Evening star., 1921-01-23

coins. first paintings. rare ceramics.
In sense, these are the Box mate
rial of his own America caniZation. One
likes the story of the boy spending
mis- vacation week in Boston on the
trail Of the intellectuals of that day
-Longfellow. Emerson, Holmes. He
must have been an engaging lad
else he would have been nuisance.
which. obviously, he was not. In
tbs atmosphere of many friend
ships Edward Box gives full play to
his prodigious greed for work. to his
ferret-like zest for the new chance.
10 that sixth sense that permits the
straight short cut to efficient public
service. Some gentle criticism falls
mere upon some of Americas ways
toward her foreign-born-but not
much In sum. this Fascinating story
IS a grateful patriotic tribute to his
new country by one of the very sub
stantial and useful sons Of her adop-
tion.
THE PATERNITY OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN; Was He the Son Of
Thomas Lincoln. An Essay ON the
thastfty OF Nancy Hanks. BY Will
nam e. Barton. author of "The
Soul OF Abraham Lincoln" etc.
New York: George H. Doran Com
pany.
Was Nancy Hanks virtuous. or was
called bad woman? Was Abraham
Lincoln a bastard, or was he born
under the sanctions of legitimacy
Ihis is the question. To it's answer
TINS author. with zeal indefatieable.
brings more than four hundred pages
OF testimony. documentary in char
acter. In refutation of the slanderous
rumors and charges. The study is a
good example of the modern Way of
oiselng the truth of matter out
from its entanglements with complete
nntruth and puzzling half-truth. Mr..
barton IS the well known Lincoln
specialist whose books on the sub
1ect nave contributed substantially to
the Lincoln history. 1t is no more
IMAM lar 10 say that the book in
nand Is in the nature of by-product
OF MS very important general treat
ment OF this historic character. The
question under consideration here re-
calls an episode and saying ascribed
10 president Lincoln himself at a
point in the progress of the civil war.
Jealous military commanders were
trying to keep Grant from the natural
leadership that his genius and his
successes in the west foretold To
clinch these obstructive plans they
brought out certain rumors that
Grant was a whisky guzzler, where
upon the President suggested that in
the interests n a successful war they
might do well to look into the par
ticularl brand and blend of beverage
that appeared to be achieving those
victories in the west.
WOUNDED. SOULS. By Sir Philip
Gibbs. author of The Street Of
Adventure" etc. New York:
George H. Doran Company.
The procedure formula of the war
correspondent. one takes it, is to
gather war facts from their most
vital sources of action. to strip these
to the kernel. to pack them to the
least compass and to fire them away
on wings to the waiting world. No
time nor place here for the feeling,
the passion. the vision that may
seize upon and hold this purveyor of
news from the front. These are for
later and unhurried uses. In Wound
ed Souls Philip Gibbs has drawn
upon this highly sensitized vision of
four active war years for the pic
lures OF men and women who. in the
ancient city of Lille. are listening to
the rumble of retreating armies. and
ara facing only ruins. material and
spiritual, as the wherewithal for a
fresh beginning. Real people-French,
English. American-each enc etched
in with the keen incisiveness that
marks the work of Mr.. Gibbs. take
part in the drama at whose center a
curiously beautiful love story of
prophetic implications unfolds. This
is a novel made out of truth. Rather
is it a section OF wars effects cast in
the form of romantic fiction-a beau
tiful and tragic story that faces upon
greater victories than can be won
by contending armies.
IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS. By Walter
Pritchard Eaton. illustrations by
Walter King Stone. New York:
Harper & Bros.
This nature lover is of the John
Burroughs tribe. That is to say, he
belongs to the neighborhood of which
he writes, The neighborhood belongs
to him. His Investigations are made
by way of the intimacies Of long
standing friendships rather than by
minute analyses that lead merely to
bookish classifications. One is certain
that the trees know him, as he knows
them in their varying seasonal moods
and aspirations: Between him and
the Berkshire birds there is deal of
friendly colloguing over home sites
and forage plans In winter the
white snow blanket of the Berks shire
hills turns to a kind of animal signal
service field that invites, often to sue
every page or two of this alluring
book Walter King Stone slips in a
beautiful picture that rounds up an
Incident Of animal life, or presents
the photograph Of some specially in
teresting animal character, or spreads
the atmosphere and theN essence of
this beautiful region. To one who
feels that this whole plane of exist
ence is not so different from that on
which man himself exists this is the
Joyous companionship and a constant
invitation.
THE GREAT DEMONSTRATION. By
'The Stranger at the Hearth" etc.
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
When two young men, for love. pur-
sue the same lady, odds appear to be
enormously in favor of the swain who
10 able to bring to his aid the forces
nf occultism of both native and im-
norted brands. What can the lone hand
Of one mere mortal man hope to
achieve under SO complete handicap:
this romance. With a good sense of
comedy the author sets in the sober
nrecincts of Boston the various groups
Tho here pursue one or another of the
gods of new thought or ancient orien-
fal philosophy. The most of these
seekers are women. naturally. One:
however, is a youth who has worked
himself into a hand-in-glove harmony
with the law of success" Proving
the complete efficacy Of this law in re-
snect to business. he questions. in good
logic, why it should not prove equally
potent in an affair of the heart. 1t
works to a charm. A simple aspirant
has not the ghost of show with
rival who is able to objectify his own
maleficent thoughts to stand. man.
solid, in the way of the poor fellows
Wooing. And SO, in fair invention. the
UNEQUAL contest goes on. Then-the
law weakens through overwork. one
Judges. BY a sort of back-action it
turns to a Juggernaut. working ruin to
it's chief devotee. This calamity, load