Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-21
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
l. G. N.


all others to head the A. E. f." The
Secretary of War talking to the Presi-
dent. And he went on to say that,
examining the records for a commander.
he had been impressed with Pershing's
trained and habltual respect for auI-
thority A supreme quality, he counted
this in so stupendous and sensitive an
undertaking as the one at hand. AS
a case in point among many such, the
Secretary cited this leaders quick right
about at word from Washington just as
he was hottest on the trail of Villa in
Mexico. A hard blow. which another
might have lodged by ignoring the
order under one pretcxt or another
This has been done in military opera
tons more than once. Not by Per-
shing, however.
1t seems to me that of all the finely
inspiring things recited here by Mr.
O'Laughlin, this point is supreme
one in so far as any common use can
be made of the career of John Per-
shing. This and one other Thou
sands OF Youngsters are enviSaging them
selves as future Pershings. ThaV will
not be that, but every mothers son
of them will be under authority of one
sort or another. EVerybody-~saye only
the Almighty Himself--is an underling
to some superior force. And the best
job that can possibly be turned out
by anybody is to fit himself into his
place through ready response. prompt
corporation, immediate contribution to
the free flow of the thing in hand
This, to my thinking is the true gift
| OF Gen. Pershing to the youngsters
coming on. This and one other quality.
| Here is human being-a human be-
ing more than he Is anything else. A
tremendously significant force.
f. However. this book is In no sense
precept, not by design al. least. In
stead, 1t is a complete, competent deep
ly enthusiastic study of the man who
did such high service for his country
and the world during the war. 1t is
biography of historic scope. Reading
here, one meets not the military leader
/ alone, born and reared in passion for
the glory of battlefield and bloodshed
| No, first there is the farmer lad doing
! his work - blowing, sowing, reaping
| Then the teacher. since this seemed
| to be the next piece of work. After
ward came the formal military train
! ing, a process that in this case turned
out no machine-made man of martinez
mood and method. A soldier, certainly.
| as time so abundantly proved, but a
| soldier Of vision-that combination of
| far sight, keen perception and sound
| sense. Easily and naturally, therefore,
upon occasion and demand, the soldier
| became administrator in civil as we'll
| as in a military sense. The under
| standing methods of the administrator
| added diplomat to the other titles of
| this plowboy of Missouri, this Indian
| fighter of the West.
| The story of Gen. Pershing in France
| is familiar one. The years of boy
| hood. youth and early manhood are
| less familiar. but they are essential to
| an understanding of the whole man.
John Callan O'Laughlin has given the
| complete story here for the sake of its
| best usefulness. Boys coming on will
| eat up whole this adventure of one
mans life. because 1t is history moving
! before their eyes. because 1t Is SO in
| tensely alive. And the rest OF us will
read. in clear appreciation. this finely
adequate geographic account of Gen.
John Pershing
THE LEGION OF THE DAMNED.
Bennett j. Doty. The Century Com
pany.
Another war bookl can't. simply
cant!' But I did. Before half a dozen
pages had moved under my eye / was
sitting up, quite awake. waiting for the
next. and the next one. This Is no
war story. That Is. not of the World
War with its heart-breaking records
Of tragedy and mistake. Instead 1t
| energies from that generally misunder-
stood military unit known all over the
world as the Foreign Legion" Its
activities, as these are pictured here
| come after the great war, centering
upon the subtugation OF the Druse
tribes in Syria by the French. The
| clear fascination Of the story does not
| lie, however. in the fact that French
military forces, including the Legion"
are fighting rebellious Druses off in
the East. The lure of the story rests
with the American youth who had a
of the Legion of the Damned" Meet
| here a pure adventurer from the in
side out. Back from the war in 1919
| To his home I'm Tennessee, Bennett
Doty found the world of restored peace
| to be a very dull world indeed. So out
he Jared once more hunting for an
other bit of stir to life. Here and
there and over yonder--not very excits
ing. So. one day, he brought up in
Bordeaux at the door OF recruiting
Office where he signed himself away
u
famous-~refuge for the lost and
damned from every corner Of the earth,
This Is Doty's story of that adventure.
For an entire year / was in the For
eign Legion during some OF the most
desperate fighting that famous corps
has ever done And this In a far
country, one OF color and mystery and
romance. I had hardly completed my
preliminary training in Algiers when
/ was assigned to the now famed Vlngt-
neuvieme Compagnie of the Legion and
hurled into Syria in 1925. with revolt.
fire and rapine reigning everywhere
and the French sorely pressed" Then
he tells the story Of this lighting, q
face-to-face story vivid enough TO
make the reader himself sniff danger.
and shiver under the shock OF hand
to-hand conflict with strange and fan
| attic tribes of wholly treacherouS In
tent and action ION June 9Th, my
father In his home town in Tennessee
was notified that /. soldier or the
| Foreign Legion in Syria, thousands OF
miles away, had been court-martialed,
sentenced to death, and was about to
be shot" That. you see, was mis-
| take. Yet the fellow was sentenced to
eight years In prison for deserving. AS
long as there was fighting to do, as
| long as the Druses called for more
punishment at the hands of the Legion,
| Doty was In fine fettle. But the fight
ing over. cleaning up the country and
| administering 1t according to the
French notions OF the right kind of
protectorate. there began system OF
road building. in which carrying heavy
stones by hand had large part.
No work this for soldier and an
adventurer. Might as we'll be back on
the hills of Tennessee digging out rocks
and putting them somewhere else
And. so. Doty--or Gilbert Clare, accord
ing to the enlistment papers-~simply
lit out for freedom. He and three
others. Caught, of course, and brought
! In military trial Then came releAHe