Evening star., 1927-11-15
WONDER TALES OF ARCHITEC.
TURE. l.. Lamprey. Frederick A


WONDER TALES OF ARCHITEC.
TURE. l.. Lamprey. Frederick A.
Stokes Company.
This Is a charming book, with no
special age qualification for admission
to it. You. reader may be IS. you may
| be so. but the entrance ticket will let
you in, provided only you are keen for
adventure and are, besides, eagerly
curious about almost anything under
| the sun. For curiosity is a tremen-
dous spur to the business of getting
along Zestfully with life. A good book
| for children is, / contend, an equally
good book for the elders. The fashion
of children is a mistake of ignorance,
as stupid as 1t is sure to be harmful
! A theme of substantial interest, treat
ed with sympathetic understanding
and competent artistry. turns out a
book worth while to any age. This
writer here meets children on their
| own level by accepting their level as
| hers, as yours and mine, also.
Architecture-when you say 1t that
way-sounds shade repelling. 1t is
a subject. however, that in it's begin.
nings is close to every child The
building blocks, fashioned into houses,
stores, forts. whatnot. by the little
ores sitting on the floor. embody an
occupation that runs far backward to
the human reach for shelter and far
| forward to the crowning point of many
a civilization. 1t is this thread of gen.
eral nearness. of common familiarity
| cunning throughout the theme, that
constitutes one of the special delights
of this book. Upon q foundation of
such absorbing character. Miss Lam.
prey builds series of stories that are
in part guide book, in far larger part
| exciting adventure. Even as guide.
the book partakes of none of the
dreariness of the common run of this
class. Once the spot reached, the
story steps in to take command. The
pure travel record covers China. ia
pan. India, Babylon and Nineveh,
Athens and Rome, onward to Granada,
up through France to London. 1t is
the excitement of adventure in each
of these quarters. however. that gives
the fascination of the whole. Here is
structure, let us say. that stands as
marvel Of mans working himself
| out in forms of lasting beauty and
usefulness. Here is mans sense of
beauty embodied surprisingly in this
or that of mere material for building
Yet the deeply interesting part Of
this adventure is the digging back into
an almost unreachable past to discover
how this common human impulse to
create a refuge of safety. a shelter
has through the agencies of climate.
soil, general ways OF life coupled with
urges of spirit. diverged so grandly
| and gloriously into widely dissimilar
| structures 0f individual beauty and in
| dividual significance. Temple of the
| East and cathedral of the West. start.
| ing from the same source OF primitive
human need, have lowered so diver
| gently into grandeur and beauty. Com.
! pact of information along the lines of
| it's theme. this book is of even greater
value in the simple beauty with which
| so great a subject has here been pro-
jected for the use of all readers.
A CHILDHOOD IN BRITTANY
EIGHTY YEARS AGO. Anne
Douglas Sedgwick. Houghton Milf
fin Company.
| Back of this book two women. old
friends. are talking-talking. And be.
cause one of them has reached the
place at which, sooner or later, we
must all arrive, recollections are clear.
| er to her than are the passing things
of the present. More sharply cut are
the pictures of her childhood. richer
| in detail, warmer to the heart. than
anything whatever can offer to the
cooling blood and tanned hopes of her
later years. So, in these many talks
between the two this woman recre-
| ateS the Brittany of her own little
girlhood. Calling here and there, as
| IL from a beautiful and familiar gar
| den, she gathers from this beloved
plot of memory the very look OF the
| countryside roundabout with its long
white roads and scattered hamlets
with its compani0nShip of the sea and
the sweet tang of the sea wind. The
ways of the neighbors and of her own
family fill in this daily life of Brittany
| These talks are many. as they would
be between old friends-desultory. in
| terrupted talks. And all Of them
make joyous excursions into a happy
past when life was young and gay
and not afraid. The friend, listening
the many hours through, came to
know that she had in hand some.
| thing precious and vital that must
not be allowed to fade away into the
thin air of words SO easily forgotten.
SO impossible of recapture. And this
woman, deeply waywise with words.
seized upon them before they could
even think of flight. She marshaled
them into groups and companies and
| lines. She impressed them into such
good service as she Is certainly quail
| fled by both experience and artistry
| to do. And out from this work there
comes toward us, quite alive and
charming, little girl of Brittany,
quantity garbed In the fashion of her
| day. absorbed in the tremendous busi-
ness of little girls everywhere. With