THE LIBRARY LOG

are not readily forgotten. This intangible
quality of vitality is hard to analyze but
not at all difficult to detect and it covers
a multitude of sins in the matter of literary
form. This question is especially applicable
to the novel having a well defined plot.
The last, and perhaps the most important,
question with regard to the content of our
novel under consideration is "What of the
spirit of this book?" The author must be
sincere, a pose is not to be tolerated. Grant-
ed that the book is interesting, what of the
quality of that interest? Is it secured by
sensational and melodramatic appeals to the
emotions or is the author above such pan-
dering to our lower natures? Self-restraint
is one of the cardinal virtues of the really
good novel writer. Finally are you in any
way influenced for good by having read this
book? Do not confuse this with mere pleas-
ure, though the purely amusing type of fic-
tion has its place. A very good novel very
frequently gives you no pleasure whatsoever,
but it may do you much good by a process
which is analogous to a needed surgical
operation.
Now as to how the author tells his story,
the examination of the book as to the merits
of its form:-Is the author's style good? Is
his work artistic? Has he conformed to
the laws of graimar, rhetoric and logic?
Much depends upon these points though we

are apt to more readily forgive sins against
good form than sins affecting the content
of the book. Once in a while we come
across such a novel as Phillpott's "Brunel's
Tower" which is so beautifully written as
to be pure joy to the lover of good English.
It would be well if more of our really good
novelists set a high standard in this respect.
Margaret McIntosh.
THE DEMAND CATEGORICAL
A black woman halted in front of a prod-
uce store in a Georgia town and addressed
the proprietor, who was also of color:
"Is dese here aigs fresh?"
"I ain't sayin' dey ain't," he answered
back.
"I ain't axin' you is dey ain't," she snap-
ped. "Ise axin' you is dey is. Is dey?"
THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT.
The chief exports of Montenegro are sit-
mach and flea-powder.

BOOK NOTES FOR BUSY PEOPLE

Abbot, Willis J. Aircraft and Submarines.
1918. Putnam. $3.50                623.74-A12
Neither "flying machines" nor submarine craft
have been with us long enough to have lost ro-
mantic interest. Mr. Abbot's book is a complete
and accurate account of the two inventions of
which he says, "Not since gunpowder was first
emiploNed in warfare has so revolutionary a con-
tribution to the sc-ience of slaughtering men been
moade as by the perfection of aircraft and sub-
marines. '' The popular idea that both the art
of flying and that of navigating the depths of the
ocean are very recent developments is refuted by
a detailed account of the slow stages by which
success was finally attained. Air. Abbot writes
entertainingly and his book is one of the best
popular presentations of the subjects treated.
Boirac, I;mile. The Psychology of the Fu-
ture.  1918. Stokes. $2.50            130-B68
Thought-transference, hypnotism, clairvoyance,
mental suggestion and spiritualism  are topics
which we have been wont to consider as perhaps
rather fascinating but certainly to be considered
as outside the realm   of provable facts.  Mr.
Boirac, a noted French psychologist, has spent
years at the most careful and painstaking in-
vestigation of these subjects. and has made count-
less experiments.  He presents his results as
thoroughly proved scientific truths.  One great
virtue of his book is his clear explanations of
the terms he uses. To many this makes the book
much more understandable than the work of most
noted investigators. The care with which he re-
(ounts and explains various psychic phenomena
is also a great point in the book's favor.

Gerard, James      W.    Face   to  Face   with
Kaiserism. 1918. Doran. $2.00
940.91-G356f
'What I want especially to impress upon the
people of the United States is that we are at
war because Germany iNvaded the Vnited States-
an invasion insidiousl y concecid and vigorously
prosecuted for years before hostilities began;-
that this war is our war;-that the sanctity of
American freedom and of the American home de-
pend on what we do NOW.'' Such a statement
its this made by a man who has, above all Amer-
icans, had opportunity to judge of Germany's
culpability, should at once dispel any lurking
doubt as to the full justification of the United
States for being in this war. Mr. Gerard re-
turned to America and tound his fellow citizens,
many of them. not fully awake to the phases of
the situation as eviden-ed by German diplomatic
methods. "Face to Face with Kaistrisn" con-
tinues the narrative begun in "Miy Four Years
in Germany", telling the story of Mr. Gerard's
experiences up to the tom  of his return to the
United States.
Grow, Malcolm C. Surgeon Grow; an
American in the Russian Fighting. 1918.
Stokes. $1.50                  940.91-G884
Any book which gives Its light on the subject
of Russia and the Russians is more than wel-
come. This book recounts the personal experi-
enes of a surgeon who offered his services to
the sadly inadequate Russian medical staff. The
conditions under which it,- Russian army fought,
the gradual undermining of morale by extensive

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