Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23


petent manner, is another story of JO-
anna Golden. living now on another
farm and bringing up the little Mar
tin whom she had named for the
vague but very real lover of her
youth; FOR the real lover Of her life,
in fact. But here to the farm comes
man questing Joanna. A fine man,
too. Doesn't cut as much of a figure
as the regulation hero of romance is
wont to do. but he bulks big in his
way of looking at life; in his fine
and kindly handling of the fears of
Joanna; in his sincere friendliness to
the little Martin. And. oh, life is life!
And Joanna is lonely, even with faint
memories of a wonderful Martin away
back in her girlhood, Joanna is lonely.
And little Martin needs a man. The
farm needs man. Joanna needs this
big neighbor-and so the tender story.
so full of life and is questions and
needs. comes to an end in the quiet
power of Sheila Kaye-Smith when she
is seeing life, nearby and close to her
discerning heart There are other
stories here, all of the same brand,
but this is the one that tells what we
wanted to know about Joanna God
den after she left Ansdore Farm, be-
cause good women looked upon her
without sympathy and with contempt.
4 X
A MAN COULD STAND UP. BY
Ford MADDOX Ford. author of mo
More Parades,' etc. New York:
Albert Charles Boni.
THE bright green paper cover of
this book is filled-front, back
and inside-with press tributes to the
genius of Ford MADDOX Ford. The most
perceptive of writer's is this one, the
most dramatic in projection, too. And
when It comes to mastery of the Eng
lish language words fail to express
even in small measure the supersense
of MADDOX Ford, or Ford MADDOX, to
the mere sound of word, to its ca
denced place among its fellows, to its
fitness for the idea behind It, 1t was
in the midst of such an outburst OF
critical approval that | took up IN
Man Could Stand Up" This is one
of three novels. it appears. which. as
a whole, are designed to gather up
certain vital aspects of English life as
il is shaping in recovery from the inn
mediate results of the World War.
Out of 20 pages or so /. in labor and
anguish over roundabout paths of APP
proach, came upon a girl at a teie-
phone where pieces of a SCATTERING
message are being delivered through
the thousand imperfections with
which the telephone is constitutionally
afflicted. Not one of the thousand is
missed here. But at last the purport
of the communication lis that some
one wants her-some man. The girl,
a school teacher, instead of racing off
after the man in want, appears to
hold a series of faculty meetings
herself and the head comprising the
faculty-for the sake Of disclosing
what is on her mind about the man,
as well as for discovering what is in
the mind of the head on the same
subject. Nobody on the outside gets
a thing from that meeting. That's as
far as I've gone. that's as far as I've
had time to go, and I've not the
slightest inkling of what lies under
these forward-a nd backing words, these
geeing and having words. Some time
on some long day of leisure-I've prom
Used myself to find out what this bril-
liant master of English is trying to
tell in his matchless projection of Eng
fish life by way of the novel. I'm
owning up to an ignorance and lack
of taste that should shame any one.
I am ashamed and I'm going to train
myself to the measure of making Ford
MADDOX Ford intelligibre to me. Be
sides l want to know about that
man" It's an intriguing subject
"A Man Could Stand Up''-if he
woodland I'd be glad to be on hand
when he does 1t. So-some day!
THE CUBICAL CITY. BY Janet
Flanner New York: G. p. Put
MANS Sons.
ONLY a cubic foot or SO of Man
~ haitian could be really seized and
apprehended by even the most dis
corning of students and the most SYM
pathetic of interpreters. But the
great city is a siren of enchantment,
one to whom writer's In growing num-
bers are delivering themselves. There
can hardly be too many of these. If
they are sincere and gifted and fit,
for it is a commonwealth of all hui
mainly, sumptuous pattern of life
in every one of it's fervid phases. So,
let the thousands of pictures come.
let the hundreds of tales pile up for
a partial understanding, at least, OF
this most fascinating center of
metropolitan life. Here is a first novel
by an ambitious and able young
woman who has the courage to tackle
her cubic foot of New York. A cor
ner of art and near-art is the one
selected by this writer for the ere.
alton of certain men and women that
are much alive to the circumstances
around them, so much alive, in fact,
as to be upon occasion, the makers of
situations as well as the actors within
them. way of her own charac-
terizes Miss Flanner as a woman of
Independent thinking, of pretty
straight seeing, of a good sense of
dramatic construction, of a really
human grip on the human So, here
Is q story of substance and charm,
one that will pay for the time put on
it-and this is saying great deal.
Read it, and then look for another.
even better than this one.
y r
YOUNG FOLK, OLD FOLK. BY
Constance Travers Sweatman. New
York: William Morrow & Co.
GET in st. Paul, this romance might
have had any other background
the world over. since II deals with |
the universal business of the young
folks OF the present hectic period |
However, the local surroundings have
the advantage of familiarity and that
of sincerity as well, Offering, too, a
welcome change from the overstressed
social landscape Of New York or Chi |
cago. The theme is one that calls
conspicuously for restraint and a
sense of story structure. 1t is the
Withholding hand that counts in a
matter so abundant in circumstance
and incident as is the whirl OF youth |
in this particular moment of time. |
And this author will garner good |
share OF praise for her reticencies, |
for her sense Of proportion. for her
skill with local bits at one point and |
another. The theme is already a bit |
overwritten, but, since it is para
mount matter, one OF vital significance |
as well. it is bound to furnish a sub. |