Evening Star Newspaper, June 20, 1936, Page 18

B—2 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1936. — MASEFIELD VOLUME AMONG WEEK’'S VARIED BOOKS IN THE CURRENT MAGAZINES DISCUSSI ON < IS DISCUSSED Subject, Particularly Pertinent Now, Treated Amusingly by Charles Beard--Biography of a Queen and a Victorian Wife. Other Recent Works Reviewed. By Mary-Carter Roberts. A LETTER FROM PONTUS AND OTHER VERSE. By John Mase- fleld. New York: The Macmillan Co. T IS to be feared that this new volume of his verse will add little to Mr. Masefleld's plentiful honors. Tt is level work, seldom more than acceptable in quality, and more than once amaszingly indifferent in crafts- manship. Had any poet less proved than John Masefield written it, it might be made the subject of sharp criticism. One realizes, however, that Masefield does not sin from innocence. He knows. One can tell oneself there- fore that this book is just one of his days off. Still—it will be a disappoint- ment. The subjects in the volume range from ancient Rome to modern Eng- land, from Government offices to ships of the Spanish Main. Their chief sin is bored writing. Masefield is unin- spired. Sometimes he gallop:r along hastily, forcing arbitrary rhymes as in the following quatrain: “Two miles beyond Shifnal, the | road gangs were tarring, | The width of the roadway was wet with hot tar, A driver sped by us and sent it all starring | In black flicks and splashes all over the car.” Sometimes he writes so sketchily that one feels that one is reading mere notes. And sometimes he falls into lamentable tritenesses, as in these lines from “Australia”: “Always above these memories is the sense Of charming people, ever kind and thoughtful; Most generous in thought, in word, in deed, And faithful in their kindness to the end.” The poems that are free of these seeming irritations are free also of memorable passages. They are only good verse. The title poem should be listed among them as should “The Flowing of Sangarios,” “The Towerer,” “February Mornin, Autumn Plough- ing,” “The Mayblossom,” “The Boy From Pauntle; These have a cer- tain grave beauty. Departing from gravity, Mr. Mase- flield makes two ventures into satire in the course of the volume. One is in the long poem “Nets,” wherein he pokes fun at red tape government. The other is “The Wild Geese,” in which he observes: “They have no masses, no classes, No wars, no poison-gasses, ‘They are geese, they are asses. O, it must be absurd To be a goose of & bird And salute no general spurred.” - * x % ¥ “If we could put goose-brain In airplane or aeroplane, ‘We could drop bombs like rain. Make such holes in the mud, Fill them full with such blood, Give God thanks for Security, Practice Racial Purity, And be (if God should please), Almost as wise as geese.” For the most part, however, the volume is level and, for John Mase- field, uninspired. THE DISCUSSION OF HUMAN AF- FAIRS. By Charles A. Beard. New York: The Macmillan Co. IN THIS highly amusing volume Dr. Beard undertakes to utter a commentary about the universal human practice of discussion. It is particularly pat, just at this time, when (as he observes) discussion is so popular, when writers, orators, scientists, economists, historians, out- of-job idealists, New Dealers and paperhangers are freely tainting the winds and inking the presses with their concepts of discussion. What does 1t all amount «0? asks Dr. Beard. And answers, practically nothing. He gives a lucid analysis of the factors involved in discussion &8 he sees them. Is detached, impartial discussion possible, he asks, dealing with the proud assumption of cer- tain thinkers that it is. Are there even such things as particular facts? he further inquires, when he comes to the case of the students of affairs, who assert that facts, and facts alone, satisfly them. And he answers both questions negatively. You cannot begin to discuss from a vacuum, he states gravely, and when you start choosing your facts you cannot sepa- rate them from their “huge context.” Is there then merely a state of chaos with which to deal? He de- nies this, too. He will allow the discussers no fixed premises. Chaos is qualified—even chaos. It is full of “areas of uniformity” and exists together with order everywhere throughout human affairs. Every- thing, says Dr. Beard, traces back to its source, and its source is inex- tricably mingled with innumsrable other sources—and for all this in- termingling he gives the name his- tory. But history, too, he eoncludes, is inscrutable. So how are we to discuss intel- ligently? Or, as Dr. Beard puts 1t, “Does no transcendent truth emerge from this survey of human lmita- tlons? The answer is: One truth rising above the conflicts and dis- tempers of time coes emerge, and it is a truth important for practice. This truth may bs formulated as follows: It is possible for all who discuss human affairs to distinguish somewhat effectively between fact and opinion and to have extensive knowledge of the various positions or points of view (tacit or admitted) from which any expression of opinion proceeds or takes direction. As knowledge of these positions, or points of view, is widened by per- sistent inquiry, their overlapping or interpenetrating nature enters into human consciousness, with the result that sharpness of division is softened and the way prepared for resolving conflicts by the magic of tnought projected into the forum 2f practice. For whatever it is worth, this is the supreme contribution of contempo- rary historiograply to .he ,rocess of coping with present perplexities and making a civilization in which ‘ humanity can possess the beautiful and the zood.” JADWIGA, QUEEN OF POLAND. By Charlotte Kellogg. With a preface by Ignace Jan Paderewski. Wash- ; ington: Anderson House. rIN A curiously intimate manuer, Mrs. Kellogg writes here the his- ¥ Ilustration from “Salar the Salmon,” by Henry William= son. (Little, Brown & Co.) national heroine, Jadwiga. The broad outline of her story is no more than that which is set down in generaf his- tory—the account of Jadwiga's mare riage to Jagiello, Grand Duke of Lith- uania, by which Poland and Lithuania were united and the last pagan coun- try of Europe converted to Christian- ity. But on this plain history Mrs, Kellogg has embroidered a vast wealth of detail, evidencing wide and care- ful research. Her book becomes, then, & personal history, including a mo- mentous and touching ramance. For Jadwiga of Poland was one of those pathetic and glamorous figures to be found throughout medieval history—a child on whom the mantle of public responsibility fell; a girl Queen who was called upon to decide | whether she would dispose of her life according to her own preference in love, or whether she would marry in people; a warrior Queen who rode out | at the head of her army; a sovereign who dealt with precarious situations | unflinchingly, but who in her youth and beauty has not lost her power to stir the imagination, even after more than | five centuries. Mrs. Kellogg, in writ- | ing Jadwiga's life, has dealt with this poetic quality first of all and has cap- | tured it successfully. Almost inevitably such a biography life of a child, removed from her parents’ land and crowned Queen of a strange realm at the age of 13; forced no more than a year later to choose between her childhood be- trothed, a cultivated and handsome prince. and a pagan duke, her coun- try’s hereditary and abhorred enemy, a man much older than herself— these are elements which commend themselves to poetry rather than to mere recording. Mrs. Kellogg, plainly under the sway of her materials, does treat her story in an emotionsal vein. Her book, however, bears the marks of historical authenticity and indeed has been accepted by the Polish His- torical Congress. The mingled splendor and grief of ruling in days when the ruler was charged with personal responsibility for his land, the conflict between pub- lic and private life, the strange wor- shipful devotion felt for the cultured Hungarian princess by her savage northern subjects, the beginnings of Polish national consciousness under her direction—these are the themes which sound through Mrs. Kellogg's narrative. Jadwiga, once she had ac- cepted her unwelcome crown, never looked back. She worked ceaselessly for her country’s welfare, as welfare was understood in the fourteenth century. She founded schools, hos- pitals and churches. She sent mis- sionaries out to carry charity and learning to her most distant prov- inces. She did what she could to ameliorate the savagery of the me- dieval laws., She averted war against the order of the Teutonic Knights, even though she felt that there was just cause for fighting. She grieved over her childlessness through the years of her reign and died giving birth to an infant daughter when she was no more than 29. Perhaps the most eminent Pole alive today, Ignace Jan Padrewski, says of the present work in the foreword which he has contributed: “Jadwiga, Queen of Poland, was one of the purest and noblest creatures that ever came out of God's hands. * * * Though dearly beloved by her own people, she has been for centuries almost un- known in the west of Europe. It is evidently the mission of an American lady, the authoress of this book, to acquaint the English-speaking public with that sublime figure.” ELLEN EWING, WIFE OF GENERAL SHERMAN. By Anna McAllister. New York: Benziger Bros. This biography of Ellen Ewing Sher- man might well be called “Portrait of a Victorian Wife.” For it shows the energetic lady who married the great general in those preoccupations which we think of as typically Vice torian—home, husband, religion, fash= ions, relatives, friends. The work is founded on Mrs. Sherman's own let- ters and on family records. It under- takes to cover its subject’s entire life and contains a foreword by her son, vouching for its authenticity. The work is done in great detail and makes use of profuse quatations from letters; hence it becomes a pic ture of the life of the day, as well as the history of an individual. Mrs. Sherman, for example, made the then difficult journey out to California, traveling by the Nicaragua and Pana- ma routes; she made her home for some years in that State, which she considered an “outlandish” place; she experienced the social life of Washing- ton, New Qrleans, St. Louis and New York. She was an irrepressible letter writer and apparently delighted in making communications lvely accounts of her experiences. Con- sequently there is much in the book to interest students of early Americana. Travel methods in our inconveniently vast young country, social customs of the past age, local history—the book throws an interesting light on all these. As for its subject, she emerges as an energetic, determined woman who, in her firmness of character, in her humorous adaptability and her pre- accordance with the welfare of her | lends itself to emotional writing. The | might very well serve as a model for the type of cultivated pioneer matron. The author, to be sure, clearly ideal- izes her somewhat beyond reasonable plausibility. Her comments on Mrs. Sherman's letters do little to interpret them to the reader and are sometimes dangerously near being fulsome. But, in spite of their irritating effect, they fail to obscure the essential picture. The work, if not important from the point of view of biographical writing, is still one which will contribute con- siderable to the average reader’s know- ledge of its period. GREEN MOUNTAINS TO SIERRAS. Zephine Humphrey. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. AMONG the latest authors to tour long-suffering America in a funny old car and later surprise themselves into stitches by discovering that the notes they have innocently kept will make a book is Mrs. Zephine Hum- phrey. Zephhie set out with her husband, Christopher, (Chrissie?) in a “Chevvy” (can you beat the play- fulness of that nickname?) and from Vermont to California they pursued their cheery way. They found out the most extraordinary things. The Pennsylvania coal regions, for example, are hard hit by the depression. The Great Smokies are beautiful scenary— they found that out all for themselves. The Painted Desert is very colorful. Imagine! And at Taos—well, they dis- covered Taos, too, they stood in line and discovered it. Zephine wrote it all down herself, in a good domestic literary style. Christopher was paint- ing pictures. (There may perhaps be some hope for Christopher; he didn't like the Painted Desert.) They wintered in California and then they came back again. It makes 253 pages. SO LONG TO LEARN. By Doreen Wallace. New York: The Mac- millan Co. TH!S is a long, dignified novel of complete unimportance. It tells the story of a woman who, in the set- ting of an English farm, came to the | conclusion thet personal desires are not of paramount importance. It took | her a long time to learn, as the title remarks. There are some nice de- scriptions of farm scenery. DR. DAFOE'S GUIDEBOOK FOR MOTHERS. By Allen Roy Dafoe, O.B. E, M. D. New York: Julian Messner, Inc. Hm is a brand-new, up-to-the- minute handbook for modern | mothers of modern babies, by one of the most-talked-of doctors of the day. It is not a book about the “quins.” True, Dr. Dafoe says in his foreword that “he would like to feei that chil- dren and their mothers are learning valuable lessons from the story,” and in many instances he refers to them to prove a case in point. But, essentially, the book is intended to serve as a practicsl guide for a mother in caring for her baby both before and after it appears in this world, without encroaching in the least upon the prerogatives of the family physician. In fact the entire atmosphere of the book is one which directs the layman's attention to the spiendid results which may be ob- tained by bringing babies through the first stages of their existence according to strictly medieval, hygienic stande ards. In the first chapter the expectant mother is urged to put herself in the hands of a competent doctor, in order that her child may have all the ad- vantages of proper pre-natal atten- tion and diet. Untrue beliefs and superstitious “bugaboos” about “mark- ing” children before they are born, ex- ercising and so forth are discussed in language that is simplicity itself. The physical cere of the baby after it is born is described in detail; mod- ern feeding methods and “behavior” training also occupy a large section of the book. One chapter, which should certainly interest Washington mothers whose children have to re- main in the city during the Summer, is devoted entirely to the care of the baby during the hot months, and in- cludes many helpful hints for making the heat of the nursery more bearable, Many other problems which con- front the parents of small children are dealt with patiently end clearly. It would seem that Dr. Dafoe’s book will fill a long felt need for a practical, modern volume on the everyday care of our littlest citizens. B.C. PUBLIC LIBRARY GEORGE SANTAYANA AND “THE LAST PURITAN.” R months “The Last Puritan” has been at the top or near the top of current best-seller fiction lists. Although his read- ers know that “The Last Puritan” is the first excursion into fiction of a great philosopher, few probably have read the philosophical works which are so brilliantly reflected in the novel. The same irony and wit, subtle analy- sis and breadth of observation that have carried the novel to phenomenal popularity are found in the earlier works. The Public Libary presents a se- lected list of Santayana’s writings, supplemented by a few volumes on the Puritan mind and its effect on Ameri- can life. Non-Fietien. THE 1936 BOOK OF SMALL HOUSES. Edited by the editors of the Architectural Forum. New York: Simon & Schuster. A guide book for prospective home builders, contsining the plans, photo- graphs, specifications, interiors and costs of 115 houses ranging from $982 to $20,000. RATIONAL DESIGN. By Albert Far- well Bemis. Cambridge: The Tech- nology Press. The third volume of the trilogy, “The Evolving House,” in which the suthor gives a highly technical dis- cussion of the structure of the house, toryo!'.hegreatromhmnndocaxpuuonswlchh?elndrflmll it must be designed to meet / John Masefield, author of “A Letter From Pontus and Other Verse. (Macmillan.) The Philosopher. CHARACTER AND OPINION IN | THE UNITED STATES, with remi- | niscences of William James and Josiah Royce and academic life in America, by George Santayana 1920. H83.Sa68. Chapters on the moral background, the academic environment, Willlam James, Josiah Royce, materialism and idealism in American life, etc. EGOTISM IN GERMAN PHILOSO- PHY, by George Santayana. 1916. BE47.Sa57e. Here is a background for the por- | trait of Irina, the German governess in “The Last Puritan.” “Mr. Santa- yana's characterization of the German national genius is witty, apt and ir- resistibly quotable."—R. B. Perry. THE GENTEEL TRADITION AT BAY, by George Santayana. 1931. BDG Sa57. | “This is the reverie of a harmonious and disinterested mind, picking its | own path amid the debris of a contro- | versy; in its very allusiveness, its lack | of direction, it achieves that sense of ' are shot with shafts of keenly intel- lectual wit, but with such weightiness of matter to be passed through the rewiewing mill, these, as well as the poetry of the book, have heen perforce neglected."—P. A. Hutchinsen. THE REALM OF ESSENCE: boek first of “Realms of Being." by George Santayana. 1927. GBA.Sa58. THE REALM OPF MATTER;: book sec- ond of “Realms of Being,” by George Santayana. 1930. BGA Sa.58a. “A great thinker expounds his | philosophy in prose as beautiful as the thought is profound.” SCEPTICISM AND ANIMAL FAITH; introduction to a system of philoso- phy. by George Santayana. 1933. BD.SajTs. “No one at all interested in current winds of doctrine can afford to miss this adroit and honest book. It comes. to grips with the deeper issues over the surfaces of which contemporary thought has been glibly skipping."— Irwin Edman. THE SENSE OF BEAUTY; being the outlines of esthetic theory, by Charles A. Beard, author of “The Discussion of Human Affairs.” (Macmillan.) intellectual liberation which is the better part of philosophy. '—Lewis Mumford. THE LIFE OF REASON: or, the Phases of Human Progress, by George Santayana. 5 v. 1905-06. BH.Sab8. The quintessence of Santayana's earlier philosophy. , LITTLE ESSAYS DRAWN FROM THE WRITINGS OF GEORGE SANTAYANA, by L. P. Smith, with the collaboration of the au- thor. 1924. BD.SaSTL. Human nature, religion, art and poetry, poets and philosophers, ma- terialism and morals are dissected by & clever pen. OBITER SCRIPTA; lectures, essays and reviews, by George Santayana; ed. by Justus Buchler and Benja- min Schwartz, 1936. Y.Sa.670. “The least of these pieces is a mas- terpiece in the art of thinking and the practice of writing, rich in a har- mony of prose seldom heard, sparkling with tmagery, rippling with irony.” PLATONISM AND SPIRITUAL LIFE, George Santayana. 1927, BO.Sa57p. “As usual with Santayana, the pages modern conditions. Not a book for amateurs. MARITIME NEUTRALITY TO 1870. By Carl J. Kulsrud. Boston: Lit- tle Brown & Co. A detailed discussion of maritime neutrality as attempted before that armed neutrality of 1870, which is generally held to be the first concerted effort by neutrals to gain their free- dom of navigation. Highly interest- ing. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AT THE NATION'S CAPITAL. By Rufus ‘Washington Weaver. Philadelphia: ‘The Judson Press. An effort to set forth from the evangelical standpoint the implica- tions of a frpe church in a free state h George Sanatyana. 1896. W.1Sa.5, “My effort throughout has been to recall those fundamental esthetic feel- ings the orderly extension of which yields sanity of judgment and distinc- tion of taste.” SOME TURNS OF THOUGHT IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY; five es- says, by George Santayana. 1933, BD.Sa3Tso. “There is, as always, his incorrigible perfection of epithet, his gift for the phrase that opens a vista and some- times glamorously distracts attention from the argument, his irony at once perfectly devastating and perfectly urbane.”—Irwin Edman. WINDS OF DOCTRINE; studies in contemporary opinion, by George Santayana. 1913. BD.SaS?w. A “brilliant, original essay written by a philosopher who has the poet’s vision and power of expression and uses both in revealing and sharp- ly criticising tendencies in modern thought.” Poet and Critic. THE HERMIT OF CARMEL and and to apply the conclusions thus reached to contemporary situations. A collection of sermons delivered at the First Baptist Church of Washing- ton during the past year, by the author who is now executive secretary of the Columbia Association of Bap- tist Churches. FACTS AND FRAUDS IN WOMEN'S HYGIENE. By Rachel Lynn Palm- er and Sarah K. Greenberg, M. D. New York: The Vanguard Press. A book which undertakes to do for certain advertised articles of women's hygiene what “100,000,000 guinea pigs" attempted in the field of food, drugs and cosmetics. Probably will be & best seller. Fiction. mm".wanmu!uuo! A Veteran of Future Wars Pleads for His Cause With Deep Concern—The Presidential Election and How It Will Go. The Literacy Renascence of the Twenties. By M. C. R. June number of the North America Review isat hand, and | highly tempting to a magazine commentator. With the news- peper headlines screaming about the |\ bonus payment, it may be pertinent to notice what the Review has to say | on the subject of bonuses generally. In an article entitled, “We Call Upon America,” Thomas Riggs, jr., a mem- ber of the Veterans of Puture Wars, speaks about the aims of his organi- zation, in relation to those of the American Legion and the Veterans of | Foreign Wars. That the Legion and the Veterans of Poreign Wars dislike the future veterans, Mr. Riggs notes sadly. He quotes some of the opposition—they call the Princeton boys “welchets” | “slackers,” “Communistic,” “un-Amer- | ican” and so on. “However,” Mr. Riggs continues, “once the first flush of anger is sub- sided, we hope that our requests will be reviewed in the light of sanity, though for some of our critics that will not be possible. We feel sure that | the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Veterans of | Puture Wars can work together for mutual benefit, which will also be of benefit to the country as a whole. Like i them, we wish to be first in war, first in peace and first in the Treasury of our country.” He then describes a series of bills for which his organization proposes to | lobby. They are to seek preference for all future veterans in competitive examinations for Government posi-| tions, to authorize loans of equipment from the War Department to the fu- ture veterans for use in the conven- tion this Summer, to exempt the property of veterans from taxation, | and so on. With the innocence of a thousand lambs, Mr. Riggs points out that these pieces of proposed legisla- tion are based on similar bills pro- posed for the benefit of the existing fvet,eram‘ organizations. | “In time” he says, we intend to set up permanent offices in Washington | with a highly overpaid lobbyist to lcnn-y on the legislation necessary for the advancement of our cause. * * * “Treuury raids, bonus grabs and of American military and foreign policy under the cloak of patriotism, by highly organized minor- ities with paid lobbies in Washington, are the precedents on which the Veterans of Puture Wars are founded. I feel that the continuation of these tactics will result in depleting the na- tional Treasury before this country is plunged into the next war. Therefore, and on the basis of precedent, the Veterans of Future Wars are out for governmental gratuities for their fu- ture services, while there is still some- thing left in the Treasury—and while we are still alive to enjoy it. We call upon America to support our cause!” What will decide the coming elec- tion? Theoretically, says Mr. Schuy- ler C. Wallace, writing in the North American Review, it will be the seri- ously considered opinion of the ma- jority of the voters. “After listening to the arguments from both parties.” he writes, “and judicially weighing the facts and theories presented, the sovereign voter, laying aside all personal interests, will other poems, by George Santayana. | 1901. YP.Sad7h. First poems. POEMS, by George Santayana: se- lected by the author and revised. 1923. YP.Sa57. “The theme of these poems, as Mr. Santayana himself observes, is simply his philosophy in the making . . . the expression of emotional response to thought.” THREE PHILOSOPHICAL POETS— Lucretius, Dante and Goethe, by George Santayana. 1927. ZYP.Sa.58t. Each poet is the “subject of a separate essay which is partly an ex- position of intellectual origins, con- tents and character, and partly an attempt to assign its plaec and value | in the scheme of thought and life to| the formula which phrases the essence and difference of each.” “The Puritan Mind.” PURITANISM AS A LITERARY PORCE, by H. L. Mencken. (In a Book of Prefaces, p. 195-283.) 1918. ZY M523, “Mr. Mencken discusses both the ‘Puritan impulse from within,’ which has been a dominating force in Amer- ican life since the very beginning, and ‘genesis and development’ of the ‘Puri- tan authority from without'—the ‘or ganization of Puritanism upon a busi- THE PURITAN MIND, by H. W. Schneider. 1930. DKPU.Sch56. “In his investigation of the philoso- phy behind Puritanism, Prof. Schnei- der has made a valuable contribution toward a reinterpretation of its heri- tage to American eculture.”—J. K. Snyder. PURITAN'S PROGRESS; an informal account of certain Puritans and their descendants from the Ameri- can Revolution to the present time, their manners and customs, their virtues and vices; together with some possibly forgotten episodes in the development of American so- cial and economic life during the last 150 years, by Arthur Train. | record his judgment Ilustration by Gordon Grant, from “Sow'wester Sails,” by Arthur H. Baldwin (Random House.) on November 3, go to the polls and Such is the process of politics as it appears to t casual observer. But let's look be! the scenes! It is possible to prese: briefly a few of the more important factors and their make-up.” THESB “factors” he then discusses. They are, he says, the political machines, opportunities for patronage (which, he remarks, “have in no way decreased the efficiency of the Den cratic machines”), control of propa- ganda, the attitude of pressure groi sectional feeling, class feeling most important—the economic situa- tion. “If, at election time” Wallace, “the price of whe and other agricultural produ if business recovery continues stock market is rising, Franklin Delan Roosevelt's chances of re-election are good. If, on the other hand, the bot- tom drops out the commodity market business slows down and the stock market crashes, Franklin D. Roosevelt may be defeated. “In 1884 James G. Blaine went down to defeat largely because of the acci- dent of having stood on the same platform with the man who coined the famous phrase, ‘Rum, Rom: and Rebellion.” Although the ph: suggests that religious bias was the decisive force in the campaign, it was only by the sheerest chance that it en- tered the campaign at all. But politics there always is the possibili of a ‘break’ which the opposing par may turn into victory. Such a ‘bre, may well occur in the course of the campaign of 1936. “In the last analysis, it will not necessarily be the candidate who has presented the most clear-cut progra: of action or that based on the sou economic theory, who will wi election. Instead it may be (o tempted to say it will be) the ¢ date who has most successfully m ulated and placated the various sundry forces that dominate Mr. Wallace's article is called, litical Imponderables.” THE July Harper's Magazine carries the first of three excerpts from an autobiographical work—as yet un- | published—which Carl Van Doren is now writing. The article is called “Post-War: The Literary Twenties.’ Leading up to that gala scene by a survey of literature in preceding years, Mr. Van Doren says: “Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells had already agitated many minds and had convinced some, and John Galswo: and G. K. Chesterton were be: to be talked about. But in Ame there was Paul Elmer More and no H. L. Mencken (could that be, the reader wonders), only James Gibb: Huneker. Stephen Crane and Norris had died too young and ng ca dore Dreiser had been suppressed. | Willa Cather was barely, and James Branch Cabell wrongly, known. The reputation of Edwin Arlington Robin- Frost, no Vachel Lindsay, no Edgar Lee Masters, no Carl Sandburg, no Edna St. Vincent Millay nor Elinor Wylie, no Amy Lowell and only pre- liminary grumblings about free verse. Mark Twain and William Dean How- ells and Henry James had already set- tled into being classics, and Edith Wharton and Hamlin Garland seemed to be succeeding them. No Sinclair Lewis yet no Van Wyck Brooks nor Ludwig Lewisohn. John Reed was an undergraduate at Harvard, Randolph Bourne at Columbia.” ‘Then he describes the contrast, the American rennaissance, “unlike an thing that had ever happened before.” “Mencken's burly voice, hooting. The tom-toms of the Emperor Jones throbbing in Macdougal street. Law- yers wrangling over Jurgen and the public taking sides. Debates about Main street, whether villages were or were not what Sinclair Lewis said . . . look at Spoon River. Babbitt becom- ing & byword. Scott Fitagerald with his new fashions in heroes and hero- ines. What was the Younger Genera- tion coming to? Eliot and the Waste Land, for worshipers and parodists. Copies of Ulysses slipped through the 1931. G83.T69. A “history of social progress under the shadow of a stern tradition.” Brief Reviews of Books on Various Topics MR. BELL By Wallace Jackson. New York: John H. Hopkins & Son. The author of “Two Knocks for Death” writes a new mystery involv- ing some very sinister secret societies. Action and & thickening plot. MAGNOLIA SQUARE. By Sara Christy, New York: John H. Hop- kins & Son. Routine romance about a northern girl in southern environment. Happy ending. - Poetry. MY KITCHEN WINDOW. By Edna Jaques. New York: John H. Hop- kins & Son. Collected verse of & lady described by her publisher a5 “the poet laureate customs and passed from eager hand to hand. Edwin Arlington Robinson gravely, profoundly revisiting Camelot. Robert Frost bringing me a poem for the Nation all the way from Vermont, and the two of us sitting through lunch at the Century Club and the whole afternoon, talking ebout farm- . Innumerable young women wondering what it would be like to be like Edna St. Vincent Millay . . . if she were like her poems. Elinor Wylie ar- riving from Washington, to be poet and queen of poets in Manhattan. "MARK TWAIN rising to enother stature with his posthumous books and becoming a touchstone for criticism. Remember the War: Three Soldiers, The Enormous Room, What Price Glory? Poor Randolph Bourne, Poor John Reed! This Simian World. ‘The past recaptured and revalued in Well's Outline of History and Ven Loon's Story of Mankind, which Charles Beard told me he thought was better. The expatriates leaving Amer- ica with large gestures to live in Paris where they could be free. Other Amer- {icans staying at home to free America. Every American his own Colurgbus.” No, nothing like it had been seen. writes Mr. | This, one reflects, was the | which was called—and | Lost Generation . . . | goes on to personal of Edwin Arlington | Robert Frost, to his early days as | eritic for the ion, to the fall the professors as influences cism, personified in the case Sherman and the rise of the lists, led by Nathan and Mencke Nothing like it—no. Whatever may & said against the twenties does include dullness crowd still is—the Mr. Van Doren reminsicences Robinson and of THE discussion of the question of whether the Constity economic legislation, | Nation two wecks ago, is con this week. Answers are pubiished from a variety Allc White, “triple y of the not G N, of sources. aking for himself, * J. M. Patterson, publishe New York Dal News, says “necessary or desirahie.” Frank mnett, publisher of Gannett in William 5| says, intorerab) but do “hur not believe in amend- fear but points out years to get ratified. Meanwh through its pub! Congress does exerci powe Section 2. of Consti do you know what Article tion 2 is? Dem (Continued from Page B-1) on." B 11, Sec- . ocrats delegates in tb mith, form: who are to serve as “Al New homa; Mrs. N director of t SENATORS and House member who are delegates he tion include S and John H Senator Joseph T. Hattie W. Car | tive John E. Mil ator William G. M | sentatives F | Kramer, Thom | McGrath, Ch; nd Represent Arkansas, Se: and Repr , Charles s F. Ford, John J { Senators Al { P. Costigan of James P. Pope and Rep | Compton I. White and D. W | of Idaho, Ser Ham | and Willlam H. Dietrich | sentatives Edward A. K J. Sabath. J. Leroy Ad: | C. Dobbins, all of I | Louis Murphy of Iowa, Se s; Senators Rose Mc- g and John H. Overto: s Paul H. Mal |3. 0. ez of Louisiana, Se | ators Millard E. Tydings and George | E. Radeliffe of Maryland, with May: | Howard W. Jacks Baltim Gov. Brann | Simon M. Ha | Moran, jr., of A ate Treasurc | Theodore I. Fry and State Highw Commissioner Murray D. Van Wag:- {m_\ of Michigan, with Represen: tives George G. Sadowskl, Frank Hook, Louis C. Rabaut, Carl Weide- man, John D. Di and John Lesinski of Michigan, Senators James | E. Murray and Burton K. Wheeler of | Montana, Senators Bennett Champ Clark and Harry S Truman, with Representative Bernard F. Dick- man of Missouri; Senators Dennis Chavez and Carl A. Hatch, New Mexico; Chairman O'Connor of the House Rules Committee, with Rep- resentatives Emmanuel Celler, Sen- ator Royal S. Copeland, George Gor- don Battle, Edward J. Flynn, James J. Hoey and Chairman James M. Mead of the House Post Office Com- mittee, Senator A. Harry Moore, with Representative Mary T. Norton of New Jersey; Senators Robert J. Bulk- ley and Vic Donahey of Ohio; Sen- ators Elmer Thomas and Thomas P. Gore of Oklahoma, Senators James F. Byrnes and E. D. Smith of South Carolina, with Representatives Thomas S. McMillan and former Representative Butler B. Hare of South Carolina; Senator Keaneth McKellar of Tennessee, Senators Homer D. Bone and Lewis B. Schwellenbach of Washington State, with Representative Mon C. Wall~ gren and Martin F. Smith; Senator Matthew M. Neely of West Virginia, Senator F. Ryan Duffy of Wisconsin, Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney and Representative Paul R. Greever of ‘Wyoming, Senators Josiah W. Bailey and Robert R. Reynolds of Nogsh Carolina, with Repyesentative Robert L. Doughton, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee; Delegate Anthony J. Dimond of Alaska. PR Canaries Pay His Way. PROVOQ, Utah (#).—Tell Muhlestein, student at Brigham Young Univer- sity, is earning his way through school by breeding canaries. Experienced in the work since he was 9 years old, Muhlestein has a large collection’ of j;ophtes for his champion songsters. tors J iR n and Edward C