New-York tribune., 1919-06-28
Call for Mr.. Garland

Call for MIR. Garland
We have been reading again Hamlin
Garland's main Travelled Roads" and
"a Son of the Middle Border" We
read both every spring. They are fine
for drowning that annual vernal urge
to chuck the job in favor of Friend
Wife's ancestral acres IN Kansas. Mr..
Garland wrote with the purpose of
showing the toll and drudgery Incl
dental to a country estate in the corn
and hog belt, particularly when the
country was new. To our mind Mr..
Garland owes the corn and hog belt,
his publishers, his readers and himself
another series of farm stories. Con-
ditions are better in the c. and h. b.,
and therein lies the reason for Mr..
Garland's debt. They are better, but
not as good as pictured and popularity
conceived, the party line telephone the
cheap automobile and Meredith Nichol-
son Notwithstanding. AS matter of
fact, considerable proportion of. the
sons of the pioneers still have their
difficulties getting fifty-ffty on the
ups and downs.
So Mr.. Garland is needed to correct
the impression that Kansas, Iowa or
Nebraska farmer fording to town with
can OF cream, case of eggs or calf
IN the tonneau is per Sc the victim of
large and overwhelming prosperity.
AS matter of fact he jitneys because
he cannot keep the respect and con-
fdence of the mortgage if he also
keeps a driving team with alfalfa at
EQ0 To %o~a II
son for the tremendous per capita cir
culation of cheap automobiles in the
Middle Western states. So let's hope
for "Main Flivvered Roads" by Mr.
Garland, very shortly. SEW.
Dead Reviewers
The editor of The Tribune's Book
Page recently commented upon the
advantage of reviewing books to-day
rather than in the days of Dickens,
Scott, ct al. Which is true in more
ways than one. For if the authors
were prolific, the critics were not less
SO. There is an interesting book in
the New York Library called Famous
Reviews" 1t is composed of reviews
that originally appeared in the Quar-
terly Review, Blackwood's Magazine
and other we'll known journals of the
nineteenth century. The majority of
these reviews would each fill several
pages Of a newspaper For instance.
portions of an article on Vanity Fair
and Jane Eyre received about forty
pages Of the book. Incidentally this
article demonstrated the sagacity of
its author. He ridiculed the idea of
Jane Eyre's being written by a woman.
because of the barbarous manner in
w ho
and because of the atrocious meals
they served STEWART
Old Books
P. B. is right about the old books
they ought to be mentioned now and
then by the book reviewer. I'll wager
that good many of the readers of
About Column have been looking
through the autobiography this week,
because of P. BIS saying a good word
for Cellini. Why not mention one
old book every week? I'll suggest
Thoreau's Cape Cod for this week. If
l were going to Cape Cod this sum-
mer I'd read that book again. And
that's one reason why I'd like to 20 to
Cape Cod this summer. I guess III
read it again, anyway. H. H.
mere IS no lack OF versatility among
book review contributors. L. S. H.. for
instance, informs US that she is up on
Mexican history, insect studies, juve-
nile books, English essayists (also
American), cripples (including dis
abled soldiers and kindred subjects).
pension laws of modern countries, any
frivolous books Of any kind whatever,
early American history, including
French-Canadian history"
Philip Goodman writes that his
favorlte topics are "Philology, Post
Biblical Literature, Erotilepsy and
Pugilism."
Albert F. Gilmore writes to protest
against DR.. Cabot's charges that Chris
tlan Science is "unchristian." He saws:
While as an eminent medical practi-
toner he may be quite logical in dis
agreeing with the teaching and prac-
tice of spiritual healing, it is not so
easy to account for the animus which
leads him to denominate Christian
Science as 'unchristian.' If to ear
nestly strive to be a true follower of
Christ Jesus, to walk in his footsteps,
to make his precepts the guide and
rule of life, to undertake to reproduce
his work which he asserted could be
performed by those that believe on
him; if to alleviate and ameliorate the
hardships, pain, woe and misery Incl
dent to human existence is to be
worthy of the name of Christian, then
these religionists have full title to this
characterization, for these are exactly
the works they do. Christian Scien-
lists believe this religion to be the
restoration Of primitive Christianity
based upon the teachings of the
Gospels"
Splitting the Long Distance Infinitive
Her beauty was SO remarkable that
the Sunday papers were giving full
pages to her face and torso alone"
Thus, pithily Con page 265 of "Twelve
Menu, Theodore Dresser indicates the
physical limitations of the power of the
press.
Why not, by the way, throw your col
umn open to the "most split" infnitve
in the Dresser repertory? On page LAG,
for example, find Ito swiftly and
agilely take a bath" but doubtless it
VIII not be difficult to swiftly and
agilely discover others Of greater span.