Book Reviews [pp. 548-554]

[May,
placed his own particular style of work as the first
of a school in illustrating. He has established
the American girl as the highest ideal of the
beautiful woman,-where she belongs-and the
nation should give thanks to Mr. Gibson. Tle
book should be in the studio of every artist and on
the library table of every American citizen. It is
a simple question of patriotism.
While all of Mr. Gibson's work has that peculiar swing, so entirely his own, he has unconsciously
imbibed the "chic" of the Parisian school on his
recent visit to the Continent, and has become a
cosmopolitan rather than an American. This is
exceedingly regretable and is especially noticeable in his later works.
One Thousand Dollars a Day.
One Thousand Dollars a Day, by Adeline Knapp,
is a dainty bit of reading,-dainty, because despite the author's effort to be severe and to seem
pedantic in the sub-title, "Stories in Practical
Economics," she succeeds in delighting the reader,
another demonstration that women can teach almost anything with grace. The author is a close
observer and has evidently quite digested the
thoughts of the greatest writers on this "eternal
grievance." But to address that mysterious power
which capriciously gives one fellow a beefsteak
where he has no teeth to chew it, while another,
whose teeth are strong enough to chew sole leather,
has not a crust of bread, is merely falling into the
rail of Job: "S' relit cume eo contendere, non respon(lit ei ad unumn e mille." The monster cares nothing for the whines of the beast; it is his brag to be
unjust, "and what are you going to do about it?"
That the book is clever, well worth reading, is
freely admitted; that it aims at truth, goes without saying; that it may arouse the people to a spell
of thinking, is quite probable; but that it will improve our lamentable condition is not so certain.
That one thousand dollars a day scheme is clever
as a plea for the co-operative system; it is good in
style, and in thought far above the ordinary "specialty writer," but the trouble with the theory is
that human nature is an uncontrollable beast; and
money like water seeks its level. The "labor
token" is like a dull piece of steel, which is dangerous because of its potentiality of becoming a
keen-edge] dagger. Gold is not a whit better than
brass, without the sanction of governments. And
if our Constitution had said that "brass shall be
the legal tender of the United States" there is no
doubt but that Burton would have had to carry
1 One Thousand Dollars a Day. By Adeline Knapp,
Boston; Arena Publishing Co.: 1594.
home a thousand pieces of brass daily until further
notice. It is not a question of coin, but of indolence and vice on one side and brains and rapacity
on the other.
The most touching sketch in the book is the one
sarcastically styled "Getting Ahead," because it
speaks boldly of a crying wrong that goes almost
unnoticed. That foreigner whose life blood a giant
polypus in shape of an invisible syndicate is stucking away, and who is goaded into crime by that
soulless wretch, called an "agent," deserves special
notice. Miss Knapp might have written more,
much more upon this subject.
The howling striker is an ass, whose bray excites
no sympathy. Thoughts spent upon him are as
useless as are his own periodical cowardly efforts.
The striker lives in the midst of civilization. Uncultured, with a mind and soul untrained for any
mental effort, he remains a beast of burden. But
his wife and daughters desire to imitate the fashion of the rich, and thereby create that juggernaut of our society, jealousy and discontent.
The former, on the other hand, makes no pretensions; he lives in nature's bosom and creates
the nervus rerum for the sharksin the city. Thrice
cursed is he who thus besmirches the divine escutcheon, which is stamped upon the most brutish
of men. The freight agent and the syndicate
agent are animals as vicious as they are sleek.
Here is the proper coign of vantage for writers
and thinkers of Adeline Knapp's stamp. One
Thousand Dollars a Day is worth re-reading.
Bread From Stones.2
WHILE the German scientists as, a rule have
earned their reputation for careful, plodding,
abundantly verified work, it is also true that some
Germans that desire to be considered scientists are
capable of putting forth a specious theory, with
small attempt at proof and by a bold begging of
all questions regarding it claim to have established
a new discovery. The example that calls out this
reflection is a small book mainly made up from
the writings of Julius Hensel. Hensel's theory is
that the use of decayed animal and vegetable matter as food for plant life is so injurious as to be responsible for the increasing prevalence and number of human maladies; and a whole train of evils
beside. He advocates the use of stone meal, or
finely pulverized rock, as a fertilizer, and claims
that the bread thus made from stones is more
abundant, more economical, and more wholsome.
Nowhere in his book is there more than the bare
2Bread from Stones. Translated from the German of
Julius Hensel and others, Philadelphia: A. J. Tafel: 1899.
550
Book Reviews.