Evening Star Newspaper, July 24, 1932, Page 68

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 24, 1932 DANIEL CHESTER PRENCH: Sculptor. By Adeline Adsrs. Boston: Houghton-Mifftin Co. EEP in debt is Washington to Daniel Chester French, sculptor. To him it owes some of its finest sculptural art. Best known within the Prench group is greai Lincoln, enshrined within his own Memorial Building beside the Potomac. Another, in front of thef Institution for Deaf Mutes, is a tenderly beau- tiful creation, the humane and gifted Gallau- det, teaching speech to the eager and ardent child leaning against him seated in his chair. In Statuary Hall ot the Capitol is Mr. Prench’s sturdy figure of Senator Lcwis Cass of Michi- gan, honored by a place in the Paris Salon Beside these heroic figures are the two fountain memorials, poetic, symbolic, bzautiful. That one below the White House hidden in its own encircling greenery, raised to the memory of Archie Butt and Frank Millet, victims of the Titanic disaster. The other one in Dupont Cir- cle. honoring Acmiral Samuel Francis Dupont. These two are, primarily, allegories of the sea, embodied subscquently in marble and running water. Most beautiful! Truly distinctive and characterstic of this artist. Adeline Adams offers us now, as addition to our highly treasure: e ter French's worls, an intimate study of Mr. French. Not a bicgraphy, according to the author. An “es instcad. Yet the true biographic ccntar re 2nd to it is added an intimacy of revelation not usual to that form. This advantage comes from the long friendshin of the author with the mily—Mr. and Mrs. French and their daug in the New Eng- land home of Chesterw - Written not long before Mr. French's death, this brief study l;S untouched by the sadness that would naturally h:l}'o marked a later writing. We should have S i 7. something of the man, the playfuiness and wit, the serenity, the tender consideration for others, the smi'ing. high-hearted cour that pervaded a lifetime of supreme dedication te our country’s art.” The study begins with the lad, “handsome Dan Frerch” of sturdy New England stripe, whose family accepted the law, professionally, winning both lccal and national recognition in that field. But Dan would have nothing of the law. A drezming fellow, sc the neighbors said, using up good time, whittling rabbits and other small live things out cf turnips, perfectly good turnips, too, so the neighbors said. Swiftly the reminiscence runs out into Dan- fel Chester French's study of art in America and in Europe. Speedily. a picture bock, emerzes from the description and discussion. ‘Theze pictures are of the famous sculptures made by the artist. Beside them is a running comment upon each, the occasion that inspired it. the deep inspiration that sourced it, the ckill that wove idea and medium to artistic reality, naming of the place which each of these works may b~ found. A useful book and an engrossing one. Here is the familiar “Minute Man of Con- eord.” And here the beautiful, and lingering, monument to Martin Milmere in Forest Hill Cemestery. Beston, “Tha Argel of Death Staying the Hand of the Young Sculptor.” Here is the bronze bust of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vital and expresgive. Here is “In Flanders Fizlds” and “Death\and the Young Warrior,” both war me- morials. So. from New England and New York to the Pacific Cecast they stand, from North 1o South through Washington and on to Georgia, tributes to a peculiarly poetic genius. In hall, and museum and paik, in the traffic of city streets, they bring pause to the hour's preoccu- pation for a secend of time in feeling the touch of beauiy to the heatt. Just one deep-breathing second of release. For its spirit of intimate aequaintance and deep friendship, for its appreciation of this man ®&s artist, for the intclligence of its comments, for its concise treatment from which no essen- $ial and illuminating thing is missing for all this we, here in Washington, who possess as a city 80 much of Daniel Chester Prench’s work, look upon this study as a sort of special message to us. And once—just by a blessed chance—I had 8 few wecks, at tab'e, with that beautiful fam- fly. all three. So, quite specially this is my byok, but that is something else. Adeline Adams’ story belongs really to the Capital City, as a whole. by way of its lovers of art. MAID OF ATHENS: A Novel of Today. By French Strother. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. NOVEL of current life, cleverly wrcught, to the skimming reader. Esscntially, nevertheless, a Greek tragedy, classic in au- stere acceptance of the fates, pursuing, im- placable, punishing those disobedient ones who step aside from the lines laid down for them by d-stiny when the world itself was made. As story it is that of Thea Milo, the young and lovely Athenian, the great actress who night by night lifted her townsfolk into an ecstasy of joy over the passionate fervor of her Antigone, where the maid merged into the genius. By day the girl moved about her sim- ple way in the company of her father and brother. Plain folks, subject to old Greek customs, like their neighbors. And ome of these customs was the practical barter of daughters into wedlock. And Akopoulos, the wine merchant of Patras, had looked upon the beauty and genius of this girl as, maybe, a good thing for his business. Had thought of her as fine mother to the many children that were already moving vaguely within his desircs and dreams. And so the bargain was mad:. A~ > out in the world, so the Athenian maid h-d heard, were freedom and many happv chances for wom:n, gifted women like herself. That Itclian cotross for one, the great one from France, ard, in America, thick as bees were they, providcd only the gift were there as it so certainly was with her. And so ST s The Sculptor, Daniel Chester French—New Novel by French Strother—An Omnibus of Sport— Splendid Summer Books. when Tim Johnson of the American legation in Athens wooed the lovely girl with passion, bezought her to become his wife, to go with him to America, where everything awaited her, the cardinal sin of fllial disobedience faded to a trifling errancy. The maid of Athens be- came an American wife. And the Greek fates turned uneasily in their secret places of wailing. The New World offered to this girl disappointment and an emptiness that the rich life of Athens had never shown. A little of apprehension, too, possessed her. When her baby was born dead, fear shook her body and dimmed her courage. When word came that her father was dying of grief, panic seized her and she fled, alone, back to the beloved home, to her dying father, whom she reached in time for forgivensss and tears and a hopeless grief. And was this expiation? Were the fates con- tent with this of penitence? Not yet—Grcek tragedy, this, where payment is to the uttermost. Not even this, though, this true classic re- vival done in terms of modern fiction, will be counted by scme of those who know as the highest point in Mr. Strothers’ wcrk. They may say that this 1s set by the way in which the writer has built the full Athenian scene into the feclings and dez2p consciousness of the read- o Patient, informed, intelligent, sensitive artistry has done this. For us, beside him in Athens itself, he crcates the feel of soil, the bend of sky, line of mountain and valley, of hill and plain, all verdant with tree and vine, thrcbbing pulse of the tideless sea below, tem- ples serene and enduring as the rocks which built them. Customs of the heme of the Athe- nian streets. Glimpses of historic episode, fiashes of Homeric legend, all bent to a revela- tion of th> ancientry of this land which was old, old when the tragedy of Jesus, not so far away, set the era called Christian. And this blend of bcauty and action and belief brewed the soul of Greece from which emerged its art, its drama and literature. This, it scems to me—this amazing back- ground which becomes so completely a forc- ground of our own partaking—is the surpassing achievement in Mr. Strothers’ novel whose name is unequivocally ‘‘great,” a great novel. THE OMNIBUS OF SPORT. Edited by Grent- land Rice an€ Harfrd Powell. Harpers. -New York and Lon-on. REVIEWED BY C. E. NELSON. NE of the really surprising things about this big book is th> manner in which the newsparer writers surpass their brothers of the fiction craft. In the first place, the plan of the compilers was to gather the very best of sport stories, both fictional and true, from magazines, books and newspapcrs; then, to place them into varicus groups—foot ball, ten- nis, base ball, racing, etc. It is evident that there was no intention of purposely ‘“‘showing up” the writers of fiction, but this has been accomplished. The newspaper sport writers, who are given morz leew2y in their work than other newspaper writers, have written some little masterpieces of the sport world; the creations of the fictioneers fall quite low in comparison. It may be that the cempilers did not go deeply enough in their sclection of short stories, for this reviewer is able to name s:veral that should have a place in the omnibus, yet they receive no mention. Or, it may be simply a case of judgment cf the editors; th°y prefer a certain story, while wez do neot. Anyway, it would be difficult to satisfy all readers of such a volume. All men who are interested in sport—ani who is not?—have particular stories in mind for such a volume; all would have made certain changes in this book. However, the reader can find little fault with the newscaper selections—the real stories of sport—true storics embellished to fit the sport pages. The best of these are, no doubt, con- cerned with our “major” sports of base ball, foot ball ang racing. Dogs and hunting and polo come in for their share of writing, but these do not thrill us to such a large extent. The base ball and foot ball stories are especially pleasing because the compilers have discarded an old idea—that a home run in the last of the ninth or. a touchdown in the last minute of play are necsssary to make a hero in either of the two sports. But the authors have done a splendid job. This is a book for men. It is a book which should have a prominent place in a man’s library, where he can pick it up every once in a while and read about a world scries, a Derby or a Yale-Princeton game. ROBBERS’ ROOST. By Zane Grey, author of “Arizona Ames,” eic. New York. Har- per & Bros. ILES of canyon country, its steep and ragg:d walls painted in tans and grays, in reds and orange, its paths downward and out again not made for footwork of either man or beast, but instesd for crawling, creeping, slipping, sliding creatures. Above the canyons wide mesa stretches that move out toward dis- tant mountain ranges and th: panorama cast by sunsets of unbelievably spectacular artistry. Ranchers, cattle men, cattle thieves, plain rob- bers—such the material with which Zane Grey still holds in reading thrall an undiminished crowd of followers. The lawlessness without which a Zane Grey novel could make little hcadway has, practically, gone by, says the chronic carper. Maybe it has, though that is doubtful. But, even if it be so, what'’s to hinder moving a perfectly good adventure back a lit- tle into the pericd that will dress it up with plausibility. Even if this author did not go to that trouble, but passed on the wildest of old wild West yarns we wouldn't mind. He's a good story-teller. And the gorgeous scenery out that way is surely going to hold out. And human nature is bcund to act up nastily a good part of the time—so let Zane Grey and the rest of us alone. We are having a per- fectly good time together. “Robbers’ Roost,” to give case in point, is a corking story. A young fellow from Wyoming with just enough of reticence about himseif to enlist attention is the hero of this tale. An English rancher, come over to buy up land and enjoy the big country, is the sheep for the shearers, a couple of bands of cattle thicves that, working now together and now in hostility to each other, keep the plot sufficiently tangled to hold attention taut and to excite interest in behalf of the poor Britisher, who is booked as the common victim of the two groups. A ro- mance, very modest and quite in the back- ground till the last minute of the last hour, is suggested now and then between this young Wyoming rancher and the Englishman's sister. The girl is useful, besides, in deepening enmi- ties between the two outlaws, who have mo- ments of vague desire toward this charming young woman. The “roost” itself is a canyon cave, where the dramatic matter comes to a conclusive finale, with pistols in uncannily ex- pert hands taking the place of more orderly forms of justice. A typical Zane Grey story of the West, and a mighty good story it is. CHRISTOPHER STRONG. By Gilbert Frankau. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company. F one of the primary purposes of fiction is to reflect life, as many students of the sub- ject declare it to be, one wonders why the theme here made use of by Gilbert Frankau is so generally neglected. Not often does ol come upon a novel founded upon that tender period in the middle-age of the male when, in desperation, he tries to recapture youth with its powers of lure and seizure, with its pas- sionate dominaticns and reckless errancies. Such crisis in the mid-passage of Christopher Strong becomes the high point of Gilbert Frankau's new novel. Leading up to it is the correct life of this successful business man, this conventional member of society, this kind husband and devoted father, member of Par- liament and other such decorous and orderly conventions. Staid. a little heavy in speech, a trifle stupefying in intercourse. That is, he was all of these, till that malady of male middle- age and a Spring day and Lady Felicity Dar- rington combined against him. And the com- bination was too much for Sir Christopher. What to do? Youth must be served, yes, even the recaptured youth of a man against whom time was rolling up the years in a clear and desperate damnation. His wife, his daugh- ters, his station, his respectability. What to do? What do they do anyway in such dilemma, these old-young adventurers back into the joys and glamours of faded years? However, this is Sir Christopher's story, not that of the hordes of men similarly placed. Oddly enough, the girl loved him. Usually they do not. But this one did. And so, and so, there was an elopement—oh, just a little elope- ment, cnly about a week long, that probably never would have come out in the world if this story-teller had been able to resist the demands of art in novel writing, of realism in the portrayal of fictional characters. You may feel that the author has conceded too much to the modern latitudes in both life and litera- ture. Well, maybe he has. You must agree, though, that he has done first-class work in portrayal of character as Sir Christopher exem- plifies it, and that, besides, while he may have stretched the propricties a shade, he has left the truth untarnished in respect to the average psychology of the middle-aged man. PIFTEEN AND FIVE. By Abraham Bernstein. New York: Liveright, Inc. bit odd thai one out of the million brilliant writing cubs hadn't thought of it before. Thought of making the taxicab run the back- ground for an exciting phase of current life. To be sure, the average driver is just a driver, concerned with fares, with getting there and back again, just as the average reporter is in a hurry to snatch copy and run. Now and then the two are united in a youngster who knows the quality of adventure, who has a delving curiosity about human nature in its strange reactions, who has, also, the gift of making pictures and scenes out of words. And here you have the hero of this adventure in the merry-go-round of rapid city transit. We come upon the hero of this moving scene, Max Bremer, graduated from some sort of school and scarching the morning paper for a job. The coumn, “hackman-chauffeur” set him on his way, opened up work and there- after engaged this twentieth century Jehu in a series of adventures that are as bewildering to the reader as they appear to be quite in the day’s run to Max Bremer himself. Looking in upon the most varied show that has been devised, such as the automobile pro- vides by day and by night; making notes upon == e F THE NEW BCOOK/ Its shifting scenes, piling up his accounts for human beings and against them—all this became the absorbing business of this waywise youth. And, going along, readers are as diverted as the boy himself is engrossed in the job. Then he falls in love, or maybe he doesn’t, with one of his fares. A rich girl, to be , for this boy is of the Solcmon sort in more Ways than one. For to a wisdom about plenty of the world's wherewithal, he is also of the Solomonic order in respect to matrimony. No, doesn’t care about it. So after a while the girl gives way to an- other one. The fellow is primitive, savage. But we all—however that is another story. This tale is the familiar one of man’s growth toward manhood and character and competency and all the other manly powers along the woman road. A true story, developed just off the side- walks of New York and Chicago and other met- ropolitan centers, and projected in the vernac- ular of the profession, in the lingo of the trade. A moving. picture of a clear reality and clever realism of portrayal. You will pass it by. But a lot will not, for there is undoubted value here. On the Book Room Table HE table is excited this morning. About what? Abocut this: GREATER WASHINGTON: Educational Num- ber. 1932. Official Publication Washington Chamber of Commerce. Dorsey W. Hyde, jr., Editor. Electric in immediate effect, this “Educational Number” of Greater Washington. To be sure, we, living at the Capital, know in general terms that it is the center of creation, the hub of the universe, a fact that we are ready to proclaim, perhaps over-ready to proclaim, in respect to any and all cf its civic achievements. A gcod deal of guesswork about that, as a publication like the one here makes plain. “Yes, indesd, a great educational center”—but we didn’t really knew it. Now we do, or at any rate here is an immediate avenue for arriving at this knowledge. This number of Greater Washington is a comprehensive outlook upon the educational resources of Washington, a complete and orderly summary of these, a con- venient guide to the various points of research which they offer. “Directory of the Educational Institutions of Washington” includes universities, colleges and professional schools, seminaries, academics, training schools, schools of music and art and, seemingly, every sort of school under the sun, including the regular public school system of the District. An index to these refers in each case to the pag" of infermation bearing upon it. For a definite outlook, however, it is from the early pages of this periodical that returns are truly substantial. Here professionals in education and others in a positlon of authori- tative knowledge discuss certain of the larger aspects of the great subject. Luther H. Reich- elderier, president of the Board of District Com- missioners, outlines the standing and scope of the Capital as a center cf education in the United States. Himself a product of the local system as wecll as an astute observer of wider fields of learning, Dr. Reichelderfer is in a posi= tion to give rel.able data and substantial opin- ions on the subject. An immediately interesting and informing ciscussion here is the one by Dr. George Bowerman on the extent of facilities offered to the citizens of Washington by its 200 libraries, orgarized capitally for the use of schools, societics, groups of many sorts and for individual rescarch as well. 10,000,000 Books in 200 Libraries—so the story runs! “Washington—Art Center of America,” by W. H. Holmes, gatlers architecture, sculpture, painting and ccmmercial art up by names, and works of artists by location of schools. by founders and sub-tantial patrons. “Washing- ton's Growing Musical Prestige,” by Fanny Am- stutz Roberts, describes the increasing facilitics of the Capital for the pursuit of this art. Sci- entific schools, Federal, municipal and individ- ual foundations become an organic part of this decided growth of Washington toward intel- lectual and cultural leadership of the great commonwealth itself. If you, the Washington man and woman, want something really stirring to read, drop politics for a minute, and the ex- peditionary force for two minutes, to take up this single issue of a local magazine. Its cover alone is a call something like that familiar “So You're Going to Paris, or Berlin” or other where, to take a lock at this home town where there is surely a tremendous stir over things of the mind, over study of every sort, over intel- lectual exercise and the sure growth of culture itself. Psyllium Seed Triple Cleaned —LIGHT— Great Price Reduction 11b, 45¢ 5 Ibs, $1.95 The natural seed laxative which combines in a harmless way the advantages of bran, agar and mineral oil. The Vita Health Food Co. 1228 H St. N.W. 3121 14th St. NW, Call Col. 2980 for Delivery