The Washington times., 1922-08-27
(OBB'S,NEW BOOK
SHOWS AUTHORS /
I VERSATILITY |
~. Poindexter, coIored," os-
ciIIates Between Humor and
Fiction--Writer at His Best.
BY A. r.. r. 0NYON.

VNbOft-vvttso 81 Suc SSSs
-
BY A. r. r. 8NYON.
r RvIN COBB is generally con.
.ceded to be Americas greatest
- living humorist and possesses
. surprising ability for extracting
the elusive smile from the most
Heterogeneous subjects-say, for
instance, the jolly lark Of having
ones intimate internal organs re-
moved, the merry pursuit of a
means of relief for obesity or any
one Of a hundred other subjects.
But he IL quite as much q novelist
as a humorist, and his>latest work,
"J. Poindexter. Colored" George H.
Doran Company. lies in juxtaposi-
ton between the two.
ITO many readers the inimitable
Judge Priest" stories were the
first TO attract attention to Cobb's
genius. And ]. Poindexter, the sub
ject Of the present work, short for
Jefferson Exodus Poindexter, other.
wise Jeff" will be pleasantly re-
nnembered as Judge Priests faith.
ful body servant. And while the
Judge himself does not enter into
the present narrative. Jeffs re-
countal Of Priests sufferings in
after. .Volstead times. at the ex-
pense of a depression. may we'll be
quoted:
1.-THE old BOSNIAN he broods a
right smart over this going dry
business. Being a judge and all.
he's always been a great hand for
upholding the law. But this here
Is one law which he cannot up
hold. and yet go on taking his
sweetening drains steady the same
as he's been used to doing all his
life. And from statements which
he let's fall from time to time /
CLEANS that he can't hardly make
up his mind which one of the two
OF them-law or liquor-he's 60
ing to favor the most when the
pinch comes and the supply in the
dining.room cupboards begins run
ming low. Every time he starts
off for a little trip somewheres
and has to tote q bottle along in
his hip pocket instead of being
able to walk into a grocery and
refresh himself over the bar like
he's been doing for might nigh
sixty years, hears him speaking
mumbling words to himself.
hears him saying it's come to a
pretty pass when a Kentucky gen.
tleman has either got to compro.
mise with his conscience or play
Q low down trick .on his appetite.
Off and on 1t certainly does poster
him nightly"
60 much for the judge who
leaves the story for an extend
ed trip. West, whether in search Of
less arid regions or not is left un.
said and Jeff finds himself at lib
erty to attach himself to the person
OF Dallas Pulliam, "a young white
gentlemen" who is about to 60 to
New York on a mission of business
and pleasure combined, and Jeff,
for the first time, leaves his native
State and finds adventures many
and frequent.
How his natural .astuteness pro.
tects not only himself, but comes
to the rescue OF Mr.. Pulliam, who
is beset by a swindler on one side
and vampire" on the other, fills
the succeeding pages with a high
degree of interest and despicts &C.
curately the real nature Of "the
white folks darkey," as jeff de.
scribes himself.
While the book is written in the
first person, the author relieves the
reader of the tedium of a steady
run Of dialect by having jeff con-
fide at the outset that he had turn
ed his memoirs over to one Of his
white gentlemen friends to fix an
the spelling and punctuation. "I
reads and writes very WELL" says
Jeff, but never learned to pune.
ture."
THE buttons are bringing out in
thoroughly revised edition
VIM. II. Booths standard treatise
on Liquid Fuel and Its Appa-
ratus." Mr.. Booth is perhaps the
highest authority on this subject
and his work is considered an
essential reference book by engi-