Evening star., 1922-12-10
~ HE days have come around
when holiday books. dead
ripe. are falling from the

HE days have come around
when holiday books. dead
ripe. are falling from the
Christmas tree Of every book
house, with a sound that recalls the
din OF the millions Of dropping nuts,
a thunder of noise. which. far from
land in the South Seas where he was
cruising, led DIR. Traprock to the dis
covery of the now famous Filbert
Islands. There is no escaping this
general downfall of Christmas books.
But, then. nobody wants to get away
from them. since there Is no doubt at
all that-day by day. In every way.
they are getting better and better.
Just at this moment, with q gay
futter Of color and a sociable flirt
of leaf. a bunch Of them tumbled
down right in front of us. Nothing
10 do, save to see what is going on
here. puzzle the first thing. What
in the world is "Diggeldy DAM"
Something, certainly, to chase down.
So, here we go:
THE ADVENTURES OF DIGGELDY
DAN. By Edwin P. Norwood. H.
Illustrations by A. Conway Peyton.
Boston: Little. Brown & Co.
1t is man. as one suspected. An
animal has fun. Only a man has
adventures" But. luckily, this is a
very special sort of man. Just the
at one moment or another. longed to
be. For Diggeldy Dan is clown. all
dressed up in the queer clothes that
clowns have worn since ages and ages
ago. when it was discovered that the
world could not get along without
this very kind of fun-maker. The
adventures set down here are not a
part of Dams regular circusing. Il
turns out that away Off somewhere.
is a king of the clowns. Too-BoTan.
long time. And. one day. he sent
out this word: "On the day when Dig
geldy Dan has been a clown for a
hundred years and u day. as reward
for the great JOY that he has given
little children through all his merry
life, he will be granted the privilege
of releasing all animals from their
cages at every setting of the sun.
Now you know what the adventures
are. Every night in that little stretch
OF twilight. so fleeting. the cage doors
were opened. And out. into a little
broader space Of freedom. trooped the
monkeys and lions and tigers and
things" And the games they played!
Did You know that no better London
bridge" can be found than the noses
trunks of two elephants. touching?
1t is true. as you will see. Once. the
lion was ring-master. with Dan and
the tiger and a zebra dancing to the
crack of his whip, while the elephant
and the seal and the monkey made
music on drum and fiddle and horn.
The pictures show. beautifully, part
of these glorious games. This is
enough to hint at what Is waiting for
you in 1.-THE Adventures Of Nggeldy
~ -te1St -
spoil the book by telling you more.
Great adventures. though. and one
comes out Of them quite in love with
Diggeidy and all those free and play
ing animals. Mixed up with this love
Is an odd little feeling that makes you
don't watch out.
BLACKBOARD BCCCANEER. B.
Ralph r. Paine. Illustrations by
Frank E Schoonover. Phi!adel-
phia: The Penn Publishing Com
pany.
A few years after a hoy has had to
give up the notion of being clown. he
gets fired all over again with the pas
sion to be a pirate. But. this is a
stodgy world for boys. Every single
thing worth while has either gone out
of date or for some other reason. 1t Is
wholly out of reach. So. as last re-
sort. boy is compelled to settle down
the adventures after whose reality his
soul hungers and thirsts. And. right
here is f1rst-rate chance for him. For
this is a regular pirate story. with the
notorious Edward Teach. Blackboard.
In his infamous role of boldest and
wickedest buccaneer that ever sailed
the seas. Jack Cockerel. sailing from
Charles Town colony for school in Eng
land, will be counted lucky fellow by
the boys. For his ship fell into the
nf
crew. Such q to-do as there was!
Hand-to-hand fighting. Of course. And.
after any number Of near-death haz-
ards, there was Jacks escape. along
with another boy who had been made a
pirate against his will. (Something
they got away together and drifted. for
days. on a raft before bringing up on
the edge of a South Carolina swamp.
No, no. it has only just begun. For.
1ure of Blackboard. abetted. in valiant
and ingenious manner. by the two boys.
The story swings forward with snap
and vigor-about it an astonishing
manner Of being all quite true. Some
other time and where Ralph Paine was.
undoubtedly. a perfectly good pirate
himself.
PUPPY DOGS TALES. And Stories Of
Other Animal Friends. Selected
and edited by Frances Kent. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
AS a matter Of cold fact, a boy is
finally obliged to come out of his
dreams of being a clown or q pirate,
or both. and settle down, AS rule.
he does this by settling down with q
dog. A boy without a dog is un-
one Of natures few mistakes. Here
is a dog book to add to the boys