Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-08
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C. M.

Il As Os W.
Did you on Saturday night hear DR..
Coville tell by way Of The Star Radio
Forum about the trees In Lafayette
Park? No? Sorry! Perhaps, though,
you did read report Of 1t In The Sun
day Star, following that broadcast.
Fine! And during this week Of Spring
that Is now so gloriously stepping out
many will without doubt be making a
way over there to see with fresh edge
Of interest that which they have hun
dredS Of times passed by with no more
than a vague sense Of the great beauty
OF this spread Of greenery across from
the Presidents house. Hardly believ-
able this story. But DR.. Coville, plant
expert, is unaSsailable as authority.
Therefore. we are under honest bond to
accept the "97 different kinds of tree
and shrub" to be found within the park
"a greater variety than any other equal
area Of the Capital can show.
AS for me, I'm going to hunt out flrSt
the "deodar." like the sound Of the
word and its reminiscent nude of Kip
ling's India. There will be no trouble
about finding it, nor any other Of the
tree residents of the park. For, besides
the good scientist. Dr., Coville is the
perfect Baedeker as well.
your tree-your own? No? Then do it
at once, for the sake of a novel adven-
ture in happiness. You neither have
to buy 1t nor to invest in a plot Of real
estate for its anchorage and sustenance!
Nothing like that. Simply choose o
nearby tree-one that you like. Then
assume that 1t is yours and proceed to
cultivate its acquaintance, exactly in
the spirit and with the arts employed to
nVN N~Hn a
| tree in Franklin Park; own 1t by way
Of the clear pre-emptive right of simple
declaration, o right that interferes with
| no other claim whatever. / could tell
you q story about that tree-my tree.
You wouldn't believe 1t, but I'm going
to take chance on that. One night,
late, was over there by myself. No,
the city parks during nighttime are not
dedicated solely to lurking bootleggers,
nor to houSeleSS lovers, nor lodgingleSS
Migrants. Quite circumSpect persons
go into them now and then merely to
see what the night Is doing to them.
1t was midnight or thereabout-this
time of which 1 am telling you. The
moon, full to its brim, had no other job,
seemingly, than to soak that particular
square in its own white and eerie
witchery. Facing my tree. was think
ing Of its poise and splendor, Of its
indifference to adulation and daylight
homage, Of its lack Of that vanity which
Is to the human the breath Of life it
self. Then 1 felt-yes. felt-a tremor
within the great body Of the tree.
| Slowly 1t seemed to open, like a door
under cautious hands. 1t did open a
| little way. And out from It moved, no
more than single step, tal1 wing soul
of that tree-a dryad. Poised, with
| hands hattened back against it, ready
| for swift retreat into the refuge Of the
huge body, it stood there, beautiful and
shining in the moon glow. Then, like o
wrath, it slipped back into its native
| home. Didn't see any such thing? To
be sure saw it! The laugh of derision
and unbelief is too ready by far. Ger
tainly there is nothing easier than to
suggest that / saw flapper out waiting
for her belated cavalier or a wife hover
| ing around on the watch for a recreant
| lord. "Moonstruck?" Well, all right!
But saw neither of these, nor any
other thing save lovely dryad. ancient
spirit, bound forever within the great
tree kingdom. Reject this as fanciful
and untrue, if you will. Yet that is
what saw; what you may see. Keep
company with the trees. In going by
your own tree lay your hand upon 1t,
and from it will pass into you some
modicum of its own Stanch courage, its
compoSure and poise, the apsCere beauty
of its own life, its stole understanding.
Now and then we like to see, not the
dear, everyday trees, but instead lord
of tree life, a grandee, a sahib Of the
order. And right here comes the OPP
portunity to do just that:
ARISTOCRATs OF THE TREES.
Ernest H. Wilson. author of China,
Mother Of Gardens" etc. Illustrated
Boston: The Stratford Co.
The background of this pageant is a
panorama of homage to all trees as the
common monarch Of plant life. Whether
fulneSS, or inspiration to man, 1t is the
tree that stands highest In relation to
human life, and to animal life as well.
Such general recognition and accept
ance runs across the setting of this
story like a lovely and significant ara
besque. Against 1t are then set one and
another Of these lordly and beautiful
manifestations of a fecund natural life
upon which so much of all other life
depends. These trees march in pagean-
try here, native trees and alien alike
Yet even the strangers become finally
domesticated, finally Of the home soil,
equal in the affections of man with the
older friends. Here they march on the
one hand in tender Spring verdancy,
or on the other in the royal robes of
Autumn splendor-the oak, the elm, the
maple, the beech and birch and linden;
then, a little more remote, the gingko
and the holly. The thrifty nut trees
come into the parade. And around
them all Is woven the tree lore that
these have communicated to the indie
fatigable student, Ernest Wilson, M. A,
" M. H, keeper of the Arnold Arbore-
tum Of Harvard, familiar OF trees the
world over. AS If these were humans
as indeed, they are in effect-they are
presented in their origin, in their
growth, as this Is affected by external
circumstances Of climate and soil, no
less than by the internal circumstance
Of special seed germ controlling modes
Of growth and habits of life. The study
sums to a body Of knowledge that is
both complete in content, practical In
projection and effect. But to such def
mite and ponderable fact Is added the
/ spiritual, the poetic, the artistic sig
nif1cance Of the tree world in its rela-
ton to the life o. man. You recall
that not so long ago another of the
impressive and rich studies by DR.. Will
son came this way, China. Mother Of
Gardens" a work which under this title
covered a comprehensive study of China
itself. 1t, too, was of a physical book
beauty that matches the study in hand.
Both handsome and impressive in ap-
pearance, rich and exclusive in the
quality of the illustrations. Indeed, these
tree pictures and tree landscapes stand
by virtue of sheer beauty within the
domain of art itself. Personal affection
and plain pride itself must go along
with the ownership of this book Of high
degree. A beautiful and appropriate
work upon a most important and i'm
preSsive theme.
4 + +
DANDELION DAYS. Henry William
| son. e. p. Dutton 81 Co.