Evening star., 1925-01-27
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
|. G.. nj.
RECOLLECTIONS OF A HAPPY LIFE.
Maurice Francis Egan. George III.
Doran Company

n Il
Maurice Francis Egan. George II.
Doran Company.
This title is an invitation that no one
is likely to decline. For it's accept
ance offers, from al least two points
of view, a rare experience. First,
that of coming upon one who under
the shadow of a short future is still
able to gather brightness out of his
past. The prospect of speedy eclipse
precludes, a rule, long thoughts
upon old periods of sunshine. Again,
the human, looking backward, is prone
to stress hardships rather than to
dwell upon easements. A natural
impulse, this, since somewhere with
in every man there is hero hidden
away under the cowardices and re-
treats of daily existence. In a retro
spect, through the simple plan of for
getting the pleasures and remember
ing the pains, this hero, so long OBJ
scured, comes out into the partial
daylight of that which he has
yearned so to do and to be.
Maurice Francis Egan refuses to
have anything whatever to do with
either the one or the other of handi-
cap or expedient. Therein lies the
rarely stimulating quality of sharing
his experiences here. In the face Of
rapidly shortening future, he is no
more serene In the face of doom than
he Is seemingly unmindful of it's ap-
proach. And in respect to his own
past, the hero complex fails to divert
him from the joyous recognition of
life that is nine-tenths happiness.
Scholar, philosopher, author, critic,
diplomat-friend. He stands four
square to all the winds of disaster
and defeat. A fine adventure in life,
this-to go along with Maurice Egan,
the happy man.
A part of the rich Indian Summer
Joy of Mr.. Egan we shall never be
able 10 reach, no matter how much
we may strive toward IT. For not
all of us can set out on this adven-
ture Of happiness in the fecund birth
right of the Irishman. stepped in the
rare tradition and the romantic lore
OF Ireland. Nor have we all the
whimsical humor, nor the same
brand of sentiment, nor the signifi
cant exclusions, and equally i'm
portant inclusions, of the typical
blooded Irishman. These peculiar
essences we shall not seize, except
y
thoroughly. Since, however, they
serve the purposes Of atmosphere
rather than of substance, we need not
forego the delight Of the one while
gathering the stimulation Of the
other as we travel along in the COM
pany of this waywise man whose
extreme subtlety of mind and action
comes toward US in a bearing of
childlike innocence and simplicity.
Friendship and religion-a genius
! for the one and a reasoned passion
! for the other. These stand as the
blended handspring of impulse in the
! life Of Maurice Francis Egan. What
ever point in his career he is bring
| ing out by way of this enterprise
or that preoccupation, these two ele-
ments emerge without effort on the
authors part, without his conscious
ness even. as reason and explanation
Of attitude and effort.
Philadelphia, New York, Washing
| ton, Copenhagen-these the chief
| centers around which the recollec-
| tions gather. These the soil out of
which one is able to trace the yearly
growth Of a career-one of the most
| deeply interesting aspects of the
whole adventure. One fingers longest
here over the years in Washington.
over the earlier days when young
| Egan was student at Georgetown
College, dipping in hours of leisure
into the social life of the Capital
| playing the role that agreeable young
| men have been playing ever since in
| the perennially man-scarce domain of
polite society. Here he pictures the
city in President Grants administra-
! ton, with Miss Nellie Grant a quite
advanced" young woman-forerun-
| ner. no doubt, of the emancipated de-
| butante of the moment. This picture
| of Washington is a huge canvas por-
| traying everybody worth while" in
| politics, diplomacy, letters, society.
! Hundreds of anecdotes bring one and
another of the notables to the fore
all men and women about whom there
| is tremendous and an acutely sur
viving curiosity. 1t is, however, in
| the administration of Theodore
| Roosevelt that Mr.. Egan takes the
most unqualified delight. Under his
/ skillful and genial touch dozens of
! characteristic sketches of Roosevelt
! himself appear. An enormous amount
| of walking and talking, adventures
wherein foreign policies and domestic
| plans, literature and sports, general
| views and personal ideas get a tre-
| mendous airing and a vigorous sun
| ming at the hands of this indefatig-
| able American. Here Is a good one,
a good Roosevelt story:
| 1T was early in June, 1907, a week
] or two after I had received my COM
| mission as Minister to Denmark. 1
was on my way up Connecticut
| avenue under threatening clouds,
hurrying home to dress and say good
! bye at the railway station to Senator
! aF
storms so common in the Summer
was brewing. Suddenly 1 saw Presi-
dent Roosevelt swinging along the al
! most deserted street. And Just as he
greeted me a deluge fell from the
heavens"
Lovely weather. he said, let's
| take a walki"
II turned back.
" Tn on my way to the dentist
| downtown, he said. Wen have plen-
ty of time for a good hike
1T seemed to me as If the very
center of all the rainstorms Of the
| season had opened; but nothing soak
ed his enthusiasm. He walked and
! talked, swinging his stick and ex-
planning to me the atrocities of which
nature takers were capable. 1 paid
a rather divided attention. The cold
water trickling down between my
skin and the collar of my coat para
iyzed my understanding. The streets
| were almost deserted, but a solitary
cab with a drenched driver and de-
ing-looking horse came toward
us at slow trot
president Roosevelt said: I'm
afraid I can't make you understand
what 1 mean about the way a wolf
ought to be stabbed. Stop! he yelled
out to the cab driver. The man, awak-
irrr ofv- Nd ,-h
| flattered, drew up his horse. Mr..
| RnnSaVelt haOan "a q m