The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-14

"Letitia; Nursery Corps. u. S. A.. by
George Madden Martin. The Mcclure
Company. New York.
Long recognized and often commented
upon Is the broad, UNEMPLOYED literary
field of the regular army. Excepting a
Few stories OF war, there is no book of
nction from which can be gained even a
fairly good picture of army life. The
American professional soldier and the
lnenotonous life he leads has not vet
found an indelible plnce in our literature.
When future students shall desire to look
back, as many of us would like to look
back now, and learn something of the
army IN periods passed, they will have
10 be content with musty, ~lifeless volumes
or dry, statistical reports, unless the
American Sipling' is now developing or
VIII develop. Real soldiers. like General
King and the late William Henry Savage,
noth OF experience in times of war and
peace, tried it. They wrote poor stories
ana no literature. Others have tried 1t In
vatn-and the interesting life of the peo-
pie who make up our standing fighting
force evolves and changes with no painter
OF proper genius to put it on canvas.
Mr.. Martin has made a little excursion
into this prolific ~realm-and our knowledge
of the subject and its so-called literature.
we believe, justifies the conclusion that he
comes nearer striking the proper note than
any who have gone before. Still, he doesn't
catch the complete spirit, nor transcribe
the ideals, the heart and souls, the joys and
sorrows, which with the army folk are
fundamentally the same as with others. but
which are governed by far different in1u-
cnces. This he does not do. at any rate. in
n way to compare with the Kipllng mas
terpieces that have made the British SOL
der truly known throughout the civilized
world.
Mr.. Martin takes the tiny Letitia. a fair
specimen of The army child, through the
everyday scenes OF her youth. when i'm
pressions are unbiased aud character for
native. He draws no morals. breaches no
sermons-that is one reason why his mar
rative comes nearer being real literature
than others dealing in the same material.
lLetitia awakes to Consciousness at an
army post by the sea. She was nearly
seight and bad moved six times Her
imamma is not n typical army mother. but
sof a type by no means rare-given 10 the
Ssociaf life that surrounds her more than to
5ner home, and to the petty gossiping AMI
squeamish squahbiing over matters OF rank
than to her child. She becames the goo1
friend of Corporal Le'gre, otherwise lie
care. the family STRIKER" and wonders
why she can't go over on Non-Com row
nio. bluS Will Tic StIGehnl > CHilureI. Cuc
meets non-coms and privates. %''cits," or
icivilians for whom there is no over-plus OF
Prospect, and marvels at the strange life OF
which she forms a part.
There Is really no plot to Mr.. Martins
book. 1T consists in the main of pic
lures. enhanced in value by an element Of
childhood. He has mastered the lingo Of
the enlisted man. and learned his faults
and those of the CONS He appreciates
the deep chasm that separates officer from
enlisted man, and yet realizes more or
less truly the hond of sympathy which in
normal army life should and does exist
between them. He throws in a lot OF good
army post atmosphere; in fact, his sketches
Ghryt@eep. vivid that they will take one who
knows the originals on what seem pleasant
tours, They should present to the I'M
familiar a fair view of an unnatural. but
interesting life. However, the authors
main fault is seeing little else except light,
romance. characterize fails to grasp the
darker side in its complete entirety or the
deep humanity in all the significance a
nomadic profession of little individual re-
sDonsibility, but of strong potent environ
nent produces. 1t is probably intended
principally as a book of Types" and in
fbis light is a great success.
We cannot this book to per-
sons who want to find out what is the
matter with the army, but to- those who
like good picures and human types that
are. relatively true, they cannot find a
better among recent productions. The IL
go .-.aI 40 tha fo~f.