New-York tribune., 1919-06-21
By Haywood Broun

Don Marquis Is writer who keeps
his wits about him, although the hot
breath Of tte linotype machines is
always on his back. Sometimes he
tosses poem TO the pack, or piece
of Greenwich Village satire, or an
essay. There are mornings, to be sure,
when he fools his pursuers with an
old shoe or a bit of the tailboard, but
An q rule he feeds the machines with
food far too good for such voracious
feeders. There may come time when
the linotypes will devour Mr.. Marquis
We only hope he will sell his life
dearly. And yet he seems to have no
difficulty in keeping ahead of his pur-
suers. He has not yet been forced to
abandon invention for formula.
The essays collected in the volume
called "Prefaces" (Appleton) seem to
US to contain his most skillful work
with the exception of the Archie series.
He has something to say, as well as
knack of saying it. Most Of the humor
is easy and unforced, although it is
often in the typical American mood of
exaggeration. Marquis has a genius
aces" also contains more serious obser-
vation Of life, as Is instanced in tho
preface to the Works of Billy Sun
day." IN which Marquis shows how
smiIingiy he can cut up an adversary.
There is, also, Splendid accurate obser-
vation in the two articles which touch
on newspaper life: preface to an
Unpublished Volume" and "Note to
Chapter on Journalism" Some day,
when the contributors have been un-
usually active, and successful Hs we'll,
we hope Marquis will take tins off to
begin an American npvel about news
paper life. II he will sedulously refrain
from making it a funny book it will
be thoroughly humorous, and there will
be thirgs in it that are not - be
laughed at, eitfer, fnr Marquis is by no
means unaware Of the value Of
thread of serious philosophy in hurrnr
ous writing. We don't think he rteans
US only to guffaw about his thres
bushels Of poetry which q strange
janitor threw away years ago in
Southern newspaper office.
Eve can praise them," writes MAJ
dict, for none Of them wss ever printed
and mono Of them ever will be. We
believed in them, at the time, more
than we have ever been able to believe
in anything since .. nothing
comes UP to those verses Of ours that
are gone forever"
They were good poems, "AIl ahnut
the old gods, and love, and 81. E. .
and all that sort of thing"
But we believe we like the essays Of
Marquis better than his poems. 1t
seems to us that he is on of the two
or three most skilful men IN America
in handling this form. The present
volume comes. we should say, from the
top Of the barrel, although there is
ono piece about snoring, and once or
twice the business Of humorous exag
geraton is carried to a point where
the invention seems a bit whipped up.
But there is perfect ease in the open
ing paragraphs of the piece about fish
ing, which is called "Prefacs to q
Book of Fishhooks."
"Our idea of fishing" writes Mar
quis, SIS to put all the exertion UP to
the fish. If they are ambitious we will
catch them II they are not, let them
60 about their business. If fish ez-
poets to be caught by US he has to
look alive. We give him his nrpnr-
tunity and hs must mako the most
OF it.
Most Of our fishing, and the only
fishing We ever really enfnyed, was
done with worm, hook, leaden
sinker, line and willow POKE. Wa
wouldn't know what TO do with a reel.