Evening star., 1928-11-18

up to such amazing dimensions. A
native uprising in South Africa moves
the matter forward in bewildering in
tricarieS of plot, for. strange to say,
its moving spirit is that same big ne
gro. Prester John. with whom Davy
and his friends had had the early
encounter on the coast of Scotland
Now Prester John Is a complex and
most interesting person, with reversionS
to another stage Of existence that make
of him a peculiarly dangerous devil
to cope with And it is upon the genius
and versatility of Prester John for pure
demonism that the adventures of Davy
mount and mount to such heights as
one hardly can account for, even when
they are sourced in the ingenious mind
and stark drama Of John Buchan.
More than once-in fact, most Of the
time-you are sure that Davy Is a
goner, but, Of course, you know that
cannot be so, for 1t is the single busi-
ness of the hero of a tale to come out
not only alive but with clouds of glory
trailing behind him. Davy does. And
this is certainly peach of an adven-
ture, with Brester John and the natives
of South Africa on one side and Davy
Crawford on the other.
+ X
FROM NOW TO ADAM. Peter Tomp-
kins' Adventures in the Bible. BY
John Brett Langstaff. Illustrated
| by Luxor Price. New York; Harper
* Brothers.
1T was in church that. as any one is
likely to do, Peter TompkinS fell
asleep When Peter woke up he was
not in church at all. Instead. he was
| lurching from side to side on the back
Lee al 11AlA fo ~ To 70 a n
in front of him, staring in daze OF
surprise at the resort over which they
were moving. The great adventure was
| on. Peter was on his way back to
| Adam. Indeed, he arrived in time for
| the creation itself With Adam and
! Eve he moved into Eden, where he re-
manned till a certain domestic difficulty
made this no longer pleasant place
for any boy. Outside the garden. men
and adventures crowded around him.
Joseph and David, Samson and Solo
mon, Jacob and Esau, and many an
other, each in his own place going
about his affairs much as men do now
| adayS. That was an exciting time for
Peter, and, as 1t turned out, profitable
time. For the Holy Land, its hills and
valleys, fields and streams were much
/ like those at home. And the people,
too. were like the home folks, attending
In familiar fashion to those matters
that pack the Sunday Bible from lid to
| lid. It Is a charming book for any one to
read. Its purpose. the good one OF max
ing the Bible simpler and nearer than
old practices have permitted it to be, IS
met not only in knowledge, but in a
genial tenderness that makes the book
beautiful and touching one. Sympa-
thetic and communicable, this author
| uiV1N that Uf1iHh
| most other hands could not have been
done at all, or would have been done in
something like futility tinged with dis
aster.
| THE EXCITING ADVENTURES OF
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. BY Vernon
Quinn. Pictures in color by H. G.
Murphy. New York; Frederick A.
Stokes Co.
| CPEAKING of history. how much bet
4 - ter it would have been for its stu
! dents If Capt. John Smith could have
been saved for some such account of
him as is here set down by Mr.. Quinn.
A blown-up. bewhiSkered fellow he will
remain to the most OF US, poking up
the rivers of the Atlantic Coast and
making queer maps to represent his
geographical findings. He himself may
have been dead tired of such mild
goings on, and that may have caused
the invention of the Pocahontas legend.
At any rate. here We are with story
Of John Smith as is story. Running
away from home, early, was the begin
ming of career so hazardous, so ex-
citing so filled with bloodshed and
gore, so packed with hazards Of battle
and with chances of escape that one
! has no time to take breath between the
leap from the tip-top of one adventure
| to the summit of another. Smugglers,
! thieves pirates crowd the story. Smith
| himself was first one and then another
| of these. To clip off the head of
/ Turk was nothing at all. To lie in
danger of sudden death at the hands
! Of captors was even less. There is no
use trying to tell you even small part
| of the things that John Smith did, and
was. But that is much better than to
cut you of from tlrst-hand partaking
of the amazing adventures of Capt.
John Smith. Man-size stuff. this is for
the boys to seize upon and devour.
X
UNDER THE LILACS. BY Louisa NJ.
Alcott. Illustrated by Marguerite
Davis. Boston: Little, Brown g. Co.
IT is 40 years, and more, since Louisa
Alcott wrote story. Yet. reading
here, this one might have been drawn
off from yesterday. or this morning.
For 1t is fresh story, with the dew of
the dawn upon it. That was Miss AL
colts way. A spirit unquenchable was
her bright possession. Dealing with
young folks, as she invariably did in
her writings, served only to keep that
spirit youthful one. Under the
Lilacs" is a lovely story. today. Dogs
are the same, you see, and so are chill
dren. Neither of them changes Sancho,
Ben Browns performing dog, is exactly
as doggy as Fido out on the sidewalk.
And Ben Brown himself might be the
newsboy on the corner. Well, these two,
| tired Of glory land work, ran away from
the circus and hid in barn from their
pursuerS. They were found by boy
and girl-and that's the beginning of
long and beautiful to-do in which a
| darling poodle dog earned his keep and
no end of affection by his really ir-
reSistible ways and his surprising pow
ers of being first-rate pal. read
this story years ago. 1 read 1t again