Evening star., 1919-03-23
Reviews of New Books

New Books
New York: Frederick A. Stokes
Company.
We, in Washington, recall vividly
the sturdy mans figure Of woman
that, on the 4th Of last July. headed
one Of the sections in the capitals
parade of all nations. That squat
khaki-clad leader was Maria Botch-
kareva. commander of the Russian
''Battalion of DEATH" and the sub
ject, thereby. of a sort of mythic
treatment at the hands of imaginative
newsmongerS. BY virtue of her un-
usual career, the truth about the
woman has appeal. And here she tells
the story of her life in a novel kind
|of autobiographic method. Speaking
only the Russian tongue, with whose
written form this peasant woman is
unfamiliar, she tells the story of her
life to Isaac Don Levine, who sets it
down as it is given to him. In this way
Botchk .reva is able to verify the story
at all points. Levine. himself the au-
thor of THE Russian Revolution,
then transcribes the account into Eng
lish. as it here appears. 1t is story
whose substance is remarkable for
the experience Of any man-let alone
the experience of any woman. Prob
ably no country, save Russia, could
afford one of the extremes OF suffering
and degradation and general ViclSSi-
tudes thai come out in the story Of
Botchkareva The recital itself is Of
marked simplicity that sets it off in the
class of true literature. However. liter
ary values are not the point here. The
appeal of this narrative lies in its sub
stance, lies in it's revelation of Russian
life. and it's even fuller revelation of
a human being stressed by the web of
fateful circumstance that entangled
Marie Rotchkareva. A franker OF a
more intimate story, is unimginable.
bigger one in it's patriotic fervors,
in its self f-effacement, is inconceivable
This is one of the human documents
that is bound to contribute strongly
to the new evaluations of life that the
present chaos is bound to produce.
THE BOOK OF PHILADELPHIA. BY
Robert Shackleton, author of 1.-The
Book of Boston," etc. Illustrations
by r. L. Boyer and Herbert Pull
linger Philadelphia: The Penn
Publishing Company.
Mr.. Shackleton's work with the
cities of Boston. New York and, in
this case, with the city of Philadelphia
is a complete denial of our usual Off
hand statement that America has not
yet taken on those essences and fla
vors of history that make cities of
the old world such storehouses of de-
light. And that which he has al
ready proved in respect to the two
northern cities he again makes clear
of Philadelphia. waywise and sat
isfying guide, this, who. having his
tory at tongues end, knows. there
fore, what this old City of Brotherly
Love can be made to yield Of it's past
doings and beings. More than this,
Mr.. Shackleton has all sorts of an
tennae out, thrusting sensitively here
and there, for facts and colors and
atmospheres. At his side one walks
the busy city streets; to be brought
up suddenly to some reminder of the
days when Washington and Franklin.
and every other considerable man of
the new country. stopped for a longer
or shorter period in this early me-
tropolis of the new world. Hidden
churches, old graveyards. the site of
many an interesting and important
building, the courthouse, the Quaker
quarters. the guild hail. and SO on, and
features and implications. Illustra-
tions-the most interesting and re-
vealing Of which are fascinating tail
pieces" "facings." initials" in a gen.
erous Observation-Disclosures and sup
plement the text itself. Reading this
book-and it's companions-one gives
up the lukewarm interest hitherto en-
tertained toward books that purport
to deal with the historic spots in our
modern cities of the east coast What
he wants to do is to take it as a
guide. and. with it, to re-explore the
city under this wen ordered and al
Turing direction.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS; And Other
Poems. By Lieut.. Col. John Nc
Crea, NJ. D., with an essay in char
acter by Sir Andrew Macphail. New
York: G. P. Putnam's Sons:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses. row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks. still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead Short days aro
We lived. felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The Torch: be yours to hold it high.
II We break faith with us who die
We shall not Sleep though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
To this much-read and much-loved
poem are added here others by John
EcCrea-among them, 1.-The Anxious
Dead"
o guns. fan silent till the dead men hear
Above their heads the legions pressing on:
(These fought their fight in time of bitter fear
And died not knowing how the day had gone).
And The Unconquered Dead" and
others-about thirty. all told-each
Of which is a little burden of deep
feeling on one or another of the
serious and haunting things of life.
And these are musical poems, sing
ing quietly Of life, and more often
of death. A bundle of letters goes
along with the verse. And these add
to ones joy in this man, John Nc
Crea; to this new friend who, though
gone. wakes ones heart to love of
him. The study of John McCrea by
Sir Andrew MacphaiI fills out sat
isfyingly the places that the per-
sonal poems and the letters leave
vacant. 1t is a little book-but it
is priceless one.
THE GREAT HUNGER. BY John Bo- /
jer. Translated from the Norwe-
gian by w. j. Alexander Woster
and c. Archer. New York: Moffat,
Yard & Co.
This is universal story, because
the great hunger" that gives it
theme is everybody's hunger. 1t is
the irresistible urge to know why
today is a perpetual tomorrow, and |
why the here is an eternal there. 1t
is the importunate question that DOM
mates every interest and pursuit of |
life. to know the reason why moth
Ing completely satisfies-neither work |