February, 1913 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
L END us your ears for a few 
minutes. We want to take 
you into our 'confidence about 
some of the books we have ar¬ 
ranged to publish this spring. 
You know already what a repu¬ 
tation for dependability and in¬ 
terest our practical books have, 
so it is unnecessary to dilate on 
this side of the subject. We 
know pretty well what you think 
■of them by the number you have 
purchased. You have bought 
thousands of those vade me- 
cums—big term for a small 
book—of the house and the gar¬ 
den, the "Making” Books, and in 
announcing four new titles we 
have only to mention the 
names, which are as follows: 
"Making a Fireplace,” "Making 
a Water Garden,” "Making a 
Garage” and “Making and Furnishing Outdoor Rooms and Porches.” 
▲ 
Nearly everybody to-day, no matter what his or her vocation, is able 
to do something with the hands, is a craftsman in some manner. It 
may be gardening, photography, woodworking, leather carving, book¬ 
binding, or any one of a dozen other useful diversions that train the 
hands to work as well as the mind. But whatever it is, there is one 
craft that is used in connection with so many others that it seems a 
necessity to have some knowledge of it if one would be successful. 
Charles E. Pellew, who was formerly Adjunct Professor of Chemis¬ 
try at Columbia University, has written a book about this craft called 
"Dyes and Dyeing.” His book is one of the "show how” kind, taking 
up all sorts of materials, such as feathers, basketry, leather, silks, 
cotton, woolen, etc. 
Professor Pellew came in the other day and showed specimens of 
his own craftsmanship—exquisitely dyed silk scarfs, some of which 
were iridescent with soft colors that blended imperceptibly into 
one another, and others of one shade, shades that were so delicate 
that they could be described only by the word "delicious”— and they 
were! 
that delightful apologetic panto¬ 
mime which only a Frenchman 
can render, he remarked: ‘Par¬ 
don, Monsieur, but you have the 
Christ head.’ Now as I’d been 
pestered nearly to death by my 
artist friends before and had al¬ 
most posed as Mr. Mcphisto- 
pheles and the Ghost in ‘Mac¬ 
beth,’ I wasn't much surprised, 
and, further, I saw my advantage. 
‘Mr. Tissot,” said I, ‘there is a 
nice little photographic house 
over across the street where we 
can go and get both our pictures 
taken.’ Of course he bit at that, 
and after we swapped caricatures, 
each went his way happy. 
"Later, when I had discov¬ 
ered that a passing education in 
practical plumbing was fully as 
satisfactory as any knowledge of 
art to fill the editor’s chair, I left the publishing house. Since then 
I have started to build a house of my own; and considering present 
conditions and my own uneasy temperament, I shall be always at work 
on that house.” 
▲ 
Ernest K. Coulter, author of "The Children in the Shadow,” which 
will be published this month, helped to organize the New York 
Children’s Court, and as Clerk served there for nearly ten years, 
during which time he saw one hundred thousand children arraigned. 
He has thoroughly investigated the case of the delinquent child, and in 
this book are the remarkable results of his labors. Congestion, ac¬ 
cording to Mr. Coulter, is responsible for the alarming criminality 
among children, and in tracing the blame for this congestion he finds 
it in the insufficient and inefficient laws relating to tenement houses. 
This, in turn, is the result of apathy on the part of that portion of the 
population that is silent as long as there is no personal application of 
these wrongs. The book is calculated to stir these people to a realiza¬ 
tion of what is their part in the situation. It is a dramatic but sane 
exposition of one of the most vital problems of the day. 
▲ 
▲ 
Chas. Edw. Hooper, who wrote another of our forthcoming books— 
"Reclaiming the Old House”—is very much wrapped up in his subject, 
and always has been, if we are to take seriously his remarks, made the 
other day to one of the editorial staff. 
“It seems as if the most of my life was mixed up with the house. I 
was born in one. Either to cheat the relic hunters or to prevent the 
infection of my peculiar type of brain, the house was torn down soon 
after. It never had a chance to be reclaimed. Later, when I was 
whipped in the barn for running away, I flew to the house. When I 
had arrived at an age necessary to the successful dulling of saws, 
planes and other edge tools, I had need of the house again. When I 
was naughty (which was common), I was frequently kept in the 
HOUSE. 
“When I began to acquire knowledge the often painful operation 
was performed in a school house. Seeing a drawing of St. Paul’s, I 
decided that I would be an architect and began the attack on the 
house in earnest. I have moved all over New York from house to 
house. Why, the ordinary New Yorker will understand without 
being told. 
“Finally I entered the employ of a publishing house. While there, 
I was delegated to persuade the late James J. Tissot that he was in 
urgent need of a new likeness. He refused to agree and politely 
offered an old photograph which dated back to the time when the 
visiting Germans very politely circumnavigated the Arch de Triomphe. 
Still I persisted and tracked him to his boarding house, at the corner 
of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, New York. Assisted by 
the elevator, I climbed into the great man’s presence, hardly daring 
to hope for results. We conversed on generalities for a few mo¬ 
ments, all of which time he was regarding me intently. Soon, with 
There are plenty of people nowadays who do not play “bridge,” and 
the same may be said with reference to golf. Not that there is any 
^connection between the two games, but it is a fact that many people 
who might otherwise take up golf are deterred from doing so because 
“it is pretty late in the day to begin.” There is a book for just these 
people, "Golf for the Late Beginner,” by Henry Hughes. Mr. Hughes 
himself took up the game after he had reached middle age, and with 
his experience fresh in mind explains the correct principles of golf in 
a way that is especially helpful to the late beginner. 
▲ 
"Thorney” is a new novel by Alexander Black. Never mind w'hat 
the title signifies—the story is about a desert island, a girl and a man. 
"There’s nothing new about a desert island,” say you. Ah, that is 
just the point! But there is something new about this story. Here 
in the office we have fallen in—well, you'll have a chance at it your¬ 
self soon. 
A 
These few remarks cover only a fraction of the activities of our 
book department. There are books of travel, housebuilding books, 
biography, gardening books, and useful arts of other varieties; in fact, 
a well-rounded list. 
A 
Travel is for expansion. We have recently absorbed The Tourist 
Magazine, which was in a field similar to that of Travel, and the 
magazine will now have the advantage of an increased circulation and 
a somewhat broader field. Next month there will be another important 
announcement in connection with Travel. It will be on the same 
general scheme of expansion, but along somewhat different lines. 
