Home Circle Department.Conducted Anna Harper Haney

MRS. HANEY’S WEEKLY LETTER.Dear Home Circle Friends:Now that the holidays are nearly

over, we have long evenings free to.spend around the open fireplace andwe will have time to read some ofthe new books. We did lots of sew-ing during December when we weregetting ready for Christmas, didn'twe? and the spring sewing must bebegun in February, consequently Jan-uary is the logical time to read a fewof the much talked-of books of theday.

Do you like fiction or does non-fiction make a greater appeal to you?The librarian says that she has manycalls just now for the followingnovels:

The Breaking Point. —Rinehart.The Vehement Flame.—Deland.Gentle Julia. —Tarkington.Certain People of Importance.—

Kathleen Norris.Brass —Norris.Alice Adams. —Tarkington. 'If Winter Comes. —Hutchinson.To the Last Man.—Grey.The Great Prince' Shan. —Oppen-

heim.The Head of the House of Coombe.

-Burnett.Mary Roberts Rinehart skillfully

tells a romantic tale in "The Break-ing Point" and this .book is addingmore admirers to the ranks of thosewho praise this well-known writer.

The disrupting of a home becauseof the wife's jealousy forms the themeof Margaret Deland's novel, "TheVehement Flame," and, incidentally,the jealous wife is twenty years olderthan her youthful husband.

If you want an evening of real re-laxation, read "Gentle Julia." Thistime it is not Penrod who is the mis-chief maker 'but an equally activetwelve-year old girl who constantlytangles the family affairs and createscmbarassing situations.

California is proud of KathleenNorris and "Certain People of Import-ance" seems destined to attain a well-deserved popularity. The charactersare life-like and mirror the virtuesmd the faults of everyday people.

The problems of marriage receivemuch attention from modern authors,and, in "Brass", the author contraststhe lives of two brothers, one of whomis happily married and the other di-vorced —a drifter without vital fam-ily tieß.

In "Alice Adams," Tarkington ser-iously presents one phase of Ameri-can girlhood—the problem of the girlwithout means who has social aspira-tions. How she solves her problemwill surprise you.

People who feel themselves some-times misunderstood are enthusiasticover "If Winter Comes." The hero,after many disillusioning experienceswith the quirks of human nature,finds happiness at last, for as thepoem which is the theme of the booksays, "Ifwinter comes, Can spring befar behind?"

Family feuds, hand to hand flght-ing, lonely mountains, Indian wood-craft,—all unite in making ZaneGrey'g "To The Last Man" a thrillingtale. It is not a book for nervousinvalids.

England, R*ussia and China furnishthe leading characters for "The GreatPrince Shan". And you will gasp atthe audacity of the climax.

Another mysterious story with out-of-the-ordinary characters is "TheHoad of the House of Coombe."

Xot all of the above books describedar< great books —some of them areeven sordid —but they are the bookswhich are being read by the Americanpublic today.

But you will want to read somenon-fiction, too, and popular non-fic-tion books cover a wide range ofsubjects —history, biography, medi-cine, etiquette. Among these booksare: —The Outline of History—Wells.

Tie Americanization of EdwardBok—Bok.

Outwitting Our Nerves —Jacksonam! Salisbury.

The Mirrors of Washington.Anonymous.

The Mirrors of Downing Street.Anonymous.

Painted Windows.— Anonymous.The Glass of Fashion.—Anonymous.The Story of Mankind. —Van Loon.Queen Victoria. —Strachey.The Mind in the Maktng.—-RobinsonEtiquette.—Emily Post.A college education within the two

covers of one book may well be saidof "The Outline of History." Thisbook has created much discussion andis well worth the reading althoughyou may be one of the people who dis-agree with Well's interpretation ofcertain historical events.

Every boy and girl (and their fa-thers and mothers too) should read"The Americanization of EdwardBok," a fascinating description of apoor boy's struggle against povertyuntil he at last developed into astrong man who has been of greatservice to the American public. Bokvividly paints America as the land ofboundless opportunity.

Does the mind affect the body?Whether you think it does or it doesnot, you will find "Outwitting OurNerves," a most readable book. It isespecially good for the woman whosays, "I'm not sick, but I just feel alltired out."

The student of modern times findsmuch food for thought in the contri-butions of an anonymous author —"The Mirrors of Washington," "TheMirrors of Downing Street" and"Painted Windows".

"Is modern life upholding the best,ideals?" asks the author of "TheGlass of Fashion", "Or should we re-turn to the quieter living of fiftyyears ago?"

Three other popular books of theday include Van Loon's "The Story ofMankind." Robinson's "The Mind inthe Making," and Strachey's "QueenVictoria."

Most people find the reading ofnon-fiction more truly satisfying thanthe reading" of fiction because theideas and ideals of the writers of non-fiction often open up new avenues ofthought and give us a clearer under-standing of life.

The last book on our popular list ofnon-ficton might be almost said to bein a class by itself since it deals withthe very personal problem of mannersand attempts to make clear the properetiquette in society, business, politics,and the home. It is a good book forthe home library.

If you have difficulty in obtaining,any of the books which you wish toread at your local dealer's, we willbe glad to supply you with the namesof the publishers who handle thesebooks.

Very sincerely yours,ANNA HARPER HANEY.

ANEW YEAR RESOLUTION.To live content with small means;

to seek elegance rather than luxury,and refinement rather than fashion;to be worthy, not respectable; andwealthy, not rich; to study hard,think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;to listen to stars and birds, to babesand sages, with open heart; to bearall cheerfully, do all bravely, awaitoccasions, hurry never—in a word, tolet the spiritual, unbidden and un-conscious, grow up through the com-mon—this is to be my symphony.—William Henry Charming.

How to be happy:1. See something beautiful every

day.2. Learn something new every day.3. Do a kind act every day.Try this recipe for happiness for

the ffrst week of the New Year, and,if it works, keep on through all theweeks of 1923.

Many mothers bewail the moderntendency toward "jazz." There isonly one way to combat this cvil—amind filled with beautiful melodieslearned in childhood, will turn inev-itably toward the kind of musicwhich will endure.

A NEW USE FOR THE PHONO-GRAPH.

"Hans Kindler is going to play the"Melody in P" for us this morning,"Edward says to Ralph as they enterthe schoolyard and we wonder if ourears are deceiving us or if the Roblaschool is to be visited by a great artist.

But the mystery is soon explained.Miss Lewis places a record on thephonograph and says, "Now close youreyes, children, and tell me what thismusic means to you after you havelistened closely to this record."

Edward can hardly restrain his en-thusiasm. "It makes me think of agarden of beautiful flowers and the vio-loncello sounds just like a bee buzzing

•in one of the flowers!" Other boysand girls wave their hands that theymay have the opportunity to tell theirinterpretation of this worlfl-famouscomposition.

All over Sacramento county, similarincidents are taking place everyschool day, for the rural school chil-dren of Sacramento county not onlylearn to sins, but through listeningto phonograph records become fa-miliar with many of the greatest mu-sical compositions.

School people'say that leaders ofrural school work all over the UnitedStates" are observing the use of thephonograph in Sacramento county,and that it is likely that similar workwill be undertaken in m^vny countiesof various states. The phonographhas long been used in the teaching ofsongs and for school marching butmusical appreciation is a new field.

"My mother carried eggs and butterto Market week after week to pay formy music lessons," says Mrs. JessieW. Mack, principal of *he Pacificschool. "Now our scht children aregetting splendid musical instructionfree of charge in the public schools."

"In our school we have been study-ins Caruso, Alma Gluck and MaudPowell as well as some Indian music.Our students know the principalfacts relative to the careers of thesegreat artists and they are often hearddiscussing the way Caruso sings "TheLost Chord," the marvelous controlAlma Gluck has of her voice in "Lo,Here the Gentle Lark," and the effectof the flute obligato. Then they liketo hum the melody when Maud Powellplays "Humoresque."

"At Thanksgiving time the childenenjoyed the story of the first Thanks-giving and with the aid of the songscalled "Hiawatha's Childhood," Indianmusic became familiar. The selec-tions from Longfellow set to musicin these songs were studied as poemsin the reading classes."

The boys and girls of the Junctionschool love to march into the schoolbuilding to the thrilling strains of the"Double Eagle March." And whowouldn't love to take his seat in anorderly fashion if he could imaginehe was keeping step with a fine band?

One-half of the children in the uppergrades of the Junction School passeda perfect examination on the follow-ing test recently given in their musi-cal appreciation work:

1. What is the name of this rec-ord? ("Cradle Song" was sung byAlma Gluck.)

2. Who was the singer?3. Who composed the " Cradle

Song"? (Mozart.)4. What is the name of this rec-

ord? ("Evening Chimes.")5. What instruments are used?

(Violin, flute and harp.)6. What is the name of this rec-

ord? ("O Sole Mio.")7. On what instrument is the mel-

ody played. (The accordion.)8. What is the name of this rec-

ord? ("Home to Our Mountains.")9. What two artists are singing?

(Homer and Caruso.)10. What *is the acocmpaniment?

(An orchestra.)Three-fourths of fhe children of the

Junction School come from homeswhere the parents do not speak Eng-lish and the joy which the hearing ofbeautiful music brings to these chil-dren could never be measured in dol-lars and cents.

Fruitridge School is preparing fora contest similar to that recently con-ducted at the Junction School al-though different records will be used.Some schools purchase their own rec-ords but most of the schools obtaintheir records from the county library

where records may be obtained in ex-actly the same manner as are books.

A very great many of the schoolsin Sacramento county have pianos aswell as phonographs, but now andthen a school is found which lacksone or the other of these. At DelPaso, a wide-awake Parent-Teacher'sAssociation has just made the pur-chasing of a phonograph possible,and their method of raising the nec-essary funds may give other motherssome suggestions.

First, interest was created when ateacher demonstrated the use of aphonograph for marching, for sing-ing, for musical appreciation and forthe playing of folk games. "LooblyLoo" is a favorite game with childrenand a group of children accompaniedby the band music of this recordshowed how the phonograph may beused on the school ground in playingsinging games.

Two dealers demonstrated differenttypos of phonographs and a generaldiscussion of the problem followed.The trustees voted $30 from the gen-eral expense fund, $5 was allow*d bythe dealer for the old phonograph,the Woman's Club donated $25 andinstead of buying a. school treat atChristmas time, the Parent-Teacher'sAssociation will canvass the commun-ity to pay off the remaining paymentof $40.

Although machines of the $100-typeare very good, a most desirable schoolinstrument can be purchased for aslittle as $35.

Washington School has been study-ing the different instruments of theorchestra by means of a special rec-ord where a solo is played by eachinstrument. The strings include: vio-lin, viola, violoncello and double bass;the woodwinds —piccolo,' flute, oboe,English horn, clarinet and bassoon;the brass —the French horn, cornet,trombone and tuba; the percussion—the drums, the bells and the xylo-phone.

Pupils soon learn to recognize thedifferent instruments and delight infinding pictures of them. Then whenthey hear an orchestra play at a the-atre they easily recognize- the differ-ent instruments not only by sight butalso by sound.

"We never begrudge the time wespend studying music," says Mrs. E.S. Leedy, teacher of the FremontSchool, "for we can do our otherwork just that much better afterspending a few*minutes every morn-ing singing and listening to a famousmusical composition. We recentlygave an entertainment where weraised over $60 for a piano and we useour phonograph every day. Just nowwe are learning Christmas songs—anew carol every week—and studying

a different record every week. Thisweek one of my pupils brought "Si-lent Night" so that the other pupilsmight hear it.

749Pacific Rural Press, December 30, 1922

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