Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-04
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Bookiorer

Col Edward B. Clark. veteran news
paper man and clever conversationalist
and story teller, who is Washington
resident when he Is not In Chicago or
Europe, has written an interesting BIZ
ography of one of the foremost United
States Army Engineers, William L..
Sibert, the Army Engineer" Col:
Clark, himself West Point man and
a colonel in the United States Army,
Reserve, Is we'll fitted to write appreci-
atively and Understandings OF the
achievements of Maj. Gen. Sibert.
These achievements are of great ma
tional Importance. He built the large
Atlantic locks of the Panama Canal,
created the Gatun Lake and built the
Gatun Dam. He investigated flood
conditions in China for the Red Cross
in 1914. He was chief of the Chemical
Warfare Service during the World War.
II was due to his initiative that the g.
foot channel on the Ohio River was
planned and carried to completion. He
rebuilt entirely the harbor and seaport
facilities of Mobile. Ala. His last i'm
portant public duty was as chairman
OF the committee appointed by President
Coolidge to study and report on the
BOulQer lam pFOlUSltioII'
X
Col. Clark's book Is well arranged in
chapters whose headings are interest
ingly suggestive: When He Followed
the Furrow," "Of the Stock of the
Pioneers" 1.-The Stripping Soldier, THE
Pathway of High Achievement" Boss
ing a Railroad" From Roadbed to
Riverbed." "A Game of Bridge" Both
Light and Serious" Under the Red
Cross in China" LAS Chemical Warfare
Chieftain," "At Work for His Native
State" etc. Opening his story. Col.
Clark says: This is the life story of a
farm-bred American engineer, one OF
the worlds greatest engineers, and, If
we can accept the estimate OF the great
Frenchman Bunau-Varilla, the worlds
greatest engineer, William Luther ST.
bert, major general, United States Army.
retired" Gen. Sibert was born In 1860
on farm in Alabama, which mad only
about 40 years before been part OF the
Cherokee Indian hunting grounds. His
ancestors were from Alsace-Lorraine,
sometimes Germany and sometimes
France" His father served in the
Confederate Army throughout the Civil
War. From country school to gradu-
alton at West Point is the summary OF
the younger Siberts education. After
West Point came q commission in the
United States Corps of EngineerS-and
a distinguished career. The high spots
in that career have already been men
toned.
A life so full as Cen. Sibert's OF
interesting happenings must naturally
produce some good anecdotes, and Col.
Clark has related a number OF these.
There is the story of the mule Mike,
belonging to the Sibert family during the
Civil War, which brought his batteries
instantly into action rear" when some
Union soldiers intruded on his domain.
There Is the stcry Of the opossum and
coon hunts in the house OF the gen.
eral. then major. at Panama. when the
animals took advantage OF the tropical
partitions, not reaching to the ceilings.
and escaped through all the rooms OF
the house. 1t was at Panama, also, that
Mai. Sibert found a specimen OF the
extremely poisonous fer-de-lance snake
lying on the rug in his hall at the
foot of the stairs. There Is the story
Of how Mai. Sibert entertained Mrs.
Theodore Roosevelt at luncheon at
Panama, when he sent word to his
Jamaican cook to prepare luncheon
No. l MRS. Sibert had arranged a
series of numbered luncheons for the
cook before leaving home Tor some
weeks, and the cook, thinking that
one luncheon was not go2q enough
for the Queen Of America" prepared
luncheons Nos. /, 2 and 8 and served
them successfully. with all the silver
and bric-a-brac in the house placed
ON exhibition in the dining and living
rooms. Mrs. Roosevelt had been alive
to the fun of the thing from the be-
ginning and had been having
the time of her life" Many other
anecdotes show the numor that light
ened q life full of serious endeayor ana
attainment.
One Of the best Of recent books for
children Is Smoky" the story OF a
horse. by VIII James. The story Of
viii James own life is interestingly
told In Lone Cowboy-My Life Story"
Horses, drawing pietures and writing
have been the great interests in the life
of VIII James. The book is illustrated
by his own drawings. i've never
sketched from life" he says, land never
watched any animal with intentions OF
sketching it." He was born in 1892,
when his parents were covered-wagon
pioneers in Montana. His mother died
when he was an infant and his father
few years later. His guardian and
French Canadian trapper named Jean
Beaupre, friend of his father. This
man taught him to camp, to trap, to
ride. The two wandered about the
Northwest and into Canada, visiting
ranches and camps, and at the age OF
II, when Beaupre had been killed by
drowning, VIII James decided that the
life of q cowboy was the life for him.
Many and varied were his experiences,
among them cattle stealing and term
in prison, where he was set to eXer-
cising the prison farm horses. Re
Gently he has decided that he is too
old for the occupation of struggling
with wild horses and has turned TO
writing, where his success has been
good.
One Of the recent striking novels of
French authorship is Les Peloueyre,"
by Francois Mauriac, which has been
translated by Lewis Galantiere under
the title of 1.-The Family" 1t is in two
parts, really two Stories-"The Kiss of
the Leper" and 1.-The Matriarch." Both
are rather grim and morbid. but APP
pealing through their real human trag-
edy. In the first, Jean Peloueyre, heir
to a considerable fortune and the FAM
lily name, is afflicted with q siekly, de-
formed body, so that he is repulsive to
every one. Yet his father is deter
mined that he shall marry and selects
for his bride handsome, healthy peas
ant girl, Nosmi. whose family is over
whelmed with the honor and the finan-
cial prospect, and never thinks of re-
fusing. The marriage takes place,
Noemi' Is obviously wretched in spite of
the pathetic kindness of her deformed
husband, and finally, in order to set
her free, Jean ends his life. The sec
ond story is that of the possessive love
of mother for her son and her domi-
nation over him, even after he has
annhd the of 6l Ealinita Caza