Evening star., 1927-04-19
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C.. NJ.
A MAN OF LITTLE FAITH. Regi-
nald Wright Kaufman. The Penn

nald Wright Kaufman. The Penn
Publishing Co.
Whats the matter with the world?
Never before has it come TO such n
pass as this. Everything in it has
gone wrong--texcept mel" Such in
sum and implication covers the open
speech and private conviction Of the
general run of folks today. That eX-
elusive "me," under diverse and COM
prehensive forms of personal recti-
tude, then runs swiftly to take up the
beloved ambition of setting a crooked
world straight. Investigators, reform.
ers and crusaders, listening to the
call, multiply in every field OF human
activity. Old divisions and classified.
tions fa.l away under the onset of ex-
posure and reform and the tribe OF
man stands bulked on the one hand
,as those well.nigh lost in their own
'wickedncss, and on the other. as a
scanty but resolute band bent upon
the redemption of these imperiled
ones. Business is dishonest and OPP
pressive. I'll force it into ways of
righteousness" says one of the little
group. Another, Politics is rotten
to the heart. I'll purify it," And yet
another. Religion is stencil Of hy-
pocrisy. I'll expose it," Or. Society
is menace to our very foun.
dations. I'll build It anew And so
the little Davids of reforms are dill
gently shifting the rest of us, the
great Goliaths OF evii-doing.
Now the novel--in itself very up
to-date and forehanded business
keeps in step with the general move
ment Of exposing wickedness in high
places, as it has a perfect right to do.
So the shops and shelves offer novels
by the hundred that set to drama
sinister men Of business, practical
politicians or any other of the en-
bodied forces against righteousness
civic, religious, political
The novel in hand belongs on the
shelf with these others. Some, so
minded. will say that it sets the
question, whats the matter with
the church," 1t hardly does just
that-but never mind at this mo-
ment.
A word about ourselves before any
word about Mr.. Kaufman and his
new novel. or any other romance be-
longing to this class. Looking
backward upon the story of man and
then around upon the same story.
you may think, as l do, that never
before has there been so huge bulk
of intelligent ameliorative activity as
exists today-that never before has
the plant of plain human kindness
been in so lusty a state of growth
We may both believe that life is bet
ter worth living today than ever,
richer in actual partaking as 1t is
richer in promise. In that case, you
will look upon novels of this pur-
pose and intent either with uninter-
est or with real regret.
However, the storys the thing. and
here it is. Its background. small
town dotted with churches, repre-
senting the various sects that have
risen out of an overanalysis of the
Sermon on the Mount. This church
background is permeated with an at
mosphere of faint futility. The story
centers upon young clergyman. IL
advances by way of this mans tenn
permanent, an easy, compliant tenn
permanent that in the course of time
dims the ideals with which he set
out upon his way of religious service.
that lowers the hopes of that earlier
day as these hopes fail to materialize
under the too gentle hand of the man
himself. Upon this foundation Regi-
nald Kaufman has created truly
dramatic romance, consistent in its
in pertinent village incident. skillful
in portrayal of character and person
atty. The story ends in the logic
of it's own beginning. But. all said
and done, it is only workmanly and
sympathetic study of temperament.
and has nothing whatever to do with
the power of the church as a whole
or with it's lack of power. Such
breadth of application has to be
dragged in by force. IL 1t be used at
all. Presumably. clergymen have the
frailties of disposition that other hu-
mans have. Such an occasional en-
dowment of weakness has nothing to
do with religion in its wide work.
stretch an excellent novel to dimen-
sions which it cannot possibly reach,
and which certainly it was not IN
tended to reach.
X X x
MY OWN STORY. Fremont Older.
The Macmillan Co.
Not a stirring title. Look around
among people to find one, even one,
whose Gown story" you would be
willing to sit up with for an hour.
thought so. You'll not be likely to
leave this one, however, till 1t Is
IT,
newspaper man, bound to get ahead,
sharp as a briar after news, know
ing no rapture higher than getting
away with scoop" enamored with
the job Of making good. The story
goes on to meet a low spell OF politics
in the home State and the reform
measures set up by the press TO
counteract the bad business. And
into this work the young newspaper
man plunged, because, you see, ne
was bound to make a go OF his paper.
AT first he didn't even think or MS
activity as reform. 1t was, rather.
success. But in little while the OLD
game of hocus-pocus set up on the
inside of the fellow and he began to
call himself a crusader-that is to
himself. to the man he saw shaving
in the glass of morning. And, as
crusader, he actually put men In
prison for perjury and graft and that
kind of sin. He was no end proud OF
himself. this crusader was. And, no
doubt, to himself in the glass he sang
pretty much every morning, with
NV Bow and Arrow, | Killed the
Sparrow." Then one time he went
down TO the prison-its name was
San Quentin--to see man Whom ne
had helped to jail-the mans name
was Ruef-and as they talked, tlnle
after time, he came to see that he was
no different from Ruef and the others
down there-that is, he came to see
that both they and he were chlehy
the outgrowth of surroundings. III
came to be hardly moral question
at all with those prisoners, but
almost wholly an economic question.
Here in each case was some sort or
opportunity which involved certain
line Of action to bring success. Some.
times it involved taking bribe. but
in the way it was offered it looked
not a bit like brbe. Sometimes it
involved another sort Of action-a
strong action when the actor was weak,
with possibly drunkenness and ire
sponsibility as the byway to crime. And