The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-03-16
THE BOOK SHELF
ny THE BIBLIoPHrLE

nacnlne and another converged on a
Hun"
In the battle that ensued German bull
lets plugged his petrol tank from be-
meath, the engine ceased work. and
from height of 5000 feet they began
10 glide down, at distance Of nearly
~ miles from friendly territory.
IN snort, Captain Bolts fascinating
pooh' one OF thsSfirst to appear by an
airman on the a5rplane service. is lust
what the general public. tremendously
interested as is in the work Of the
war aviators and in the possibilities
OF AVIATION during these war times
THE KENTUCKY WARBLER"
BY James Lane Allen Doubleday, Page
20, publishers, Garden City, N. y
In Kentucky Warbler" we find a
story not of love, as might be expected,
On the sweet forerunner of love
A ght shadow across the boy
- ~ girl who still are merely play
mates. 1t is the study of lad buried
IN the great adventure of finding him
sen. Nothing in his ordinary life helms
him; the path his father follows is but
bind alley and holds no call for the
SON. the little neighborhood means moth
ing' and the life at school is a vexa-
t,oh' notwithstanding open no doors
through which his eyes might have
caught visions-cramping and boring the
eager spirit that on the playground is
leader to the other boys, but in the
classroom content to follow far behind,
impatient and unsatisfed
Mr. Allen has portrayed the very hest
OIL our young American manhood before
u attains to maturity in this brief book.
the type that Is not able to take things
ior granted, that does not understand
what 1T seeks but that is fresh and
eager, awake to the realities of the world
IN which it finds itself, stifled by the
unreaiities of the neighborhood in which
II is placed, needing but key, a pass
word, to escape and setsitself on the right
ROAD, along which 1t will find develop
ment, adventure, service, comprehension.
and happiness. With humor he draws
the picture, and with tenderness Shows
US the boy asking hts innun1erable ques-
lions OF his father,ss.Who makes replies
that are confined to 9the inessential in
accuracies revealed, not to the pro-
round depths beneath which are seeking
Tor enlightenment. 1t is "a gentle, pleas
ant character we are given in this father,
whose own spirit has been smothered by
40 years OF existence as a bank clerk
making auadrllions of figures faultless-
iy-a quiet, baldheaded, deadly accurate
httb man, with perception that the
Whoie thing is a waste, but apparently
necessary waste. Absurd to spend A
life making twos and fours and SKIES
possibly, yet the only apparent way by
which life can succeed in being there to
spend.
The book is in truth the story of the
birth of the soul The selfish Young nj
NAL, who quarrels with his sister. who
resents his school life because it does
not interest him, who has never perceived
the sweetness of his mother nor realized
that he owes to her and to his father
something beyond the mere acceptance of
what they give him-that he, too can give
car love, that there is work for hin,
to do. this realization, this birth, comes
in moment-the young animal is a
human being, and sees the world new.
beautiful, full of wonders, powerful for
happiness.
The means to this change is the tall,
OF an exchange professor at the school.
man who has the genius for teaching.
rare as any other expression Of genius
He speaks not of dry, dead things, not
Of rules and measures, but of life and
beauty of human struggle and triumph
His example is Alexander Wilson, the
Scotch ornithologist, whose own life was
a marvelos adventure: and the sketch
given of this lifesby Mr.. Allen is an ex-
quisite bit of work
Wilson discovered and named the Ken
lucky Warbler, and the bird Is used to