Evening star., 1924-03-30
Reviews of New Books

A HISTORY OF ICELAND. By knut
Cjerset, Ph. d.. author of HIS.
tory of the Norwegian People.
New York: The Macmillan Com
pany.
TO the ma jority Iceland il stir Il
no mans land. its sole product Il body
of myth and legend gathered up
under the oddly agreeable name oI
''Sa gas" To few, beyond TINS class
of restricted information, Iceland Is
Il new place to go to, where one may
see new ARRANGEMENTS and displays
of the wares that nature spreads 50
lavishly in even solitary places. Now
and then, besides, casual press par
agraph makes mention OF some lact
about this country of the far north
That's about the sum of Iceland to the
average. At Luther College, Iowa,
there is 4 Norsemau. knut CJerset-a
teacher. one takes it-certainly man
of learning. who, having already
written a history of the people OF
Norway, here presents history OF
Iceland as well. The last chapter ol
this book deals with the lcelander in
America. This chapter provides the
immediate point of contact between
the American reader and the story
itself. From this point one reaches
out in deep interest To know more
about the background of so sterling
a contribution to our citizenry. phe
authors point of purpose, however,
lies i'm the fact that Iceland, now an
independent sovereignty, drawn by
commerce and other interests into the
near neighborhood of nations, should
br a better known factor in world
affairs than il hitherto has been. me
history follows the usual plan OF his
toric account. Exploration, settle
ment. colonization, the imposition or
alien rule upon native stock, growth
by these outside contacts, the restless
native, the struggle for independence:
il is an old story, the road along
which all nations have come into be
ing. 1t is, nevertheless, an absorbing
story. In the first place, its substance,
it's content is of kindred human stun.
The aspirations of the people rise out
of distinct native achievement. At
this point there is an admirable pre-
sentiment. comprehensive and critical,
OF Icelandic literature. An equally
clear summary. besides, OF the deep
causes underlying the forms of Vari-
heavy. Histories are that way. 1t is
not heavy. Instead, through the gltt
of telling the whole matter the author
lifts the solid stuff of history into the
readily acceptable appeal or the
story.
WONDERS OF THE PAST: The Ro-
nance of Antiquity and Its Splen-
doris. Edited by j. y. Hammerton.
Illustrated. New York: q. i. Put
MANS Sons.
This is the second volume in the
group of four that Will finally make
available to the general reader a use
full and most interesting survey OF the
high points of enduring achievement
among ancient peoples. Uniform III
makeup and plan, these volumes as q
whole derive from many sources OF
recognized authority. This one, IN
common with the others, is also rich
in the number and quality of its illus
trationS. a feature essential 10 any
adequate conception of the subjects
of textuaI consideration. The themes
are in large part religious. IheE
would be. The ancients lived close to
their gods. Religion ordered the daily
routine of life as well IS the ceremo-
malls of Precipitation and worship.
Here are temples and shrineS-in In
dia Sicily. Egypt, ancient Mexico
their walls storied with the journey
of the soul to some celestial paradise.
Here are great CitieS-Babylon with
it's hanging gardens, ancient Perga-
mum. Ur of the Chaldees. Here are
monumentS-the pyramids of Egypt,
the pharos of Alexandria, the sphinx.
The marvels of the potter'S art are
given And master builders stand
forth here in splendid cities. the great
Chinese wall and the strange forts Of
Aran. This publication gives none OF
the effect of antiquarian research
Rather is il such research touched
by magic out of the implications OF
anything so dry as research must be
To meet it's own ends of unbiased fact.
and set before readers in the living
feature and significance of the an
cient days that produced these mar
wells of vanished civilization.
FENCELESS MEADOWS: Tales of the
Sea. BY Bill Adams. New York:
Frederick \. Stokes Company.
Reuben Peterson. jr.. in The Read
ing Lamp, has summed "FencelesS
Meadows and Bill Adams in so true
an estimate of the stories and in so
clear an affection for the author that
one quotes it here as good lntroduc-
ton to Bill Adams and the best of
invitations to read this book of salt
sea tales:
About Ell Adams (bless his good old hde)
Has written verse and stories side by side
OF clipper ships grim seas. the winds caress-
Salt water tales of haunting loyelneSs;
OF frozen death. mad seas and seas serene,
With roaring chanteys sandwiched in between;
A dainty sketch of boisterous sailor town
Where Ear Ring danced the crow haired beauty
down;
fantasy or two "a child's deUshp
O. Boatswain of the Rats and Twinkle Bright;
As fine and true and salty in their tone
AS those McFee has done, or David Bone.
Indeed. put About in front of Bill
Because I'll bet the name of Adams will
Except for Joseph Conrad at his best)
Perhaps not lead, but equal all the rest.
THE BOOK OF BLANCHE. BY Dor
othy Richardson. Boston: Little,
Brown &c Co.
Love is the preoccupation of every
novel-practically every novel. A
common method of development is for
an author to give himself all the han
dicap that the case can possibly be
made to stand, and out of this to
bring love triumphant. A very bald
statement, provocative of denial-but
true. nevertheless. Now and then
there comes to hand novel about
which one says at once. 1T can't be
done" not even by force. He says so
with this novel. 1t is a romance of
hospital growth. 1t can't be done.
Everything is against it. Love and
disease are mutually exclusive, the
one of the other. Even in fiction the
day is long gone since lovely sickly
ladies were tolerated. In life they
never were endured. Listen to this.
This is the romance of remarkable
young surgeon and a sick girl
Blanche. The sickness is of the hid
eous kind-cancer in the breast. That
is the material with which this auda-
ciouS writer sets out to write ro-
nance. And the incredible part of
the business is that she does it. That
out of this rather CHASTITY beginning
she develops a story that has about
| it the beauty of a fairy tale and the
believability of the most matter-of-
fact love experience that ever grew
up between two ordinary people
Nothing ordinary here. 1t is all up
in the air, where beauty floats un-