Evening star., 1926-06-20


A FEW thousand years from
" now when our present civiliza-
"A tion shall have moved out to
4 \ make way for its successors,
then eXcavators and archae-
ologists will unearth or will. make
surface discoveries here and there of
3 people that had made creditable
advance in great projects of engineer
ing and other mechanical inventions.
Much as we today stand in wonder be-
fore the Roman arena at Mines, or
the Pont du Gard, or the ramparts of
Avignon, or before many another
message of old Rome in southern
France and elsewhere, so will those
men in the days to come read the
record of our civilization IN the works
we have left behind.
1t is this Kind of reading, this sort
Of message that Fl. II. Powers here
offers to US out of the enduring art
Of Greece. Not as art alone does
he present this work Rightly in
terpreted there is no such thing as
art alone. Rather is it the life of the
people. the life of Greece, that stands
embodied in this art. That whole
civilization becomes the background
from which emerge these examples OF
that civilization as IL expressed itself
in one or another plastic form. 1t
is art as interpreter Of the life that
comes out of US here. A wonderful
civilization, by common consent that
Of ancient Greece. Out of it has
come an equally wonderful art, and
that is as 1t should be. 1t is from
this standpoint that the author moves
from one historic point TO another,
questing first the life of the country,
Ia H. ,,,.t
duced by that life. That the Greeks
painted the Parthenon is an interest
ing fact. Why they painted it goes
much deeper, giving to the fact the
great light OF motive and quality and
and life substance itself.
So, this highly endowed man of
art goes over the old historic roads
of Greece, drawing from these the
nature of the art, its contributing
causes in the natural and social and
political life of the people. The art
is the people, in truth, cast into
these enduring forms, from which the
whole world has drawn inspiration
and spiritual sustenance. A richly
pictured book as we'll as a richly con-
ceived and projected one.
THE GOD OF FUNDAMENTALISM:
And Other Studies. BY Horace
James Bridges, author of Our
Fellow Shakespeare" etc. Chicago:
Pascal Covici.
DESPITE the ominous sound OF
- this title, the book is not of a
controversial nature. Beside the
study named in the title there are
others. For instance. a centenary
vr~ik tr IYv a
reformation and the influence of
Erasmus, an examination of both Hill
aire Belloc and Ludwig Lewisohn on
the attitude of each toward the Jew
ish problem, and a purely literary
discussion Of Joseph Conrad. A wide
range. if not an ill-assorted selection.
If this latter implication be true, It
is of no importance. For these vari-
GUS themes come together here by
right Of the authors Individual char
acteristic independent thinking. Like
Our Fellow Shakespeare, this book
Is a challenge, first 10 thinking, then
TO independent thinking. 1t is, in
other words, a challenge to an inde-
pendent quest oftruth, to come out of
the endless rubber stamping, to aban-
don the never-ending use of ditto
marks, in order that the individual
brain may get just a bit Of exercise
now and then through its own proper
functioning. Such. it appears, Is the
chief literary usefulness Of Mr..
Bridges. The substance here is, Of
course, fine. 1t, however, is the
mental activity and the moral indie
pendence back of this substance that
give to his work its true dynamic
force.
TrNSEI. BY Charles Hanson Towne,
author Of "The Gay Ones" etc.
New York: D. Appleton Co.
THIS is the comedy OF the climber
Travel writer, essayist, poet and
novelist. Mr.. ToWne here turns his
gift toward the dramatiZation of
wealth struggling for the heights of
social recognition. Following the
common rule, 1t is a woman-the
mother of the household-who takes
The principal role in this strenuous
athletic drama of scaling the social
ramparts. The rest of the family
the father, a son and daughter
are Of good substance. with the old
fashioned failing of loving the wife
and mother. even though she be a.
plain fool Of worthless ambition. 1t is
his strain Of good sense and devotion
that puts under the surface Of the
futile business of breaking into So
ciety a thoroughly sound foundation
Of American life.
II is said shat American men are
foolish about their women. Mr.. Towne
appears to have accepted this opinion
as fact, for the story permits this
ambitious wife to pretty nearly ruin
he whole family before she is called
OF from her frenzy of pursuit. The
whole is pitched to the key Of comedy.
Yet, there is nothing of the farcial in
this projection. These are real men
and women. The husband and father
is a fine fellow that one takes beyond
the book itself, liking him for his
personality and character. The boy
and girl belong to the father more
than to the mother. Nevertheless,
these two come near to the edge
through the folly of their mother. In
the main this is a story of fact that
is offered by a smiling philosopher
who sees through the f1imsiness of
social ambitions. Always an engaging
writer, with whom in great joy we
"loafed down Long Island" and went
"ambling through Arcadia" Mr..
Towne here gives characteristic ac-
count Of his gift Of clear insight and
finely picturesque portrayal
X X +
FLIGHT TO THE HILLS. By
Charles Neville Buck, author of
THE Call of the Cumberlands,"
etc. New York: Doubleday, Page
Co.
THE Southern mountaineer, ma
rooned in the Seventeenth century,
is slowly moving out into contempor-
ary life. Teachers, preachers, social
workers, students of old English by
word Of mouth, painters. novelists and
revenue officers have at points pried
riffs in this curiously suspended and
barricaded civilization. The subject It.
self is one of exciting import. That this
co',ld happen, that in the midst OF
sweeping progress a section Of the
country could stand immune to its
advance is remarkable and inter