FAIRFIELD.= Origin and evolution of life; on the theory of action, reaction and interaction of energy. il *$3 (5½c) Scribner 575 17-25802

Professor Osborn is research professor of zoology at Columbia
university, president of the American museum of natural history, and
author of “The age of mammals,” “Men of the old stone age,” etc. In
the present volume, we have his Hale lectures, delivered before the
National academy of sciences, Washington, D. C., in April, 1916. The
author believes that although “we know to some extent how plants and
animals and man evolve, we do not know why they evolve,” and that our
failure “to make progress in the search for causes” is chiefly because
naturalists “have attempted to reason backward from highly complex
plant and animal forms to causes,” whereas we should reverse the
naturalist’s point of view, and “think from energy forward into matter
and form.” “In these lectures we may take some of the initial steps
toward an energy conception of evolution and an energy conception of
heredity and away from the matter and form conceptions which have
prevailed for over a century. The first half of this volume is
therefore devoted to what we know of the capture, storage, release,
and reproduction of energy in its simplest and most elementary living
phases; the second half is devoted to the evolution of matter and form
in plants and animals, also interpreted largely in terms of energy and
mechanics.” (Preface) There is an appendix and a bibliography.

=A L A Bkl= 14:81 D ‘17

Reviewed by Archibald Henderson

+ =Bookm= 46:273 N ‘17 1250w

+ =Lit D= 55:48 D 8 ‘17 170w

“In presenting his own theory, the ‘energy conception,’ the scientist
makes no claim of actual discovery in this field of the causes of life
and evolution. ... The energy conception of the origin and evolution
of life is as yet in its infancy, ... but it may be claimed for the
theory of action, reaction and interaction that it brings us ‘somewhat
nearer to a consistent physicochemical conception of the original
processes of life.’”

* =N Y Times= 22:377 O 7 ‘17 2300w

“Dr Osborn’s introductory discussion of his problem is extremely well
designed to clear away all false or confusing implications that might
hamper one in endeavoring to grasp the constructive part of the work.
Besides being a striking contribution to the theory of the origin of
life embodying all that is soundest in modern thought and research,
this book of Dr Osborn’s gives a fascinating account of the
prehistoric condition of the earth.”

+ =No Am= 206:957 D ‘17 600w

“It is well to be cautious in statement about any contemporary book;
and yet it is difficult not to speak of Henry Fairfield Osborn’s
‘Origin and evolution of life’ as one of the great scientific books,
as a book that is permanent in the sense that Darwin’s and Huxley’s
books are permanent.” Theodore Roosevelt

+ =Outlook= 118:97 Ja 16 ‘18 2400w

“If, as contemplated, he is able in the near future to add a treatise
on the evolution of prehuman ancestry, he will have produced a trilogy
far more fascinating than anything in the realm of fiction.” J.
Stanley-Brown

+ =Pub W= 92:1380 O 20 ‘17 1000w

“Prof. Osborn’s praiseworthy system of using many tables and plates to
explain points in his volumes has been followed in the present work,
and adds much to the lucidity and value of the book.”

+ =Springf’d Republican= p15 Ja 13 ‘18 870w

=O’SHAUGHNESSY, EDITH LOUISE (COUES) (MRS NELSON O’SHAUGHNESSY).= Diplomatic days. il *$2 (2c) Harper 917.2 17-30372

Mrs O’Shaughnessy’s second book antedates “A diplomat’s wife in
Mexico.” That volume covered the rise and fall of Huerta; this one
goes back to 1911 and 1912 when Diaz gave place to Madero. As in the
first book, the story is told in letters written to the author’s
mother.

“Pleasant but hardly as interesting as the first book.”

+ =A L A Bkl= 14:162 F ‘18

“Her interesting pages, somewhat pedantically sown with foreign
phrases, throw many lights and shades over the turbulent events of
which she was an eye-witness, and give her book permanent importance
as contemporary history.”

+ =Bookm= 46:272 N ‘17 250w

“If her descriptions were not so sketchy they would be fascinating.”

+ — =Boston Transcript= p8 D 19 ‘17 240w

“There is much important and interesting political comment in her
pages and many anecdotes of a sort that only a diplomat’s wife could
tell. ... Chiefly significant, however, is the light she throws on the
somewhat perplexing career of Madero.”

+ =Lit D= 55:48 D 8 ‘17 140w

“The book would be better if it were not so long. Some of the family
details could be omitted to the strengthening of the whole. ... Her
style is sometimes pretentious, but on the whole it is pleasing,
appreciative, expressive of a keen observation and an eagerness to
study the conditions of the country. ... The illustrations by
Ravell—dreamy photographs of Mexican scenes and buildings—are very
beautiful.”

+ — =N Y Times= 22:548 D 9 ‘17 700w

“The charm of Mexico seen at its best is here graphically presented.”

+ =Outlook= 117:615 D 12 ‘17 70w

=OSTROVSKII, ALEKSANDR NIKOLAEVICH.= Plays; a tr. from the Russian; ed. by G: Rapall Noyes. *$1.50 Scribner 891.7 17-24532

Ostrovsky belongs to the central decades of the nineteenth century,
the period of Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. In his dramas,
however, as the editor points out, he dealt with a phase of Russian
life untouched by them, the life of the merchant class. His plays are
of varied character, but his real strength, Mr Noyes continues, “lay
in the drama of manners, giving realistic pictures of Russian life
among the Russian city classes and the minor nobility.” Four examples
of these realistic dramas are given in this volume, with the titles: A
protégée of the mistress; Poverty is no crime; Sin and sorrow are
common to all; It’s a family affair—we’ll settle it ourselves.

“Ostrovsky’s vast work is the most national manifestation of the
dramatic genius of his race. He created the Russian drama of manners.”
Abraham Yarmolinsky

+ =Bookm= 46:484 D ‘17 200w

“‘It’s a family affair’ is a keen-edged portrayal of the low standard
of Russian commercial morals in the 50’s. ‘A protegé of the mistress’
shows how the serfs were subject to the caprices of irresponsible
owners and, like Turgenieff’s ‘Sportsman’s sketches,’ helped to
forward the movement for emancipation.”

+ =Cleveland= p6 Ja ‘18 100w

“As histories of Russian manners during the years immediately
preceding and following the emancipation of the serfs, and as
masterpieces of characterization, these plays have much to give the
American student of the drama, even through the medium of an
inadequate translation.”

+ — =Dial= 63:398 O 25 ‘17 420w

“The translation, racy, colloquial, yet never falling into the error
of modern American (or English) slang that has marred some recent
translations from the French, is excellent reading.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:578 D 30 ‘17 930w

“Although Ostrovsky’s eye for the dramatic is subdued, and there are
barren passages, his plays depict bitingly the crude, grasping traits
of the Slav merchant class. The strongest play of the four is ‘A
protegé of the mistress.’”

+ — =Springf’d Republican= p6 N 30 ‘17 400w

=O’SULLIVAN, VINCENT.= The Good girl. new and rev ed *$1.50 Small 17-23647

“Vendred, a man of some inherited means, leading the life of a
blameless man about town, falls in love with Mrs Dover, ... a singer
of high quality, married to a soldier of fortune, and choosing to live
shabbily and hand-to-mouth with him rather than to take the fame and
wealth which await her as a professional singer. ... Of this household
Vendred in due time becomes the chief support; and in the end his good
nature is carried to the point of marrying the insignificant daughter
of the house, which clinches his position of provider for the whole
tribe. The little wife loves him, and is more than worthy of him, but
her mother ... has conceived one of her earthy passions for him, and
easily annexes him as a lover when her chosen moment comes.” (Bookm)
The book was first published in England in 1912. This authorized
American edition has been revised and corrected by the author.

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton

=Bookm= 45:534 Jl ‘17 550w

“‘The good girl’ was originally published in England and warmly
appreciated there before Mr O’Sullivan’s own American countrymen had
ever heard of the author. ... It is certain that an American novelist
of power is disclosed in ‘The good girl,’ which the fugitive essays
that Mr O’Sullivan has had published here in magazines hardly
justified us in expecting. There is a massiveness and veracity of
portraiture in this novel, blended with a sudden illuminating
humor—the indubitable mark of real insight and creative force. The
character studies are miles away from the conventional brisk American
impressionism. Unfortunately, the accent of ‘The good girl’ is wholly
antebellum, in the sense that we all seem to have passed beyond the
mood in which love-stories of this peculiar type would meet with a
response.”

+ =New Repub= 11:255 Je 30 ‘17 330w

“Edward Garnett says that ‘The good girl’ entitles its author to a
place among the first twenty American novelists. ‘The good girl’ is a
story of marked skill in character delineation, and of equally marked
unpleasantness. ... A thoroughly ugly and depressing story.”

– + =N Y Times= 22:214 Je 3 ‘17 310w

=O’SULLIVAN, VINCENT.= Sentiment. *$1.50 (3½c) Small 17-29624

The scene of this story by the author of “The good girl,” is laid
mainly at “The Firs, Palebrook, Hampshire,” the home of William’s Aunt
Laura. The book deals with the love affairs of four young people, and
is dependent for interest on characterization rather than plot. The
main characters are William Spring, the self-satisfied but
good-hearted clerk, who takes his bearings by the woman of thirty-five
or forty years ago, and fails to understand the modern girl; Stephen
Ruggles, the ambitious lawyer, whom “thirty-five years with an eye
kept exclusively on his own interest had tempered,” and who, in his
dealings with women, “had always kept the master-hand” until Penelope
swept him off his feet; Penelope Hazard, of the “amber-colored hair,”
the “lithe, panther-like grace,” and the “incalculable moods”; and
Sabina Moll, the heiress with the “blunt little face,” who “had moved
along from the cradle protected by a body-guard of guineas” and who
had “that indefinable air of sureness and, small as she was, of
command ... which accompanies great wealth.”

“In short, the book has no sound action; it tells nothing about
anybody or anything; it is the kind of whimsical skit that will pass
readily enough for a ‘novel,’ but collapses outright if you try to
take it as a story.” H. W. Boynton

— =Bookm= 46:693 F ‘18 380w

“‘Sentiment’ seems like the work of a talented but not assured
craftsman.”

– + =Dial= 64:78 Ja 17 ‘18 290w

“It appears that Mr O’Sullivan was born in America, but his twenty
years of English breeding have placed him definitely with a British
group of sardonic realists, of which Mr John Cowper Powys and Mr Louis
Wilkinson are prominent members. Mockery is their forte, mockery of
usages, of philosophies, of faiths—particularly, of course, the faith
which is called love. ... In ‘Sentiment’ we are vouchsafed no saving
draught of honest feeling.”

– + =Nation= 105:540 N 15 ‘17 270w

“‘Sentiment’ thus becomes two stories in one, written in different
emotional keys. The ridiculous situation of William, or the intrigue
of the siren Penelope, would each have made a charming story. Woven
together, their incongruity is glaring, and betrays an inexpertness of
construction on the author’s part, which we should not expect from one
who comes from England with a reputation like Mr O’Sullivan’s.”

— =New Repub= 14:66 F 9 ‘18 220w

“The people in the book are all real and very cleverly studied.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:468 N 11 ‘17 420w

=OSWALD, JOHN CLYDE.= Benjamin Franklin, printer. il *$2 (4c) Doubleday 17-3050

The author is editor of the American Printer and a collector of
Frankliniana. He has written a life of Franklin, dealing primarily
with his activities as a printer, “using the word in the sense which
it possessed in his time, when it included printing, editing,
publishing, and advertising.” The author says further, “As to the
physical structure of the volume, it has been the aim to make it
conform typographically somewhat nearly to the style of the books
printed by Benjamin Franklin. He had positive ideas as to
bookmaking. ... and we have endeavored to produce a book that would
meet with his approval could he have opportunity to pass judgment upon
it.” The copyright in the book is held by the Associated advertising
clubs of the world.

“Of Franklin as a real printer, journalist, and almanac-maker there
was little to tell that was new without a somewhat technical and
bibliographical investigation of the subject, or, at least, a careful
study of the Franklin manuscripts. This Mr Oswald does not appear to
have done, or he could hardly have failed to discover the important
series of letters from James Parker to Franklin, which have been
printed in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts historical
society. ... Mr Oswald has compiled a popular account of Franklin, and
the many illustrations give his volume a value apart from the text;
but he has hardly scratched the surface of the subject.”

=Am Hist R= 22:907 Jl ‘17 330w

+ =A L A Bkl= 13:312 Ap ‘17

=Boston Transcript= p9 F 3 ‘17 900w

=Cleveland= p59 Ap ‘17 50w

+ =Nation= 104:411 Ap 5 ‘17 270w

“Especially interesting are the many facsimile reproductions of pages
from books and newspapers, title pages, advertisements, designs,
printed by Franklin.”

+ =N Y Times= 22:22 Ja 21 ‘17 250w

“Should prove of extreme interest to printers throughout the country.”

+ =Pittsburgh= 22:344 Ap ‘17 30w (Reprinted from Inland Printer
p816 Mr ‘17)

=Pratt= p48 O ‘17 20w

=Springf’d Republican= p15 F 18 ‘17 650w

Out of their own mouths. *$1 Appleton 940.91 17-24873

“Utterances of German rulers, statesmen, savants, publicists,
journalists, poets, business men, party leaders and soldiers.”
(Sub-title) The book is based in part on a French compilation, “Jugés
par eux-mêmes,” published in 1916. A Swiss work, compiled by S.
Grumbach, has also been drawn on, and other new matter has been added.
The A. L. A. Booklist states that the work duplicates some of the
material in Bang’s “Hurrah and hallelujah” and Archer’s “Gems (?) of
German thought.” There is an introduction by William Roscoe Thayer.

+ =A L A Bkl= 14:89 D ‘17

“The work has been done with care and fairness, and the book is of
interest, and should be useful for reference.”

+ =Ath= p44 Ja ‘18 70w

“A reading of it is enough to awaken in one a veritable hymn of hate
against Germany.”

+ =Boston Transcript= p6 O 24 ‘17 250w

=Cleveland= p131 D ‘17 70w

+ =Educ R= 55:78 Ja ‘18 150w

“Such a volume is also a great convenience when one wants to refer to
some significant utterance. But we hope no German will take the hint
and compile a volume of what our Fourth of July speechers and
newspapers have said of America’s superiority and manifest destiny.”

+ =Ind= 92:262 N 3 ‘17 70w

“We doubt whether all the case is apt to be presented fairly in this
manner. It is so easy to omit, and it may often seem most proper to
omit a great deal favorable to the enemy, but not pertinent to the
point to be proved. The loud utterances of the rash and irresponsible
are more apt to be taken than the calmer sayings of the moderate. ...
Nevertheless, we think such an enterprise is worthy and useful, for
our people cannot understand too clearly the evil against which we
make war.”

+ — =Nation= 105:567 N 22 ‘17 1600w

=Pittsburgh= 22:829 D ‘17 80w

+ =R of Rs= 56:550 N ‘17 50w

“This well-arranged collection is most instructive, and deserves to be
widely read.”

+ =Spec= 119:720 D 15 ‘17 130w

=OWEN, CAROLINE DALE (MRS CHARLES H. SNEDEKER).= Seth Way. il *$1.50 Houghton 17-31029

A story of the New Harmony community, Robert Owen’s experiment in
communal living in Indiana. With a few exceptions the characters are
real people. The hero, Seth Way, is modelled after Thomas Say, the
zoologist, altho the author has made him a younger man and has given
him a different early environment and woven for him an original
romance. Early in the story there is a touching picture of the meeting
between the uncouth, unlearned mountain boy, and William Maclure, the
geologist, and of the awakening of the boy’s desire for knowledge.
Maclure takes the boy under his protection, and gives him his start in
scientific training. One of the important incidents of Seth Way’s
association with the New Harmony community is his long journey from
New York in company with Jessonda Macleod, who comes to the settlement
as music teacher. Out of this grows his romance. Jessonda is
interesting as a forerunner of the high-minded, independent woman of
today.

“A delightful, leisurely story.”

+ =A L A Bkl= 14:133 Ja ‘18

“Next to interpreting the present, there is no finer task for our
novelists than the rescuing and embodiment in fiction of such episodes
of our American past. It was worthy of Cooper and of Hawthorne; Mr
Howells, the other day, gave a fine example of it in ‘The leatherwood
god,’ beside which ‘Seth Way’ quite deserves to be placed.” H. W.
Boynton

+ =Bookm= 46:602 Ja ‘18 500w

+ =Lit D= 56:40 Ja 12 ‘18 220w

“The tale is slight in plot, extremely leisurely in movement, and
considering the variety and colorfulness of its historic background,
rather surprisingly lacking in both those qualities. However, the
picture of this early experiment in community living is not
uninteresting.”

– + =N Y Times= 22:550 D 9 ‘17 250w

“Its picture of pioneer days in the Ohio valley is vivid and
thoroughly interesting.”

+ =Wis Lib Bul= 14:32 Ja ‘18 40w

=OWEN, MARGARET B.= Secret of typewriting speed. *$1 (4c) Forbes 652 17-24985

In this book the author, who is champion typist of the world, shares
with others some of the secrets of her success. One of these, and the
one she considers most important is “perfect rhythm.” Among the
chapters are: Typewriting success; Getting ready for work; Perfect
rhythm; Weak fingers; Memory and concentration; Expert exercises;
Practice paragraphs; Eliminating lost motion; Transpositions;
Punctuation. One of the later chapters describes a speed contest.

=A L A Bkl= 14:117 Ja ‘18

+ =Ath= p593 N ‘17 100w

“Miss Owen has turned out a clear, practical guide to a subject on
which she has so good a right to speak.”

+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p519 O 25 ‘17 50w

=OXENHAM, JOHN.= “All’s well!” *$1 Doran 821

A volume of poems called forth by the war. Those in part 1, “All’s
well,” deal directly with the conflict. One of these is the hymn “For
the men at the front,” several million copies of which have been sold.