Evening star., 1928-11-25
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

THE INTIMATE PAPERS OF COL.
HOUSE,: Volumes III and ". Ar
ranged as a Narrative by Charles
Seymour. professor of history, Yale
University. Boston: Houghton- Milf
fin Co.
|HE international scope of this
work: the events, worldwide
and vital, of the period COW
cred by it; the problems. pso-
found and far-reaching which
It restates: the intimate and authen-
tic source of its derivation; the fidelity
of its hold upon both general and par
ticular fact the wide confidence of the
public in its author; the personality
and character of Col. House himself
and, finally, the sudden drama of war
which served to cast the silent and
successful business man in a role of
almost legendary glamor as trusted
adviser in the deliberations of the post
speaking, that stands as warrant for
a general and enthusiastic welcome for
THE Intimate Papers of Col House"
Four volumes, in all, have been sifted
selected and arranged from bulk of
material that would have made five
times as many painstaking man of
affairs, Col House. who left nothing of
those rnomentouS days of wartime and
its settlements to memory and Its easy
forgettings. The proceedings of every
day were set down in full record.
Therefore. the work of the editor.
Charles Seymour, was a stupendous
one, combining identical reports. Sc
lecting, arranging, shaking down the
mass and giving to 1t the flavor of a
story But he did it, And here it is
f,,I1 nf
pendous theme, movement, revelation
and conclusion.
The outline is familiar to all, for,
only 10 years ago this was a current
tale, each day one of horrible unfold
ings. Then, the end of war and the
long negotiations, the hopes and the
disappcintments.
We, sitting at home, read of all this,
and more. We read about a certain
IA points that caused great dip
lomatic agony before these were ac-
cepted. We read Of the rise of the
League of Nations. of secret treaties,
of. war loans. of Supreme War Coun-
Gil. of many another important Sc
quence to the business of killing one
another off. And these matters are
set down here in great precision of de-
tail, in wide scope of inclusion.
quite other than the effect of those
current readings of ours, 10 years ago.
Then we knew that we were getting
only a surface sweep of affairs, just the
little that was deemed advisable to
deliver Here we are sure that the
whole matter has been turned inside
out. shaken and aired, that no with
holdings might hide away from COM
mon sight. To be sure, this fullness
Of avowal does not serve to change the
general current of those historic mat
ters, but 1t does yield many an ex-
planatory and satisfying point to
otherwise puzzling reticencies, or mis-
leadings, on certain aspects of the war
and its settlements.
The personalities of the work are
many. All most interesting. They
serve to bring remote men of substance
closer for common understanding OF
them. They give to bare historic re-
port the warmth of human beings
trying to compose terrible matter
with some appearance of humanity
and decency 1t is at this point that
readers will take their prime delight
in the work and its author-a fair and
kindly man, who sees the best there Is
to see, who interprets with wisdom and
fairness and friendliness. To be sure,
it is the wide sweep of the whole story
that counts finally. All the same, it is
the living pages of intimate touch, of
incident set down near and warm, over
and over again. of familiar names of
leaders changed to the leaders them
selves in very human forms of identi-
fication. 1t is these things that serve
to make. THE Intimate Papers of
Col. House" - just that. intimate. "
And therefore, tremendously impressive
as immediate personal contacts between
the reader and the greatest point of
history that the world has yet produced.
X y
FROM KAW TEEPEE TO CAPITOL:
The Life Story of Charles Curtis, IN