Evening star., 1924-07-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
PEOPLE YOU KNOW. Young Bos-

| IoU hNO". Young BDS-
well. Boni d. Liveright.
True. probably, that every one OF
US possesses the Boswell complex
True, certainly, that not one of us
| can, nowadays, find a DIR. johnson
upon whom to exercise it. That com
mon desire to draw close to the great
to the near great even, is not syco-
phancy, as the cynic so stoutly AYERS
Rather is it an instructive effort to
realize, though vicariously. our own
latent greatness. Those to whom
| fame has nodded. to whom success
has granted audience, objectify our
own unfulfilled dreams, our unat-
tanned hopes, the goal so far beyond
our own powers of personal achieve
ment. We are, therefore, simply
seeking ourselves as we crowd into
the warm and sunny zone where sue
cess stands in the person of actor or
writer or singer, of money king or
political wise man, of the champion
or leader along any line of endeavor
Here in Washington we pause, invol-
unfairly and all keen interest, to see
Mr.. Coolidge go by, or Senator Borah,
or Mary Roberts Rinehart, or Walter
Johnson. In this we are neither
crawling nor climbing. We are fly
ing. instead, out into the open places
where our own hidden powers become
personified and active through those
who have achieved.
X 81
In the eighteenth century, when
the original Boswell, James, went
down to London, he found there an
autocratic, clustering. vain man, no
longer young, but one withal whose
mind was of spiendor and influence
to make James Boswell count it
enough of glory merely to follow DR..
Johnson, to sit and stand before him,
to come and go at his beck and call,
provided only that he might be privi-
legged to set down the thoughts and
actions of the great man. The event
proved that Boswell was right, for
one of the lasting things in literature
came from his Photographic report of
the mind and moods and behaViorS of
the great DR.. Johnson.
Nowadays, when we go a Boswelling
1t takes a hundred modern men to
fill the girth of that one eighteenth
century man. The first move is to
collect our Johnsons. That is what
young Boswell did for the purposes
of people you know" From New
York and its neighborhood, where
the arts and the artful do mostly
congregate, he rounded up dozens of
hlm-of DR.. johnson. In general eff
iect, however. this is not an assem-
plase. Rather, a procession, a brisk
stepping one at that, out OF which
SWIFT close-ups appear and pass on.
each only an instant of contact-in-
diF1dual, fresh, interesting. 1t is, on
the whole, too hurried movement,
l., I'll
well efaces himself too completely.
Genius. no less than mediocrity. needs
managing. Hardly fair, though. to
hold up young Boswell for skimping
ana short-cutting when at the outset
ne promised only touch -and-go en-
seemed to him interesting. So tbey
are. So is he
X X X
Let's stand by to see the Johnsons.
or few of them, at least. pass be-
fore their Boswell. Here comes Will
nam Lyon Phelps with his dog Rufus
n. He is talking, casually, about a
famous chair of his. The real CEN
ter OF interest, though, is Rufus H.
And this recalls a time when he Iec-
tured in Washington. Upon the Mat
form kitten, very much at home.
was walking about. AS he passed it
Mr. Phelps scooped it up into his
arms saying, Even kittens come to
lectures in Washington" That is
like him, when he speaks. A natural
genial. learned and stimulating man.
When he writes the teacher comes
more to the front. And a teachers
INK Is bound to run a shade drab
ms next Johnson is Theodore Drei-
ser talking, not over buoyantly, of
the future of American literature
Whlle he lndustriously makes an ac-
Gordon -pleated contraption out of
his big handkerchief. The lady? That
is MrS Harry Payne Whitney. talk
ing of the spirit of the time express
ed in architecture, as the City of New
York expresses it. y beautiful and
inspiring city she declares it to be-
because it is the "outgrowth of a ne
cessity combined with the beauty of
new form" Much more beautiful
than Washington, SO this artist says.
Why? Because the buildings in
Washington are copies of old build
ings which are very beautiful in
them emselves-beautifu in their proper
do with the idea of an American
capital. A Greek temple turned into
an office building hasn't much sense"
The lady opposite is Mrs. Fiske,
speaking rapidly. vivaciously, ear
nestly: Some day women will wake
to the crime of dressing themselves
in furS and skins, as sayages once
had to do, dangling dead animals
around their throats. The unforgiv-
able thing is the act of cruelty to the
helpless. There isn't a human being
who would have the courage to face,
for FIVE minutes, such an experience
as trapped animal faces. Starva-
tion. pain, unspeakable fright, at
tack from other animals. fever, sick
ness, The human race is frankly in
nf and R11t
biithely we hand over the dumb ami
mails to torture, Think of a foxhunt.
A lot of healthy, cheerful, prosperous
people pursuing a poor, helpless lit
tie foX"'
They are going by in droyes now
these Johnsons. Too many to be
counted play-makers and actors,
painters and illustrators, dancers and
musicians, composers and performers,
architects and sculptors, novelists
and poets. There goes Robert w.
Cham bers, the prince of best sellers,
ho Is here revealed as authority on
forests, and American history and
cats, one who started out as painter
and illustrator. Here comes Edward
Box talking so fast about the Phila-
delphia Forum that one is able to
catch only word here and there
about the amazing success of this
enterprise in putting the best of
culture before all the people upon
terms within reach of all. At the
moment of passing he is stoutly de-
claring that people prefer the best,
that all the people like. the good in
music and pictures, and poetry and
fiction. and will take it every time
when it is placed within their reach.
Maybe so. He believes it at any rate
and is working ardently along the
line of that belief. That's Daniel
Chester French. and that one is Hugh
Walpole with Hilaire Belloc behind
him Dozens and dozens or them,
ali AT a moment of interest-just one
intimate touch and then forward to
give place to another one