Book Notices

THE CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORY A PRACTICAL MANUAL. By Harry T. Baker, M. A., Instructor in English in the University of Illinois; formerly Special Reader of fiction manuscripts, International Magazine Company, Publishers of "Good Housekeeping," "Harper's Bazar," etc. 271 pages. D. C. Heath and Co.

Along with the growing popularity of the study of the short-story in colleges and preparatory schools has come a tendency to pay more and more attention to the practice and less and less to the historical theory of writing the plot-bound brief tale. Under such circumstances Mr. Baker's volume concerning the contemporary short-story should find a ready welcome among educators, for it presents in cultured style an organized body of practical instruction in how to write short-stories that will sell. The author emphasizes present conditions in the fiction-market and gives much of his advice from the point of view of an editor. On the other hand, he does not neglect the disciplinary and cultural aspects of short-story writing, for he is evidently a teacher and a scholar as well as a good judge of short-stories. At the close of each chapter stands a group of exercises intended to afford the student opportunity for application of the principles which he has just been learning, while in the Appendix the instructor will find an admirable list of titles of "Representative Short Stories" and a richly suggestive group of test questions by which a story may be judged. The chapters entitled "Common Faults", "Structure", and "Character vs. Plot" seem particularly well adapted for class-room analysis. The chief fault of the book, if readableness is ever a fault is that, it is written in such an easily flowing style and abounds so profusely in contemporary and classical literary allusions that the ordinary student will be likely to glide easily over important points and forget them. To avoid this danger, the table of contents, which is merely a list of the chapterheadings, should be supplemented for pedagogical purposes by a more detailed outline. On the whole, however, this new book is a decided improvement over most of its predecessors in the field because of the fluent completeness of its treatment of the most modern phase of its subject. Everybody who has ever tried to write a short-story (and what school teacher has not?) will be interested and instructed by Mr. Baker's chapters, the last two in the book, on "How Magazines Differ" and "A Magazine office from the inside." R. C. W.

GEOLOGY PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL. By Herdman Fitzgerald Cleland, Ph. D., Professor of Geology in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. Price $3.50. American Book Company.

This is a large and comprehensive manual (718 pages) from which

all minor details have been omitted, all fundamental principles being included. The human relation has been recognized and the history of life upon the earth is broadly outlined in accordance with the evolutionists viewpoint.

After an introductory chapter on astronomic or cosmic Geology, Part I deals with Physical Geology and studies such subjects as Weathering, work of the wind, of ground water, stream erosion, glaciers, the ocean and its work, structural features of the earth, earthquakes and volcanoes, metamorphism, mountains and plateaus, historical geology, the various geological periods and their characteristics with a full account of the appearance and development of life upon the earth. The book is admirably illustrated with a large number of carefully drawn and well printed cuts. Altogether, this makes a complete and thoroughly satisfactory college text-book of a fascinating branch of human knowledge.

PRACTICAL ENGLISH FOR HIGH SCHOOLS. By William D. Lewis, A. M., and James Fleming Hosic, Ph. M. American Book Company. Price $1.00.

This is an excellent "working manual," dealing largely with situations which actually arise in the average man's daily experience. The authors frankly state that it is "the outgrowth of the new movement to distinguish between English for work and English for leisure." So we find many helpful suggestions as we turn the pages, on how to write and speak English, grouping ideas, helping the eyes, building a vocabulary, telling a story, making people understand and believe us, visiting by mail, doing business by mail, keeping up with the world. It will be a pleasure to join a class that is working with this book.

SELECT PROSE OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. Edited with an Introduction by Jacob Zeitlin, Ph. D., of the University of Illinois. The Macmillan Company.

This volume is based upon a survey of the entire literary output of this very fecund writer, of whose total output in prose and verse it has been said that not far from two hundred octavo volumes would be needed if it were to be put in book form. The editor of this excellent college edition of Southey has made the interest and permanent value of the selected material, the paramount consideration. The volume presents what is probably the most nearly complete and representative school and college edition of Southey upon the market.

HANDBOOK OF ATHLETIC GAMES FOR PLAYERS, INSTRUCTORS AND SPECTATORS. Comprising Fifteen Major Ball Games, Track and Field Athletics and Rowing Races. By Jessie H. Bancroft and William Dean Pulvermacher, A. B., LL. B. The Macmillan Company. Price $1.50.

Quite in line with the modern recognition of the play instinct and

the provision for its guidance to right and wholesome ends in the public schools, this volume presents in attractive description and illustration the principal athletic games that are or may be practiced in school playgrounds or halls. The volume is suitable for the players, spectators, coaches and instructors. It will show the Principal or teacher who wants to lead his pupils in the playground as well as in the classroom, how to go about it. It will be welcomed by many for its practical guidance and inspiration.

THE TEACHING OF ARITHMETIC. A Manual for Teachers. By Paul Klapper, Ph. D. D. Appleton & Company. Price $1.45.

Dr. Klapper is Associate Professor of Education in the College of the City of New York and is the author of several valuable text-books based on fundamental principles of education as applicable in the elementary grades. We can most heartily recommend the present volume to every teacher of arithmetic and to every practical bookkeeper and accountant because of its clear exposition of the mental processes involved in figure work and the valuable "short-cut" suggestions that will prove great time savers and efficiency promoters. F. H. P.

A VOCATIONAL READER. By Park Pressey, with an Introduction by J. Adam Puffer. Rand McNally & Company. Price $.75.

This book has rightly been called a pioneer in a new field. It presents a realistic view of many different vocations, any one of which may be exactly the one for which any boy or girl in the classes which will use the book for their reading lessons in the grades, is best fitted. The chapters are fresh, concise presentations of essential features of these different vocations. The book represents a happy thought well carried out. It is sure to interest real boys and girls because it deals with real experiences in real life. F. H. P.

SIMPLE ART APPLIED TO HANDWORK. By H. A. Rankin, Art Master, Silver and Bronze Medallist; and F. H. Brown, A. R. C. A., Art Master, Silver and Bronze Medallist. Volume II. E. P. Dutton Company. Price $1.50 net.

In the preface of this richly illustrated volume the authors say that "in the limited time at the disposal of the ordinary elementary school pupil, the applied arts appear to be decidedly more desirable than the fine arts, as more directly affecting the actual subsequent life of the pupil." But in the view of these authors "the necessary deftness, skill, adaptability and foresight which the common applied arts require and engender are surely infinitely to be performed for our pupils, touching as they do the real and the concrete, and presenting in an attractive form replicas of the actual problems of life." These quotations indicate the character of this book. The authors have well realized their own ideas and ideals.

FOOD STUDY. A textbook in Home Economics for High Schools. By Mabel Thatcher Wellman, Associate Professor and head of the Department of Home Economics in Indiana University. Little, Brown and Company. Price $1.00 net.

The book named above, published in January, brings the latest word on this very popular and practical subject of Home Economics. The author was a pupil of Mrs. Alice Peloubet Norton, whose work at the University of Chicago and elsewhere is well known. The dedication is to her as one "whose teaching has been the source of inspiration of this book." The author has wisely chosen to present the subject largely by the inductive method. She aids the pupils to find the facts and then leads them through these to formulate the principles in cooking which are worthy of consideration and of wide application. Throughout the volume the pupil is encouraged to think out things for herself and to learn from experience. Yet enough help is given to arouse curiosity and interest, and to stimulate further research. While the book is not at all intended to take the place of the teacher, yet, either' in the school or in the home, it would prove a suggestive and helpful guide to any intelligent pupil or housewife who wished to become a better and more skilled housekeeper.

The adaptation of the topics in this book to the school courses in the subject is seen in their order of arrangement. Jelly-making, pickling, preserving, etc. are placed first as the course in home economics usually begins in the autumn when these things are seasonable. The roasting of meats, the baking of bread, etc. are brought into the winter term when these activities involving the production of excessive heat, will not be troublesome. All ordinary housekeeping duties in connection with the selection, buying, preparing, cooking and serving of food are covered in a careful, scientific and practical manner. In the Appendix there are tables showing Food Requirements for adults, average height and weight for men, for women, and for children of different ages, the fuel value of different foods, etc.

We predict that this will become the leading text book on this subject in the high schools, so many of which are putting in courses in Domestic Science. The publishers, Messrs. Little, Brown and Company, have achieved an enviable reputation as one of the leading book houses in this particular line, having already more than a score of thoroughly up-to-date volumes on the science and art of home-making. F. H. P.

CHANDRA IN INDIA. A Geographical Reader. By Etta Blaisdell McDonald. School Edition. Little, Brown & Co. Price 45 cents.

A charming new volume in a very attractive and useful series for supplementary reading. Child life and many other phases of life in India are portrayed and in a vocabulary that is simple yet progressive, so that these books are to be commended from the standpoint of language as well as geography and history.

SIXTH READER. By Franklin B. Dyer, Superintendent of Schools, Boston, and Mary J. Brady, Primary Supervisor of Schools, St. Louis, with illustrations. Charles E. Merrill Company.

The aim is "to provide for both oral and silent reading, an abundance of matter that is of fine literary quality and at the same time is fresh and well adapted to the pupil's powers of understanding and appreciation." We judge that the book well fulfils this aim.

WOOD, WIRE AND CARDBOARD. By J. G. Adams and C. A. Elliott, with a Foreword by R. Hudson, M. A. É. P. Dutton & Company. Price $1.00 net.

This volume belongs to "Pitman's Handwork Series." It is a most interesting and useful manual that will aid many a child who is counted slow and stupid, to find himself and get started upon a career. It provides teachers with a valuable series of models in which the use of combined materials is introduced. Besides its uses as a textbook in the class room, it is a book that might well be put into the hands of boys to guide them at that impressionable age when they begin to use tools and manifest the constructive instinct. It will direct their energies toward serviceable ends.

CHRISTIAN CERTAINTIES OF BELIEF. THE CHRIST, THE BIBLE, SALVATION, IMMORTALITY. By Julian K. Smyth. The NewChurch Press, Inc.

The four sub-titles above are the chapter headings of the four essays which make up this book. The author is a clear thinker and forceful writer. Opinions may differ as to the grounds upon which be bases his arguments, or even as to some parts of the main conclusions. But most modern Christians accept with varying shades of thought and feeling, the author's conclusion that the Christ, the Bible, Salvation and Immortality are the great Christian verities. This is an excellent book to vivify and strengthen one's personal beliefs.

MOUNT VERNON, WASHINGTON'S HOME AND THE NATION'S SHRINE. By Paul Wilstach. Doubleday, Page & Co. Illustrated. Net $2.00. De Luxe Edition Net $10.

It is well that at last a worthy book has been written and worthily published, about the home of "The Father of his country." George Washington himself said, without boastfulness at the time he said it, that "No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this." It has remained a source of pride to Americans, the Mecca of tourists, the shrine of the hero-worshipper. This volume is fully illustrated. It is well appointed in every respect. It should find a place in every well appointed library, both public and private.