Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-13


stance or the charm of Its manner. One -ex-
poets to meet here the poet historian. the
philosopher. And he does meet them, all three.
That is not the point of reluctance toward adj
Venturing this way. The book Is too big. Too
big for whom? For anybody, except the little
coterie idle and exclusive, who ne needing the
beok can nevertheless devote years to its COM
pAnionShip One wishes it had been three
books, as 1t IN reality is instead OF the tome
like bulk that It now is.
However, let US be on the way with the
~GOthick North" 1t is, in effect, great en-
terprise. Its author is an adVenturer VINO, I'M
like the most of his tribe, runs backward into
the past seeking the trail Of other men, rather
than into the future that is uncharted, undIS-
covered. The historian, therefore, is Mr.. Sit
wen at the moment. Exclusive Mt that. for no
longer is he content to restudy the art of Rome
and Spain-nOr that of any other. of the dark
haired" geniuSeS of the South. Instead he turns
himself Squarely around for an approach to the
Northman in that ones conception OF LIE and
his achievements in civilization. A very inter-
eSting thing to do, it turns out. At least Mr..
Sitwell makes it absorbing. To trace the de-
parture from those original impulses that beset
ali humans alike-the first outreach toward the
expression of feelings and desires, the common
start In all art-to follow such departures into
distinct and settled racial and national differ
enceS is a great adventure. This adventure Mr..
Sitwen confines to the Nordic art and inStitu-
ions, to Nordic modes Of thought and schools
Of philosophy. Careless of time, the writer
fingers like the poet, rather than like the
historian, over some this or that, ont from which
he draws finally an Illuminating episode that
stands for complete period of artistic develop
ment. Yet it is not for the fact authentic and
complete, that ones goes along here. Rather
Tor the man, talking seemingly to himself, does
OnaRfollow to catch the opinions that he gathers
out OF rock or stone or old tower or fading
tapestry. To catch, as we'll the re-embodiment
M these fragments into the completed unity
from which they have fallen, and upon which
they point for fulflllment. Now and then others
Join this wanderer-or are they pure inventions,
b serve an audience and spur to his own
speech? No matter. They give cOmpanionship
through the long. long way chosen by an idltng
poet who at times becomes the most rigorous
Of investigators upon the themes of history,
architecture and its attendant arts, upon
tapestry and other expressions of the cold,
elean-cut, rigorous, exacting agencies that
carved the face of the North and that, naturally
dominated and directed the course of its his
tOry, its music, its paintings. its woven pic
hres-that shaped. indeed, the fun sum, OF
NoFdic existence. To hold in hand to read at
times to hope to reach more Often to absorb
Is undeniable richness at receptive moods
such is the opportunity offered by this book to
those who are not masters of long leisure.
THE SEVENTH WAVE: BY Marietta Min
nigerode Andrews, author of MY Studio
Window" etc New York: Albert & Charles
Boni
A CLEVER novel And about something
too. inside it is of the common stuff of
hfe* Outside it is Of personality to draw
and to hold as well.
THE Seventh Wave" is the drama of a
dynasty. I agree with you that the oversee
royal dynasty does not, IN print, make stirring
entertainment. 1t has q way of petering out,
finally, quite to the discontinue of an artist
bent upon that final outburst of triumph whose
name is ''the happy ending" and without which
he need hope for no very great measure of
e0mmon acceptance. But this is another sort
Of dynasty It is a New-wOrld product, en-
bodied in the house Of Higgins higgins"
IN the soaring moments Of the clan Four
generations of them-Old Henderson, his son.
grandson and great-grandsOn. The son didn't
count, except as the begetter of q son to
carry on. He turned tail and ran out of life
most un-Hgginslike behavior AEide from him.
ehe others lived up TO the mark of old Hen
9erson himsef-and what mark Let's stop
Q minute here to pay tribute to an author, q
woman at that, who can conceive and deliver
% the pages of q novel such splendid men,
Good men? No, not ct all good! Masterful,
arrogant unreasonable, uncontrolled themselves,
hit bent to the subjugatiOn of all around them;
Sandstone, maynard in about every direction,
DEVASTATING there you are. And alive!
me master brand IN their own day. The
gB-getters of this DAY. The period of
this story is about 1880, a century ago.
me place is Of pioneer cast, though to-
@ay. it is hardly Midwesten. The small town,
surrounding farms, few intereSts outside the
general uneventtul run. It Is with this back
ground That Mrs. Andrews scores one of the
eRfumphs Of the novel, Within an area lin
4aed enough for realization she does most art
eal selective work, and with this re-createS the
people in their slow approach TO the opening
west, in their advance upon the Civil War
IN another part Of the story. that part dealing
with Europe and q young Higgins studying
axt there, the author again shows an artists
appreciation Of location, Of place, both in its