Evening star., 1927-04-24
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

1DA uHLbhnA M EAbSs
HORACE GREELEY: Founder of the
New York Tribune. BY Don G.
Seitz, author OF Joseph Pulitzer" :"
etc. illustrated. Indianapolis: The
Bobbs.MerriH Co.
TIME political history Of the
United States combined with
that of the growth Of the
l. newspaper as a political in
strument forms study essen
tial to the practical education of
every American. To know the sub
stance, the value, the methods and the
tendencies Of current politics implies
familiarity with the whole story of
party politics, which as yet provides
the chief medium of individual polit'
icaI expression. Such study involves
at once the place and influence of the
press as q party instrument on the
one hand or as fair reflection of both
sides of the political field on the other
hand. Along the course of such use
full survey of the field one comes upon
many an outstanding figure, notable
either for individual work and achieve
ment. or as the dominant force behind
some influential political organ. Such
a figure Is Horace Greeley, whose per-
sonality and service Don c. Seitz here
moves the man himself up into the
present as II this tremendously active
period were by right his own. Here
is q picturesque figure whose hold
upon the imagination has far out
lasted his own lifetime. A peculiar
man, if differing in temperament and
outlook and ways of doing from the
majority around him makes the
peculiar man." Mr.. Seitz puts the
whole of Horace Greeley into this
book--not simply the work of build
Ing up a great newspaper, not the
ardent abolitionist, not the political
visionary, not aspirant to high office,
not the unsatisfactory husband--not
any of these alone, but all OF them to-
gether, proportioned and blended,
made actively alive and human.
through an experienced and sympa-
thetic attitude toward the mass of
material that has accumulated as
material does accumulate around any
ones life. With it, however, the
author has combined important points
of public activity with moments of
relaxation, with lighter incidents TAX
ing form in anecdote here, in laughing
allusion there, so that out of the finely
proportioned sum there steps the live
man, alert, interested and interesting,
very much as Horace Greeley must
have presented himself to the world
so years ago and more. With the
story OF the man goes that of a great
newspaper, each set off in it's infiu-
ence upon succeeding years of news
paper growth, upon succeeding years
of political influence on the part OF
other men who have come after this
one. A highly interesting effect of
this story is that its author seems
equally at home whether he is dealing
with the newspaper as a profession
or with Horace Greeley, the very
human and very notable man.
HEIR OF ALL THE AGES: The
Family Tree of Mr.. Smith. BY n.
K. McKechnie. Indianapolis: The
Bobbs-Merrill Co.
ITO be sure his name was Smith
the name of that first man who
produced the enormous Smith family,
to say nothing OF the rest of us. Under
this fanciful and ingenious title, dis.
tinct invitation in itself. Mr.. McKech-
ME goes soberly back to pick up stories
who sum rounds the human tribe and
its forbears into a unity that is both
astonishing and deeply fascinating. 1t
is a rusty saying that counts not what
any one does, but the way in which he
does it. It is the way of this writer
with the story of human life and
growth that counts so vitally here.
Like the fine dramatist that he is he,
on this trail of the human, takes us
back only few generations where he
stops q while in vivid picturing OF
what the Smiths were doing about
that time-not so different from us as
to be either unintelligible or uninter-
esting. Then back still further, not
in regular and stated periods of time,
but rather in marked eras of change
to the Smiths. Wars are involved
here and the beginnings of tilling the
soil, with fishing and other slight in
dustries. These are wiped away to
show the Smiths learning about the
facts and uses Of fire and the Smiths
further back leading a strange life
wherein a tree serves the purpose of
a house. Again, inconceivably remote,
happily--believe it or not--a Smith
curiously reptilian in certain features
appears and-quite beyond belief
Smith as specially audacious fish
dares to take to land as habitat in
stead of resting content in his natural
element--water. A brave family, the
Smiths, and by way of their tenacity
and outrage-here we are, we Smiths.
Oh, much more engaging than a novel,
much more fascinating than a play, iS
this story of our climb up the family
tree Of Smith.
y
STORIES IN STONE. BY Willis T.
Lee, geologist, United States Geo.
logical Survey, author of 1.-THE Geo
logic Story of the Rocky Mountain
National Park" etc. New York: D.
Van Nostrand Co.
THE mind of man nowadays is
= essentially a questioning mind.
How did 1t get this way?" Is a con-
stant query before host of outstand
ing appearances and conditions. Moth.
ing is better calculated to induce such
curiosity and question than one or an
other OF the great natural features of
this country-the Grand Canyon, Nj
agara Falls, the Yosemite and count
less others of the majestic and mysti-
flying gestures of nature. The pur-
pose of the book in hand is to give
some of the amazing stories of the
earth.building forces that, independent
of man, fashioned in so stupenduous a
grandeur. Here is description of
some of the "wonderlands of Amer
ica." Here is geological story that
far surpasses any invention conceiv-
able to the mind of man. In a simple,
companionable storytelling way, the |
late DIR. Willis T. Lee follows the max |
ing Of the Grand Canyon, drawing |
ancient landscapes in explanation of |
the spectacle stretching before ones |
eyes. He pictures different ages and |
epochs as these have been written into |
the rocks by dawning and increasing
animal and plant life. OF against these |
he sets some Of the legends of crea- |
ton to show that the human imagina- |
ton demanded answers to the stupen- |
1ous questions that nature set before |
It. He then defines the rise of science |
and the new method of approaching |
and answering the inevitable queries. |