The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-30
~rHE CHAOS IN EUROPE"
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE
 BLACK BELT

By William J. Edwards. Illustrated The Cornhill company, publishers, No. 69 Cornhill, Boston.
 This is a human document, written in the blood of the past and bearing flaming torch for the future Tn the fabric of the story we trace the llre- threads of man who worked for the future of his race with little hope of seeing results during the span Of his own years. It is more than merely the annals of a man and the school that he founded; it is the interpretation of the soul of one race to another'
 making plea for harmony. The work is valuable contribution to formlda- ble subject, for it clearly demonstrates that the book education of the negro should be articulated into the activities of his home and community.
 "Twenty-five Years in the Black Belt teens with authentic facts and first hand information. It Is it tale more gripping and vital than fiction, for the l author discloses with dlrectness. ana I without reserve, the hardships endured i by a boy, an offspring of primitive, | untutored folk, who tenaciously held to 1 his vision until 1t was realized. The dominant note sounded is that or per-
 severance, a quality that is too seldom attributed to the negro, but which must | ever be the foundation of race advance- ! ment.
 | In boyhood, the author triumphed ] over the triple handicap of poverty,
 lameness and bodily weakness; in man. , hood he rose victorious over clrcum l stance and opposition, After his grad ! uation at Tuskegee, single-handed and | alone, he founded the Snow Hill Normal and Industrial institute. Against the adverse efforts of preachers and par ents. he opened the school in one- room log cabin, and in that rude struc- ture he laid the Industrial Plank that is the base of the new school, where now 14 industries are carried on by over 800 pupils in a modern edu- cational plant, valued at $150.00O. The book is epoch-maSing and proph- etic; it goes far toward answer ing the pertinent questions, what Is to be the political future of 12,000,0oo of people not long out of slavery? What Is to be the civil and social status or such people, and what part are they I to play in the world struggle for de- | mocracy?
 ROBERT BURNS: A DRAMA IN FouR By Edward Winslow Gillian. The Corn hill company, publishers. No. ss Corn hill, Boston. The drama is life of Burns. set dramatically. Nothing artificial. | real life. The leading events or ms ca I reer are drawn, historically correct, and substantially in historic sequence. ! The temper of the Pastors in Act II IS | not overdrawn. They meet to concert l measures against Burns, whose rui- minations had lampooned them unmer- l cifully. At that day the hold of Cal | vinism in west Scotland was disputed
 by Adminianism and Socinianism The Kirk was divided into warning factions known as Old Lights and New Lights. The public appearance of Burns or | the scene, as champion of tho New
 Lights, intensified the quarrel tremend- | ously. The bard's fulmtnations tne New Lights received with roars-tne | Old Lights with wrath and alarm. The plot fallen upon by the Olo Lights is to entrap and imprison Burns l upon warrant connected with his reia- 1 tions with his sweetheart. Jean Ar
 mour. in the hope that his well-known
 extreme sensitiveness would work a Jail
 suicide, Burns counter-planning In an
 1 effort to foil his enemies by embarklne
 for the West Indies.
 We all know Burns failings ,and the
 l lamentable issue of his life. With this
 the drama has naught to do. As among
 the remarkable men of the world-a' the most remarkable, perhaps. of hi
 day-as . great national poet. with pa.
 'tsiotic societies in every city organized