Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-26
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

time in all OF its manifesto
tons, both great and small. We
recognize this universal cadence In
great matters-in the rhythmic swing Of
the seasons, in the steady sequence of
day and night, in seed time and harvest,
In life and death, In the rise Of peoples
and their fall, in the growth Of civiliza-
lions and their decline. History Is but
an object lesson in the unfailing and
agelesS obedience of events to the
changeless up-and-down of the baton
of the leader. Mathematics in all of
its forms is reply to this measure,
Art-whlch. too, is NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ing, music, poetry, sculpture, painting,
melodic prose, are but diverse responses
to the single swayings Of this rise and
fall of the measures that so recur-
rently control the universe. And in
daily life, in individual existence, the
cadence still holds, though this divining
truth is hardly recognized at all.
Nevertheless, the earth and everything
that it holds are in bondage, or In lib
Grafton, to the eternal occurrences"
of the time-beat Of existence.
author Of "juggler's Kiss" New
York: Coward-McCann, Inc.
A DRAMA of the eternal recur-
"A renee" 16OO-i920. The Florentine
Republic-the municipality of Chicago
in democratic U. s. A. The guild Of
the goldsmiths at the height of its
artistry and financial influence in
1900, but ready to take the down turn,
The Western World-Chicago here
representing it-rising to the huge
money measure of the go-getter. Here
is stretched the S00-year span In which
Manuel Komroff stages this historic
play of the Eternal Recurrence" The
aristocracy Of blood, the aristocracy Of
the church, the rise Of Napoleon and
the new theory of world conquest, the
fall of his empire, the common man
here and there rising above his birth
brand and gradually insinuating him.
self upon the lordlier level--just a
gradual shifting of human values, very
gradual and hardly to be counted. Then
the increasing importance of intelli-
gence, regardless. within bounds, of its
placement in this human being or that
one, provided he be . creator in the
domain of literature, art, music. A new
aristocracy in the making-that Of the
mind. And then-the circle Is rounded,
the measure filled, the tune ended, and
the everlasting old-new movement sets
In again-and Just then the curtain
falls. Across the huge historic back
ground of the drama Manuel Komroft
follows the golden thread of the no
bility of birth. In the course Of time
war obscures this birthright Of lofty
lineage. Industry lifts the masses nearer
to the hereditary owners Of the earth
so that their supremacy Is not only
lessened in appearance, but It Is dim
inished in fact as well. Great wealth to
the commoner further reduces them.
Then, with such wealth to the plain
industrialist comes the itch for titles
and orders. And there you are. The
matter becomes objective In the story
of the Count de Senlis. In the far
journeyings that, in the course Of time,
the wonderful coronet made by famous
goldsmith Of Florence was doomed to
make. Hidden for years. Lost for
century. It's family depleted. Its for
tunes as vagrant as It itself had come
to be. Then the rise of q new Senlis,
the recovery Of the coronet, the valiant
noble come TO America to exchange It
for q fortune with girl Added--you
can see the new story already on its
recurrent way.
Here to another writer would have
been q maze of material. Not with this
man, so clear in his vision, so selective
in his habit, so stepped in the essence
Of the romance that he had to deliver.
so orderly in his assignment of incident
and episode to the emergent idea, so
comprehensive in his seizure of the
whole-and, withal, so mastery and
poSSessive writer. Simple-very. AS
any artist Is simple. Psychologist to the
bottom Of each character. Ironic-oh,
deliciously ironic, in q bland innocence
of word that is irresistible. From these
qualities there steps out here powerful
novel Of substantial foundation in hui
man affairs, romantic novel that IS
| mostly truth and very little fabrication,
a novel to entrance the reader beyond
any shadow Of doubt or conjecture. 1t
| Is all remarkable writing. But for the
| top notch of that kind of writing. the
retreat Of Napoleon and his army from
| Russia is so vivid, so realistic, so pene-
| trating, that the reader retreats, too
| and suffers along the way and starves
and freezes and hangs on to life by q
thread, along with the two boys, Andre
and Leon, with whom he has thrown In
his lot. This Is q long novel-700
pages-but any one will sit up With It.
! day and night, even . book reader will
week whimper for q look Of attention
I don't recall novel, just now. with
the depth, the scope. the power, the
beauty Of "Coronet," by that gifted and
versatile man, Manuel Komroff.
| + y 4
ARUNDEL. BY Kenneth Roberts. Gar
den City, N. Y. Doubleday, Dorar
& Co.
THE holder Of Maine fishing license
= who, with experienced and com
petent guide, adequate OUTFIT and mild
weather, takes an extensive Summer
sporting trip through the upper Kenne-
bee and Dead River country. following
| its headwaterS perhaps as far Is Lake
Megantic, is inclined thereafter, justi-
fiably. to refer to his journey rather
jauntily-white water. heavy rains, nip
| ping nights, and perhaps an eventual
meagerness of menu receive due con-
| sideration in the oft-repeated resumes
of his toilsome and ambitious trip. To
such is recommended q reading OF
Arundel" first novel Of Kenneth Rob-
erts, who Is permanently adopted, u
not, indeed, native, resident OF the Pine
Tree State; thoroughly converSant with
the nature Of its hinterlands and with
the idiosyncrasies Of its Inhabitants
and with his keen and sympathetic
sense Of humor In this case throttled
down to delicious murmur. Mr.. Rob-
erts' romance, for such, though his
torical, 1t really is, deals with the am
bilious attack Of Benedict Arnold on
launched from the lower Kennebec in
the flrst year Of our War for indie
pendence and at q season when the
weather-wise down fastener" begins
! to den up until Spring. Arnold's little
| Army IN its first week and its FIRST
few dozen miles flnds Lady Luck with
/ face so averted that the reader him
self decides that nothing harder can
happen to 1t. He Is wrong. however,
each gay seems worse than the one be.
fore. The ragged ContinentalS--and
these became ragged almost instantly
! fight cold. rain, sleet, snow, starVa-
tion,. shipwreck, treachery, terror, dis
sension, disease and despair, but they
get there. They do not capture Quebec,