Evening star., 1928-12-16
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

IDA GILBERT M1Eho.
Mr.. BLETTSWORTHY OF RAMPOLE
ISLAND. BY II. G.. Wells, author
of The World of William Clissold,"
etc. New York: Doubleday, Doran
& Co.
NEW story by Mr.. Wells. In
n truth. two Stories-an upper
"A and an under. The one on
top follows the outer and man
ifest career of Mr.. Blettsworthy.
THE ono down under follows the greater
adventure of the mans mlnd; me
reading done. one wakes up to the 1act
that this very world--the whole mere
and now of its, in truth, Rampole
Island, and that we, the essenual we,
are all Blettsworthys. However tillS 10
going much too fast. one thIlg d.
time. First, here is the record OF AT
mold Blettsworthy, an EngllSh lao Vi Cllc
best stripe. a youth at Oxford, young
man sailing away from South America.
In midsea a Wreck-A tremendously
exciting experience even to read about
and then the rescue with Rampole
island as a refuge. A strange lSiano'
sunk deep between high clltS Ill d
narrow gorge at whose far summit only
a streak of skylight Sits below. Strange
people and things in possession tileie
-slow-moving gigantic slothliKe am
mails, sinister of intent, deadly III aC-
ton and manlike creatures, bent-potll
man and beaSt-upOn DESTRUCTION Luck
lily for him. BlettsWorthy by MS oool-
ties of behavior, was given the role OF
sacred Ilnatic," against whom no
hand could be laid. Time passed ana
finally came the return to civilization,
with a World War in full battle to IN
dicate something of the quality OF tnaC
civilization. This ended, BlettsWortny,
disabled, settled to the business OF
looking out upon life with comments
upon its course and seeming intent.
The real Wells story lies under sucn
surface movement. Rampoie lSlanu,
dark save for the single thread of sky
light, is the modern world. Its people
under the dominion Of collective lgno-
rance, themselves a part of 1t, grope
blndly, even though conscious OF an
inner aspiring man. an unSatlStled one,
that struggles against the monstrous
externalS that are, in sum, those OF his
own fashioning. From the first one
knows that the story of BlettSWorthy,
the outside story, is but a medium Tor
the delivery of that other story, the one
embodying the single absorbing passion
of this great man and great writer
that of idealism in the collective life
of the world This is the same old
story. the only one that H. G. Wells
has to tell. Yet. it is the ever new
story of this mans sincere purpose and
distinguished art. No matter now
many times it appears, it contriVes to
be that which. SO far no one has sur
passed in greatness of theme and in a
projection that is compound of life and
the best purpose in life.
THE MAN OF GALILEE. Twelve
Scenes for the Life of Christ. By
Bruce Barton and Dean Cornwell.
New York: Cosmopolitan Book Cor
poration.
IN Bruce Barton's own way-the way
that came to us through two of his
books, 1.-THE Man Nobody Knows and
THE Book Nobody Knows"-these II
episodes from the life of Christ are
brought into a nearness of reality that
is greatly important to every man and
woman living in the present. Christ
has been too far away, too unreal, too
little influential in the daily round. The
Holy Land has been too holy to get an
actual place either on the map or in the
consciousness of the average person.
Here the Holy Land becomes a reality
a quarter of the earth that is occupied
with living people who have interests
not unlike their own and who have, be-
sides, the reminiscent influences and
effects. of the sojourn of Jesus there. 1t
is within this setting of actuality that
the author places the scenes making up
this book, dealing with them in a man
ner to objectify them before the reader.
The pictures of Dean CornWell are both
beautiful and fittingly beautiful The
whole is a something to desire, 20 have
for ones own. This by virtue of its
content, Illuminating and convincing.
and by virtue of its sympathetic and
lovely picturing of the various scenes.
The book itself, as book. is Of true