Evening star., 1927-05-31
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
!. G.. N.


A little over two years ago there
stepped out upon the highway OF gen
oral attention n striking startling fig
ure. Here stood n living hero OF the
World War. Beside him. rather with
in him. stood also man Of roma nee
ana mystery, the romance SO high and
the mystery so deep as to clothc this
modern youth In the garments OF leg
end Itself, into whose making as a
| rule mnny iiiusiVe centuries must CO.
4 strnnge twoin-one. to be sure.
/ Through yague rumora. a n1yth'man
in actual warfare. dynamic reality
| Lowell Thomas in his absorbing
story, with Lawrence in Arabia
first brought Col. r. II. Lawrence
| out into an atmosphere OF widespread
curiosity and subsequently into won
der and admiration. BY way of his
| book the coIn.aonalty Of readers first
| heard of this young man-still in his
early 20s--Who became valiant and
successful crusader In the political
cause of the Arabs of the desert. 1t
was he who made such effective use
of the hatred and discomfort of the
Arabs under Turkish domination. lie
organized this bitterness and mobiliZed
| it and inspired it until it became in
substance an army Of active revolt.
And. as It turned out, this army
! served efficiently the cause of the al.
| lies IN the Great War.
Here from his own hand is Law
| rencc's personal story of that desert
roundup of embittered sentiment into
an actual army of men and battles
and ultimate success. TO be sure. the
| war ways of this army were in the
main those Of guerrilla pattern--a
| pattern often suddenly broken up from
within by dangerous jealousies of
naughty chiefs and rival tribes. A
| situation. this. requiring genius along
many lines of placating subtlety In
order to hold intact common purpose
and a united front of determined and
effective rebellion.
| The story begins. so to speak, In
| the middle of things: I'VE anchored
at Jeddah's outer harbor on a mid
day in October, 1914" From this
abrupt outsetting there follows an
| almost day-by-day record of events,
so simply put as, for the moment.
to seem bare and hard. But in no
time at all the account changes from
words to things and we go along I'm
| tIl dttudt PAL ldhlIS VI citu
dangers and Civilizations that are no
part Of any present within our knowl-
edge. within our imagination even.
Frightened but fascinated. we resist
| the desert, terrible menace of man
and beast, and are braced by that re-
| sistance We cross the path of fiat
rooted little villages, parasites upon
the monstrous miles of sand that
yield no grain of sustenance. We try
| our tongues, i'll futility, upon their
| odd-sOunding names-Br ell Sheikh,
Nakhl Mabarak. kalaat ell Muadh-
dham--as out from these settlements
come fresh problems and difficulties,
| fresh recruits of motley equipment
for action. Through all there is on
| the part of the astounding young
| leader the unconquerable will to win.
Daring, ingenuity. dauntlessness i'll
the face of every problem and i'm
passe and threat OF failure. And,
withal. an endless patience with
| ignorance, disaffection, fanatical
hatreds. superstition. undiscipline.
Smoothly and soberly he recites the
great adventure. We alone are the
| excited ones. we and the unruly Arabs.
Out of the turmoil, the vicissitudes.
the swift changes in this desert war
| of revolt we, at last, are sitting by
while Lawrence. victorious, turns to.
ward the need of settling life for these
people to the ways Of peace-food re.
| lief police control, sanitation. fire
companies. water supp!y-just the
| humdrum business of civic housekeep'
| ing. A pleasant reminiscent smile,
possibly tinged family with pride.
goes with his parting words: when l
| left Damascus the Syrians had their
de facto government, which endured
nit a.
in an occupied country wasted by war
and against the will of important ele.
ments among the allies"
The story of that splendid crusade
had hard time of it. Written out
by Col. Lawrence-400 900 wOrds--it
was lost by him. Written the sec.
ond time from memory. eight copies
of it were printed on newspaper
press in Oxford. Three of these
copies were destroyed. Whitfield down
to five by this overmodest author, 1t
is no wonder that these took on
value approaching the fabulous. In.
deed. but yesterday an echo from the
amen Corner" brings an allusion to
a $3.50, 900 copy of Revolt in the Des-
ert.' True? 1t may be. A Jealous
collector has q sense of values that
lies far beyond any ordinary reck-
oning. The meat of this point, how
ever. is that the story is now in a
form available to every one. And
what story it is.
Yet, after all, it is Lawrence him.
self in his own person and personality
that works the spell with us. How
did the boy get that way? What
finally made the quiet student over
into Il CRUSADER? He seemed content
enough as a scholar, digging knowl-
edge out from hidden sources in peace
and quietude. His prime interest,
rchaeology. took him into the East,
there TO turn up ancient matters from
the deep soil and rocks lying along
side the Euphrates. A slightly eccen.
trio scientist, who, the sharp-eyed no.
ticed, had a way with him in dealing
with the Arab workmen. He knew
them well. for he had been there be-
fore. Once, when an undergraduate
at oxford. he undertook. alone and in
native dress, an expedition among the
tribes back of Syria. An odd fellow
this, going out into the East to
gather material for his thesis on the
military history of the Crusades. 1t
turned out later that he was of re.
latiOnship, close or far in descent, to
a commander who fought over this
very field under Richard Occur de
Lion. Deeply interesting, that line of
information. To the imaginative the
statement takes OH profound signifi-
canoe, a bioogic significance that
throws forward into the blood of this
twentieth century youth crusading
ardor drawn from that long past,
working out on the veritable field of
the crusading onset in behalf of the
English form OF righteousness of that
crusading era. There in the East.
working in its historic soil, dealing
with it's people, seeing old visions
anew. dreaming old dreams again the
Crusader came to life again-just as
q few days ago another boy. this one
born securely inland. bred midway