Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-03
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.

| l. e.. NJ.
CADILLAC. Agnes c. Laut. Illustrat-
ed. The BobbS- Merrill Co.
Westward. along the north shore of
the Great Lakes, then southwark bor-
dering the Mississippi, French and
Indian place-names ring out like
music, celebrating a thousand events
1 and episodes in the true history of
this country's settlement and growth.
Grand Marais, Mile Laos, Lac qui
Parle, Duluth, Hennepin, Marquette,
Nicollet, Lesuellr, ChaSka, Minneapolis,
Mankato to seize but a handful Of
| these evocative names at the outset of
the adventure. Broadly, these objectify
the purpose of Louis XIV over here.
| Primarily, to supplant New England
with a New France. and, along the way.
to convert the Indian to the one and
only true faith. No new thing. War
and religion have kept company before.
The subtitle of this book runs
| Knight Errant of the Wilderness;
Founder of Detroit; Governor of
Louisiana from the Great Lakes to the
Gulf" How does it come, then, that
the name of this man of many and
heroic achievements should have been
| left to the picayune business of desig-
mating a special make Of motor car, or
stamping the tinted output of fish
cannery concern? Maybe. just maybe,
the dirty work of politics" is not, after
all, recent invention of this 'sordid
and materialistic day."
Who was the Chevalier Antoine de
Ia Mothe Cadillac? A Gascon from
Garonne, born in 1858, toward 300
years ago. Today, his highest and
most impressive monument in the New
World is Detroit, outstanding among
American cities for rapid growth. for
prominence in industry and the arts, III
education and philanthropy. Cadillac
set this fortunately placed city on its
way. So, be sure, when you go to De-
troit to pay homage to the statue of
the Chevalier Antoine de la Mothe
Cadillac, who had the foresight to
plant his own town so advantagecusly
for its own future in the great COM
monwealth.
What about the man who did 50
much and gained so little? Here is
the story OF Cadillac. A true story
into whose making has gone the special
training for historic investigation that
so clearly marks the work of Agnes c.
Laut in more than one volume of our
history of the West-"Pathfinder of
the West" Pioneers of the Pacific
Coast" THE Story of the Trapper,"
"Freebooters of the Wilderness" THE
Overland Trail and a dozen others be-
sides.
Let us talk a minute about this wom-
an who has so positive fair for the
role of historian, laboriouS part COM
monty taken by the strong male of the
species. First, the historian must be the
hunter, seeming out and running down
every trail, however faint, gathering
along the way, of course, all the open
fields of material. Miss Laut is hunter
all right. Foreign sources of informa-
ton are no barrier to her. Hidden docu-
mentS only whet her activity to a
sharper edge and a deeper burrowing.
Scattered items merely make the days
work a bit longer. And, finally, every
scrap of information the world over is
at hand. In this case the pursuit, that
adventurous and heroic Cadillac. There
she is, buried in Cadillac stuff. Enough
to daunt any man or woman. And this
only the beginning. Order has to be
worked out of this Cadillac, confusion
of findings. Rigorous siftings must
come, too, to separate truth from hear
say, and hearsay from rumor. legend
and plain fiction. This, too, hardly a
start. But 1t is a good start. For now,
and only now, does the exciting work
of recreation begin. Begins and comes
to fine fruition. For Agnes G. Laut is
that truly rare being, genuine story
teller. And here you are. The book in
hand, vital and human, you come upon
the mar-adventurer, politician, build
er, nature lover, adroit manipulation,
shrewd in foresight, trusted by Louis
XIV, depended upon in important is
sues by Frontenac, organizer and ad-
ministrator. A hard man, as his tribe
Is and ever has been. A soft man. too,
in spots, like the rest of his kind.
faulty man. like every one of the sons
of men. One, too, who breeds enmities
and enemies. Big foes, worthy of his
own steel Naturally.
Are you looking for story, tale
of adventure in days that are as pic
turesque as they are stirring and dam
gerous? Are you looking for hero,
robust and braWny, all lean meat and
sinew, a ready-turning fellow to face
danger from every side? Does 1t crafty
you that this is a true adventure, a
part of the land that is your own land,
q saga of the wilderness, the chronicle
of q great foreign power scouting for
more power? Well here is your story.
You'll not find another to meet it in
excitement and thrall today, maybe not
tomorrow. There Is no point to count
ing its deeds and its progress, either in
the historic sense or in the narrative
ensemble You will read it. or you will
not. If you do, you'll read it again. If
you do not-you lose. One more word
Of tribute to Agnes c. Laut, who has
done so much, is doing so much, in our
behalf toward an appreciation OF just
what Opening up the West" does mean.
4 X y y
HIGHWAY INTO SPAIN. Marcel Au-
rousseau. Alfred H. King.
The two sat sipping-well. whatever
one does sip in those open-front cafes
of Paris. And one said, Lets go some
where" Let's" said the other. Such
is the way in which this walking trip
from Paris to Madrid took its start.
Literally, took its start, for in no time
at all these young fellows were on their
way. Stout boots tough raiment to suit
all weathers, each with a 1G-pound
knapsack on his back, not an ounce
over, and at 10 o'clock of certain
morning they passed out of Paris,
through the Porte d'Orleans. There
after Spain shaped their vision. Dis
family, to be sure, for, reading, you will
find them still dsep within the bound
aries of France, stopping here and there
at points as alien to them as If they
were tramping Java or any other dis
tant and unknown region. At once the
advantage of the vagabond over the
conventional traveller becomes open.
THE Gatinais! We had heard of it,
for we used to buy 'miel surfin du Gait
nais'-the best Gatinais honey. But
where in France the Gatinais might be
I did not know" And here 1t was a
bare expanse of ploWland. Larks the
only living things. This must be their
uncontested kingdom, their native land.
"Mllet has painted that empty solitude"
Picked out at random, this sets the key
of the adventure. Every page has
key, like this one, made to open a
thousand gates of wayside beauty and
simplicity, made to pitch this adven-
ture to the low tone of the common