Evening star., 1928-12-09

up to their surroundings in nature,
Just unconsciouSly live up to these be-
cause 1t is woven into the fiber of them.
Here are humor of characteristic stamp,
here is sentiment Of the true order,
here are behaviors such as the situa-
tion warrants. Clean and aired, here
Is robust story that is also most
delicate and sensitive story. Most en-
joyable md richly worth while.
y X
NUGGETS OF KNOWLEDGE. BY
George w. Simpson. New York:
George Sully g. Co.
THE alert newspaper man must fire.
= quently find his kit bulging with
odds and ends of news stuff, rniscel-
laneous overflow of routine output. The
poor housekeeper of a news man, kicks
it all away out of sight thinking that
some day. maybe, he'll see what can
be done with it. Another one, tidier
in habit and, possibly of the New Eng
land persuasion of thriftiness, falls
upon this ragbag litter to set it in
order, to turn it to usefulness and per-
haps profit.
George w. Stimson belongs to the
second class, as the book in hand
proves. Out of an accumulated bulk
OF news remnants he has produced a
general utility volume of good substance.
It reads something like the dictionary
which is a fair tribute since no other
book, save possibly the Bible, can COM
pare with the dictionary in its word
dramas In Mr. Simpsons Nuggets
of knowledge" may be found limit
merable bits of authentic fact that have
been forgotten in substance while the
words and terms covering them are
t. tS.nw %11n 49,
at random, which is the only way to
topics that stand here in such variety
and scope:
When were the dark ages?
What were the Seven Wonders OF
the Wcrld?
Why is New York called Gotham?
How did eggs and rabbits become
associated with Easter?
How did tabloid originate?
Why did Samuel Clemens adopt the
name of Mark. Twain?
And so on and so on indefinitely to
the summing Of reliable information
on a host of common topics, whose
foundations have fallen into obscurity.
A fine index invites the reader to go
as far as he likes in pursuing any of
these themes. A useful book, and an
interesting one to whose author readers
are in debt for the intelligent and de-
pendable treatment given by him to
a packed and bullying kit of news stuff.
81 X
THE BOY SCOUTS YEAR BOOK.
Edited by Franklin K, Matthews.
Illustrated. New York: D. Apple
ton & Co.
THOUGH, of course, it wasn't really
= made for Boy Scouts or any other
boys, yet the past year was wonder
year in such events and achievements
as drive deep into the interest of youth.
And this particular year book is. there.
fore, packed with marvels of flying and
sea adventuring. of getting together
of the entire world by way of the radio
and by other performances of science,
the great modern magician. 1t is of
such rich material that the new Year
Book is made. Tales of true adventure,
descriptions of new inventions, accounts
of travel by air and sea, with the names
Of Lindbergh and Comdr. Byrd riding
high all through the achievements of
the year. For once, certainly, print and
pictures enter into full partnership.
Artists have clearly done their best to
make pictures that will set the stories
and other records out in more COM
plete way than the text alone is able
to do. Significant of the spirit Of this
Year Book. there is on the cover a por-
trait of the boys greatest hero In the
world at present, Charles Lindbergh.
Any one would love this book, not a
Boy Scout alone, but any boy, any girl
any man or woman.
NOTHING is SACRED. BY Josephine
Hprhct n IN Hr-
Cam, Inc.
HERE is novel whose foundation is
next door. or across the street, or
In the next square; Just piece of life
as 1t is represented by family-father,
mother, three married daughters and
the proper number Of sons-in-law. One
daughter has children and rather wishes
she didn't have. Another is childless
and makes this the foundation of her
imagined troubles. The third is anx-
ious lest her particular man, off in Chi
cago or Detroit, is not as lonesome as
she wishes him to be- You see by this
that here is a story that is calculated
to flt about every neighborhood. Inter-
esting? Not at all. No more interest
ing than to sit on the doorstep seeing
the folks go By. 1t has, however,
decided point in its favor. This is. 1
think, first novel. Whatever the sub
ject chosen, one might In such situation
expect natural OVERRIDING or under
doing. Nothing, Of the sort Is to be seen
here. A straight story, tlnfolded with
insight, with keen sense of such
1raiiia as does exist and with corre-
spending effort to give to this its true
content and value. This, it seems to
me, is not only the high point in the
work, but very high point, indeed,
that can be expected to make itself
plain in other romances What is the
answered. Is 1t to reflect life. to pro-
vide a pattern Of common existence?
Or is 1t to amuse or divert or entertain
by virtue of its poetic translation of
bare existence into something beautiful
or heroic or beckoning toward a better
way of life? I don't know. But I wish
the clear gift Of this girl we're not being
used for so gray q pattern of realism.
SMUGGLER'S ISLAND: And the Devil
Fires of San Moros. BY Clarissa A.
Kneeland. illustrated by F. C. Yohn
and Wallace Goldsmith. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co.
DRIpE In possession Is the first feel
ing that this book will be likely
to arouse In the boys and girls lucky
enough to have 1t for their own. For
1t is O very beautiful book--a sizable.
dignifled book, finely made, exceedingly
well pictured In a word, book to
own and to love better and better as
the reading of 1t is repeated many
times. Adventure from start to finish
carries the business along. An island
not an uncommon thing to be found
in the near-shore Of ocean. or lake, or
Therapeutics the chief asset Of this
enterprise. Upon 1t a cave Of unsavory