Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-09

GOD IN THE STRAW PEN. BY John p. Fort.
author of Light In the window etc. New
York: Dodd. Mead g. Co.
A UGUST choice Of the Book League Of
n America, God In tne Straw Pen" goes
back a hundred years to upland settlement
Of Georgia. In q set Of close drawn pictures
John Fort brings out the sQualid life Of the
hamlet and It's outlying fields. Barefoot men
and women, coaxing scant sustenance from the
meagre soil Half folks not Over-clean, not
tidy in even . loose handling Of the word.
Their pleasure eating and sleeping. Begetting
children
church gene dead almost A single grog
shop, lively 1T night with moonShine or ITS
equivalent with rough stories wherein the hill
men, leeringly cast themselves in Don Juanish
roles. Where sports take such form as tying
geese to tree limbs under which in gamblers
chance there swift runs whose aim Is TO
pull the bodies from the noosed heads Of the
hapless fowls. Now and then niger sale,
damaged goods enlivens the hamlet.
These pictures, sharply etched. gather the
settlement up toward the story itself. This ts
the vivid account Of the camp meeting where
the great itinerant preacher, Isham Lowe, with
his aid. John Eemple, take Q hand at saving
the soul of this lost frenzied period
Of Weakening from sin follows Groans and lOrd
lamentings, hysteTia, the power and every
ether emotional manifestation make bedlAm
any particular Overdrawn. Nor in any sense .
belittling Of the great institution of religion.
1t rs, rather, literal record. masterpiece Of
realistic artistry, . most valuable relic Of Q
period and o place, to be duplicated in IN
Vulnerable parts Of the country by some equally
inspired artist In observation and In true inter-
precautions
Not made for popular appeal Here lis a record
Of fact rounded to q vivid picture of representa-
tive character. that is of invaluable worth as
part of the literature Of America, as a valid
strip of the American scene, lifted into
permanency by the knowing mind and skillful
hand of this poet and artist, John P. Fort.
THURSDAY APRIL. BY Alberta Pierson Han
mum. New York: Harper & Bros.
A MOTHER tale of the mountain district Of
the South. first novel. A strong one
that may with certain confidence look for signs
Of approval from John Fort himself
This Is the story Of Thursday April. Some
time some one viii make q study of the Curl
Ously puzzltng names that the South generally
and the Southern mountains in particular
beStow upon their offspring. Fascinating Names
to be sure but to the outsider with not grain
Of rhyme reason to them. However, to get
along with Thursday April who is getting along
with herself IN prodigious fashion. When we
come upon her. there she rs sitting the ram
shackle porch waiting for the seemingly I'm
mediate arrival Of her tenth baby Hoping
with all her heart that Joe would be pleased
Thursday April is that kind of woman, wanting
Joe TO be pleased Well he should have been
FOr when the tenth baby came it was IL.
Thursday had outdone herself IN an ardor to
be satisfactory to Joe Another girl and q
spindling half-m boy. not enough material
10 ut him with legs, not proper legs So
Cripple Squar' had 70 get about on clutches.
spirited lad notwithstanding. And when
long later the war came calling for the young
STEERS Of the mountains to come down and
lend a hand, then Cripple Squar had q taste
Of the bitter herbs OF that terrible blend Of
shame and pride And there was tragedy, sheer,
in the substitute for war service that was
invented for "squax'" But this Is the story d
Thursday April-the boy but q chapter 10 the
long and secret passion OF Thursday TO ~paease
Joe" joe 50 uncommunicattve, dumb. serious,
severe. An right, Joe, with the stssct and
hosnely Fectatndes Of ltfe--but for the softer
moments q existence the man a complete wash
cut And Thursday April died out Of 1t, died