Evening star., 1925-07-19

~ Y way of In the Heart of
Hoosierland," Louis Ludlow
goes back into his own boy
- hood walking up and down
within this delectable. age,
lettering around it's corners and open
places, picking up reminiscent odds
and ends to show how things were
done out in Indiana when he was a
boy; to show, furthermore-and this
the real point of the matter-that the
true pioneer quality of the State mas
persisted from its settlement up to the
present, and that this is accountable
for the fine substance and the fair
promise of that particular Common
wealth. Mr.. Ludlow's story is merely
a chapter in the longer story of pio-
neer ideals and practices. 1t happens
10 be also the story of. his own boy
hood in an Indiana countryside-a
point of concrete evidence by way of
Illuminating local history. 1t is the
story of the log cabin and the found
ing of the home. 1t is picture of the
time when II was the fashion to spin
and weave and sew and knit; the day
when the farmer cleared his own land
and titled his own soil; the day of the
bee" when all the neighbors round
about came together for the huskings
and the parings and the shuclkings, for
every sort of work that called for
many hands: the day OF the log school
house, when, save for certain eX-
ternals, learning appears to have been
much what II is today--a good system
of lodging tasks and evading lessons
a day of open religion. with fewer
brands TO confuse the mind and dis
turb the spirit; the day of the home
wedding-no show, no tour, just bois-
ferrous charivari. and. according to
Samuel PeDyS. then TO bed ;"
A homely, humorous, tender story.
embracing every side of life in the
less-peopled parts of the Hoosier State
during the past 40 years or so; a pic
ture as well of the pioneer of the past
100 years and more in so far as his
attitude and spirit and activities have
contributed to American life; a story
of the man himself. Of the Common
wealth. of the country. An enthusi-
astic Hoosier. Louis Ludlow, who is
certain that Indiana is the hub of the
universe, to say nothing of its being
the seat of the Garden OF Eden, the
purlieus of Paradise. To be quite
definite about this, he names the exact
location of Paradise IS about so miles
south by east. of Indianapolis. A very
proper feeling-Just as you feel, for
instance, about Kalamazoo; just as
feel, for instance, about Weedsport
A word about the pictures. Look
at the one on page five. OF course. if
YOU have no interpreting nuclei
in other words. if you know nothing
about boots and the Office of a boot
iack-the picture will not mean so
much to you as it otherwise would do
The rest of them will. however. for
they fit the text just as pictures
should-like glove to the hand.
LAZARUS. By Henri Beraud. Trans.
lated by Eric Sutton. New York:
The Macmillan Company.
AZARUS" is the story of a man
who came to himself after 16
years of oblivion, his identity lost to
him through an accident. The story
opens with the cure of Jean Mourin
and his release from the hospital,
where he had for so long been con-
fined. In effect, the man is risen from
the dead, and the story engages itself
with his efforts to reunite himself with
a past that is 16 years behind him
one which to him is only yesterday or
the day before. There Is the return
to the old home and the search for
this old friend or that one-the home
fallen to neglect, the friends moved
away or dead. And so the weary
round continues to all points where
in the past Jean Mourin, musician,
contacts and inspiring associations.
BY a combination of circumstances,
not uncommon, so great a change has
been wrought in these 16 years that
nothing at all of the old life rises to
meet and welcome Jean Mourin.
And that's the story-that fruitless
quest. 1t is also the story of Jean
Mourin's mind under this routine of
unvarying disappointment and loss,
of failure to find any shred even of
the old life; no family of his own; no
friends; no profession; no hope; no
spirit. What do you suppose becomes
of the man, a sensitive artist, under
this set of conditions? No, he doesn't
make away with himself in some mo-
ment of deepest despair. Not that
Well what then? If you have gone
along with Jean Mourin in his jour-
neyings up and down a strange and
forgetting world. you will know what
he finally does, even without hearing
it from the author. For this is an
account that holds to perfect con-
sistency with the situation-this kind
of man in this kind of circumstance.
Not a pleasant story; better than that.
a true story; true in its logic and in
its inevitable sequence. Uncommon
in structure and writing, clear as crys
tai, these grouped words and phrases,
through which one sees the naked
soul of this risen Lazarus.
THE LION TAMER. BY Carroll E.
Robb. New York: Harper & Bros.
Doth the hero of the tale and the
~ author of the story start off with
A handicap-the one burdened with a
reputation which he does not deserve;
the other faced with the job of making
an acceptable character out of piece
of damaged human goods. Here is a
youth who by a fiuke or an accident
steps into the limelight as hero-as
a lion tamer," in fact. Something to
live up to. that sort of reputation.
And in no time at all a situation arises
that snuffs out the heroic in an hour.
But the author has this boy on his
hands and in front of him is a host
of readers who want to know what he
is going to do about it. Everybody
hates a coward. or says he does. That
everybody is himself really a coward
offers no easement to this author.
Rather does the fact of camouflage
make readers all the more intolerant
toward timidity of soul, just as it
makes the work of the author tre-
mendously difficult-difficult, but not
impossible, for an uncommonly good
story rises out of the initial handicap
a story of growth, slow, at times uD-
certain, persistent, and finally trium.
phant in a most unspectacular way,
in a way that is of piece with the
simple facts from which 1t sprung
plain, everyday facts. that cluster
around the central theme and rise
finally to a moment Of intense drama,
expressing itself in nothing more than
a little gesture and certain repeated
phrases, not much in themselves. but
irr1DnAnSe In their cumulative effect
Everybody will like the top story.