Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-10
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. M.

A book vacation Is in one respect
at least like the more conventional
sort of vacation. Having spent
certain time with the mountains. the
desert, the sea, or with all Of these
in turn, one comes finally to the sur
passing moment of turning toward
home again. And, indeed. coming
back is, after all, the very best of
the business Of going away. So. in
this delectable book vacation Of mine.
with many a far place and curious
circumstance and strange adventure
in my pack, there has been no more
enjoyable hour than this one IN
which I sit looking out upon home,
upon we'll known beloved things. IN
the company of a man whose famil-
| iarity with a friendly neighborhood
has bred only a deeper affection,
a keener sight, completer under
standing.
The particular meadows" upon
which we are looking lie in New Jer-
sey, along the banks of the Raritan.
| IL
| the early days used to live. In the
words of Denton, a chronicler of 1870.
| both sides of this river are adorned
with spacious meadows, enough to
maintain thousands of Cattel. the
Woodland is likewise very good for
corn, and stored with Wilde Beests
as Deer and Elks. and an innumer-
, able multitude of Fowl" Some of
this has passed away, but meadows
such as these might. however. lie
anywhere within the region Of which
New Jersey is a part in climate and
soil. For me they spread around the
| lovely lake country Of western New
York. The river has another name,
| to he sure. The nations that there
| used to hunt the wilde Beests" and
| one another, that there used to pla-
cate strange gods in wild ceremonials
| were the SenecaS, the CayugaS, the
| Onondagas, the Oneidas. For you
| there is still another stretch of field
| another river, another chapter OF
| local history. But in essentials
| these meadows are all one to us Of
| this general locality. Therefore, It
is in a real joy of homecoming that
we may sit beside this friend Of
familiar things in resurge of old
affections. in a glow of mellow men,
cries, and, to d certain degree, in the
excitement of q new revelation. Long
| acquaintance levels people and places
and events to a sameneSS that makes
| no call to fresh interest, and sets
up no stir in the imagination. 1t is
out of such monotony that this COM
| panion lifts the landscape into new
| beauty, and points to a hitherto un-
noted swarm of life urgent with the
zost of existence.
| 10 GnI,1 In lynns ~
| round changing from brown body to
green-grass raiment, and on to their
| Autumn weave Of rich patterns in
| golden rod and aster splaShed here
| and there with the brilliance of the
cardinal flower. Here before us the
| trees move out from the rapture OF
| Springtime to the glory Of Summer
| and on to gray Winter. when all the
long days through they lay traceries
| of surprising delicacy against the
sky. Here are a thousand forms of
! life - flying. swimming, crawling
which, under the watchful friendli-
| ness of this companion, display an
economy of existence. the fitting of
means to ends. that sets one to Won
dering about human Intelligence as
an exclusive possession of the human.
| A host Of familiar but hitherto I'M
| considered things swing into vision
here. A prompt resolution emerging
| from the experience Is that no longer
| will 1t do to go around with eyes shut
| to the astonishing immediate world of
/ affairs.
This outlook upon the Rar1tan VAL
lev is sourced in affection. 1t Is of
! fered to readers in beautiful sim
! plicity that links up other meadows
| and other rivers in their many forms
| of wild life with this one. about which
( this author has both talked and sung.
| For sometimes he lays aside a very
| poetic prose and breaks into song
| itself A man of scholarship, who has
| written much about art and other
| themes Of learning, here clearly thinks
it worth while to linger in the meadows
! Of the Raritan for refreshment. Ger
! tain it is that many a reader Will
| gather a new ZeSt for his own nome
fields out Of this familiar study of
the commonplace"
X X X X
J VIGNETTES OF THE SEA. Felix
| Rosenberg. Harcourt, Brace Co.
1t is now % years since this young
man took to the sea, making his first
voyage around Cape Horn. AS sailor
and officer he has followed this career.
Commander Of school ship, the New
| u,
ard book on navigation. These are,
so to speak. his credentials. They
may interest you. The point here,
| however, is that he is q story teller
who has a story to tell. Oh, thou
sand tales, instead of one, gathered
from the inexhaustible store Of the
sea itself! AS the title Of this book
| indicates, it is not the authors pur-
pose here to spin long yarn. Rather
F.; does he choose to flash before one
| innumerable swift pictures of the sea
| itself. of those who put their lives
into its conquest for the uses Of man,
| Of a single one of it's many moods
of some tense moment, Of some IA
NOUS ship of some great seaman
The pictures begin with Fog" and
end with Books of the Sea- There
are something like a hundred views
living in between. Each a clean-cut
piece Of economy in writing. Every
line on the job, not a superfluous
scratch Of the pencil anywhere in
the book. Here are snapshots OF
ships and captains and crews. Here
are shadows of storms and other
bedevilments Of the monstrous deep
Here are sea chests and mutinies and
superstitions OF sailors have a brief
hearing. From many and many a
point of approach does one here look
upon the sea through the eyes and
the expert hand Of this practiced sea-
man. Listen to him on THE Romance
Of the Sea-: 1.-The old sailor, lying
about the sea, larding it on for the
landsman whose appetite for this sort
of thing is simply indispensable. tells
half the truth. pairing away. or sliding
over the harsh things all deep-water
sailormen remember, the things thai
keep them mute in the glow OF grea,
glories and in the memory Of mighty
moments Men at sea once
lived like felons in a den, rotten with
scurvy, drawing their whack Of sailed
beef and pork, fished from greasy