Evening star. [volume], November 20, 1937, Page B-2, Image 16

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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GREAT MEN ARE REMEMBERED
Winston Churchill Writes Pleasantly of Famous Acquaintances in
Collection of Essays—Evelyn Scott Has Done an Ac
complished Work About Her Childhood.
By Mary-Carter Roberts.
GREAT CONTEMPORARIES. By
Winston Churchill. New' York: G.
P. Putnam's Sons.
HIS is a collection of 21 essays
on, as the title would indicate,
a group of its author's famous
acquaintances. There is noth
ing of any particular moment in the
volume: yet it can be recommended
as pleasantly entertaining. Mr.
Churchill writes skillfully. He sub
jects his material to impressive con
densation, he applies to it a bril
liant polish. And these devices very
successfully cover the fact that his
material itself consists of quite or
dinary observation. He has given us a
book, in short, which can be read
with easy pleasure and without any
tiresome exercise of the critical fac
ulty. He deserves gratitude.
His subjects are all very prominent
men. By far the greater number of
them is taken from the field of pol
itics. These include Lord Roseberry,
Joseph Chamberlain, John Morley,
Boris Savinkov, Asquith, the first
Earl of Birkenhead. Trotsky, Lord
Balfour. Lord Curzon, Philip Snow
den and Clemenceau. From among
the one-time rulers of the world Mr.
Churchill also chooses a few names—
the former Kaiser, the former King of
Spain and George V of England.
And these warriors are among his
memories—Sir John French, Gen.
Hmdenberg, Lawrence of Arabia, Mar
shal Foch and Lord Haig. From the
lists of WTiters—that is, of writers who
are only writers—he has chosen
George Bernard Shaw.
The book is one which depends
entirely on style. Mr. Churchill throws
little light on the characters of his
subjects beyond that with which then
public careers have already illumi
nated them. His personal reminis
cences are not in any wav intimate
either. But he has an entertaining
manner of putting those things which
we already know-: Shaw, for example,
be calls a "bright, nimble, fierce and
comprehending being, Jack Frost,
dancing bespangled in the sunshine":
of Trotsky he says with truly mag
nificent brevity, "He must have been
e difficult man to piease," and Law
rence he calls, "An epic, a prodigv. a
tale of torment and in the heart of it—
e Man.” Such well-made phrases give
life to material not remarkable for
Its strict content.
The reviewer found the essays on
Shaw, Savinkov, Lawrence, Trotsky,
Alfonso, Hitler and Clemenceau the
best of the group. It is perhaps par
ticularly interesting to note how- Mr.
Churchill views the German Fuehrer,
since England recently has shown a
disposition to cultivate amiable re
lations with the Nazi state. He char
acterizes Hitler's campaigns against
the Jews, the church, the Socialists,
Communists and Trade Unionists as
"frightful evils," but asserts that his
rebuilding of Germany has been a
"superb toil.” "What, manner of man
is this?” he then asks. "Does he still
share the passions he has evoked?
Does he, in the full sunlight of worldly
triumph, at the head of the great
nation he has raised from the dust,
ct-ill fnol rark-giH Kit tVip ViatrnHc anH
antagonisms of his desperate strug
gle; or will they be discarded like
the armor and the cruel weapons of
strife under the mellowdng influences
of success? Evidently a burning ques
tion for men of ail nations!”
Most of the essays, however, deal
with the past. And most of Mr.
Churchill's judgments arc kindly. He
teases Shaw a little, commenting on
the paradox presented by his orderly
and profitable private career as against
his revolutionary and socialistic public
utterances; he lashes Trotsky, but with
more contempt than hatred; he treats
of the differences between Foeh and
the British military staff with frank
ness, but without bitterness. On the
whole the tone of the book is un
provocative and forbearing.
The reviewer recommends the vol
ume for pleasant reading. It is un
likely that its author intended it for
any other purpose, but that one is
admirably fulfilled.
IMPERIAL CITY. By Elmer Rice.
New York; Coward-McCann, Inc.
'T'HIS large, dreary, earnest and un
1 grammatical novel unquestionably
has a. certain impressive quality. It
Is 554 pages of very small type and
has characters running into the hun
dreds. Yet the reviewer holds that
not size alone accounts for the afore
mentioned quality, which is a kind of
depressing greatness. There is more
to it than that. Wading through its
vast gray narrative, battered to a
critical pulp by the dead weight of
Mr. Rice's flat sophomoric prose, the
reviewer was tempted more than once
to cast the work aside and write of it
only that she could not stand the
doing.
But something prevented her from
doing this. It was not so much that
she wanted to know what happened;
It was rather that she acquired a sort
of morbid curiosity as to whether any
thing ever would happen. It seemed
impossible that Mr. Rice could keep
on to the end of his very thick vol
ume without letting some action creep
in. One-quarter through, one-third
through, the reviewer told herself that
now, at last, he must be getting
under way. Half through she still
had hopes. Coming down the home
stretch (if any words so associated
with speed can properly be used in
this connection) she said to herself
that this must be one of those novels
which end in a grand climax, saving
fill effect for a final scene. But she
teas mistaken. Nothing ever did hap
pen. She concludes now that it is in
precisely this fact that the greatness
of "Imperial City” lies. A book which
can pile up words to such length as
this, without any action whatsoever,
is definitely an accomplishment, It
takes genius to produce it.
Nor should readers think that the
fibove statements are made mockingly.
“Imperial City” would seem to be its
• uthor's interpretation of New York—
not of life in New York, but of the
town itself, a vast sluggish organism
taken as a whole, filled with minute
separate vibrations but without motion
or consciousness in its sum. a mass of
life which is, in itself, a dead thing.
This is no trifle to undertake and it
can be said that Mr. Rice, in spite of
his disregard for the laws governing
modifying clauses, carries it off. But
tt does not make a novel. It makes,
instead, a study, such a study as would
result from a determination to ring
fill the doorbells in the city and know
all the citizens in the fullness of their
private lives and longings. Fascinat
ing—yes, but horribly so. Overwhelm
ing—yes, but only with depression to
tha soul.
For In the immense morass of ma
terial which Mr. Rice thus assembles
there is hardly a trickle of connected
narrative. Worse than that, there is
apparently no room in the crowding of
his characters for any real delineation
of individuals. He introduces his men
and women with such cliche labels as
"a power in Tammany,” a “daughter
of the rich,” a “fashionable psychia
trist (and where, the reviewer asks,
are the unfashionable psychiatrists of
fiction?), a "playboy,” an •'intellectual”
and so on. Trusting to the educa
tion afforded the public by Hollywood,
Mr. Rice seems to feel that these
tattered tags will suffice to convey to
his readers any subtleties of character
ization which he is too busy to ex
plain. And when he does explain, he
is even less inspired; he falls back
then on "complexes,” "economic pres
sures” and similar readymade devices.
The result is that his men and women
are perfectly flat silhouettes and the
things which he makes them do per
fectly predictable. The only suspense
left in this grim array of case his
tories is, as said, the hope that eventu
ally he may bind them together in
j some'related action. And this he never
| does. His omission, however, is in
dicated by his method; it would be
j bad art for him finally to impose
i drama on material which he has elect
ed to render completely undrama tic.
There is something Dreiser-like in
I the earnest, if sometimes psuedo-sci
j entific sordiness of this novel; there is
! something distinctly Dreiser-like in the
| awfulness of Mr. Rice's prose. Now
| there once was an author—not Dreiser
| —who tried to do for New York what
! Mr. Rice attempts here, and that au
j thor is known to the world by the name
of O. Henry. He, too, wanted to show
forth the city which he loved, but he,
unlike Mr. Rice, loved with under
! standing; he had no single inclination
| t(> castigate. He realized that a ring
j ing of Manhattan's multitudinous
doorbells could not produce the com
posite spirit of the city; he blended his
knowledge of its inhabitants into
stories filled with that spirit—New
York's peculiar kind of absurdity. Mr.
Rice forswears any such manner of
I interpretation. If he has ever seen
any humor in his city, he does not
mention it. The photographic realism
| of his method forbids impressionism.
He simply goes from cell to cell of
j the monstruous honeycomb, reporting,
j in the language of the clinic, what he
j finds. A human being is not inter
| eating to him. apparently, except in
| terms of disease. Truly he is a mod
j ern novelist.
| His book is a vast canvas, painted
I badly, but by a man who had a real
; purpose and vision. If such merits
! are sufficient to you, you should by
j all means read it.
BACKGROUND IN TENNESSEE By
Evelyn Scott, New York. Robert
M. McBride & Co.
'y'HIS accomplished and original work
| is this author's reminiscences
; about her Southern childhood. Yet_
hardly "reminiscences”! That word
i fias been too constantly w-orked in this
year, when everyone and his wife ha?
I written an autobiography. Miss Scott’s
I work deserves another characteriza
I tion. For it is not a thing to be lumped
! among the year's mass of self-written
lives, by any means. It is. as said,
original both in concept and content.
It is, indeed, a re-creation of a child
hood background, with a comprehend
ing attention given to the factors
that went into the making of that
background. It is less a history of the
author's childhood than a history of
the land where that childhood was
spent, end from which a child gathered
much of her individuality. It is writ
ten with a splendid literary quality
and vitality.
Miss Scott's method is difficult of
description. It permits her to go from
revolutionary times to. the days of her
own youth and back again with* the
utmost freedom, and without irrele
vance. As far as it may be put down,
it consists in tracing back to their
origins the opinions, legends and gen
eral mental inheritance which she
possessed as a child. Only a fine art
ist could make this passage back and
forth across the years without becom
ing tiresome. She does it with un
abating freshness throughout her vol
ume.
The reviewer would hardly com
mend the work to the reader who
wants light, entertainment, as the say
ing so beautifully goes. But to lovers
of good writing for its own sake she
j unqualifiedly offers "Background in
Tennessee." And this despite the fact
that, as a novelist, she rates Miss
Scott as one of our very mast laborious.
iHL CROOKED CORONET. By
Michael Arlen. New York: Dou
bleday Doran & Co.
QNCE more Mr. Arlen! And quite
as placidly amusing as ever, too.
Well, one thing can be said of him:
when he is not writing for the masses
when, that is, he is not in his
Green Hat mood—he is not very of
ten dull. His present collection of 11
stories is. on the average, quite enter
taining and. as is customary in Arlen's
volumes, at least one of the number
is excellent. This is "Legend of the
Bearded Golfer."
The others run from the merely
•■vapid to not too successful attempts
at the fantastic. When he is vapid
Mr. Arlen runs a great risk of being
mistaken for P. G. Wodehouse. When
he is trying to be fantastic he writes
as if he were trying to be fantastic—
and that about describes it. However
the virtuosity of the "Bearded Golfer”
is worth a good deal of the rest, most
of which is well above the ordinary
magazine level at that. Even so. the
volume is not recommended, it is
much too uneven in quality to be likely
to appeal in its entirety to anybody’s
taste.
THE LAST SPANISH WAR. By
Orestes Ferrara. Translated from
the Spanish by William E. Shea
New York: The Paisley Press.
'J'HIS is the history of the diplo
matic moves which preceded the
Spanish-American War. The author,
former Cuban Ambassador to Wash
ington, should be well known to many
Star readers. His brief scholarly
work, though a history of a highly
involved and complicated situation,
is as interesting a narrative as the
reviewer has had to read in a long
time.
The account begins in 1896 with
the circulation among the Ambassa
dors of the various powers to Spain
of the O’Donnell “memorandum,”
which had as its object to induce the
European nations to intervene in Cuba
in the interest of the principle of
monarchial government. From this
it moves on to the entrance of the
United States into the Cuban revolt.
An amazing number of intrigues and
series of somewhat startling diplo
matic objectives are uncovered in the
course of the two years. Documents
from the archives of the Spanish,
French, Italian, German, Russian and
American governments have been ex
amined for material.
Of these, Senor Ferrara says in his
foreward that no one except himself
has “learned what is contained in the
documents in the American, French
and Italian archives." It will be un
derstood from this that his work con
tains hitherto unpublished revelations.
What stands out is an attempt by
Spain to revive in a new form the
Holy Alliance type of federation among
the European states, the aim of the
new group to be protection of mon
archies everywhere and presentation
of an unbroken front to the demo
cratic governments of the world.
The book is enlivened w ith excellent
comment and written with telling di
rectness. It should be interesting to
any one. It should be irresistible to
students of history.
A PEDLARS PACK By Elizabeth
Goudge. New York: Coward
MeCann, Inc.
JN THIS volume of 16 stories Miss
Goudge, author of "A City of
Bells." reveals once more her unique
talent for being saccharine with an air
of literary accomplishment. Whether
it is that air, or whether it is the sar
charinitv. Miss Goudge seems to
please. She has the charm of the
“nice" human being; it is so much
; easier to accept her than it is to be
j convincing about why you reject. Yet
the reviewer does find under her
smooth and gifted writing a much too
sweetish mentality.
The present collection of stories
seems to fall within these strictures
Beyond that there is little to say of it
!'—except, of course, that it contains
| three selections which have as their
scene the Channel Islands, that it
wanders from English countryside to
quaint old London bookshops and that
its characters seem like stage people
enacting r pastoral with somewhat
unsteady scenery. But let us cease, lest
: we be unkind.
O HENRY MEMORIAL AWARD
PRIZE STORIES OF 1937. Edited
by Harry Hansen. New York:
Doubleday Doran & Co.
’’J'HE stories in this year's volume o(
I this series are not as long as they
| customarily have been ir> the past
| Beyond that, the reviewer sees nothing
i whatsoever to say about the selection
| Collections of "best" and “prize'
stories have always baffled her. There
j ace so pitifully few even good storiee
| published in our magazines that tc
select a volume of definitely superioi
[ ones is obviously practically impossible
j Yet, every year, out comes these collec
| tions—and not only do they claim thai
the stories included in them are thf
j finest of the year—they also attempi
j to tell w hy. It never makes sense.
In the present group the first prizf
is given to Stephen Vincent Benet's
j “The Devil and Daniel Webster,"
which fhp rpviouipr Vtoc olrooeif
tioned in these columns as a fine tele
Beyond that there Is nothing to b<
said of the collection. If. however
you are curious, second prize wa.<
j awarded to “To Those Who Wait," b\
j Elick Moll, and third to "The Fury,’
: by Robert M. Coates.
I ASPECTS OF SCIENCE. By Tobia;
Dantzig. New York: The Mac
| rnillan Co.
i 'J'HE former Kaiser was walking
| with his sons in the imperial gar
! dens at Potsdam one autumn night.
| “Father," asked one of the boys,
| “what are the stars?"
“The stars, my son." responded the
| Emperor, “are medals which we have
j graciously bestowed upon the Almighty
| for His great services to the Hohen
i zollern dynasty."
i This story related by Dr. Tobias
| Dantzig. professor of mathematics at
| the University of Maryland, in
| “Aspects of Science” is an admirable
| statement of the theme of the book
I He tells the story of man's intellectual
- progress away from such a naive out
look on nature.
Kaiser Bill's explanation of the
heavens was only relatively more ego
tistical than that of the whole world
a few years ago. It still is the attitude
\ of the majority of mankind.
Slowly and painfully the human
mind has moved away from the
anthropocentric outlook on creation—
a progress attended step by step with
burnings, stonings and whatever other
tortures could be devised. Creation
has been a man with space and time
placed around him for his con
venience—not space and time with
a man dropped into it.
Gallileo, Copernicus, Newton and a
host of others struck at the founda
tions of the naive concept. It re
mained for the mathematicians of
the middle 19th century to show the
w'ay out of it. It remained for Ein
stein and his followers in the present
century to lead the mind through
the door Reimman and Minkowski had
pointed out.—T. R. H.
THE ENEMY WITHIN. By Capt
Henry Landau. New York: G. P
Putnam's Sons.
CTILL pending before the Mixed
Claims Commission are American
claims against the German govern
ment for damages in connection with
the $20,000,000 explosion on Black Tom
Island, in New York Harbor, July 30
1916, and the $17,000,000 fire in a
shell assembly plant near Kingsland
N. J.. on January 11. 1917.
It is, of course, the American conten
tion that these disasters were the work
of German saboteurs. The Landau
book is the story behind these twe
most spectacular acts of sabotage
and, incidentally, behind many other
acts of German spies and agents in
the United States before our entrance
into the World War.
In his book Capt. Landau, who was
an officer of the British secret service
during the World War, explains very
frankly that it is his purpose in pub
lishing tile volume at this time to lay
before the world all the known facts
concerning the German sabotage cam
paign in order to bolster the American
claims against the former common
enemy. The result is a book of con
siderable historical importance anc
also a volume which contains all the
mental stimulus of a whole collection
of detective stories and the adventure
and melodrama of the most lurid fic
tion.
It is a shocking story of diplomatic
deception, criminal plotting, murder
arson and poisoning which Capt. Lan
dau unfolds and supports by reproduc
tions of important secret cables and
messages. He seeks to show that the
German diplomatic representatives in
Washington, Ambassador von Bern
storff and hij military aides, Von
I
ELMER RICE,
Best knoicn as a playwright, has reversed the usual order of
procedure by turning to fiction after earning a Pulitzer Prize
in the theater. Mr. Rice's first long novel, "Imperial City,” was
published this month. (Coward-McCann, Inc.)
: Paper and Bov-Ed, were actual heads
i of the great sabotage system built up
by the Germans in an effort to destroy
war materials intended for the Allies.
At ipast $150,000,000 damage was
done in the United States by sabo
tage agents during the two-year
period prior to our entry into the
World War. Capt. Landau says. He
sounds the warning that the same ob
I jectives exist today and are just as
I vulnerable: that this country is no
better protected now, in spite of its
j costly experience, than it was in 1914,
| The United States, he points out. is
the only major power not maintaining
! an adequate counter-espionage serv
ice. although he contends that spying
is on the increase and extensive spy
I networks are being established in this
and all other major countries.—J. S. E,
; HOW TO CARE FOR. THE BABY By
Violet Kelway Libby. Boston: Bruce
J Humphries.
; ''J'HIS slim little handbook, which has
j a foreword by Dr Truman Abbe of
j Washington. D. C . is one of the mat
| practical and easily followed of its
j kind. Mrs. Libby is the mother of
| three children, and the wealth of
! practical experience that is hers has
gone into the compilation of this vol
j ume. Every phase of the baby's carp
and development is taken up in turn
clearly and thoughtfully: from the
time of preparation for his majesty's
arrival, through his feeding, handling,
training, exercising. illnesses—and
even his traveling. There are chapters
I on how to wash the clothes and how to
plan his day. Necessary equipment is
listed m full, and all directions are
j given in simple terms that the young
] est and most ignorant mother may un
| derstand.
While Mrs. Libby is most thorough
about explaning the dangers and
symptoms of various diseases that may
attack the baby, she is by no means an
alarmist, and her clear directions about
what to do until the doctor comes
! should prove very comforting to a wor
j ried mother in such a trying situation.
B. C.
LITTLE LION. By Brand Whitlock.
New York: D. Appleton-Centurv
Co.
"I ITTLE LION" is an essay by Brand
Whitlock, our wartime Minister
to Belgium, about a Pekingese. It tells
graphically how a dog. even an un
wanted one, may worm its way into the
affections of a family until its life, its
habits, its desires and its indispositions
are of paramount importance. It also
shows clearly how this solicitude for a
dependent creature enriches the life of
the family and the individual, how it is
repaid with interest by affection, a
keen and sustained interest in some
thing aside from the grim realities of
life.
The book is written with a tender
ness worthy of its subject. Mieke was
evidently a Peke of parts, and Brand
Whitlock, in spite of his preoccupation
with war-torn Belgium, evidently took
..time to observe her character so he
could portray each of her dainty
foibles, and depict her in his essay as'
clear a personality as she undoubtedly
was to him. All dog lovers, and par
ticularly all Pekingese lovers, will wel
come this book.—R. R. T.
MEALS ON WHEELS. By Lou Will
son and Olive Hoover. Modern
Age Books, Inc., New York.
'T'HE authors of this very latest of
ultra-modern cook books are in
veterate travelers themselves and have
taken joyously to the trailer journey
ing of today. From their own experi
ences and efforts to keep house while
rolling over hill and dale they have
gleaned a wealth of helpful informa
tion. This has been incorporated in
their book, which seems destined to
become a standard part of every
trailer’s equipment.
There is given, right in the begin
ning, a bit of sound advice about not
overstocking, overequipping, etc. Then
follows a list of necessary utensils
and supplies which may be used as
a check list by the prospective trailer
housewife. The emergency shelf is
dealt with in detail; helpful hints
about making the most of the least
space abound, and there is a complete
section of menus and recipes based
on canned and packaged foods. The
latter half of the book is devoted to
menu& for warm and cool weather, to
gether with the necessary recipes; no
matter whetHer you head north or
south this new cookbook is ready for
you! B. C.
EVERY BOY’S BOOK OF AIRCRAFT.
By Eric Sargent. New York: D.
Appleton-Century Co.. Inc.
EVERY BOY’S BOOK OF FIGHTING
PLANES. By David W. Tyrrell.
New York: D. Appleton-Century
Co., Inc.
rJ'HE world’s important aircraft, mili
tary and civil, of all types and
purposes, are pictured and described,
briefly, in these two books. Written
Brief Reviews of Books
Lives.
THE RECTORY FAMILY. By John
Franklin Carter. New York: Cow
ard-McCann, Inc.
A very pleasant little story of a
pre-war New England family.
Politics.
ROOSEVELT—AND THEN? 3y Stan
ley High. New York: Harper <Sr
Bros.
A popular political writer predicts
what lays ahead of America as a
result of the Presidents social doc
trines. Optimistic.
Economics—Sociology.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR
TODAY AND TOMORROW, Ed
ited by Henry C Metcalf. New
York: Harper <fc Bros
A series of lectures designed for
business men to present to them the
best practices in negotiating collec
tive agreements
THREE THEORIES OF SOCIETY.
By Paul Hanley Purfey. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
A work designed to show that men
are animated by three desires—for
success, for beauty and for faith. Well,
there seems to be reason in the con
tention.
Natural Resources.
THE WASTED LAND By Gerald W
Johnson, Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press.
The condition of the South, with
relation to natural resources and
what may be done to save the land
from total wreck. Scholarly.
Freedom?
LET FREEDOM RING. Bv Arthur
Garfield Hays. New' York Live
right Publishing Corp.
Violations of civil liberties in Amer
ica. Old stuff and some new.
The Arts.
SIX CENTURIES OF FINE PRINTS.
By Carl Zigrosser. New York: Co
vici Friede.
A history of the art of print mak
ing. With 488 reproductions of fa
mous etchings, lithographs, aqua
tints, woodcuts and engravings. Worth
having.
ENCORE. By Daniel FYohman. New
York: Lee Furman.
The veteran producer reminisces.
LAST OF THE SQUARE-RIGGED
SHIPS. By J. Ferrell Colton. New
York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
A handbook of square-rigged sailing
ships which still survive. Detailed and
informative.
Inheritance.
YOUR WILL AND WHAT NOT TO
DO ABOUT IT. By Rene Wormser.
New York: Simon At Schuster.
A book of advice about bequeathing
property. Liseful.
Canning.
THE CANNING CLAN. Bv Earl Cha
pin May. New York: The Macmil
lan Co.
The story of the pioneers in the
canning industries of America.
Yoga.
YOGA EXPLAINED. By F. Yeats
Brown. New York: The Viking
Press.
An explanation of the theory and
practice of Yoga. Informative, though
not profound.
Fiction.
WHITE HELL OF PITY. By Norah
Lofts. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Unhappy tale of an English girl’s
struggle to rise above a mean environ
ment.
SWIFT WATERS. By Christine Whit
ing Parmenter. New York: Thomas
Y. Crowell Co.
The serious story of two women's
lives in an old New England town.
Worthy.
primarily for British youngsters, the
stress in both volumes, naturally
enough, is on British and European
types. In the military airplane book,
for example, 60 pages are devoted to
British fighting planes, 36 pages to
the airplanes of all other nations.
There are, nevertheless, many of the
latest and most important of the
United States military and commercial
airplanes included. In addition to the
brief descriptions of the various types
of airplanes shown photographically,
there are concise histories of the
various general classes of aircraft, of
air transport development and of
competitive flying and other features
of aviation progress.
The photographs, generally, are
good, showing much detail. There
frequently are two or more views, from
different angles, of each of the more
important types of aircraft. This
Teature will delight the builders qf
model aircraft, regardless of na
tionality. J. s. E.
v
1 MODERN MARRIAGE Bv Rob Eden
New York: M S Mill Co.
The story of a young couple who
j both had jobs. Trash.
WOOLLCOTT’S SECOND READER
New York: The Viking Press.
Containing the following: Preface to
“All Men Are Brothers,” by Shih Nai
an; "The Lady's Maid's Beil.” by Edith
i Wharton: “Joe." by Gustav Eckstein;
! “A Christmas Garland,” by Max Beer
| bohm; “The Portrait of M. M ," by D.
H. Lawrence; "Two Friends,” by Willa
Cather; “Cakes and Ale,” by Somerset
Maugham; "Boswell and the Girl From
' Botany Bay,” by Frederick A. Pottle;
"The Golden Age.” by Kenneth Gra
hame: “Peter Rugg. the Missing Man.”
i by William Austin: “My Aunt Daisy.”
by Albert Haiper: three stories by
1 Dorothy Parker: Big Two-Hearted
1 River.” by Ernest Hemingway; The
j Self-Help of G. J. Smith.” by William
i Boiitho: "All Kneeling." by Anne Par
rish: “Whilomville Stories." by Stephen
Crane: “To the Reverend Dr. Hyde.”
j by Robert Louis Stevenson: ' Rab and
! His Friends." by Dr. John Brown:
: “God and My Father,” by Clarence
Day. and a Thanksgiving proclamation
] issued bv Gov. Cross of Connecticut,
j You make up your own mind.
Mysteries.
THE SOMERSET MURDER CASE
By Brian Flynn. New York; The
M. S Mill Co.
A family is wiped out. Good average.
Juveniles.
SING A SONG OF SAFETY. By
Irving Caeser. Music by Gerald
Marks. New York: Irving Caeser
Words and music to teach safety
habits to the very young. Might be
useful.
| BEGINNINGS OF EARTH AND SKY.
| By Sophia L. Faks. Boston: The
Beacon Press.
Stories gathered from various ancient
j folklores, dealing with the beginnings
I of earth and people. Unique.
TAKES OF A CHINESE GRAND
MOTHER. By Frances Carpenter.
New York: Doubleday-Doran Co.
The author of “Tales of a Russian
Grandmother" continues her series.
Pleasant and attractively illustrated.
JEAN AND COMPANY. UNLIMITED.
By Helen C. Perry Curtis. Phila
delphia: John C. Winston Co.
A book-length story about the lives
of young people in different lands.
UNDER THE JAPANESE MOON. By
Phyllis Ayer Sowers. Boston: L. C.
Page Co.
Young Americans travel in Japan
and learn about the country.
BOB WAKEFIELD, NAVAL INSPEC
TOR. By Blaine and Du Pont Mil
ler. New York: Dodd. Mead Ac Co.
Young fellows having adventures in
the aviation branch of the Navy. For
older boys.
GREEK JOURNEY. By Lincoln and
Margaret MacVeagh. New" York:
Dodd. Mead Ac Co.
A story of life in Greece, by the
American Minister to that country and
his wife. Pleasant and attractively
illustrated.
SAM. By Edward Quigley and John
Crawford. New York: Stackpole
Sons.
The story of a kitten, illustrated
w-ith photographs. Very nice
GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES. Illustrated
bv Fritz Kredel. New York: Stack
pole Sons.
A new edition of the classic. Worth
examining*.
j—---1
BEST SELLERS FOR THE
WEEK ENDING NOVEM
BER 13:
Fiction.
The Rains Came. Bromfield.
Harper & Bras.
The Turning Wheels. Cloete.
Houghton Mifflin.
The Citadel. Cronin. Little,
Brown.
Northwest Passage. Roberts.
Doubleday, Doran.
Enchanter’s Nightshade. Bridge.
Little, Brown.
Imperial City. Rice. Coward
McCann.
Non-Fiction.
Great Contemporaries. Churchill.
Putnam's.
Why Edward Went. Wells, Mc
Bride.
Augustus. Buchan. Houghton
Mifflin.
The Arts. Van Loon. Simon <fe
Schuster.
Andrew Jackson. James. Bobbs
Merrill.
How to Lose Friends and Alien
ate People. Tressler. Stackpole.
—r-—
DOES NOTHING DANGEROUSLY '
Washington Policeman in Park System Discloses Thoughts
Aroused by His Occupation — New Publication
Devoted to Women’s Interests.
1 "",l 1 —
By M.-C. R.
WASHINGTONIANS who
sometimes spend silent
hours wondering what the
police do should read, in
the December Esquire, an article of
enlightenment on this mysterious sub
ject, written by the hand of Pvt. A,
Stanley Moreau. Officer Moreau be
longs to our own fair city; he is a
member of the United States Park
Police, National Capital Parks. Fur
thermore, he has been a member of
this proud body six years. Obvi
ously he should know what he is talk
ing about. Well, he calls his article
"I Am a Police Officer,” and in it
he writes, with melancholy matter-of
factness, that to be one of the sturdy
boys in blue is not all apple pie and
cheese.
On the contrary, says Officer Mor
eau, to be a policeman is to work hard
at doing nothing dangerously. Figure
that one out for yourself, if you can.
As Officer Moreau puts it himself:
“Most of the time I do nothing No
tice I say mast of the time, not all
of the time. And by doing nothing I
do not mean that I am leaning against
a tree. I am patrolling my beat. I
may not smoke on the street. I
should not hold any conversation that
is not in line of duty. 1 am not go
ing anywhere. That explains my slow
walk. If I race to the other end of
my beat, I have only to turn around
and race bark again. If I race my
self, I do not observe all that takes
place within sight or hearing. . . .
Working from 4 p m. until 12 p m ,
making five or six arrests in that time,
spending most of the next day in
court, going back to work again at 4
p m , and continuing to do that all
week, until I wonder when I'm going
to get any sleep, going to court on my
day off in lieu of Sunday, that seems
hard to me . . .”
And as for the danger element:
“Once in a lifetime.” says Officer
I Moreau, "I might have a pistol duel
with a criminal . . . Any one who saw
it or heard of it would recognize the
danger. But no one thinks of the
unseen danger of pneumonia. . . Win
ter rains have a nice way of drenching
through my cap, running down my
neck and soaking everything under
the raincoat. This past winter I had
pneumonia and recovered from it.
Two of my brother officers had it and
did not recover . . Tire United States
Park Police is composed of about
80 men. In addition to the two who
have died of pneumonia since I have
been here, one was killed by a hit
and-run driver while patrolling his
beat. Another was riding his motor
cycle uphill around a curve, when a
fast-driven car coming down on the
wrong side killed him instantly. An
other w!as beaten to death by a mob
of fourteen Negroes ... I would not
want my job to be different.” con
cludes Officer Moreau plaintively. ‘T
simply say that it is dangerous.”
And maybe you thought that being
a policeman was nice outdoor v.ork!
Well, there is no tip as good as the
one from the horse's mouth.
Officer Moreau seems to like polic
ing, just the same. Anyhow, he says
that unless the writing of the article
unseats him, iwe pray that it docs
not > he means to stay until he gets his
pension.
A FAMOUS Washingtonian's face
appears on the cover of the last
issue of Time, and that is the hand
some face of Mr, Justice Brandeis.
Reminiscing about the court of which
Mr Brandeis is a member, Time's re
porter says mellowly that "When
Woodrow Wilson sen' Louis Dembitz
Brandeis’ name to the Senate as a
nominee for the Supreme Court in
1916. it caused an uproar over his con
firmation which made last summer’s
disturbance over Hugo Black look l.ke
a pillow fight. The Senate's Judiciary
Committee wrangled over the Brandeis
nomination for four months. From
six one-time presidents of the Amer
ican Bar Association, the committee
got a petition stating succinctly that
he was 'not a fit person to be a mem
ber of the United States Supreme
Court.' One of the bar association
presidents who signed the petition was
also a one-time President of the
United States—William Howard Taft."
But, the article continues, when Mr.
Taft himself eam° to the Supreme
Court bench, he admitted that, hp had
been wrong, and asked Justice Bran
deis' pardon.
Mentioning the fact that the Justice
will celebrate his 81st birthday this
week. Time’s article says that, great
as his influence has been in the past,
he may be expected to exert even
greater power in the future. It quotes
his well-known remark apropos of
monopolies—"Care is taken that the
trees do not scrape the skies.”
"Hundreds and hundreds of times,"
says the writer, "he has expressed the
same theme—a theme which marks
the enormous difference between bis
liberal thinking and that, for instance,
which is exemplified by the New
Deal."
^ NEW magazine appears this week,
a thing called You The re
viewer fears that it is dedicated to
what are known as "women's inter
ests.” Anyway, it contains articles on
popularity, glamour, how to achieve a
"certain look” (would you rather be
| "well-bred,” it asks or "laquered").
face powder, the shape of :he bosom.
| lipstick, girls who wear glasses, what
not to do to be charming and a lot of
j other very ancient mish-mash. You
I is very much one of the "slick” variety
of publications too: it has lots of
photographs on the arty side: it has
j a more than slightly up-stage manner
i which reminds one of a pain in th"
\ facial muscles (or nccki acquired
j from trying to hold the pose. Never
theless women who go in for "wom
I
en’s interests” ought to get it.. It is a
good job. Just like Bamum, It de
serves a public.
But the reviewer herself though a
woman, sees no reason why her Inter- t
ests should be circumscribed In any
way, except as she elects to do the
circumscribing.
rpHE new issue of Photo-History Is
at hand, its subject being war
Beginning with the World War, it
traces events to the present, attempt
ing to show, by text, graph and pic
true, howr we mortals have come to our ,
current lamentable situation. It is a
depressing record, and equally de
pressing is its conclusion, which deals
with the manner in wfhich America
can keep the peace.
For, though much of the text of the
magazine indicates reasoned thinking,
in its conclusion it goes political and
voices its editors’ political doctrines
as flat. America can keep the peace,
it says, by seeing that ’’the private
profit-taking struggle that now de
termines the production and con- 1
sumption of goods must give way to
democratically determined social pro
duction.”
That might, of course, be a wav
to do it. So would this—that nations
end the possibility of war by decreeing
that all men shall love their neighbors
as themselves and live in honorable
brotherhood. Or so would this—that
there be no more wars because men
refuse to fight. But, in the meantime,
there is that ugly little question
who will bell the cat? Photo-Historv
has significantly little to tell us on
that particular detail.
reviewer had occasion to men
tion, a week or so ago, that *
Stackpole & Sons, publishers of Ir
ving Tressler's never-sufficiently-to
be-praLsed "How to Lose Friends and
Alienate People.” had reported that
the Adult Education Association of
thp W. P. A. had taken Mr. Tressler's
burlesque of the Carnegie success text
quite seriously—so seriously, indeed,
that they had invited the author to
address a meeting of theirs on his
' philosophy as a writer."
Now these same publishers send
this additional news, as illuminating
the current state of humor in the
one-time joke-conscious republic:
A national best seller,” they write.
“ 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate
People,’ has caused a demand for 'oth^r
books’ by the author, Irving Tressler
Baker & Taylor, wholesalers, report
that people have written in ordering
'Readers Digest Very Little’ and ‘How
to Ride Over Hill and Dale.' These
titles," add Stackpole Sons plaintively,
"were listed as part of the spoof in
Mr, TresslWs book."
As part of the spoof vcs. Along *
with such other pleasantries as that
; the author held the degree of "persona
1 non grata." Who in the world could
have taken them seriously? But,
alas! We live in a serious age
Laughter is a manifestation of sup
pressed sadism; laughter is a measure
for ridding the system of accumulated
neuroses: laughter is good hygiene.
I.*ugh five minutes daily. You will
find it worth the effort Get some
body to make funny faces for you:
get somebody to tickle you; force
yourself to laugh.
Seriously, your proper social develop
ment as a proper social unit m a
properly functioning community made
up of properly functioning units ot
proper social development demands it
i How can you dare, then, to neglect
vour laughing? You can't. Run right
out to the bookseller and get yourself
a new funny book. Somebody must
have reasoned thus. That is the only
way the reviewer can explain Stack
pole's note. And once we were a
i nation of humorists!
The Public Library
THROUGH THE TELESCOPE.
POPULAR interest in astronomy
has been grow ing by leaps and
bounds in recent years, stim
ulated by such events as the |
: recent total eclipse of the sun, which
lured astronomers to a tiny island in
the mid-Pacific and the transit of
Finsler's comet which proved espe
cially exciting to amateurs. Out of !
the local interest aroused at the time i
of the comet's appearance has grown j
the National Capital Amateur Astron
omers’ Association.
To meet this demand for informa
! tion on astronomical subjects the I
technology' division of the Public j
Library- presents a short list of out- j
standing books. A longer list will be j
available at the central building at I
Eighth and K streets N.W. and at
all branches later in the month.
"The sky
Ls that beautiful old parchment
In which the sun
And the moon
Keep their diary.”
—Alfred Kreymborg.
"Old Manuscript.”
General Astronomy.
ASTRONOMY FOR THE MILLIONS.
By G. van den Bergh. LR B455.
The phenomena of the universe
made intelligible without sacrificing
the scientific significance of the sub
ject.
THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE By !
Sir Arthur Eddington. LR,Ed2.
The author deals with the view that
the galaxy of stars is dispersing, scat
tering apart so as to occupy an ever
increasing volume.
UNIVERSE AROUND US. By Sir J.
H. Jeans. LR J34u2.
‘‘A brief account written in simple
language, of the methods and results
of modern astronomical research, both j
observational and theoretical.”
SPLENDOUR OF THE HEAVENS.
Edited by T. E. R. Phillips and W.
H. Steavenson. LR.P544s.
A popular authoritative astronomy
*** containing 1,104 black and w hite
illustrations and 25 colored plates.
A SOURCE BOOK IN ASTRONOMY.
By Harlow Shapley and H. E. Ho
warth. LR.4Sh2.
"Significant excerpts from the
writings of 63 great astronomers from
Copernicus to G. H. Darwin.”
Moon.
ROMANCE OF THE MOON. By
Mary Proctor. Illustrated with
charts and photographs taken at
the leading observatories. LY.P94.
A pleasantly discursive book dealing
with a wide range of subjects con
nected with the moon.
THE STORY OF THE MOON; A De
scription of the Scpnery of the
Lunar World as It Would Appear
. \
to a Visitor Spending a Month on
the Moon. By G. P. Swiss,
LY.Se64s.
Illustrated with a complete senes
of photographs taken at the Yerkes
Observatory.
Stars.
THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. A
Story of the Stars. By E. A.
Path. LRF26t.
A popular and well-illustrated book
on astronomy which presents the
mechanics of a great telescope and
something of the achievements of
modern astronomers.
THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES.
By Sir J. H Jeans. LR.J34S.
Talks written in an informal non
technical style, aiming to provide a
readable and not over-serious intro
duction to the mast poetical of the
sciences.
BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO THE
STARS. By E. G. Murphy. Based
on "A Beginner's Star Book," by
Kelvin McKreariy. LT.M954.
The first steps in recognizing the
^tars and planets chiefly without op
tical help.
EVENING WITH THE STARS. By
Mary Proctor. Illustrated with 21
original charts drawn by the au
thor. LT P939e.
"A simple diagrammatic identifica
tion of the constellations and their
conspicuous stars, with a section on
the history and legends associated
with the sky."
Sun.
THE SUN. By C. G. Abbott.
LW Ab27s.
Although a comprehensive, scien
tific work not of a popular nature,
there is included much to interest the
general reader.
ROMANCE OF THE SUN. By Mary
Proctor. LW.P93r.
A popularly written work on the
"wondrous revelations of the sun, dis
covered by means of photography and
th" spectroscope.’’
Telescope.
AMATEUR TELESCOPE MAKING.
Edited by Albert b. Ingalls • » •
with a foreword by Dr. Harlow
Shapley. LRL.Amla2.
Thoroughly practical suggestions by
"advanced amateurs.”
THE HOME-MADE TELESCOPE. Bv
Wilbur F. Decker. LRL D35.
Specifications and directions for
making a telescope powerful enough
to reveal the satellites of Jupiter.
MEN, MIRRORS AND STARS. By
G. E. Pendray. LRLP37.
The story of the telescope from the
discovery of its principle by Jan Lip
pershpy in lfiOfl, to the large mirror*
of the present day.
A