Evening star., 1931-05-31


Id story. Roomy IN Ms vest sub
Arctic stretches, scanttly deni0ened BY
- diminished Eskimo tribes. This effect
OF expanse and freedom is striking
n feature Of the tale throughout. A
49, sharp and welcome, contrast TO the
hucdled impact OF incidents issuing from
drama sourced In the metropolitan existence Of
the hour.
Romance of . thousand incidents Yet.
these are sourced In so simple foundation, de-
rived from so narrow . scheme Of keeping
body and soul together. that the whole spreads
ns open as the palm Of the hand.
Feeling here actually feeling, the bitter cold
of the region, the snow and ice. the tempest.
the interminable months OF something not far
from Information itself, the reader marvels at
the tenacity of the human in holding to NE
that is, to us of happier circumstance, no lie
ut all. Here item by item, the habit OF keeping
alive day by day Is set out The shelters that
are constructed that we-as matter OF fact,
help to construct. The feeble fire beside which
we too, crouch along with Mala and his wife
and the two children, these are miracles, these
faint warmths. The hunting is immediate to
our own ardent search for food and covering.
Then to Mala come. in the course OF time, con-
facts with men from the outside Men~who
dicker and trade and scheme and get the best
of those around. Civilization this is called. or
Mala himself Peter Freuchen~ has made
great character. Big and tall and strong. Ma
his own right of rectitude. Probably he did
not call it that He just did the thing. fair
and straight and above board. Then one day,
in the company Of the superior man of train
ing and experience, Mala did thing that
brought him face to face with a cruel ogre
the law Unconscious Of evil doing Mala be-
came q hunted criminal You see what the
great story is. In substance it is the tragedy
of primitive man learning the high and benef-
icent lessons Of civilization. Innumerable ma
tive tribes and peoples have gone to the same
school, the most Of them dying out under such
strenuous tuition.
great story Of 30 much OF circumstantlA
detail as TO set that life Of the Far North
well within the keen consciousness Of the
reader and deeply within this sympathetic
and understanding acceptance. No one can
read this chronicle without coming very close to
the habit and outlook and feeling Of the
Eskimo. Aside from this or, rather, issuing ~
d larger phase Of the same substance. comes
deeply poignant sense Of the hopelessness OF
weaker peoples sense Of the cruelty Of ma
ture, an equal sense Of the ruthlesSneSs OF man.
Of the strong against the weak.
Again, o great drama Of life. And who is
Peter Freuchen? Rockwell Kent viii tell you
about him in q foreward to the story itself.
"And so he went to Greenland" Kent talking,
with Knud Rasmussen, and from that time
Greenland became his career" Rockwell Kent
himself recently, as you recall, caught the
same Greenland urge, and so. naturally, he Is
ardent over the discovery to Americans Of
Peter Freuchen, Dane and his epic reproduc-
ton of Eskimo life in that sub-Arctic region.
YEARS OF GRACE. BY Margaret Aver
Barnes author Of Prevailing Winds" Bos-
ton: Houghton MifHin Co.
A CLEARLY deserved triumph is stepping
briskly out beside Years Of Grace" A
novel drawn straight from the current social
bewilderment, yet novel that diffuses through
out sense Of robust decency, deserves to be
ore of the very best Of best sellers. Don't you
agree? Why certainly. and Of course you do.
Mrs. Barnes started with an advantage. That
is, she carefully picked her start. She chose
Jane Ward to bear the brunt OF whatever
might come after such q good beginning. And
there are such girls as Jane Ward At heart,
honest and fair dealing. That is the sum and
substance Of this literary success. To be sure,
q deal of invention had to 60 along with the
girl Episodes and incidents drawn off from
the current mode Of life, characters calculated
to give Jane Ward plausible interplay on the
part of herself and her associates q mounting
lire of dramatic action, testing her, proving
her causing her occasional defeats to provide
leaven for further advance, or retreat. This
sounds admit q bit didactic-morally didactic.
But it is, really, nothing Of the kind. Here Is .
sound and sane girl whose center is honesty
keeping her word, looking at the facts Of
hfe both minor and major, as fsir-dealing
folks look at their pocketbooks and their bank
accounts. Not essentially different. And that
is right. Then the story moves on through
romance and marriage and the disillusion that,
nowadays, is part Of the marital program An
other man. the boy Of long ago now rehabili-
tated with much Of the early charm, an ele-
ment in the romance. You see, the pattern Of
this romance is right of the current page Of
ma atrimony. But, here is the difference With
out any savoring Of Puritanism or piety or
other such alien attacks upon romance, this