Evening star., 1926-04-11
REVIEWS OF SPRING BOOKS
The Constitution Of the United States and How 1t Gradually
Developed-A Volume About Roosevelt and the Old
Guard-The Newest Novels.

ne NEWEST 4NO\
tentions recreation of the PERSONAL
ties making up the ''old guard" set
off against Roosevelt himself.
X 4 4
HAVE FAITH IN CALVIN COOL
IDGE. BY Thomas j. Johnston.
Boston: The Christopher Publish
ing House.
A LONG period Of observation from
"A a special point Of view gives sub
stance and value to this little book
In spite of himself the Chief EXecu-
tive, any chief executive, becomes a
specimen under the glass of politician,
doctor, lawyer, merchant, pastor-oi
the entire citizenry, in fact. IN tnlS
case the observation Is taken from the
angle of the pastor whose training ana
preoccupation lead him toward q con
sideration Of the spiritual qualities of
Mr.. Coolidge. Under the treatment OF
Mr.. Johnston this spirituality takes
effect in honest intent, in fair dealing,
| in clear vision, in a sense of human
| values, in a clear political VISION IN
| fearlessness, in q devotion TO nara
| work, in fidelity to the issues at
hand-a spirituality that sums TO
genuine craftsmanship. An enthu-
siatsic observer, this writer, who,
catching fire from the subject. follows
the political career of Mr.. Coolidge In
words of eloquence that this or that or
the other occasion calls forth. The
book is, in effect, study or character,
whose material has been gathered
| from the sum of Calvin Coolidge S
service in the political life first of his
| native State and then in that or the
| country itself.
X x X x
THE HIGH FORFEIT. By Basil
King, author of The Happy
Isles" etc. New York: Harper
& Brothers.
ITO endure proverty is common
- place that necessity imposes upon
| the majority. But to embrace pow
erty is an act so rare as to have set
it's high examplar, St. Francis, In
niche Of lasting renown. TO turn
gladly from ease to hardship, from
| beauty toward ugliness. from con
genial pursuits toward hateful
drudgery, from the joys of the mind
| toward weariness of the body-these
are the steps of such abnegation. II
/ is upon this foundation that Basil
| King builds his latest novel. The sit
| uation is a. familiar one. Many a girl
| has turned away from a rich father s
| house to accept a husband with no
| house at all. But in no other situation
| is imagination so free and opulent as
| in the illusion of young love. There
| work looks like play. Want takes
| the guise of chaste simplicity. Self
| denial sports as wholesome restraint.
| So it is with these two.
Then comes the fact. Shut off com
pletely from the old home, the girl
promptly displays her own incOm-
| petence in the partnership so blithely
assumed. She grows resentful and
| unhappy. So does the young man.
In this stage of the development Basil
! Kings novel is as real as life itself
| is real. Irritation, humiliation, mu.
tual ill-will. ultimate dislike. Such is
| the progression, both in the novel and
| outside of it, Then there comes the
| separation. In the course of a short
time the girl inherits her share of the
| fathers wealth. In the course of
| time, too. there is the chance of
reconciliation. But the young hus-
band refuses positively and unalter-
ably to take back a rich wife. She
must come as she was before or not
at all. What does the girl do? Don t
forget, before deciding. that the hard
and hateful time together must have
wrought between these two a deal of
disenchantment. VIII the second
trial success. since the conditions of
| the first one have not materially al
| tered! If you were d. realist, as Ba sill
| King appears here to be, would you
| let the girl go back to her husba nd ?
| The answer will have something To
| do with the status of Basil King as
| realist on the one hand or as senti
mentalist and reformer on the other
* X ); X
THE GOLDEN BEAST. BY L. Phil
lips Oppenheim. Boston: Little
Brown & Co.
IN Kentucky it would have been g
family feud. the curse descending
| from father to son. 1t is that IL
effect. as it is. though this strang,
! and bitter story is laid in London anC
| involves a rich Jewish family. i
was the gamekeepers daughter wht
cursed old Israel, Baron Honerton
who. still clinging TO the Mosaic law
said the word that hung her fathel
for the accidental killing of ole
Israel's son. The story follows tn,
working out of this curse. Three o
Israels family, his son and tw,
| grandsons, mysteriously disappear
| This gives ground for an unravelins
| of the deep mystery that Oppenhein
so delights in creating. An insolubi'
puzzle, SO it seems. and so it con
tinues to be under the usual moves
of even the most astute Of detectives
The elaborate ceremonial of detection
| proves futile here. And, as matter o.
| fact, it is instinct, feeling, divination
that finally sets the right trail. as i
Oppenheim having exhausted the
modern sleuth so laboriously created
by him, or having wearied of it, ha:
| slipped over into the realm of the
occult for refreshment in the
method of discovering criminals.
love episode helps materially, no.
only in solving the puzzle at hand but
in wiping out the old curse com
pletely.
WE MUST MARCH. BY Honore
Willsie Morrow, author of THE
Enchanted Canyon" etc. New
York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
OREGON is a picturesque point in
" the history of the United States
| Long and bitter disputes gathered
about it's possession. Discussions oi
the merits of our claims for this re
| gion ran high in the Congress and
united against British demands the
factions that hitherto had disagreed
over the desirability of including Ore
gon within the common domain. Mrs
| Morrow has built n historical move
.pon the theme of the winning o:
Oregon. A story of heroic pioneering
at the center of which stands the
| great figure Of Narcissa Whitman
young wife Of a medical missionary to
! that region.
J The author creates a clear picture
{ Of the trail across what is now Idaho
and Montana and Wyoming, stripping
off the civilization of the present, to