Evening star., 1924-09-13
The Library Table
BY THE BOOkLOVER.

A safari. or camping-exploring
tour. through former German East
Africa is narrated by Francis Brett
Young in his novel, "Woodsmoke !"
with such dramatic intensity and
| such vividness of detail that. to the
unadventurous person, reading the
book is far more satisfying than
would be an actual exploration. Few
IL any of the possible discomforts S
and dangers on such a trip are omit
ted from the story. To be sure there
is no encounter with lions. but their
roads are heard in the bush around
the camp at night, and their spoors
are seen in sandy patches and open
grassy stretches crossed by the trail
of the travellers. Another missing
thrill is that not a snake appears.
unless one may be inferred from the
"plop' of some reptile" which falls
from a tree-bridge across a rushing
stream as Antrim and Mrs. Rawley
approach There is always, however,
the possibility of the presence Of
lions, hyenas, snakes and all the
other Inhabitants of the jungle. even
in the tents or grass-roofed bandas
where the three English people sleep,
too weary to be apprehensive, after
the long days trek. From a sleep of
exhaustion Mrs. Hawley awakens one
night to hear something stirring at
| the side of her stretcher bed. Her
sleepy mind leapt at the idea of some
savage visitor. a snake, or perhaps
a leopard. She lay paralyzed with
dread, unable to cry for help. Then
on the back of her hand she felt
something light, cold, smooth, like
the skin of a snake" But it is only
the mtoto, small black boy who has
of her -
voted servant.
| TIL. porters engaged through q
| corrupt and tricky German agent at
the coast, desert. first a few at time
and finally all those remaining in d
stampede, when they see the bush
| fires of the advancing Nasal, the no.
| mad warriors. who have long spears
| and drink blood" The patient don
keys are stung by the tsetse fly, de-
velop typanosoma and die. The
stencil of their bodies, before the
vultures make an end Of them, adds
to the miseries of the fever-stricken
trio who must remain for some days
in one camp. OF all the train of blac X
porters, gun-bearers. cook and sery-
ants who start out with the party,
| only the Zanzibar. Asmani, the head
man, is with them when they reach
the British border at Taveta. The
Zulu, Dingaan, Antrim's personal
servant would have been faithful
also, if Antrim had not put il out of
his power to be-but that concerns
the plot which is as intense as the
setting. An important part of it is
genuine African ghost which an
nounces its presence at = every morn
ing by a jungle atmosphere of heat
and suffocation and a faint, but ex-
traordinarily definite. SMELL
x x X x
The Leopold and Loeb trial has
| made very timely d series of three
articles on the cause and cure of
crime, by French Stother. in the July,
August and September numbers of
Worlds Work. Drawing on the expe-
rience of Chief Justice Harry Olson
of the Municipal Court of Chicago
and of DR.. William J. Hickson. direc-
| tor of the psychopathic laboratory of
the criminal division of that court,
Mr.. Stother reaches the conclusion
that crime is the necessary express
sion in action of the workings of a
defective brain. 1t is estimated that
SO per cent of all crimes are due to
heredity. The cure for crime. there
fore, consists in stopping the breed
ing of mental detectives. The remedy
farm colonies and to segregate them
from members of the opposite sex. An
interesting feature of these articles is
the discrimination between intellec-
tual sanity, which comes from defects
in the upper brain and emotional in
sanity caused by defects in the basal
ganglia of the brain. Mr.. Strother
reinforces his argument by summar-
izing the histories of several famous
e.
"Ishmael" and "Namm" families. The
substance of these articles has been
accessible in learned treatises: it is
a distinct service to make this infor-
nation available in popular maga-
zine articles. which will have wide
reading.
The question recently raised OF the
relative value to Washington of fine
old trees or blocks of new parking
spaces aroused many Washingtonians
to realization of their love for
the tree-lined avenues and streets
which help to make the National
Capital the most beautiful city in
the United States-perhaps in the
world The love of trees and the
feeling for their cosmic character is
expressed by Robert Herrick in his
novel. Waste" in the words of a
crotchety old professor of physics in
a New England college. Prof. Cross
love for his trees was tender and
glowing love for youth might be-
He is taking a favorite assistant
through the tiny forest on his New
Hampshire farm during a Summer
vacation, and says: II tell you
trees pay-they are so sure
and SO slow. ! feel that they are very
wise. They are like the mountains.
a long time here on the earth. and
little things like ourselves come and
go. but quietly they live on sucking
up moisture and food and drinking
in sunshine and rain, dropping their
waste stuff at their feet, looking
straight up into the heaven. It's only
lightning or some fool man with an
ak they have to fear. 1t is like that
with all cosmic forces, with the
eternal things that live on for years
and years, intent on their own func-
ton. And man must be like them
if he would have peace, steadiness, a s
much like them as circumstances and
his fellow men will let him be. He
must be eternal and resistlesS."
x x&
In the September number of
Worlds Work is begun what prom
ises to be an interesting series of ar
ticles entitled "The Truth About the
Newspapers" by Carl c. Dickey. In the
first article on independence of the
American Press" the author holds that
newspapers of today are really more
influential in the formation of sound
public opinion than ever before. With
the removal of political bias and
prejudice from the news and editorial
columns of the better American news
papers and the growth of great nom
partisan newspapers the people now
read all sides of public questions and
make up their own minds instead of
being fed on warped ready-made
opinions. The author gives as not
able examples of this better type of