Evening star., 1925-02-17
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
l. C.. M.

WITH LAWRENCE IN ARABIA.
Lowell Thomas. The Century Co.
A tale, this one would have b~,n,
for Sheherazade to add to her Chou
sand nights and night" OF story
when, ten hundred years ago-or
more or less-this daughter OF srano
vizier sought to placate the fury OF
the Sultan. Shahriar upon his dis
covery of the faith1essness OF the
sultana. You all recall that story
such an old story, such q new one.
You remember the bright morning so
long ago when. the sun just GID
ing the eastern hilltops. the Sultan
Shahriar. at the head Of a gorgeous
cavalcade, swept out to the royal
hunting. prepared for him with In
finite pains and resource. You re-
member. too, that with Shahriar well
upon his way there stole softly into
the dewy garden rendezvous the sui
tana and her lover. Then, the pro-
and the fury of Shahriar, a fury that
swept only higher with the speedy
destruction of those wicked ones. A
thousand women should pay for the
monstrous sin of this one against
him-so the sultan swore in a mighty
oath. Each night he would wed one
Of the loveliest Of his subjects. The
a single step on his long road of re-
venge. 1t was then, so the story rur~.
that Sheherazade stepped so boldly
out In an open bid for the chances
Of that death chamber. A willy She
herazade who deep within her heart
knew the magic of her own story
telling, who knew besides, 1t is as
sumed, that a resolute and loquacious
woman can talk any man either to
1Aa do t-x~ .xox4
quiescence. Such, in the rough. is
the origin of those stories that for a
thousand years have enthralled the
hearts of listeners and readers.
And now, a full millennium away
from Sheherazade weaving the mir
acle OF forgetting and forgiving out
Of the wizardry Of more words fitly
chosen, there stands before US a new
Arabian knight whose deeds Of high
emprise must seem to Sheherazade-
wherever she may be-as parts raped
from her own store Of enchantment
- ~
A magic carpet. To be sure. What
else for an Arabian adventure such
as this one? And here we are Away
In far jerusalem. In a little street.
Christian street that leads to the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. No
more than lane, this street, through
which bright bands Of color weave
and blend and change in a rich rhythm
of chromatic ebb and flow. Jostling
one another here are Arab merchants
brilliant in gay turbans and gowns;
fierce desert nomads, their goatskin
| coats remindful Of the days Of Abra-
ham; baOoon-trousered Turks; Rus
sian Jews in corkscrew curls: Greek
priests in tall black hats and flowing
robes. Christian and Jew and Mo-
hammedan.
And who is this one passing by?
Who is this blond Bedouin. fair as a
waters of the Mediterranean? Over his
hair he wears kufleh, white silk gold
embroidered, Asld In place by cords OF
silver and I'D. His heavy black
robe covers a snow-white undergar-
ment held at the waist by a wide belt
Of gold brocade. Thrust within the
belt Is the curved sword of prince
of Mecca. Who Is this? A king? A
caliph in disguise stepped out from
And the magician standing by an
nounces, This Is Col. Lawrence, the
Uncrowned King OF Arabia"
And here Lowell Thomas tells US
the astounding story. The story of
the achievements of Thomas Edward
Lawrence, young Oxford graduate,
poet and archeologist. He the one
who. laying aside his poetry and his
search for old civilizations in the
Arabian desert, brought the nomadic
| tribes-scattered and disunited-into
a unified campaign of the World War
against tho Turks. who had so long
oppressed them. "A difficult and
splendid stroke of policy which cal
| iphs and statesmen and suftans had
been unable to accomplish through
centuries of effort" He united the
wandering tribes OF the. desert r"-
| stored the sacred place of Islam to
tho descendants of the Prophet, and
Allenby liberated Palestine, the Holy
Land of tho Jews and Christians;
Lawrence freed Arabia, the Holy
! Land Of millions of Mohammedans."
This man "one OF the most pictur-
esque Of modern times, a man who
will be blazoned on the romantic
pages Of history with Raleigh, Drake.
Give and Gordon"
Does this sound to you like an over
ardent champion? Like a man swept
away, and astray, in the flood Of ro-
nance let loose around him? Let US
remember, however-under such pos
sible suggestion-thatL Lowell Thomas
was eyewitness to many OF the ex-
ploits Of this young Eng1ishman; eye
witness also to the astounding per-
sonal influence of this youth OF
another race and faith over the Mos
lem tribes Of the desert. He spent
days and nights with Lawrence. He
made forays into the desert with him
upon one mission or another. He
watched the methods of achievement
In SO difficult q field, in q field So
well-nigh impossible in returns. He
accepted the whole sincerity
of Lawrence toward advancing the
nationalistic idea so slowly forming
among the desert Arabs, SO slowly
making headway against tho age-old
tribal exclusions and tribal warfare
of their whole racial existence.
And upon the whole Lowell Thomas
tells a plain story. That is. he tells
as plain a story as the tremendous
excitement of the actual facts in the
case would permit any live man to
tell. 1t is true that, now and then, he
does come to pause in a sort OF &C.
stasy over the sheer romantic drama
Of one or another guerrilla triumph
of Lawrence and his nomads over the
organized warfare of the German
schooled Turks. But, by and large.
this Is a no-stop story. Certainly
there are no delays for the mere
purposes of laudatfon and eulogy.
Like the orthodox biographer. Mr..
Thomas gives US a picture Of this
undersixe young Englishman at
home. and at school, turning, curl
ously toward ancient civilizations as
the mental pabulum of his student
years. A course that later sent him
into the East on a quest for those
old days of rich advancement and
ultimate obscurity. Then the war
came on, And from this point the