Evening star., 1928-06-03
George Wycherley. indianapolis
The Bobbs-Merrill Co.


DIRACY, it turns out, Is, and always
has been. by-product of war.
Those far sailings for plumber and mur-
der were so the history books say. a
part of the ways and means by which
warning nations haraSSed and weak
encd each other along rich sea routes
of trade. All the to-do in the Carlb-
bean over which we have countless
times shivered in delicious terrors was
but one aspect of the immcmorial III
valry between Spain and England And
here comes big volume OF tales abodt
the overflow of buccanecring from the
Caribbean :nto the Pacific. or the South
Seas as they used to call this ocean.
| Loaded ships were found to be sailing
up from Chill and Peru, from Mexico
tC~the Philippines and the Spice ISLANDS.
Rich ships worth the undivided atten-
ton of the boldest buccaneers, serving
country usually, but upon occasion
serving themselves instead. Mr.. wy
cherley has gathered into the volume In
hand fine tales OF adventure about such
golden galleons and silver fleets" OF
the Pacific. The immortal Francis
Drake heads the list of these marauderS
and George Arson, last of the great
| South Sea rovers" stands at the end of
/
stories of the two are set down mere.
In between are vivid records OF many
another who terroriZed the Paclhc by
| the fierce and reckless character OF
widespread free-booting. Mr.. Wycner-
| lev proves himself to be fine purVeyof
/ of sea tales of the pirate brand. HE
/ has searched indefatigably for new ana
authentic material on the subject. ms
| he has shaped into dozen RECORDS Oh
| adventure whose stir and excitement
are greatly augmented by the fact tnat
| these are true romanceS OF the sea. AS
varied in method and effect as are tne
separate leaders dissimilar In personal
| itv and character. these Sailings stand
| distinct and vivid, each in its own
| right. Here is q book packed with ex-
| citing narrative, one. too, that holds
store of information about the older
ways Of the seas and the bold sea rob-
| bers that sailed them
Il ~
| HOME TO HARLEM. BY Claude Me-
KAY. New York: Harper & Bros.
CLAUDE MCKAY, q negro writer, to
~ meet the purpose of this book,
projects Harlem. that quarter OF New
! York given over in great measure 10
negro population MIR. McKay's intent,
| like that Of many another author, Is 70
picture a croSy-section of some selected
aspect of the social whole. With him
il Is Harlem and the negro society as
sembled there Within the limits oil
! that district he lays out this quarter
/ fer the well-to-do negro population
| and that one for the laborers, then the
shopping streets and those given over 10
amusements-the theater, the cabaret,
| whole personality and thread OF CO.
| herence he adopts Jake and his friend
| Raw and a working mate, Zeddy. The
whole effect is that Of moving, shit
| ing mass. brilliantly colored, laxative,
nlelodioiis In song and laughter, rau-
| cous in quick quarrels that smooth
easily into friendliness again. Yet IN
| all the stir II is the three--Jake and
| Raw and Zeddy--that hold the story 70
/ It's revealing mission and purpose.
Sometimes these three are train WORK
ers, sometimes they are at the wharVes
now here. now there, as work changes
or as a love Of idleness dictates. Ray
is the scholar, or going to De--a STU
dent in Washington at Howard pnl-
versity. II is from him. talking 70
Jake. that much OF the essence OF
negro feeling and vague instinct
energes. II is Jake. however, just q
big, attractive. good-natured specimen
of his race. that carries the story
through. The book. by way OF some
very beautiful writing, some very plain
writing also, projects a picture OF negro
life. That is It's business 1t looks
Ike. sounds like, true picture. In
that case Claude Mckay has done
notable piece of work II you don't
Ike true pictures. maybe you woulo
better move on. If you do like honest
artistry, stop here. Not pretty at al!
times Nor would true picture OF
any race in croSs-section be exactly
lovely. Here, however. Is new people
rich in gifts, rich In many lines, try
old and settled people Mckay has
done his work In this respect like the
genius that he comes 50 near TO being
THE LIE. BY Helen r. Martin. author
/ Of "T1llle, the Mennonite Girl, etc.
| New York: Dodd, Mead 81 Co.
XxTAYWIsE and distinctly satirical Is
/ w the comic spirit having this do
/ rnestic drama in hand. And comedy is
/ enjoying herself here. The little chuckles
/ Of q clearly impish amusement tnat
/ trieEIe out from this situation and that
one make the fact plain. This is how
| il was. The lady told her husband =
/ lie. little. no-account lie. But u was
/ enough. more than enough. To rouse
/ that righteous gentleman 10 an i'm
/ npense height OF indignation and re-
/ proach. He. you see, was superintend-
/ ent Of the city schools and az such
/ something Of a pattern. He couldn't
| help that ANY woman can picture the
/ sort Of time a wife would have with
| such a husband in this crisis. She had
| lust that sort OF existence after her silly
] indlscretion, Life was hardly worth
! living for her. The bulk of the story
| Is made up of the displays oil personal
| yectitlde that the husband set up for
himself In contrast 70 the fabny moral
finer Of the wife Indeed, 30 unbearabiy
/ pesky did he prove TO be that he came
near losing nia partner. He Is ter
FibIe prig, this man, guess ne couldn't !
help IT, beinE city superintendent OF
/ schools n everything. At any rate he
! was mean and oVerbearing. Then one
! day-~yol'll not believe this, but us true
one day, he himself told lie. The
wife overheard him. caught him In the
| very act OF falsifying Did she bounce
! out upon ilim for 1t? Mrs wife. you
/ know she didn't But she did have a
perfectly scrumptlOug time watching
him wriggle back into his own old SNUG
eIf~ssteem. How TO At a straight lie
into his spotless morality Could he
DO it2 You bet he could, with room 10
spare. No, she never told him. No, of
course not Both had lied Was II
Solomon who said it2 Mo matter, II
was wise man. And here In q most
amusing little drama founded upon
this universal imperfection in human
! nature.
II
THE LORDS MINSTREL. By Caro-
line M Duncan Jones illustrated
by EstelIa Canziani New York
H. Appleton ~ Co.