The New York herald., 1922-07-30

Company.
LIN OR the most part in this story
II Mr.. Cobb is simply having
: the usual happy time with
himself and his friends that one ex-
poets of him as a skilled teller Of
tales, but behind the authentic,
! cheerful Cobbiness of it all he has
: a very seriously conceived thesis.
which may be labelled as carefully
thought out contribution to the dis
cussion Of that portentous affair.
the Problem of the American Negro.
Mr.. Cobb doesn't like to put it that
way. and, indeed, the point he wishes
ciently by indirection and suggestion
than it could be by bald argument.
And that point is the sterling worth
of the unspoiled negro; not merely
his loyalty and steadfastness in
friendship, but his native shrewd-
ness also. His hero, jefferson
Exodus Poindexter. colored; or just
Jeff, for short, or, in his Harlem
phase, "Col. ]. Exeter Pcindexter,
Esq" (the "Col." standing for
"colored'), himself states the thesis.
somewhat oratorically:
"They's some wife folkses witch
claims the run of black folks now
adays amt got no proper sense
OF gratitudes nor faithfulness.
neither. They claims at the new
issue Guild amt lax the ole timers
of the race wuz-'at they furgits
1avors an bre'ks pledges an some
Tunes bites the hand witch had fed
an fondled 'en1. Mebbe they is
rlSht-1 amt 'sputin' it in soma
cases. But / is sayin' they is one
shiny black niger jest rearin' to
prove the contrarywise SO fur as
he pussonally is concern. witch
I'm, says. him."
Most of the episodes of the story
are devoted to demonstrating that
this claim of Jeff's is thoroughly
valid. Viewed merely as a novel
upon a standardized form the story
Is somewhat thin. 1t is rather a
series of chapters. strung. soundly
enough, upon central thread that
holds them together but the real in
terest in the book entirely centers in
jeff, and in the display of his char
acter. The other people are little
more than background Not that the
spendthrift young man, Mr. Dallas
or the tinted adventures who
'vamps" him, or the slick Wall
Street rascal who is after his money
are any of them mere Law figures
Mr.. Cobb does not deal in wooden
Indians of fiction of any kind. All
these people are real enough, but are
slight. barely sketched in to give
jeff chance to show off his PAGES
And the action of the plot itself is
purely conventional. the rich young
man of vast inexperience who comes
| ~ 80" Atf II anu luis thieves
of one kind or another and is finally
rescued before it is quite too late.
jeff comes with Mr.. Dallas. as
valet and handy man. having been
loaned for the occasion by our old
friend, Judge Priest JEFF has never
been far from Paducah before, and
naturally he and New York find
each other surprising in many re-
spects. 1t won't do to spoil the fun
of any of the chapters dealing with
j. Jeff's encounters with the city, with
the colored confidence man and
other trouble makers. and later with
his full initiation into urban society
as it exists in the One Hundred and
Thirties of Harlem; the reader must
enjoy them for himself 1t must suf-
fee to say that though he is very
green JEFF is fully able to take care
of himself, from the very first
round. 1t makes an extremely inter-
esting picture OF the reactions Of an
unmitigated negro to the rather
artificial and unstable environment
of the city's colored colony.
Even before they reach town Jeff
meets an animal that is strange to
hA