Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1932, Page 78

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THE SUNDAY REMAKERS OF MANKIND. By Carleton Washburne, author of “Better Schools” (with Myron M. Stearns). New York: The John Day Co. SIDE from its own importance as a study of education the world around, this volume takes on value also as one among many signs that educa- tion, in its character and scope, is coming to be looked upon as the direct and sole solution of world problems of the future. An uneasy dissatisfaction prevails both inside the profession and outside with the relatively inconsiderable effects of educa- tion upen the great world currents of thought and action for today and tomorrow. Reforms of many sorts are afoot. Progress, true firogress, in this field is imperative. Much dead wood is still being carried by way of the deeply cherishcd tradition of learning. Ex- periments in the direction of life, urgent and demanding, are still tentative and timid. Real advance is still sporadic, still reluctant toward the audacities that this particular reform de- mands. Yet, there is no retreat. Dazed at the power that he himself Las released through the con- quests of science man knows that for him there is no flight, that for him there is but one way. The way ahead and that this lies along the road of education. Along the road of training that fits the day and hour, that prepares for the coming days and years. So, as matter of self-preservation the pedagogue must re-examine his maps and charts for the whitherward of the oncoming generations. This book is, in a sense, a primer of inves- tigation. A going to and fro around the earth, to see in what measure other countries are wakening to the new call toward its youth, to see in what manner these are fitting their educative material to the human material in their care. Japan, China, India, the Arab na- tions and the Turks, Communist lessons in Russia, the outlook upon education in Poland, Germany, France, England and then home. Sketchy views, of necessity these, yet the trained observer, one trained in his special craft, passes inclusively where another but skims a thin and insubstantial surface. An enlightening pilgrimage, this one, to thos2 concerned in this vital matter of education. The final chapter, that cn the United States, illum- inated by those going before it, is of special significance and value. Entertaining John Dewey's theory that edu- cation is not a preparation for life, that it is life itself instead, this author examines the field before him from the ground up, so to speak. The entire school system is life. Its ia- fant beginners in the business of learning are dealing with life no less than the products of wniversity training. Life, each day, in the measure of its call, of its demands, is that which all must meet in a concert of individual understanding and power. The child’s under- standing and p-wer no less than these in the adult. So, education in respect to its physical and mental and moral responses is of like pat- tern throughout, differing only in the measure of its acceptances and reactions. It is one growth from infancy forward, nct separate parts cailed childhood, youth, maturity. At first, by virtue of a child's nearness to his personal needs and desires, by virtue of his short sight and narrow outlook, the individual holds fiist place. But the present active plan of education is speedily to merge the individual in the group, the group in the community and #0 on till the barriers of nationalism have given way to a world society of common knowledge, eommoHn aspirations, common ends. This is not Dew. Not new, save only in its early beginning With the little children, save only in the un- Bwerving integrity of its ultimate purpcse, in its compleic dedication to a world community of un:}cr: anding, and aim and achievement, tha: wil, ake unthinkable the barbarism of war, c: destructive competition, of hatred and envy in the domain of crass materialism. A dream? It may be. But, dreams, before now, have come true. And this is a very glorious one to hasten into reality. PBREAKDOWN. By Dr. Robert Briffault. Ncw York: Bretano's. h sociologist bears the title “Mod~rn . In it occurs this bit for our fair :3: “The United States expect and de- mand boundless loyalty and devotion from their @itizens. Th~ obligation is not, however, 1e- eiprocal. The Government does nct assume re- o} lity for the lives of American citizens. Bhould an American citizen die of starvation in the midst of unprecedented wealth, the State does not hold itself responsible for his death. When scme seven million citizens need food, the Government generously appeals to Christian charity to afford some relief to their condition, but makes it clear that this is merely an cx- pression of its human and high-minded senti- ments and that it is under no obligations what- ever to take any step whatever concerning so frrelevant a matter. Why that seeming in- congruous disparity between obligations of citi- Zens and state? The reason lies in the fact that the great, free, democratic republic of American has taken over its conception cf what tonstitutes a civilized state from ancient au- tocracies, in ‘vhich an absolute ruler was re- 'apded as disposing at his pleasure of the livcs of his subjects, while he was not bound to them by any corresponding cbligation toward them.” TEE REAL BERNARD SHAW. By Maurice Colbourne. Boston: Bruce Humphries, Inc. ABITUALLY himself, Bernard Shaw is gen- erzlly counted as radically different from the maj v. Looking out upon events with his own cyes, appraising them with his own mind, veicing opinions in his own words, Mr. Shaw bhss gained a reputed personality that is all fdiosyncrasy, surprise, even danger. And sim- Ply by being himsell. Conflormity sppears to be the supreme iaw @f life. Fear has, from the beginning, been the STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 19, 1932.° e —— i ——————— e | Study of Education Around the World—“The Real Bernard Shaw,” and Some of the Late Summer Novels. prime artificer of existence. Below man, even, fear labored long and arduously for that marvel of “protective ccloring” that has served to perpetuate many a form of life by a neat blend of color, creature on the one hand, leaf or flower or bark on the other. So with man. Early he discovered that the “yes-man” is at least safe. At most he may also be successful. And so, under this instinctive fear, people band together in institutions of learning, education, politics. A hugh mcnochrome of mankind. Just once in an age there appears one of an- other stripe—the prophet, the genius, th2 thinker. Within his time more or less the out- cast also. For, to the average, nothing else is quite so ripe in public menace as the one who dares to be himself. Within a mcdest measure, Bernard Shaw has won the distrust, the admiring distrust, of the timid. In politics, an innovator of destructive socialistic views and preachments. In art, a playwright, tampering with sacroscant tradi- tic 18 and moth-eaten practices. A play boy, cavorting about upcn the sharp wit of his Irish origin. A striking figure whom the years cannot down, a perennial Shaw, this Bernard Shaw. And here Mr. Colbourne, in a book of slight proportions, undertakes to confine Bernard Shaw within the familiar strictures of the com- mon run of human beings. Not only undertakes to do this, but actually does it, as well. The difficulty about Bernard Shaw and common opinion concerning him has been, still is, the general hysteria that attends any consideration of the man. Different, therefore; dangerous on the one hand, inconsiderate on the other. In steady composure, however, this author follows along the course of Shaw, finding a serious man where a flippant one had been pointed out to him. Finding a public-spirited man where only self-exploitation had been indicated. A man of political insight, founded upon the his- tory of various experiments in government. An all-around man, of clear vision and independent thinking. An interesting study, serious and penetrating. SUMMER HOLIDAY. By Sheila Kaye-Smith, author of “Joanna Godden,” etc. New York. Harper & Bros. Y WAY of “Summer Holiday” Sheila Kaye- Smith provides both herself and readers as well with the joyous actualities of that adventure. A bit of homely magic. or so it seems, did this author maneuver for the adventure in hand. Nothing more than to float backward on the tide of memory to those early years when days stand out bright and forthcoming with every manner of prcmise to meet gorgeous demands of youngsters ripe for every order of fantastic makebelieve. And this the author does. Merely drifts back to those radiant eagly years. That, however, is but little more than half of the great game, It is for you and me to go along, partaking. And this is possible if only the author has stripped off the years to stand naked in the austere sincerity of child- hood. Possible only, if we too, going along, are similarly bared of those pretences with which years of modesty (?) have smothered natural simplicity. In this respect everybody is ready to go. And, S0, in the two little giris, Selina and Moira, we again go to the country for a Summer. Para- dise of play. Everything in its glory—the sun, the rain, green fields, the gay laughter of the little river nearby. The mystery of new puppy litters, or the young calves and the curious wherefore of their constant nuzzling of over- patient mothers. Riding on the hay load with a storm close at hand. Taking lunch to the fielders—oh, not possible to name half the adventures waiting of a morning, reluctantly taking leave of a night. Not a single strain of overdoing anywhere in this joyous Summer time. Not a Pollyana- ish smirk of excess chcerfulness, not a shred of condescension nor a scrap of concealed in- struction. Here is a fair-dealing and beautiful Summer time gathered, clean and whole, out of the good memory of the writer, and delivered, clean and whole, to those of us who are fit to share it. “Summer Holiday” is, moreover, a very beau- tiful piece of work, because theme and carrier are one, inseparable at any point or through- out the course of the joyous to-do. A high tribute to the true self of this writer of popular novels on the problems, generally, of people grown to the years of complete misunderstand- ing. A sweet immersion for all of us, this “Summer Holiday.” OLD NEW YORK. For young New Yorkers. By Caroline D. Emcerson, author of “A Merry-Go-Round of Modern Tales,” etc. Illustrated by Alida Ccnover. New York. E. P. Dutton & Co. HE elder citizen, both inside New York and outside the big town, will do well not to set this book off for the sole use of those named in its title. For to the common mind, irrespec- tive of years, if any one thing on earth needs untangling for him it is New York City. Merely to realize the ground plan of the new Babylon would help the wayfarer within its gates im- measurably. Caroline Emerson has provided for the children that which many an adult will snatch and run away with, A teacher, this woman knows the indespensable character of a good map wherever location, place, is a point in question, Not only a good map, but one that is immovable as well. This she has provided. Here is Manhattan itself. Not at all where the average reader or traveler had placed it. Aligned properly are Brooklyn, Jersey City, East River and the Hudson, these too, quite strangely out of place. A few minutes of plain devotion to this map will set even Methuselah on the right way to get acquainted with the metropolis of the new world. Then, and then only, is one able to follow the stages by way of which this “port of the world” has advanced from Old Manhattan at $244, from thrifty Dutch to uncommercial Indian, to its present imposing bulk in the accountings of the world itself. Four hundred years the story goes back in picturesque incident and succinct accounts of history itself. Honest fur traders come into close quarters with pirates and smugglers not so honest. Troubles with the Indians take on rival grievances with stamps and taxes. The Revoluticnary War is for quite a spell something of a New York affair. After it, business booms as it has a way of doing. The Erie Canal, water works, the telegraph and cable, and always armies of immigrants. These march here in the homespun of every day talk, with no suggestion of textbook and lesson about it. March straight on past the Civil War and Greater New York on its way. A book that is all alive,. A book that is up and doing. Therefore, a fascinating concrete offering, “Old New York” as new as today. As seizable in its every part as this illuminating genius has 50 clearly made of a seemingly labyrinthine masze of structures piled sky-high upon one ancther over the whole of Manhattan and its borders. Reading suggestions go along with the body of the book and planned trips invite to a first-hand study of the city. A splendidly arranged ensemble of fact and story upon a subject of vital interest. RIGHT OF WAY. By Harold Bindloss, author of “The Border Trail,” etc. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. OMETHING like bread and meat, food staples, have the novels of Harold Bindloss become to the fiction taste oi his hosts of readers. Up cne of our streets here at the Capital, a printer carries on his shop window the legend: “We Never Disappoint.” Harold Bindloss. in equal right might adopt this par- ticular insignia of faithfulness. An institution, annual if not seasonal in output, has Mr. Bind- loss become with 26 novels to his account. And this last one is clearly of the home clan. An outdoors matter. A rugged performance, call- ing for an undiminished man-stuff from start to finish. Even the heroine, the one that lasts, has to prove her own man-stuff. And she does. The Bindloss novels march with the times. A late one engaged in the keenest of modern hazards, that of chasing a group of rum-run- ners. This one is engaged in securing the right of way for an industrial project of modern scope and importance. Against it are set up the innumerable obstacles, legal and personal, which nowadays often are played cleverly in competitive commercial transactions. Ted scott. hero of “The Border Trail,” having proved himself there, steps forward as chief character in this new enterprise. A sharp wit, straight courage, dogged det<rmination, the ready turn to defeat one possibly even readier, gcod looks, an upstanding manliness—these the wherewithal of Ted Prescott, hero of two Bind- loss tales, for success in his undertakings, those of both hand and heart. For, to be sure, here is a girl. just as there was in the other story, and is in every bit of fiction, else it might just possibly not be the clear fiction that it is designed to be. But, cynicism apart and with no place here, “Right of Way” is so typically of the Bindloss order as to merit, by the mellowing power of development, the title of “one of the best” of the Bindloss tribe of tales, if not the very best one. Finely rugged, an aired and sunlit adventure, holding, without intent, I'm sure, the moral that fair dealing is the best kind of dealing, or, to be tiresomely exact, that “honesty is the best policy.” THE UNCERTAIN TRAVELER. By John FISHER. New York: William Morrow & Co. BOY on his way. Such the adventure set down here in the spirit of youth, restless and uncertain. An English boy at school and in love. The two occupations, or states, appear to run together. Under the spell, Frank Bent- ley went to Italy, the girl's home. There, the story grows by way of revolution and the activities of Garabaldi, which the young fel- low missed by an untoward accident to himself. Back to England, but not for long. America and the California gold rush next claim the ardors of the traveler. But not until New York had staled upon this exacting wanderer. Once in the gold rush, however, events varied and swift and coloriul kept the youth in a whirlwind of excitement, from which he emerged long enough to fall in love again. The story then settles to a fair tranquillity as the pair, diverted northward, take up with the pioneer life of Oregon, building a home and learning the ways of fronticr existence. Good entertainment here. Youth and its natural ardors provide its moving force. An excellent structure blends action and an in- tensely interesting background of history. The characters are alive. They are both believable and interesting. The whole offers a story of widespread adventure carried out consistently and, at the same time, in the spirit and flair of true dramatic action. In essence this is the historic novel at its best. In effect it is the adventure of youth itself. MADAM. By Richmond Barrett, author of “The Enemy's Gates,” etc. New York: Live- right, Inc. 11 |F I had the money, I could—" “If T had the wherewithal, I would——" Such fa- miliar preambies to the visions of many a short-handed dreamer. Nothing like that here, however. Bent upon pure fabrication, Rich- mond Barrett thriftily provides himself with ample and varied resources to support his invention. First, millions of money. Second, a beauteous ladv, as latitudinous in outlook and behavior as in the opulent curves of a generous avoirdupois. Children of her own, a couple, quite enough to show dangerous lines of descent, to furnish frequent example of “Madam’s” maternal ineptitudes. Her own mother within the household, for clash of arms, so to speak, for the onset of attack issuing, now as triumph now as defeat on this side or that of the blood line. Servants in lines and troops, boot-lickers, listeners at keyholes, tale-bearers and gossipers. A manori- al estate in the country. Palatial suites in a city hosteiry. That sums, fairly well, the material with which this young writer has burdened him- self for the purpose of making, out of hand, something that probably exists nowhere in the scheme of human existence, save only as dim shadowings or as wholly unbridled mares of the night. Yet, despite the fantastic extravagance of situation, character and action, the young man has ~ld to an obviously original intent of sheer fabrication. And he has, besices, turned out an uncommonly good piece of write ing, one that would have been more satisfy- ing, however, had the body of it had consis- tent or even plausible foundation. Now, should he some day decide upon a strenuous period of reducing a sadly overgrown and generally disordered imagination, why, in that case, this young man might, just possibly, turn his good sense of structure and his verbal capacity, the two working together, into a picture of cur- rent social life sufficiently chastened to get into the acceptance of the average reader of Sum- mer fiction. Nothing short of this will do for you, Mr. Richmond Barrett, author of “Ma- Books Recerved MODERN BUSINESS LETTERS: For busy people. By Cay Vernon, author of “Supreme Letter Writer.” New York: George Suily & Co. PROPS: Tales of the pawnshop and other stories. By J. Bernard Lynch, autiior of “Trolley Tales.” Boston: Meador Publish- ing Co. BLACKSTONE'S SECRETS OF MAGIC. By Harry Blackstone. New York: George Sully & Co. . LOOK WHAT BRAINS CAN DO! By Anne Fisher. Illustrations by Albert McKibben, Monterev, Calif.: W. T. Lee Co._ Inc. THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT. By George F. Worts. New York: Jonathan C:zp: & Robert Balioi. YOUR NEXT PRESIDENT. By Eddie Cantor and David Freedman. Illustrated by S. L. Hydeman. Necw York: Ray Lomr & Rich- ard R. Smiith, Inc. A POLITICAL MOTHER GOOSE. By Paul Johnson. New York: The Non-Pariisan Press. THE CHAMPION. By Arthur Stanwood Fier, author of “The Coach,” etc. Illustrat>d by PFrederic A. Anderson. Philadelphia: ‘The Penn Publishing Co. THE RED MEN'S WONDER BOOK. By Howard Angus Kennedy. author of “The New World Fairy Book,” etc. Illustrated by George L. Cumine. New York: E. P. Dutten & Co. and be Rosy and Bright Battle Creek Food Ferrin is a pure vegetabi= proi- uct and contains in concentration the or- ganic iron as found in lottuce. kale. baet tops. spinach. etc. Food Parrin is pal- atable and can be had either sweet or unsweetened Bottle, $1.25 We Sell All Other Battle Creek Foods. The Vita Health Food Co. 1228 H N.W. 3121 14th N.W. Call Col. 2980 for Delivery

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