Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-05
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
l. G.. NJ.


Company.
Biography is the heart of history.
At every broadly vital focus of circum-
stance, at every momentous turning
point, national or international, IL Is
man, individual man-acting ana re-
acting within events-that gives 10
history its only serviceable content.
History links great movements TO-
gether in long backgrounds OF cause
and effect. Biography vitalizes these
with human motive and achievement.
Biography is personal, warm, init
mate, alive. 1t interprets history by
way Of these qualities-by way OF
character expressing itself In love OIL
country, in public service or dlsserV-
ice. The chronicle Of greatly IN
f1uential life, like chemical reactloH'
precipitates the essentials or history,
allowing the non-essentials to hoat
away upon the surface IN broken pup-
bles Of inconsequence.
* X X
The biography of Edward Everett
revives through this personal medium
one of the crucial points in the history
OF the United States, the greatest
point beyond that which declared the
colonies independent of Great Brltaln.
This period marks the certain APP
proach of Secession with its equaiiy
certain sequence Of Civil War Inc
biography revives also the zenith of
that imported New England culture.
classic In quality, that embodied ltset
in scholars and poets and phlloso-
piers. in social theorists and expert
mentors, in austere advocates or hlgn
thinking and plain living. In large
part, therefore, the importance OF TINS
individual! study lies in its genera
coincidence with the political Crisis
upon which this country was so rapid
ly advancing. In smaller part It's
interest rests upon it's identification
with a vanishing phase of classic
learning and culture.
!:
A scholar and an orator-when ora
tory was in its prime as a valued asset
of manship-Repres sc NATIVE III
the Congress Of the United States, Am
bassador to the Court of st. James,
president of Harvard, Governor OF
| Massachusetts, United States Senator
such is the scope of Edward Ever
ett's public service, such the high
points in this distinguished career.
In so far a it is possible, Mr.. Froth-
ingham makes use here of original
material. There is not much of this,
not much for a man of such many
sided service. However, letters-for-
NAL and official on the one hand, in
formal and intimate on the other
speeches in Congress, OrauonS upon
occasions of moment, addresses to in
situations of learning and to bodies of
political thought-theSe provide a fair
amount of direct contact with Edward
Everett. adding wildly to the study as
d whole. From these personal COM
lmunications emerge important pictures
Of a oft n nj a
tional apprehension. Many d picture
of foreign life also both from the view
point of the official representing his
country abroad and from that of the
traveller as well.
Beyond the immediacy of such direct
contact there is spread out here the
! line of national interests in which Ed
ward Everett took so conspicuous and
able a part. This the period when the
safeguarding policy of the Conserva-
tive was being stormed by the open
! door demand OF the radical. This the
time when the spirit of democracy was
stretching itself to larger inClusions
! than had hitherto been conceded it.
! The time when AdamS-withholdin
| by temperament and political theory
| was to make way for the Democratic
deluge of the Jackson administration.
A period of great bitterness. not desti-
| tant with political elimination and re
elimination. Such is the stage where
the political service of Mr.. Everett was
rendered.
But it takes the whole of any mans
life to make the man himself under
standable. So. here with Edward
Everett. one must count the years
when he was making himself into a
scholar with the seclusion necessary
! to that purpose. with the sensitiveness
that such seclusion breeds. with the
endless common exclusions that
absorption in study implies This web
| of early circumstance evokes the con-
sentative, such by instinct and train
| ing. 1t produces the political aristo-
! crat, the orator oE impassioned and
classic periods, the deeply sensitive
man much concerned over the effect of
| this or that which he has said or done
AN exclusive man, schooled by the
study instead of the street. In part
! by virtue of this equipment, in larger
part in spite of it. Edward Everett rem
dered valiant and distinguished serv-
! ice, whose record leaves any American
the richer for it's study.
One little story at the very end of his
| public career. The dedication of the
| battlefield of Gettysburg as a monu-
\
gagement. In a speech of great elo-
quence and power Edward Everett
| for two hours lifted occasion to the
| level of great history. Then. a gaunt
man arose and in a few short sen
fences gave out the golden words that
Will live, long as man lives-the i'm.
mortal Gettsburg speech Edward
Everett was the first man to recognize
this and to say it also to the great
man who gave utterance to that
| speech.
For more than one reason-for the
time and circumstance of the period
for the quality of the man himself
for the Geographic excellence of this
story in it's historic insight, it's human
sympathy, is dispassion, it's story dual.
| ity-this biography is certainly one
| of the most important, one of the most
| interesting that has come to hand in
many day or year.
| X x X
RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS r
| MARSHALL. The Bobbs Merrill Co.
| A later day than that of ceremonial
| gesture as a part of the ritual of poll
tics is represented by these recolIec
tons. once, not so long ago, a plain
man. true philosopher, genial
humorlst, became Vice President OF
the United States. In the course of
time. brought down from this high
| altitude by the tides of election day
| he in great joy sloughed off the desig.
nation and duties of his lofty political
estate to become again just the plain
| man, the good philosopher and the
genuine humorist. And one day these
| three-this one. in fact-went a.saiIing
down the stream of memory. And as
he went he talked to himself-so great