Evening star., 1924-11-23

ford. PHI. D., author Of present
Forces in Negro Progress" etc.
New York: George H. Doran Cos
-HE purpose and hope under
lying the study in hand is
to promote and to speed up
in this country the racial
adjustment between white
man and negro. Until this adjustment
becomes in large measure an accom-
plished fact both races suffer degree
of material loss and spiritual failure.
Here is opportunity for the United
States, the means already at hand, in
a common language for the two races.
a common religion, common means
Of daily subsistence. Neglect Of this
opportunity loses for this country a
very high achievement, and for the
world at large a tonic object lesson
calculated to promote human welfare
generally. The basis of any. adjust
ment between the two races must be-
first, a sympathy on the part of the
white man for the advance of the ne
gro The basis of sympathy must be,
clearly, an Intelligent understanding.
This is the point at which THE Negro
from Africa to America" offers Its
good services. For many of the Curl
Gus and strange traits of character
and attitude in the negro Of the pres
ancestral home of this race in Africa,
showing the life there and the racial
stamp set by environment, by tribal
relations by religious practices by
the small warfares that led to en-
slavement of the conquered. He
then projects the expansion of this
slavery through the rapacity Of the
white conquerors of civilization,
through the adventurous forays OF
out from Africa to many parts of the
world. From the West Indies it fin
ally reached the United States. where
it's rise and fall makes a very heart
rending story at the hands of this
historian. There is a chapter here of
the slave in the plantation life of the
South, a chapter whose prime con-
tent in this connection is the under
standing and real sympathy that in
innumerable cases fitted the master
Of those days to be the useful guide and
friend of these later days-a legacy
this, from father to son in the land
Of cotton. The story rises to its high
point with an account of the achieve
ment of the negro within the past
half century. An achievement that
elicits genuine amazement, one, too,
that commends the negro to the full
hearted, full-handed support and en-
couragement Of the white man. In
deed. this is no longer matter Of
choice, for the destiny of the negro
in America is already an in-woven
part of the destiny Of the country it
self. One finds in this book an au-
thoritative and comprehensive ac-
count pointed directly upon our
problem of racial adjustment,
problem simplified by its illuminating
picture of the far sources of the ne
gro, supplemented by a most hope
full picture of what he has already
accomplished. A book of knowledge
and book of vision besides. And in
between the knowledge and the
vision is the practical outlook of an
everyday attitude and action that
will finally change the vision to ac-
complished fact. Out of this new
visions will emerge and beckon.
A PILGRIMAGE. By Johan Bojer,
author of The Great Hunger"
etc. Translated from the Norwe-
gian by Jessie Muir. New York:
The Century Co.
Surely it is the zero hour with a girl
who finds herself possessed with a
fatherless baby on the one hand and
possessed on the other hand with the
indifference and scorn Of a world out of
must wrest food and clothing and shell
ter. Out of SO deep an hour the girl
nf this story gave her baby away-law-
fully and irrevocably. And she felt a
deep relief. Contrary to the moral
maAims going roundabout, the girl
prospered in her small way. And with
this material easement there came down
upon her the mental anguish Of her lost
baby. Such is the foundation of the
'Pilgrimage." The quest Of the mother
for her son, the effect Of this upon her
own life, its impingement upon the lives
of others-these are the simple and
natural effects that Johan Bojer traces
out of one human action. The story,
so tremendously significant, runs along
the plain ways of life. dealing with
hornely folks and their small affairs.
but this very simplicity serves only to
deepen the dramatic effect Of the whole
and to lay bare the clear psychological
truth of the story. No one, writing
lust now, approaches Johan Bojer in
depth Of theme coupled with simplicity
of portrayal.
THE RED RIDERS. By Thomas Nell
son Page, author of "Marse Chan"
etc. New York: Charles Scribner's s
Sons.
The "Red Riders" like the Western
vigilantes of the pioneer period and
the white night-riders Of the present,
is a self-constituted organization pur-
suing justice according to it's own
theories without regard to the recog-
nized law of the land. The turmoil
of South Carolina just at the close
of the Civil War provides the back
ground for this romance. The leader
of the band is young Sinkler Ashley,
too young to serve in the Confederate
army, but not too young to gatner
his young friends for the purpose OF
offsetting the claims of the carpet
baggers and the negroes excited and
inflamed by these unscrupulous agl-
tators. The story opens at the mo-
ment when Sherman, turning north
ward in his march to the sea, enters
the State of South Carolina. From
this point it moves forward upon the
impetuous urge of anger and resent
ment that this invasion Of the state
aroused in its citizens. This Is more
than q mere adventure. 1t is also q
picture of the South at the period OF
its greatest humiliation. More than
that. it is a picture colored by the
fngrained sentiments Of Southern
man, more permanently valuable as
true picture of Southern character
and outlook than as dfspass1onate
survey of historic event. 1t is rich
1vith the peculiar mellowness Of
THOMAS Nelson Page himself as we
know him through his earlier work.
The novel, almost completed at the
death of it's author, is here prougnt
to the readers hand through the gooo
service of Roosevelt Page. the brother
Of Thomas Nelson. AS adventure ro-
mantic and exciting. the story is
clearly one of vivid enects anu ueep-
ly impressive situations.
CHALK FACE. BY Waldo Frank,
author of "Salvos," etc. new