Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-18
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

Journey Around the World" etc.
New York: The Century Co.
ND, by the same token, 20 do we.
N High time. too. The most writ
"A tent OF countries, and the most
4 a sung. Greece is, nevertheless, a
relatively unknown region.
There It lies well nigh buried between
its mornentous past on the one hand
and it's commonplace present on the
other. To the plain traveller 1t is. pri-
marty. y stepping Stone from Europe
STEPPED In the brew Of It's pagan and
classic glory. Hellas is a dear lamenta-
ton, a lnourrful retrospect.
The most modern Of tramps here
takes q hand at this old home spot of
gods and demi-gods. A vagabond
whose uneasy feet are ever busy in an
ardor TO keep up with this whirling
planet. As q rule the vagabond sug-
gests the poet. This one, however, Is
not so much the minstrel as he is, in
approach and attack, the business man
strayed from Market street or Wall.
Here Is the energetic collector OF places,
the skilled organizer Of material into
budgets Of related fact. A man of the
present, absorbed IN its character and
promise, yet with an eye over his
shoulder for This or that relic Of the
past az 1t stands, aloof and unheeded,
looking around upon the present, its
own future It is today, and tomorrow,
that concerns this traveller. The past
is but stage setting for the activities
of this living age. It IS in such spirit
that Mr.. Franck leads us. by way Of
Cyprus, over into the Greece of the
scape, hot as Hellas," according to
the guide. A sun-baked and unpoetic
land. A ruin here, Q falling temple
there-reminiscen Of q golden past.
But, the point in hand is the country
with tts people as we meet these on this
voyage Of discovery. What are they do
ing for q living, these modern Greeks?
What is their economic value? What
their political rule? What their out
look upon the future? What their i'm
portance 10 the rest Of the world? Very
plain talk, very eficient treatment, very
unsentimental appraisements-just the
average reader needs to give reality to
vision that belongs to eyes now gone.
Equipped for comparisons drawn from
personal observations as few travel
writers are, or have been, Mr.. Franck
makes free and Illuminating use OF this
chief Of interpreters in this rounding up
OF one OF the Oldest centers of human
interest and che Of the newest. His
tory, geography and story come to-
getler here, o trio as dependable and
Informing as they are in combination
altogether captivating.
BOB DAVIS ABROAD! BY Robert H
Davis, author of over NJ Leo
Shoulder" etc. New York: D. Ap-
pleton g. Co.
ITALY, France. England, Canada
L and the rest Of the Abroad" Save
for the trimmings 1t might as well have
been Cayuga County and Weedsport
or any other local roundabout. To be
sure. these trimmings give color and
glamour and charm that are not easily
seized out of our own back yards. But
at home or away 1t is, after all, the
writer himself. the man himself, who
turns the common ways into byways
OF pleasure and delight. The man In
this case idles around Europe-land OF
story and song. of art in its various
modes, OF history nfornentouS since his
tory was young. Apparently he sees
none of these things-not this time, at
any rate. Instead. 1t is an old man
with the vestigeS Of better GAYS about
Bob Davis-and he spins trihine
story around him, as trifling as tragedy
Is. as sorrow Is, as speeding doom Is
Or it is the moment with the "underfeo
epicure" over in Italy bent to the bust
ness Of one square meal. The part!
of the other part Is a spring KID
bundled into the car and headed upor
the business of that square meal.
You know the rest-the kid cried FOL
its mother, and sided against the Leg
OF that hungry man. seeking safety ane
warmth. Sounded exactly like a baby
CRYING for its mother And It was
well-you read that story. for 1t is
beautiful one Not a story at all, either
Just a touch of life. And the boob
Is q series Of such touches, whether
the moment be taken from italy Of
Canada or any other where. The man
you sect Is always the man. thu
writer. It is the way Of the words
must be, since there Is only small
handful Of themes. With this partic-
ular Bob Davis it is the genius fol
little things. for a flashing moment OF
life, that inspires his hand-his hear
and mind-to such deeply beautiful
Rfinpses into the universal things Of
human existence. This last sounds toe
| large. But 1t isn't. Rather, 1t means
to cover the million littlenesses OF life
with its single vast bigness.
X n =
CAGLTOSTRO. BY Johannes vor
Guentl1er. Translated by Huntle!
Paterson. Illustrations by Pau
Wenck. New York: Harper & Bros.
AN AMERICAN hardly could hav'
"A done this. Not yet do we SUI
flcientfy sense the fact that art has
nothing at all to do with morals. That
is. the reading public does not sense
this. 30, were a great writer OF TINS
country to take up an old rogue. char
latan, mystic, inesmerist-such as TINS
Cae1iostro-as theme for art apprec1a.
ton and projection, right then woulc
the scandalized arbiters deny him hear.
ing. Such, however, is the subject OF
this study. Born to deception anc
bred to its practice, often self-dendeo
by his own success, Cagliostro STANDS
here embodied in his own powers OF
making lies over into seeming truth
tt Is clear that this author looks upon
the man as a subject into which ne
sielves for the mental and moral source
Of his amazing accomplishments In
pure charlatanisfn and quackery. Just
q boy, to start with like any other
Today we'd call him drug clerk. In
that old apothecary's shop in Palermo
the lad began to concoct many thing
other than pure medicaments. Alchemy
drew him toward Strang visions and
powers. Not so strange m that DAY
as like dreams would be in this one
And, chiefly, because the boy believed
so intensely in himself ne 1noculatec
this foundation his wonder working
grew. All Europe-kings and queens
and Observation-Disclosures In Cagliostro
super-wiZard, sublime fakir.. Step by
step, this German author follows the
trail Of the historic going