Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-28
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

By Edward Hungerford. Illustrated.
New York: G. p. Putnams Sons.
|WO big volumes project the first
hundred wears of existence for
the great b. & o. Railroad. At
first glance the history of any
inanimate thing looks unilluni-
mating. uninviting. A railroad-surveys,
concessions and rights Of way, road
beds, the laying of ties, the stringing
of tracks, the rumble of trains, clouds
Of black smoke, the hooting of engines,
goods passing back and forth. Dull!
Then boards of finance and direction,
stock, bonds. Mysterious as well as
dull! Yes, it does look something like
that. But that, you see, is not the
way of this story. In the first place
this is not the history on an inanimate
thing" Long before the B. t. o. be-
came a going concern it was alive with
the vision of dreamers, with the adven-
t,,re of progress, with the panorama of
contacts between the East and the
West. Here is the story of men who
have spent their lives in making the
vision come true, in turning the ad-
venture to pioneering for new settle
ments and homes, in laying the foun-
dation of all civilizations, in contacts,
in doing away with distance. Engineers,
financiers, technicians and plain work.
men came together here. And this is
their story as it portrays here the 100
years of work that has been accom-
plished by this single railway. Mr.
Hungerford has conceived the great
story in the terms Of human enterprise,
of human endeavor One reads it in
the same spirit. From its first out
reachings-only to Harper's Ferry. then
down to Washington, then across the
Potomac--on TO its crossing of the
Ohio River, its penetration into many
Of the States to the Westward, the rec
ord runs. And from such material
growth the story tells of the participa-
ton Of this railway in the various his
toric movements Of the country. Here
Is the record of its work in the Civil
War, in the World War and, indeed,
in every movement through the areas
traversed by 1t. Industry has made de-
mands upon it. Hard times have regis
tered with 1t. Its career has been one
Of ups and downs, like the career Of
every human, like that especially of
the man, of the men, standing behind
this railroad pioneer of the new world.
Indeed, the history OF the Eastern half
Of the country for the period is re-
flected in this story of the B. & o.
for the first century Of its life. You
will find yourself reading the story
the romance might say-of something
that is very much alive. Adventure
beckonS 1t and. always under this spur,
1t moves swiftly out into the West.
Now, If you are Of the order OF big
industry, you will read this book from
the standpoint Of the financier, of the
builder, Of the promoter. All of the
interests Of these technicians are here
set forth In a big and sweeping survey
Of the rise of the railway in the United
States. Such special treatment was,
of course, expected. Here it Is That,
however, which might not be looked for,
is the romance of this gigantic ad-
venturing into the West by way OF
rails and engines that went spying out
the land for the use Of the past century
IN its amazing expansion and settle
ment and enterprise. 1t is not easy
to see just how Mr.. Hungerford has
done this big thing. Not easy to see
how he has held so clearly to a thing
Of many technical aspects, of clear
business connota ton, and has. at the
same time, created the true romance
Of railroad building. the romance of the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
OUR JIM: A Biography. BY Joe
Mitchell Chapple. Boston: Chapple
Publishing Co., Ltd
HERE is fortnight and hearty study
of James j. Davis. Secretary of
Labor. Clear, that Joe Chapple sees no
reason why a biography should be
squeezed dry Of any personal sentiment
on the part of the writer toward the
subject of his study. Nor is there any
such reason. But we are suspicious
crew, prone to confuse fairness with
partially. Admiration with faulty
Judgment. Here Is a fine case, none
better, to prove the narrow unintelli-
gence of such a view. About all that
Joe Chapple does in respect to Mr.
Davis is to say over again that which
We already know about the Secretary
of Labor. The difference Is that here
the story is told with vividness and
gusto. as this writer would tell 1t If he
ventured upon it at all. Moreover, the
book gathers as whole that which Is
known only in parts by many. And
out of 1t, the writer takes care that the
man himself shall stand in the open.
Here is the working man who looks out
upon labor in a friendliness that has
no tinge Of fanaticism about 1t. Here
Is the cabinet officer who through two
administrations has served his country
like the statesman that he is, with no
faint SAVIOR of the politician upon any
of his attitudes and actions. Here is
a worker in the great Loyal Order of
Moose and, above all, here Is the friend
Of children, bent to the business OF Sc
curing for these a fair roadway to
youth and early maturity. All OF this
Is known. Here there is nothing new
to say. But there is here a very new
way of telling the story-a Joe Chapple
way, that leaps up in friendship and
admiration for truly great American
born in Wales, Welch-American do
ing high honor to his adopted land and
to the working folks of that land. Not
the least of the work here is that by
way Of which Chapple reveals Mr.. Davis
through some of his own words-a talk
here, speech there. At random,
choose for your reading, The eulogy
Of Secretary James J. Davis to his chief,
the late President Warren @. Harding"
"a whole-hearted tribute to high serv-
ice, with not single 'if" or but" about
1t anywhere. We, in the main, are
cowards-but nowhere in this book
does a timid man, or even shrinking
man have place. A fine story for our
refreshment and happiness.
X n X X
THIS STRANGE ADVENTURE. By
Mary Roberts Rinehart, author OF
Lost Ecstasy" etc. New York:
Doubleday, Doran 81 Co.
A S matter of fact this strange adj
"A venture" is yours and mine. For,
in effect, it Is the adventure OF being
alive-of going to bed and getting up,
of slipping out of clothes and into them
again, of eating and drinking, of work.
ing and playing. Upon this general
pattern OF existence odd scrolls and
curliques are laid. These seem to give
variety to individual life. Not so, for
these are merely the splotches of love
and marriage, of birth and death. OF
fugitive happiness and swift awakening.
of the crafts and arts employed to
keep going-this the seeming variety,
the actual similarity. But to tell
story one cannot make use of all