Evening star., 1921-07-24

wv RITTEN by an Englishman
M and dedicated in deep
" friendship to America, "the
land of opportunity" this
life Of Admiral Mahan is. in effect.
study Of the writings and other pro.
fessional activities Of the naval
philosopher" whose opinions. accord
ing to this writer. govern the naval
thought of the world" With a short
first chapter on the birth and bent
| and training of the young American.
| the author moves into the public
| service of Admiral Mahan as rear ad-
| miral in the United States Navy, az
president of the United States naVal
! college and as president. also. OF the
American Historical Association. II
| is by the writings or Mahan, however
thai this biographer reaches the per.
| manent and unsurpassed position OF
naval authority that the admiral at
| tanned through his philosophlc ln.er
pretations of history as 1t bore upon
naval procedure and objectives IN the
building of nations and upon the IN
ternational futures of the world. sym
pathetic appreciation Is the keynote
Of this study. A 1ne sense OF pro
portion balances and stresses it at the
proper points. An able command OF
narrative vitalizes 1t. A feeling 1or
the picture throws It into drama.
| These. working together, pro1ect a
|
whether one is considering the central
figure or the period Of naval history
with it's foreshadowing OF Worlo AZ
fairs dependent upon 1t, Which TINS
central figure SO brilliantly discusses.
THE BOYHOOD OF ABRAHAM LIN
coin. BY J. Rogers Gore. Illus
trated from photographs. Indian
apolis: The Bobbs-MerriH Com
pany.
Tvsn+v-Ave wears ago. or more, Mr..
Gore, then a newspaper man IN Ken.
| lucky, used to find great ENJOY ment
/ in visiting with Austin Gollaher; a
playmate of Abraham Lincoln When
the two were little boys tosenen thss:
The stories gathered out or these
visits make up the substance OF TINS
volume In the main, they are stories
which have not, hitherto. been open 10
the general reader. In relation 10
them, a daughter of Mr.. Gollaher him.
| Gore since childhood, that he was very
fond of my father. and that he oiten
| visited him and talked with him OF ms
and Mr.. Lincoln's childhood on KNOB
creek 1 am sure no one else Knows
as much of my fathers and Mr. LIN
coins childhood in Kentucky ana am
greatly pleased that Mr.. Gore has writ
ten out these stories. many OF which
l have often heard my father tell.
These recollections reproduce many
sketch of the life which. at that time
and In that place. was still OF the
Vulnerable play hours of couple of
boys who were in no sense different
from the eternal boy everywhere. Stlll
throughout the incidents recast here
there are signs, more than one, IN inc
| Kentucky frontier lad OF the man
Lincoln. The book Is Of great inter-
! est and Of great value as part OF the
i revealing authentic literature that be-
! longs to the life Of this historic world
I man.
SLASH OF THE MARSH COUNTRY.
| By Harold Waldo. New York:
! George H. Doran Company.
! This is the story of Slash Plazarski,
the Polak boy, set down with his fam
lily out Detroit way to gather up the
! heldf rom the tribe of Plazarski. That
| is, it is the story of Slash from little
| boyhood up to the day when he march
| ed away to the great war as vol
unteer in the Canadian troops before
our folks went in. The novel Is, in sub
| stance. an Illuminating and dramatic
piece of realism, setting out In de-
| tail the adventure OF the foreign
born boy and youth in a community
of the middle west. With this locality
its point of focus. the author is af-
fectionately familiar. Just the marsh
country itself takes on moods and be-
haviors that are akin to human moods
and behaviors. under the intimate
! friendiiness of this writer. The small
community is also familiar to him.
The reactions Of this Polak boy to the
| influence of the new country. the
| flashes of his temperament in the
strange environment. his attach
ments here and there to the new life
| these are put into the realistic
story. with understanding and strik-
| ing appeal. This is first novel. 1t
! is true romance in the big sense of
i the word-the romance of a locality.
the romance of an expanding per-
| both in it's theme and In the artistry
| of dts workmanship.
THE PASSIONATE PURITAN. By
| Jane Mander, author of "The Story
| of a New Zealand River" New
! York: John Lane Company.
This is the second novel that Jane
! Mander has drawn out from New
! Zealand. a relatively new field for
! the story teller. A tiny settlement
! in the New Zealand bush. with paths
| leading off to Maori homesteads. is
/ the immediate stage of this action.
| With it the author is much at home.
picturing graphically the interesting
newness of life in that quarter. Sid
ney Carey, the person of importance
| here. is city girl come into this cor
| nor to fulfill certain teaching require
ments for advance in her profession.
This is a very attractive young wom-
an-good to look at, Straightforward.
plain-speaking, sympathetic-an all
around girl calculated to help the lit
! tie settlement along in many ways.
| All these activities turn out. however.
| to be minor ones since the main bust
ness of the story is Miss Sidney's fall
! ing in love with the young English
man who comes along that way. The
matter of the courtship varies little
from that of courtships all over the
world. The point of supreme interest
is the temperament and outlook of
the girl herself. Like most girls. she
has the usual girl standard. And like
most courtships, this one is shaped by
1.-THE girls effort to make her standard
is so clearly in love. It comes to
pass that he has already been mar
ried and Is not yet divorced-not
quite. It is without question. besides
that he has lived for a longer Oh
shorter period. with beautiful Maori
woman nearby. This young woman
of straight Puritan strain has some.
thing to do to make the adjustment
in this case that her soul demands.
These discoveries and this adjustment
make up the action of this admirably
| conceived and sustained romance.
The theme is as-old as men and WON.
en-. And this theme is handled with
insight and able restraints. The set
ting is fresh, and these new points of
background the writer keeps to the
! front in a clear appreciation of their
4 fresh appeal. A novel that Is we'll
worth reading.
BELONGING. By Olive wadsley, au-
thor of THE Flame" etc. New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.