Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G. M.
THIS MAN ADAMS: The Man Who
Never Died. Samuel Mccoy. Brer-

It appears that he did not die after
all-thiS John Adams, born at Brain
tree, Mass, in 1875. He is not only
still alive, but prodigiously active and
influential as we'll. Such Is the first
discovery projected by this robust &C
count, offered in evidence OF the valid
ity of its claim.
Again, 1t appears that the most Of us
die because we've never been born-not
really born. Such is the astounding
theory presented here for anybody to
work over as long as he sees fit, for
proof or disproof.
However, the direct business in hand
is This Man Adams" According to
the wiseacres. seeing Is believing. To
be sure, we have learned better, yet
sight does stand for some measure of
evidence, for some substance of truth.
And Samuel Mccoy saw John Adams,
saw him strolling along the road, a
sturdy and erect man who, upon ap-
proach, bowed gravely and said, John
Adams, your servant. Sir" And that
was the way of 1.-THE convincing way
of 1t. Out of such meeting came the
adventure of acquaintance with this
man, on the part Of Mr.. Mccoy. And
this passed into wonder at the clear
case of one man who has circumvented
time to the toll of 200 already counted
years. A man who out Of such a past
stands today vital part of the funda-
mentals of this twentieth century Of
progress and power. The adventure
becomes ours by way Of the good serv-
ice Of Samuel Mccoy.
A new kind of biography. Writers
for some time now have been tinkering
with this troublesome form of &C
counting. The time sequence-birth
living, death-the old way, would no
longer serve. It had become wooden
thing. fit only for deep interment with
the perishable being whom 1t sought
to represent. These eXperimenterS In
biography have made good progress
toward the essential realities Of life
so completely recharged man with
the vital and dominating forces Of his
existence as has Samuel Mccoy in his
adventure with John Adams.
Desire and the CUTS to go after the
thing desired. That Is John Adams
There's the secret. John Adams
wants this! This is mine! Mine!
Don't you touch thatl It's mine!"
"And nothing on Gods green earth
Mccoy talking-"is going to stop these
me- men, these mine men, these
property men, these possessions men
these my rights men from getting what
they DESIRE" John Adams was that
kind. So were Columbus and Watts, anc
so are a couple or so right around us to.
day. Pick out these two or three and
watch them.
Luckily for us, Mr.. Adams yelled and
howled for the right to keep what be.
longs to u.s." and SO we have a self
governing country instead of a country
dependent upon Old World notions Of
caste and control. So we have any
number of things, precious things, ir
the way of rights and liberties that, but
for the John Adams kind and but fol
John Adams himself, we might never
have had, certainly would not have hac
as early as we did.
You know as well as this author does
the steps In our colonial history thai
mark the career and the service Of Johr
Adams. In this adventure Mr.. MCCOY
takes you over the familiar road again
not to refresh the facts, but to bring
you close instead to this irascible
tempestuous, domineering me- mar
who DIT no point will be denied, because
1t is not in his nature to give way abou
these things-freedom from England
self-governing colonies, a federation, Z
declaration of independence, a war II
secure it, and then the establishment O
new relations with Europe on the basil
Of equality and freedom Of intercourse
An old story?. To be sure. Here, how
ever, the story is charged to many 6
point of liberating explosion by tht
dynamic force, the irresistible vitality
by the wish, the will, the persona
power of "this man Adams"
will you never grow weary OF fight
ing for liberties?"-you John Adams;
"You are eternally rebel, an agitatsr
a man who says, If there Is no prece
dent, it Is high time that preceden
should be set.'
Yet what q glorious thing for us
you and me and the rest-that JohI
Adams was q rebel and q fighter. Die
he make enemies? Oh, hosts of them
who to this day are hostile, bitterly criti
cal! He doesn't mind. He loves ar
enemy, without whom he could NJ
longer fight. His wars were Of the biz
sort-flghting for country to be born
for nation to be set upon its way, fol
freedom to have fair chance. Grea
John Adams! How deep in debt we are
too, to Samuel Mccoy, who has herr
so exactly fitted the medium by way o.
which this doughty patriot comes to u
with the savorS of his own lusty life
upon him, with the ardors of his owl
uncomfortable will flaming so fiercely
before us. Splendid!
\ 4 X X
THE ROMANCE OF FORGOTTEN
MEN. Pohn T. Faris. Harper & Bros
If school children ever stopped Il
think-which, luckily In the main, they
do not-they would wonder how in the
early years the country managed to make
shift with no more than a dozen mer
to look after it. All great men-Wash-
ington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin
with no sign at all of lesser folks to help
along. These youngsters, If they were
not so bent upon mightier matters
might feel surprise that these were the
people. the whole people, Of that day
Later the very natural query gains sub
stance and a looking about for Its
answer.
Here by way of John Faris is o pat
tern, admirable in both form and spirit,
to serve the purpose of question like
this. Here are Is stories drawn from
different points and periods of the
earlier history Of this country. Each
CeilGeTS upOll al A1OANAuudi WIN, Wy 1hAs
personality, or achievement. or by his
failures maybe, stands out as q figure
of romance. Mr.. Faris has a genius for
the past, a clear sympathy with it, q
feeling for It's moods and efforts and
colors. This he has proved more than
once by creating pure romance out OF
the commonly accepted prose Of maps
and boundaries and rivers. myself
have a book by John Faris that often
and often satisfies the restless wander
urge that takes everybody now and then.
With this book, map becomes people
and adventure and other lines incorpo-
rated with my own. So, a Faris book
promises me much. This one does.
Whether read about Elihu Burritt, the
learned blacksmith, or Humphreys, who
did so much for the American Navy, or
Suffer, who figured so picturesquely In
the gold rush of California, or Christie