The Washington herald., 1913-03-09

Mr.. Herrick is more successful. When
he goes to Paris, however, his command
Of local atmosphere weakens, and even
in New York he has no such thorough
control of his subject. II he had kept his
dramaties personae in Chicago continu-
ously he would have been much more
successful
IN AN ELEPHANT CORRAL. By Dr. Robert
Hamll Nassau. Ger forty Are years a resident Of
West Africa. The Neale Publishing Co., New
York. Price. 81.
A book of remarkable value is DR..
Nassau's work I'm an Elephant Corral"
The author Is a man Of acute powers of
observation. and he is painstaking in his
use of facts and detail; he not only
handles words with nicely. but he Is
careful that the total impression conveyed
by those words Is one of truth. He as
sumes nothing. He knows or he is silent.
For forty-five years DIR. Nassau has
lived on the coast of West Africa, in in
innate touch with native life. as a mis-
sionary The missionary knows native
life as the trader, the soldier. and the
official can never know 1t. The trader
Is there to exploit the native; the soldier
Is there to shoot him: the official to make
him keep his place." but the missionary
is there to live with him, to teach him
by daily personal communication. Into
this daily contact DIR. Nassau threw all
the powers of his mental life.
1t is not exactly a book of sketches.
and not a book of stories. nor yet of
essays 1t Is q series Of narratives of
the way native Africans corral and kill
marauding elephants; of the difficulties
Of capturing gorrillas alive, or even dead:
Of the hippopotamus as a fighter; OF the
superstitions Of the natives, and their
Ideas of soul-life: and. best OF all, the
closing essay-sketch. Voices Of An Afri-
can Tropic Night" could have been writ
ten only by a poet, and a man who loves
solitude and the unlit silent spaces.
THINGS MUNDANE. AS OBSERVED BY THE
IDLE REPORTER. by Evan II. Chrsteman.
The Nealc Publishing Co. Ncw Yosk Price. s..
A much married man-married to the
extent OF thirteen omnipresent children
u married man with a sense of humor.
the humor that comes OF Trustworthy
digestion and receipted bills, an excellent
vocabulary. and a wife with a vocabulary
equally excellent and ten times more flex-
ible-that sort Of "A man Is the hero of
Chesterman's Things Mundane" Take
all these things-the omnipresent children,
the humor, the trustworthy digestion, the
excellent vocabulary, the brisk wife. and
her brisk vocabulary, and put the bunch
on firm Virginia soil, and you have a fine
family vaudeville. with specialties too
numerous to mention.
There is the brisk wife. the commander
in-chief, equal to any emergency she may
create, and particularly gifted in Great
ing emergencies; the visiting grandfather,
who holds down the job Of oldest in
habitant more successfully than any other
man in Hanover County" the thirteen"
unseen for the greater part, but infiu-
entail in proportion to their youth and
hunger: and the husband and father,
mystified much of the time, inclined to
laughter. but usually laughing at the
right time and on the right side: and,
lastly. there is Virginia-the inirnitable
Old Dominion-lovabIe, provincial and
unique.
CURIOUS BITS OF HISTORY, by A. W. Macy
Tne Cosmopolitan Press. New York Price. 81.
Recorded history is a pedantic narra-
tive in which for the greater part, the
humanity of humanity is reduced to Q
minimum. But sometimes along comes a