Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-27

House Gossip" Illustrated. New
York: Doubleday, Page & Geo.
wv YORDS have histories much as
NA individuals and nations
NV have. Gossip" for in
stance, goes back to the
dim past of early English
| for distinct religious cast. 1t stood
then as nothing less than "god-sib"-
"God-alliance''-i token of it's good
faith. From this point the word
drifted into the idea of sponsor" still
| making its clear claim to a source of
responsible truth. Then, having fallen
! upon years and years of evil ways. it
| came finally into its present low estate
as the carrier of tittle-tattle, idle
rumOr, false report, mere hearsay.
A long story, given here, however,
| for the sake of identifying this author
with the better days of gossip, when
as sponsor" 1t stood responsible for
the substance and accuracy of its
words.
Through the half century lying in
between Andrew Johnson and Calvin
Coolidge the writer moves in easy
possession of a we'll ordered and COM
prehensive view of the theme in hand.
With the White House as constant
background she passes from one ad-
ministration to another, holding stead
lily to the official aspect of the historic
house itself picturing the changing
home life from point to point, project
ing outstanding personalities that CEN
ter here as the nucleus which deter
mines, for the time being. the aspects
and colorS of social and political
Washington itself. An admirable skill
in narration serves here to set alive
again many a point of political his
tory which in this fairminded exposure
becomes clear where before 1T had
been obscure. Particularly is this
true of the beginning of the period
when the immediate results of the
Civil War were distorted by excuses
of human passion and hatred. An
equal skill in portraiture delivers in a
vivid immediacy those who have from
time to time given to the White
House the keen interest of striking
and unusual personality. Talking like
an engaging and companionable friend,
this author chooses here and there
topics that unfailingly kindle a new
zeal in readers toward a subject that
| is, after all, very close to the heart of
| the American, since this is his White
House and these, it's occupants from
time to time, are his people. Here he
comes close TO that house and these
people in a hundred simple and re-
vealing ways that must, naturally,
| quicken his partaking interest in the
privileges of the whole Government
represented by these men and women
| who have, for the past so years, held
| official title to the big White House
In Washington.
X \ \ X
| ONSTANTINOPLE. Setting and
| Traits. BY III. G. Dwight. Illus
trated. New York: Harper & Bros
lnESPITE the fact that this is a
- big book, a bit heavy to the hand,
you can take it up with the assurance
that in both purpose and substance it
contradicts fatty its record by scale
to an abundance of excellent pictures
that serve to illuminate every con.
ceivable point of the subject and to
| remind readers as well that books of
travel are greatly dependent upon
both illustrations and maps. And in
this respect no possible criticism or
| fault finding can rest with Mr.. Dwight.
The author has no other purpose than
/ to entertain you, as he himself was
entertained, with passing impressions
| of ConStantinople, at whose cross
| roads marching armies have met from
/ time immemorial, leaving behind them
periods Of history to become incorpo.
rated In the tissues and the life-blood
/ in the character and appearance of
the city itself. Just a roaming about,
| just the nearer acquaintance with
this quarter or that one, just an hour
| of dreaming that reviews the on
coming and departing hosts-such is
| the preoccupation of a writer who
here passes on to you not only his
| findings, but the actual moods as well
/ that evoked the various adventures in
discovery and esthetic appreciation.
What the writer was trying to do,
what he actually did do was merely
| to catch the color of Constantinople
as 1t looks to one who lives there, it's
light, it's atmosphere, its feeling, the
strangeness of it's mixed peoples and
| traditions, the more picturesque or
characteristic of its everyday aspects.
| In short, he attempted a character
sketch of a great and famous city"
SO. camera in hand, he went explor-
| ing-mosques, cloisters, tombs, street
fountains, coffee shops. the streets
themselves, the ships of the Golden
Horn, old houses. old gardens. To
these he added in generous measure
| the human element everyWhere-and
here YOU have the result of this daily
outfaring on the part of an artist who
proves his art in transferring his I'M
pressions to you just as he did in
gathering them in, first-hand, for him.
self. A beautiful adventure, commune
cable and of absorbing interest.
brentwood SPARS. DEW AND
| MILDEW By Percival Chris
topher Wren, author of Beau
Geste," etc. New York: Fred
erick A Stokes Co.
UDEAU GESTE" and Beau Sa-
- breur," both standing high in
the honor rank of best sellers, and
| the first of them even more popular
on the screen, have served to make
Sir Christopher Wren conspicuous IN
a. wide outfield of general interest
and affection.
While it's somewhat fitful appetite
holds, the public is an Unsuitable ami
NAL, always on tiptoe, crying, like
little oliver, for a further indulgence
in the delectable morsel of the mo-
ment. The reading public is no diff
ferent in this respect. Give it once,
or twice, that in which it takes
special delight, and profNptly there
rises a great clamor for more. In
such circumstance the good pub
Usher, like the good purveyor of
| blood .and-stoma fare, turns actively
to the business of satisfying these
hungry readers. Enter, Frederick
stokes, the good publisher" a book
of fresh Wren stories under each
arm. No, not new books strictly
speaking. since both were written
before either the 'Geste" or the
"Sabreur'' Wren books, neverthe-
less. and clear in their blood bond
with the other two. Both, like their
popular forerunners, deal with the
English army officer in foreign serv-
ice. Both are exotic with life some
where east of Suez, with England
supporting her dominion in the
Orient.
"Driftwood Spars" is a novel.