Evening star., 1927-03-08
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C.. NJ.
BOUNTY OF EARTH. Donald Cul-
ross Peattie and Louise Redfieid
Peattie. d. Appleton & Co.

Il
ross Peattie and Louise Redfield
Peattie. d. Appleton & Co.
Books. standing about or sitting
around waiting to be done" look as
uninterestingly alike as people. taken
by and large, appear to be the living
spit and image of one another. A
crowd on the Avenue or an + street
parade offers no livening points of dis
tinction, givessno hint of separate per-
sonality in the drab monotone OF tne
whole. And that's just the way with
a crowd of books. All alike to the eye
"a pair of covers for each or tnem'
pages of black print on white paper
dabs of picture dubiously decorative OF
illustrative in effect.
Yet, once in a dogs age. don't you
recall some bright spot in the throng
of people where human being stood
clear--separate, personal, charming
So. too once i'm blue moon. book
does exactly the same thing. declaring
itself beautifully different from the
common run of its kind.
Here is a case i'm Bounty OF
Earth" 1t sounds a bit platitudinous
don't you think?--suggesting either
a pious or plainly practical slant.
Both of these implications are general
ly uninviting. The table of contents,
chapters are names of the months of
the round year. And nobody rushes
to read any calendar save, of course,
the famous Hagerstown Almanac.
There is here, however, single point
of possible promise. The record begins
with March instead of at the regular
New Year run, and since we, too, are
| beginning that very month, the book
| may project the element of timeliness,
news. the latest thing in happenings,
| that constitute life itself to the daily
press. On this slim supposition. off we
go with Bounty of Earth"
Two short chapters. no more serve
| in this case to shift the readers men.
| tai gear from lassitude to quick and
| expectant interest. For here is true
adventure. poised and keyed to a long
and exacting flight, with heroism as
| it's content and beauty as its promise.
| Everybody Is familiar with the usual
brand of adventure. 1t beckons, in
variably,. from across the world. Its
| epic moment comes with the Staying
I OF the dragon in one or another of it's
| modern counterparts. Its hero is a
| signal figure, quite beyond emulation,
| whose enchantment rises from the
| through which 1T is seen.
L
adventure stands close to hand--no
! farther away, indeed, than out of the
| city into the country across the Poto.
mac where, have you the temerity or
| the bad manners. you may check up
the essential truth of this matter like
a careful bank clerk. Here, clearly, is
adventure of homespun weave, of
garden variety, of any other off-shad.
ing designation. Still, it opens as seri-
| Gus emprise must with remuneration
nothing less in this case than that of
| abandoning an office desk in the gov
ernment firm for the delectable fields
and hills of Virginia. The exchange is
| between certainty and sheer dubiety.
! Here is the secure discomfort of a
city fiat whose outlook and breathing
space are narrow court, set OFF
against a vague dream of sail and
grass and trees and sunlight with
God willing.-some abiding place for
| Narcissa and the baby. Folly? The
| worst. Yet, heroism? Without a
doubt. Here, however. as in every
| other instance of mans individual
| culpability, the woman did tempt him
| to his errancy. For Narcissa was as
eager for trying out such a FOOLS par
| ular Adam himself. And so, packing
up their pooled courage with the
household stuff, over the river they
| went like gypsies or any other of
| the beloved vagabond breed. And
certainly God does take care of his
own, for, believe it or not, right up
against the side of hill along their
way stood an empty house, cabin,
| hut-what you Withholding for all
the world, like an overgrown acorn
| dropped by the huge oak nearby. So
| the house became the Acorn" And
E! for the substance of this adventure
you have set down for your taking
the life of this little family escaped
| into freedom.
| The book itself is month by.
| month account of the changing face
Throughout the year of the hand.
breadth of free domain chosen by this
fsmily. Here is, besides, day-by-
day story of intimate friendships be-
tween these three and the green world
| around them. It's overtones are
those of gladness in all out of doors
| the sun, the rain, the sociable tree.
| tops-the flying, singing, nesting
| neighbors, and many a thrifty bur-
| rover and cave-dweller as we'll
| Here are romance and poetry of a
| beautiful sort-the romance of COM
| radeship where misgivings give place
| to harder effort on the part of this
! Adam man, to catch the whole mean
! ing of the enterprise in hand and to
project this in its truth and its beauty
| for the rest of us. A quite heroic
spirit acting through the medium of
| hard everyday things possesses this
pair. 1t is worth reading about. 1t is
| worth while also, richly worth while,
| for the gift of this adventurer in put
| ting words together so that they do
recreate this outfaring into freedom
The man is not only the posSessor of
scholarship and acquaintance with. a
| long line of poets and their kind, but
| he is, indubitably, poet himself. Bet.
ter than most novels is this record of
unique experience. Infinitely better
than mere scientists orderly and
dry statement of the truths of ma.
| ture. In effect this would be glori.
| fled text book on the theme of ma.
ture in It's simple behaviors round.
about-a beguiling book in the hands
of young folks keen to the welcome
of growing things around them. All
In all, an enviable pair these two, who
have given freely and beautifully of
their experience to the less daring
| rest Of us.
DREAMS AND OTHER REALITIES
Lysle Tomerlin. The Stratford Co.
A little book of poems the title of
which indicates the poetic insight of
| the writer and poet. The most of
! these verses are drawn, and drawn
knowingly, out of the human heart.
Under an endless variety of appear.
ances we are all, essentially, one in a.
common preoccupation of loving,
| hating, living and dying. So, partak-
ingly, do we read here these common
songs of the human. Songs whose
| themes are dreams and desires and
| memories and forgettings. Songs of
| loneliness and courage, of meetings
and partings, of comrades and friends.