Evening star., 1931-12-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.

| l. G. M.
! AN ALMANACK: For the Year 1892,
BY Joseph Whitaker, F. S. A. Estab-
! liShed in 1868. Printed in Great
Britain. London: Paternoster Row,
IL Warwick lane.
! An old house, shrunken and stoop-
shouldered. squatted beside a rough dirt
road climbing the hill past its door.
A lonely spot. Remote from any,
where, or so it seemed Yet, on GER
| tain days, with sun and cloud In con-
sentlng mood, from the tor of that hill
might be caught glttering signals from
the dome of the Capitol in Washington.
And throughout the distant valleys on
its far side might be seen a vast net
work OF motor highways, bent upon
linking the great commonwealth to its
Federal center, Washingtons city on
the Potomac.
That cottage door, wide open. Just
inside, an old woman seated in her
. rocker, leaftng worn booklet tn patient
I search. Seated upon the plank door
step, young man, hot and heavy with
the footWOrk of long Summer day.
"A drink OF water! Why, bless you!
To be sure!" And, in the warm friend
! illness peculiar to that locality, the
woman hastily laid aside the book and
went upon her restoring way. Picking
+, up the pamphlet, the Wayfarer read,
The HagerstoWn Almanack," famous
for SO long all through this Southern
zone. Even yet smiled upon in affec-
ton, never in derision. To this day, in
lonely places, The HagerstoWn Al
manack," vies with the family Bible it
self as sole literary resource of these
shut-ins among the hills.
| Thought travels fast. In that mo-
ment OF waiting the mans mind ran
back to Colonial days when one Ben
! jamin Franklin, printer, devised and
produced Poor Richards Almanac" A
celebrated annual that for long served
not only as dependable weather fore
| caster, but gained repute as well in its
mlscellanies of interviewer fact and
fancy. A relic Of price now.
Caught, as we all so often are, by
some strange Cddlty of mere chance,
the mans mind, on his homeWaru
tramp next day, was much taken up
by the episode Of that almanac, born
down Maryland way, and by the kin
ship call OF that other one, issuing out
OF the old Penn State. And he began
to count others, maybe not so famous,
that have here and there in the United
States testified to the persistence of a
literature that has its roots away back
among the hills and plains of ancient
Chaldea,
Back in his study, the revived notion
picked up on the doorstep of a South
ern hill house, persisted. The al
manac" the calendar The second
from "calard" the first Cay Of every
Rom3n month. The first, Arabic, al,
the article, and a verb meaning to
| count" Looks much as if the Saracen
had the lead in this momentous busi-
ness of counting time, a long lead.
And he visualized that uncountably
distant past when great cities stood
upon the plains of Asia, now the desert
plains of Asia. When high towers
thrust skyward from these. Watch
towers of the night, where wise men
gathered to watch the rhythmic, mathe-
matlcally precise rageantry OF the
heavens Sun and planet and star
system upon system. swinging each its
course around. in undertaking fidelity
to the controlling urge of the physics
and arithmetic of the skies
Out Of long centuries of Astronomical,
research and accumulated meteoro-
graphic fact grew the modern system,
Of counting time - years, seasons
months weeks days Hours of sunrise
and sunset, phases of the moon anC
many another allied point of conse.
quence and use.
Not SO smooth and easy as it reads
however, for, then as now, there were
prctenders in the field of science
medalers, false prophets and the like
to pollute truth with han-truth snc
with no truth at all. Sorcerers in those
days read the heavens in prophecie!
against mankind. Myth. legend ane
pure invention contributed to the con.
fusion that in time beset this new sci
6ncc, as today these pervert through
mercanary intent the discoveries OF
modern science.
Not till after the invention of print
ing did the almanac, the calendar
come into general distribution. Anc
even at that late date its pronounce.
mentS were often of so vicious a char.
acter that royal edicts from century Il
century had to be proclaimed agains
their production and issuance. Ar
early censorship which acted, no doubt
much as current inhibitions against
mischievous print do today. Like any
other development of value. this one
persisted through its many vicissitudes
growing more nearly accurate more
scientifically useful. Both religion ano
mater!aliSm came to employ the calen-
dar for feasts and festivals on the one
hand. for pushing enterprise or defer
ring it on the other according to the
founded advice of this good book.
| X
| Today, with a new year at hand, the
calendar. derived from its infinitely far
source, but quite up to every hour OF
1882, stands in leading role among the
shops. In every imaginable form and
garb, useful and beautiful, it invites at
tention
Here is one Of exclusive connotation
Back again at last to the new Whitaker
Almanack, 1882. A quite cyclopedic
volume, containing, beside the usual and
expected notationS. wide range of al
lied facts that reach the world over In
information and interest.
Two editions have been issued-one OF
$40 pages, the other of $50. A matter
of different externals binding and so on
makes the difference between the larger
edition, the one in hand. and the other
Both are of equal substance. Facts oi
government that cover the English EN-
pire, the census of this wide area, sta
tiStics of education, religion and civic
conditions in wide scope of activity
are given here in an Illuminating ano
instructive fullness. Topics of immedi-
ate Importance are discussed -"A "Allot-
ments for unemployment" an illustra-
tive example. Science and inventions
art, music. literature, drama, the films
and the radio are given an appraised
fronting upon the incoming year.
A survey of foreign countries from
the English point of view includes some
thing like 100 pages, devoted to the
chief interests and activities of the
United States Lists of English repre-
sentatives to other countries are given
international relations are summarized
economic world conditions gathered
financial events of deep significance