Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-08
THE NEW ELIZABETHANs. BY E. 3.
Osborn New York: John Lane

By Capt. Edward v. Rickenbacker.
commanding officer 94th Pursuit
Squadron. U. S. Air Service. New
York: Frederick A. Stokes Com
pany.
This is the kind Of story that tells
itself. The theme-air f1ghting-is
the most stupendous that. so far, the
ingenuity of supermen has been able
to devise. 1t is a theme that bursts
spontaneously out of it's own amazing
substance. Here, too, the hero and
author are one. One surmises, how
ever, that Capt. Rickenbacker would
resist vigorously being tagged here.
He does not appear to be of the hero
brand. Rather is his preoccupatio
that of telling in perfectly simple
manner of the various means employ
ed by his pursuit squadron to do for
Won Richthofen's flying circus. More
over, he is too generous Of praise for
the other members of the squadron
to flt well into the exclusive role of
self-accepted hero. He Is. notwith-
standing his own personal modesty,
nevertheless, the center of this amaz-
ing story of campaigning in the clouds
against the flying forces of the Hun.
His was the fret American squadron
to move over inside the enemy lines;
his the first to destroy an enemy
plane and the one to bring down the
last German machine that fell in the
war; his, also, was the squadron Sc
lected to accompany the army of occu-
patton into Germany. All in all. Capt.
Rickenbacker is packed with war ex-
periences that make a story Of tre-
mendous thrill and grip. Among in
Vulnerable incidents of fact, set down
here in such graphic energy the true
story of Quentin Roosevelt will ap-
peal to thousands of readers. Partic-
ularly here in Washington, where
young Roosevelt was public school
boy. will this story have a general and
deeply personal interest. From start
to finish the narrative is one to make
Anne rican readers proud of the gal
liant youths who have borne them
selves 30 gloriously in the great field
OF war. 4
THE CURTAIN OF STEEL. BY the
author Of "In the Northern Mists, -
etc. New York: George H. Doran
Company.
The name Of this author is with
throughout the war with the British
navy as chaplain. and that he can tell
a story with vigor and vision, with
dramatic intensity and an every day
human feeling. His fine fair Of re-
cital is SO very unchaplain- ish, so
much like that Of a lay master of
storytelling that, possibly, he keeps
back his name on this account How
ever. this is no ones business but his
own. That which does legitimately
concern the reader here is that the
ish navy in war with great spirit and
appeal 1t reads like an adventure Of fic-
ton, yet it Is in the main. fact. Adopt
ing the device Of the moving picture.
the author spreads a six-reel film to
watching on the part Of the British
seamen who lowered their curtain of
'ste1> during these long years to shut
out the menace Of the Hun fleet from
from spithead to scapa Flows
the background Of this tremendous
scenario. The "watchful waiting" of
the feet is a constant flow and coun-
ter flow Of stirring action. The life
aboard is a tense anxiety to be of
and at the Hun. The men are as real
as life and the most of them are the
actual men who manned the ships
and kept the curtain of stee! taut In
it's place. One reel alone Of the six is
lain tells US. Its use appears to be to
set in higher lights and deeper
shadows the facts Of which the other
Ave are made. 1t answers this pur-
picture presents an Illuminating view
Of the place Of the British fleet. and OF
its stanch behavior in that place. during
the length and breadth and depth OF the
war.
CERVANTEs. BY Rudolph Schevill,
professor Of Spanish, University OF
California. New York: Duffield &
Co.
Though the immortal Don Quixote
is known to the average reader only
in fragmentary views, these passing
glimpses have nevertheless convinced
him of a hero out of the common
order, either in life or in fiction.
Hardly so roomy a man anywhere as
Don Quixote for the accommodation
of human nature in its good-and- bad
manifestations. One has known all
along that the author of this sur
passing Hero must himself have been
a man of the same stuff. essentially,
as is this glad adventurer of peren-
NAL charm. And here Is set down the
story of Cervantes. the great Span
lard who gave Don Quixote to the
world. Too much cannot be said in
praise of this story. For the writer
has made Cervantes alive. More than
that he has brought him in face-to-
face and hcart-to-heart association
with the readers of this present day.
He has denied himself the thrill of
being the pedant. filled up with dates
and dull circumstances of verified ex-
actness. But in this self-denial he
has gained what will prove to be a
wide reading. and has kept himself.
or his book, which is the same thing,
from the undisturbed seclusion of thu
library shelf. In an easy and inviting
personality Of story telling, the writer
surrounds Cervantes with the out
standing circumstances OF his time
three hundred years ago-and endows
him with those traits of mind and
heart that made hin, what he was, in
contrast to the thousands Of men and
women who possess only the average
sum of human qualities, That is. he
drops below consideration all but the
effective part of Cervantes, and this
he presents in the picturesque reality
of the great writer's existence. A
splendid seizure of the use Of biog-
raphy bent to a definite end-in this
case that OF presenting to readers
one who remains cotemperaneous
through all periods Of time. The book
ID q part Of the Master Spirits of
Literature" series being published BY
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