Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-02


-yHE geographic usefulness of q man
depends upon the purpose and quality
of his work, upon its reach into the
n general life, upon its vital and infu-
entail extension into q future in
finitely beyond that of the physical man himself,
lying somewhere, unmindful The truly great
man continues, progressively contemporaneous.
For such there should be biographies-these
rewritten upon occasion. Not presented again
altogether either for those bodies Of new ma
teriaI," about which so much is said nowadays.
Rather for q retesting of the mans quality
and substance by way of the new conditions
that time is constantly producing and that
serve incidentally q measure Of earlier
VISIONS It is for such proper and necessary
re-evaluations by the standards of progress in
every line that great men should be summoned
more than once or twice to prove their worth
to a growing world or to disprove it.
1t is, take it, for such reaccounting that
Claude Fuess spent 10 years Of study on the
subject Of Daniel Webster. Every sort Of evil
dence-histoTies, personal documents, private
papers-appears to have gone into the present
work. Out Of its two volumes Of clear analysis
and spirited narration there emergeS a man
who his lifelong dominated by single
vision of political wisdom. Student lawyer,
great expositor and supporter of the Consti-
tuition, politician, orator, legislator, statesman
mere man withal, bearing the frailties of that
office Daniel Webster had but one political
Republic. In his day, as in ours disruptive
agencies were ever at work. Like Washington
before him, like Lincoln after him, Webster
knew that the paramount issue was ever the
preservation of the Union. Did he decry States
rights? A disintegrating influence upon the
solidarity of the whole. Did he thunder against
notification? wedge of ominous menace to
the country as unit. So it is for this political
prepossession the part of the great man
that he becomes, continuously and progressively,
q proper study for those who seek both the
body and the spirit of American history.
The New England small town, Boston, New
York, Washington-these the fields that mark
the youth and maturity of Daniel Webster, that
mark the growth and fulfllment of the
structive statesman. Following along the path
set by the biographer one comes upon the later
Webster in many a circumstance of his earlier
days, in many an outlook from the high peaks
of individual ambition and high patriotism.
Sometimes in conflict, these two; for this is q
masterful and aggressive man with private de-
sires to be fulfilled, with public well being now
and then temporarily ignored under the pressure
of personal ambition. Not for long, however
fer, upon the whole and in large Webster was
not only brilliant statesman but sincere
supporter of his country as well
And here you have Daniel Webster, drawn
in big and little lines true to life, through an
enormous amount of research and a surprising
selective art, through the merging and melting
and humanizing Of history for the re-embodi-
ment of a man, a great man, to teach anew
some Of the lessons of political wisdom and
statesmanly vision. Direct heir to Webster,
Abraham Lincoln-both guardians of the Union.
both watchers at the gate of this country'S
integrity and unity. Such is the Webster mes
sage as vital today as it was half century
ago, as it will be centuries from now. A great
story projected in knowledge and trained vision
for the use of students Of American history
and OF political history in every part of the
world.
rere, author of Les Civileses," Goncourt
prize novel, Translated by Harold Strauss.
New York: Alfred H. King.
CEARCH the book through and you will find
~ no Justification for the title Fashions in
Marriage" "Marche Funebre" the French
thor calls It, and it is just that-a funeral
march, an organ dirge for the dead for those
who are most dead and are not called So" OF
course, Fashions in Marriage is a more in
triguing title. and, to stretch a point, there
may not be so much difference between death
and the amazing marriage that Claude Farrere
brings out in this book. But, at least, it is not
in fashion, even in France, and you will be
gratifed to know that.
Leave it to the French to probe deep into
the strange ways Of life One wonders to what
ends human beings, guided by an unrestrained
thumb rule of existence ito obey ones instincts,
nothing but ones instincts and all ones in
stincts," will go. Here is an answer. Here
Is an astonishing book, based, In the words Of
one Of its characters, on IAN interesting psyche
logical case, one of the most symptomatic that
it has been my privilege to study" strange
situation, known abroad as a white marriage.
Nine. Hennebont type of mother too young
and too beautiful, is enamored Of Paul de Ia
Bohalle, secretary to the embassy, tennis cham
pion and famous marksman. without him life
would be utterly impossible. There are reasons
why divorce from Col Hennebont, from whom
she has been long separated, is equally impos-
CO The ia Ia hall tn har