Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-16
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.

bert j. Beveridge. Houghton MIMI
Co.
The death Of the author cut in half
the four volumes projected by Albert j.
Beveridge as biography of Abraham
Lincoln. The general loss to reader and
student through such deep misfortune
of circumstance is measurable, in part.
by the exceeding value Of the work
that was completed. Not altogether
| measurable by this fact, however, since
the parts in hand are clearly paSlc
ones. Therefore, the two are 1ndis-
pensable. though all of them would
have been highly desirable. These first
two volumes set the foundation upon
which rests the ultimate high destiny OF
Abraham Lincoln Here are the years
of preparation, of apprenticeship; here
are the years of poverty to be met, OF
hard pioneer work to be done, OF asso-
Citations to be formed with men and
affairs, with the big and reckoning
world of forest and open field and all
the natural things roundabout, with q
boys dream besides. All this and more
are in these two books. About them
there is no effect of Incompetence, OF
unfinish. Instead they round fully to
coin. Specifically, these first volumes
end with the famous political debates
known in American history as the Lin
coln-Douglas debates on the political
situation of the country, torn at that
time on the question Of slavery. TWO
YEATS beyond the limits of this short
ened study Abraham Lincoln Will be
elected President of the United States
an Office making for him a definite de-
parture into a wider field-a field that
| finally opens out to martyrdon and
Immortality. But all this is yet in the
future.
| Exactly 70 years ago that the epic
struggle between Lincoln and Douglas
took place. Yet so vivid does it appear
| here, so vital in its every detail, SC
immediate in it's setting of human ma
ture and political circumstance. thai
| the 10 years might be but narrow
| footbridge across which one steps IN
voluntarily into the present, where an
other political struggle is now at its
peak of party emotionaliSm, OF party
warfare.
| 1t is at such juncture that Mr.. Bev-
eridge might have been counted upel
| to be at his best. Politics was his oWr
| field, one in which he was entirely al
home. one in which he earned d1stlnc-
ton and won high honorS. It is bJ
virtue of such intimacy, by such VIVID
ness of portrayal, that the reader shifts
SO naturally here from 1853 to 1874
| for an illumination of the present
through the agency of the past. Read
! ing at this point, one wakes up to tns
astonishing fact that there is no diff,
| ference between the two-no essentla
difference Dates vary, names are oil.
ferent, certain, surface currents, callec
| Issues" are somewhat changed; ina
| is all. Under both situations human
nature Is behaving in its traditional
| ferocity of partiSanship, unreaSon, bit
| terness. Around two more or less de-
| fenseless men the hostile camps art
| gathered in battle Each man wakes o.
q morning to find himself just about
everything that he abfors and against
which he stands-liar, drunkard, thief
| And all this out Of the partisanship o.
our great governing agency OF what L
known as free and enlightened people
Attention is given to this point II
| the work of Mr. Beveridge because it i:
a broadly illustrative point of his lit
erary method. The whole is pecul-
/ iarly cotemporaneous in effect, as II
Eproves to be in this one instance. Such
effect issues in measure from the
material of which this author make:
use. Here is a bulk of inclusive mate
\ rial, gathered from every possible source
and tested for its truth by every posi-
BILE mcdern agency OF weighing evidence
| 1t was adventure into remote past and
on up into the present that collected
| the facts Of Lincoln's ancestry and
birth, of his youth and upbringing. Its
processes were acceptance or rejection
as the tests decided. Even then, with
| the substantiated facts all around him
/ the authors work was only begun. For
beyond this achievement lay the work
of creation, the artists work of creating
| character, personality. direction of mind
and interest. In word, with the mate
rial at hand, there began the process
of making. of remaking, Abraham Lin
coin in pattern, so identical with both
| the inner and the butter man as to exem-
plify and confirm him for all time in the
minds of those who read this story of
| Lincoln. Not only the industrious deliver
for facts is needed here; not only the
writer who is artful In arranging situa-
| ton and scene and sequence for the
| making of a story, true, sustained. dra-
| matic--there must be, besides, the author
who is on quite knowing terms with
! the sources of human behavior, familiar
with the springs of feeling, desire, &C
i ton; at home with the ways of mems
minds in their reactions to this or that
of external stimulation. Psychology, we
/ call knowledge of this sort. And here
Mr.. Beveridge proves himself the pSy-
choiogist, recreating, re-emoodying
Abraham Lincoln in such likeness OF
mind and spirit as to forecast Tor TINS
achievement an enduring work OF In
4 fnts tat ar a great
| f1gure--a work, besides, that stands as q
discriminating and scholarly record OF a
vitality important period in the history
of American government.
1.-THE Life of Marshall" won for Albert
| J. Bevesidge high rank as blographer,
and, by the way Of 1t, as political his
| torian of power and persuasive genius:
That study constituted new history OF
! America iip to the jackson era. The
/ abraham Lincoln was designed to
carry this history forward to the close
Of the Civil War. But destiny inter-
vened We have, nevertheless, two
priceless volumes OF that projected
work.
THE ART OF WHISTLER. Elizabeth
Robins Pennell. The Modern LIZ
brary.
The Pencils are recognized as the
highest authority in respect to both
the art and the life of James Whistler.
Of1cial biographers of the artist, these
two accepted the man himself in an
enthusiasm CT friendship that is both
rare and beautiful. Cut short from
writing this book in collaboration with
her husband, Mrs. Pennen has written
| 1t alone, and in manner that sup.
ports gallantly the Pennell standard of
art and the Pennell enthusiasm for the
art of Whistler. "Gusto' is the word
that pins this enthusiasm down to
definite effect. They all possessed 1t,
this tang of life, this zest of existence
all three, the two Pencils and Whist
| Ter. Here Mrs. Pennen carries on alone
in a mastery survey of the art Of
Whistler and the place that this art
attained in the estimation of those who
1 ~ -.