Evening star., 1928-03-25
BY IDA GILBERT MYERS.


TIME history lessons of school days.
In company with most other
tasks Of the period OF Com
Il pulSory education" slip easily
away into dim and disregarded
corners of memory when. just outside
the doors Of learning. life itsel: waits
with smiling face and beckoning hands
Yet. in later and more reflective
years these faded recollections brighten
around some figure here or another one
there, whose service TO the past. whose
significance In the present and toward
the future of our country sets him in
the current of events. continuously i'm
mediate and .contemporaneous. Such q
figure is that Of Andrew jackson.
When a student and writcr--say,
like Claude G.. Bowers-~presents JACK
son In his true historic proportions and
bearing why. then, we not only recall
old history studies but we hasten to
add to them the breath of life with
which writer of this quality cndows
them For practically the first time we
saw Andrew Jackson, during whose pub
!ic career much of our real democracy
came to flower.
Now we have another book on the
same theme. A more personal study.
one not so much involved with general
trends and historic meanings Yet, 1t
sums to the substance of the work Dy
Bowers. Here again we see that not
until the Jacksonian epoch did THIS
country become democracy in fact.
Up to that time the Virginia, dynasty
and the secratarial succession TO the
presidency held undisputed sway Till
thom the selection of Presidents ,was
by way of the caucus, in 5he hands NJ
politicians at the Capital, That was
the time when this right passed from
these leaders out into the field Il a
much more general franchise. True
party government was born then. The
press as a political agent came 10 life
then The Kitchen cabinas" had its
rise at this time and modern political
methods came into practice II is IN
such revised and vital setting that
Gerald Johnson sets his hero in nome
spun.
Quite as ii should. under It's claim as
an epic, this study takes on, decidedly,
the character Of poetic effect. A rude
subject for poetry. you are saying Not
az all Rather does it fft' such treat
ment so excellently as TO lift the theme
TO the level where 1t so manifeStly be
longs. Not that the author maintains.
unbrokenly, the heroic strain in respect
to Andrew Jackson. Not at all. Fpr
many times he portrayS the man as too
ardent, too impetuous. too high tenn
pered for the pattern OF the perfect
statesman. But he was not a states
man. He was a patriot instAd He
was man OF action. He could handle
things with his fists. not with abe
smooth implements of diplomacy. on.
he was any number OF things that
brought him enemies. political and mill
tary. that Smudged him with Goa
iftumely, that blackened him with con-
/ tempt. A great man. nevertheless. A
man for whom this country should
| have gratitude and high praise, as In
the main. 1t does have. Just a glance
at the table Of contents will indicate
TO you something of Gerald johnson S
originality, delicacy, ingenuity, poetry.
applied to great man in national and
political life. How Andrew jackson.
| Contrary to All Rules, Persists In Iiiv-
ing, Later much later, How Mr.
Jackson Became a Western Bad Man
and Was Greatly Respected How
General jackson Went TO War so Fast
rtmt the War Coald Not Keep Up" IN
the same captivating strain the author
tells how Jackson came to hate Henry
Clay. and kept on hating him; how he
was whipped by the great ladies al
Washington and how, on the other
hand, he beat all the men And so the
story runs to How IL Ended" Within
It and through 1t runs the love idyl oI
Andrew jackson for Rachel. his wife.
The wild frontier TO which they dis
/ patched HIM on a dangerous mission
! ne subdued, The enemies that rose
| against him he struck down. He Sweui
| the red man beyond the great river. He
| swept the British into the sea. He
/ made the presidency such n power as II
Fhad never been before. The Immigrant
/ iinen-draper's son touched the heigh,
! OF human glory But surely
| the bitter preacher never had a finel
| Illustration OF hts text" :
/ 50
I AN ETCHING. BY Mary s Fitzgerald
/ Cedar Rapids: The Torch Press.
| HEART-RENDING scenes of slavery
in the cotton belt are pictured hy
| Mary S, Fitzgerald in An Etching" 4
short free-verse publication from the
| Torch Press, reprinted by the Book,
| fellows with permission OF WomanT
Viewpoint Magazine.
Too Weighted down with care Ia
glimpse
The witching beauty of approaching
I Spring, 4
Too haraSSed by debt to notice
/ The gorgeous coloring Of the Autumn
woods
| TOO tired at taking -out- time and q,
n!ghtfall
To lift their eyes To the pitying stars
/ Ploddipg, home 10 trstful babies and
evening chores
Too tired, dear God. too tired
Even TO pray"
In this way. Mrs Fitzgerald. wife 0,
q Texas iuriSt and resident OF Tylef
Tex. summarizes the plight OF "a
mother who tolls before daylight Il,
her hut. throughout the day in the
fields, and long after day, with her
endless chores hungry babies clinging
about heT. and her wan and nearly
hopeless husband fighting mortgage
, with no dependence but ioTtuitouS
weather and freedom from insect
plaques.
America. O My Country,
! Boast not riches nor freedom
Nor the vaStneSs OF your fertile plains,
While within your borders
Such peonase as this Is found"
1t Is a maStertul poem. the details az
which you read through bluhhers
(Reviewed by MIR, Smalll
DEIUGE A Romance BY $ Fowlef
Wright New York; CoSmopolitan
Book Co
THE love triangle may have been
overworked by the novelist, or IL
may have been badly treated by him
Certainly. for. one reason or another
Il has fallen into comparative diSrepute
, among both readers and critics Never.
thelcsS, II IN one. Of the constant and
potent forces IN that life OF the emol
tionS upon which the romaneer de-
pendS for literary suStenanee
Here Is strange novel, a hig and
brilliant one, bespeaking for the writer
of It a quite special gitt of imagina-
ton Aud while Within Il the love trla