Evening star., 1927-11-29
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. NJ.

A great story of a great career Out
of it Lyle Saxon, the author, is due
to draw an overtopping triumph OF
geographic Interpretation. What
subject the man has. And how COM
petently he steps out to meet it!
Born in an almost unimaginably
remote past through the travail of
earth itself, the giant of this por-
trayal has become the measuring line
of half continent Starting out from
the North, one of small brotherhood
it has increased in size and strength
/ and power till it moves. majestic and
| Irresistible. to meet it's destiny, the
! sea.
This saga of the Mississippi is not
history, not strictly speaking. 1t IL
too immediate for that. too deeply
personal in effect. Moreover. the
heart of history. centering as 1t does
upon the influence, leadership domind-
ton of the individual, or at most upon
a group of individuals. is in its
essence biography. Father Missis-
sippi' is clear biography. Pictured
here is the beginning and growth of
an actual personality, gathering slow
" to itself in epic sweep the lives and
fortunes of men-pioneer from the
Atlantic sea board; toward the South,
adventurer and explorer from France,
Spain, England; in the North. French
voyageur, trader, missionary. Making
ready for such full advent, Father
Mississippi built the land itself. har-
vesting all along its way soil from the
uplands to East and West Of it. laying
this down further along its route in a
broad continental expansion of fertil'
! ity and promise.
/ Partly by way of it's own moods and
bchaviors, partly through its rich and
| varied intercourse with all sorts ana
| conditions of men, the mighty river
| takes on in effect. the characteristic
of the man life beside it. 1t is through
such human approach that it is best
understood and appreciated. through
out the story Lyle Saxon holds to the
human traits and characteristics of
| the Father of Waters.
The story opens with mood OF the
great river. With a mood it closes
also. A world apart, however, are
| these two. The first turns a face,
happy and smiling. The second shows
a countenance distorted with fury ana
evil intent The one is bedded in the
authors recollection of his own child
hood on river plantation in Loulsl'
ana. The other projects this year
flood in the full savagery of its deVas-
tating course. destruction of which
| T..
which he gave personal service. be-
tween these two outstanding points
are set the waymarks Of discovery. eX'
nloration settlement and growth
along the Mississippi. In spirited anec.
dote and picture the life of this period
comes vividly out. The big river
single available line Of communica.
ton between settlements, is marked
by crude water craft. canoe and
nl.A +t1Rn or n
poses of barter in the necessities oil
life. for means of social relief in Il
lonely land for joining forces against
bands of Indians made hostile. In
large measure by the brutalItieS OF
earlier adventures and explorers. Al
this point SaXons story of DE soto
and his men finds appropriate place
Here. too. are noted the coloniZing
rivalries of France. Spain, England, a
competition taking effect in methods
that would give the booster of the
moment many a lesson in the great
modern game of professional promot'
ing. An amusing bit of farce steps to
the front here will the sending OF a
company of Indians to the court OF
| Louis XIV for the purpose of gather
ing in settlers by way of this comic
opera method of advertising some of
the lure of the New World.
The book is compact of vivid pic
ture. easy anecdote. dramatic moments
with their immediate issues. Yet, 1t
is solid stuff. whose substance is drawn
from the records of State historical
societies, from memoirs. from old let
ters. from court records and Gocu-
ments, from archives of many sorts.
1t is, however, the happy combination
of author and theme. the inspired un-
ion of artist and material. that de-
ivers Father Mississippi" over to
readers. not only in the facts of its
great career-facts so plvotai In the
early history of the United States and
so significant for both the present
and the future of this cOuntry-but
that delivers the Father of Waters as
we'll as a great personality of tre-
mendous vitality who has played a
leading role in the affairs of the Ma.
tion-a vital. picturesque. dramatic
force in the life of the pioneer. shap'
ing him to it's moods and it's will.
And now, so the writer makes clear. it
is time to turn about upon this auto
cratic Father Mississippi, time to i'm
pose the will of a great people upon
a force that can become lawless and
ruthless in destruction and devasta-
ton.
Oh, read the book. Then you will
understand why talking about II
sounds like unrestraint, like an ex
trayagance of praise But listen: Here
is a great theme. You concede that
offhand. 1t is your own mighty river
the Mississippi. that gives you a thrill
even in it's beginnings up in northern
Minnesota, the wonder growing as you
go along with it into the South. Well
beside this. here is a man whose
brother, whose early companion and
| ~ l,;e ct xx-ac. n
smiling moods down New Orleans way
The man is writer. too, and a poet
and a most sympathetic partaker in all
the picturesque ways of his early life
in truly glamourous region. And he
gets the essentials of that day and
that life into this book. You read it
Let some other books go by. Read this
one.
THE HIGHER FOOL1SHNESS. Da.
vid Starr Jordan. The Bobbs-Mer'
rill Co.
This book presents a new study.
Sciosophy is the name of it. And sci
osophy, elaborated a bit, is simply
"systema atized ignorance. Now. of
course. ignorance is a phenomenon
quite familiar. 1t takes a minute of
looking around, however, to realize
| tIldl There are UOuieS VI SNStciIidtlHCu
ignorance. But once on the track it
becomes fairly clear that much of the
business of humanity is carried for
| ward under the banner of this new
name, "sciosophy." 1t is an old busi-
ness, indeed, as matter of fact. This
ripe and mellow scholar was induced
to make it theme of exposition
through an acceptance of Giordano
Brunos statement that Ignorance is
the most delightful science in the
world because it is acquired without
labor or pains and keeps the mind
from melancholy" Bringing this
word of wisdom up to the present, the
author gathered around it the great
body of current matter belonging to it
by virtue of clear blood kinship. This