Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-04
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

1t Is beginning TO look as II, after al,
1t is the novelist, the poet. the DRAM
atist, who will give to peoples the only
true vision of the greatest. and most
significant event in national life-war.
War has, time out of mind, been the
preoccupation of kings and politicians,
sometimes called statesmen, the latter.
Its ultimate purpose has been the ex-
change of one ruler for another, the
enlargement Of subject territory on the
one hand, its shrinkage on the other.
Its instrument, armies. Its procedure,
campaign and battle. Natural enough,
maybe that the historian should visual
lie such martial ambitions as the whole
of history. Natural or not, this is what
he has done History is in the main
record of wars-arnlies generals, strate-
gies. fighting, defeat or victory-with
final shuding this way or that to the
glory of one ruler and the shame OF the
other.
Then one day some one woke to the
armieS-to the men, to the man. Woke
up to the millions of men and women
back home, to the individual agony OF
wa-, regardless of position in the world
or in the lines rcgardful only OF the
human trying to feel and act Ike
fighting beast.
The Red Badge of Courage" sees
that man, that humble soldier man. So
does James Boyd in Marching Men"
So does Stephen Benet in John Browns
Body"-and so does Evelyn Scott in her
great Civil War story THE Wave"
truly a great story-of isn't it story?
mind. If it is the function of novel
to deliver life itself over into the life
of the reader-why, here is the truest
truth of a novel. The Civil War. The
greatest and most significant event OF
this country. Touching every home,
every family within the limits OF the
land. And so, Evelyn Scott moves here
and there, North and South, stopping
with the seeming leisure Of the careful
artist to set down few men, or women
or children, all reacting to the trench
! cous thing going on, over there, out
yonder. And so close does it come that
: with each of these groups there Is the
very essence of human feeling ana pc
havior toward 1t. Birth. way OF INC,
work, food, superstition, tradition,
training or lack of it, these take pos
session of the people at hand in real
ism that no one can deny, for II IS ltS
own reality acting out through these
various localities fired and furrowed by
a Civil War. 1t is by this means that
the story grows, moving here and there
from one center of action to another,
stopping beside the plain soldier, in
camp or on the march, or on the hring
line--and In each point of pause prob
ing with subtle touch and divining
heart right into the soul OF the Soldler
o in the field as we'll as into the soul OIL
the waiting ones at home. NO one
hero to carry this matter forward, no
grand man on horseback to make the
Great and supposedly inspiring gesture
S"after you, my dear AlphonSe." the
actual content of that gesture. No. no
single hero here Instead every one is
heroic-the lad at the front, the woman
waiting for the end, the children IN
need. the sick folks taking second place
in the great excitment. Every me Is
of heroic measure. Every individual
fs significant. It is all war material
all war. Beside her clear gift OF bring
ing this rnonstrous national movement
to the inclusion of the lowliest and the
most Unhappy. Evelyn Scott Is poet
and she needs to be. Patiently she
builds in a seeming leisure-thls 10
Cality and that one. The very texture
of the local atmosphere comes out mere,
the very scent of the particular fields,
the song of this bird that belongs IN
that place and no other She Is not
lettering. She's not tagging. Instead.
she is sitting into your heart and nina
ali the dearnesses that these people on
both sides, feel slipping away ana leaV-
ing them stark and miserable; "A poe
without doubt. Then from Illuminating
detail this woman moves into the
breadth and depth of the Civil War
picturing nightly where momcnt pc
fore she was sketching in little loves
and joys. Oh, a great story-a great
story Of our greatest moment IN history.
A tale with thousand heroes-ngntlng
lads, women, children-none otners IN
the beginnings of any war, only tne
helpless ones, the followers Of blind
leaders.
- r. Il
THE AFTERMATH: 1s1s-192s. BY
The Right Hon. winston Churchih,
C. H., M P. New York: Charles
Scr.hners Sons.
0THE. ALTERNATE" stands as Sc
L or,ence and climax 70 the three
other volumes of war history by Win
ston S. Churchill. The preceding
studies covered 1.-THE World Crisis"
from 1911 to 1918. examined from the
standpoint of this man of wide and I'M
mediate experience in military matters
and in the political conferences OF Eng
land and the Continent. The After
math' covers in widely raolatlng
range the world matters which have
engaged the bulk of human interest
since the close of the World War. one
meets here a procession of war states
men. each set out in the measure CT his
service under the testing years that
have followed the war. Familiar names,
a shade dinnmed maybe by the friction
of time and changed outlook-WIS0n,
Lloyd George, Clemenceau, Venlzelos
and others. Great events march mere
also. One comes upon the revolution in
Russia, the murder of its Tsar and MS
family, the new order springing up after
so criminal an act-an order not yet
proved, though it has been tried by civil
war and great individual hardshlps
YET to be tried further, and yet tried.
Greece, Ireland, Turkey-each moment
Gus in its aim. effort and outcome
march in this pageant of striving ma
tions and peoples. Then, happily and
promisingly. the march turns toward
peace conferences, toward the accom-
moeiations of discussion and comoro-
mise, in the interests Of world deeply
conscious that war has never yet settled
anything for its permanent wellbeing.
Tremendous scope, amazing achieve
Ynent-nothing less. To marshal these
forces-So vast, so varied, 50 vitality sig
nifcant-to round them into narrative
that is continuous and coherent, that
moves along a constantly ascending
plane toward the supreme height Of the
world itself in a happy and productive
peace-to so marshal these great forces
as Mr.. Churchill has done IN The
Aftermath" proclaims the great his
torian--autientic, selective, dramatic
to whom succeeding historians win be
deep in debt. as win also the student
and reader Of world events.
y y
PINES OF JAALAM. BY Daniel Chase.
author of Hardy Rye" Indianapolis:
The Bobbs- Merrill Company
THE power Of this novel-and it has
clear power-lies not entirely In the
fact that Daniel Chase stands IN pos
session of the New England character