Evening star., 1922-04-30


of Five Years inf eolar Regions.
BY Vilhjalmur St6fansson, author
of my Life With the Eskimo" IL
lustrated. New York: The Mac
milan Company.
r fAvING drawn Off and diverted
- to their proper channels the
purely scientific product Of
this Ave years Of polar ex-l
ploration. Mr.. stefansson devotes
himself here to telling the story OF
the friendly arctic" "A title, this,
that flies fYll in the face of ones
preconceived notions Of the polar re-
gion. And yet. the story told, the
reader has to acknowledge that Mr..
Stefansson has made good his claim
of friendliness. Fourteen years ago.
when this writer made his second
polar expedition. he became possessed
of the theory that one might live
off the land" in the far north. II
this theory could be reduced to fact
1t would, to q degree, revolutionize
polar explorations. The i've years
whose record goes into the book In
hand supported this theory to an ex-
tent that enormously expanded the
field of exploration. that made fresh
discoveries possible. and that mini
mized the hazards OF the work-all
this adding directly to means Of ex-
tending knowledge in many fields of
science. "The Friendly Arctic" it.
self Is a plain record Of the day-by-
day OF this five-year adventure. 1t
is the story of moving from one al
most inaccessible point to another. of
travel over vast ice fields. of sudden
mishap, of constant menace, of hunt
ing for food, of discovering new
facts Of geography. geology and other
friendly Eskimo. 1t Is a good animal
book, a fund of stories along this
line. Besides being a volume Of in
valuable information, 1t is. as well,
book of thrilling life, of heroic ad-
venture, Of communicable enthusi-
asms. 1t is for these personal quail
unconsciously portrayed here, that
the book will find q warm welcome
from the great body of general read
ers, who. as never before, are reach
ing in every direction for the facts
of geography that the past five years
have SO abundantly opened up to
readers of all classes.
ROsINANTE TO THE ROAD AGAIN.
BY John Dos Passos, author of
n.
George H. Doran Company.
While critics and reviewers are suf-
fering wordy agonies over "Three Sol
diers'' Its author goes a-walking up and
down Spain. To the plain shank's
mare that carries him about he gives
the fluent name Of Don Quixote's sorry
steed; Rosinante For the purposes of
two young fellows who. all eyes and
ears, companion each other along the
highways and into the byways of new
and old Spain. Behind the alert senses
of these two vagabonds is good store
of information about the country before
them. They know enough of its origin,
of its government and political history,
of It's art, its letters. it's society. to
enable them, going about. to pick up
relics Of old periods, drifts of old cur
rents, fundamental characteristics of
race. to account for the present Of the
ing their way. On the surface of this
adventure. however. there is no sign
of academic design. Rather Is 1t q
youthful and joyous forthfaring into a
land of romance and picture. The solid
stun Of ANALYSIS and deduction is
setting up historic backgrounds. for the
moment. then moving on to the more
important business Of talking to man
or woman along the way. to the pleas
anter occupation Of capturing hamlet
in the essence Of its humble inhab-
delights one as he goes along with this
finely intelligent and Imaginative OBJ
server Of men and things.
A LITTLE MORE. By W. B. Maxwell,
author Of 1.-The DEVILS Garden"
etc. New York: Dodd. Mead & Co.
This story is about a family-a
happy, comfortable family. who man
aged to get along on what means be-
longed to them, though they were
quite conscious that "a little moro"
An the way ' Of income W9u.d sfraiEhten naa
these folks, treating SO lightly their
small economics Then money comes
to them-enough money to satisfy
their constantly increasing wants.
The romance then drifts into some
thing like a parable on the eject OF
ter Not that it reads like a parable.
Instead, it is a realistic picture OF
what one has seen many time. Az
ter a while the money goes as sud
denly as it came: This period serves
not spoiled-has not quite spoiled
the good stun of which these folks
are made. When they have been re-
duced to level that the reader finds
hard to accept, another turn In for
tunes Wneel SGT tneh D6Ck TO 8DOut
where they were in the beginning
thankful beyond measure. their hum
ger for wealth quite gone. and they,
themselves. restored to their original
simplicity and excellence Of life. This
is a good deal for an author to ac-
oomplish in one story. And while,
along the way. one 10 absorbed In the
lifelike nature Of every incident and
trait Of character, he does. at the
end. feel that the hand Of Providence
was forced a bit-and yet II would
not have done at all to leave these
admirable people in the luroh. Read
ers would have raised an immediate
protest over such careless manage
ment as that. And for character and
vivid picture this stands along. be-
side the serious and finished work Of
the author Of "Vivien'' and THE
Devils Garden"
PAINTED WINDOWS Studies IN Re.
likious Personalities. BY q Gen.
tleman with q Duster, author Of
mirrors of Downing Street." etc.
Illustrations by Emile Verpilleux.
New York: g. p. Putnam's Sons.
Having previously busted of both
English politics and society, this en-.
ergetio housekseper hero Aourishes
his feathers among the cobwebs Of
the church. He 1t ID. mind you, who
AnoYera. fhat ShA ek,rprh fa eAh.