Illinois News Index

Winnetka Weekly Talk, 29 Aug 1925, p. 14

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& ia WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1925 Are You Interested in books | of Fiction, Biography, Travel, or History? For lists write to ESTHER GOULD care your local paper. ANOTHER TALE OF RUSSIA "FROM PRESIDENT TO PRISON" By Ferdinand Ossendowski, E. P. Dutton & Co. Ferdinand Ossendowski has written a third book of the trilogy of his ex- periences in Russia of which "Beasts, Men and Gods" and "Man and Mys- tery in Asia" were the first two. "From President to Prison" is the story of his experiences before and during the Revolution of 1905, and his later term in the terrible Russian prisons. Appointed by the Government as ex- perimental chemist to cooperate with the Russian army in Siberia during the Russo-Japanese War, Dr. Ossen- dowski had a remarkable opportunity for studying the conditions that ex- isted. He saw the undernourished, ill-managed troops the money for whose food and clothing went into the pockets of grafting officers, whose very lives were sacrificed in useless en- gagements so that these same officers might have honorable mention for tak- ing part in such bloody battles. He saw the horrible "pogroms" which were common in the subject territories, and himself was witness to the massacre of the Russians, in 1905, when betrayed by their leader-priest they were shot down in the streets like hunted animals. Unbelievable things and conditions Dr. Ossendowski has witnessed, all of the last great acts of the tragedy leading inevitably up to the final act--the Russian Revolu- tion. And now that that act has been played Dr. Ossendowski sees no brighter hope. "This was, is and sure- ly will continue to be for a long time still" he says, "the manner of the authorities in dealing with the people, whom they have always regarded merely as cattle without rights and ac- customed to most monstrous meas- ures of repression. Watchwords have changed but the system of govern- ment has remained the same. It is illegality and violence." Dr. Ossendowski always manages to give in his books that feeling of a vast unknown country in which the most startling things are not only pos- sible but usual. In this one he has been less successful than in his others In giving one continuous thread to his narrative and thus carrying his reader's interest triumphantly to the end. It is, in spite of the great under- lying events with which it deals, rather a series of incidents than a drama. OLD CHICAGO "THE SMITHS" By Janet A. Fairbank. The Bobbs Merrill Co. Mrs. Janet A. Fairbank has taken one of the descendents of "The Cort- landts of Washington Square" and done for Chicago what she there did for New York. She runs the risks which all writers of historical novels must run, either that she make the characters too subservient to the his- tory or that she make the history too subservient to the characters. To a certain extent Mrs. Fairbank kas com- mitted both of these errors. Perhaps she would have committed one of them anyway, the one of not letting us really sufficiently feel the charac. ters. We never seem to be living in exactly the same world with them. On the other hand when the most vital interest has been aroused in great historical events such as the Chicago fire she gives us much less than we-- of Chicago at least--would like to have and turns to her character develop- ment. However, though this division of at- tention prevents the book from being an intensely gripping one it is very Interesting, particularly to those who by accidents of time or place are not familiar with the building up of Chi- cago. Peter Smith, the central character of the book, epitomizes in his indom- itable rise from a small machinist to a great iron king, the spectacular emergence, during his lifetime, of Chicago as a great city. Yet the char- acter about which we care the most 1s not Peter but his wife, Ann Cort- landt_ Smith, who has much less to do with the rise of Chicago. She is very much occupied with the prob- lem of living, about which she says at the end "Life is all very well to live, Dan,--but it won't bear thinking about." In Peter's family we see the great family of a new community, the early pioneering spirit, the appalling ob- stacles overcome, the final rise to im- mense fortune on the wave of the city's progress. And in the children, too, we see the frequent sequel, the entire lack of the indomitable strain which seems to have run out with the parents' early life, the desire for luxury and an easier occupation than their father's and the father's consequent great dis- appointment. In Ann's life we realize that those early days made up a man's world, for a man of Peter Smith's calibre, at least, the problems of building up a great industry were too immense to be shared by a woman. So Ann was left to build what life she could from the fragments of the old New York world she had left and the new one growing up before her. FIRST GRADERS NEED WATCHING Calls Physical Defects Hin- drance to Study With more than 200,000 Illinois chil- dren about to face the school mistress for the first time, after which their lives will be fraught with books and bells for a decade or more, Dr. Isaac D. Rawlings, state health director, takes occasion to suggest in a bulletin issued this week that a health certificate for each of these men and women of to- morrow will have a far more profound affect upon the ultimate result of school life than will the faultless grooming of the hair, the immaculate washing of hands and face or the dainty adjust- ment of a freshly laundered collar. Lifted out of a carefree life of play- full exercise in the open, the six-year olds will find the physical strain of classroom discipline hard enough with- out nursing the handicaps of defective vision, diseased tonsils, decayed teeth, impaired hearing or other disorders that are so frequently present but which usually may be promptly correct- ed by proper medical treatment. Susceptible to Ills "Experience in public schools where adequate medical supervision exists shows that first grade children lose considerably more time from school be- cause of illness than the children of any other grade", said Dr. Rawlings. "They are more susceptible to disease because of their tender years and be- cause of the radical change of environ- ment imposed by school room disci- pline and confinement. They therefore need every possible attention which tends to increase their physical health Land bodily resistance against infections. "Neatness of clothing and cleanliness of body are highly commendable vir- tues in school children but soap and water cannot remove a diseased tonsil nor can a freshly laundered collar cor- rect poor vision or fill decayed teeth. The frequency of physical defects among young children and their evil affects upon health and school progress make corrective measures of great im- portance. Need Examination "Year after year a lot of children who have been rated as dull and who have fallen behind their classes are found to be suffering from physical de- fects rather than mental incapacity. Such children, although they make sat- isfactory progress after corrective treatment, have lost forever the tardy years that were spent in vain efforts at learning and have had an unneces- sary degree of discouragement thrust upon them because of their innocent backwardness. "For the sake of the child's health and welfare and for economy to the parents and public each of the 200,000 six-year-old tots who will soon answer the school bell for the first time ought to have the advantage of a thorough physical examination by a competent doctor. Each one ought to face his teacher with the scar of a successful smallpox vaccination on his arm, a rec- ord of immunization against diphtheria and a certificate of health showing freedom from corrective defects. Armed with these safeguards and a normal mind, his career in school will cause him to approach much nearer the as- pirations of his parents and the de- mands of modern civilized life than will otherwise be the case. STAGE QUEEN NOW IN FILM Irene Olsen, well known in musical comedy, is making her screen debut in support of Barbara Ia Marr and Conway Tearle in "The Heart of a Siren." Miss Olsen's work was so successful that she was contracted with, at the close of filming on "The Heart of a Siren," to appear in the next La Marr picture, as well. A Leading "Best Seller" Through- out the United States SOUNDINGS BY A. HAMILTON GIBBS SOUNDINGS continues to gain in popularity throughout the country as one reader recom- mends it to another. SOUNDINGS is now in its 66th THOUSAND and gaining a wider popularity every day. Price $2.00. LITTLE, BROWN & CO. Boston now. No duplicates. Telephone Winnetka 1101 Announcement That my customers may take advantage of an opportunity to select exclusive designs in Christmas Cards, I am showing a beautiful line Your card with your name engraved. in your plate or we furnish one. Greetings at a reduction if ordered early. I also have a fine line of Stationery, Bridge Sets and Prizes, Leather Gift Goods, Old French Prints, Etchings, and-- : Books for Gifts All the Best Sellers, Biographies, Beautiful Line of Children's Books WINNETKA'S EXCLUSIVE BOOK SHOP Alice McAlister Skinner Richardson's Garage Building Bring This assures you of individual 724 Elm Street Kenilworth Man Enjoys "Y" Camp Life in Woods A Kenilworth man, Wesley Amund- sorf, is reported to be one of the suc- cessful fishermen at Camp Nawakwa, conducted by the Y. M. C. A. of Chi- cago for men in the Lac du Flambeau Indian reservation, in northern Wis- consin. No telephone calls, no business con- ferences, no roar of "L" trains, no stiff collars, but it was a chance to camp in the beautiful woods and be a boy again, said Mr. Amunsdorf. Swim- ming, long canoe trips, over the con- necting lakes and streams of northern Wisconsin, fine fishing, baseball, vol- ley-ball, or reading and quieter games around the big fire place in the lodge fill up the days, which pass very quick- ly. The intellectual atmosphere about the camp is indicated by the official label- ing of the four cows that give milk for ists. the campers with the titles of "Venus", "Erysipelas", "Queen Elizabeth", and "The Queen of Sheba." Three pigs which serve as the camp garbage incin- erators are named, "Good Morning", "Good Evening", and "Good Night." Claim Auto Drivers Become More Careful The careful crossing campaigns of safety organizations and of the rail- roads is beginning to have its effect, according to the accident prevention department of the Chicago Motor club. During the first six months of 1924 the Chicago terminal division of the Pennsylvania railroad reported that 112 crossing gates were broken by motor- During the same period in 1925, however, this occurred but 85 times, a reduction of 27, which, with the tre- mendous increase in car registration, means that there has been considerable improvement in driving. his desk. written. copy. Tougher than a Cross-word Puzzle The boss left town last night, and the stenographer tried in vain to make out one vital word in a memo he had left on Perhaps her failure would cost the firm a good customer - but it would not be her fault. Business memos should never be hand- They should be coronatyped, and the writer should keep a carbon The new Corona Four with standard keyboard costs only. $60.00 Monthly terms if desired. FOUNTAIN SQUARE ABSOLUTELY SAFE-- QUIET-- CLEAN-- ODORLESS AND ECONOMICAL remarkable proposition. 520 Dempster St. "Clean as gas, and burns as quietly as a coal fire." WILL YOU TRY The AUTOMATIC OIL BURNER For Home Heating' AT OUR EXPENSE You must see the Sword to know why we can make this astounding offer. that you call at our show room before September 3rd, in order to secure the advantages of this Telephone for representative if impossible to call. Open every evening until 9 o'clock. SWORD OIL BURNER SALES Tel. Greenleaf 1585 C. D. PORTERFIELD, Manager EVANSTON, ILL. MANY NORTH SHORE HOME OWNERS . WILL VERIFY OUR STATEMENTS We ask, therefore,

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