Evening star., 1927-10-25
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.

| The pedestal. either in actuality or
| in it's mental counterpart, is clearly
| humanizing device. Set upon 1t,
aloof and lifeless, Is form bearing
no relation whatever either to the
living man whom it purports to en-
| body or to any phase of the common
| needs of the common life around it.
That which the uplifted figure does
connote Is nothing more than the
| bigotry of history on the one hand
I and on the other the narroWnesS OF
| the general mind behind that history.
| Not until fame has been squeezed dry
of any genuine human content Is it
deemed fit for ideal and example;
deemed fit to stand in bronze or stone
| along the public ways in guidance of
| the generations to come.
Latterly some effort on the part of
writer's has been made to restore this
| famous man or that one to the full
| human heritage which he in his day
shared with us in our own time. In
the main, this gesture of rehabilitation
has proved futile and unfortunate. Of
| the plan itself there can be no just
condemnation. Certainly our great
| ones of the past stand In need of a
| reviving consideration. The failure
with both historian and novelist ap-
| pears to lie not in the plan, but in the
! specific purpose animating each Of
these. Each appears to have lost
himself in his immediate object, with
the result that a view as out of pro-
portion as these old views are is the
result. Particularly has the novelist
erred in this respect. Desiring to hu-
manize these lay figures of the past,
he has terminated them with faults
and foibles that outweigh the virtues
and the strength by way of which
these men so rightly came into their
high estate of heroes and patriots.
The result is, to be sure. weak and
sensational bits of one-sided and dis
| torted rumor and report.
| Paul Wilstach approaches this sub
ject from another path. His purpose
is ito know the fathers better, not to
know them worse" His effort is "to
know them off their pedestals, not to
take them off: to know them not in
the austerity of bronze and marble,
not merely aloft on granite bases, but
toned up, head rigidly tilted as If in a
photographer clamp, hand in bosom
or brandishing a sword, frozen in
pose. mute effigies without heart or
| blood-but as human beings in the
| actualities of life, unburdened by the
| problems of their public careers, un-
restrained by audience, relaxed and
unbuttoned in an occasional unguarded
| moment; an effort to listen and OBJ
! serve from point a little nearer the
elbow than the feet. certainly nearer
than the foot of their pedestals.
I'm general, statuary and public
| monuments, as well as most methods
| of history, run rather too much to
| pedestal and too little to personality,
and has thus made it somewhat diff
cult to get near to our patriots Of the
ancient regime"
| Under such admirable idea of guild
| ance Paul Wilstach takes us along
the intimate ways Of life belonging to
| certain Of our patriots-Washing
Franklin, Patrick Henry, Hamilton,
| John Adams, Jefferson, John Mar.
shall, James Madison.
Back of the author there Is plainly
full body of specific material to meet
| this purpose of getting acquainted.
| There Is manifest, besides, Wilstach' s
full seizure of time and place and cir.
| cumstances in the demands Of these
| upon the personality under considera-
| ton. The schoolman calls this the
| historic sense, and here this sense
| serves one after another of these
| famous men without in any degree
shutting off the more intimate aspects
| Of life. Around each Of these gather
| specific incident and daily happening
| In q measure that reveals the human
being touched by them. Alterations
Of work and leisure serve the good
purpose of revelation and identifica-
| ton. The whole Is a natural, bal
| anced Unlocking upon this man and
that one, series of studies whose ef
feet is to secure exactly what the
author set out to secure.
Last Saturday, you recall, was a
gem Of an October day-a quite ire
| sistible day. So, taking the Wilstach
book along. I walked over to the
United States Treasury and around to
the south side of it, where stands the
most friendly and companionable fig
ure on pedestal that the whole city
| of Washington holds-a young man
with the beauty and charm of youth
upon him-unusual this, since most
who reach such distinction are old
men or men in middle life. But Alex
| ander Hamilton is young, young and
| great at the same time-great patriot,
great financier, great statesman,
great in his human foibles, too. And
so we love him. There, in an air that
was all gold and amber and honey,
tried out on the figure of Alexander
| Hamilton the humanizing plan of Paul
| Wilstach. You try it, too, some one
of these surprising Autumn days in
| Washington. Your pay will be prompt
and munificent.
** X X
ANTHONY COMSTOCK. Heywood
Broun and Margaret Leech. Albert
& Charles Boni.
Certainly Anthony Comstock never
ton from the general public-atten-
tion that was pitched to the highest
and shrillest key of unqualified abuse
on the one hand or undilute praise on
| the other. Out from both brands of
| such excess there steps the story of
Comstock by two authors whose
| saving grace of humor has contrib.
uted to balanced, consistent, fair.
| minded study Of character who in
| himself possessed none of these re-.
| deeming qualities. Here is a full.
length picture of the man, one that
| goes back to Comstock's youth, to his
period of soldering in the Civil War.
to his later soldering against vice in
| a thousand forms. Indeed, pretty
| much the whole world had gone to
the devil. or was on it's way, to the
mind of this Zea1ot in the cause Of
purity. BY way of the facts of Com.
| stocks life, set out dispassionately
| here, one marvels at the power of this
man-not a learned man nor a wise
one, not man shaped by personality
and persuasion to win battles, vet
the doughtiest fighter for more than
40 years that has yet set his face and
fists against sin. One of the interest.
ing and suggestive aspects of Com
stockery Is that everything was sin.
Every man was a potential, If not an
active. rebel against the purity and
decencies of life.. Reading, one won.
ders what kind of mind was that
which saw evil in most of the activi.
ties OF existence. And what tre-
mendous egoist this book sets forth so
fairly and temperately! To set the
pattern Of behavior in all classes
among all men was to Anthony Com.