The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-22
BOOKS I'm BRIEF
[xTHY do middle-ased spinster
. school teachers from Indiana

F" school teachers from Indiana
on their first and only trip
10 Europe forget in three days the
one-piece bathing suits OF the ladies'
at Deauvilie. while they win 70 into
Mysteries II they see; precisely the
same suit at Coney theE day they
land? 2. : a.,
Why are DR.. Wilbur r. Crafts
and II. L. Mencken the. only thor.
oushly happy people in America?
Are we gay people,. as the Euro
peans assert? II so., why don't we
snow IL at home? Why are there
no pretty girls in Europe except
those with the purests Missouri
accent? Are We 'Americanizins
Europe? II SO. what do they really
think OF us? Why il It, that only
when Americans are &,lured from
maternal apron strings do we really
find out what they think 7and can
do? Is there no tolerance IN Amer.
lea for the young idea1ist. the young
radical, with present moral and in.
tellectual standards? Is his only
refuge France? 3
These are but a few of the Ques-
tons Harold Stearns asks. = The au-
thor Of America and the Young In.
tellectual' Doran) writes large
question mark over much Of the
accepted things in American life and
attempts to answer them in q series
OF essays which make his book.
The dice Of thought are loaded
In America. loaded with optimism
and a philosophy Of progress. The
result is a stereotyped art and lit
erature Of cliches. Where can We
find the true intellectual? We can't
find him because he il too busy get
ting on the band wagon. It II an
anaemic age Of cowardice and ,prohi-
bition." Thus does Mr.. stearns fulmi.
nate against the messy bulwarks Of
our mental life. With q clear, ana
lytical mind he attacks the accepted.
SNUG doctrines of conventional in
tellectual order and shows US what
the new generation expects in the
way Of bearable social order.
Harold Stearns has done great
amount Of writing. His first job
was dramatic writer on the Boston
Evening Transcript before he enter
ed Harvard. His first regular Job
was with the Boston Herald and in
1912 he became a special writer for
the New York Evening sun. He
left shortly, however. and became q
dramatic writer on q magazine. In
June. 1914. Mr.. Stearns went abroad
to study labor conditions for certain
magazines and periodicals.E Illness
forced him to return to- America
and he became a member Of the staff
Of the New Republic. then editor Of
the Dial. His other books are lib
eralism in America COLLECTED
Essays" Ey,-
Perhaps the most amusing thing
that Mr.. Stearns includes In his own
life sketch is the fact that all sorts
Of legends have grown up about him
at Harvard. He says I" The Con-
fessions Of q Harvard Man." be-
cause of its frankness, coupled with
an episode in my sophomore year,
when I jumped out Of the window
to prove the law of gravitation and
did not get killed, has given rise to
legends that am a low creature.
None are true. I am a hard work.
ing journalist with stu enough i'm
agination left to be shocked at the
disappearance Of liberty in our
native land.
Mr.. stearns il the originator and
the editor Of a work entitled Civil
zation in America" shortly to be
published, which contains thirty
subversive essays upon the alleged
culture Of America ''
CLEvERLY written indeed. 10
Camilla Kenyon's Fortune at
Bandy's Flat" Bobbs-MerrilD. A
story Of mingled romance and ad-
venture. It Is replete with. thrills
which keep the reader going At
headlons pace in an endeavor to
find out what Ii going ultimately to
happen to Sally and tho stalwart
young civil engineer, and whether
the bad man IL going to get his.
CTUDHNTS Of Shakespeare win
b. interested In . little book Just
published by ID. p. Dutton q Co..
"Chaucer. the Rival Poet in Shake.
speare's sonnets." by Hubert Ord.
an English investigator OF Shake
speare's work. life and times. REQ
ognizing the great number and va
riety Of problems found in Shake
speare's "sonnets," he has. confined
himself to q study Of only two of
them, the drift or underlying idea
of many Of the poems and the iden.
x,x,, - Tho ssRival poet" referred IN