boys;" to which Coit replied, "I have another Image in my mind which I hope to impress."

His example and influence never lost its hold upon the Alumni. At his funeral, a stormy, winter day, the chapel was crowded by the old boys and impressive meeting were held in many of our great cities by the mourning graduates to honor this "Servant of God and Leader of Men." Houghton and Mifflin. Price $1.50.

Recollection of Joseph Jefferson by his friend and companion actor must be lovingly alluded to. Francis Wilson who just now is making his audience smile from his unfitness to take a priestly role, was an intimate friend, associated with him in the remarkable all-star cast of "The Rivals." Sheridan, by the way, considered "The Rivals" a poor play and wished he had never written it. So poorly do geniuses judge of their own work! We get from this volume little that is new; it is simply the informal tribute of a familiar friend of a dear old man; and we again see him as an artist, a fisherman, a faithful friend; the most beloved American actor!

His dramatic career covered a period of seventy years. Wilson wishes that Jefferson might have passed away upon the stage; appropriately beautiful, if in the sleep scene of Rip Van Winkle he had one night never waked. But he died on the day Shakespeare was born: Shakespeare who was Jefferson's Bible. He said many pithy things; as "Vagueness is not to be mistaken for suggestion;" "Acting is more a gift than an art;" 'Art is the actor's sweetheart;" "I like to be alone when I paint, but have no objection to a great many people when I act." Scribners. Price $2.00.

In "Old Washington," by Harriet Prescott Spofford, we have a delightful series of stories concerning the struggles and experiences of refined Southern women at the Capitol, just after the Civil War, and each one seemd to me more charming, than the one just read until at the end "A Little Old Woman" and "The Colonel's Christmas," I was sure were the best of all. Little, Brown and Company. Price $1.50.

Dare I speak of novels in general, as I see them?

By the press notices, each one seems to be the best seller and the finest work of the author; or one praises his special favorite as an oasis in the present dreary,

weary waste of Fiction! Why is it that we waste so many hours of this pitifully brief life in poring over the character and actions of creatures we should walk a mile to avoid? "Powerful but unpleasant" as Hamilton Mabie says of one of the most highly praised, would apply to many more. And books full of inspiration and help are waiting for our earnest attention.

How fleeting the impressions made by even the highest style of novel. Who can recall an important thought from even Mrs. Humphrey's earlier novels, long drawn out? And, Why does Henry James find readers and admirers? I would as lieve listen to the moonings and maunderings of the acknowledged insane. Writing the life of his dear friend Story, he used simple Saxon, and was his better self.

I cannot see the benefit to author or publisher in a two column review of a new novel, relating in detail, the entire plot and leaving nothing to be sought out. So mine shall be brief and to the point.

Miss Runkle's second novel, "The Truth About Tolna," is very unlike the first and is a first rate summer book with which to entertain yourself in a lazy hour and then lend the story to a friend. The only unnatural character is Denys Alden, who caused all the excitement.

I have always wondered if Mrs. Runkle, Bertha's wonderfully learned mother, was not a silent partner in the first great success? History is her speciality and what young girl who had been devoted to art for several years could have possessed such accurate and familiar knowledge of the time and persons she described? It seemed almost a miracle. But probably this is a most absurd imagining!

Four worth while books from Henry Holt and Company: Immigration and Its Effects Upon the United States; American Public Problem Series, by Prescott F. Hall, Secretary of the Immigration Restriction League. The effect of these immigrants upon the United States, viewed in its political, social and economic aspects is discussed. Price $1.65:

The Negro and the Nation, by George S. Merriam. A witty and scholarly study of the Negro question, interpreting the facts of political history with special reference to present-day problems. Price $1.75.

Problems of Babyhood. by Rachel Kent Fitz, A.M. and George Wells Fitz, M.D.

That the desert should blossom like the rose was the dream of a prophet-poet, but it is coming true. One desert is already blossoming in a most wonderful manner, and the example thus established is to push far into the future the time feared by the Malthrisians when the earth will fail to produce crops to feed its population. Within the last quarter century scientific irrigation has reclaimed from "The Great American Desert" of the old geographies an area equal to that of the state of Massachusetts, and made the worthless land worth a hundred and fifty million dollars for agricultural purposes. About ninety millions has been expended in the work, and it is an investment worth much more to the nation and to the world at large that the same amount spent on fortresses and war ships. And the work is as yet hardly begun. Government contributions were necessary at the start, and are still desirable, but as practical conditions and

Here

possibilities are better determined private enterprise will join in the undertaking and what is already accomplished will be seen to be but the beginning of a new era of agricultural progress. Much of the work thus far has been in a semi-tropical region where great and frequent crops are realized but in time even "sterile New England" will feel the magic touch, and much waste land will become productive. drainage and irrigation will go hand in hand, and the maintenance of thousands of acres of morass that an insignificant millprivilege may be preserved will be seen to be criminally wasteful, while the streams will be led along the barren hillsides, until the productive area will be largely increased. The work is waiting, and the advantage is apparent. Little by little it will be accomplished.

London philanthropists are discussing the

excessive rate of mortality of infants among the working classes, and have concluded that the employment of mothers in shops and factories is largely responsible. For some years the Factory Act has excluded mothers from work for four weeks after confinement, and it is proposed to extend this restriction to six months. It is recognized that this, if enforced, woul tend to reduce the size of families, and to offset this it is proposed that the government make some stated payment for motherhood. At Huddersfield the mayor already pays a sovereign for each child attaining the age of one year. The result of a French experiment is approvingly quoted. In one commune for nearly a hundred years every fourth child died during its first year. The mayor established a free medical aid fund, to assist all prospective mothers, and also a relief fund from which mothers were paid if the child lived to the end of its first year. It is recorded that for ten years after this plan was put in operation no infant deaths occurred for ten years, and there was but one still-born child in fifteen years. Naturally the system would also work toward the future health of both mothers and children, and in time the physical condition of the whole community would be improved.

The nursery hero of the seven league boots has been realized recently in Paris. An inventor is exploiting motor boots with which he makes a speed of twentyfive miles an hour, with no other physical effort than to maintain his perpendicular. His boots are a combination of roller skates and the automobile. They are about fifteen inches long and have four wheels each eight inches in diameter. The user wears a belt in which is an electric power equipment. Each boot weighs sixteen pounds, but this does not matter as they are not lifted from the ground. On park roads they might serve as admirable playthings, but on an ordinary country road, and in all weathers, the wearer would be in danger of going several ways at once. "Shank's Mare" is not yet displaced for sure and safe locomotion.

"Bleeding Kansas" is now a misnomer. In fact some highly complimentary title should be invented for "The Sunflower State." Her population is cosmopolitan, and her social statistics might be expected to parallel those of other states in the

Union. It is a surprise, therefore, to learn that of her one hundred and five counties eighty-five are without a pauper, twentyfive have no poorhouses, and thirty-seven are without a criminal case pending trial. The "why?" of this remarkable record should interest all civic reformers. It is hard to believe the claim of the woman suffragists that municipal suffrage for women is the "why?" although it may be contributory. Certainly the field is worth stu lying. That Kansas is an agricultural state does not explain the situation, for "there are others!"

The long-drawn-out investigation of life insurance matters in New York is en 'ed, and the report is far too voluminous for popular digestion. It criticizes and condemns most generously and impartially. That condemnation was necessary and inevitable was a foregone conclusion from the first. Several bills accompany the report covering the legislation considered desirable by the committee. That the members of the legislature, neophytes in the details of insurance matters, are to adopt only the best is hardly to be expected. One most important bill puts a mass of supervision upon the State Insurance Commissioner which he can never accomplish. Heretofore the department has been held to guard the legal reserves of a company so that the prospective claims of all policy holders are fully protected, both as to their amount and the safety of their investment. This being done the companies are left to manage the details of their business without interference. The new bill practically makes the Insurance Commissioner the manager of each and all the companies-life, fire. accident, surety, etc., and responsible for all the details of the business. It makes him an autocrat, or would if it were possible for him to perform the duties required, but such a work is practically impossible. It would compel a department representative in the office of every company, and a tremendous clerical force at the head office of the department, at incalculable expense. When the matter works itself out it is probable that company managers will be left in control of business details, but with a more rigid review by the Insurance Commissioner of their complications and alliances with other financial institutions. So far as has yet appeared this, with the present warning both to company officials and the Department would secure the public against a repetition of the recent scandals.

It is with pleasure that we present in this issue the photograph of Mrs. Philip Carpenter. Mrs. Carpenter is well known throughout the country, not alone as one of our brightest lawyers, man or woman, but also as the brightest of writers and of after dinner speakers. Of recent years her popularity as a club woman has been widespread. She was president of the National Society of New England Women, 1903 and 1904, and is now president of the New York State Federation of Woman's Clubs. She is also first vice-president of Sorosis, honorary member of the Daughters of 1812, member of the D. A. R.,

MRS. PHILIP CARPENTER

Woman's Press Club, College Woman's Club, Women Lawyer's Club, Women's Association of the Bar, National Arts Club and member of the New York Bar.

It is small wonder that her achievements are as above stated when we understand her ancestry; she is descended from John an Priscilla Alden through their granddaughter Anna Alden, who married Thomas Snell, from whom was descended Elizabeth Snell, grandmother of Mrs. Carpenter. (William Cullen Bryant was of the same stock, and own cousin to Elizabeth Snell, brought up side by side with her.) Mrs. Carpenter from another line

of ancestry descended from Peter Hallock, who landed in 1640 on Hallock's Neck, Long Island. This line were mainly ministers, and all were deeply religious men. "Remember that there is a long eternity" has been handed down in her family from the earliest generation. Mrs. Carpenter's father was Thos. H. Rouse, also a minister, and of the old Dutch stock, who lived on the Hudson 150 years; and who has the Dewey blood of Vermont and that of the northern Breckenridges and Hendersons in him. Her mother was Eliza Hallock, one of the twin daughters of Leavitt Hallock of Plainfield and Amherst, Massachusetts, and niece of Gerard Hallock, late editor of the Journal of Commerce and of Homan Ha!lock who invented Arabic type and translated the Bible into the Arabian language; also niece of William A. Hallock for forty years with the American Tract Society, New York City.

Mrs. Carpenter was born in Connecticut, but spent most of her childhood and youth in California and the Hawaiian Islands. Her husband, Philip Carpenter is son of Alonzo P. Carpenter, Chief Justice of New Hampshire.

The functions of the Parent Society the past month have been largely the holding of several important meetings of the Board of Managers with reference to the revision of the by-laws. This revision was accepted by the Society at their business meeting, April 26th. One revision was the establishment of the Trust Fund and Colony Committees as standing committees instead of Special Committees as they had hitherto been designated. Another was the revision of the by-laws concerning Colonies which now gives a Colony representation in the National Society which had not hitehrto been accorded them; this revision which had been drawn up by the Colony Committee secured more privileges for Colony delegates than had hitherto been accorded them.

The closing social affair of the year was the fourth literary meeting, which took place at Delmonico's on Friday, April 20, 1906. The President in a feeling manner

spoke of the great disaster in San Francisco and of the message which had been promptly sent to the Colony in the illfated city.

The program was of an unusual character and interest. The first part consisted of the music of the North American Indian, the stories and themes used being from the research of Miss Alice C. Fletcher of Washington. Miss Fletcher had expected to be present but was detained by severe illness. In her absence the stories were told by Mrs. Homer I. Ostrom. Miss Sarah Eliot Newman, who had often worked on the Indian music with Miss Fletcher, opened the program with skilfully arranged selections from the melodrama of Hiawatha by Mrs. Saidee Knowland Coe. The numbers so arranged were: An Omaha Warrior Song; An Omaha Love Song; A Dance Song; Hiawatha's First Hunt; War Dance.

Mrs. Harry C. Connell, accompanied by Mrs. George Quirk of London, sang "Ewayea" (little owlet) and "My Bark Canoe," two Ojibway songs from the cantata of Hiawatha composed by Frederick R. Burton, thus giving the audience an opportunity to notice the treatment of the poem of Hiawatha by two musicians.

Miss Newman also gave in illustration of Miss Fletcher's stories "The Approach," the first song from the ceremony of the Wa Wan-the Ghost Dance-"How the Rabbit lost his tail," three melodies arrange by Arthur Farwell-"Song of the Leader." "Inketunga's Thunder Song," and "The Sound of the Deathless Voice." The two Zuni songs, "A Lullaby" and "The Lover's Wooing" (blanket song) by Carlos Troyer, were sung by Mrs. Connell. The Dawn," by Arthur Farwell, sung by Miss Newman, closed the Indian part of the entertainment.

Mrs. Kate Upson Clark's paper, “An Obscure Heroine of the Revolution," drew forth applause and laughter. Her most interesting material based upon the correspondence of Colonel Hugh Maxwell with his wife, Beniah, and his daughter, Hannah, with its quaint phrases, deeply religious expressions, and picturesque suggestions of the life on a New England farm before and during the Revolution. were given in Mrs. Clark's own lively an humorous manner; and when after the close of the address a question drew out the fact that Mrs. Clark was a descendant of the noble, self-sacrificing woman and her upright and patriotic husband, all present felt a thrill of new pride in our already valued member, Kate Upson Clark.

The next important meeting of the so

ciety was the general business meeting of April 26th which concluded with the installation of officers for the coming year and the reading of reports by the various Chairmen of Committees. The Society members do not realize what a giant organization this represents until the annual reports come in; and this meeting was really an inspiration. While it would be of the greatest interest to bring out in detail these various reports especially the philanthropic work, the scholarship work and the Colony work, space will prevent publishing more than the President's report which is as follows:

"In looking back over the work of the past year a mingled feeling of regret and satisfaction comes to your President. Regret that more work of permanent value to the Society has not been accomplished and satisfaction that so much has been done.

"The selecting of members who would help to bear the burden of the work of the Society was my first problem. At last. and just in time for insertion in the Year Book, the nineteen Chairmen who have so nobly assisted were secured. Your President has attended every meeting of the Society during the past year as well as all the meetings of the Board of Managers and every Thursday morning she has spent at Delmonico's to be in touch with the different Committees in session here on that day. Each Wednesday morning she has been ready to receive at her home, any one who might wish to confer with her on business relating to the Society, and on the first Tuesday afternoon of every month she has been at home socially to all members of the National Society. She has written twenty-five letters of condolence to members or their families during the year. Of the other long list of letters that have been written by her and of the many telephone messages received and sent she will not attempt to tell. She has representd the Society at fifty-three different functions and to many of these she has carried a message of greeting.

"The first social gathering of the year. the reception on October 21st at the President's own home, was of great assistance to her. The large attendance seemed to assure her of the earnest support of the whole Society, and that feeling has continued during the entire year. Everyone seemed to especially enjoy the Afternoon Tea on December 12th, and the celebration of our Eleventh Birthday on January 24th was a continued assurance of the loyalty of our members.

"The Annual Breakfast on February 9th, the last of our Social Functions, was a most enjoyable affair. At all of these