Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-17

Panama Roughneck Ballads, 1912.
Both dedication and ballad are highly signih-
cant Under the builder, the engineer, the
administrator, achieving one of the greatest OF
modern national and international trade
routes-under all this of distinguished public
service there is the man himself, open to the
advances of every order of need. 1t is, in fact
only the small man who is exclusive, I'M
approachable even shade arrogant Only the
fool who is either in feeling or in bearing
superior Here is The Big Man.
thought, as doubtless you are thinking
that in general terms knew of the career OF
George Goethals. But. having caught this
honlely and genuine tribute to him, decided
that this is a book to read for my own sake
So in deep absorption, took the trail of the
Colonel" Back to where the Goethals tribe
began-an astonishingly ancient lineage. But
I'm not greatly excited over family trees. Not
much of a climber. Much rather would pre-
fer to stay on the ground and look across at
my contemporaries and their immediate forbears
to see the warming efforts they are making
with the business of being alive. But II you
do like genealogy here is a fine chapter for
your pleasuring. School days for the lad George
and what he did to these are more TO our
common liking. Then comes the joy and pride
of West Point, with the occasional slip here
and there that appears only to add to the
glamour of that almost fabulous West Point
tradition and training Then the boys choice
is made for engineering. Finally the real BUSH
ness of building, since construction Is to be
the physical and mental and spiritual pre-
occupation of this man for the rest of his life
You know the story in outline-service in Porto
Rico and otherwhere. But it is the Panama
Canal that stands for Goethal, that is Goethal
Here the benevolent despot" ruled for the
efficiency of the enterprise and for the well
being of the workers. And, at last. the end
of the big job" An epic story to be read in
homage to a great, a simply great countryman.
Its authors, father and son, are highly compe-
tent historians. Were such. Both are gone.
Between them they projected the great drama
of American history, the Panama Canal wherein
the leading role, the dominant role, was taken
by a man cut to its very measure-"Go Cocktails
genius of the Panama Canal.
SHEPHERDS IN SACKCLOTH. BY Sheila
Kaye-Smith, author of Joanna Golden"
etc. New York Harper &c Bros.
NJovELISTS, separated broadly, are out
farers on the one hand, home dwellers on
the other To the first we are in debt for wide
views of the world, for adventure in many new
forms. for customs diverse. for atmosphere Of
exotic suggestion. To the second we are in
even deeper bond for the greatly illuminating
fact that the neighborhood span reveals charms
hitherto unrecognized, and that here, besides,
within this narrow reach the whole of human
existence in its essentials may be found. The
little and the big different from each
other. 1t is writer's like this one and other
Stay-at-homeS, working their own garden plots,
who make cearest demonstration of every mans
identity with every other man. Sheila Kaye
Smith is q clearly distinguished literary worker
in the Sussex that has nourished her whole life.
This corner of England is hers by right of
kinship with the SOIL with the look Of the
land with the drift of the clouds and the slant
of the rain with the trends of neighborhOod
thought, with the common behaviors of the
community. It is from this source that her
novels have sprung, in dramatic proof that
humanity is family, its variations being only
of superficial quality. Here Is little Sussex
village with its outlying farms. At the center
OF it are the church and its rector. Indeed, the
rector and his wife dominate this action
through their care for the spiritual dependents
around them. These are also the Steadying
influence where all around many signs Of
new order encroaching upon the past. Here
areg young folks feeling the drive Of the present
as they are doing everywhere. Young love and
its rush upon disaster is one of the familiar
incidents OF the hOmespun tale. The super
wisdom of the elders Is not missing from this
realistic picture Of Sussex and of all creation
besides. Little minds and open rub
together here as everywhere Small events
reveal personal qualities Of worth and unworth
naturally and cOnvincingly. All the things we
do, all the things we are come out In this
chronicle of Sussex. Such the material from
which the artist-patent, feeling. divning,
sensing the great symmetry under the outer
diversity and disharmony-takes up in her hands
and delivers to us this realism Of old Sussex
and of the world itself
LONE COWBOY: My Life Story. win James
author of Cow Country" etc. illustrated
by the author. New York: Charles Scrih-
ner's Sons.
THE full stress Of this story Is on the lone
one of the lonesomeSt personal recordings
ever made, I'm sure. Not that by design sither