Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-09


road of adventure. as set down by
Prof. Dennis, is a rocky one, heset by
pitfalls and short curves and dam
gerous sidings all the way. Adventure?
All Of that. and maybe you do not
know how absorbing. even exciting, the
supposedly plain tales of diplomacy can
turn out to be when they are presented,
alive and kicking as it were. straight
from the documents that. in effect,
embody the personalities and the
problems that we're at the time enlist
ing the best powers Of those who were
representing one or another OF the
great nations Of the world. set up
facing one another in an effort toward
understanding and a continuance of
working relations. A chapter of Spe-
cial study that any student. or serious
reader. of American history will be
much the richer for its possession.
ADVENTURES IN ALASKA: And Along
the Trail. BY Wendell Endicott,
author of Adventures With Rod
and Harpoon Along the Florida
Keys" Illustrated. New York: Fred
erick A. Stokes Co.
THE mood of this adventure Is such
-
breaking enthusiasm. Here is a deep
seated conviction that America holds
natural wonders that are worth the
time and effort of the most ardent
globe trotter. And here is disposition.
all along the way of this out-faring, to
stress every advantage and to ignore
such trifling inconvenience as may APP
pear. Oh. bless you. no! This is not
"Pollyanna on a Journey''-not by long
shot. Instead 1t is a traveller who is
full of zesC and go-one who refuses 10
entertain a crouch at any point along
the trail. So. in such good company.
we set out with him and his crowd, go
ing across country in the best of trains,
manned by the best of attendants.
through fine scenery, till, on the West
Coast. ship is taken for Alaska. Right
here it may as we'll be said that the
definite character of the account at
every point enlists this book as an ex-
ceptional guide for those who are fired
to take the trip, just as it makes a
vivid story of travel for the one who
sees the world by way of books. Scenery
looms large here, naturally. Hundreds
Of pictures OF this obiectify the text.
The contacts with animal life are, in
the main, friendly-as they should be.
To be sure, upon occasion the old
Nimrod ps to the fore, but. happily.
these possessions of a peaceful man by
an old scalawag of an ancestor shoot
ing up things is rare. The whole is
robust communicable adventure that
runs from actual experience to the spin
ming of yarns about the doings along
the trail Understand, yarn is not
f-L Yk &c k,-tYf or
The meaning lies in the length to
which the old tsrs went In their re-
citals. spinning yarns out into long
threads of entertainment. The yarns"
here are all of the reliable sort. au-
| thentie stuff gathered along the way by
a jealous adventurer into new places.
The spirit of the book is its crowning
distinction.
A FOOL IN THE FOREST. BY An
thony Pryde and r. K. Weekes.
authors of "Rowforest." etc. New
York: Dodd, Mead q Co.
A NTHONY PRYDE and his tribe con-
"A stitute a true rescue league for
host of novel readers who are, so to
speak, at their last gasp of endurance
under the Smothering tide OF fiction
that sets out upon the sidewalk the
intimately private concerns of the men
and women who carry on In these cur
rent inventions. Barry Benefited Is
another one of these. So is Jeffrey
Farnol. And there are others-a few
These come to the succor OF readers
who find themselves cool and injurious
over the suppressed desires that are for
ever breaking out. stark naked, into the
open-a wearying exhibition.
The Fool here is no fool. On the
contrary. he is an interesting and COM
petent young man, out for purposes OF
his own on a masquerading adventure.
1t is he who organizes and superintends
the romance between himself and a
beautiful, outstanding girl whose prime
concern is, with the aid or her two
brothers. to coax living from their
English farmland, Sounds dull and
workaday. doesn't it? 1t isn't. For the
characters. all of them. entertain
thoughts now and then-an almost
obsolete power. you will agree They
have personality and individual ways
Of their own. This makes them of in
terest to the reader An English
countryside gives setting to the
romance-a setting made plausible by
way of labor troubles between the farm
hands and their employers. The story
opens with a picture-a beautiful pic
ture that gives good promise for the
rest of the romance. THE Forest. as
all good Forest jewellers know. is not
all oak. ash and beech. Great tracts
of 1t are moorland, pink with heather
or yellow with gorse: there are hills
and windy ridges of fir and pine: dark
waterheads of bog where sundews grow.
kvA. sod IL
set In orchards and water meadows.
beneath tall pastoral spires" A lovely
picture from which energies an inter-
eStinF adventure nne of cnr,nnntnnt