Evening Star Newspaper, November 8, 1931, Page 94

YIDEWATER MARYLAND. By Paul Wilstach, author of “Tidewater Virginia,” etc. Il- lustrated. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Mer- rill Co. N intimate travel writer, Paul Wil- stach. An evocative artist under whom far places draw near. Is- lands of the Mediterranean, hill- towns of Italy, Basque settlements of the Pyrenees. Nearer home, it is not different. ~ Virginia in its Tidewater areas becomes the neighbor next door. And now its twin—a bit belated to be sur€ for that exact designation—Eastern Maryland, steps off with its mate in vital accounting of its past and present. . Paul Wilstach may be a superb picture maker. He is. But, besides, he is historian, geographer, economist, and the other whatnot of each quar- ter with which he deals. He pays deep heed to the basic factors from which special aspects of settlement and civilization derive. Climate and soil, water and land in their contacts and ac- commodations. In this becok he, in effect, digs Tidewater Maryland out of the ground, plucks its from the air, fishes it out of the sea. These, invited settlemcnt, shaped the daily life of the newcomers, piled custom upon habit, until the whole took on attributes and personality of the commonwealth itself. Work and more work lie behind this study. Lie behind Paul Wilstach, investigator and writer. Yet, one reading, passes in easy de- light from picture to picture—beautiful old plantation houses, social customs of ceremony, sporting days of excit-ment and color, industrial life set by scil and circumstance. The growth of the community and its honorable part in one or another of fhe crises incident to the meking of a New World. From a neighborhood the record passes into a national significance. “This lovely book, it seems to me, will fit best the hand of the old Marylander, of one whose roots are deep in that Tidewater reach. He can himself relicve it all by way of father and grandfathers, by way of old story and remem- bered legend. Great names come into the record. I know a man, and there are many ofthese, to whose hand this book will fit like his own glove. He will browse in it, like sheep in a rich pasture, tasting his own name, and that of his fathers away back. One openly envies him this adventure. Yet, despite the beguiling glamour of those early days to one whose rootage is there, the book has a wider reach. It is substantial his- tory, painstaking in both large movement and small, an ordered setting out of the facts of this region, a dramatic series of stresses and re- leases, mounting steadily to the climax of Eastern Maryland as a sturdy and competent actor in the great business of creating and sus- taining the Federal commonwealth. THEIR FATHER'S GOD. By O. E. Rolvaag, author of “Giants in tfe Earth,” etc. Trans- lated Trom the Norwegian by Tryvge M. Ager. New York: Harper & Brothers. © many novels go in threes nowadays. Trilo- gies they call them. The purport of such eontinuation of family and tribe is to provide 8 better perspective on human behaviors from period to period, a somewhat measured concept of individual character and personality through “lines of descent.” If the novel is to reflect and to interpret life, as it is often said to be, then this continuation habit is, undeniably, a good one. ©O. H. Rolvaag has quite special point and purpose in this plan. His literary mission is to objectify the Scandinavian settler of the Northwest and Middlewest States as an Ameri- can citizen. It is to explain the quality and darfft of his accommodations to & new order. “Clants of the Earth” and “Peder Victorius” contributed in succession to that end. “Their !lt.hgr’s God,” passing from the material side of ré-growth in a new land, moves into the m‘un&lfive domain of spiritual accommoda- . Catholic and Protestant make uneasy bed fellows. And this is the problem of the neyw novel. The tough-minded Norseman mated with the equally tough-minded, but infinitely more agile and alert, Catholic furnishes a field of exploration that is calculated to illuminate & wider reach than any one locality of the United States. However, Mr. Rolvaag, himself B Norwegian, holds strictly to the eharacter and point of his drama. An expanding drama that takes in the greatly increasing demands upon every side of life, spiritual and material. Plainly, almost stolidly, he works within this prolific fleld of discord and disagreement in the wed- ded life of the Irish Catholic girl and her Norse Protestant mate. Mr. Rolvaag is, clearly, making romance do the work of historic fact. He is setting to drama that corner of Norweglan life in its pas- sage to a substantial Americanism. Yet, he is no preacher. No dogmatist. True, he is a teacher, but a flexible one! He is making lit- erature that is sure to stand among suthentic records of the settlement of the West. Absorb- ing novels, picturesque, humorous at points, revealing, and, as workmanship, among the best of American literary achievements. LIFE WAS WORTH LIVING; the Reminis- cences of W. Graham Robertson. Fore- word by Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson. New York: Harper & Brothers, SINGLE regret, just one, follows the read- ing of this lusciously pleasurable book. There should be more than one of this man. Only another way of stating the conviction that the majority of us could be vastly more interesting, immeasurably more charming than we are. Too lazy, in the main, to emerge from our own stupendous, and piffling, engrossments to put out efforts to please and attract. To be sure, not many know the celebrities, standing around today, as Mr. Graham Robert- son knew the real ones of his recollections, back in the 90s. Painters and poets, novelists, aetors, statesmen, philosophers are here. Bern- bagdt, Terry, Rehan, Irving, Whistler, Sargent, THE SUNDAY STAR,” WASHINGTON, D. C., NOVEMBER 8, 193t. -~ Paul Wilstach Pens a Charming Picture of Tidewater Maryland—Rolvaag’s New Novel— 0f/1€’rPubl ishers’ Of ferings. the pre-Raphaelites—all in proper gear, all in the sophisticated mood of that moment. These come out in a hundred flashes of illumination that light up, not only the immediate company, but the whole period as well. The really joyous part of this adventure is that, clearly, these celebrities were hunting out Mr. Graham Robertson, and not the other way around. Think of the magnetic personality that can meet on such level ground so great a variety and measure of talent. Yet, a modester man yoy cannot find. He simply is not think- ing about himself. Here are recollections out of a speéially rich season that might please this day and time. That, in a word, should be let out into the open. And, in his own inimitable way, he does that very thing. Recalls an hour with Henry-James, a minute with Ellen Terry, other hours and other minutes with famous ones, recalls them for the joy and inspiration of all of us. And, as I said at the outset, Mr. Graham Robertson is himself the inspiration. And I do believe, I do honestly, that, if we tried, really tried in his open and friendly spirit, we too might not be so deeply dull as we at present are. “Frozen assets” is just about right in more respects than one. “Life Was Worth Living” is high adventure for readers who are interested in that kind of existence. SPECIAL HUNGER. By George O'Neil. New York: Horace Liveright. Wl.theloodonuofu\eesrfi\, have been so busy condemning John Keats from every imaginable point of attack, that the boy's poetry, the man’'s genius, have been lost en- tirely in our scramble for public righteousness past and present. Said perfection being, in- variably, of our own patternings and imposings. But, indeed, such 2eal in respect to wiping Keats out for good and all, is not confined wholly to this specially blameless age. For Lord Byron did scurrilous stuff in respect to Keats, both as human being and as inspired genius. Now, George O’Neil, himself a poet, gives the story of John Keats. At the outset he ac- cords to this poet an actively increasing ap- preciation, a decided revival of interest in the work of Keats. ‘Them, step by step, he follows this sensitive, haunted, impractical, impossible fellow as he climbs the road before him, or strays from it, or violently repudiates it. Adolescence and its following years, still of the adolescent stripe, manhood which hardly reaches that height, as manhood counts in a lusty and robust world— these come along here in a pretty rough and cruel handling of one who has but slight no- tion of what it is about. He can sing. No- body knows what the songs are about, except him. Not then. He can love. But what man ever loved wisely? I mean, what poet ever loved wisely? ‘The point of this study is that it is a fair estimate of Keats by a fellow craftsman who knows, at least, some of the causes of Keats’ suffering and agonies of shrinking. It is a splendid book. First by virtue of its purpose. Then splendid by its content and the dramatic impact of the whole. Its critical estimate of this man’s poetry is an outstanding tribute to it, as it is, also, valuable to readers as an analytical outlook upon the art of poetry. But, it is for the story, after all, that the most of us wiil read. The true story of John Keats. And and then, what will we do to the young- across the street, or down the way, who orries us all with his obnoxious oddities about making poetry, or writing stories? YORK ROAD. By Lizette Woodworth Reese, author of “A Victorian Village,” etc. Tllustrations by Richard Bennett. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. . Poems, pictures, incidents, old episodes lifted out from lavender—all some morning, some sunny morning, will lead you off into another following of the ter lines of Paul Wilstach's trail. Balti- more and roundabout, the roadways leading thereform, the wayfarers upon them, the shade of trees, the scent of gardens—all these will invite you out in a pleasant loitering through a lovely countryside. \ A reminiscent book. Old places, old liter- ature, old modes of life, scattered among them are little scenes, vital and vivid. Among them, too, are lyrics by the author, such as sing in quiet tones of day, or season, of time or place. A distinct pleasure from start to finish, one that goes along with the weeks and weeks of soft Autumn glory, taking full possession of Maryland and Virginia and nearby right now. Delicate, sensitive, illuminating and enjoyable. OL' RUM RIVER. Revelations of a Prohibition Administrator. By Col. Ira L. Reeves, Litt. D, LL. D, Chicago: Thomas L. Rockwell. COL. REEVES was formerly prohibition ad- — ministrator of the fourth enforcement dis- This book is, in effect, a report to the public of his experiences in that official capacity. And this report is accompanied by opinions drawn from its findings and with recommendations in respect to the subject of prohibition in general. A steady progression from bad to worse sums the content of the disclosure. The rum bucca- neers are no more culpable than the lax laws and their laxer enforcement. Open violations of the law are cited in volumes of evidence. Cumulative in its drastic arraignment of the general public, the report ends with the query “Repeal or No?” The purpose of the book, the purpose in part, is to make available a body of significant and authentic fact on this tremendously vital prob- lem whose solution is of truly momentous con- cern to lawmakers, to public officials, to private citizens alike. Having done this much in ob- viously good intent, the author is compelled to leave the question—same old question—for yet further agitation, for still more of discussicn upon the greatest of current public concerns. Books Received S8OWING GLORY: Memoirs of “Mary Am- bree,” the English Woman-Legionary. By Percival Christopher Wren, author of “Beau Geste,” etc. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. WANDERING MONDAY AND OTHER DAYS IN OLD BERGEN. By Ragnhild Chevalier. Illustrated by James L. McCreery. New York: The Macmillan Co. (Juvenile.) EDUCATION FOR NEWSPAPER LIFE. An Account of the Co-operation of a University and the Press. By J/Jlen Sinclair Will Newark, N. J.: The x Press. SOUTHERN EDITORIALS ON SECESSION. Edited by Dwight Lowell Dumond, Ph. D, assistant professor of history, University of Michigan. New York: The Century Co. THE HUSSEY-CUMBERLAND MISSION AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE: An Essay in the Diplomacy of the American Revolution. By Samuel Flagg Bemis, professor of his- tory, George Washington University. Cover maps designed from maps by Col. Lawrence Martin, Library of Congress. Princeton: Princeton University Press. j HISTORY OF FUNDAMENTALISM. By Stewart C. Cole. New York: Richard R. Smith, Inc. RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNION IN THE FAR EAST. By Victor A. Yakhontoff. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc. THROUGH FOUR AMERICAN WARS; The Impressions and Experiences of Brig. Gen. William H. Bisbee as Told to His Grandson, William Haymond Bisbee. Illustrated. Bos- ton: Meador Publishing Co. MANY THOUSANDS GONE. By John Peale Bishop. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. JEB STUART. By John W. Thomason, Jr., captain U. 8. Marine Corps. Illustrations by the author. New York: Charles Scrib- ner’'s Sons. MYSTERIOUS WAYE, The Story of the “Un- setting Sun.” By Percival Christopher Wren, author “Beau Geste,” etc. New York: Frederick A, Stokes Co. THE PERFECT HOSTESS. By Rose Hen- niker Heaton. Introduction by Frank Crown- inshield. Decorated by Alfred E. Taylor. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. SIX WOMEN ALONG THE WAY: From Bethlehem to Calvary. By Margaret E. Sangster. New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, Inc. THE BURIAL PLACES OF MERCERSBURG'S SONS: From Meaux to Compiegne. By Daniel Heefner. The Mercersburg Alumni Association. THE SWEDEN YEAR-BOOK, 1931. Edited and published with the assistance of public authorities. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wik- sells Boktryckeri-A-D. STRAY THOUGHTS. By Crump J. Strick- land, Charlotte, N. C. Elizabeth Publishing Co. FORECASTING BUSINESS CYCLES. By Warren M. Persons, Ph. D., consulting econ- omist, New York. New York: John Wiley & Sonss THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE. By J. Edward Meeker, M. A., economist to New York Stock Exchange. Illustrated. New York: The Ronald Press Co. DEPORTATIONS OF ALIENS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO EUROPE. By Jane Perry Clark, Ph. D., instructor in govern- ment, Barnard College, New York City. Co- lumbia University Press. PSYCHOLOGY; SCIENCE OR SUPERSTI- TION? By Grace Adams, Ph. D. New York: Civici-Friede, Publishers. THE SECRET OF CONCENTRATION. By T. S. Knowlson, author of “The Art of Think- ing,” etc. Foreword by S. Parkes Cadman, D. D, LL. D. New York: Harper & Bros. WHAT DARE I THINK? The Challenge of Modern Science to Human Action and Be- lief. By Julian Huxley, honorary lecturer in experimental zoology, King’s College, Lon- don. New York: Harper & Bros. WHAT LIFE SHOULD MEAN TO YOU. By Alfred D. Adler. Edited by Alan Porter. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. PERSECUTION AND LIBERTY. Essays in honor of George Lincoln Burr. New York: The Century Co. THE WAY OUT OF DEPRESSION. By Her- mann F. Arendtz, A. M., Ph. D. Boston:- Houghton Mifflin Co. STEPS IN THE DARK. By Milton Mayer and John Howe. Chicago: Thomas Rockwell Co. LET US IN. By Jane Revere Burke, author of “The One Way,” etc. Introduction by Ed- ward S. Martin. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. MODERN BUSINESS LAW. By Jay Finley Christ, assistant professor of business law, University of Chicago. New York: The Macmillan Co. > Musigmp/zs Continued from Fifteenth P;az NNOUNCEMENT has been made that Antonio FPerrara, violinist, and a member of the National Symphony Orchestra, will give a recital at the Washington Musical Institute on Sun- day afternoon, November 22, at 5:30 o'clock. Mr. Ferrara, who is a member of the faculty at the institute, will play the Vitali's “Ciaccone,” Beethoven’s “Concerto in D Major” and two shorter selections by Sammartini and Elgar. Dorothy Coggeshall will be at the piano. OHN MARTIN, critic of the dance and for- mer dramatic critic, will give the first of his four lectures on modern dance and drama on Thursday evening at 9 o'clock at the Caro- line McKinley Studios, 1731 I street. His opening topic will be “The Forms Change.” S previously announced in The Star, the Societe des Concerts Intimes will present three famous American composers, Mrs. H. H. Beach, A, Walter Kramer and John Powell, assisted by Elena de Sayn, Russian violinist of this city, in concert on Friday evening, Decem- ber 4, in the gold ball room of the Shoreham Hotel. This, incidentally, will be Mr. Powell's first appearance in this city. LOUIS POTTER, jr., son of Louis Pptter, well know concert pianist and organist of this city, has gone to New York and is continuing his musical studies at the Juilliard Institute of Musical Art. He is at present studying with William Willeke, noted cello teacher, and is also studying piann, ensemble and theoretical branches of music study. . L) HE recital which Sylvia Lent, noted violinist and a native of Washington, recently gave at Town Hall in New York was treated en- thusiastically by the metropolitan critics. Miss Lent’'s program was evidently a splendid example of musicianship, and the composition of La Salle Spier's, which she played with the composer at the piano, was especially com- mented upon. All Souls’ Church (Unitarian) announces a series of half-hours of music to be given in the church at Sixteenth and Harvard streets :ach Sunday afternoon at 5 o’clock. This after- noon Lewis Atwater will play a program of early Italian music. Charles Trowbridge Titt- mann, bass, will sing “Vittoria Mio Core,” by Carissimi. The public is cordially invited. The Chaminade Glée Club has announced that Hans Kindler will be guest of honor at its tenth anniversary banquet, to be held at the: Shoreham Hotel on- Tuesday evening. Gideon A. Lyon will be the speaker and Dorothy Radde Emery and Erbin Thomas will also be included : on the program. The Rubinstein Club will hold two rehearsals on Tuesday. The morning rehearsal will take place as usual in the small ballroom of the Willard Hotel at 11 o'clock, and the evening group will rehearse at the Mount Pleasant Con- gregational Church at 7:45 o’clock. The Lovette Choral Clup will present an Armistice program over WRC on Tuesday eve- ning at 6 o'clock. Duets will be sung by Fay Swenson, Beatrice Holland, Lorraine Bentley and Mathilde W. Kolb. Audrey Koons will sing a solo and the accompaniments will be played by Elsie Cranmer. The club is under the direc- tion of Eva Whitford Lovette. The Rachmaninoff Club held its first meet« ing last Sunday at the residence of Madeline Aughinbaugh. The new president of the club is Dorothea Loehl.: Among the soloists follow= ing the talk by Charlotte Mataja were Adelaide Fickus and Hazel Reck. AUTOGRAPHS OF CELEBRITIES BOUGHT FOR CASH HIGHEST PRICES PAID for original letters and doc- uments signed by Presidents of the United States, fa- mous authors, generals, statesmen and other nota- bles. Letters of Washing- ton, Jefferson, Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Edgar Allan Poe particularly want- ed. Look through that old hair trunk in the attic! Your family papers may yield a fortune! Let me know what you have. ¥our letter will bring an in- teresting reply. THOMAS F. MADIGAN Established 1888 2 East 54th St., Cor. 5th Ave., N. Y.