Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-19

lrrelipion Of Kit Marlowe, though In
the light Of the present this poet n
revolt seems but "A mild thing. heinnus
as It waa i'm his own time And there
are weighed opinions about Dante and
CHANGER and the general spirit. the
true Significance. Of medievalism
There are many other themes brought
out most conpetently and authorita-
lively here. II I were a teacher ia
sit down first OF all with Barrett
Wendell--Teacher," the opening essay
Of the volume. Inspiration and
example there. for the teacher. The
book throughout is IA rich In sub.
stance as 1t Is fitting and tender In
purpose.
WHICH WAY. PARNASSUS? BY
Percy Marks. author of THE Plas.
tic Age" New York: Harcourt.
Brace a. 90.
COLLEGE education is nowadays.
like about everything else. in the
spotlight of condemnation. On the one
hand are those who condemn the en-.
tire institution. These are on the out
side, naturally On the other hand
are those who deny all the charges set
against the college and substitute
therefor long eulogIes in it's behalf
These are on the inside. Percy Marks
Is on the inside, too. since for 10 years
he has taught in schools of college
rank. But, oddly enough. this teacher
appears to be able to see both sides.
He agrees with both, up to a certain
point, and frCm that point disagrees
with both. Listen to one of his pre-
misses in the discussion here set out:
THE fact Is that not more than q
quarter of the undergraduates In our
American colleges have frstrate
minds, and not more than half of them
are capable of receiving any real in
tellectua1 benefit from a college educa-
ton. The other half simply are not
educable. What's more. my figures
are generous This statement, with
out doubt Fair one, gives a sample of
this mans courage. The students and
the teachers make the college, and in
respect to- the instructors he Is no
less Outspoken than he is with the
student body. To be sure, he passes
in observation and judgment upon fac
ulty and trustees and college presi.
dents and undergraduates and the rest
of the mechanics of the college, but his
stress is upon the students as such
and upon the teacher as such. There
is much that is good, much that is
bad, much that is pure performance
and nothing else, and to all of 1t he
gives the att antion that his intimate
service in the college warrants and
makes substantial. This critic draws
wonderful picture of few teachers
not many of them in the world
naming them in honor and affection.
TO all the rest he gives their fair due.
This is a very competent survey of
the situation. 1t is a broad attitude
toward the college, Machinery lust
meant to give thy soul its bent" and
could anything be more beautiful than
that? And the whole helpful discus.
sion? No. the two sides will stand off
denying each other-in 1000 years,
maybe!
PREFACE TO A LIFE. BY IONA
Gale, author of Miss Lulu Bett. >"
etc. New York: d. Appleton & Co.
THE superficial layer of iona Gales
new novel presents the life of
the small Wisconsin town with which
this author is in such close touch
and which she portrays adroitly and
delicately. Here are the common peo-
pie chat have taken on certain shap.
ings in thought and attitude out Of
the prairie life of their. immediate en-
vironment Here are the villagers
whom we all know. just a shade differ
ent from those worked upon by the
contacts of the East or the Far West
And with these in their various occu-
pations Miss Gale constructs the
drama of average life-courting,
marrying, having children, raising the
family. dying now and then, and so
on-all as real and touching as are
our own affairs III the hamlet where
we live. But the underside Of this
story Is something different. some
thing really that cannot be reached in
any adequate manner, not even by
this capable and waywise author. The
center of this story is Bernard Mead
1t Is you or /, or any one, who lets
himself become entangled in the truth
that nothing is enough" No, moth.
1ng-not love. not business. not
friends, not public affairs. Nothing is
enough to satisfy those swift, fugi-
tive glimpses of something innmeas-
urably more. Nothing enough to paw
for the lost reaches out into feeting
intuitions of other personal powers
or other reckoning worlds. Committed
10 such thoughts. to such dreams. to
such outreachings the Bernard Mead
OF TINS situation steps out of HIS own
familiar mind into one that Is alien
TO his home and surroundins. alien to
the larger part of himself even. Not
convincing, of course not. II can't
De done because the life to which this
experience Is a preface" Is too far
over on the other side of what we
cal reality to make any satisfying, or