Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
IDA GILBERT MYERS.


THE DOCTOR LOOKS AT MAR
RAGE AND MEDICINE. BY Joseph
Collins, author Of Taking the Lite
rary Pulse" etc. New York: Double
day, Doran & Co.
~ O you know DR.. Joseph Collins,
DISTINGUISHED neurologist, writer,
critic? Are you at all familiar
- with his "The Doctor Looks"
books, wherein he examines
life and love, literature, other doctors.
and in which, sometimes, he inyesti-
oates nothing at all, save idlings in
Italv or otherwhere? II you do know
these books you have without doubt
reached the conviction that here Is not
only an eminent physician but one OF
the best of those among us who have
turned a critical eye upon the htera-
ture Of both the present and the past.
Well, here, the doctor looks at mar
riage. Listen: Marriage Is inevitable"
at is widely proclaimed that mar
riage is q failure and that II 1t Is to
function in the future. 1t must be re-
formed" "SelfiShness is the great
wrecker Of matrimony, self-control the
great welder." Just sentence or two
to show you the positive position OF this
man of much professional experience.
Under Marriage the doctor looks at
wornan--woman as wife, as mans
Companion, as woman's companion, as
mother. as monster" and at woman
and the world" Under these various
headings he pretty well covers the case
of woman, covers 1t directly, frankly
and completely. Much Of the DOCTORS
talk, or at least some OF the doctors
talk, you will not like. He is too hon
est for the average woman and ne
knows his subject too well. But, re-
member, the doctor Is not talking Tor
entertainment. He is trying to tell you
things that you already know but
choose to conceal or even to lie about.
Then, since medicine and the physician
are. in effect, a part Of every house,
hold the doctor discusses this family
institution in his personality, in the
progress of neurology toward an under
standing of many cryptic things. In
deed. here he covers every practical
aspect of the subject Of medicine in its
practice in relation to the family.
Mental Hygiene and the Upbringing
of Children is an important part OF
this most helpful book. 1t is right to
be frank with you before you set out
with the doctor" He is fortnight
man possessed Of wide information and
deep experience. He tells you things
that you already know, and some that
perhaps you do not know, in q plain
Saxon way. For you. assuming that
you are an outstanding and Intelligent
person, he has no bedside manner
whatever. He tells you. Take 1t or
leave it, he tells you. A most consid-
cradle treatment OF most consider
able matter.
TorLERs OF THE HILLS. BY Wards
Fisher. Boston, Houghton Mifnn
Co,
THE hills of Idaho. A lonely spot.
Mountains, fields of sagebrush and
matted rope grass. Wide skies, remote
and unhuman. No people roundabout.
Nothing but squirrels and birds, that
come to the single log cabin more for
forage than In friendlineSs. Lonesome
as death, surely more lonesome than
death. No company besides the squir-
rels and birds, except the storms. sud-
den and fierce-they also resentful, or
so it seems, at the audacity Of this pair.
What pair? Why, this man and his
wife who have crossed the larger width
of a continent to make o home out
there where folks are few and land
cheap. And this is the story-this
making q home" out of land whose
every grain Of soil Is protest against
being subdued. against giving UP its wild
life. Every day and every day. work
that breaks the back and fortunes the
muscles. Nights where WEAKNESS de-
other. Loneliness. Reproach, natural
ro,,rncs,1, coynircr mt IN Sy,ifa NJ tina will
Well, that is the story. And by and
by the man and woman are getting
older. Hope Is furnished. Courage Is
slackened. What about 1t all? Why
they have fought the land and have
conquered it-what there Is left of them
has finally won out. We call this kind
of thing epic-when we read 1t in some
classic, man-handled yarn of ancient
origin Why Is it not epic here? It Is!
Great! Yes. greatly conceived, greatly
delivered.
Not once Is there a Sinking away
from this war with nature, not once Is
there move to smooth the rough
places or to soften the hard life. And
that is the thing that makes this splen-
did accounting one of the highest value
to all of us. There is no adventure
greater than that of tanning this coun-
try OF ours to the business Of producing
food and shelter and opportunity to
people the world over. The great Mid
die West Is beginning to offer, is already
Offering at the hands of a few men and
women, an increasing few, the living
history Of this unfolding land of ours
Hard to resist being popular, for the
sake OF story like this. No, not popu-
lar in its cast, but infinitely better than
that. This story is great and bound to
increase In that quality as more and
more people read it.
GENTLEMEN UNAFRAID. BY Barrett
Willoughby, author of Rocking
Moon,' etc. New York: g. P. Put
MANS Sons.
TN sum this is q story of Alaskan
pioneers and trail blazers, Of swift
water pilots of the north country and
OF certain plant wizard who hunted
that wide region for its plant life. In
eject 1t Is wide and complete story
OF q country which, belonging to the
United States. Is In reality as little
known to the average person as is some
yet undiscovered country. In part this
&@NA Va AAAUAuldt1Utt ID QUG 10 1lU very
great interest In Alaska. It hasn't yet
come the way of the commonalty. In
other part the lack Is due to the dis
appointed explorer on the one hand
and on the other to the equally un-
reliable enthusiast.
1t Is true, as everybody knows. that
the home place. the native spot, the soil
OF ones birth and early years, does by
some necromancy get into the soul Of
each OF us, identifying US unalterably
making us intuitive about 1t, sympa-
thetic with 1t. possessed even of divina-
ton In respect to 1t. All this to say
that Alaska Is the home ground Of Bar
rett Willoughby. SO, when she Is talk
ing and writing about the land. or the
pioneers who have ventured there. or