Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-09
BY IDA GILBERT MYERS.

MAMBA'S DAUGHTERS. BY Du Bose
Hayward, author of "Porgy," etc.
New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
TWO unforgettable women emerge
from this novel At its close a
third one also is on her way.
4 Negro woman. al. The City of
Charleston backs this black
business. An earlier Charleston, this
which Du Bose Hayward brings for
ward bodily, so to speak, much as one
lifts q rare old garment from its chest
of lavender. Within it, the aromatic
fragrance, upon 1t no change save
faint yellow tinge, like the glamor of
time and distance. Here is the old
Charleston, stepped in the brew OF its
own climate and soil and growths OF
tree and vine so oddly exotic in look
and habit Bred, also. in its adroit ac-
commodations to the moods and tenn
perS of the sea beside which it has
thrown in its lot. Suspended in curl
Gus immobility of social exclusions, of
pleasant ceremonious ways, of gently
without. A background redolent of an
older order, portrayed to give fair in
terpretation of the matter in mind.
And that matter is Manila, her girl
Hagar, and the little granddaughter,
LISA. The end of the matter, even
from the beginning is LISA. No man
appears In this family group. There is
no man in it, 1t is as If out of some
far sources Of richly fecund life. po-
tentially elf-germinating, these three
had sprung from the mothering earth
itself
Old Manila is the master spirit here.
And a quite wonderful figure she Is.
Every heart beat of this Negro woman
is for the little LISA. The child must
have her chance. So, by vile and guile
ard a thousand acts of useful service
Manila takes on a family, rich white
folks. Becomes quality as q Negro
must, according to the gospel OF Manila
Then, Hagar--like some great prehis-
toric creature-gigantic. slow moving,
irresistible as q force OF nature. Be
wildered, like something blind ana
dumb to strange surroundings. Hagar,
working In the phosphate mines, doing
q mans part. Being man-till under
stress of danger or hurt to a fellow
worker Hagar's eyes grow soft and
mothering and the huge bulk becomes
woman, careful and tender.
Hagar--dumb and heavy of approach,
vet swift and sure in action-becomes
through the vicissitudeS OF this story
the sacrifice which, at far intervals
and under many forms OF demand IS
HagarI Down into the very heart OF
pity does she sink for her devotion
so blind, so true, so unfalterlng!
LISA was in danger. LISA must not
come to harm.
The great story-great in its sym
pathy, great in its communicable art
moves forward TO Lissa'S hour. An
hour of victory. An hour OF high obi-
CATION as well. For now LISA Is a
great singer, standing before the cflti-
cal music lovers of the metropolis.
Like some triumphant angel singing
her way into heaven, or out OF IL, TINS
beautiful maiden, all bronze and bloom,
faces her trial, too, as did Mamoa ana
Hasar meet theirs. What to do? TO
stand by her race in its power to be-
uueath to America the glorious legacy
of music-a music native, sourced III
the blood of her African forebears, i'm
measurable in It's promise OF beauty and
power. Or, to strive in utility 10
merge herself with the white people,
denying her birthright, selling her great
gift, her great opportunity. when?
A beautifully great novel before
which one stands in humility and graft
tude-ip awakening. as well.
X X *'*
MEN. MONEY, AND MOTORS: The
Drama of ~ the Automobile. BY
Theodore F. McManus and Norman
Beasley. New York: Harper q
Bros.
CHEHERAzDE is out of it for good
~ and all. That's plain. To be sure,
the girl deserves no end OF praise LOT
so artfully saving her own head from
the vengence of old Shahrlar 1or
thousand nights and q night" by her
la hi
crossing stories What q change time
has worked. Today mere thing on
wheels, an automobile, in the hands
of two young men who are striving TO
keep to the bare truth, serves to make
Sheherazade look like no more than
80 cents in modern currency. Wen,
here is the wonder tale OF the rise
and triumph of the automobile and the
motor industry in the present day and
age. Invention triumphant, growth OF
the industry, rivalries, competition, sue
cess for many, failure for a few, bust
ness methods applied to this particular
issue, measures of financing the enorm-
GUS business, the effect Of the motor
on daily life, on expanded communica-
ton, on the increase of international
business for this country-indeed, the
full sum of fact in respect to this i'm
mediate matter stands out here In
terse and pungent business attack up
on the entire subject. A personal book
crowded with men whose names stand
for one or another aspect Of the great
enterprise. An intimate disclosure
bringing into the open many trans
action of momentous scope whose story
Is worth while, not only in respect to
the motor itself but in an illumination
Of business attitudes and methods gen.
orally. Not only Sheherazade with her
made-up life-saving tales, but old
Homer himself counting his ships in
such sonorous namings. Is doomed to
complete forgetfulneSs and silence,
under the clang of names now famous.
No, not to begin them would never do.
Stand on the curb and you will see
this roster of successful business men
go whirling by on their ways over the
world. With these stories of men and
makes" here, also, Is the legend of
Detroit, Gargantuan city Of the auto
mobile. An engaging pair Of annalists.
these, who like two boys give the Hail
and Farewell of I'VE hope you will
like the story" We do.
CLOUD BY DAY. BY Pauline stiles,
author of 1.-THE Crooked Stick" etc.
New York: Doubleday, Doran &c Co.
THE married state is fast overtaking
i courtship as theme for the novel
With the emergence of the wife as full
partner in the business of matrimony
the theme takes on possibilities of
drama and interest that did not exist
when wife was merely an anachron-
istic tag-end of Oriental conception
and custom. Such expansion of mind
the practice increases the assets of
the novelist immeasurably. Courtship,
turned and twisted by earnest and
ingenious novelists was, nevertheless,
getting thin and threadbear as ma
terial for mis- art. Then, with the
opening of the world generally for