Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-15
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. VI.
THROUGH SOUTHERN
CHINA. Hayrye A, Franck. The

ASS At<' 1IlINSodIa y WV iAAA@A~-'
CHINA. Hayrye A, Franck. The
Century Co. tn NJ
Into the back door of China from
this side Of the world by way of the
Atlantic. Or, If you please. sailing the
Pacific, on the other hand, straight
up to it's front door. In either case
1t Is at present a matter of such ease
and speed as to rob the experience of
It's old glamour of strange adventure.
Instead the experiment now takes on
the plain colors of everyday business
circumstance. Soon also, without
doubt, travellers will take the Far
East by way Of the air. Not greatly
different, this, from taking the train
at Washington for Chicago or Boston
nowadays. And when that approach
ing day arrives the few remaining
Nagabonds and nomads that are now
rowing the far places will have DRIFT
ed off into the vague domain of hap
PLY remembered things. And the
Orient, like the rest of the world, Will
have become a turmoil Of tourists,
conceivable only as a bedlam of con-
fusion and WEAKNESS and torment.
There are ways of travelling in the
Far East and elsewhere, however,
that do not suffer gaping. jostling
crowds. Ways that do not lose the
lure Of a single companionship nor
the charm of room and leisure. For
instance, In respect to China, there is
the Harry Franck way. and the Frank
Carpenter route. and the Willard
Straight adventure, and, for Japan,
the Lafcadior Hearn trail There are
others. All of these offer the surpaSs-
ing chance to travel by book, in ease
Of body, in Il receiving mind, in
quletude for complete partaking and
enjoyment. Really. too much cannot
be said in praise of seeing the world
through print at the hands of way
wise and enthusiastic travellers.
n j; \ x
We've already footed more than one
trail through far and strange places
with Harry Franck. Therefore. "Rov-
ing Through Southern China" with him
Is no gamble. We know exactly as
To ways and means, what we are ex-
pected TO do. And that Is just to go
along whether the trail be easy or
hard, just to look, Just to listen-lest
we miss a point here or there. Harry
Franck is a simon-pure vagabond
Now, the heart of that word means
nothing more than to stroll or wander
But we, thrifty and Puritanic peo-
pie. assume that stroller is an idler,
and that to be idle is to be vicious
Another case, where d perfectly good
word has been perverted by prejudice
Harry Franck. a 100 per cent vaga-
bond, IS here given his certificate Of
good character, which he probabl
cares nothing for. since it is in this
role of vagabond that his value as a
traveller lies
To get ahead-F'ranck believes that
a country cannot be seen and sized
up from club window SO he gets
down among the people. He walks the
country to see them working in the
fields to see them in their homes. to
watch their customs that center so
fully upon the family and the forbears
And In the company of this guide who
| invariably stands aside to let the
country and its people reveal them.
serves as they are, We begin to feel
that we are getting acquainted with
the Chinese. That is, with the essen
ttal Chinese, rooted in beliefs and
practices that, centuries before we
were thought of, shaped and sustained
| mighty civilizations. Whether in some
remote province where tribal customs
stu prevail or in the denser centers
where contacts with the Western
world are changing the externals of
Chinese life, it is always this funda-
mental strain that Mr.. Franck seeks
as the point Of departure for any sort
OF understanding Of these Orientals.
| x x !:
With him we visit the great cities
| OF Southern China-Shanghai Canton,
Foochow. Here, still the author is on
| the trail of the Chinese in his essen
| tial character-even though he does
| make pictures Of these cities in the
superimposed colors of the Western
/ civilization that has so nearly cap
| tured and reshaped the native towns
| or the coast and the immediate in
terror. Each of these great cities
| stands out, clear, in it's individual
characteristic East and the West side
by side. Never real blend do these
two make, despite the efforts that are
obviously being made by the Chinese
themselves TO take on Western
methods of business and all that
which is called general progress.
A touch of politics in the south, at
| Canton and roundabout. ACCOMPANIED
by sketch Of the purpose and work
and character of the late Sun Yat-Sen
| opens out into a somewhat general
outlook upon the political confusion
that China now is. And this brings
| into view another high light that this
author throws, so often. upon the
pure numerical strength of China s
| native population. And. going along
here, we meet over and over again
the conjecture as to what native China
united and taught in the ways of the
| West-would mean, might mean, to the
! political texture of the whole world
itself.
Without stressing the matter great
| ly, these are the two themes that
Mr.. Franck touches many times-the
| many millions that there are of them.
However, this is no treatise upon any
single subject. Rather is it a pic
| turesque and highly interesting pan
Drama of Southern China at the hands
OF a very observing man who is deep
| ly absorbed in the outstanding char
acteriSticS and trends of one or an
other of the peoples Of the earth. A
great adventure this-foving through
Southern China with Harry Franck
X x X X
| TEMPLE BELLS AND SILVER
SAILS. Elizabeth c. Enders. D.
| Appleton & Co.
A book of delightful impressions
gathered by this writer In a leisurely
| going up and down and round about
in China. A distinctly human book
, whose author is clearly captivated by
a thousand and one sights relating to
daily life, or going back into the dim
past for an explanation of this Gus.
| tom or that one. AS little like a
| travel book as one can imagine. Yet
| 1t is a travel book, built upon the
authors moods and impulses as the
| foundation of each days recordings.
No real yedin-the-wool traveller bent
on making a book of pure informa-
ton, would spend hours in a court
| room listening to the cases against
this and that lawbreaker. Yet, where
| elSa could one e nd nlIt rannra--nat orl,r