Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-12

The wilderness trail from Virginia to
Kentucky In Revolutionary days. the
trail of Daniel Boone. was a rough and
dangerous way. 1t was the trail fol-
lowed by Diony Hall with her young
husband, Berk Jarvis, the trail she
never retraced, for she became one of
the pioneer settlers Of Kentucky
Kentuck or Caintuck, as the settlers
called it-with good reason named 1.-The
Bloody Ground" The story of DiOny
and Berk Is told by Elizabeth MADDOX
Roberts in her recent novel, THE Great
Meadow" Before their marriage Berk
described to DiOny the new home he
planned for her and the way they
would follow to reach 1t, and because
Diony was q strong. hardy girl she was
not afraid. They would 60 10 the
country behind the mountains and start
new world there" he said. HE would
have horses to carry them and horses
to carry their packs, and there would
be corn enough. The price OF land in
the cane country was 20 or 80 Shillings
for hundred acres and he told her
what gold he had saved and what silver
he had earned from the sale of pelts,
and now secreted in his money belt"
Their route would be up the river and
over the Blue Ledge, through the Valley
down into Augusta County. Then down
In south direction into the waters OF
the Kanawha, but you keep southwest
and 60 over long ridge into the waters
OF the Holston." So, with her few
household goods on pack horses and her
cow driven before, Diony set of with
Berk toward the wilderness. Others
Joined them until their party numbered
Is or more. For weeks they fought
mountains, fording swollen creeks.
sleeping In the open, feeding on the
wild game the men shot, always follow
ing Boone'S Road. At their last nights
camp, Diony said to Berk: What do
We want here? What did we come for?"
And Berk replied: I'VE want fine high
house, out i'll the rich cane. We want
farm to tend fields" On the
next day they rode into Harrod's Fort.
which was TO be their home and refuge
from the Indians. The hardening of
the Journey was only the beginning Of
the hardening which life was to bring
TO Diony. AS she pounded the corn In
mortar and made the corn cakes on
the hearth, as she drew water at the
spring In the center of the Stockade,
as she boiled bears grease and leached
ashes In a huge iron kettle to make
soap. as she cut deer's skin into moe
caSins and shirts. as she whitfield spoons
from pieces Of wood and grew gourds
for dishes, as she watched the men go
out from the fort to fight the Indians,
as she bore her child in her dark,
barely furnished little cabin and then
as she watched through many months.
with leSSening hope, for the return of
Berk, her thoughts wandered often back
to the home Of her father, Thomas
Hall, In Albemarle County, Va. There
the process OF civilization had been
longer at work; there the dangers were
fewer and the comforts of life more.
Inc story OF the settlement of Harrod's
Fort in Kentucky is told by Elizabeth
MADDOX Roberts with the descriptive
skill and power to create atmosphere
which she showed in her earlier novel,
The Time of Man.
Talking with COsSack farmer in a
village near the River Don last Sum-
mer. William Henry Chamberlin, au-
thor OF Soviet Russia" asked him
how present-day crops compared with
those OF pre-war days. "Of course
they're much smaller" the farmer re-
piled. First of all we lost a great deal
Of man power and many animals in the
civil war. Many of our farms are car
fled on by women now, and we haven't
nearly as many horses and bullocks as
we need. According to the rules our
poorest peasants get the best land and
the land nearest the village. The rich
est get the worst land, and land that's
far away. The result is that our best
land is poorly cultivated, because the
poor lack horses and machinery, and
are sometimes bad farmers anyway.
while the better equipment of the rich
is partly wasted because they have in
ferior land
japanese festivals and ceremonials
still colorful and often poetic, in spite
OF the invasion Of Western customs, are
nearly all symbolical. In the chapter
Celebrations OF her book, THE
Shoji," Kikou Yamata describes some
Of them by means of story sketches. On
the evening of the day of the semi-an-
nual house cleaning ordered by the po-
lice for all hOuseholders, she goes with
her brother to SuShiya'S stall famous
among epicures," to eat 'suShi," balls of
rice served with various accessories.
The balls OF pearly rice, close like a
finely wrought mass of Chinese gems.
held my Imagination. AS sat with my
elbow resting on the table-pad, l could
see those SuShi balls i'll procession,
dressed with a layer of omelette, split
praWnS. or rolled i'll SeaWeed, with q
touch Of kampio for stuffing, hanging
out ike a thread. / could see others
with cuttlef1sh on their backs the suck
erS luminous, like a night lamp. But /
longed most to eat Sushi dressed with
raw fish; blend of white flesh and
vegetable flesh for the palate, with q
SAVIOR Of tunny-fiSh. q little unctuous,
and spread with a foam of sauce, sea-
SOned with q small, underlying heap of
radish hidden like the bud of a plant
between two tissues" Funeral ami
verSaries the Feast of Exorcisms, cherry
blossom festivals, an imperial ball and
several personal social functions are
similarly sketched impressionistically
The title of the book is symbolical The
''shoji' in Japanese houses is the slid
ing paper screen which forms the par
titiOn between rooms, and partly makes
private, partly reveals, what is going
on within the rooms. Thus Japanese
family life is both reserved, intimate
and entirely the affair Of the social Or
ganization.
DR.. Karl Menninger on his recent
visit to Cleveland encountered one Of
the experiences said to be common to
authors. In one of the leading book
stores he picked up copy of his own
book, The Human Mind" and engaged
the sales girl in conversation about it.
What's the subject of this Human
Mind'?" he asked her. "oh, it's a lot
of talk about abnormal people and
things like thati They say it's awfully
good. And do you know" she whis-
pered confidentially, they say he's q
little abnormal himself"
\
Hilaire BellOc praises the efficiency
Of the Turkish military organization of
the sixteenth century, though of course
deploring it, in his book How the Ref
Ormation Happened" He says that the
battle of Mohacs Field. on the Danube
below Budapest, made the Hapsburgs