New-York tribune., 1919-09-10
Books
By Haywood Broun

arc ABOUT ioo pages long, with vide rns-..s
and large type. From this standuoi,. s.~ 'sla
lam De Morgan's "The Old Nh ~.
Henry Holt cannot be said 70 h.
for critics, since there are 5G7 ps,a-
and narrow margins at that Bu. -.
not a book for reviewers we may - -
recommend it to everybody elsa. i.-..
all those who are not on the eve n
momentous piece of work Zen ess..
murder, or marry, ought TO keep aw.r
this book, as large as an octopu. and :.
most as engrossing.
We speak not from complete gaas,..,
of "The Old Madhouse." OF coyrs.
haven't finished it yet and we dsns-
that we ever shall, because It is mnes
good to skip. SO lar we have been .bt..
resist the temptation TO turn % the
chapter to ascertain the explanation ~ >.
it all came out, but we are nor sure tia.
shall be able 10 do so ndef n-ely. u
to know what became Of Uncle Drur, >.
his was such a nys sseroGs disappesrs,..
The last person who saw him was Tho raw.
taker of the old madhouse.
"The last image OF her mind Of re p,
Drury was massive, clerical, talking 10 =;
self and adjusting its coat and corfor.s, ;.
forestall the cold of the evening air u
reflections on the interview, IS she &e...4
The passages they had come through. .osy
the form OF the prediction that size wo,4s
know the reverend gentleman If she -,
come to see him again, anyhow
"But she never did, and no man or wo,.,
born ever saw Uncle Drury again aliver..
1t is tantalizing to have this thrust ~,
your face on page % and then TO yss.
on and on without finding out what be,snA
of Uncle Drury. We attribute our restrai..
in not looking ahead to no particular sal
wartness in our own character, bu. so's,
to the enormously bountiful humor Of 4.
Morgan, who viii not let your attention straw
away from the delightful talk and thouese
of his characters even to hun- down nv.
terry. The De Morgan books are long &.
cause De Morgan had such q deal 10 saw 2;
must have written straight ahead witas,,
much preliminary planning. for no man cOus
have set for himself such q marvellous d.
play of spontancity. The binship 10 DickeD,
is obvious, but there is g triae more satiy.
and less burlesque. The stroke Is more del.
cate and the emotional content not so anna
De Morgan must have been q somewhat -
mote figure, for this, his last novel. althougs
begun during the war. has as one Of is
heroes a little dachshund named Leibig. Eg|
liked him from the moment when We me. q,
page 7. Then we did not know his nans
It was simply recorded that "a cat on ,lt
hearthrug, that had slept through the eal.
versation, thought the silence q good op9o.
tunity to stretch itself and turn round. 4
dachshund, that had been griling inside .hs
fender. came over il suddenly as to bus.
ness appointment, slnelt the cat csrefuly,
decided that no steps could be taken al
present, and went back"
There is good deal Of the dachshund j.
the style of De Morgan, for he is forever
darting in this direction and in that on3
to come back to the story again after each
foray. But there is no need to quarrel vtl
this habit. De Morgan has made depression
a supreme art.
General Pershing, according TO Everett.
Tomlinson, parsed himself into the United
States army. In "The Story of General
Pershing" (Appleton) we are told thae
Eighteen took the examination and Per-:
shing won, though by only single point, ana
that was given only after he and his con
petitor, Higginbothaln. had broken the tie "
each diagramming the following sentences
1 love to run
"Higginbothams solution:
"I-subject
" love'-predicate s@
ito run'-ininitive phrase qualifying tn
meaning Of the verb.
"Pershing's solution was as follows:
"'P-subject
" 'love'-predicate
e 'to run-is the object.
1.-The commission preferred Pershngs dia'
gram, and thus by a single point he wen tsS
competitive examination and received the ap'
pointment.
a.
"None of your contributors,' writes Car
roll McComas, "scems to have a word to ~