Evening star. [volume], April 18, 1948, Page C-3, Image 44

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

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Reviewing The Mew Books
_ _— -——
T he Russians
Are Really
Nice People
A RUSSIAN JOURNAL
By John Steinbeck. With Pic
tures by Robert Capa. (Viking
Press; $3.75)
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOK JONES
Mr. Steinbeck and Mr. Capa,
bored and at loose ends, were
talking at a New York bar.
With Russia so much in the
news, what, they wondered, were
the Russian people of today
like—what did they wear and
eat, what did they talk about,
how did they amuse themselves?
Not Stalin, not Molotov, not the
policy makers, not the party mis
sionaries who convert unbelievers
in weak little countries with the
persuasion of bombers and machine
guns. They wranted to know about
the average person, the artisan, the
clerk, the farmer.
From this casual talk resulted a
decidedly unusual trip to Russia.
The novelist and the photographer
arrived in Moscow w:ith a request
that amazed and momentarily baf
fled Kremlin officials. They didn't
ask to see a single important per
son. They asked nothing about the
government. They simply wanted
to travel about the country seeing
—people. They had come to get
what our newspapers used to call
a human-interest story and now de
scribed as simply a feature.
Objective Reporters.
At the suggestion of resident
American correspondents, they
didn't have themselves accredited
as newspapermen, for as such they
probably wouldn’t have been al
lowed to travel out of Moscow. They
conferred at Voks, the cultural rela
tions organization. They hadn’t
come, they explained, to write fa
vorably or unfavorably, but to write
as objective reporters, describing in
words and pictures what they saw.
Voks was hesitant, a little skeptical,
but finally consented. The Stein
beck-Capa team was assigned in
terpreters and given clearance to
travel and see what they wanted.
It seems to me that the collabo
rators have accomplished what they
set out to do. Their book, with its
obvious limitations, is objective, im
partial. Mr. Steinbeck describes
how at least some Russians live,
work and play. Mr. Capa, the most
famous photographer to come out
of the war, took pictures that ad
mirably complement the text. There
is charm and sly humor in the
writing and often in the pictures.
Plenty To Eat.
They found the Moscow' people
tense, preoccupied, seldom laughing.
The Ukraine was still devastated by
the war, but gathering in a big
harvest. Georgia, with its moun
tains and tropical valleys, facing
the Black Sea, is untouched by the
war. It was luscious with fruit
and flowers, and its people w'ere gay.
There seemed to be plenty to eal
everythere; the visitors were almost
killed with food and vodka. Cer
tainly they "put on a show" for
the Americans, says Mr. Steinbeck.
What hospitable farmers or town
folk wouldn’t?
“We found, as we had suspected,”
he concludes, “that the Russian
people are people, yBnd, as with
other people, that they are very
nice. The ones we met had a
hatred of war, they wanted the
same things all people want—good
lives, Increased comfort, security,
and peace.”
Mr. Steinbeck adds: “We know
that this journal will not be satis
factory either to the ecclesiastical
Left, nor the lumpen Right. The
first will say it is anti-Russian,
the second that it is pro-Russian.
Surely, it is superficial, and how
could it be otherwise? We have
no conclusions to draw, except Rus
sian people are , like all other peo
ple in the world. Some bad ones
there are surely, but by far the
greatest number are very good.”
* w * *
PARRIS MITCHELL OF
KINGS ROW
By Henry and Katherine Bella
mann. (Simon & Schuster; $3.)
People who are as alive as any of
your friends inhabit this novel of a
young doctor who brought the new
psychiatry to a small Middle West
ern town in the period of the First
World War. And “Kings Row" itself
has an almost palpable personality
as the crisp pages mirror its moods
and kinds of life.
Mr. and Mrs. Bellamann had
planned a trilogy, bringing this
town from the turn of the century
to the present. The first book,
“Kings Row,” published in 1940, was
highly successful. They were at work
on the second volume when Mr. Bel
lamann died. His widow completed
it. "Recognizing the fate that so
often befalls ‘sequels,”’ she explains
in her foreword, "I hasten to say
that, this is not a sequel, but a
continuation of the story of the
town, introducing many new’ char
acters and situations.”
Dr. Parris Mitchell had studied in
Vienna, and he returned to his home
town to join the staff of the State
mental hospital located there. Dr.
Nolan, head of the hospital, had
been schooled in the old way of
giving the insane little more than
custodial care, but he was receptive
to the new, and he turned the young
psychiatrist loose with carte blanche
to modernize the treatment. The
two became devoted friends.
On the Wrong Side.
Parris knew nearly everybody in
Kings Row. He was admired, but
not entirely trusted: many were
suspicious of this newfangled phy
choanalysis. They were more sus
picious of his fragile Austrian wife,
especially when the spring of 1917
came and they realized her country
was on the wrong side of the war.
Some of the women she was so eager
to help with their war work turned
on Elise, just as the town turned on
the three old German tradesmen
w ho had lived there so many years
The young doctor had married
Elise because she reminded him oi
the childhood sweetheart he lost
GEORGE FRIEND’S
BOOK SHOP
NOW IN STOCK
ROCKETS & SPACE TRAVEL
Signed by Willy Ley
Also Several New Science Fiction and
Fantosy Titles.
Rooks Roucht. Sold and Exrhanrod
91 h SI. N.W. NA. 940*1
OPEN EVENINGS AND SCNDAYS
* *
JOHN STEINBECK.
... He met the Russian peo
ple face to face.
Their love, like the great music they
both played, was too ethereal for an
earthy world. Then Parris realized
that he and Randy, the widow, were
deeply in love. But neither was the
sort to cheat or betray Elise. Elise,
in her tragic and unobtrusive way,
removed the dilemma. Meanwhile,
there were problems of behavior
and mental twist among towns
people which Parris was called in to
solve. And there was Parris' personal
enemy, Fulmer Green, the politician,
who finally succeeded in getting the
doctor ousted from the hospital.
But after that Parris, whose life
had been as entangled as that of
any patient, though without such
discernible consequences, really
found himself and emerged a finer
man.
The story of Parris and of those
whose lives he touched is clearly
observed and deeply moving.' The
Literary Guild is to be commended
for choosing such a fine novel for
its May selection.
* * *
MY UNCLE JAN
By Joseph Auslander and Audrey
Wurdemann. (Long smarts, Green
& Co.; $2.75.)
This is another nostalgic novel,
but quite different from the others
I’ve read and more amusing than
most of them.
Uncle Jan emigrated from Bo
hemia inow Czechoslovakia i in the
! last years of the 19th century. Set
tling in Wisconsin, he bought four
acres of forest from the Govern
ment for $20. He began to cut the
lumber and sell it. Within 15 years,
he owned several thousand acres, a
lumber mill, the bank of New Bo
hemia, the saloon and the drygoods
store. When he notified relatives in
■ the old country to come on over,
there was all the land they wanted
cheap, they came and with them
half the village. The adventures of
Uncle Jan and of the community
are highly diverting, often hilarious.
Mr. Auslander is the poet and an
thologist. His wife, Audrey Wurde
mann. won the Pulitzer Prize for
j poetry in 1934.
NEW POEMS
By Mark Van Doren. (William
Sloane Associates, Inc.; $2.50.)
Mr. Van Doren is a poet who
continues to grow in stature and
variety. One of his principal
themes—nature—shows an earnest
fidelity to his earlier styles. But in
general the poems in this book are
more carefully formulated and
more intense. As his wisdom grows
his words become fewer until now
we have a poet who has few living
equals in the distinguished art of
saying great things in the simplest
manner possible. Emily Dickinson
had it and so did A. E. Housman.
Admirers of their work will treasure
Mr. Van Doren's new book. —E. T.
Technicolor War
On the High Seas
THE GOLDEN HAWK
By Frank Yerby. (The Dial
Press; $3■)
Any one whose romance began at
the office water-cooler and de
veloped through a decorous round
of movie dates and Sunday walks
with maybe an occasional coolness
about punctuality may feel that the
whole thing was pretty tame after
reading "The Golden Hawk.”
Courtship in the late 17th century,
if this tale of a sea-dog and a
pirate queen is at all representative,
was really a war between the sexes
and literally a matter of life and
death. *
Mr. Yerby has surrounded his
hard-breathing soap-opera with a
good deal of information about the
three-cornered struggle for sea
power between England, France and
Spain. He even puts in a few prim
footnotes which look rather strange
amid all the sex and mayhem. This
is Mr. Yerby’s third novel and, like
its predecessors, "The Foxes of
Harrow" and "The Vixens,” it is
dedicated to the proposition that
while the old days may not have
been good they certainly were'lively.
His prose style exhibits a nice
fidelity to the old cliches as the
plot follows the tested formula of
his previous works. “The Golden
Hawk" can be transferred intact
into Technicolor screen where it
will doubtless be viewed by millions
who will wonder how the pursuit of
happiness has turned into such a
quiet affair and men have become
so mild. —M. McG.
But the 'Reds'
Need a Lot
Of Watching
CONSPIRATOR
By Humphrey Slater. (Harcourt,
Brace & Co.; $2.75■.)
With Humphrey Slater as with
another brilliant political novel
ist, Arthur Koestler, it has evi
dently been a case of familiarity
with the Communist Party
breeding contempt, hatred and
the urge to warn the world of
the “superhuman ruthlessness’’
of the Comintern. Mr. Slater is
described by his publishers as a
one-time chief of operations for the
Spanish International Brigade and
a former Berlin anti-Nazi street
fignter and visitor to Moscow. In
his first and highly praised novel,
“The Heretics,” he compared the
tactics of the extreme left with
those of the Inquisition. Now, in
"Conspirator,” the story of a Brit
ish Communist who married with
out party permission, he continues
to expose the appalling conse
quences of total dedication to the
totalitarian line.
In the light of Mr. Slater’s back
ground and current conditions, it is
difficult to single out the most sin
ister aspect of his novel. It is
bad enough that the conspirator of
the title. Major the Honorable
Desmond Ferneaux-Lightfoot, should
be an officer in the Grenadier
Guards who has been for some
years feeding military secrets to the
Soviets. It is even worse that he
should submit so slavishly to their
discipline that, having been ordered
by Moscow to "eliminate” his bride
of several months, he should ra
tionalize that "it was meanly illogi
cal to prefer one insignificant
bourgeois person to the historic
movement of millions of human
beings in every country In the
world.”
Like Suspense Story.
Mrs. Slater relates this contem
porary horror story in matter-of
fact terms against a background of
the swank European resorts visited
by Desmond and Harriet on their
honeymoon and the elegant in
teriors which they frequent on their
return to England. He contrasts
Harriet’s innocent plotting to re
form her husband’s taste in art
with Desmond's fatuous notions of
correcting her “political illiteracy."
Her discovery of his treason and her
growing terror for her life, de
scribed in phrases as terse as the
conversations of the taciturn young
agents to whom her husband re
ports, give "Conspirator” the taut
ness of a suspense story.
But the chief interest is the char
acterization of Desmond, who is
utterly without imagination or
mercy. He is a snob whom adoles
cent exposure to the revolutionary
atmosphere of a rebellious Ireland
and a habit of unquestioning obedi
ence have fashioned into a fanatic.
He simply does not understand the
meaning of treason.
With all its brutality and chilling
documentation of the inhumanity of
party methods, “Conspirator” is not
without its moments of humor—
and these are Ironic thrusts at
the Communists their ineptitude
abroad, their indulgence at -home
in bourgeois pleasures. The director
who orders Harriet's death, for
example, enjoys a day of shooting
in his country home very much
like a similar affair organized by
Harriet and Desmond in England.
Mr. Slater is an exceptionally
skilled writer. And he has con
verted one ugly incident of proposed
world conquest into a powerful novel
that is arresting both as fiction
and a lesson in ideology,
i —M. McG.
Hard, Haughty
And Heartbroken
SUCH AS WE
By Pierre Sichel. (Reynal &
Hitchcock; t3.50J
The heroine of this story begins to
show promise of getting both feet
on the ground as the book comes to
an end. By that time she is 26 and
has been bumped off the straight
and-narrow into the high weeds of
error so often she appears to be al
, most as "rotten with excesses" as
she herself confesses.
But since to know one is lost is a
hopeful sign, the reader has the
feeling that Elaine Chickering,
daughter of the 1932-1946 dissolute
-rich, will find integrity of a sort—
even happiness. One regrets that
the author has seen fit merely to
underscore her weakness through
out mo6t of the story—and it is a
sordid story of people buffeted by
strenuous times.
Elaine's mother is as unlovely a
creature as you could find—even in
a book. In fact, there are a lot of
stinkers in it. Frequently the dia
logue is forced. —H. A. L.
WINGS IN THE WILDERNESS
By Allan D. Cruickshank. (Ox
ford University Press; $6.)
Those who are interested in birds
and in beautiful photography will
enjoy Allan Cruickshank's latest
compilation of pictures of American
birds. The book's 125 photographs
Illustrate both a marvelous con
ception of wildlife and a superb
command of the camera.
Reading and Writing
Rebecca West and Three Other Noted
Authors Talk Shop on Visit Here
By Mary McGrory
Among the authors who have come recently to Washington on one
errand or another the most distinguished was Rebecca West, the
British novelist, historian and journalist. She traveled from England
to collect the award presented by the Women’s National Press Club
for international achievement in journalism, which made more or less
official the accolade of “the world’s best reporter” informally bestowed on
her. She was cited, of course, for*- —;—;——— ~~ *
her coverage of the treason trials, a
feat of transcendent journalism
which made some members of the
fourth estate think of turning in
their typewriters.
Miss West is one of the world's
most formidable intellectuals, so it
was almost disconcerting to find her
as easy to meetr as a newspaper
woman. The qualities of sonority
and wisdom that mark her books
are scaled down in her conversation
to a nice crispness and lively com
mon sense. She seemed rather to
enjoy being interviewed because, like
most reporters she likes to talk shop.
She’s quite proud of her profes
sional standing as a journalist and
spoke with good-humored indigna
tion of the allegation in a weekly
news magazine that she met a daily
deadline for the first time when she
covered Princess Elizabeth’s wedding.
Just for the record, she wanted it
known that she’s been sitting at
press tables for years, although she
has never worked on a newspaper,
doing features on the opening of
Parliament, the Derby and other
special events.
The National Sport.
Miss West, who is short and stocky,
with frizzy gray hair and fine dark
eyes, declared herself “all in favor”!
of the Labor government. She said
everybody grumbles about the
shortages. But it is a form of na
tional sport to grumble about the
government.
“Is it here?” she wanted to know.
She will be in a better position to
answer her own question this June,
when she will cover both national
conventions for the London Evening
Standard. That done, she will stop
reporting for a while to devote her
self to the completion of a novel
that she has been working on inter
mittently for some time. It is the
story of a woman.
In the course of a brief interview
Miss West ticked off her opinions
on a number of matters, including
Jean-Paul Sartre ("he’s writing the
same kind of French novel that
I’ve been reviewing man and boy
for 20 years”), the British Com
munist Party (“a second-rate col
lection of old beavers”), Winston
Churchill (“we all owe our lives to
him”) and Harold Ross, editor of
the New Yorker ("I’d rather work
for him than any editor I know”).
Author of Throw-Me-a-Bone
Recalls Revolution
Eleanor Lothrop is a slim, chic,
tanned, youngish matron who
doesn't look capable of digging up
anything more than a fourth for
bridge. Actually, as readers of
"Throw Me a Bone” know, she has
spent the 18 years of her marriage
Crime and
Mystery
By Miriam Ottenberg
There Is a Tide, by Agatha Christie.
<Dodd, Mead & Co., $2.50.1 Red
Badge.
Even Hercule Poirot's superior
“little gray cells,” have to work over
time to solve the mysteries evoked
by a group of relatives suddenly
deprived of the security which so
long had protected them from the
ravages of real life. Would one or
more of them do murder to regain
that security? All of them need
money and only a fragile young
woman stands in their way. But
which members of the Cloade fam
ily could possibly benefit from the
death of the one man who says
he can prove the young woman
isn't entitled to the Cloade for
tune? The finger of suspicion
points convincingly in half a dozen
different directions before the
mighty mite from Belgium sorts the
chaff of wishful thinking from the
wheat of guilty.
* * * *
Detroit Murders, edited by Alvin C.
Hamer. (Duell, Sloan At Pearce;
$3.)
Unlike some of the earlier true
cases in this regional murder series,
particularly those of San Francisco
and Charleston, most of these cases
could have happened anywhere.
Except for the gang killings of
prohibition days, they lacked the
background atmosphere drawn from
the unique quality of a city. Never
theless, most of them are well told,
particularly the Jerry Buckley mur
der and the comparatively recent
Lydia Thompson case. Also repre
sented are a typical crime of pas
sion, a matricide, several cult kill
ings, a wife murder and an early
vintage Indian killing. Most of
them are narrated by Detroit news
papermen.
*
False Bounty, by Stephen Rail
some. (Doubleday & Co., Inc., $2.)
Crime Club.
Webster Lindley, first husband of
the lethal Lydia, plotted her death
with infinite care. For his weapon,
he chose some of the capsules he
was sure Lydia had used to kill her
second husband, Webster’s brother.
But the plan backfired. The wrong
person died and Webster was forced
to defend the girl accused of the
crime. The author tries to extri
cate his hero from this mess, ob
viously hoping the reader will for
1 get Webster was guilty at least of
i intent to murder.
■■■ -1
I I J I o I I
(She ^undau £itaf h s % §* i ft ^ e
- ’ * ^ y»« s s § ft ►• s g s.s
Weekly Book Survey g §
WeeklyJook Survey |®2gsg=g||g^|||«
The Sunday Star has arranged with some o) B ' ® ? 2 )< . j O * 5 n D
the leading booksellers of Washington and x. ^ B O ^
suburban areas to report each week the books j Q E « #
which sell best as a guide to what Washing
ton is reading. . g I
This report U for the week ending April 16
__ wiwigiaBui^yOBPESOPO
fiction 111!!!I I I
"Rointree County" Ross Lockridge, jr.HH-frUH* it I it 1 1* it it I ! it I it it I it 13
"Fogle in the Sky," F. von Wyck Mason1 ir I I it i it I it I I it 1 it *1 HH* *1*11 j
"The Ides of March," Thornton Wilder I I I -fr ! •&-! _10;
"The Bishop's Montle," Agnes Sligh Turnbulll~frl I !-fr * i * I* : * 1 I HH-fr -fr 10
’ "House Divided," Ben Ames WilliomsI I it! itI ir ir I i ! 1 it it 1 1 ^ 1 ^ ,it 9
"Son of the Moon," Joseph George Hitrec^ I t j ir i 1 it i it! it I if ! I"7
NONFICTION: ' 1 1111 i ! ! 1 -
"Jim Forley's Story," Jomes A. Forleyir ! ir I ir I it it i it i it I it I ir it it 1 it i it i’A'iM
"Senuol Behavior in the Humon Mole," Alfred S. Kinsey jr\jf\ 1'fr'frl 1 * i I* * HH I HI .
"Study of History," Arnold J. ToynbeeI [ | * HH i*l it ir ! it I it it! ir 1 9
"Peace of Mind,* Joshuo Loth LiebmonI HH ’frUH NH ’frI ! 1 I 7
"Inside U. S. A.John GuntherI I :★ !★!I*|7
J "I Sow Poland Betrayed,” Arthur Hiss LoneI i^l it I I'&'l I it if I 1^ 1 l<
%
to Archeologist Sam Lotnrop un
earthing ancient treasure in Cen
tral America.
She is also, she revealed during
her brief stay here, a refugee from
a revolution, having caught the last
plane out of Costa Rica before the
present violence broke out.
That situation, she says, is a crit
ical one, not only because it is
Communist-inspired, but because it
provides a pattern for all other
Central American countries. It is
further confused, she explained, by
the fact that the present Com
munist - dominated government,
which is trying to keep President
elect Otilio liiate from taking office,
is using American lend-lease arms
which were provided during the war
for hemisphere defense. The sight
of United States insignia on these
weapons has led the populace to be
lieve that the Communists have the
blessing of Uncle Sam.
Mr. and Mrs. Lothrop came to
Washington to look over the latest
additions made to the Latin Ameri
can archeological exhibit at the
National Gallery of Art. Mr. Loth
rop is connected with the Peabody
Museum at Harvard and he checked
every archeological fact in his
wife's blithe memoir.
"I may have said there were five
bedbugs on me when there were
really only four, but anything about
the bones is absolutely so,” she said.
* * * *
A Changed Viewpoint About
The Brotherhood of Man
From Atlanta came Dr. Alfred
Weinstein, a native of Chelsea,
Mass., a graduate of Harvard Med
ical School and a survivor of Bataan,
Corregidor and three and a half
years of Japanese imprisonment.
He is the author of "Barbed Wire
Surgeon,” one of the most harrow
ing and heartening war stories to
be published.
Dr. Weinstein was accompanied
by his pretty, plump Viennese wife,
Hanna, who was a member of an
international underground organi
zation called the Blue Eagles, who
risked their lives to provide pris
oners of war in the Philippines with
food and medical supplies.
Their activity convinced him. Dr.
Weinstein said, that the brother
hood of man "was really one of the
things that makes Little Joe tick.”
Another conclusion reached by Dr.
Weinstein during his ordeal is that
the desire for knowledge is as great
as the instinct for selfrperservatlon.
So completely did the men live the
few books at their disposal, he said,
that he often saw fist fights break
out over certain characters.
Dr. Weinstein, a sturdy, balding
man, is now recovered from the in
juries he suffered in prison. The
present war talk?
‘‘It murders me,” he said suc
cinctly.
Secretory Stim son's
Story Now Appears
In Book Form
ON ACTIVE SERVICE
i'JLAUCi AiNJJ W Alt
By Henry L. Stlmson and Mc
George Bundy. (Harper <fr Bros.;
$5.)
The personal, informal story of
Henry L. Stimson's years in public
life, which appeared serially under
the title "Time of Peril’’ has now
been issued by Harper & Bros,
m the form of a book called “On
Active Service in Peace and War,’’
with McGeorge Bundy of Harvard
University as collaborator.
Much of the book describes Secre
tary Stimson’s relations with Frank
lin D. Roosevelt and is a gift to
history and biography for its evalu
ation of the wartime President as'
a strategist.
Mr. Stlmson, once Secretary’ of
State and twicq.Secretary of War—
the last time during World War II
—quotes liberally from his diaries
and private records. He discourses
on the difficulties which arose with
the Russians during the war and
draws his own conclusions as to
our future dealings with them.
—J. A. G.
Early Railroading
In Great Britain
DANDY HART
By Hamilton Ellis. (Macmillan;
$3.50.)
"Dandy Hart” is a historical
novel woven around the formation
and growth of the railway indus
try in England. The story has two
component parts. One is the ro
mance of Leander (Dandy) Hart
and Sarah, the cockney girl'. The
other and more interesting is the
human scramble that went on in
the mid-Victorian railway world.
Patents were neatly and wickedly
stolen, men in the lower strata of
railway life were worked as many
as 18 hours a day, and the mere
thought of labor being organized
was firmly put out of mind.
Mr. Ellis is quite an expert on
railway history and has done much
writing on this subject, both from
a technical angle and from the fic
tional side. —N. P.
THE TRIAL OF
ALVIN BOAKER
By John Reywall. (Random
House; $2.50.)
Fantastic is the word for this
story. But it drives home the se
riousness of imposing the death
penalty on circumstantial evidence.
A Federal judge is tried for mur
dering his wife in his own cham
bers. His lawyer quits him in the
middle of the trial and his own
mother is called by the prosecution
as a witness against him. But in
the end his estranged law partner,
in a dramatic jail scene, reveals
the real killer. The author, using
the name “John Reywall,” is de
scribed by the publisher as “a suc
cessful, currently practicing attor
ney,” who wants to preserve anony
mity in the interests of his clients.
—W. A. M.
Bible Reading Is Prescribed as Remedy
For Today's Mental and Moral Confusion
A GUIDE TO CONFIDENT LIVING
By Norman Vincent Peale. (Prentice-Hall; $2.75.)
Reviewed by
THE REV. MILTON H. KEENE.
With a simplicity that at times
almost borders on the naive, Nor
man Vincent Peale in his latest
book, “A Guide to Confident Liv
ing,” discusses the mental and
moral confusion of modern man
and ‘‘prescribes” definite and spe
cific treatment. Were it not for the
fact that the book is based upon
the author’s actual experience in
his own clinic with Psychiatrist Dr.
Smiley Blanton as colleague, one
would be inclined to call Dr. Peale's
handling of grave human problems
too easy.
He proceeds on the premise that
much of our trouble is the result
of wrong thinking, and that only
right thinking can set us right. He
finds the Bible, especially the New
Testament, a veritable reservoir of
untapped power for the remaking
of our minds: Tap that power and
life is changed, because the human
mind is changed.
‘‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.
. . . Forgetting tne tnings mat are
behind, I press on. . . . Having done
all, stand.”—Dr. Peale regards such
words from the Bible as a bona fide
form of medication. “How is medi
cine taken?” he asks. ”(3rdinarily
through the mouth or by injection
into the blood stream, but there are
other entrances through which
medicine may be inserted. One is
through the eye. For example, pick
up the Bible and read some of its
great words. A reflection is made
on the retina of the eye. This image
changes into the form of an idea—
a positive idea of faith. The idea
passes through the mind until it
arrives at the infection point. . . . j
There it throws its healing influ
ence around the center of infection.
It drives off infection and finally
through the therapeutic operation
of a spiritual idea the diseased idea
is cast from the mind. One, there
fore, has taken medicine fa heal
ing agent) through the reading of
the Scriptures.”
"A Guide to Confident Living” is
a good book for people who want
to improve their living.
Cross-Word Puzzle
Answer to Yesterday’s Puzz'.e.
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a_c_r_e _EE.£._E1L!I
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E LMa X R DlBsfcMR 0
PA ? D AIBpIeIrTc H
s]tr [x p|eIrIih e w
POE tM UlKhlS AAR
A|F TMP TMS 0 R R|Y
X IV Ml K Fe XBA IrI
r i dIIm ;; i a Mg k u
I N A PlF OPR I ATE
S S M xTT .V E " S T E D
HORIZONTAL.
1. Half hour
(Naut.)
5. Rime.
10. Grind small.
14. Essayist.
15. Of the moon.
16. Term of re
proach.
17. Set free.
19. Portent.
20. Destiny.
21. Set aside for
a specific use.
23. Russian work
ers’ society.
25. Monkey.
26. Beverage.
29. Plentiful. '
34. Near by.
35. Tree.
36. Am. railroad
37. Pronoun.
38. Fugitives
from the
French re
volution.
41. The Roman
law.
42. Molding.
44. Metals.
45. Choose.
47. Ruins.
49. Combs, as
flax.
50. Long period, j
51. Rets.
53. Faultless
57. Exact.
61. Former Japa
nese coin.
62. Umpire.
64. Gazelle.
65. Jungle Vine.
66. Rockfish.
67. Turn over.
68. Lobby.
69. Droops.
VERTICAL.
1. Bulky
strength.
2. Patron saint
of sailors.
S. He misrepre
sents.
4. One of the
vervain
family.
5. Obdurate.
6. Coin of India.
7. So. Am.
Indian.
8. Surfeit. •
9. Riches.
10. Trite state
• slang i.
11. Hindu deity. !
12. The maple*.
13. Jerk.
18. Turn sour.
22. Directed.
24. Bounty
bestowed.
26. Vital fluid.
27. Cosmetic.
28. Measure of
land (pi)
30 Prohibits.
31. City in
Prance.
32. Relative.
33. Subjects.
35. Plippant.
39. A born fool.
40. Hunter.
43. Incessant.
46. E. Indian.
sailors.
48. Spawn.
49. Shrewish
woman.
52. Surmise.
53. To strut.
54. Instrument.
55. Uncommon.
56. Set of three.
58. Willow genus.
59. Melody.
60. Ages.
63. Inlet.
!
r *
r
7Tammy Out of Time7 Is a Time-Killer
By Author of an Excellent First Novel
TAMMY OUT OF TIME
By Cid Ricketts Sumner. (Bobbs-Merrill; $2.75.)■
Reviewed by HARNETT T. KANE,
Author of “Notches on the Mississippi,” "New Orleans Woman,” etc.
Mrs. Sumner will be remembered, and happily, for her thoughtful,
moving novel of a year ago, “Quality,” one of the better recent books on
the theme of racial injustice in the South. It had honesty and warmth
and an over-all conviction. The lady had things to say, and she
said them.
The second novel is always a problem for an author, occasionally for
a reader as well, in iammy uui oi
Time” Mrs. Sumner demonstrates
something of the same sympathy,
much the same simplicity that she
gave„us in her previous work. She
has managed a pleasant, readable
"light book.” But it isn’t another
"Quality” in intent or achievement.
Perhaps she wanted to get this
one out of her system. Now that
she has, those who admired her
“Quality” will be watching for an
other in which she will catch some
thing of the impact, something of
the fine earnestness, of the earlier
book. The main problem here, per
haps. is shat she has chosen as a
subject, a cliche—one of the com
mon literary cliches. It's the one
about the fine, simple-wise unso
phisticated who shows up the world
lings. Her Tammy fits too easily
into a mold; we guess quickly what
is to follow.
She has an interesting background
—the white-pillared mansions of
Natchez, the old cotton capital on
the Mississippi, now the great tour
ists’ attraction of the Deep South.
To it she adds a no-less colorful set
The Proper Word
WORLD WORDS
By Cabell Greet. (Columbia
University Press; $6.75.)
Designed as an authoritative pro
nunciation guide for radio broad
casters in general, and those of the
Columbia Broadcasting System in
particular, this is a handy volume
to have around no matter where
you speak. Its Interest is in how
you speak. And it tells how to ac
cent names in the news (and, inci
dentally, how to spell them). For
instance, wouldn’t you like to know
how to handle "wrzeszcz”? Prof.
Greet says you pronounce it
“vzhoshch.” It’s Polish. And there’s
Yugoslavia's "vrska cuka,” pro
nounced “vuhrsh-kah choo-kah.” To
say nothing of Finland’s "jyvaskyla,"
pronounced “you-vas-ku-la”; or
France's simple “fresnes,” pro
nounced “fren.” You can’t go wrong
from the Netherland River “Aa’’ to
Poland’s “zywiec.” This “newly re
vised and enlarged edition” has
them all. — H. G.
ting of poor-white shanty boat life,
with liquor-making for good meas
ure. She brings her shanty girl
into the pilgrimage, among the
ladies in crinoline who show their
ancient possessions; and there it is,
the contrast of* tutored and un
tutored.
Tammy is a pleasant character, a
little idealized, too simple on occa
sion; and her opponents appear a
trifle vulnerable. Yet, though it
lacks a sharply realistic touch, the
novel does have a frequent charm of
scene and treatment, and a senti
ment that should please many read
ers. And now, Mrs. Sumner, how
about the third book?
QJJLY THE BRAVE
Cremate doing* of Dutchmen's Gw Ml
rood the nowo*t HANDI-BOOK
Wo*tom by Fowl Ivon Lehman
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The great book that shows you
why the discoveries of modern science
need not shake our faith in God