Evening star., 1931-12-15
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C.. NJ.

MY UNITED STATES. BY Frederic ]
Stimson. New York: Charles Scrib-
ners Sons.
when I was a little boy out ir
Iowa" Not In exact words, bat such tbs
spirit and mood in which MY United
States" meets its readers A quite in.
spired facing upon the theme, 1t is, too
Drawn straight from the writer's true
sense OF the fact, deep-held in every
ones possession, that his own spot OF
soil Is, in effect, his country. The
place OF his individual birth and up.
Dringing-town. hamlet, farm-this, in
tne heart OF him, Is his United States
10 De sure, as time moves on and in the
measure to which experience widens
ana deepens, the ground plot OF child.
hood expands to meet the quality and
extent Of personal growth. Town
county, State. national commonwealth
the world itself may become the field
OF action, the gauge Of service and sue.
cess. May not, too. But whether yes
or no, the really feeling center of coun.
Try Is the old home soil, the early years
These the concrete foundation of later
d1fusions and substitutions.
Therefore when / was a little boy
out In Iowa" becomes a most engaging
start for my United States" Maine
Michigan. Montana, or any other part
OF the Federal unit, eesily takes the
place Of Iowa" Life is Of a repeti-
tious pattern, fitting every place and
time. Going to bed. getting up, some
work, little play, food, clothes shell
ter. begetting and dying. That's the
real sum. And SO one reads this pas
toral story of young days out where
the tall corn grows" as If it were a
leaf from his own story book, away
back.
Then come the growing years. School
Harvard, professional life, authorship
travel official service at home and
abroad, associations many and rich
But always, in this looking backward
and around and ahead. the focus of
vision is the home country, the United
States. A provincial? Anything but
Rather widely experienced man, one,
too, who knows the true bases of COM
parsons and contrasts. A man who
recognizes the logic Of differences be-
tween country and country, rather than
a WayWard and perverSe departure of
one or the other from some God-given
norm Of national development. America
SO well known both in its behaviors and
in its guiding spirit, is its own ground
work Of self-appraisal as it is also the
nucleus here for interpreting less well
known nations.
Not history, not exactly. Certainly
long way from the formal recordings
OF national growth by New England
scholars, learning and conscience their
prime means of communication. And
Just as far away, on the other hand,
from the snapshots Of America which
the European offers so freely as the
living image" of the great giant Of
materlallsm across the sea. Neither Of
these. Better than either. That is,
better provided the reader has ground
plan for his country from Civil War
times up to the present In that case,
he goes along with this leisurely ad-
Eenturer in life, gathering up much Of
the spirit of America through its many
open manifestations. A way with him,
too, this observing and remembering
man has. Imagery, picture. drama walk
beslde him or stand at his elbow in
ready service for the illumination Of
this or that fact in American affairs
l heard careless talker say, Mr..
StimSon has written a lively book. "
Lively" Is an odious term, flighty in
connotation. This is instead a book
that is very much alive-immediate
pertinent. pressing in its own substance,
in its own weighed and balanced con-
clusions.
case in point A university man OF
Harvard, where later he taught and
from which he wrote on the subject OF
constitutional law and other allied
themes. Naturally and characteristic
cally, Harvard becomes the point of de-
parture from which Mr.. Stimson sur
veys the rise Of State universities, from
which he appraises the value of these
from the two points q pure scholarship
and OF scholarship applied to the genius
OF Americas expanding economic future
According to this rule, he moves out
from the familiar and intimate stand
point into diSpassionate study of al
lied, but more remote, matters
A career Of marked and varied ex-
pansions from which Mr.. Stimson has
drawn thousand recollections Of In
teresting places and notable people
places renewed by the intimate and in
formal recalling Of them to readers and
a host of men and women of the tribe
about which curiosity never lags and
over whose most trivial words and be-
haVlors interest ever stands intent. AT
amazing list Of we'll known names bring
these people to life by virtue of the
generally animate quality of My United
States"
In foreign lands, either as official
representative of his country or as mere
lolterer along the vacation ways of ex.
lStence, or for research or study, it is
ever the home ground that stands a.
an illumination over alien places. AnS
ever it is the understanding man. sc
slow In final shut-up conclusions, tha,
contributes toward the widening of oul
own comprehension, of our own with.
holdings of conclusive judgment.
An absorbing and useful study from
Whlch may be gathered views of every
vital aspect OF the United States. Its
political and economic alliances, it:
future in international relations, its so.
called materlaliSm. its commerce anc
INDUSTRY with its inherent elements o1
laoor and capital-all these come ano
go before the eyes and mind of this
alert man, so grounded in the founda.
tional spirit and outlook of his owr
country, SO familiar with the histor,
and current matters Of many Other
countries. A beckoning book, complete.
ly fine in Its fulfllment.
X
LEGENDS OF VIRGINIA. BY Helena
LEROY Caperton. Richmond: Gar.
rett & Massie, Publishers.
Only seven of them, of these legends
OF Virginia. The seven drawn, no doubt
from many hundreds. That is rich soil
down there, and with good reason for
Just this fascinating sort of story. The
nrst one, The Honest Wine Merchant >
you read, maybe, in O,Brien's Best
Short Stories for 1880. 1t was there. In
proof, II you are that sort, that Mrs
Caperton Is a writer of distinction in
her line. Besides, here James Branch
Caoel says things in fair praise of the
book. II, however, you like to read on
Your own account without interference
from these who desire to do you good
literally speaking, if you are like this,
just sit down with these seven home
spun tales Of Old Virginia, tales that
have been told over and over again
generation by generation, without ever
losing the sheen of their delight, with
out ever challenge as to their clear
truth.
Difhcult work this, as all writing de-
glQnpn i,1. ol,l