Evening star., 1925-03-15
aOSEPH PULITZER, HIS LIFE AND
LETTERS. By Don C. SeitZ. New
York: Simon & Schuster


York; Simon & Schuster.
"H HIS is the record Of a tempera-
ment as we'll as the story of a
life. 1t is the projection of a
II personality whose parallel lies
in some great natural force
a volcano in eruption the Zigzag of
the lightning, the sudden onrush of
liberated waterS-rather than in the
ordinary behaviors of man among the
affairs of men. Behind the record of
splendid deeds of philanthropy and
patriotism set down here there is the
story, too, of a man who showed him
self no mercy, who spent health and
life in herculean tasks, who drove
himself and drove others. The monu-
ments to Joseph Pulitzer are many
and substantial. One of these is the
building of great metropolitan
newspaper; another is the School of
Journalism established in New York
as a part of Columbia University; an
other is the institution of the Phil
harmonic Society of New York. In
Vulnerable other important ventures,
Centered chiefly in New York but ma
ttonal in their scope and implications,
attest to the greatness of this mans
vision. to the quality of his fiery zeal.
y story of moment and indubitably
one of great fascination; a story to
fire the heart of youth, even though
II be a story of the prodigal use,
even the waSteful use, of one mans
life. Behind the story of the man is
that of this land OF opportunity, for
it was as late as 1864 that "a 17-year-
old lad jumped off a ship sailing into
Boston harbor. To avoid red tape, he
swan ashore to the land on which he
had set his heart. Having heard the
magic name of Lincoln, he enlisted
Immediately in the Lincoln Cavalry
Regiment. The lad was Joseph Pulit-
gcr, just arrived from Hungary" And
the meteoric tale goes on to the
achievements of this immigrant lad
and to the vast sums that he in the
course of time bestowed upon one
and another enterprise of magnitude
and worth. In so far as this is posi-
bic, Don Seitz leaves the telling of
this r>naarKable story to Mr.. Pulitzer
himself. From this plan there
energies a personality so immediate
and striking as to render this biog-
raphy one of the few notable ones to
be found in American letters.
WHERE STRANGE GODS CALL. BY
Harry Hervey. author of Cara
vans By Night" etc. New York:
The Century Company.
1t will be a loss to lovers of travel
adventure if Harry Hervey does
finally listen to the words of wisdom
and does settle down to a respectable
life in some staid Western commu-
nifty. for there is no doubling the
depth of this young mans passion for
the Far East; no doubt, either, about
the individuality of his approach to
1t, nor about the sincerity and deli
cacy of his wooing. More than one
record of this lies in his reports of
this so beguilinE region. Not d travel
book at all-the one in hand-that is,
not a proper travel book, according
TO the standards set up for these.
Rather is it lettering along through
the Kingdom of Gathering shoes"
and in the land of the silken dragon"
and of the imperial yellow" There
is the sad and charming hour when in
Nagasaki Heryey walks with Lott in
"a certain cemetery on hill' looking
off upon the town-"the town of
Chrysantheme and Loti'-an idyl
over which this loiterer talks ten
derly to himself up in that certain
cemetery" And there is the melodic
lure of Zamboanga, a name of such
music and such visions that Hervey
must needs sail up toward the settle
ment and then away quickly, lest the
dream fade pitifully in the quality of
the reality. And away and down and
around to the country of Conrad in
q quest of the Conradian islands and
the many waters of Malay. oh, quite
charming and spontaneous and char
aeteristic of this Western man whose
soul and spirit must once have homed
in this region of his perfect delight.
What? Leave the Blue Road to be-
come a responsible member of So
ciety? Never! Why, "out there.
somewhere on a moonlit beach, there's
a ragged fiddler waiting, and were
going to be troubadours together; or
missionaries, if you prefer it. To the
heather? Yes, to the heathen-white,
yellow and brown-who don't see the
exquisite poetry of the Blue Road.
My doctrine? God forbid that [ should
preach any doctrine but the doctrine
of beauty" ''Angkor, Penang, Zanzi-
bar-towns whose names call to youth
like the notes of bugle." A beauti-
full personal outfaring of which we
are privileged to gather a bit here
and there.
THE THUNDERING HERD. BY Zane
Gray, author of THE Riders of
the Purple Sage" etc. New York:
Harper & Brothers.
You may, for this week only here
in Washington, either read THE
laundering Herd" or see it, as you
prefer. In either case you will find
it to be a typical Zane Grey tale of
the great West, big enough and
sweeping enough and significant
enough to carry along in its essence
more than a little of the grand man
ner of the epic. An eagle perched