Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-13
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

TRAILS, RAILS AND WAR: The Life
Of Gen. G.. M. Dodge. BY j. r.
Perkins. illustrated. Indianapolis
The Bobbs-Merrill Co.
TIME life of Gen. Dodge is printed
under the auspices Of the His
torical Society of Iowa, his own
i State. Opening up the West
through the agency OF railroad
expansion which set in so vigorously
after the close of the Civil War is the
field of this mans national service as
both engineer and builder. For 80
years Gen Dodge was active and highly
efficient in the enterprise of railroad
building-engineer, protector, builder,
financier and director-as we'll as con-
spicucusly influential In securing legis-
lation bearing upon the essential busi-
ness of transportation. An organizer
as we'll as executive and administrator,
the story of this man covers in q high
degree Of intimate and authentic infor-
nation the story of Western railways.
J. r. Perkins sets out the achievement
much in the spirit of the work itself
direct, vigorous, progressive and finally
in a sturdy summary OF the contribu-
ton of this leader to the physical SOL
idarity of the United States by way of
rail communications. incidentally, the
account presents innumerable pictures
of local points along the way Of such
building. These pictures reproduce tine
great West in its processes of settle
ment and growth, in its variety of pee
Piles and habits gradually settling to
accommodations that present almost a
new strain Of population through the
blending OF so many variants. This
running sketch of the West in its max
ing is of distinct value in itself. Yet
- L; a,11xr L. g.
sent to his country the figure of Ger.
q. M. Dodge, one OF the great builders
of empire that the United States pro-
duced through the necessity OF bringing
into unity the widespread outposts OF
this vast domain of democracy. No
sort of history equals this sort, either
in substance or in general interest. The
service of expansion through the arts
Of peace-communicat industry, ex-
changes the highest Of all service.
Here is an example of that in fine sub
stance and in an equally competent
projection. A State does well to take
under it's authority this kind of recog-
milton and tribute for a son who has
contributed both effort and purpose
that are national in scope and effect.
* 4
THE GALAXY. BY Susan Ertz. author
OF Madame Claire" etc. New York:
D. Appleton and Company.
THE past half-century has worked
= something like a miracle in the
WAYS of material existence. A corre-
spending change, less marked but none
the less real, Is taking place in Hia
social relations Of life. Greater latf-
tudes in thought and behavior are en-
countered in the individual-the social.
the political. the religious individual.
With the young. especially. is this latl-
tude apparent, uneasily apparent to the
elders. This era of expansion is OF
deep interest to the novelist-as it is,
in fact. to every order Of publicist--giv-
ing a roomy stage for the drama OF
generations, an adequate field for the
accommodations Of the individual to
the shaping forces Of life and character.
Mr.. Galsworthy gives notable example
of the usefulness Of these changing ef-
fects in the "Forsyte Saga" Two women
Ellen Glasgow and Susan Ertz-are
conspicuous also for this use Of family
history as material for their latest ana
greatest novels. A single volume has
served each of these, where Mr.. Gals
worthy seemed to need more room for
the treatment of the theme. Well.
women ought to be better housekeepers
than men are-and, just possibly. they
are.
1.-THE Galaxy goes back to the early
sixties in London. coming forward from
that point through the changes in So
cial outlook and custom to the present
or thereabout. This is the story Of a
girl. Laura Deverill. whose childhood
training was that of all little girls so
years ago. When in the course of time
the young woman fell in love. it was
&c, yrffl1 Arcf
man who looked at her softly. Mar
riage, as 1t has so often done, proved
not to be the end of life with this
Girl. Well, what she does about 1t
is for you to read. Only word, to
say that the end Of the romance is as
modern as this mornings newspaper.
Having set the matter afoot in the cur
rent of these expanding days. Susan
Ertz lets it alone. That Is, she devotes
her time to the keeping of these book
people up to the mark of their own in
dividuality. each reacting on circun1-
stance, according to temperament ana
character. Each making his own trou-
BILE, her own trouble. as could not have
been done. by a woman at least. in the
days of her womanly reticencies ana
securities. CouraReously the story goes
forward through the only medium that
today offerS-the wide-open medium OF
personal independence of choice, With
A gallant taking Of the consequences.
One reads here. conscious Of the dis
tinction of this woman in her field
distinction Of thought, of practical out
look. of frank Difference to the time
spirit: distinction in the use of her
tools of imaginative invention for the
purposes of the full story itself. So well
worth reading that one almost auto
matically begins to weed out and to throw
away all but the increasing number OF
good novels that are piling up against
even the second best. Susan Ertz, Ellen
Glasgow. Ma2o de la Roche come to
mind right here. each with brand
new novel of high excellence for those
who call for superior purpose and
craftsmanship.
gUSHWHACKING: And Other Asiatic
Tales and Memories BY Sir Hugh
Clifford, author of "A Prince OF
Malaga" etc. Drawings by Mahlon
Blaine. New York: Harper and
Brothers.
TT Is q waywise book. The first half
dozen sentences make that clear.
80 one instinctively settles to the ease
of it, to the enjoyment of experiences
in far places that have not been drawn
of by the writer from Secono-h3nu
sources, or third. Sir Hugh Clifford is
at home with many strange peoples
strange to us-those of the Gold Coast
and Nigeria in Africa, those of India
Malaga, where. in the British civil
service, he is now governor and high
commissioner. 1t is from these that
he draws the stories that make up this
book. The immediacy Of these tales
of Malay, the feel OF them in the actu-
alities of jungle and hidden streams, In
the real presence of natives possessed