New-York tribune., 1921-09-04
S in Three Continents: Elizabethan Era Explained
Many Lands and Chimes
Described IN Travel-Books
Countries of Europe, the South Seas and
Asia Are Pictured in Books
of Vivid Color

sumo that this fact alone has caused
many of our people to visit these coun-
tries, and especially the homes Of these
famous men. The book we are review
ing ia 4 happy compound Of history
and rather minute description of
physical characteristics and manners
and customs of peoples. It is written
In an easy, conversational prose and is
illustrated by sixteen full-page plates
in color.
strong contrast to the last men
toned book is found in "Italy and
Greece" by John Finnemore and Edith
A. Browne. 1t is hard to imagine any
novel addition to the extant literature
on these two countries. The two
writer's of this number recognize the
danger Of imitation and have kept away
from the dry and mechanical phraseol-
ogy of the ordinary guide-book. They
have fashioned chapters that follow q
logical sequence and, as a whole, re-
suit IN book distinct g-om it's herd.
tinnemere enters Italy by an Alpine
pass and travels through Lombardy to
Venice and thence to Florence. Rome
and the toe-district of the italian
boot, the region that fronts Sicily.
There is enough of history and legend
woven into the garment of his Italian
narrative to give it brilliancy and
worth
Edith A. Browne has written the
section on Greece, an eighty page set
ting-forth of historic background, for
tunately not overdone, and decidedly
cautious mingling of native customs
and word-pictures of scenery. She has,
in her second chapter, "How Dame Ma
tnre Fashioned Greece" clear account
of the manner in which this ragged,
distorted country was twisted into
shape and then carved and scalpeled.
It's a long flight from Italy and
Greece to China and Japan. We land
in the latter countries with Lena E.
Johnston and John Finnemore, who
have commission that promises many
curious contrasts Play the modern
ism of the latter country against the
ancient habit of the former, and one
has field of possibilities almost be-
yond measure. OF course, there is an
old Japan visible in the streets of
Toxic to-day; but the national atmos-
pherc is one of vitality alive in the
present. This century is bound to
witness really stupendous changes in
China, and less sweeping but dynamic
ones in Japan. This travel-book is IN
effect swift portrayal of two lands
that have forcible appeal to Amer
leans in their preservations of the vis-
ibie relics of long-ago past and their
edifces of an era of moment to the
world. The division on China is en-
riched by careful descriptions of the
Great Wall. The illustrations in color
a1e pictorially instructive.
Australia is still a terra incognita
to the average American, and New
Zealand is to him an island on the map
and little more. Yet the salient world
events of the past six years have
brought the two to fairgrounds that
cannot be avoided by the eye aid the
mind. Frank Fox and P. A. Vaile are
| sympathetic collaborators. They touch
lightly on the history. of the two do
minions and give, what we.most desire
to know, facts as to products, posi-
bilities of development and life in the
open. New Zealand is rarely beau
tiful country, and it's native 1oveliness
is not forgotten by Mr. Vaile. One has
rather strange feeling of return to
early nineteenth century chapters of
our own national history while reading
pages in this book that treat of the
exploration and the conquest of "the
bush" and the interior regions of Aus
In