Evening Star Newspaper, January 12, 1930, Page 32

" paratively larg HE DAY STAR,. WASHINGTON, D. C., JANUARY 12, 1930—PART TWO. NOTES OF ART AND ARTISTS A Review of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wash- ington Artists—The Eben Comi ns Paintings. Other Notes of Interest. BY LEILA MECHLIN. PG peintings. wots potasie for g ., ‘works notable for merit, included in the Society of Washin, ts" y- gton ‘Thirt; ninth Annual Exhibition, which from Harpers Ferry,” Moore, “Winter Haze." Carl Rakemann shows here an inter- esting _composition, | Margaret picture of the South—Negroes in the | “Plough Horses."” . Law is represented by a and Benson | some years, is represented by a typical Southern picture, cotton fields and cot- ton woods, Texas, and a study of boats, gaging. l';!‘mm J. Howard Tams of Washington, fields. Edith Hoyt contributes an ad- | Pa. comes a subtly rendered paintini opened in‘the Corcoran Gallery of Art “sh e s 4 - | mirably rendered picture of the village | “Sprijng Rain,” well composed, sens 8 weel: ago and will continue 10 JAN- | o 1" Malbaje, Canada, while from | tivel§ rendered. Ruth Osgood is repre- uary 31. X y £ in | Mary G. Riley has come & most engag- e T A Pavreber. aj} | I0g transcription of one of the moun- but 20 reside in or in the vicinity n(("‘"‘ towns of Spain or Portugal. Washington. An interesting fact in con- | In this gallery has been hung the nection with this exhibition js the com- | “Portrait of Janet Spaeth,” by Bennett number of new exhibi- | 'X‘)guunnd.‘m which the portrait and re pri tors—those whose names have not yet ze was awarded. In the next t*become familiar, through achievement, gallery is a sceond contribution from to even the local art lovers. That such | the same artist, a “Portrait of Mr. Gill," should be the case isa hopeful sign, for | a little less subtle, perhaps, but even 1t gives indication of new talent and in | more strongly rendered. Both are sound abundant quantity. 2 | s studies, and give indication of ex- This local exhibition occupies the two | ceptional ability, but they are not ma- galleries to the right and left of the ture works. Main staircase on the upper floor. Out-| Here also one finds the painting in . standing among the works in the gal- | the “Landscape and Marine” class to lery to the right, where the catalogue | which the same jury gave honorable “this an excellent likeness but a genuine | numbers begin, is a portrait of Mr.|mention—a flight of wooden steps up ‘Bush-Brown, well known sculptor. for- |a leafy and tree-grown hiliside, paint- | merly president of the Arts Club. by ed by Renwick Taylor of B ; Outheris Oatoer Orlicher.. Nob only 18 | sho mas cat ot B ork ot o I zest which one sees in Sargent's ple- Interpretation of character, & sound and | tures of the outdoor world and B very assured piece of work. | pressed it in somewhat similar manner. * x ok Mr. Taylor is_represented also by 1 1SS CRITCHER is an Alexandrian | Interesting still life study, “Machine by birth, daughter of the late | Shop Window," colorful, toneful, broad- Judge Critcher of that city. She studied |1y rendered—a tour de force—the kind at the Corcoran School of Art and, of thing which is enormously engaging * when scarcely beyond her student days, | to the student. Mr. Taylor, it is under- established & studio here in Washing- | SELF PORTRAIT BY EBEN F. COMINS, WHO IS HOLDING AN EX- HIBITION OF HIS WORK AT THE YORKE GALLERY. her | Foundation painting out. of doors and ime | indoors, working out certain problems. Paintings receiving bronze medals in the landscape, marine and still life groups are to be found in the second gallery, the former, “Old Church on the Hill” by Margaret Fish, the latter “Window Light,” a kitchen table strewn with vegetables and odds and ends, by Alexander B. Levin. Both of these paintings aré in the new mode—one extremely simple, in which composition and color are reduced to the simplest terms; the other, by no means simple, but essentially subjective, homely thlnfi Blorlfltd. and in both instances wit }t}e Tegard to surface finish or tech- nique. ton. When the entire content of studio was burned she wasted no ti in lamentations, but set to work to pro- duce other and better paintings. - Going to Paris for study, she was soon exhib- iting in the Paris Salon, painting thex. in the traditional manner of the old school, producing canvases that were | very toneful, but strong and direct. Realizing the difficulties of American art students in_Paris, to struggle with the language afhd to secure maxi- mum benefit from residence and in- struction, she courageously estzblished a school of her own with Henry Miller s assoclate and chief instructor. Miss Critcher has always taught, but | she has never fallen into the pitfalls awaiting the majority of teachers— | those of repetition m%u Toutine. | After making many trips to Europe, she went | E % g e intes Tor a scuson o more | . OUt pause and appreciation a por- in New Mexico, not discarding tradi- | it of an ciecelis 1860 BROel DY tion, but modifying it to meet American | M& . enting great . subjects and present-day needs. Be- | PA(hY ,'3? e EM oo i cause of the excellence of her work she | ind with pleasute o {errsing BOT Was made a member of the Taos Soclety | t78it of & young women by MiLy Siems of Artists, the only woman member of | ®/Per%, DOW Mrs. ! this now notable group. One of her! Indian portraits has been purchased by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She has been awarded numerous honors in va- rious exhibitions. To this exhibition she contributes not only the excelient portrait, of Mr. Bush-Brown, but also an interesting and unusual still life entitled “Lustre and Snapdragons” in | the modern mode but essentially deco- | rative. { * % % % LiUCH interest attaches to two con- tributions made to this exhibition by another woman painter of Washing- ton, Luvia B. Hollerith. One is a picture | of boats, “Twilight, Concarnea the | other a portrait study of an old mnn‘i “The Old Model.” Miss Hollerith studied first under Mrs. Sleeth, then | under Cameron Burnside. Her work | has always given indication of artistic instinet, but now Miss Hollerith takes | her place, with these paintings, on the footing of a professional, one Who has{ acquired sufficient skill in technique to | be able to render whatever subject shc undertakes competently and to give it | individual expression. Her manner 15 essentiaily her own, unless perhaps it | reflects to some extent the manner of | her master. Her surfaces are rough but | regular. She employs, perhaps more than necessary, purple in her shadows, | but the effect i interesting, the use pur- | poseful, and both her “Twilight, Con-| careau” and “The Old Model” lend in- terest to the present showing. | One notes with pleasure, passing to | the third wall of this gallery, charming | gtill life studies by Gabrielle deV. Clem- | ents and Ellen Day Hale, painted last Summer in their cottage studio at Folly | Cove, near Gloucester, subjects whica | indicate the artists’ own measure of beauty. a measure which a majority of | the visiting public will undoubtedly be | glad to accept. Miss Hale and Miss | Clements, together with Miss Lesley Jackson of this city, sailed some weeks 8go for Egypt, where they expect 1o spend the Winter painting and etching. | Annie D. Kelly, Marguerite Neuhauser | and Hattie E. Burdette likewise show ettractive, colorful and_individualistic * k¥ K N this gallery onc cannot pass with- “OLD-F ING T OCIETY OF WAS stood, spent last Summer at the Tiffany | sented by an ambitious subject suc- cessfully set forth. “The Dark Cove,’ a Maine theme reminiscent & little of those which Winslow Homer has so splendidly memorialized. i Kenneth Washburn's “Cover Bridge blue of sky and water lend additional charm. distinctive character is Charles Bit- tinger's exquisitely painted interior of & library, “Books,” & painting rendered with all the loving care of detail and delight in things, which has marked the | works of some of the greatest masters } of the past. ‘There are many other works which will attract those who view this exhibi- tion. Such, for instance, as Grace Mc- Kinstry's portrait of Charles W. New- hall, headmaster of the Shattuck ; Alma Bostwick's charming still life, lilies in a black jar; A. H. O. Rolle’s “Winter Landscape” and A. J. Schram interpretation of “Fields in Autumn' or again, Margaret S. Zimmele's genre, “Children,” and Charles Hoover's amus- ing, poster-like “Les Amies.” The sculpture prize, as previously mentioned, g‘us awarded to Louise Kid- der Sparrow for her portrait bust of Comdr. Prederick B. Colby, U. 8. N. Mrs. Sparrow also exhibits & portrait of the late Senator Theodore E. Burton. Clara Hill of this city shows four cf her charming small works, one a study for a mask of Pan. Other sculptors ¢x- hibiting are Angelo Ziroli, E. G. Nourse and Hans Kownatski. *x X X % EN COMINS' exhibition, Which | BB |E opened last Monday, entirely fills | the Yorke Galleries and cannot fail to | impress the visitor not only with the | artist's industry and productiveness, but | also his versatility, Mr. Comins is not one, but several artists, and with pleas- ure he takes on the characteristics of | each. Today he is academic, yesterday | he may have been modern. and the day | doubtedly he commands both his me- | dium and his talent and is not one who In the gallery to the left of the en- trance are shown his portraits, mostly | Curtis D. Wilbur, former Secretary of the Navy; of Comdr. Arthur 5:' 1 of Right Rev.” Henry | Yates Satterlee, first Bishop of Wash- | exception to this masculine group is & portrait of Maj. Stimson of the Army | in miiitary uniform and very mannish in_aspect. | "1n the gallery to the right of the en- trance are hung Mr. Comins’ portraits of women and children, notably “The | Field of Washington: “Betty and Dot.” | the little daughters of Mr. and Mrs | Mrs. H. Evelyn Buckingham of Mem- phis. Tenn.. together with heads of | thetic and spirited. In}hls portraits of women and children Mr. Comins is un- significant and never ayerstated. | “Above stairs in the two galleries are Mr. Comins must have painted by way of experimentation and for his own de- others. Among these is a series of | genres. satirical in the extreme, repre- | contemporary life. For example, one | shows & middle-class family reading zs: cleverly rendered is this work that it was chosen by Marie Sterner for inclu- bled of American paintings shown in | Paris in 1924. A similar family listening fireworks, “The Movie Line,” the e trance to a moving picture theater; 1879,” “Under the Daumiers” and “Tea Things” are all in a similar strain, before something quite different. Un- is likely to fall into & rut, | of men. For instance, his portraits of Carpender, of Joseph Barker, | Bristol, Tenn.; ing: of “The Young Hunter.” The one !Num Corps, who is, however, painted In | Two Sisters,” lent by Mrs. Marshall Charles D. Drayton of this eity. and | children done in pastel. very sympa- doubtedly at his best. They are subtle, shown works which, to a large extent, light, though they undoubtedly delight | sentative of cerfain unlovely aspects of | Sunday edition of the newspaper. sion in the exhibition which she assem- to the radio. & group of people watching “Good Gracious,” “Good Manners— though the last is quite different in -| thanner _of ‘rendition, as is also “The Path Bétween,” a modernistic allegory. Upon occasion, as in “Congo” and | “Acrobats,” Mr. Comins employs the | modern idiom to the limit, probably laughing up his sleeve while doing s Occasionally he becombes a cubist, |in “Ixyl” and in his portrait of a mu- | siclan, included in the Society of Was |ington Artists' Exhibition at the Cor- HINGTON ARTISTS EXHIBITION. transcriptions of still”” life subjects, flowers, etc., all of which are hung on the same wall as those previously men- tioned. Remark should likewise be made, in this particular, of a painting of & fan end teapot by Ruth Porter Ward, ad- imirably done. ok ok ok TH! fact that there is great varlety ¥ both in subject and in handlini tends to increase the effectiveness an pleasureable quality of this exhibitian. The Landscape Club is well repre- sented by its members. Here, in gallery 1. are to found suggestive and sensi- tively rendered landscapes by Joseph C Claghorn, “First Touch of Winter”; Minor 8. Jlmmn.;:rulflent of the club, “Vermont Hills, ly Spring”; Tom ‘Brown, “In _Shapespeare’s England”; Garnet W. Jex, ‘Harpers Ferry”, A. J. Schram, “View the manner of Mancini and with gen- uine skill; and a very charming por- trait of a little girl, “Fine Feathers,” by Ruth A. Anderson, one of the non-fesi- dent members of the soclety. painting which will hold fits own in an; cufleczlon. ')x"ne place of honor in this gallery has been rees seen from above, with a back- ground of blue water—very effective. ‘To the right of this hangs an ex- very promisini 60 J. who has It is a given to S. Peter Wagner's ainting, “Tide on the Coast of Maine,” tremely skiliful painting of housetops and a tower, “Wren's Tower,” by Row- land Lyon, who also contributes a graphic impression of rafiroad yards— returned to Washington and taken up residence here this Winter after an absence of |as a small group of etchings at Gordon | coran Gatlery. And then again, without apparently changing his coat, he is the | sound academician, painting strongly in accordance with tradition, as in his portrait of “Eleanor and Esther,” two mulatto malds. After all, art has no boundaries which may not be exteeded at pleasure if they be exceeded well. Unique incidents in the current exhi- bition—which continues, by the way, | through January 25—are & ‘“color chart,” representing war, and a poem in | free verse on the colors, green and red, su’;eskd by a passage in Sandburg's “Lincoin,” both by Mr. Corains. * ok % % M exhibiting & collection of recent: paintings in water color and oll, as well o the former the more original and en- is a picturesque subject to which the | Different from all its neighbors and of SS CHARLOTTE 8. CULLEN is| iR IN LOCAL EXHIBITION A PAINTING BY RUTH ANDERSON, WHICH S In DED IN THE EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF WASH- INGTON ARTISTS. Dunthorne’s, 1726 Connecticut nvenur.‘al Congress serving on committees These consist of figures, landscapes and | dealing with the District of Columbia, architectural subjects, the majority of | visiting landscape architects and others. which were painted abroad. Especially | City planning is one of the greatest skillful are Miss Cullen’s renditions of | arts and one which in recent years has simple outdoor themes, a shady road- | witnessed an awakening of interest and way, a little lakeside village, an Eng- | an advance in skill. lish thatched cottage. Particularly en- | * ok kK gaging is a little sketch of a Dutch boy ETT and s study of a “Girl from Marken.” D o While essentially a professional, Miss | o 1. SEaatet Teattas Taday Cullen paints primarily for pleasure, | & lécture on S e This exhibition Is held in order that her | Siven by A J. V. Wace. keeper of tex- B O e ronaery it BeT | tlles at the Victoria and Albert Mu- i M ML b v seum, at 5 o'clock on Friday afternoon, Miss Cullen is well known both in | JADUSIY 17, in the ‘Textle Museum, [ 2330 8 street. Mr. Wace is paying a Brooklyn, New a0k and here, and she | prief visit to the United States, examin- ing some of our textile collections. It is LR extremely interesting that he will be UCIEN W. POWELL, who is now | n Washington and will lecture here. considered the dean of local artists, | bt has just returned to his home, 1923 G DOROTHY GATCHELL will hold an street, from several weeks' iliness in a | exhibition of her painti from hospital. It is on account of this ill- | January 12 to 24 in Stoneleigh Court ness that Mr. Powell is, probably the | under the auspices of the League of first time for many years, unrepresented | American Pen Women. Miss Gatchell in the annual exhibition held by the|studied at the Corcoran School of Art Society of Washington Artists. | and last Summer at the Tiffany Foun- Mr. Powell is especially well known | dation. She is represented in the cur- for his paintings of our Western scen- | rent exhibition of the Society of Wash- ery— the Colorado Canyon — and for | ington Artists by a very attractive study Venetian subjects, both perhaps because | of & woodland walk. This is her first of his keen appreciation of color and |one-man exhibition. :]bmly tg find :de)?l.‘:lu coét:lul expres- | * * * x jon. One of paintings of the Yool Canyon hangs in the National Gallery. | L ¥ poia s ‘eeting. ace. oenins So Another, and an admirable marine, had | Gordon Dunthorne's, at which Mr. Dun- for long placement on the staircase of | thorne was not only host, but spoke on “The History of the Art of Etching and Epgraving,” illustrated by his collec- the Washington Public Library. The nfi-cvquh's h-i a gumber of Mr. Pow- | =Ii's paintings in their Sixteenth street hlome, a5 hes also Mrs, Henderson of | Sons” of b eyt She Harriee Henderson Castle. | Garrels secretary. & ) Odn a trip made to lxwul);, -nd“swunr- | ® N and some years ago Mr. Powel inted o series of exquisite water colors which | A T the Arts Club of Washington the were later exhibited in_the cnrconn1“ork:xhéb“'}l“m‘mCg;fifielpm‘%u s lery &nd ‘almost wif | W ht . o gl t Without exception | ping' removed and palntings by Ma A 'Virginian by birth, Mr. Powell has | guerite C. Munn, & member of the club, spent most of I:lx life in Washington. I and by Henrlette Wyeth of Chads Ford Pa., taking their places. [UNDER the auspices of the Washing- T k ton Society of the Fine Arts, Dr. A GROUP of 15 silk murals by Lydia Samuel W. Woodhouse, jr., some time Bush-Brown, formerly of this city. associate director and later acting di- |now of New York, will placed on rector of the Pennsylvania Museum, |View in the Corcoran Gallery of Art Philadelphia, also curator and now ad- | this afternoon, where they may be seen viser, department of industrial arts of | for a fortnight. These murals are pro- the same museum, will give an ilius- | duced by what is known as batik proc- trated lecture on “Colonial Furnishings' | ess—the use of wax in conjunction with in the auditorium of the Young Wom- | dyes—& difficult but a very direct me- en's Christian Association, Seventeenth |dium for individualistic artistic expre and K streets, Wednesday evening, Jan- | *ion. Each piece is different, each spe- uary 15, at 830 o'clock, clally and individualistically designed Since the opening of the American |and executed—very genuine works of wing of the Metropolitan Museum of | 8rt. Art, New York, interest has steadiy | There is no more skillful or accom- increased in the furniture and other |Plished designer in this country today decorative arts of the eighteenth cen- | than Lydia Bush-Brown, and the show- tury. Last year a Philadelphia high-|iNg of her murals here constitutes an boy sold at auction for $44.000 and a | event of pleasurable note. Fuller com- Philadelphia wing chair in the Chip- |ment on her work will be given later. pendale style for $33,000. | Dr. Woodhouse is one of the leading experts in this country on eighteenth century furniture, silver, glass, etc., and well known both as writer and lecturer. These lectures are open only to mem- bers of the Washington Soclety of the SELL I S T no luxury tourist liner will visit South bl e e Africa this season The reason is the 'HE National Capital Park and Plan- | malaria scare. In March the liner ning Commission has issued invi- | Duchess of Atholl brought several hun- | tations for the evening of January 17 | dred American tourists to this country. when, in Constitution® Hall, presenta- |Some time after they had left South tion will be made of the completed | Africa, and following a visit to East regional plan for the National Capital, | African ports, several passengers con- | & subject in which every Washingtonian | tracted malaria and four died. The | 1s bound to be interested. news was broadcast that the victims 4 - On- this same evening, and further |had contracted the malaria in South emphasizing the event, the American | Africa. Precautions taken to protect Civic Association, representing the Com- | tourists within the few malaria areas | mittee of One Hundred of the Federal |of South Africa had been so complete City, will. give a subscription dinner at | that there is little chance that the the Cosmos Club, at which the guests | disease was actually contracted there, will be members of the National Capital | but the statement has had an adverse Park and Planning Commission, the |effect on tourist traffic from which it | speakers of the evening, the members ' will take years to recover. Wise Men BY BRUCE BARTON SPENT a day In the re: laboratories of the electrical company -~ warld, If years ago anybody had predicted the mar- vels that can be seen there today, t g citizens of ¢ have burned him a |Africa Malaria Sv;e Drives Off Tourists For the first time in several years them. It was thrilling to sit in the living presence of such men and to think how valuable those o future gener- there had been of Archimedes demonstrating the lever or of Newton explaining the discovery of gravitation! But what stirred me most was not the experiments which these mhnn performed, but the spirit of tl k. you know, the constantly giv- ing off little particles which are called electrons. The electron is infinitely smaller than the atom. For example, metal ‘radium " Sir Oliver Lodge, for example, Indeed, the atom is a compara- picked up a little weight from tively big proposition, a sort of | his laboratory table and let it universe with lots of electrons | drop with a thud. “That experi- flying around inside it. ment,” he said, “is the sim that one could possibly perform, and yet there is hardly an experi- ment about which we know less than we do about that.” And he added: “You are not that you understand Of course, neither the electron nor the atom can be seen by any instruments which we have yet di d. But listen to th Th scientists in that laboratory have rigged up a radio apparatus, at- tached to a loud speaker, which so delicate that it can detect flight of electrons through the ether. I held the dial of my wrist watch against the microphon The figures on the dial are dium coates And 1 %ould h the electrons pounding into the loud speaker like a shower of hailstones on a tin roof. On another floor | sat in front of a motion picture screen and saw talking movies of three great scientists of England—Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir W m Henry Bragg and Sir Oliver Lodge. Each one of them was photo- graphed in his own laboratory. Each proceeded to perform cer- tain exp ts and explain tCopyrisht, He proceeded to talk about the mysterious properties of “empty troubles of a ma organism, and existence will be perpetual.” As contrasted our smartest wi ith many of -crackers, who of science admitted frankly that we are only on the furthermost borderland of knowledge. And that anything possible—even eternal life, -» 10.) IDA GILBERT MYERS. HE cartoon lives in a sustaining atmosphere of exceeding pop- ularity. The daily press every- where gives evidence of this as does also the increasing host of periodicals devoted chiefly to this form of illustrative art. The cartoon is sup- ported by an authentic history of its own—somewhat _ancient, s = history tree is of impressive height and spread. There is good reason for.such distinc- tion on its part. That which is known as high art, classic in origin and therefore of | mandarinic authority, is likely to idealize its subject quite out of the common reach and often quite out of common sight. Contrariwise, the car- toon stands by, close to the ground where the rest of us are. It is a real presence—a nudging, prodding, shoul- dering, pestering personality, bound to catch attentive eyes and ears at its every performance. It is, moreover, absorbed in the passing moment—our moment. It deals with the great and the near-great of our own day and hour. Besides—and a strong point, this —Iit presents these transient big men at their humanest, in stockinged feet and sagging galluses, so to speak. Such stark_exposure tickles Tom and Dick and Harry into irrepressible approvals and growing fealties for the cartoon, a practical tool for the up-spading and over-turning of the soil of daily ex- istence. In purpose, therefore, . the cartoon is propagandist, often of re- forming stripe. Or so it says. To meet this role the cartoon must know history for illuminating comparisons and con- trasts. It does know history. It is also on & tip-toe intimacy with current doings. 1t is keenly intelligent, some- thing of a necromancer upon occasion even. It is a keen-witted, many-sided agency of advance, with & turn now and then for sheer torture. It is the Comic Spirit that animates the cartoon. In a neat division of labor Comedy erected two lookout towers. To one of these she assigned Humor. To the other, Wit. These her prime ministers, her eyes and ears. From the one Humor looks down in smiling sym- pathy upon a world more or less dis- traught with its own over-reachings. its own short-comings. uu;l::ur. genial understanding, . kindly aking. friendly ' admonitions—these are the work-tools of Humor. Wit, on the other hand, is a peppery individual. using satire and irony. ridicule and jibe, for the public flagellation of its hurt and humiliated victims. And—so truly are we built on the wild-beast plan—Wit wins out with us more often than does humor. Yet for the long run it is the kindly humor of Comedy that produces the finally impressive 4and effective cartoon. Like glove to hand does the cartoon fit litics and the political idiosvn- crasies of succeeding campaigns. They appear to have been made for each other. The s ly action and swift turn, the exuberance of spirit and in- tensity of feeling, the excesses of speech —eloquent canonization on the one hand. devastating philippic and diatribe on the other—these familiar ebullient behaviors of campaign politics are caught in the air, so to speak, by the cartoonist and planked down red-hot | for the excited r to snatch at, Iwherens plain print would be far too |.plain and too cool to give pause to his sprinting speed. And when the cam- paign dles away, it is still with the more normal activities of litical parties and legislative bodies that the curut\on finds its richest field of achieve- ment, * ok ok % ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A Cartoon His- tory. By Albert Sha New York: ‘The Review of Reviews Corporation. tLINKED together by & running ex- | planatory thread of text, here are | two volumes of cartoon history—the essence of event, the highlights of | nificant natfonal attitude, the in vidual course and influence of the out- standing public men of the time. A moving picture by way of the special art of the cartoon that covers the Lin- coln period, its approaches, its sudden termination in the death of Lincoln, its most salient and lasting effects. A novel and original plan for so big and important a theme. A book of imme- diate and striking effect, one, too, that tunes in completely and efciently with the need of the hurrying day—that even he who runs may read. The first of these volumes includes, in plcture and binding text, the main facts In the life of Lincoln up to his election to the presidency. sec- ond one covers the swift and mo- mentous year from March to March, 1860 to 1861. And here, as if one were traveling some political scenic high- way—as in fact he is—is the long march of vital events and those who | gave to these body and direction. Jackson, doughty fighter for democ- racy against the reactionary of his day, as rabld against monopoly and | the financial magnate as his spiritual successors have been. The Mexican | war, with the accusations and counter- charges which ‘that international con- | flict brought out, stands here in a long line of accusatory scenes. Van Buren, smooth politician; Buchanan, timid and uncertain; the rather tragic Henry Clay, whose ambitions turned out to be for him completé political misad- ventures: the unfriendly British in car- toons of sympathy for the South and ridicule for the ~“rail-splitter”—these and innumerable other timely themes of the period stand along the way, each offering a substantial gift out of the immediate past of the United States to us who are passing by, heirs to that past. The second volume, only & year long, partakes of the tempo of our own day—a swift march through the 12 months—when Seward and Douglas engage much of the cartoonist's atten- tion, when Tammany was in the lime- light of condemnation on the one hand, of extenuation on the other— much as it has been for the 70 years lying in between then and now. A host of men, great in their own day, many of them still great, are assem- bled here by the surpassing vividness and vitality of the cartoon—Jefferson Davis, Salmon Chase, John Quincy Adams, Sumner, Webster, Calhoun. Alexander Stephens, Marshall and many another service man of that lusty day and age. A k of clear usefulness and of clear delight. An ingenious mind has brought together here from many sources, but under the single aegis of the cartoon, a strikingly fascinating history that, authentic In the main, reliable in substance, re- embodies the actual spirit that moved events forward 70 years ago toward the spot where we now stand looking back- ward upon the living content of the day that then was the passing hour, a day dominated by the personality and career of our great man—Abraham Lincoln. 1 * ok * ok BRACKETED. By author of “The Age eto, New York: D. HUDSON RIVER Edith Wharto: of Innocence, Appleton & Co. ¢¢[STHAN FROME' is her great ~ story. It is a truly great story. Such n_the lady's contention, even through the succeeding trjimphs of Mrs. Wharton by way of a dozen other novels, each of them heralded as her “greatest” A lady of tenaclous opinions, the one to whom I refer, not to be overthrown by the enthusiasms that rise and fall around the popular novelist. Her argument was that Mrs. Wherton had acquired the grand man- ner, even her pictures looked it, and. that this manner had struck in, so to speak, with the effect that this writer runs, and certainly honorabie. Its family | REVIEWS OF WINTER BOOKS |A Cartoon History of Abraham Lincoln—New Novel by Edith Wharton—The Illustrated “Odyssey”—Other New Books From Publishers. was chisfly engaged in “telling us all about it. The other night she came and seemed to slump, to fall, into her chair. “Let me tell you, she's done it again—done another ‘Ethan Frome.'” “Who's done it again and what are you wesping about?” “Oh, don't be stupid! Mrs. Wharton has done it—has written a novel of such reality, of such insight, of such power and such art—well, it isn't a novel at all. It is, instead, Vance Weston, the genius Vance Weston, marooned here in a world that has no use for him except to wish that he could earn a living. That's what she's | donel” And so the matter was out— | the great matter of “Hudson River Bracketed.” Don't stop for the title. Dig that out at your leisure. Enough that it points upon an old house, “The Willows," where much of the story of young Weston unfolds. So real and so poignant is this bewildered boy in his futile efforts to be a great writer, at the sameé time to be a lover and a householder—an utterly impossible situ- ation, as any one can see—that long after the reading is past there will stay in your mind, in your heart, the terrible story of this Ariel struggling with life, his life and that of those around him. In following this boy, following him as 1f he were in her own blood, Mrs. Whar- ton gives much of what must be the heights and depths to which the artist i8 condsmned, to which genius is con- demned. The actualities of literary creation are here—Iits shining light of hope, its utter darkness of defeat, the false tralls that are followed along some inviting remoteness, when the real stuff of the story, or the song, is at hand, or under foot, offering help that is passed by. There is much—all, in fact—of the writer's purpose and craft in this story of young Weston. There is all of futile and defeated youth in it, too. And why shouldn't youth be defeatéd in art when the demands of lusty living are devour- ing the most of him? He should be and he is, It takes the heroic cast to | produce art and at the same time to be young and eager for youth's deserv- ings. Without taking from the great story of this boy—so craving in his nature, so inept in his experience—Mrs. ‘Wharton, if any writer ever did, follows | the pligrimage of the artist in his quest after scme one aspect of life, in his ways of approach to this, in his rewards and defeats as these are posited by himself and not by the public, which is, after | all, secondary or quite negligible to the | real artist. “To be. sure, the book is wider in its externals than-I have indi- cated. It is rounded with the people that Mrs. Wharton is so able to com- mand. -And what I've sald sounds broken. It is broken, not worth a cent as valld and measured appraisal. I'm yet incoherent with the feelings, the sympathies, the recognitions, the absorp- tions of this big and pitiful story. Maybe, some time, I'll think more about it and feel less. However, I offer this, lest coolness never does come in respect to this bewildered genius, that Mrs. Wharton has projected in both body and soul for us to hold in joy and gratitude, * x % % THE ODYSSEY. Translat:d by George H. Palmer. Tilustrated. Boston: Houghton-Miffiin Co. The River- side Press. Cambridge. “'I‘HEN when to the bowman prince- ly of arrows his store was no longer, by the well hewn doorpost of the stately room letting it to stand against the bright-faced wall the bow leaned he and, too, about his shoulders & four-fold shield he slung; put on his head & horsehair-plumed, grimly-the- crest - above-it-nodding, well - artificed helmet...” that's the way many of us got our Iliad and our. Odyssey. Any boy or girl will at-once recogniz® the style—that of the “aid to transla- {tion,” as it was euphemistically styled, and “trot” as it was more generally known. 1Is it to be wondered that this magnificent literature failed to click? Or else one could get his inspiration from some free translation like that of the jingling, jogging Pope—'"Heav'd on Olympus tott'ring Ossa stood; on Ossa Pelion nods with all his wood.” “Nods with all his wood”—not s0 hot, that. All of which leads up to the fact that there has been issued a brand-ne edition of George Herbert Palmer's widely known translation of the Odyssey, and Nathan C. Wyeth, whose pictures would make the Congressional Record tolerable, has illustrated it. The “author” has used prose and has stuck. in so far as is possible, to the literal translation, with all its childlike repetition, digressions, and other faults, but, again, all its beautiful imagery, stirring simplicity, and genuine nar- rative interest. Homer, dished up in this appetizing manner, becames truly delicious; even the stolid Anglo-Saxon of a time and clime far removed is stirred and can well believe that th* anclent Greek doted on and could listen for hours to his great national poct, whoever he really was, or were. The reader discovers for himself what high- | brows have besn claiming for years, | that the Odyssey is a really swell story. In fact, it is a much better yarn than the Iliad, which is, in many | respects, much of a muchness. The | Odyssey has everything: it ever has ‘it It is a story for historians, for hero-worshipers, and for sentimental- ists, and for both gourmands and gour- mets. Apparently, when the ancient Athenians were in doubt or distress, or had nothing bettes to do, eating and drinking was alw2ys in order, and the Odyssey with its frequent descriptions of skewered roasted mutton, toothsome barley cakes and honeyed wine, is no book tn be reading just before dinmer; one’s mind gets off the plot. The theme of the Iliad is the dominance cf guile over might. That of the Odyssey is the dominance of mind over circumstance. Read it and get really acouainted with one of tne world's vutstanding heroes; with ladies to now whom would have been a orivilege, and with the funny gods and goddesses who were always snooping, more or less successfully, into the ‘most private affairs of mortals. Imer's traus'ation was ma s long ago as 1884, but its newest pres- entation is a thing of beauty and, if not a joy forever, has been and will continue to be one for a long, iong time. R. M. K. * ok K K MISTY MEMORIES. By Natalie Morris. | Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co. Pomnv-—lyfics and sonnets. Nearly a hundred of these give testimony to the author’s industry and courage. Is that all there is to say about the book? Oh, not nearly all. ~ Still, work and courage may register rather generally where poetry would make not even a scratch on the consciousness of the average reader. Poetry—especially the lyric and- the sonnet—are so0 deeply personal as to draw an involuntary, “Oh, sorry!” from the reader who opens the door even & crack upon such plain privacy, and hastily retreats. Then, too, poetry is so indisputably the mirror to & mood—possibly & mood to which the reader is temperamentally a stranger, or to which for the moment his mind is closed. So, in this case, if one reads ¢ all it is to wonder “what it is all bout.” All right. The brush cleared way, let's look at this open spsce of sunshine and song. Love is the theme, the constant theme. Love of nature, love of God, deep personal love for some one, {s the subject of these poems. Sin- cerity is the groundwork of them. Sim- plicity, the wings on which they rise Open avowal of deeply personal effect rather daunts the reader, once more, with the sense of intrusion. Let us get away from thiat. Let us look at them, S=c not obtrusive, yet one that makes a poem sing in rhythmic lifts, where otherwizs it might grow hoarse how and then, or iimp here and there, Rhymes do rhyme here, Meters do swi off into their own cadences—and, there- fore, the poems give distinct pleasure quite apart from the personal origins that they disclose. Besides, now and metr}:. aneT:ou x;;flke the mood of the author. en the two go singing to- gether. Yes, I know poetry 1n‘hl=d to read—too elusive, too deliberate for.the onrush of the hour. But, still the courageous poets go on turning out poetry in utter carelessness about the reception of it. Birds do just that way, too—and, once in a blue moon, some- body listens, catches the melody and tries to sing it for -himself. Some- body does in the reading of this unpre- tentious book of personal songs. * ok ok x WHERE THE WIND LISTETH. By Bonnie Busch. Boston: The Four Seas Co. OUTHERN Florida during the sea- son when the sands of its shores were being offered—and purchased—for almost _their weight in . gold, and: the same Southern Florida laid waste by the tormado of September, 1926, is: the background against which this short novel of the humdrum whirl of social life during Miami's dizzy swim in the lap of unmeasured wealth is set. A money-mad, pleasure-mad throng of human beings let loose in the hypnotiz- ing witchery.of America’s semi-tropical playground, plus a devastating .stroke from the hand of nature, offers m terial for a tale of dramatic proportions. But_unfortunattely Mrs. Busch falls short of this quality and of other pos- sibilities for the making of a story about which one might become enthusiastic. A tabloid style of delineation leaves the characters colorless and lifeless, and though they are but few, there is not enough plot to keep them going. Better work should come from the pen of Mrs. Busch in her next effort, for several literary products have been set down to her credit during the past few years, and with a little more technigue in the art of novel making the road ahead should be fairly easy. * X % % ROMA. By Josephine Gibson Knowl- ton. Washington, D. C. s T can be read in a few minutes. Never- theless, it is a lingering matter to the ‘mind, or heart. A true story. A happy episode. - A sharing mood behind it. Nothing but the story of a sparrow that, in Rome, attached itself to a lady, the writer, with whom it traveled, un- caged, all over Europe and across to the United States. There the incident ends upon a falling note. A record of fact, straight and plain. About it no reach for either literary embroidery or sentimental vapor o The little drama grows interesting by way of the good sense of its leading character, Rcma, by way of his art- ful makeshifts toward comfort and safety, and by his human appraisals that size up friends and unfriends with- out_error or hesitation. World-wi is beyond question the possession of Roma, inherited from the sparrow tribe in its experience with & careless world, a legacy built wisely upon by this single member of the line. There goes along with the story itself a picture of Roma—an upstanding and competent fellow, ingratiating as well. Right now, here in Washington, this book is of an-antiseptic content, cal- culated to mollify & bird-minded pop- ulation that, for the moment, is insuited and outraged over the flocks of needy and sociable newcomers whose sense of Dn:ferty is of the sketchiest, whose notions of trespass are even more vague as they seek the essential of-lodgings for the night. < * ok Kk THE PERSON CALLED “Z.” By J. Jefferson Farjeor, author of **Un- derground,” etc. New York: The Dial Press. Lincoln MacVeagh. A MYSTERY story, deep mystery too, that sets out in as true a spirit of chivalry as ever gave impulse to Knight Templar or . Knight of St. John in feudal times. I leave it to you. A per- sonable young man, tramping the countryside. on his Summer outing, finds the photograph of a young lady—fallen from the pocket of & particularly villainous-looking man who, with him, had sought shelter from a shower under an open shed. On the back of the pic- ture was scrawled, “This is the trouble.” A part of the picture was the name of a place. A beautiful girl, so the snap- shot said. Of course. Had it been otherwise, there would -have beeri no knight-errant, no adventure. Off in {)ursun to a village in Cornwall. * The ady, clearly in danger, though she does not know this. ‘But, use of some property accruing to her there has been worked up a deadly conspiracy to do away with her. And there you have the matter. It is for you to’ follow its ins and outs, its Ups and dowrs. Let me say, however, that in doing this you will have no moments of either dullness or the common routine of uncovering guilt. Here, quite apart from thé mys- tery that directs and controls the mat- ter, there is the power of the good story-teller who is in command of striking and appropriate incidents, who is closc of kin to humor and wit and those other entertainers along the way of reading. An ingeniously invelved brand of wickedness kee{s the tension in good condition, and the fine man- liness of the Knight-in-the-Case holds the sympathy where it ought to be, bringing both reader and adventure itself out together in a beaming triumph over the wicked ways of some folks and the altogether worthy and winning qualities of certain other folks. Sub- stantial in design and really. engrossing | in development, here is another worth- while detective story. BOOKS RECEIVED THE RETURN OF EURYLOCHUS: a ‘Tragedy of Ancient Greece. By Ray Budwin. Boston: The Stratford Co. PILOT'S LUCK. Drawings by Cla; Knight. With excerpts from B'Aml; by Elliott White Springs, Capt. A. Roy Brown, Floyd Gibbons and Nor- man S. Hall. Philadelphia:. David McKay Co. MAKING A NEW CHINA. By No Yon; Park. * With an introduction bg Henrik Shipstead, United States Senator. Boston: The Btratford Co. INSIDE MY GARDEN WALL. B Gertrude Lee, Boston: The smz‘f ford Co. THE FINE ART OF READING. B Robert E. Rogers, associate Dluz fessor of English, Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology. Boston: The Stratford Co. THE AMAZING BENJAMIN FRANK- ____(Continiied on Fifth Page) " Yeiks. Gallies 2000 S Street Exhibition f o Portraits and Paintings by Ebcn F. Comins instead, in their rather uncommon per- fection of technic. A technic that is et + January 6th to Janu y 25th )