Evening Star Newspaper, April 12, 1925, Page 32

T Motable Work of Sculpture is Permanent Addition at Corcoran Gallery of Art—Changes at Freer Gallery—Paintings - BY LEIL! ; By Childe Hassam at Phillips Memorial Gallery. A MECHLIN. | Ereat Adams Memorial in Rock Creek |1 and 2 there is at present an ex- NOTABLE work in seulpture | Cemetery and the superb Lincoln Me- ['hibition of prints by James McNeill and. & very beautiful room | morial in Potomac Park, it creates | Whistler, comprising 38 lithographs have been added recently to|for those who see it a beautiful si- | and etchings. selected, for the hatGorooran Galle A ! eloquent with great thoughts [most part, from the sets published as assets. Both are | cen. In memorializing Mr. Eus- | the “Venice Set” and the “Set of 26 he late William Corcoran Bustis, |US it memorializes those traits of | Etchings.” Many of these bear in Adaon o the fonader br NG | character which represent the no- | pencil Whistler's mark as printer as n ery and himself for many blest in manhood, and it should serve | well as the etched signature. In S a member of the board of trus. | not only to hold him perpetually In |galleries 3 and 4 the paintings in oil o Sculpture takes the form | MEh csteem. but to induce emulation | by several American artists Include < large pancl in Migh relicf, and |00 the part of those who look upon It. | five which have been placed on view T 18 ihat meata e v | 1t Is beautifully done, very direct in | for the first time, namely, a portrait s the Barve bronzes have been | treatment and sympathetic in the [of himself, by Whistler; “Drying od. This lconection hus motlmtatier “of expres The materlal | Sails,” by Twachtman; “The White | @isplaced, but the entire room |is Caen stone, which is warm in color | Lilacs” and “The Old Church, Deer- he bYer mot only to afford | and of soft texture. The velvet drap- | field,” by W. L. Metcalf, and “Portrait ting for the memorial | eTY covering the bier hangs in lovely | in Blue,” by T. W. Dewing. oL, but also fo set a standard in | folds, and suggests weight and rich Two newly acquired Chinese um display. 1t was rather | ness. In short, Mr. Gregory has suc- | bronzes, a vase and a libation cup, reary, cluttered room heretofore, | cceded in producing a work which, | both of ‘a high order of design and the cxhibite arranged on shelves | While new, seems old; a work which | workmanship. are on view in the east steps around the wall. It is now | one feels has not just been created, | corridor. Juilsr mention of these dom Whih Satisfies (e most | but rather has always been and could | wiil be made later St Gion of |mot be different—a great achieve- i 2 it s oot It 1s|ment is & most difficult thing to | g simple in iis decoration. The | Produce an illustrative work with- | /TNHE exhibition at the Phillips Me- Is have been hung from ceiling to | ©ut making the literary aspect out- | morial Gallery has been changed base with welvet of a ft gray- | Weigh, in significance’ the artistic {again in the small room. The Ernest o Slatve the old tapes- | Merit, ‘but this, too, Mr. | Law have been taken down and ST e een removed; | Succeeded in doing. The | replaced by a group of paintings by e s v simple, have | Gallery is fortunate in having ac- | Childe Hassam. Mr. Hassam Is usu- et hese are of glass, | Quired so significant and valuable & |ally listed as the chief exponent in thout frame. and stand on the | Work of art | this country of French impression- plest sort of wn wood table. | * * |ism, a close follower of Monet, one h has one she!f and the smaller | A NOTHER and quite different me- | who habitually has used the French mzes beautifully displayed [£* morial, the work of a Washing- | impressionists’ method of painting in rein. These cases are placed at|tomian, was dedicated yesterday and [pure color laid on in little dots or four corners of the room, with|deserves more than passing notice. | short strokes, with a rather dry, ple space to pass around them.|This takes the form of a wrought- | small brush. Thus the impression- hile between, at either side, are|iron arch and gateway to the Vir- |ists aimed, it will be recalled. to re- 1 refectory tables on which | ginia Episcopal Seminary, near Alex- | compose the illusion of light large bronzes each | andria, a memorial to the late !:v\.’ The group of Mr. Hassam's pic- into the hall is closed and | Dr. Charles Minnigerode. It was de- | tures now on view at the Phillips makes entrance from the | signed and in part executed by his|Memorial Gallery are not, however, acent galle Opposite this wide | great-grandson. Eliphalet Fraser An- | strikingly in this method; some are municating d v and, hence, [ drews of this city, the son of the late [ not rendered after this method at mediately g the vis is the | 1. F. Andrews, for many years prin- | all, but are painted rather solidly in worial p Set the ‘wall | cipal of the Corcoran School of Art, | flat tones or broadly with a simpli- eccuted by Gregory, the well | portrait painter of distinction, and |fied palette. They demonstrate dou- cwn sculptor, for t "this par- | Marietta Minnigerode Andrews, also | bly, therefore, Mr. Hassam's versa- sular place. It depicts Sir Ector de | an accomplished artist tility. They are extremely varied in Taris looking upon the dead body of | The gate consists of two brick | subject and style. For instance, one brother. Sir Launcelot, in the | posts, surmounted by lanterns and |is a figure painting—a picture of a Church of Joyous Gard. On the chapel | joined by a wrought-iron arch. The | woman at a piano, life size; another wall to the left are inscribed these |design is symbolical, representing is a street scene in New York—a pic- ARCH AND GATEWAY OF THE VIRGINIA EPISCOPAL SEMINARY. A MEMORIAL TO REV. DR. CHARLES MINNI ODE. ITe WAS DESIGNED BY HIS GREAT.GRANDSON, ELIPHALET FRASER ANDREWS. IT IS A PIECE OF SOLID WELDING, WITHOUT A BOLT OR RIVET. words from Sir Ector's f: 1 1 ‘Through nature to God,” the seven | ture of Washington Arch painted ment, found in the last chapter of [sprays of roses in the arch typifying |about 30 years ago, when the ladies Sir Thomas Mallory’s “Morte d'Ar- |the mystic number of perfection. [ wore crinoline in their sleeves and thur”: “And thou wert the courteoust | The lights represent the Light of the | did not show their ankles, when a knight that ever bare shield; and | World, the clover leaves in the design | line of trees bordered the Avenue and thou wert thie truest friend that ever the Trinity—three In one. The three bestrad horse.” In the center of the | crosses, one terminating the arch, the panel is a niche or blind window. on |others terminating the lanterns, rep- whic carved a cross a circle. |resent repentance, atonement, abso- Both knights are in armor; ]muun. The iron work was executed Launcelot wears his helmet by Mr. Andrews and Mr. Buckheit at visor raised—beautiful in death 2 the shops of the Southern Oxygen life, sleeping the lo sleep—the [ Co. It is a piece of solid weldmg, sdeal representation of gallant Chris- | without a bolt or a rivet, and is a tian manhood, suggesting In his | fine example of craft work in this serenity the triumph of life over | medium. Mr. Andrews also did the death, giving the a e | Tucker memorial lamp in St. Mar- hereafter; the figure of his brother is | garet’s Church. in interesting contrast. his rugged €k ko untenance full of sorrow, his figure | NUMBER of changes have been vitally alive and yet suggestive of | made recentby in the exhibits in Suspended motion; in his very atti-|ine Freer Gallery of Art. These are ‘.“““0 seainl to! e in the galleries that have been de- orroy voted to the work of American paint- lers other than Whistler. In galleries led the eve directly to the Arch. Be- sides, there is a charming picture of the North Shore, Cape Ann, which is employed as setting for as lovely a little nude as ever was painted. There is 2 wood interior and a sea- scape, to say nothing of a mountain picture and a little jewel of a water color. again of houses and a street. What an enormous output Mr. Has- sam has to his credit. One recalls with pleasurable sensations his paintings of the rocks and sea, so colorful and jewel-like, which peri- odically appeared in the exhibitions a quarter of a century ago: his plc- tures painted at Lyme of the old church and of the church towers of Gloucester, to say nothing of its wharves and harbor scenes and, per- CHILDE HASSAM, NOW ON MEMORIAL LLERY, WASHINGTON APRIL 12, G EXHIBITION IN THE PHILLIPS haps loveliest of all, a little nude in a sylvan setting, pictured in the half light of dawn with that exquisiteness of feeling which invariably finds its way intc Mr. Hassam's best works For one who has had such a voge it is not surprising that now and again he has done less well than his best The wonder is that the source of in- spiration is apparently so inexhausti- ble and that he has had, as this ex- hibition amply testifies, so much to give. * ok ok K O little excitement has been caused in art circles this week by the pub- lication of the will of the late Senator Clark, from which we learn that there is a possibility' of his art treasures coming to this city. They are left, as every one kno to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. which has until July 2 to decide whether or not to accept them under the condi- tions named. If the decision ad- verse then the Corcoran Gallery of Art may claim them, but under pre- cisely the same conditions that they are now offered to the Metropolitar These are that a well lighted gallery or galleries for the exclusive occu- pancy of these works of art, to be designated the W. A. Clark collec- tion, shall be provided by the museu or gallery and that the collection its entirety shall be accepted and shown. These are diflicult conditions to meet. It is a very large and varied collection comprising not only paint- ings and works in sculptute, but rugs, tapestries, poreelains and many sorts of objects of art. They repre- sent the taste of the collector and each has its measure of beauty in itself, but a museum as a trustee of the people has to consider not merely ac- quisition and display, but serviceabil- ity to the public, and the acceptance of that which can never be changed, can never be correlated, can never be moved is, according to some mu- seum officiels who have given great thought to the matter, a doubtful beneficence. Yet at the present time it would be difficult to forecast the decision to be made by the trustees of the Metropolitan or of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Corcoran Gallery is at present greatly in need of additional space. It is overcrowded and when the great exhibitions such as the biennial of cotemporary American painting are shown therein it is necessary to re- move to the basement the entire per- manent collection. Those Who have the interest of the Corcoran Gallery at heart and appreciate the admirable service it is rendering to the com- munity heve long been hopeful that funds” might be supplied for the building of a new wing by some gen- erous donor. The gallery owns a large plece of property which would make the addition of more than one wing possible. It would take not one, but a serles of galleries to properly set forth the Clark collection, and once placed, these galleries would be per- petually so occupied. From every an- gle it must present a tentalizing problem. * kX % URTIS BAKER of the Corcoran School of Art is holding at this time a one-man exhibition in Boston. His painting, “Interior with Figure,” which received one of the Clark prizes when shown in the Corcoran Gallery’s most recent exhibition of cotemporary American art, and was included in the American exhibition in Venice last Summer, is reproduced “HARVESTIN W » THE POPPIES, i * A FAMOUS PAINTING BY JULES BRETON. WHICH IS CONTAINED IN THE W',A' CLARK COLLECTION. i THE GREAT COLLECTION HAS BEEN LEFT TO THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY, WITH THE CORCORAN GALLERY, OF_ART HAVING-SECOND.CLAIM, in a recent number of La Fiamme, monthly review of the fine arts pub- lished in Rome. Ry o AT the annual meeting of the W ington Water Color Club, held Saturday, April 4, at the studio of Mr. and Mrs. Leisenring, the follow- ing officers were elected for the com- ing year: President, Willlam H Holmes; vice president, Lucier Powell; secretary, Mrs. Susan B Chase: treasurer, Miss Mary K. Por- ter; members of the board, Benson B. Moore, chairman; L. Morris Leisen- ring, Cameron Burnside, Miss Eliza- Sawie and Miss Elizabeth beth Muhlhofer xx x % A']' the Arts Club Marguerite C. Munn is exhibiting upstairs, and & group of four Baltimore painters Anne Chandlee, Mary Crummer. Mar- garet M. Law and Louise Wesi— downstairs. Miss Munn has shown bet- ter worlein the local exhibitions from time to time, and of the four Balti- painters nly Loulse West makes much of a showing. She ex- hibits a number of charming little in- teriovs and scveral sunny outdoor themes, notably 'he Club Perzola There is a certain cleverness in thé works of her three confreres, but the works are all slight * x % RS. LILLA CABOT PERRY, the able secretary of the Boston Guild of Artists, and both a painter and writer of distinction, has been visiting her daughter, Mrs. Grew, at Beauvoir, during the past week, hav- ing spent the Winter in Charleston. She brought with her a number of her Charleston sketches, some Bf which are fair-sized canvases and very characteri of the aspect and lure of that fascinating piace. ticularly happy was Mrs, Perry in her interpreiation of the warm | Charleston sunshine, with its cool lavender shadows—the dreamy illu- sion of sunlight through mist. And et Mrs. Perry is perhaps better known as a painter of portraits than of landscapes, She is an indomitable worker, one who has traveled much and lived a full life. In recent years much of her time has been given to the advancement of interest in art. It was through her co-operation last Summer that the American Federa- tion of Arts was enabled to assem- I ble a traveling ,exhibition of works Boston artists, which has gone the rounds this Winter and proved, wher- ever shown, of great interest. of BOOKS RECEIVED. ING THE CHILD'S EDUCA- BEGIN TION. By author of at Home.” Bros. SACRILEGIOUS HANDS. By William Henry Warner, author of “The Bridge of Time," etc. New York: Greenberg, Publisher, Inc. TALES OF TALBOT HOU: N POPERINGHE AND YPRES. By P. B. Clayton, a Padre of Toc H. Ella Frances Lynch, “Educating the Child New York: Harper & E New York: Longmans, Green & Co. PONTIFEX MAXIMUS. By Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. THE BOSTON CROSS-WORD PUZZLE BOOK. By F. R. Fraprie. Bos- ton: L. C. Page & Co. LEON TROTSKY: The Portrait of a Youth. By Max Eastman. New York: Greenberg, Publisher, Inc. PATRIOTISM IS NOT ENOUGH. By John Haynes Holmes, author of “Marriage and Divorce.” etc. New York: Greenberg, Publisher, Inc. THE FIGHT ON THE STANDING STONE. By Francis Lynde. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. THE ISLES OF FEAR; The Truth About the Philippines. By Kath- erine Mayo. Illustrated from photographs. New York: Har- court, Brace & Co. MELBOURNE’S PLAYS AND PLAY- ERS; Winter, 1825, Stories of the Plays, Dramatic and Screen Suc- cesses of This Period. Portraits and Biographles of Celebrities of the Musical and Literary World. New York: Stage Arts Corpora- tion. MELBOURNE'S SPORTS REVIEW, 1924-25. New York: Stage Arts Corporation. THE COMPLETE LIMERICK BOOK; The Origin, History and Achieve- ments of the Limerick, with Over 400 Selected Examples. By Lang- ford Reed. Illustrated by H. M. Bateman. New York: G. P. Put- nam's Sons. . THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN A ERAGE GOLFER. By 0. B. Kee- ler. New York: Greenberg, Pub- lisher, Inc. THE MONARCH. By Pierre Mille, Translated from the French by Faith Shipperfield. New Greenberg, Publisher, Inc. Remarkable Statistics. GERMAN newspaper with a love for statistics has collected the following data on the German pop- ulation: Ten out of every 1,000 men and 3 out of every 1,000 women are idiots. On the other hand, out of 1,000 men there are 10 geniuses, whereas among 1.000 women there is none. When it comes to average intelligence the women are ahead, 595 out of 1,000 being in that category, while only 380 out of 1,000 men thus qualify, Par- | 1925—PART 2. Reviews of Spring Books iLate Offerings of the Publishers—Recent Additions to the Pub- lic Library—Short Stories of What the Authors Are Providing for Readers During Coming Year. BY IDA GILBERT MYERS. THOSE BARREN LEAVES. By Aldous Huxley, author of “Chrome Yel- low,” etc. New York: George H. Doran Company NDER the oversharpened, crit- ical faculty that nowadays is being bent upon the novel turning and twisting and squirming for new angles of appraisal, new formulae of construction, new abstrusities of designation, it is 4 joy to have old Dr. Johnson breeze In” with the bluff dictum that “the purpose of any book is to be read for that, at bottom, is the actual guidance under which the novelist is trying to make his way. And it is the public, not the academictan, who delivers the verdict for or against. If this be favorable, registered in the book of sales, the novelist is content. This, the rule. To be sure, there is with a few readess, without doubt, a joy—chiefly the joy of self-pride—in be- ing able to feel and judge the fine, con- structive quality of a novel; a satis- faction in sensing its coherent unity, bent steadily and exelusively upon the fulfillment of its chosen purpose; in sensing as well the soundnesd of its plot; in feeling the richness and sequence of fts incidents, each perti- nent and revealing, all together climbing consistently toward the sum of the whole, toward the goal reached in unmistakable justification and il- lumination of its originating pur- in recognizing the characters embody these incidents, and this lo as of the actual stuff of life itself. Here, in a word or two, is the academiclan’s novel—a thing that has no counterpart whatever in the blg and blundering *and shambling busi- ness of life in the open; a neat and tidy construction, . however, vastly dear to the schoolman and teacher who feeds on critical guides as stead- ily and uninspiringly as a cow feeds upon her endless cud. Just an exclu- sive few among scholars and readers like this sort of thing. But there is nothing for the others to worry about, since not in a month of Sun- ays does any novel reflect this per- t scheme. Nevertheless, there are thousands of outcoming novels of fair build and not inconsequential development That's what the public at any rate. But the public doesn't know. Oh, yes it does. The public needs teaching. That's just what it's getting through the increas- ing excellence of today's writings. % ek Just here “Those Barren Leaves' comes to hand. Its publisher calls it a novel. More than likely, however, neither professional scholar nor lay reader would agree at this point with the hopeful publisher. The book has little of form and not more of se- quence. Therefore, the wise man wouldn't have it, despite certain sur- face manifestations that must appeal to him mightily. The story—let's call it a story—appears not to have set out for any place at all: seems not to be going anywhere. Naturally, it cannot arrive. It doesn’t. It sim- ply shuts up its covers after 2 cer- tain time spent in the opeh. The average reader rejects this untidy and inconclusive performance. And as for that superficial appeal to the man of sophistication, that meérely offends the common reader. He is frightened off by Aldous Huxley's subtleties of detection, by his seemingly expert in- side knowledge of the frailties of the human, by the wry smile of expec- tancy with which he meets a ne of these and waylays it for further and more complete exposure. Of- | fended through this fear and a dis- {tinct disappointment, the general| reader accuses the man of vanity and self-esteem past the bounds of propriety; of a certain dogmatic atti- tude in judgment; of a foolish predi- lection for words of pretentious sound and cryptic meanings, and, above all, of a disposition that finds delight in hunting down the sillinesses of which we are all so largely compounded. He'll not play the game with them— the good game of covering one an- other up in a plain and friendly de- cency. They don't like it; they don't like him. He's too sharp and cufting and superior the trail. hunting 1y women, Aldous However, down folks, especi Huxley the_ prize boy-archer. “Those Barren Leaves’ is a monu- ment to his skill in this direction. True?—undoubtedly. Clever?>—mon- strous clever. BILL THE CONQUEROR. By P. G. Wodehouse, author of “The Little Warrior,” ete. New York: George H. Doran Company. SPRJNGTIME, and, in support of the all-engrossing business of the season, a young man endowed by a generous author with enough of conqueror stuft to supply an entire regiment of youthful males for the remaining and negligible three-quarters of the year. /That’s Bill. And at this vernal junc- ture Bill is sent to England upon a commercial errand for which he has neither gift, nor knowledge, nor de- sire. Upon landing, Bill promptly meets a crisis” It is a young woman. At the moment out of her denth she is engaged apparently in the difficult feat of trying to reach land by way of swallowing the lake wherein she is struggling. This is Bill's’chance. For whatever may be the shortcom- ings of this youth in the way of dull money dealings on land, he is cer- tainly a whale of a fellow when he takes to the water. Bill saves the somewhat water-logged lady. From that moment he is off on a triumphant and hilatious round of achievement that embraces about every phase of English life, from high finance to in- ternational understandings. A com- edy of laughter—the Wodehouse kind —that, by way of sudden shifts and tresh combinations, presents an as- tonishing and very lovable Bill as the favorite godchild of a capricious and spendthrift fortune. LIFE AND ERICA. By Gilbert Fran- kau, author of “The Love Story of Aliette Brunton,” etc. New York: The Century Company. HOST of young and generally ca pable writers of the male persua- sion ‘would, it is concelvable, have been sadly put to it for theme had not the modern girl broken loose from her moorings and set sail in her lone little craft upon that uncharted sea whose name is “living her own life.” An epochal exodus from the parental roof-tree that must have been, if one may judge from the prodigious activ- ity which the movement set up in the writing hand of each one belonging to this army of presumably husky able-bodied young men; for it is these chiefly who are stocking library shelves with this subject, whose pro- jection from every possible literary angle they appesr to accept as their particular mission fleid of high serv- ice. They run according to formula, these stories of the emancipated gifl, written by the still traditional boy. After much to do out in the open— this varying according to the inven- tive ingenuity of the writer—the girl invariably turns tail and scurries back home to get in out of the weather, or, better, into the arms of some honest man offering her the ancient and honorable sanctuary of lmnrrlaga. Being at heart the same old woman that has flourished .or withered since Eve, the girl ia eve: thereafter ecstatically grateful for this safe deliverance. Gilbert Fran- kau's “Life and Erica” is merely one of these formalized tales; not quite up to this novelist's good mark, either. Probably the theme needs aerating, needs to lie idle out in the sun a while. THE BRONZE COLLAR. By John Kendrick. New York: G. P. Put- nam’s Sons. sXCELLENT romancer, John Kend- B iy e pickmg of time and place for the business of good adven- ture; not so far back as to set inter- est sound asleep and snoring; just far enough instead to give to invention the glamour of truth and the feel of current kinship. Here you find your- self in the Spanish province of Cali- fornia 100 vears ago or thereabout Within this demesne the author has gathered up, first, the provincial gov- ernor, devoted heart and Soul to the political program of later. enunciation that to the victor belongs the spoils. Next there is the rich ranchero with miles of fat land to his account and the cattle of a thousand hills and an army of Indians degraded to peondge while their souls are hot volcanoes of hatred and revenge. This the ground- worl, to which the author summons adventurers of many stripes and colors to carry on in the way of in- trigue and ruse b to one end or another—all quite plausible, or at least possible, in that period of dls- covery and exploitation. Your inter- est’will center, as it is meant to do, on Il Rojo, who, besides wearing z red head, wears also a “bronze col- lar,” welded around his neck over in Spain. A war trophy, El Rojo, out of the struggles along the Barbary coast between Moor and Spaniard; El Rojo upon the black horse, Sanduval, and carrying in his hand a singing blade, “La Cantante"—this is the fig- ure that directs the adventure, some- times along ways that you in cool blood may reject as fantastic. Luck- however, for the story and its author, vour blood will not be cool in the reading of this romance. So you will go along in a mood of joyous acceptance that for the moment puts 2 heavy discount on mere consis- tencies and plausibilities. THE GATES OF MORNING. By H de Vere Stacpoole, author of “The Blu Lagoon,” etc. New York Dodd, Mead & Co. AVING indubitably caught the gi00d of those Pacific Islands about which so much in these latter years ha been said and sung, Mr. Stacpoole seems unwilling or unable to free elf of the spell. Not a matter of wonder, this, since er its work- ings he has created three novels of paculiar charm. “The Gates of Morn- ing” is the best of the three only in one respect—it goes down to the tragic impl the coming of the white race to these natives of the Pacific. Otherwise it is mo more than the equal of the other two in its seizure of the beauty of this region, in its ‘appre its many mea! gs, in its sympathy with the native life and with the gradual disappearance of that life The new story is bent directly upon this fading existence under the con- tact with the white trader and sailor and adventurer. A grimly sad tale from this point, and this is the point that the author maintains through- out {n his dramatic portrayal of a hand- ful of natives struggling blindly and hopelessly against their obvious doom. KIDDIDEARS OF THE LO> By Becky Tabor. Iilustrated by Ruth Elizabeth Collins York: The Knickerbocker Press. HERE is a verv potent thing back of this book, back of Its delightfu! pictures and Its pretty dress, back of the little verses that might in thought and word have originated with the children whom they represent and whom they bring forward out from the past Into the ever-present period of all childhood. There is behind this booklet a woman who for many years has been shut away from the world of things that we able-bodied folks are free to go out and get This, how- ever, is not the main point. The great thing of the moment is that the woman didn't cry when she found out what had hit her. Instead she sat up and dug down inside herself till she found her gift of charming little chil- dren to her side. And she used this gift, picking the flowers of their thoughts and fancies, picking them with long and bending stems, arrang- ing them with the colors just right and the fragrance held fast. And this is the way that she found to do this thing that nobody elss has done—not in her way—the thing that I am this minute looking at with joy and a touch of envy and a rush of pride in that modern personage, the ‘“good sport.” AGO. THE CROOKED MIL) DeVoto. New Baleh & Co V\/ASHINGTONIANS have an especial right to resent the sort of litera- ture which reduces whole sections of America to ocal color.’ because Washingtonians have by actual con- tacts learned that the ideas bubbling under the Western sombrero are not very different from the ideas quietly steeping under the Boston silk hat A majority of our authors, if one is to judge from the books they write, prefer to believe that large areas of our country are inhabited not by flesh-and-blood people but by “types.” The two sections which have suffered most from this literary practice are the West and the South. The cowboy and the Southern planter, Indian and African dialects, the ready noose and the quick trigger—what Boons they have been to the lazy novelist! But, though you might never guess it from our fiction, both the West and the South are facing the same modern problems which confront the rest of the country. The jazz age and the speed demon do mnot recognize such boundaries as the Mason and Dixon line or the Rocky Mountains. All the subtleties of our complex civilization, our post-war spiritual = exhaustion, our fatalism, our cynicism and our struggling faith—all -of them exist today on the prairie and in the cot- ton fleld. In fact, they are the reali- ties and the cowboy and the simple old broad-hatted planter are mere ghosts of the past. A few writers are beginning to rec- ognize these conditions. And one novellst has made his recognition the basis for a rather remarkable study. In “The Crooked Mile” Bernard De- Voto has achleved something really notable. He has given us the picture of the Far West of today, a study of life on the old frontier as it is lived by a generation three times removed from the ploneers. The old spirit still lives, but subtly altered, refined, weakened if you will; beating its wings against the frontiers of moral and intellectual demains, now that there is no physical frontier lsft to conquer. “The Crooked Mile” is peo- pled with characters who live and breathe, who have human doubts and human weaknesses. The Western at- mosphere is present only as it modi- fles the reactlon of these characters to lite. But there is no attempt to “make belleve” that the West is still Bernard Minton, By York tion that rests within | | tion of | | a land of simplidities and whooping cowboys, where everybody oan quick- 1y be labeled “good” or “‘bad,” where everything is black or white and there are no hal? tones. If any one still thinks that so subtle and instdlous a thing as the spirit we call “modern ism" can be balked by a physical bar- rier, even 8o majestic & barrier as the Rockies, he will find “The Crooked Mile” fliluminating. One understands from publishers notes that this is a first novel. Ap- parently youth has again shown the way. It is to be hoped that others will do for the South what Bernard DeVoto has done for the West B W The Public Library Recent accesslons at the Public Library and lists of recommended reading will appear in this column each Sunday Outdoor Sports. Allen, W. H. Trapping Secrets, VF Al53t. Bachrach, William. The Outline of Swimming. VGA-Bl24o Bailey, C. W. The Brain and Go VKG-B153 Boy Scouts of America ¥ Boy Leadership, Comstock, Bovd. How VI-C738h Corsan, G. H. The Diving and Swim ming Book. VGA-CS18d Devereux, W. B. Position and Team Play in Polo. VJI-D4% Grey, Zane. Tales of Southern River VF-B8693s Hulit, Leonard. The Salt Water Ang ler. VF-HS75s. Jones, S. R. Black -Baes and Bass Craft. VF-J725bl Meredth, J. E. Middle Distance and Relsy Racing. VI-M343m. National Conference on Outdoor Re reation, Washington, D. C. 1% Proceedings. VD-SN21. Playground and Recreation Associa tion of America. Camping Out VD-P63Sc. Ripley, Ozark, pseud ss and Bass Fishing. VF-R45 Ripley, OzaTk, pseud. Quail and the Qu Dog. VE-R48iq Roosevelt, Theodore, Pres. of U. § and Grinnell, G. B., eds. Ar Big-Game Hunting. 189 R677a Shepherad, VKC Smith, C. Y Methods for Clubs. VDA-Smilg Staley, §. C. Ga Contests and Relays. VDA-St1ig. Stoddard C. Shanks' Mare. VI Thompson, Ray ness Trapper. Wack, H. W, VD-W11 Wack, H. W. Summer Camps, Boys and Girls. VD-W113s. Wardlaw, C. D. Fundamentals of Base Ball. VKB-W2I5f. Wegener, A. B. Track and Field Athletics. VAT-W424t Indoor Games and Entertainments. Allen. F. C. My Basket Ball Bible VMAB-A153 Andrews, T. S. g Battles of Cen turies -An24r. Calvert, Alan per Strength. VS- C138s, Capablanca =s Fundamen- tals. 192 c Dayton, H d Barratt, L. B Book of Entertainments and The atricals. VM-D336 Durham, Helen. Ten Recreational Parties. VM-D934t Durham, Helen, and Lane, Janet. Ten Timgly Dances. VQ-D34t Emery, Alfred. Chess Sacrifices VNC-Ema37c. Foster, R. F. Foster on Mah Jong VNM-F$13 Frost, Helen. Clog and Character Dances. VQ-F328¢ Githens, H. W. Bushels of Fun. VM G447 Hoppe. Willie. Thirty Years of B liards. VMB-H7T Irwin, Florence. The Complete Mah Jong Player NM-Tr94 Jeffers, Mrs. Cora. Rhythmic Work VQ-J358r. Kaser, A. L. Top-Liners for Stun Nights and Vod-Vil. VM-Kl1st. Kearney, P. W. Riddles and Conun drums, VPS-K215r. Lawson, J. G., comp. The World's Best Conundrums. VPS-Ld4w. Linscott, H. B. Up-to-date Socfal Af fairs. VM-L656u Meanwell, W. E. The Science of Bas- ket Ball for Men. VMAB-M466s. Radcliffe, W. H. Magic for Amateurs VR-R114m Toombs, F. R, ed. How to Wrestle VB-TB17 Tow, J. S. The Outline of Mah Jong VNM-T65 Young, F. K. Field Book of Chess Generalship. VNC-V884f. The Theater. Andrews, H. L.. and Weirick, Bruce Acting and Play Production. VUL An24 Brewster, E. E., and others. Balker Pantomimes and Charades. 190 VUP-B Bryce. C. T. Bound or Free. VUP BS45b. Bugbee, W. N. Merry Entertainments. VUP-B864m Eaton, W. P. The Actor's Heritage VU-Ea$é. Goldwyn, Samuel. Behind the Screen VUW-G38. Grimball, E. B, and_ Wells, Rhea Costuming a Play. VUQ-G88 Mackaye, Ha: The Quest of Youth VUY-M192q. Pearce, C. E. Polly Peachum. 1823 VU45-P31 Presbrey, E. W. The Courtship of Miles Standish; Drama. 1909 VUP-P922c. Russell, M. M. Drama as a Factor 1n Social Education. VUP-R913d Sayler, O. M. Max Reinhardt and His Theater. VU-Sa99.E. Sayler, O. M. Our American Theater VU83-Sa990. Seldes, Gilbert. Arts. VU-Sedss. Wilson, S. A. Festival of the Harvest Moon. 1921. VUP-W69 The Seven Lively ‘Enchanted Woollcott, _Alexander Aisles. VU-WsSe, Normal Longevity. T birth an American may expect to live 56 years: in Australia, in Germany, 45: in India, only And when a person in the United States has lived to 52 ycars he has a further expectation of 21 years This estimate is based on figures of census. Favorably Reviewed By MISS JANET RICHARDS At her Monday talk on public questions. the unique booklet just out Washington’s Washington Everywhere—Twenty-five Cents “Well Worth While™