Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-10-02

BY Bruce Barton, author of THE
Man Nobody Knows" etc. Indian.
apol:s: The Bobbs.Merrill Co.
<"HE Man Nobody Knows"
- secured the wide world
around one OF the great
i revivals Of all time. This
book brought Jesus Christ
to earth again. It set Him in the
midst of this age Of prodigious &C.
tivity, made Him a part Of it-yet
the same Man Of clear vision and sim.
pie method and sincere friendship as
tho One who 1000 years ago lighted
on earth. A wonderful gift to all men
was this book. 1.-The Man Nobody
Knows" Then there followed THE
Book Nobody Knows" And this book
served to rescue to our daily usage
and understanding the living parts of
the Bible. Here 1t set off the pure
poetry Of the Bible and there 1t traced
the history Of great people and
above all did it point upon the mis-.
sion of Jesus to all Of us. Truly, an
other rich gift to us, THE Book No.
body Knows" Each, in the average
reader. seemed to be beautifully COM
pIete and satisfying. Yet. what Can
a Man Believer" turns out to be the
point, the pith, the essence of the
other two.
Now, IL you are Of the tribe Of learn
ing, you may like to call this last of
the three books a comparative view
of the religions Of the world. Why not,
instead, simplify 1t to it's central and
outstanding fact? This is that every
race and tribe has to have a religion.
You know what the shrewd and wise
Voltaire had to say about this-that II
there were no God. man would have
to invent one. And SO 1t is, or would
be If the inconceivable were fact it.
self There Is no race, no people, so
primitive as not to possess a god to
meet it's needs and aspirations. Clear,
then, that faith Is a universal human
possession. And this is the bare fact
upon which Barton builds here. Even
science, that dealer in pure truth"
has to believe in the unseen and the
improbable. Working upon this foun-
dalton, Bruce Barton takes his stand
beside the simplicity Of the life and
work of Jesus Christ. Other beliefs
for other peoples, all to be respected
as embodying the supreme need of this
people or that one, but for us now and
here Jesus objectifies our faith in
man and in a life beyond this one.
Not only objectifies our faith but sets
another. Such Is the word sent to us
by Bruce Barton in What Can Man
Believer"
It Is said that William Barton,
father Of Bruce, a clergyman who
has also done inestimable service in
commemorative the life of Lincoln, de-
sired ardently that the boy follow in
his own footsteps. Well, he has.
There is not doubt that Bruce Bar
ton is today preaching to larger con-
gregations than ever before came to.
gether under a single speaker. We
are in debt. deeply in debt. to this
young business man who has set out
anew for us the religion of brother
hood by way Of Jesus Christ himself.
MEANWHILE. BY H. G. Wells, au.
thor of 1.-THE World of William
Clissold." etc. New York: George
H. Doran Co.
TO woman who for many years
once said: Mary, If one We're to
pinch your big toe in the middle of
the night. you'd start right up teach
ing an eighth grade. You couldn't
help it." So with II. G.. Wells. If,
sound asleep, his outflung hand were
to touch pen, he would most GER
tainly set off Immediately on the big
adventure of making another new
world-a better world, according to
this political idealist. Creation Is the
business of H. G. Wells. So whatever
title book by this writer may carry,
whatever pleasant purpose may be
ascribed to 1t, you may rest assured
that these are not brightcolored bids
to a garden party Of social dalliance.
Rather do they constitute a summons
to the sober consideration of another
brand-new vision on the part of this
incorrigible world protector. So it Is
here. The subtitle Of Meanwhile"
is THE Picture of a Lady"-the por.
trait Of Mrs. Philip Ryland. at the
hands of a good artist at home with
the subject. But the lady is only
such coloring and interest and action
as may help to carry over to a wider
acceptance the sermon Of admonition
being delivered by HI. G. Wells to the
great population of ''meanwhilers."
Here we are, all of us, clearly between
two worlds. The old world Of fact
and interest ana attitude cut short off
behind us. In front of us an amaze
ment of such activity along new lines,
material and spiritual, as to constitute
a fresh creation. Before such a stu.
pendous departure one has only to
look around to see that everybody, in
stead Of seeking a proper orientation
upon this new and pressing future, is
simply "meanwhiling time.
confusing the issues, philandering
with trivialities, trying to make terms
with the dead-and-g0ne gods of yester-
day. The novel is an arraignment of
all of us. 1t would be. Upon the sur
face, however, it Is a Wellsian novel |
of politics and industry and person |
alities, of the whole present social to-
do of England and the rest of the
world as we'll. At the heart of the |
matter is a seer, a wise man of great |
vision-Mr. Wells himself-upon whom |
much of the business of idealism in |
governments rests for it's calculation
and mplification. Industrial Eng.
land stands as first aid to this reform. !
er in the way Of concrete example of |
misrule, projected in great coal !
strike with its sequence of social and |
political injustice. Around this there |
are the ambitions of politicians, the |
greed of business, the blindness of !
society as a whole with a new world |
crowding down upon it. A novel of |
the serious and entertaining Wells |
brand projects this momentous matter !
Of ''meanwhiling" world of humans.
X X y r
EVERYRODY'S BISHOP: The Life
and Times Of the Right Rev. Sam
uel Fallows. D. D. BY Alice Kath-
crime Fallows. Illustrated. New |
York: j. H. Sears & Co.
UTHE TOWN PARSON" they used
= to call him out in Chicago. |
where he went as a young man when |
the great city was just a little town. |
The story begins even before that; |
begins with the boyhood and the |
school days Of Samuel Fallows; with !
his service in the Civil War. Then |
it goes on with his work in the Mid. |
die West, Chicago and roundabout |
Having read the story-a great story |