Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-02
By the Booklorer


THE Man Who Lost Himself" by
| Osbert Sitwell, one of the clever trio
| of Sitwell brothers and sister, In called
| novel. but might equally well or better
be read as q book of travel in Spain.
| For many pages Mr.. Sitwell apparently
| forgets that he has begun q story and
loses himself in descriptions of scenes
! and life in Granada. This Is not ad-
verse criticism. Few descriptions of
Granada are comparable in vividness to
his, and the plot woven about the char
acter of TriStram Orlander Is not so
| absorbing as to make one impatient OF
interruption. Tristram Orlander, after
a nervous breakdown caused by the re-
| fusal of Ursula Rypton to marry him,
because she preferred a rich to q poor
| husband, went to Spain to recuperate,
accompanied by his friend Osbert.
| There the two became enthralled by the
/ severe charm Of Granada and fingered
until Tristram's health seemed almost
entirely restored and Osbert was obliged
to return to England on account OF
| income considerations. They entered
Spain by way of Gibraltar and Algeciras,
and that Andalusian Spring was an
| never a whip of rain" They made
their way slowly to Seville, visiting
Ronda. Cordoba and Cadiz Seville held
them for some weeks, with ''itS clustered
| women sitting round q fountain in a
patio . its serpentine pink, blood-red
and lime-green alleys . the narrow
streets, full of wine shops that are
within like white-washed caves .
! the orchards of orange trees at this
| buds as much as with their usual hang
| ing golden lamps, and giving forth a
| fragrance that, waited over painted
walls into the street, can even combat
the pungent oriental smell of Spanish
! cookery"
At last, tired of Seville, they "trundled
| through the darkness toward Granada. +"
Arriving there, they determined to find
exactly the place for lodgings which
would have Spanish atmosphere, but
not too much of it. and would also be
| cheap. So they left their luggage at
| town and up the Alhambra Hill. THE
! lion colored domes and towers sank
behind us as we began to climb a steep
hill. Indeed, the ascent is quite abrupt,
though 1t lies in a long cleft that runs
| up to the top between two hills. Now
| passing under the arch Of robust
| Moorish tower, we found ourselves on q
| broad road, leading through q wood.
Along by our side q stream ran down,
and everywhere in the deep thickets
and Businesses into which led number
of box-edged paths could be heard the
sound Of water leaping down the HILL
| They were to become very familiar with
this wood, full of the sound of rushing,
murmuring waters, as they walked
through it many times on their way to
and from the town. They found lodg-
ingS just at the back of the Alhambra
in a small, red-painted Spanish hotel.
above it rose very bare and golden
hills. and beyond these again the whole
range of the Sierra Nevada stood ex-
| posed, their planes OF snow flashing
under the sun like the wings of angry
| swans" The wood assumed for them
something sinister, because there they
almost always met a poorly but re-
! specially dressed French woman, with
q face which expressed emotions of
violent fear combined with a thwarted
cunning that cannot be too strongly
| drawn" The woman led by the hand
an emaciated boy of six or seven, whose
| face pictured only q dumb despair that
was at once weak and ferocious." This
woman of the villainous but pitiful ap-
| pearance always begged from them and
muttered dark sayings about "the hard
! and brutal country of Spain and the
''old dead city" of Granada. These
almost daily encounters in the wood, in
which they never dared ask the woman's
| trouble for fear of hearing something
too horrible, finally began to unsettle
the, nerves of Osbert, though Tristram
seemed to be unaffected by them.
Every characteristic sight of Granada
became familiar to the two friends
the loads of American and German
tourists which tumbled out at the AL
hambra every day, just after the siesta,
with their guides, and began to operate
their motion picture machines; the
| operate gypsies who swarmed in and
out of electrically lighted caves under
| the hills, now paid to stay in the neigh
borhood instead of being driven out,
in order to furnish local color and
thrills for wealthy Americans; the
troops of drawing whimpering beggars
| clustered about the porticoes of the
| churches and pressing even to the
| greasy padded entrance curtain, dis
| playing their sores, MANNED limbs, and
blindness; the fat Spanish ladies and
lean American and English ones, posing
| for their photographs in, harem cos
tunes in little shops whose traplike
doors were adorned with Oriental
| moments of real beauty when they lis
tened to a blind singer sing Spanish
songs to his guitar, the old Flamenco
| music, or claimed sanctuary from the
tourists In the empty, roofieSs palace
OF the Emperor Charles v. There we were
safe, for tourists were at that time for
hidden by their guides to admire any
building on these heights erected after
the expulsion of the Moors." Their
greatest joy in Granada was just after
the sunset hour. THE light was dying.
Every city has its own beauties Of
light and darkness, but when the sun
has set and its last dragons breath of
| fire has been extinguished. there comes
to Granada a moment that no other
city knows. From the farther parapet,
upon which We leant, 1t was possible to
see almost the entire town, swinging
and curving over its rounded hills. For
about seven or eight minutes a deep
blueness. a blueness the transparency
of which is scarcely believable, fingers
over and incloses the world. All else,
hills, houses and town, irradiate a light
golden or primrose tone that is vet fat
but is heightened by the lights that in
mimicry of the stars above them are
fiuttering out in all directions below.
The very ground itself appears to share
in the illumination, for each gypsy
cave opposite winks an electric eye"
= \
DR.. David Fairchild, famous botan-
iSt, knows great deal about many
other things in addition to botany. This
knowledge and an enthusiastic, vital
style make his book, Exploring for
Plants" very pleasant reading. After
round of social visits to the best
botanic gardens of the world, DR.. Fair
child and his companions toured North
Africa in motor car. Ceylon, Java
and Sumatra also were explored for
their vegetable mysteries. Birds, wild
animals and natives interested the
party, but only Secondarily: for the