to prove
that the Negro did not get a square deal.

* * * * *

_The Heart of a Woman._ By GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, with an
introduction by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE. The Cornhill Co., Boston,
1918. Pp. 62.

In these days of _vers libre_ and the deliberate straining for poetic
effect these lyrics of Mrs. Johnson bring with them a certain sense of
relief and freshness. Also the utter absence of the material theme
makes an appeal. We are all weary of the war note and are glad to
return to the softer pipings of old time themes--love, friendship,
longing, despair--all of which are set forth in _The Heart of a
Woman_.

The book has artistry, but it is its sincerity which gives it its
value. Here are the little sharp experiences of life mirrored
poignantly, sometimes feverishly, always truly. Each lyric is an
instantaneous photograph of one of the many moments in existence
which affect one briefly perhaps, but indelibly. Mr. Braithwaite says
in his introduction that this author engages "life at its most
reserved sources whether the form or substance through which it
articulates be nature, or the seasons, touch of hands or lips, love,
desire or any of the emotional abstractions which sweep like fire or
wind or cooling water through the blood." The ability to give a
faithful and recognizable portrayal of these sources, is Mrs.
Johnson's distinction.

In this work, Mrs. Johnson, although a woman of color, is dealing with
life as it is regardless of the part that she may play in the great
drama. Here she is a woman of that imagination that characterizes any
literary person choosing this field as a means of directing the
thought of the world. Several of her poems bearing on the Negro race
have appeared in the _Crisis_. In these efforts she manifests the
radical tendencies characteristic of every thinking Negro of a
developed mind and sings beautifully not in the tone of the
lamentations of the prophets of old but, while portraying the trials
and tribulations besetting a despised and rejected people, she sings
the song of hope. In reading her works the inevitable impression is
that it does not yet appear what she will be. Adhering to her task
with the devotion hitherto manifested, there is no reason why she
should not in the near future take rank among the best writers of the
world.

J. R. FAUSET

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_A Histo