Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-11
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM

Davis, author of Alaska the Great
Bears Cub etc. Illustrated Boston
w. A. Wilde Co.
Energy, enthusiasm and a theme
Running along with these a passion for
information, full. accurate and perth
nent, both current and historic. A keen
sense. also. of the picturesque effects of
alluision, mystic and classic. An organ
izing mind that shapes its efforts into
units Of admirably co-ordinated parts.
The purpose OF decidedly practical
point. Mary Lee Davis, given over TO
writing on the subject of Alaska.
Living there for years, Mrs. Davis
appears to have taken the country up
for its proper uncovering and setting
out in the light of current acquaintance
and common understanding. Three
books within as many years testify TO
this writer's good intent and genuine
activity in behalf of the land of her
adoption Uncle Sans Attic" Alas
ka. the Great Bears Cub We Are
AlaskanS" sum the titles OF sheer lure
into which the full subject rounds.
Facts, historic and current; climate ano
soil: natural resources; racial content,
native and alien; stages of opening
and development: outlook upon an i'm
mediately fruitful future. Such the
sum Of these Mary Lee Davis books on
Alaska.
Current general information upon the
subject is meager, hardly a handful
Russia overlapping this up-corner OF
the New World, Stewards Folly" the
purchase of Alaska by this country
Eskimos, swathed in furs, munching
fish fat. Fur trade and fishing indus
try both vague in outline. Gold dis
covery and the Klondike rush. That
is the sum of common knowledge on
the subject. Or was, until this capable
and plucky woman set up kinder
garten class to the wide world for pri-
mary lessons on the great subject OF
the mighty subarctic domain.
The first two of Mrs. Davis books on
Alaska establish and describe such
permanencies of the region as are set
by climate, natural products, tribal rec
ords and early Entertainments from
Asia. These, with a keenly practical
forecast of the economic promise OF
Alaska to the United States, of which
it is now a part, OF promise to ltse!1
as we'll
The third book, the one in hand,
suggests a patterned embroidery work
ed into the original weave, showing
way of this striking racial personality
or that one BY way of this masterful
outlander pushing in and setting heavy
foot down in the midst of this sub
arctic existence, changing 1t in some
slight fashion. Leaving clear footprint
for the next rough intruder till, grad
ually. the original design takes on new
direction and color and effect. Alaska
is learning and Is conforming.
A book of people, of customs en-
bodied in sturdy characters. Old rites
are preserved through cherished en-
blems. curious and grotesque, reminders
Of ancient magic and mystery. A kind
~ and simple race. these natives, open
to friendliness, open to the queer Gus
toms of the great people coming more
and more freely into their zone of liv-
ing. In graphic fashion and without
straining the point too much, Mrs.
Davis likenS Alaska in this, its pioneer
stage to New England itself away back
in 1920 and thereabout. when 1t, too,
was a pioneer community. Rough at
that, with enough black sheep TO
smudge the landscape quite noticeably,
despite Puritan claim to an exclusive
piety which, from that day to this. has
tenaciously remained to handicap many
an otherwise useful and promising
project. Good service at this point not
only brings Alaska out in its true light.
but it may just possibly help American
Puritanism generally. 1t may. Here,
also. are fine pictures of progress in
industry. in the building of roads. the
improving of waterways, the zeal for
better homes. Here are glorious pic
lures of the land itself--l1ountain
great rivers, deep canyons, STOW,
glacier and so on-with many smiling
field in between for growths Of many
sorts.
Mary Lee Davis OF Alaska and Wash
ington and the New England coast has
put readers in her debt, readers gen.
orally in her debt for the good sub
stance of her work on Alaska, for the
fine pictures of Alaska that she has
made.
THE RAINBOW CANYONS. BY Eivind
T. Scoyen and Frank j. Taylor.
Forward by Horace M Albright.
director National Park Service.
Stanford University Press.
THE story of the Rainbow Canyons
Is a story of stories, for here is written
in the sandstone the account of crea-
ton since time immemorial; here may
be traced from its dim beginnings the
evidence of how life began, in plants
as well as in creatures. Here is the
record of prehistoric man; here the
history of the American Indian. Here,
too, is the tale of heroic people. the
Mormon pioneers, whose courage, devo-
ton and industry turned the deserts
into gardens" Horace Albright, direc-
tot of National Park Service, speaking
in an introduction to Rainbow Can
yons"
co-.0no4 La.I- - r. - ,.o.4o ;,,;,-,.
to the national parks of the great West.
where these two writers have seen
many years of service in both the great
and small matters of supervision and
direct attention to these splendid res
ervations set apart by the Government
for the pleasure of the people.
Factual though this record may be-
and is, its effect is that of the miracle
of creation. For illimitable years, for
uncountable thousands of centuries the
master carver, with no tool but running
waters and silent weathering, hewed
out these depths, these gigantic figures,
fantastic, bizarre, terrifying in their
tallyings of a time duration that can
only stupefy one looking on.
From point to point we follow these
two wayside guides, willing to forget
the colored pageantry without, in de-
thiS VI CAtS PAL e4Cu4a1 PdIh VI tlaL
one. Its rise, the explorers who dis
covered it, the measures taken for its
fulfillment as part of the public Serv-
ice, the duties involved, the names
identified with them, one and another
We are told that The Rainbow Can
yons" do not appear on any map as
such. Rather as Zion Canyon, Bryce
CANYON. and others lying within the
State of Utah, where this tremendous
miracle of raining rainbows" appeared
to satisfy the natives, and why not usl
Beside this scenic panorama, abso-
Iutely understandable despite the valiancy
of these two writers in attempting the
impossible, beside it goes the story of
the Mormon pioneers. Goes the story
of Brigham Young and his dream of
new world, set up rather closer to
heaven than any domain of which he