Evening star., 1925-05-24
IDA GILBERT MYERS.
BEYOND THE UTMOST PURPLE

MI IL. -FOW ELL y 'DeyOnd the Ut
A'A most" turns out to be Abyssinia.
Not much more, to the average, than
one Of the hard names of the old ge-
ography lessons, this Abyssinia-a
vague color-run on the map Of Africa,
conjuring up fearsome pictures Of saw
age black men who dined off one an.
other, smacking their lips. meanwhile,
for the savory taste OF some rare bit
of good white.man meat.
The adventure in hand changes all
this. Out of ii WEI come with a full
budget of fresh facts, surprising and
interesting facts whose only relation
to our original scant stock is that
Abyssinia still stands subdivision OF
Africa. Going along with Mr.. Powell
we find not negroes OF heathen rite
and practice, but a branch of the eau
casia1 race instead, rooted in the old
Hebraic system of laws and social Gus
tom, a people of the Christian faith
and acceptances. Guarded against
outer contacts not only by natural
barriers but by the racial instinct of
exclusion as well, here is a civilization
that moves us back into a clear paral-
lelism of that which historic MS desig-
nate as the dark ages. Here we do not
find the Caucasian race moving for
ward al the front Of progress as this
race elsewhere has moved. Instead,
here is a brood of Cauca sians so to
speak, marooned In this African fast
ness and held there, the static and
suspended example of a civilization
inspired by the court of Solomon, its
royal line claiming descent from the
Queen of Sheba herself. Strange ad-
ventures crowd one another. Pictur-
esque scenes register as fast as the eve
can adjust itself to the shifting pano-
rama. Curious ways of life suggest
the far origins of this offshoot of an
ancient stock. Passing episodes EN-.
broider upon this basic fabric rich and
exotic patterns of old. old years. Per
sonalities, in effect. straight out of
fable, play strange parts from a for
gotten past. Yet. all this is definitely
linked with the present. for Abyssinia
Is member of the League of Nations.
long jump for us-from Abyssinia
OF the early map lessons to Abyssinia
OF the League of Nations. A jump
not possible to make but for this in
tervening adventure in the company
of Alexander Powell A waywise trav-
eler, this one. who combines within
5imsef practical man of affairs, ad-
Eenturer, story-teller and poet AS the
man of business he looks ahead over
every crook and turn of the plain
matter of getting about from one
corner of the earth TO another AS the
adventurer he welcomes the unusual.
the sudden demand, the ready accep-
tance of change or even of danger.
AS a poet. his every day is bathed in
the glamour of imagination. AS story
teller. he weaVes the whole into tale
whose truth reads like a performance
by old Haroun himself, while at the
same time 1t is clearly and Individually
record of fact, a chronicle of per-
sonal experience Illuminated by his
tory and the play of imagination.
AbysSinia, Somaliland, kenya Colony
Zanzibar, the Comoros, Nadagascar-
all figure here and each with the good
treatment, if not possessed of the in
herent charm. of the first and greatest
of these-Abyssinia.
= x x
ALIAS BEN ALIBI. BY Irwin S.
Cobb, author of "Old Judge Priest"
etc. New York: George H. Doran
Company.
IRWIN COBB long ago passed from
the stage OF critical analysis into
that of general and happy accept
ance. To be sure. even now, some
regular grouser here or there declares
him to be quite too long drawn out
for the matter in hand-but such an
one is promptly overridden by con-
tempt and contumely. There is moth
ing left TO say about Irwin Cobb, but
it will take long talks to do justice to
Ben All Crisp come. finally to be city
editor of a New York, paper at the
moment when huge StreakS of yellow
struck the bulk of the American press
Ben Ali is about the most lovable and
engaging person that you will, come
upon in many a year of men and
books. A perfect man. or even near
perfect? 1t has already been stated
that he is city editor. A real one
bent heart aud soul to the business of
his papers success. Sitting back be-
hind the boys" sent out to get the
stuff, like some big and unwieldy fate
from whom a thousand feelers reach
certainly and insatiably off into the
city life for clues and trails that the
youngsters cannot scent. The story
of Ben Ali turns out to be series of
tales that are likely to make for deep
discoura cement to the usual writer of
crime detection. 1t is much more than
that besides, for it is a story of the
genius of the newspaper, of it's intent,
of the spirit behind it, of its difficult
ties made TO yield triumph and sue
cess, of its place in the community
This, all given in the days work of
Ben Ali. A story compound of gen.
uine interest and delight. Then-at
the last-lets not talk about that.
Tremendous at the close-and, maybe,
there was no other way-Ben Ali being
Ben Ali.
UNDER THE LEvEE. BY E. Earl
Sparkling. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.
PITS of human refuse, these-odd-
- ments of color and fabric shipped
off and tossed aside in the monstrously
wasteful business of man making.
Weatherbeaten beyond belief, these
odds and orts of humanity-these men
and women down on the waterfront
and in the red-light zone of old New
Orleans. French and "spic" and Gre
ole, Cajen and Mex and plain white
man. all milled about together in the
endless water-wash under the levee.
Here along with Earl Sparkling we
follow dark and narrow streets on the
trail of love and hate and revenge. the
three woven into a weird blend Of hui
man passions, We peer into low, dim
lit, ill.smelling rooms, where hard
handed men and frankly solicitous
women pursue the supreme business
of life. Then in sudden rush down to
the sinister waterfront upon some er
rand of special risk and secrecy.
A dozen short stories-literalY
bound hand and foot by network of
discriminatory legislation.
Political wisdom may be exercised
in two ways: "a By foresight; t2) by
'hindsight."