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NEW BOOKS 
Recently Added to Manchester Public Library 
NORD Hao hor, PRE EZ e 
Nate European war occupies a large 
space in the literary world today. 
Highty-six books and pamphlets—havy- 
ing to do with the war—have been 
brought out in the past six weeks. A 
large number of these works are by 
eyewitnesses who have seen some phase 
of the struggle. A great many de- 
scribe trench fighting. A number of 
these books have recently been added 
to our library. ‘‘My Year of the Great 
War’’ by Frederick Palmer—the only 
official representative of the American 
press with the British Army in France 
—is a very vivid description of a year’s 
experiences of a noted war correspond- 
ent. Headings of very interesting 
chapters are ‘‘Trenches in Summer,’’ 
‘¢Trenches in Winter,’’ ‘‘With the 
Trish,’’? ‘‘The Maple-Leaf Folk,’’ 
‘*Finding the British Fleet’’ and 
‘‘Smiles Among the Ruins.’’ 
Those who read this author’s war 
novel, ‘‘The Last Shot,’’ published in 
1914 will be interested to know in how 
_far he was a true prophet in describing 
‘a modern war. 
Many of the writers of fiction have 
gone to the front to see for themselves 
what war is like. A number of these 
have put their experiences in book 
_ form, 
One of the best of these is ‘‘Kinzs, 
Queens and Pawns’’ by Mary Roberts 
Rinehart, author of ‘‘K.’’ 
Mrs. Rinehart was well prepared for 
her work being a graduate of a hospi- 
tal training-school and by nature a 
very shrewd observer. She had unus- 
ual facilities for seeing things and evi- 
dently made the most of her opportuni- 
ties. Her womanly sympathy reveals 
itself on everv page. The book is all 
so good that it seems invidious to men- 
tion one part rather than another; but 
you should not fail to read ‘‘ Volunteers 
and Patriots,’’ ‘‘Talk with the King 
of the Belgians,’’ ‘‘Women at the 
Front,’’ ‘*The Red Badge of Mercy’? 
and ‘‘An Army of Children.’’ This 1s 
the tribute she pays to the Red Cross: 
Tur ONLY GIRL.” 
“The Only Girl,’ a sensationally 
successful musical comedy by Henry 
Blossom and Victor Herbert, is the 
third theatrical attraction in Bostou 
this season that has been obliged tu 
move to another theatre in order to 
continue its popular engagement. ‘Two 
or three weeks is sufficient time in 
Boston for the average successful at- 
traction, but now ard then the thea- 
tre-going public takes so kindly to a 
play or a musical comedy that the 
average length of engagement is not 
long enough. Now “The Only Girl,” 
after three weeks of crowded houses 
at the Shubert, goes to the Majestic 
Theatre for a continued Boston en- 
gagement, beginning Monday even- 
‘‘The only leaven in this black picture 
of war as I have seen it, as it has 
touched me, has been the searlet of the 
Red Cross. To a faith that the terrible 
scenes at the front had almost destroy- 
ed, come, every now and then again 
the flash of the emblem of mercy. 
Hope, then, was not dead. There were 
hands to soothe and labor, as well as 
hands to kill. There was still brotherly 
love in the world. There was a cour- 
age that was not of hate. There was 
a patience that was not a lying in wait. 
There was a flag that was not of one 
nation, but of all the world; a flag that 
needed no recruiting station, for the 
ranks it lead were always full to over- 
flowing; a flag that stood between the 
wounded soldiers and death; that knew 
no defeat but surrender to the will of 
the God oi Battles.’’ 
Her definition of war is so good that 
I cannot resist the temptation to quote 
it. She says—‘‘War is not two great 
armies meeting in the clash and frenzy 
of battle. War is a boy carried on a 
stretcher looking up at God’s blue sky 
with bewildered eyes that are soon to 
close; war is a woman carrying a child 
that has been injured by a shell; war 
is spirited horses tied in burning builc- 
ings, and waiting for death; war is the 
flower of a race, battered, hungry, 
bleeding, up to its knees in filthy 
water; war is an old woman, burning a 
candle before the Mater Dolorosa for 
the son she has given. For King and 
Country! ’’ 
‘‘France at War’’ by Rudyard Kip- 
ling is a small volume that would not 
take more than an hour of your time 
to read. 
He pictures a country that is very 
different from the France of your im- 
agination, and shows in ‘his inimita- 
ble manner the influences of war on 
the character of a great people. 
‘‘WPighting France from Dunkerque 
to Belfort’? is an illustrated volume 
of some 230 pages by the well-known 
novelist Edith Wharton, In the first 
ing, December 2oth. 
Victor Herbert has contributed a 
musical setting in a wealth of tuneful 
songs. “When You’re Away,” the 
melody that runs throughout the play 
i, distinctly of the kind that goes 
chapter she gives in beautiful English 
a pen portrait of Paris in time of war. 
Later on she visits Argonne, Lorraine 
and Alsace. The pictures add much to 
the value of the book. Another very 
readable book is ‘‘A Surgeon in Bel- 
gium’’ by H. S. Souttar. The author 
was a London surgeon who went to the 
front. He relates some thrilling ex- 
periences in connection with the work. 
Incidently he tells us much abont 
Belgium and what the war is doing to 
that country. 
An unusually good juvenile story 
treating of the war is ‘‘Trench Mates 
in France’’ by J. S. Zerbe. It describes 
the battle of the Marne and gives a 
good deal of information in a very at- 
tractive manner. 
The book on the war that probably 
has been most read is a collection of 
letters entitled ‘‘A Hilltop on the 
Marne.’’ 
These letters first became known to 
the American public through the med- 
ium of the Atlantic Monthly. They 
are now published in book form. The 
author, Mildred Aldrich is a Boston 
woman. She had lived in Paris for the 
past fifteen years and had decided to 
spend the rest of her life in the coun- 
try at Huiry on the river Marne some 
thirty miles from Paris. She had only 
been settled in her new home about 
three months when the war broke out. 
In a few weeks the battle of the 
Marne was raging in sight of her house. 
She wrote of her experiences in a series 
of letters to her Boston friends. It is 
a fascinating book, do not miss reading 
te 
If you want to read the best bit of 
fiction the war has produced you want 
to get ‘‘The Three Things’’ by Mary 
Shipman Andrews. 
A young American, who, before he 
went to the war, had three big defects 
in his character—class pride, race pre- 
judice, and unbelief in God. He has 
them removed. How he got rid of them 
is the story. Many interesting works 
of fiction, biography and travel are also 
among the new books, a short article 
telling something about them will fol- 
low in the near future. Intelligeut 
criticism is welcomed at all times, but 
not innuendo—the product of a nar- 
row mind, 
Satin HE (Ei 
home with you to haunt ills, pills and 
bills quite out of memory. A quartet 
“Be Happy,. Boys, Tonight,” a duo 
march *<Here’s to thes Land “We 
Love” may be mentioned as a few of 
the numbers that have won favor. 
Christmas Gifts 
Initial and Embroidered Handkerchiefs 
Silk Hosiery and Kid Gloves 
Christmas Cards, Seals and Ribbons 
Children’s Sweaters, Caps and Scarfs. Rust Craft Novelties 
HARADEN & STONE 
Postoffice Building (Union St.) MANCHESTER 
