The heroine is a beautiful English girl married to a French count. She does not love him but is devotedly loyal during his long and hopeless illness. Two men love her, Charles Carton, who had been the object of her girlish devotion, and Julian Guise. Following her husband’s death she becomes engaged to Julian. Jealousy between the two men leads to a struggle and Carton is killed. Julian, who is severely injured, is taken away by his father and kept in ignorance of what follows. The guilt is placed on Sara and she suffers a year’s imprisonment. When she meets Julian after her release he is terribly changed but a second meeting brings explanations and reconciliation.
“Taking well-worn material, Miss Wadsley has used it so skillfully and with so firm, yet delicate, a literary touch that it comes near to being a masterpiece in its way. If the subject enjoyed a higher moral tone this commendation could be given without qualification.”
“We cannot say that in the matter of construction this story is very successful.”
WALDMAN, LOUIS. Albany: the crisis in government; with an introd. by Seymour Stedman. il *$1.75 Boni & Liveright 335
“This is the story of the suspension, trial and expulsion from the New York State legislature of the five Socialist assemblymen. It was written by one of the expelled members. It is an ex parte report of the case, to which an introduction is supplied by one of the attorneys for the defense.”—R of Rs
“The illustrations scattered through the volume might well have been omitted, partly because they are copies of cartoons and partly because they are poorly done. The introduction by Seymour Stedman is lucid and interesting.”
“Written by one of the victims of the injustice, the book is of course extremely partisan. Yet if one may judge from a generous reading of the newspaper accounts of the trial, it is fairly representative. The proofreading is poor, and there are further evidences of undue haste in preparation and printing. But for all that it is a book well worth anybody’s reading and reflection.” W. J. Ghent
“The line of cleavage in public opinion as to the merits of this case is not likely to be materially modified by the publication of this book. It is, however, an interesting and readable account of a famous episode.”
“Mr Waldman’s book is convincingly written and his argument forceful. The author tells his story in a fair and straightforward manner.” L. D. Lasker
WALEY, ARTHUR, tr. Japanese poetry, the Uta. *$3.25 Oxford 895
“The poems here translated are from the Manyo Shu anthology (Ten-thousand leaves collection), compiled by Otomo no Yakamochi, who died in 785, and are considered as the beginnings of Japanese poetry as an art. ‘The translations in this book,’ says Mr Waley, ‘are chiefly intended to facilitate the study of the Japanese text; for Japanese poetry can only be rightly enjoyed in the original. The original texts of the poems accompany the translations, and notes on grammar are given to facilitate the student who wishes to master the originals.”—Boston Transcript
“Mr Waley comes not halfway, but all the way to meet an intelligent ignorance. He is instructive without severity; he is learned, but affable. His translations have, we think, every indispensable quality of good literal translation—especially a kind of negative rhythmical and tone value, and distinction of vocabulary without a trace of preciousness or squeamishness.” F. W. S.
“It is decidedly difficult to find anything in the literature of the West which recalls these brief lyrics, which confine within seventeen or at most within thirty-one syllables the passion of a life or the shadowing imminence of death.” Babette Deutsch
“The volume shows the scholarly care and literary taste which were the charms of Mr Waley’s previous translations, and nobody could wish for a better introduction to Japanese poetry; but the poems do not give the same thrill as those little decorative masterpieces—the Chinese translations. Some of them seem to be too purely decorative.”
WALISZEWSKI, KAZIMIERZ. Poland the unknown; tr. from the French. *$2.25 Doran 943.8
It is the contention of the author that the characteristics of the Polish people and of their national ideals has always been quite distinct from those of western Europe and that, as a vanquished nation, she has for nearly a century and a half presented not her own face but a mask to the world. That her exceptional virtues rather than her failings have been the chief cause of her undoing and that of all the nations that participated in the latter, Prussia has been the arch-criminal, is the object of the book to show. Contents: The enigma of a nation’s fate; The Polish paradox; Ideas and principles; Organs of government; Anarchy; The crisis; The catastrophe; Beyond the grave; Resurrection; Conclusion.
“M. Waliszewski’s book is largely a vigorous and effective polemic against the misrepresentations of Polish history so long and systematically inspired by Berlin and St Petersburg. Unfortunately, his own views as to the causes of Poland’s downfall are nowhere very concisely summed up. The author may be criticized for great carelessness in the matter of names and dates.” R. H. L.
“It is written in a somewhat ebullient manner which, although it makes agreeable reading, is not altogether favourable to processes of reasoned argument. We do not wish to suggest that M. Waliszewski is consciously prejudiced, but he is perhaps too closely affected by the conditions he describes to judge them dispassionately.” P. S.
“M. Waliszewski is an excellent sales-agent who knows his literary and historical wares and knows, also, how to spread them before his customers with tact and grace; but for all that, his work will hardly serve as a reliable guide for future historians of the Polish question—if only because, having spent most of his life in Paris, be writes with a decidedly French accent.” H. W. van Loon
“Unfortunately for his main purpose, he has felt called upon to develop his thesis in a detail which makes the book rather difficult reading for anyone not intimately acquainted with Polish history.” M. A. Chickering
“Being written as a corrective it tends to give a somewhat one-sided view if taken only in itself without reference to the mass of literature which it seeks to controvert. Even so it is of very considerable interest, especially in regard to the history of the nineteenth century.
WALKER, ABBIE (PHILLIPS) (MRS FRED ALLAN WALKER). Sandman’s rainy day stories. il *75c (2c) Harper
These rainy day stories are quite properly fairy tales, with such titles as Princess Cantilla, The tree of swords, The silver horseshoes, The blue castle, Nardo and the princess, The enchanted boat, The gingerbread rock, and so on. The book belongs to the Sandman series and is illustrated by Rhoda C. Chase.
WALKER, ABBIE (PHILLIPS) (MRS FRED ALLAN WALKER). Sandman’s stories of Drusilla doll. il *75c (2c) Harper
A book of stories for very little people. Drusilla is an unbreakable doll, and it is very lucky for her that she is, for her adventures are many and dreadful and only an unbreakable could have survived them. The book belongs to a series of Sandman’s stories and is illustrated by Rhoda C. Chase.
WALKER, HENRY CRAGIN. Jimmy Bunn stories. il *$1.75 (8c) Century
A book of animal stories for little folks. As in the older folk lore of many lands the rabbit and the wolf are pitted against one another, and the nimble wits of Jimmy Bunn, here as always, are more than a match for the craft of his adversary. The black and white illustrations are by Hope-Innes.
“Fortunately this is not one of that new type of children’s books attempting to compete with the moving pictures. Its language is simple; its faint moralizing successfully camouflaged.”
WALKER, SYDNEY FERRIS. Electric mining machinery. il $5 Pitman 622
A British work by a member of the Institution of electrical engineers, who is also author of “Electricity in mining,” “Electricity in houses and workshops,” and other works. The author says, “I have endeavoured to explain every little point that, from my own experience, I think may trouble mining men.” The book is illustrated with 132 figures and is indexed.
WALLACE, DILLON. Ragged inlet guards; a story of adventure in Labrador. il *$1.50 (2½c) Revell
Four boys on a Labrador coast were left as the mainstay of their families went when their fathers and big brothers went to the war. They constituted themselves the Ragged inlet guards, and did men’s work. Their home life, their hunting experiences and adventures are described in the book and the climax of the story is their capture of a German wireless station which brought them a medal each from King George.
“Stirring book of adventure. Librarians will find it in great demand among their younger patrons.”
WALLACE, EDGAR. Four just men. *$1.75 (2c) Small
The “Four just men” are a conscientious little band who are not satisfied with justice as it is meted out by law, and therefore take certain cases of wrong-doing into their own hands. The first case that this book records is that of Sir Philip Ramon, English Secretary of foreign affairs. He intends to introduce an aliens’ extradition bill in Parliament which if put thru will exile from England one Garcia, and virtually hand him over to the “corrupt and vengeful government” which is persecuting him. The Four just men are determined this shall not happen and are even willing to resort to taking Sir Ramon’s life that the bill may not go thru. He is warned of his danger and the police take unprecedented precautions but their protection proves inadequate and the Four just men have another success to add to their list. The second case the story takes up has to do with the “Red hundred,” an anarchistic body whom the Four just men work against. One of their number almost meets his Waterloo in this adventure, but finally makes his escape thru the cleverness of the rest of the band.
“Readers of crime and mystery tales will find this book entirely satisfying. The dénouement is startling.”
“The action is absorbing.”
WALLACE, EDGAR. Green rust. *$1.60 Small
“‘The green rust’ is the story of Oliva Cresswell, the granddaughter and heiress of a millionaire, but ignorant of the fact, and of a conspiracy to destroy the wheat crop of the world by a new mildew—the green rust—of a most virulent and aggressive type. The dangers she runs from those engaged in the conspiracy, who are anxious to obtain control of her money to finance an enormous wheat speculation, and the protection she receives from the most unlikely persons, make up a story full of excitement.”—Sat R
“His hero is disappointing because his judgment is so often bad, his resource meagre and his foresight dull. Its character drawing is sufficiently sharp for its purpose.”
“The whole narrative is breathless, sometimes even confusing, in its rapid melodrama, but it has a grip that never loosens. It is essentially a story of ‘action.’ The characterization does not yield novelty in any instance.”
WALLACE, EDNA KINGSLEY.[2] Stars in the pool; a prose poem for lovers. *$2 Dutton
“The tale is about King Telwyn’s daughter, Roseheart. Here came, sent by his father, King Lokus, to learn from the wise King Telwyn ‘somewhat of life and living in the great world,’ the young Prince Flame. And Flame ‘looking upon the Princess Roseheart, drew one great breath, and loved her with the love of a man’s heart. And Roseheart, when she looked into the eyes of Flame, and his heart therein, knew him for her lord, and loved him.’ Flame met the Old gray woman of Shadows who told him that she ‘was Sorrow, and the Way of destiny, and the Shadow of things.’ And Flame had to experience these things on a quest which was prefigured to him in a vision. On his wanderings he met with many natural and spiritual adventures, coming back in the end when he had searched and found the truth beyond self, to wed the Princess Roseheart and realize the meaning of love.”—Boston Transcript
“An exquisite tale that has the shimmering grace and spiritual charm of the romantic spirit of chivalry.”
“‘The stars in the pool’ tells in dainty fashion a story which is part fairy tale, part allegory.”
WALLAS, GRAHAM. Life of Francis Place, 1771–1854. 3d ed *$3.50 Knopf
“The American edition of Graham Wallas’ life of Francis Place is chiefly a reprint of the original edition printed in 1898. The career of Francis Place spanned the beginnings and the early development of the industrial revolution. Born in 1771, he was a young man when the fires of the French revolution illuminated the world. He was a trade unionist when unions were outlawed by Parliament as conspiracies. He engaged in bitter industrial struggles and paid those terrible penalties which are exacted only of working men who are loyal to their fellows. He became a liberal, and after he had made a fortune he was an influence in the politics of the kingdom. To his efforts are attributable some of the important beginnings of social legislation.”—Survey
“Mr Wallas’s biography of Francis Place is a valuable contribution to the economic, the social and the political history of England.” E. F. E.
“It is almost idle to praise it now, for it has taken its place among the accepted masterpieces of English political biography. It is difficult to overestimate the significance that attaches to his portrait.” H. J. Laski
Reviewed by R: Roberts
“Good, timely reading.”
“His account of this fascinating pioneer of the British labor movement is a classic in biographical research.” W. L. C.
WALLING, WILLIAM ENGLISH, ed. Sovietism; the A B C of Russian bolshevism—according to the bolshevists. *$2 Dutton 335
“This is a summary of bolshevist utterances, made with a view to showing what the real aims of the bolshevist leaders are. The official documents and decrees, the speeches of Lenine and other leaders, the published opinions of Maxim Gorky, acclaimed as the greatest Bolshevist writer, are the chief sources from which Mr Walling has drawn in formulating this ‘A B C of Russian bolshevism.’ Mr Walling assumes that the public wants to know ‘what the bolsheviki actually stand for—according to a fair summary of their own acknowledged words and deeds.’”—R of Rs
“The book should do much as an antiseptic against the bolshevist poison.” A. W. Small
“Scattered material makes it better for reference than for straight reading. No index.”
“His encyclopædic labours would be more convincing if it were not for his careless habit of misquotation and of quoting isolated sentences which when placed in their context convey a far different meaning.” Harold Kellock
“Granted that all of his conclusions are supportable, Mr Walling’s method of establishing the case is far from satisfactory. What is needed at this time is less political opinion and more economic facts.” W. E. Atkins
“Nine-tenths of the book is made up of quotations taken chiefly from the hostile press. It is worthy of note that Mr Walling seems to have found one of the clues of bolshevist philosophy: he emphasizes the militarization of industry which took place in some parts of Russia and which is incompatible with the principle of industrial democracy. It is really a strong point, and one should begin with it; but unfortunately Mr Walling mentions it only accidentally and then again dives into the characteristic anti-bolshevist hysteria.” Gregory Zilboorg
“We do not know of any book from which the American reader can get a better photograph of Russian Bolshevism as portrayed and interpreted by the Bolshevists themselves.”
“The conclusions reached are irrefutable. Mr Walling is entirely fair in his selections and it is unnecessary for him to indulge in an argumentative attack.”
WALPOLE, HUGH SEYMOUR. Captives. *$2 (1c) Doran
Captives of their inheritance and environment are the two leading figures of this psychological novel. Maggie Cardinal’s youth had been loveless and her father’s, the miserly, sordid, unlovable vicar’s, religion repellent to her. His death, when Maggie was nineteen, was a liberation; now she would lead her own life. But she only escapes to more fanatical religion, in the house of her aunts, and her natural truthfulness and the absence of early training in conventional forms, make her both a religious and social rebel. Martin Warlock’s early fetters had been different. His intense love for his father, preacher of the Kingscote Brethren, had included the father’s religion. Long years of wandering over the earth had preserved the love but dimmed the religion. The love becomes Martin’s chain. It also becomes his conscience when Maggie’s trust confronts him with his past life. To save Maggie from himself he goes away. The story resolves itself into Maggie’s courageous struggles to remain true to her self and to her love for Martin in spite of her marriage to an unloved clergyman and of the demands of conventional society.
“We cannot, with the best will in the world, see in the result more than a task—faithfully and conscientiously performed to the best of the author’s power—but a ‘task accomplished,’ and not even successfully at that. For we feel that it is determination rather than inspiration, strength of will rather than the artist’s compulsion, which has produced ‘The captives.’” K. M.
“One is especially interested in the environment, but feels a lack of the spontaneity of other Walpole novels.”
“A long looked-for and worthy successor in the Walpole line. It is bigger in theme than its predecessors, more than ever a novel of life as opposed to the episodic novel.”
“Its criticism of life in general, and specifically with the elements of life with which it deals, presents a many sided view so that we are able to understand clearly the weaknesses and strength of all the characters. As a chronicle of these times and as a portrayal of people we all may easily come into contact with, it is an eloquent example of the consummate art of a literary artist.” E. F. Edgett
“‘The captives’ makes Mr Walpole’s previous books look like agreeable fragments. For the wealth of substance here is not more notable than the display of architectonic power. ‘The captives’ scarcely ranks below ‘Clayhanger’ and not very greatly below ‘Of human bondage,’ and is, therefore, one of the foremost British novels of the period.”
“No reader will set ‘The captives’ down without the figure of Maggie Cardinal having been permanently limned upon his memory. The portrait is consistent throughout. The pictures of the band of religious fanatics, some of them charlatans, and of their sincere leader are particularly forceful. Mr Walpole’s method is that of the realist, but he has scarcely employed it to the best of its possibilities.”
“In distinction of literary workmanship Mr Walpole is at his best in this story.” R. D. Townsend
“While the direct subject of the volume concerns the religious teachings of one narrow sect in England, which he designates as the Kingscote Brethren, the application of his theme is as wide as the two continents.” Calvin Winter
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“The book is full of perturbed and uneasy striving, and is elemental both in its energy and the simplicity of its theme.”
“The characters are essentially unlovely though undeniably strong. Despite all this, it is a story of rare power—sober, to be sure, but never morbid—and one that emphasizes the author’s advanced position in the ranks of contemporary novelists.”
“There is something wanting to make the æsthetic pleasure of reading this book as intense as it should be, which argues something wanting in the performance. It is not that one misses the mystery and excitement of ‘The dark forest,’ and ‘The secret city,’ but there is the unavoidable feeling that, after the keenest appreciation of so much artistic skill, it should be possible to put the book down with the exhilaration of having read a masterpiece; and it is not possible.”
WALSH, JAMES JOSEPH. Medieval medicine. *$2.75 Macmillan 610.9
“This book, by an American medical authority, belongs to the series of Medical history manuals, edited by Dr John D. Comrie. It embraces the history of about 1,000 years, during which the achievements in medicine and surgery were quite as remarkable as the achievements of the middle ages in other spheres.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“The volume is fully within the comprehension of any educated reader, and is as entertaining as a novel.”
“As to the learning and competence for his task, no question can be raised, but the method he elects to adopt is one which has brought much work on the history of science into not unjustified contempt.” C: Singer
“Severe compression has been necessary; but the process has not interfered with the lucidity or the interest of this instructive little book.”
WALSH, JAMES JOSEPH.[2] Religion and health. *$2.25 (2c) Little 265.8
The argumentation of the book turns on the influence of the mind on the body and attempts to show how a trusting faith in God tends to produce an equilibrated mind, which is the foundation of psychic health, and, by interaction, of physical health. The book is indexed and contains much sound advice as to the way of achieving both kinds of well-being. The contents are: Can we still believe? Prayer; Sacrifice; Charity; Fasting and abstinence; Holydays and holidays; Recreation and dissipation; Mortification; Excesses; Purity; Insanity; Nervous disease; Dreads; Suffering; Pain; Suicide and homicide; Longevity; The Bible and health; Health and religion.
WALSH, THOMAS. Don Folquet, and other poems. *$1.50 Lane 811
The title poem has for its theme an episode of French history and tells how Don Folquet, a trader’s son, was first celebrated at the court of Toulouse as Prince of song, how he tired of court life and became a monk and later the Bishop of Toulouse and as such pronounced a ban on the city for its wickedness. Among the other poems are a Mother Goose sonnet series; Murillo paints “The assumption”; Catullus anent his Lesbia; The sigh for Deirdre; Ad limina.
“Mr Walsh has composed a medieval and monastic narrative in effete, Tennysonian pentameters which singly are good but which in the aggregate are wearisome.” Mark Van Doren
“To this reviewer ‘Don Folquet’ is less interesting than other things in the book. It is a poem for those who would forget reality. ‘The brownstone row,’ written in the kind of unrhymed cadence now in vogue, shows that Mr Walsh could do something with reality if romance charmed him less.”
“The execution falls short of the motive. Its merit is confined to grace, and the grace is confined to landscape.” O. W. Firkins
WALSH, THOMAS, ed. Hispanic anthology. $5 Putnam 861.08
“A collection of translations, ‘by northern Hispanophiles, of Spanish poems into English verse,’ offered as an affectionate tribute to the Spanish poet of today, whether he writes in the old world or the new. Dr Walsh, besides contributing a large portion of the versions, has garnered almost eight hundred pages of translations into something like a chronological unity, providing the selections with short prefatory notes and interspersing them with some twenty-nine portraits of ancient and modern Spanish poets.”—Freeman
“With the material at hand he has produced a creditable collection that should be at the elbow of every Hispanic student.”
“Masefield’s rendering of Gustave Adolfo Becquer’s ‘They closed her eyes,’ is one of the most beautiful poems in the collection.”
“Catholic readers will especially rejoice to possess, in this delightful form, some of the most impressive work of the great Spanish mystical poets, Fray Luis de Leon, St John of the Cross, and St Teresa.”
“A valuable book not alone for its well-arranged collection of poems, but for the fine reproductions of famous portraits and for the biographical notes.”
“The volume, despite its shortcomings, should be owned by every Hispanophile; it represents a pioneer-effort in a field agape with pitfalls, and, however much one may criticize the result as it now stands, Dr Walsh, by the mere fact of having initiated it and brought it forth, has earned the thanks of his fellow enthusiasts.” I: Goldberg
“Never has Spanish poetry been done so good or complete a turn in English as Mr Walsh now does it.” D. M.
“Mr Walsh has not only edited this volume, providing it with valuable typographical and critical notes, but he has supplied it with the bulk of the translations, translations which show him possessed in an uncommon degree of one of the most valuable, as it is one of the most unselfish of literary gifts.” R: Le Gallienne
“The plan of his anthology is remarkable for its comprehensive inclusion of selections from the work of every significant figure in Hispanic poetry from the unknown author of the ‘Poema del Cid’ to the latest of Porto Rican modernistas, born in 1898. Equally important, and especially so from the point of view of the American reader unacquainted with the Spanish language, is the finely judicious selection which Mr Walsh has made in choosing not only the original Spanish poems most representative of their authors but the translations into English which constitute the anthology. For the most part these translations are of highly poetic quality.” L. R. Morris
WALSH, WILLIAM SEBASTIAN. Psychology of dreams. *$3 (2½c) Dodd 135
The author views dreams from many points of view and is not pledged to any one theory. He presents the theories made popular by recent writers on psycho-analysis, but also sets forth the opinions of Freud’s critics. Contents: Historical sketch; The mind in sleep; The material of dreams; The instigators of dreams; The peculiarities of dreams; Dreams as wishes; The effects of dreams; Typical dreams; Prodromic dreams; Prophetic dreams; Nightmare; Night terrors; Somnambulism; Miscellany; The analysis of dreams; Day-dreams. There are two indexes, to proper names and to subjects. The author is a practicing physician and he has endeavored to make the work as practical as possible with a view “toward aiding sufferers from nervous affections, as well as toward promoting a better understanding of various normal and abnormal mental processes.”
“What he has written is a book of popular medicine rather than one of popular psychology. Upon psychology he does not appear to have any theories, and his very opinions are undecided. But when he writes about the ‘night terrors’ of children and the best means of mitigating them, he is full of common sense, and proves himself an admirable popular doctor.”
“For all practical purposes, ‘The psychology of dreams’ is an adequate exposition of interesting data, carefully collected. The chapter on prodromic dreams is perhaps as interesting as any in the book.” C. K. H.
“The chapter dealing with daydreams is especially interesting and instructive and, like the other chapters, is written in so clear a manner that the beginner will have little difficulty in becoming acquainted with the dream mechanism and its meaning. On the whole it can be said that the work is an excellent medium for the student who wishes to become acquainted with the workings of the unconscious.” L. P. Clark
Reviewed by R: Le Gallienne
“Not intended for professional reading, but distinctly popular in its appeal, this book will have lively interest for the general reader who likes to be entertained while he is being instructed. There are many sensible hygienic suggestions.”
“Dr Walsh might have made his point of view clearer, but he at least presents attractively a good deal of interesting material.”
WALSH, WILLIAM SEBASTIAN. Yours for sleep. *$2.50 Dutton 613.7
“The title of Dr William S. Walsh’s book, ‘Yours for sleep,’ is somewhat misleading, as appears from the first sentence in his preface: ‘The object of this little volume is not only to help the sleepless to sleep, but also to instruct them on a few of the principles of right living, a disregard of which is most often the sole cause of their disorder.’ People who are not in the pink of condition will be interested in the author’s treatment of such subjects as indigestion, eye defects, diseases of the teeth and gums, value of exercise and fresh air, and general hygiene.”—N Y Times
“No one has written more helpfully or collected more valuable information for the sleepless than Dr William S. Walsh.”
“It is a valuable contribution to the subject and amply repays perusal. The book is evidently the product of reflection, erudition and experience.” J. E. Kelly, M. D.
WALSTON, SIR CHARLES (SIR CHARLES WALDSTEIN). Eugenics, civics and ethics; a lecture delivered to the summer school of eugenics, civics and ethics on August 8th, 1919, in the Arts school, Cambridge. *$1.60 Macmillan 171
“A strong plea is made in this lecture for the organisation and development of the study of ethics, or, as the author prefers to call it, ethology. The interdependence of eugenics and civics, and the foundation of both in ethics, are discussed, and warning is given against striving to produce the perfect physical specimen of man without due consideration of character and mental attributes. Towards the end of the lecture the progressive nature of ethical codes is made clear, and great stress is laid on the importance of the establishment of our ideal of the perfect man and the teaching of such practical ethics in both schools and homes.”—Nature
“This lecture provides an excellent introduction to the author’s somewhat forbidding larger works.” B. L.
WALTERS, L. D’O., comp. Anthology of recent poetry. *$1.75 Dodd 821.08