Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-11

wearingly personal recital. To the
writer himself. it is An exhausting tax
upon his ingenuity and rarely to wholly ~
story development puts it up to the
author, in a detached and inpersonal
way, to set out the mutual lure of a
pair of lovers. But here the burden OF
| this proof falls upon the heroine and
| hero themselves, leaving it to them to
appraise their own charms as subtly as
may be. One, reading. feels like a
shameless human mirror, rejecting the
private coquetries, and poses. and vani-
ties of the two engaged in this long-dis-
lance process OF ensnarement. A very
little OF anybody goes a long way, when
his somebody Is offered to the exclusion
of everybody and everything else. And
so it is here. One would like to see the
original thinking and clever writing that
this volume shows put into a less trying
form of fiction than that of a romantic
correspondence The book is beautifully
printed. with a forecast. of holiday-ume
in its decorations and colors.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE
DEWEY, Admiral of the Navy. Il
Illustrated. New York: Charles Scrlb-
ner's Sons.
For, many years the idea prevailed that
the successful warrior could not be an
entertaining narrator of his deeds. rms
impression doubtless was caused by the
fact that the soldier or sailor who had
won his campaign wearied of the pen
after writing his report and left to others
the task of filing in. But following the
civil war in this country came a success
sion of military memoirs, written so SIM
ply and" yet so interestingly that they
found thousands of eager readers, and
military heroes of other lands were in
duced to take up the pen to discuss their
campaigns and military science has been
the gamer. Now, following after an in
terval of only a few months the recol-
lectiOns of Gen. Meade comes the auto
biography of Admiral Dewey. In no re-
spect does the narrative suffer by COM
parision with the memoirs of Grant,
Sheridan. Meade or any of. the other civil
war celebrities.
It's style is simple and dignified It's
descriptions are vivid. One feels that all
unnecessary words have been cut away.
Regarding the writing of his autobiog-
raphy Admiral Dewey says in the
preface:
After the battle (of Manila) l received
so many requests from publishers and
editors for contributions in any form
under my name that 1 might well have
concluded that the victory which had
come as the climax of my naval career
was about to embark me on a literary
career. toward which 1 naturally had the
disinclination of a man of action. Urg-
ings from many quarters to write my
"reminiscences have continued to the pres
ent time. Ny answer invariably has
been that my record up to the time of the
battle had not in itself sufficient personal
significance to warrant an autobiography;
for the life of every naval officer doing
his duty as it comes to him under the
authority of the President and of Con-
gress- merges into the life of the whole
q unit M service in rod
ness for national defense in a crisis.
In keeping with the decision made
when L was at Manila, my official re-
ports have been thus far my only public
account of the BATTLE However, after
my return to Washington. for the sake of
historical accuracy, / wrote. with the as
sistance of my aid, the late Commander
Nathan Sargent U. S. N, complete &C
count of my command of the Asiatic
squadron from the time / hoisted my,
home In 1899. Ny plan was not to have
this published until after my death. but
now, fifteen years after the battle, / am
yielding. to the arguments of my friends.
not only to have it: published, but also to
write my recollections of my career be-
fore Manila bay brought me into promi-
nent public notice"
The admiral writes with a kindly pen.
Although firm in the expression of his
opinions there is an absence of bitter
fered. Referring to that unfortunate time
when the heart of the country seemed to
be turned from him temporarily, he
writes: IF / were to feel later. when the
triumph and shouting had abated. that
the people had misunderstood me 1 knew
that / had not misunderstood their
thought in their exuberant pride over the
way that the Asiatic squadron had con-
Quoted offensive operations in the Phil
ippine Islands,
The admiral gives personal revela-
ton in his eulogium of Farragut Far
ragut, he writes. has always been my
ideal Of the naval officer urbane, decis-
i've, indomitable. Whenever l have been
in a difficult situation or in the midst
of such confusion of details that the
simple and right thing to do seemed hazy
l have often asked myself, What would
Farragut do?' In the course of the prep
arations for Manila bay l often asked
myself this question. and I confess 1
was thinking of him the night We entered
the bay. and with the conviction that l
was doing precisely what he would have
done. Valuable as the training of An