Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-12

common level or stand apart from It.
At once, he constitutes intricate
cross word puzzle, pursued with avidity
Or abandoned in defeat. according TO the COM
plexity Of the one and the incapacity OF the
other.
Great men are the meat Of the puzzle
workers. Tossed and worried and wangled In
al their acts and attitudes, searched out in
their birthright, forecast In the death dole
OF fame here ignominy there, men OF power
and achievement have to be born many times
30 satisfy the ardors Of scholar. historian.
romancer plain tale-bearer. Not till long after
their own times, centuries maybe, when the
huge bulk Of evidence" has mellowed and
ripened to its true essentials, does 1t hold ul-
innate intrinsic value Good current reading,
deposits Of information yet to be assayed, but
as conclusive evidence-not that; not for long
time yet.
Among celebrated moderns not one has cap
tured the imagination more than has woodrow
Wilson. St|dents choose him as their single
text book Writers cannot keep away from him.
Advocates worship him. Adversaries loathe him.
A most interesting situation. For, after all, here
IS only But what a birthright for any
man to come into. First to come into himself,
80 richly stored with capacities and tendencies.
Next to come into the period specially shaped,
or 50 it seems to give capacity and tendency
free and full swing.
Student teacher university president poll
tician, statesman, president, arbiter OF war
and, finally, arbiter OF postwar international
settlements-a defeated man. a thwarted ego
list. Sick in body and mind. Gone.
Then the writer's, the judges, the hero wor-
shippers, the haters and belittlers. Books and
books and books, ON the great theme, Wood
row Wilson.
Here is one Of the best OF them. Best by
virtue of the fact that Wells Wells not only
knows the ground he is travelling, but, much
more and much better he Is 30 constituted as
to hold to reason and to common sense where
all around is unreason, in the mains no sense
at all in the extravagancies Of alteration here
and hatred there all applied to this one man,
built as other men are.
BY his own fair frankneSs Wells Wells, 1t
seems to me, reduces the enigma" TO very sim
pie termS-natural endowment and mode OF
life. That Woodrow Wilson had high intel
lectual gifts no doubts Nor does one
deny him that even greater endowment of per-
sonality. Also early came the conviction Of
his own high natural equipment. Lift this
bulk ready for action into the profession OF
teaching. There the autocrat Is made Made
out of authority that is never questioned. Think
what this does to any man, woman. This
supremacy, fed by the devotion of thousands
of students, exacted its tribute when the school
master became the political leader, became the
President of the United States, an arbiter
among world nations seeking peace. Unused
to politics and diplomacieS, unmindful of them
Mr.. Wilson, oblivious, transgressed the pro-
prieties OF these high callings. He was still
the omnpotent SchoolmaSter, beloved and ad-
mired in effect, law to himself. Was he in
consistent? Oh, yes. Mr.. Wells admits 1t and
cites important instances Of this. But what of
It? big mind may be, above all else, o
changing mind. What Of it, anyway? Here
Is gallant and Self-confdent leader, heading
the whole world toward righteousness along the
road he has so royalty chosen for it to follow.
Well, it is an old story, one that will be told
many times yet, before it proves to be anything
like conclusive story. The special value of
this particular telling is that a simplicity of
outlook, a common sense Of interpretation an
undesire toward either undue praise or hasty
blame, all Of this makes the Wells Wells story
o good one for readers who are seeking some
safe and sane middle ground from which to
look upon this man Of truly great endowment.
A most significant military heritage besides fell
to the lot Of woodrow Wilson. Not only GER
tain vital effects Of the World War, but an
active legacy from the Civil War must be
counted in any political appraisement Of this
man by public sentiment working for him
or against him.
THE WINDMILL ON THE DUNE BY Mary
z. Waller, author Of 1.-The Wood-Carver Of
Lympus," etc. Boston: Little, Brown &
NTHE Wood Carver Of Tynpus" not long
ago rejoiced readers with its second COM
ing Let us hope that the beautiful story will
again and again step out to delight readers
with its clear and abiding charm.
Rather long time between tales for this
gifted writer-but let us not be churlish.
Rather thankful for the goods the gods provide
and when they see fit to provide them.
A story of New England. OF Cape Cod, that
outjutting spur into the Atlantic, self-con-
tanned in its own personality, its own mode Of
life, its own turn of feature and cast of mood.
It is this-this embodied spirit of the place that
Mary Waller lifts into 1.-THE Windmill on the
Dune in an artistry of such clean and simple
line as to produce, not sirnilitude OF life, but
life itself.
An old story in q sense. That is, Michel
sitting in the high mill tower retells his own