Evening star., 1926-10-31
IDA GILBERT MYERS.
OF MANY THINGS. BY. Otto Kan
New York: Boni and Liverlgf

nave lOnS lett anu
- that every man who mas at
tained material success Should
look upon himself as an IN
yestment, so to speak, Whlcn
the community has made. In return
for the opportunities given TO MIN
for the financial results which tney
have brought, it Is up to him. TO yield
dividends in service and IN other
things of value to the community.
In proportion to whether, In thls
sense, he turns out good invest
ment or a bad investment, he merits
the commentator or the d1sapproval
of his fellow citizens"
Mr.. Kahns idea is an original one.
A provocative Interpretation or the
successful man as an investment
whose dividends should go back IN
public service to the community
offering him opportunity. do many
agree with him? However, clearly
Mr.. Kahn has been a successful man
who has returned fine dividends In
philanthropy, industry. art and pub
lie welfare generally. AS an invest
ment he is of the best, standing
high not only in this country. but
elsewhere. Therefore he Is qualified
to speak soundly upon many sub
iectS to which In an active life he
has given attention. This volume
is q body of personal reflections and
impressions by Mr.. Kahn on affairs
both domestic and international and
upon the arts as we'll. From he
standpoint of deep interest and in
born love Of art he talks about art
in this country, it's quality and
status and growth, it's value to the
people at large. He speaks, besides,
upon the subject Of the Metropolitan
Opera, of which he has been so en-
thusiastic and substantial a sup
porter. He has things to say about
the American stage and the Theater
Guild. Moving out from art and into
business, Mr.. Kahn makes a very
important study of Edward Henry
Hartman: The Last Figure of an
Epoch"-a study that every Ameri-
can, certainly every American youth,
could read with profit, with the
profit of stimulation and imagina-
ton. This one study could very well
stand by itself, a lesson to young
business men. There are other
themes in this clearly worthwhile,
book, issued by q man of wide ex-
perience in the business and philan-
thropic world, that it would do us
all good to read and to study. A
prime count for the book Is that it
deals with vital current matters pro-
jected by man who, from the midst
of them, talks plainly and fairly Of
their inside content and of their
outer manifestations. Better, in
finitely better than volumes from
some dead hand upon subjects that
have long since moved into the limbo
Of unused things.
II - r.
HER SONS WIFE. BY Dorothy Can
field, author of THE Brimming
Cup etc. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & Co.
nOROTHY CANFIELD is an ex-
- pert on family relations. She ap-
pears to have elected to put her OBJ
servaton and literary experience upon
this comprehensive theme. Keen
sight and insight, true Interpretation
and the art of making drama have,
together, served her and her readers
more than one good turn in this di-
rection. Her Sons Wife" is a re-
markable study of the family, express
ed here in three generations, with an
in-law thrown in. The really great
figure here is that of the mother of
this son-mother-in-law. besides, and
grandmother, too. A somewhat spoil
~. toOAit SAAo OlANb SCl tcAAiAS q WCoh 0oii
all out of an excess of zeal on the
part Of his mother to have him "a
good boy" The mother herself Is a
school teacher-so you know some
thing of the special pattern of this
good boy" Away at school, he sud-
denly gives out the startling news that
he Is married, is coming home with
his new wife. This is the key to the
situation-the mother thereafter has
two children on her hands, and, final
ly, another one, she herself bearing
teaching. AS the boy had been the
hope of her life, so in time the grand
daughter came to be. Well, this story
goes on, rather heart-breakingly, after
the pattern of real life. Time flies
with this mother. The other genera
tions around her find interests that
do not urgently include her. The son,
still a good boy, seems not greatly in
terested in anything. The little girl
is a pure joy-but the little girl gets
to be a big girl, keen to everything
around her. A fine child, getting ready
for college and then going to college
Another bond loosened in the aging
mothers usefulness to the younger
ones. And by and by the time comes
when the mother decides to go away
for little Of the ease that so far she
has never had. Her work is done.
Nobody needs her. But-there is the
sons wife, a bed-ridden woman-and
she needs her. Just like life, you see.
this story. Each generation is for it
self. And in this case only the clear
need of this sick woman held the 9TH
er brave woman to fresh grip on
herself and on a necessitous situation
beside her. A very literal story THAT
is based on a full seizure of one Of
the greatest and hardest facts of hU-
man eXistence-that of growing use.
less and being superseded by ths
lustier and more useful ones. A story
too, Of the courage that revitaliZes
age even under the call Of needy ones.
X X X X
THE MAN THEY HANGED. BY
Robert w. Chambers, author of