Evening Star Newspaper, January 20, 1929, Page 28

Malvina Hoffman’s Sculpture and Drawings on View at the Corcoran Gallery of Art—Other Local Exhibitions v BY LEILA MECHLIN. N exhibition of extraordinary in- terest and unusual character opened at the Corcoran Gal- lery of Art last Thursday after- noon, to remain on view until February 3. This consists of sculpture and drawings by Malvina Hoffman, the latter supplementary to the former, and occuples the center of the astrium, mak. ing an impressive showing. The col- Jection, representing over three years of intensive work in Africa, in Jugo- slovakia and in Paris, had its first showing a fortnight or more ago in the Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, at which time it received from critics and members of Malvina Hoffman's profession the highest acclaim. Augustus Saint-Gaudens was of the opinion that women rarely possess creative instinct. But here is a woman who evidently possesses it in large measure, a woman whose work, while extraordinarly sensitive, shuws no weak- ness, no femininity, save that of sym- pathetic understanding—at-oneness with the subject. Her command of medium is amazing, as is also her ver- satility. She has not one, but many manners, yet those whom she portrays fully possess their own personalities, | the artist being lost in her work as in- | terpreter. Perhaps the most interesting feature of this present exhibition is the fact that represented herein are so many natfonalities—England, by Sir David Henderson: Poland, by Paderewski; Czechoslovakia, by Ivan Mestrovic: Russia, by Anna Pavlowa; the Javan- ese. the Sengalese, Hebrews, Italians and others—many races, many sorts, | the gifted and the simple, the woman | of wealth and of social standing, the ignorant African slave, each an indi- viduality, each rendered in a manner and a material suitable to the subject; a remarkable series of types, each a| genuine portrait. And how much every | one of these portraits signifies, how | much there is behind the mask! Undoubtedly the visitor will first be attracted by two heads in black Bel- gian marble, one of a Sengalese soldier, the other of a Martinique girl—colos- sal, boldly rendered, simple. In both instances the skin is polished until it shines like ebony, and the hair and other parts are in the mu;h. Both of these works were modeled from life ac- curately, later enlarged, simplified, per- fected. Their manner of expression is what is today termed modern, but lack of this modernism is the tradition of the past. They are akin to the classic. ‘They have the dignity of the great ‘works Froduced by the unnamed sculp- tors of Egypt and Greece. And the manner employed in these instances perfectly accords with the subjects pre- sented. How different it is from that Which Malvina Hoffman has used for her raits in bronze of Mrs. E. H. Harriman and of Giovanni Boldini! Prom the simple anl plastic one pass- Draw Attention. near the horse market in Paris. It was there that she modeled the charming little bronze, shown in this exhibition, of an Arabian horse. As another by- product of her intensive study is a pair of gate-posts for a stable or racetrack— heads of winged horses splendidly con- ventionalized. And in addition to all these there are panels of dancing figures recalling-the fact, which almost every one knows, of Malvina Hoffman's friendship for Anna Pavlowa, a friendship which be- gan at the outset of her career, as we are told in the catalogue and from which came a series of dynamic inter- pretations of the dancer. It is truly sald that “to those who recall the flamelike quality of these early works the evidence of growth will be as clearly Paviowa, now shown, as it is to those who stand before the astounding ren- dering of certain verses from the Rev- elation of St. John.” But these beautiful panels of the dance, of which no less | than 26 are in existence, are full of the | spirit of youth and joyousness and wit- ness, to the initiated, the enormous amount of careful study that the sculp- tor has given to the subject of the human figure, the human figure in rhythmical motion. ‘There are other interesting and un- usual subjects set forth—a group of | powerful drawings, two studies of hands. one of them of the hand of Lemordant, the Breton painter, terribly maimed in the war and rendered blind, yet with indomitable spirit, unfailing love of beauty. There are also a number of | little bronzes. ity But the keynote of the exhibition is undoubtedly the interpretation of St. John’s vision, and of the dignity of | human life, whether in the African| wastes or in the heart of the great metropelis. A distinguished English scholar has said of Malvina Hoffman's | portraits: “Is there any one but an| artist who could show us the eternal truths which these studies of the East express? The Orient is never revealed in books, only in faces and in forms. And here are these forms and faces to teach us in their majestic silence.” The silence as well as the truth and compe- tence of Malvina Hoffman’s sculpture 1s profoundly significant. Malvina Hoffman (Mrs. Samuel Grimson) was born in New York City, studied painting with John Alexander, visible from the portrait in wax of | represented in the Corcoran Gallery's recent exhibition. x x ok ak T the Arts Club, 2017 I street, this afternoon an exhibition of water Lent of illustrations by Prentiss Taylor | and miniatures by Katherine Page will | be opened with a tea, at which Miss | Eleanor Parke Custis and Felix Mahony will be hosts. Roy Clark studied under Irving Wiles and Edgar Nye. He is a member of the Washington Water Color Club, the Landscape Club and the Society of ‘Washington Artists. Margaert Lent is also a Washing- tonian, though part of her time recently has been spent in New York. For two years in succession she has been awar ed the New York Water Color Club's prize in the great annual exhibition held by the New York Water Color Club and the American Water Color Society held in the Fine Arts Building, New York—an unusual and well deserved honor. The painting for which the award was made last year has lately been invited for a very select group ex- hibition which the American Federation of Arts is sending on a college circuit. Prentiss Taylor now resides in New | York and is doing free-lance illustration and design, but he had his training here in Washington and did stage de- signs for the Ram'’s Head Players. Katherine Page is a Virginian who studied at the Philadelphia School of | Design for Women and with Margaretta Archambault of Philadelphia. She has exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1927 won an | academy fellowship. * K K K EACH month at the Abbott School of Fine and Commercial Art a gold star is awarded to the member of each class making the greatest improvement in the past four weeks. During the last month the work of the children’s class, consisting of work in posters in show card colors, story illustrations in black and white, sketches from life made in charcoal, pen and ink lettering, when brought before the faculty, showed such splendid improvement in the work of two of the members that it was decided to award two silver stars in place of one sculpture with Herbert Adams and #s to the subtle and complex, the rid- dle pmundfll by civilization. And how erent, again, is the treatment of the portrait or Anna Paviowa in bronze and in wax, of the mask of Paderewski, of the portrait in marble ©of John Keats. More archaic than even the portraits of a Sengalese soldier and the Mar- tinique girl (which, by the way, have been purchased by the Brooklyn Mu- seum for its permanent collection) are thle, tvmt heads carved in wood, one of a to an ancient vernacular, but makes it her own, and as looks into these faces carved in one seems to real- ize the antiquity of the people repre- sented, the antiguity of race. No Jess a characterization is the figure, half length, of an African youth hold- ing a fighting cock—a supebr specimen ©of humanity as well as game fowl. gucmp;% after u’.‘ll, most. xn'.‘lmtnl:z an e _group of e sculptor's neighbors in Paris—the coal ma., carved m & great lump of an- thracite coal; the mason, made out of his own bricks ground up and serving as clay; Mme. La Mottee, in terra cotta, an old face wonderfully illuminated by the spirit within; “The Lady Next Door,” commonly witch; “Mme. Tarti, Maker,” beautiful, as age cne, with all the history of a hard life written on the countenance, and yet hardness glorified by the spirit within— a work so sensitive, so sympathetic, so skilliful that before it one must stand in awe and admiration. And with this ability to interpret life through the individual, Malvina Hoff- man combines a splendid power of imagination, that creative genius to ‘which reference has already been made. Some years ago there came to her a great vision of the triumph of good over evil. Her inspiration came from the reading of certain lines in the book of Revelations, those describing the four horsemen—Pestilence, War, Famine and th, through which comes sorrow, “THE FIGHTING COC LAND OF BALL" A LIFESIZE BRONZE, BY MALVINA HOFF- and of the triumphant spirits of good ; Which come out of great tribulation. This theme she has interpreted, not once, but several times. She shows in this exhibition a quarter-size model of a proposed memorial bearing sculptural renderings of verses from the Revela- tion of St. John. On the base are seen in bas-relief the horsemen—above, they which came out of great tribulation; below, at the four corners, the four beasts, each of which has six wings about him. In her studio in New York, but impossible of transportation, is an- other rendering showing the four horse- men in the round—the spirit of good epitomized by a single figure lifted high sbove by a series of steps. On the walls of the staircase here are seen four panels in color by Malvina Hoffman—cartoons for ceramics, each representing one of the horsemen—War and Death of the four most dramatic. Here also is a panel in color showing one of the horsemen, “War,” rendered in a new process, cement inlay, which offers great possibilities. | sensitiveness to impression and that OEATH.” A CARTOON IN COLO! HOFFMAN. ONE OF A SERIES APOCALYPSE. All photographs copyright, gold one. The recipients were Eliza- R FOR CERAMICS, BY MALVINA OF FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE 1928, by Malvina Hoffman. Gutzon Borglum, and later became a pupil of Auguste Rodin in Paris. During the war she came into close contact with the Jugoslavs through her Red Cross and American Relief Society work. In 1919 Mr. Hoover sent her to Jugoslavia to report on conditions of child-feeding and relief methods of the American Rellef Administration in that region of suffering and epidemics. ‘While traveling in Jugoslavia she be- came more and more impressed with the tragic, stoical character of the peasants, finding the people, she says, to be “primitive, brave and God-loving.” ‘This was her preparation for the por- trait of Mestrovic now in the Brooklyn Museum, a half-length of which is shown in this exhbition. A sculptured figure symbolizing the friendship of England and America was Malvina Hoffman’s contribution to Bush House in London, erected in 1923 and dedicated to the friendship of the English-speaking people. Among her other distinguished works are “The Modern Crusader,” Metropolitan Mu- seum; memorial groug. “Sacrifice,” Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, eventually to go to Harvard Uni- versity; portrait of Paderewski, Ame ican A Academy, in Rome; “Pavlo! Gavotte,” in the Museum of Stocl holm; “Bill,” in the Luxembourg M seum, Paris, a replica of which is cluded in this exhibition. She is an associate of the Natlonal Acade: of Design and a member of the National Sculpture Society. She has been dec- orated by the French Academy and received from Jugoslavia the Royal Or- der of St. Sava IIL Besides which she has received at the hands of her colleagues many awards and medals of honor. And yet, withal, she has re- tained extreme simplicity of manner, modesty which invariably goes with greatness. Her power of _expression, verbally as well as through the medium of sculpture, is both artistic and graphic, evidencing the fact that the boundaries of art are unlimited and that greatness is something within one's self—inborn, inbred, not a mere acquisition, " * % Anderson opens at the Yorke Gal- lery, 2000 S street, tomorrow to continue to February 1. Mr. Anderson was, it will be remem- bered, one of the jury of selection and award for the Corcoran Gallery's recent exhibition of cotemporary American painting. He was born in Oxford, Ohio, in 1874, studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Colarosst Academy in Paris, in Holland, Italy and Madrid. He is a National Academiclan and has ve- ceived the silver medal of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; the Lippincott prize, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the Altman prize, National Academy of Design; the French gold medal, Art Institute of Chicago, and other awards. He is represented in the Art Institute of Chicago by a painting, “Idlers”; in the City Art Museum of St. Louis by “Sisters” in the Cleveland Museum of Art by “Apple Gatherers In order to accomplish this great work on which her mind and spirit are centered at present, Malvina Hoffman has made innumerable studies of horses in Africa, in Jugoslavia, in Czechoslo- vakia and in France. In fact, in order @ to _carry out this work she built and L for same time a little studlo and in the Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia, by “The Heirloom.” He will show here a group of 22 paintings, including a portrait of his N exhibition of palntings by Karl | beth Merwin and Charles Grunwell, both 9 years old. * ok k% THE National League of American Pen Women is sponsoring a series of exhibitions of work by artist mem- bers, the first of which was held in New York three years ago. The third is announced from March 9 to 21, and will be held in the galleries of the Barnard Club, New York. Contribu- tions will be made by professional members in Washington and will in- clude works in oil, water color, pastel, miniatures, etching and sculpture, the last to a limited degree. Two prizes are being offered of $100 each for the best painting and the best plece of sculpture, These and several honorable mentions will be awarded by a jury of non-members to be announced later. * K ok X THE trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art have issued invitations to the opening private view of the thirty- | eighth annual exhibition of the Society of Washington Artists, Saturday after- noon, February 9, from 3 until 6 o'clock. * ok ok % ICHEL JACOBS' paintings at the Lorraine Galleries, Connecticut avenue, are well worth seeing. They are of woodland and mountain land- scape, Spring and Autumn scenes; colorful, atmospheric and quite subtle in their rendering. They are essential- ly in what may be termed the style of the American school, unconventional landscapes of nature unrelated to man, unconventionalized, without apparent design and vet excellent in composi- “MATTRESS MAKER,” ON own daughter and one of his colleague, Frederick Frieseke. Many of his sub- Jects, howevergare figures out of doors, such groups @ that by which he was OF THE SERIES, “MY NEIGHBOR IN PARIS,” BY MALVINA HOFF- MAN - colors by Roy Clark and by Margarete | “ARAB STALLION,” A SMALL BRONZE, BY MALVINA HOFFMAN. tion. Mr. Jacobs has made a special study of color and color relations, and in the years since the war and since | his residencc here in Washington his art has undoubtedly strengthened and | at the same time matured. The Lorraine Galleries are showing at the same time a number of very in- teresting little bronzes by well known American seulptors, among them a charming nude figure only a few inches in height, by Emil Puchs. whose tragic death last week lends to his work mel- ancholy interest. The Lorraine Galleries have excellent connections in Boston and New York, and their establishment here may be | taken as indication that Washington is | becoming not merely an art center but an art mnrke(.* THE Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts opened its 124th annual % This is invariably one of the notable exhibitions of the year. The exhibition will remain on view until March 17, and will well repay a visit to Phila- delphia. U CLARA HILL, whose work in sculp- ture is well known and highly esteemed here, as elsewhere, will exhibit a group of her work by invitation from January 21 to 28, under the auspices of the League of American Pen Women, at 1108 Sixteenth street. This exhibi- tion will be open daily to the public from 2 in the afternoon, but not in the morning. Among the works to be shown is a medallion portrait of Agnes Ken- drick Gray, whose poetry has not only | attracted attention in recent years but received conspicuous award. This por- trait was done at Petersborough, when Miss Gray and Miss Hill were both in residence at the MacDowell colony. exhibition last evening with a reception. BOOKS RECEIVED ' A BUSINESS 'MAN'S CREED. By Roger W. Babson. New York: Flem- ing H. Revell Co. THE MOTIVES OF MEN. By George A Coe, author of “What Ails Our Youth,” etc. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. RED PLUME; of the Royal Northwest Mounted. By Edward Huntington Williams, author of “Red Plume,” etc. Illustrated by Charles Durant. New York: Harper & Bros. WEST POINTER'S HONOR. By | Maj. A. W. Chilton. Tllustrated by | Bros. ABOVE THE BRIGHT BLUE SKY; More About the War Birds. By Elliott White Springs. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc. EROS AND PSYCHE; A Fairy Tale of Ancient Greece. By Charles H.| Chase. Boston: The Christopher | Publishing House. FOUND IN BAGDAD; And Other Diva- gations of a Lawyer. By Charles E. Shepard. New York: Walter Neale. MR. MONEYPENNY. By Channing Pollock. New York: Brentano's. FORTHRIGHT OPINIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH; A Record of the Church Congress in the United States on its Fifty-Fourth Anni- ~ersary. - With an Introduction by the General Chairman, The Right Rev. Charles Lewis Slattery, D. D, Bishop of Massachusetts. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. PRIVATE SUHREN; The Story of a German Rifleman. By Georg von der Vring. Translated by Fred Hall. New York: Harper & Bros. INDUSTRIAL EXPLORERS. By Maurice Holland, Director, Division of Engineering and Industrial Re- search, National Research Council, with Henry F. Pringle. New York: Harper & Bros. AT _THE SOUTH GATE. By Grace S. Richmond. New York: Doubleday, Doran’ & Co., Inc. THE DURWOOD DREAM; A Story for Boys and Girls from Twelve to Six- teen. By Margaret A. Fassitt, author of “Sunny Rhymes for Happy Hours,” etc. Boston: The Christo- pher Publishing House. ON MY WAY. By Art Young, in Text and Picture. New York: Horace Liveright. DOOMED SHIP. By Judd Gray. York: Horace Liveright. THE MARVELOUS MINIATURE LIBRARY; Including The Holy Bible, English-French Dictionary, The Little Webster, Hamlet and Macbeth, Don Quixote, The Arabian Nights, The Golden Treasury of English Songs, Paradise Lost and Love and Other Stories. New York: Miniature Dictionary Publishers, Inc. ABE MARTIN'S BARBED WIRE. By Kin Hubbard, author of “Hoss Sense Nonsense.” Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill Co. MEMORIES OF NINETY YEARS. By Henry Munroe Rogers. Tllustrated. | Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. AFRICA’'S WHITE MAGIC. By Joseph H. Appel, author of “A World, Cruise Log,” etc. Illustrated with Photo- graphs. New York: Harper & Bros. PERFECTLY SCANDALOUS; A Com- edy in Three Acts. By Willlam Ger- hardi, author of “Putility,” etc. New York: Duffleld & Co. THE UNITED STATES IN THE AIR. By Mason M. Patrick, Major Gen- eral, U. 8. Army, Retired. Introduc- tion by F. Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary of War in Charge of Avia- tion. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc. A New Balhroo;nziAre Pride Of Manila Babbitts A race of Babbitts is commencing to thrive in Manila, men who are proud of thelr modern bathrooms. Thriving in trade, these men erect handsome or. ornate homes in the city. Here they stage receptions, during which their bathrooms are on some- what notorious display. Manila’s growing prosperity, it is only too evident, is good for the American enameled tile trade. But France profits, too, as both French and American fix- tures are often installed. French mir- rors are, of course, indispensable, together with a hundred brands of lotions, perfumes and face creams. The radio-phonograph has been in- troduced; to its raucous tones stout, tropical gentlemen take their daily | | dozen exercises. It seems that the bigger the bathroom the better, as it is easier to brag about. The host is also perfectly secure in the amenities ' prevailing. If a Exest expresses ad- miration for anything belonging to the host, in Manila it is necessary to say “it is yours.” With the new bathrooms this is easy; “It is yours,” but if can't ke taken awayl | Dreiser, PUBLIC LIBRARY. Recent accessions at the Public Li- brary and lists of recommended reading will appear in this column each Sunday. Russia. American Trade Union Delegation to the Soviet Union. Soviet Russia in the Second Decade. HC54-Am3. Borders, Karl. Village Life Under the Soviets. HX-B647v. Dobb, M. H. Russian Economic De- velopment Since the Revolution HC54-D65r. Drelser Looks at ‘Theodore. Russia. G54-D81. Rozanov, M. G. The Diary of a Com- munist Schoolboy. G54-R818.E. Rolitical Economy. Florence, P. 8, Economics and Human Behavior HC-F667. Garrett, Garet. The American Omen. HC83-G 197. Laidler, H. W., and Thomas, N. M., Symposium. HC eds. Prosperity? 83-L 14p. Peel, Hon. George. The Economic Im- pact of America. HC83-P34. Slmonds, G. K., and Thompson, J. K. ‘The American Way to Prosperity. HC83-Si54. Weber, Max. General Economic His- tory. HC-W38.E. Railroads. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. Cata- logue of the Centenary Exhibition, 1827-1927. SV-B218. Dunrg’.l. H., ed. Signal Kinks. SVY- D2, HO];;;lld, R. 8. Historic Railroads. 8V- Johnson, E. R., and Others. Principles of Transportation, HJ-J623p. Starr, J. W. One Hundred Years of American Railroading. SV83-St27. Biography. Fuller, R. H. Jubilee Jim. E-F54f. Fulop-Miller, Rene. Lenin and Gandhi. 1927. E-L5427LE. Hardy, Mrs. F. E. D. The Early Life of Thomas Hardy. E-H219h. Helm, Katherine. The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln. E-L635h. Howells, W. D. Life in Letters of W. D. Howells. 2 v. E-H836a3. Mackenzie, C. D. Alexander Graham Bell. E-B413m. Murphy, C. J. V. Struggle. E-B993m. Reumert, E. P. P. Hans Andersen, the Man. E-An263r. Strachey, G. L. Elizabeth and Essex. F4549-8t82. ‘Washington, George, President of United States. Washington Speaks for Himself. E-W27a8. Travel. Bell, G. L. Persian Pictures. G635- B4l p. Burden, W. D. Dragon Lizards of Ko~ modo. G681-B89. Cameron, John. John Cameron's Odys- sey. GI12-C 143. ‘The Arab, Fulanain, pseud. Interpretations. G66- Haji Rikkan. G63-F95m. Johnson, E. R. J63. 4 Nansen, Fridtjof. Armenia and the A New Volume on the Subject of Criminology Written by Scientists—Our N IDA GILBERT MYERS. THE NEW CRIMINOLOGY. By Max G. Schlapp, M. D, and Edward H. Smith, suthor of “Famous Poison Mysteries,” etc. New York: Boni & Liveright. BIG book—too big to command general attention. The theme is vital, immedistely momentous to everyone. Yet, mere bulk and the sound of its title are calcu- lated to bar the door of this book against the common reader. Time crowds. An hour is an inelastic thing —=60 minutes, no more, no less. And what with motors and movies and streams of melody flowing day and night free as the air that carries them— what time is there, pray, to stop beside anything, no matfer how important this may be! Crime is the subject of this study. And crime is the paramount issue of the present. Press and pulpit, forum and street gossip declare it. Going along with such general assent is the growing conviction that the penal sys- tem is a futile thing, that the courts of law are not adequate as instruments of justice. ‘Two scientists of high repute, through a partnership of investigation and re- port, offer by way of this book a survey of the field of crime and a summary of the modern outlook upon this field. Supporting such survey and summary is a body of authentic information upon the subject, most of it gathered at first hand. The whole is projected in solid array upon the common course of crime. And this, in turn, becomes the general guide for the treatment of criminals in any era of civilization. I eat and drink, I work and play, I sleep and wake—and God gives the issue, or so it seems to me. All quite wrong, in essence. Instead I am chem- istry itself, an internal svstem of labora- tories, each creating its own flulds in a perfect automatism, each assigning these to its particular functional use, all operating upon that most amazing of inventions, the nervous system, which, taken by and large, stands as my own personal destiny. This is a wonderful story and wonderfully told here. Its effect is, on the whole, distinctly terri- fying. Because, you see, some derange- ment, even slight, in this wonderful mechanism may eventuate, say, in mur- der, or arson, or bootlegging, or any other behavior that is clearly against Inm wholly external contrivance, the aw. Here is the story of physiology and its workings, the story of the glands in their office and their vital effects upon human conduct. Here is a veritable Arablan nights of the automatic inside of man in its ceaseless adventure of sustaining human life and determining human conduct. And, to project the astonishing tale into efficient useful- ness, here is a course in the treatment of those who fail to conform their lives with the rules set on the outside as the proper rumem of personal life. Crime is, mostly, sickness, according to science. Its treatment, therefore, should curative in intent, not punitive. And here are set down these better ways of looking upon crime, these better ways of treat it. Hun of cases are cited in detail, hundreds of cures are effected. A most absorbing study, sim- ple and concrete, almost wholly free from puzzling terms, wholly concerned with practical humanitarian issues. And, slowly, these ideas of law and justis re gaining ground. Rather are the old notions of punishment giving way, slowly, to such larger and deeper knowledge of the greatest riddle of all life—man in his interrelations of body and behavior. Set oft nst this new vision of crime and its treatment is the older view of crime and its punishment— that clear possession of the devil against which the anger of a perfect God is vented in such bodily tortures and mental anguish as only justice, wholly m and heavenly, could devise. Great . Better read it, just for yourself— not for anybody else. * kK K THE NOT-QUITE PURITANS. By Sor"ot Titony. Gomnectiont” Govess. o ry, Connecticuf : Boston: Little, Brown & Co. e TH! book covers “Some Genial Fol- lies and Peculiar Prailties of Our Revered New England Ancestors,” ac- cording to its subtitle. And here even before setting out is a promise that shapes the reader's mind agreeably toward whatever Mr. Lawrence may have to say. For, those Puritans have been all through the years a perfect thorn in the flesh to any average human whose proportion of good and evil is so different from the 100 per cent purity of those solemn fun-hating folks of Plymouth and Boston and rounda- bout. So, gladly, we go with this genial professor who so. wittily makes clear that these were, after all, much like the rest of us, these Puritans. “Court- ing Cotton Mather” is the prime story here—maybe because this same Cotton Mather has, of them all, seemed to be the most impossibly good. A clear joy to see Prudence Prynne go after him, even though the girl lost out. Cotton was a coward—terribly afraid of him- self, and Satan. And, in all of his recital of frailty—about “wicked ap- parell” and those “blue laws” and the whole lugubrious to-do—we must not forget that we have a decided advan- tage over the Puritan. For, whether with reason or no reason, we have pretty effectually disposed of the devil. But_to the Puritan Satan was on Near East. G604-N 15. Pru;eé’!;umn‘ Winged Sandals. G30- w. Rax;%:, Iyer, C. 8. Father India. G69- ‘A. J. ‘Three Wise Men of the . G60-T56¢. Zl.mzlsn.d. Savel. Living India. G60- Poster Contest First Prize, $100 Second Prize, $50 Third Prize, $25 A Cash Award of $5 will be made to any contestant whose work is ex- hibited in our windows. - Contestants are requested to visit the Home Service Bureau, Furniture Depart- ment, Sixth Floor, in person, before February 2nd to obtain rules of the contest and to ascertain the type of poster required. The contest will close Friday, February 8th. None of our employees is eligible. W. B, Moses & Sons F Street at Eleventh Late vaels. hand at every turn, leading man into sin and ultimate hell fire, inventing witchcraft to delude and lead astray the unwary, making even the infrequent playtimes snares for the weak. As mat- ter of fact the Puritan was scared al- most to death all the time by the immediate presence of the most artful of powers, one that knew every kink in the dangerous weakness of mere man Good history and good fun com- mend this k to one of the easy hours when a suave and humorous | man of learnimg is more welcome than | any other companion that could be | imagined. In such an hour just call up this professor of history amd ask him over for a couple of hours or so. * ok ok STRANGE FRUIT., By Phyllis Bot- tome. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 'WENTY short stories by a writer who delivers substance along with her art of novel wijting. These lesser tales, too, possess this satisfying character- istic, of being about,something as well | as of being constructed with purpose and plan and carrying power. Every day of the world is packed with short stories of many colors and meanings. ‘The shortage is in writers of capability. Not many of these—maybe half a dozen, maybe not. Here, however, is one of the small group. ‘Going about her af- fairs, Phyllis Bottome is likely to be confronted by a story. I wouldn't see it. You would not. But she and her small tribe do see it. They take it up, shl{inl it with work at this point or that one to make it transferable as an interesting and significant bit of life for others to see and feel. That is what she has done' here. Nothing greatly out of the way here. And this is the prime value of these tales as it is also their clear art. Here is a “miracle” all set out in engaging and convincing words—nothing but the come-back of & great actress to her lost art. If that is not a miracle, what is? And so with “The Plain Case"—so plain as to be in reality not the “case” at all. So, too, with “The Unpardonable Sin.” a story of four good and respectable people, and “A Dangerous Character,” a per- son of clearly praiseworthy purpose and effort. Miss Bottome has a flair for the older character, the spinster, the woman destitute of a too-patent lure, just as she makes use of heroisms that are not listed as such. A positive forthright woman when it comes to opinion and straight comment. An artist when it comes to color and atmosphere and ac- tion. A splendid person to have around when the good substance of literature— in either long story or short one—is that which stands as the need of the reader who is not easy to please. * ok R K ADVENTURE. By Rosita Forbes, au- .thor of “From Red Sea to Blue Nile,” ete. Illustrated by Robin d'Erlanger. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Be Bm everywhere, seen everything— such, with but a very little shaving off, might be sald of this adventurer, traveler, author. Every place, save the one where she for the time being chances to be, constitutes for her the irresistible lure. Or so it seems to one who merely runs over the far-farings of this enthusiastic and intrepid woman. This particular book is made of a sheaf of journeyings, snatched up out of a full granary of travel in all parts of the world. I opened it at random. My eyes picked this from about the middle of a pfilfe: “I hadn't washed my hands in 17 days nor taken a bath"—now I think it was “three'months.” One likes to be accurate about statements of this sort. You would better verify that no- bath period. The point with me was that this promised the distance from anywhere, the remoteness from all the stuff roundabout, of which I stood in such need. So right off I decided to go along with Rosita Forbes into isolate corners where strange adventures of a léss new and shiny cast waited the dar- ing. “Twelve highly seasoned years” became the groundwork of our activi- ties. Odd peoples with odder ways of life offered to us the novelty which we were hunting, places of amazing strangeness ind beauty came at our call, old ancient ways sprang into mod- ern forms, buried customs came to the surface. A book of wonders, this one turned out to be, for, remember. it stands as the choice out of many “high- ly seasoned” years—a spicy, tangy bool of change, of danger, of joy, of the sheer gladness of being a rover. Com- municable, too, so that with its reading there comes to the reader a sense of actual partaking in the vivid interests of the whole round world itself. If you want to go somewhere—somewhere — Yorke Gallery 2000 S Street Exhibition of Pamtmgs . by Karl Anderson . January 21st to February 1st including the latest accepted vocabulary terms and important additions to the Biographical ind Gazetteer departments — such entries as ew England Ancestors—Several | away off—step right in here and imme- diately you are on the way. T THAT MAGIC FIRE. By Sylvia Bates. New York: Harper & Bros, HERE is the familiar theme upon which novelists thrive, one, too, whose counterpart is matter of every | day in real life. It looks, therefore, as if this might be a somewhat thread- bare” theme. And so it might be in “That Magic Fire” were it not for the manifest newness of its author to both life and to the art of writing. There is an atmosphere of innocence about the story, an artless touch to its projection, an unwaywise spirit adventuring here that serves to make a brand-new matter of a very old tale, one that sometimes comes out a battered and unlovely chap- ter in human erragey. The old story-~ | three of these folks, combining and | separating, making every possible shift | that the scanty number, three, permits The theme has been turned inside out, | upside down, hindside to—urned to every conceivable pattern. So, there is nothing new here—except the conceps tion of the author and her way cof putting this over. Young love comey first here. Then, doubts and some ve prudent misgivings, then marriage wi a more promising man. The matrie monial experience moves along staidly and properly with children and witk the rest of , married life. It would ha: gone on so till the end—that is, til. somebody in the family arrangement died out of it—if the lover of the wom= an's girlhood had not returned, bring- ing his own power of enchantment with him. If this had not happened there would, to be sure, have been no story— just plain married life instead and this is not rich in romantic appeal. But he did come back, and there follows the struggle of the girl with herself on the one hand, with her senge of decency and fair dealing on the other. It is this that makes the story through an inter- esting season of good intent and a faltering spirit in which the girl is a very natural and engaging warrior with herself. Now the end of the story is— well, just what do you think it would be, should be, in such a web of circum- stance? A very familar web, by the way. Not a sensational story. Some- thing like a chapter of life itself, in- steady. Very charming as writing, t0o— which counts. * ok ok k THE INSTRUMENT OF DESTINY; A ‘Detective Story. By J. D. Beresford, author of “Love’s Pilgrim,” ete. In- dianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co. THI old man was found dead—pol- soned. A day, perhaps an_ hour, of letting well enough alone would have turned the trick, would have removed him conclusively from the anxieties of his waiting relatives. . An old man with children and grandchildren getting un- easy as to the material issue. Old folks are fitful, change their minds, do a lot. of mischief as carelessly as naughty children. Well, the old man is dead. ‘The next thing is to find out who put him away so hurriedly. And the story wends its way through the rather over- worn roads followed by the modern de- tective. By and by, after a story length of comings and goings, the' criminal is found. And his finding brings to an anti-climax the matter of the murder of miserly old. Fytton, whose parental exactions had weaned all of his children from him. That which Mr. Beresford is trying to show is that within this family there were the eleménts of feeling—resentment, disilke, weariness—that, rounded and focussed, came to bear directly. upon the thing that happened, came to pro- duce the crime. Yet the actual out- come is like slapping a baby for drop- ping ‘his bott'~—a complete and disap- pointing let-down. Dollar Ties Up Traffie. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (#.—A skipping dollar bill tied up traffic when dozens of pedestrians attempted to rescue the scooting lucre blown from the hand of & woman. The mad scamper on a downe town corner ensnarled the streams of vehicles from four directions. | The Book You Want ~ When You Want It EREyo;lmyobuinforl small of fiction or non-fiction, if new and popular. The service is pt and pleasing, the books are cmnd ine :li‘tmg. You start and stop when you 00se. 1319 F_St.. 3046 14th St. N.W. Jane Bartlett, 1603 Conneeti N2 7 i goper o especiall, venient The gn fo ssecaly hendsome and convenient.\ DICTIONARY, Purchase of your bookseller. 10 us; or write for in ‘mention this paper. MERRIAM orsnd . Fokborihe Ciroiun Trocde Mast: COMPANY, Springfield, Mass. $6.00; Leather, §7.50. order and remittance direct 2