The Denver Jewish news., 1925-08-13
The Booklouer's Nook

by word which, alas has come to suggest dainty dreams
that burn and vanish leaving faint aura or the uttcr
OF wistul wings awhir in secluded garden Of the
spirit, where poets 30 in quest of moonnowers in the
goaming
Here is the book of the life of a man whose mystic
heritage has in it echo of desert soul desert
bred blood the son of people whose grand ideay has
gorlhed the race; man dealing at first hand with the
primal facts, forces and faiths Of life, every page Of his
book agow with the heightened perception the enlarge
ment OF vision, the exaaton of spirit to which give
many names, but whose real name is religion in its
larger deeper sense His faith is great affirmation of
the worth and joy of life, against the scy sentimental
ism and pcssimsms of the day His acceptance of life
is fierce the rebellion of other men, and as he tells
US his secret his style moves times with the m and
lift of lyric
In day when God has become for many, a formula,
legend great Perhaps and belief is little more
than refined doubt sublimaed into hesitant assump
uon-a vague of which helps men to miss the
absence Of conviction lessnot hopeless, but unhopefu
stammerng old phrases, unable to speak the great
Words and menaced always by the feeling futty and
the fatigue of despair such a book is tonic challenge
revelation Athrob with the joy of life athrl with its
WONDER aglow with its passion and prophecy it makes
the blood tngle and the heart beat faster.
1t is book of the outofdoors of the delicious stir
and fresh of softspoken spring mornings; of the
prodigl profuson of summer days, full of sap SCENT
sound and teeming with beauty; of quiet mut-colorcd
autumn evenings, when the blue haze wraps itself about
the hills as if to veil the tnts of mellow magnificent
DEATH There passages that fill one With wild, sad
JOY for which words were made, poet-tcachcr
celebrates sacrament in praise of the Eternal Beauty
He talks about trees about the fulness of life about
living past, about the eternity little finite
human heart about the presence whose farn rneghborl
ness feel in hours of drossdrained insight about the
light that never fails 1t reminds of the shining line
in the Emily Dickinson poem: "How hosptabe, then
the face of our old ncighbor God" 1t is a book by
Godhaunted man in world where adventure is better
than possession and seeking nobler than security.
The God that haunts the world the supreme reality
the first truth and the last-God innitesmay vast the
"beyond that is withn'-to know Him in intimate and
vivid fcllowshp to realize that, though He holds the
worlds in His hand, yet these quiverng souls within
are made in His image and arc precious in His sight
this the teacher tells is life indeed There is much
in appall and alright much in history to stag
ger and dismay, but know that the heart
vcled Father of men, unfathomaby tender, all the
world is Nature then goes forward to music Nor
is it always the battle chant which keep step In
its song are all things, finally to be into
eregn harmony-the shout of victory and the sob of de-
feat the tragedy and prophecy of history, but also the
ripple of the brook the stones, the of the
trees the laughter of little children and the thunder in
the hills.
Gesture and vesturc ethics and aesthetics are of lit
tie meaning without this lfe-airming faith, 'ths
grace of Godpassion, flooding the soul with its warmth
and radiance. 'This life of faith-an atmosphere an
illumination, haunting beauty that lies like bloom
the face of thingsis the highest most significant
achievement of the human spirit" So religion, so far
from limiting life, sanctes it, sets it free, shakes the
poison from all its wild flowers, and reveals God in the
arts and acts of every day. 1t is abstract thing it is
life itself "the life of God in the soul of man."
It is good to have such book of vision; it is
spiritual and literary event 1t rcbukes angud,
ow-vau.cd thought dim faith held mixed with fate
and fear If writes about it with enthusiasm, it is
o nj re az m md
work Of fine spiritual artist may easily be
looked and lost by many to whom it would be joy and
treasure, alike for its insight and its art equally for
teaching and its style Few books of years have
Copyright 1925 Seven Feature Syndicate.