Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-08
II 'Wes0" Story Written More Than 7o0o
Hundred Years Ago-Literature Of the
Westeru Plains-|T SIT Alone, and
the Ne1U Harrison Book.

unattainable.
However, let us get along with the painstak-
ing record of a new man In a new land The
face of the country, strange The speech of
the people, tumble Of sound. The ways Of
life, alien. The need to get along, urgent. The
slow and hating and bewildering progress. The
reach for some sort of association which, when
met turns out to be only deeper mystifcation
and profounder alone-nesS. So the story goes
on through the work of the farm, raising things
and harvesting them and marketing them.
Womenfolks, family, disaster, disappointment
not all punched, like this, but coming along
like the days work, these the waymarks of
the story. And what beautiful thing it is!
Plain, in the main hard and soFTowful, poignant
as death, or life, In spots, rugged and enduring
and so deeply beautiful.
Do you want to hear q word from Mr..
ROlvaag, author of Giants in the Earth" and
other strong novels? What he has to say in
respect to waldemar Ager? First, he tells why
these immigrants, himself among them, write
first in their own language, since they have ac--
eepted the American scene as a theme. The
first generation cannot get the language, not
the spirit Of it. The new idiom chiIls him, and
souls in shiyers do not sing" So, the first
writings are in the home tongue. That is why
this Is a translation. One cannot believe that
it has lost any real thing. 1t couldn't have
and retain so much Of a singular beauty that
is still so freely communicable. A newspaper
owner and editor, Waldemar Ager, out In Eau
Claire. I'D like to see more Of that paper.
Three novels already to his count this the first
to come out in English. war book, pictures
and dreams of beauty and peace. A history of
local content. And his one grand passion in
life is-hshingI You'll like him when you
meet him"-Rolvaag says.
THE GOOD HOPE. BY Henry sydnor Harri-
son, author of "Queed" etc. Boston:
Houghton Miffffn Co.
T0E4H sTEuARrr E9E2yAN has v,ritter a pref
ace 10 1.-The Good Hope" It sums to
the tribute OF friend to a friend, gone; to
critical survey, in brief, of the literary skill of
Henry Sydn0r Harrison and Of his place in
the shifting values Of fiction. A young man,
50 his story is an unfinished one Mr.. Bryan
leaves in our hands, as it were, the last of Mr..
HarTison's novels for a completer rounding Of
his career In the minds of his readers.
Lawrence Kenny is the hero OF this story. A
nice fellow like thousands around him. Chance
brought him up in front of the stock market
and the beginning Of modest speculation. The
boy was lucky. Made money. A lot of it.
Lost money. All Of it. That's the story. Well,
not the whole Of it. There is girl here, so
shadowy as 10 raise doubt Of her reality
A wrath Of girl, who knew this Lawrence
Kenny when they were children and who has
reappeared out Of the air, or so it seems when
he Is In need Of somebody something, TO check
a career that is dangerous and threatening to
the man, as q man. The early part Of this
utterly modern action is as vivid, as realistic,
as psychologically sound and inspired, as IL the
book were . chronicle of scientific fact And
50 much alive that it slips into the day as If
it were tangible part Of it. Later. when the
young mans need and stress come, the story
becomes close to the mystical content. An odd
effect, for that girl Is Of human substance. She
has borne more than any one human should.
And, her reserves of strength are manifest and
sane, pointedly helpful, besides. Yet, there IS
an elusive, evanescent quality that, somehow,
takes her out Of the common run Of affairs
as she was so definitely, and so cruelty taken
out Of life In the end. A strange story-fts
beginning, a record of fact in a financially
crazed world. Its ending a clear spirituality.
The better sight of reality over deluSion. Per-
haps have forgotten the other novels by this
man. Maybe that is why this one seems to me
to be Of another quality. Well worth any ones
WHILE THE Good Hope"
M: Detective Novel. BY Leonard Falkner,
author Of Murder OF Broadway" New
York: Henry Holt & Co.
THERE Is q turn to this mystery legitimate
and overdue turn-that you will enjoy
heartily. kind Of poetic justice at the last
minute ameliorates grievance of long standing.
And that's enough to say about that You'll
like it.
morning of today A group of men and
women-six, all told, as I recall-are in the
current mix-up of being divorced and re-
married. all within the group. not unfriendly
situation, as the story opens with man and
woman having lunch together in some place.
Divorced and the woman remarked But what
Is q little thing like that among friends In this
sensible and comfortable modern dayl How
ever, human nature soon begins to override the
passing fashion in compiacent family shatter-
mgs. That savage and poeSessiVe and jealous
human nature living in his cave deep down in