Evening star., 1932-07-03


that too. And here VIII Lexington
Comfort himself becomes the traveller along
side taking personal note of impulse and de-
sire of growth-body, mind, spirit growth.
The story as such Is that of Roger Drayton,
lad of Louisiana, an aristocratic youngster
of the South. into whose blood from some far
source had filtered a passion for the sea. So
the adventure begins in quite the usual way.
The boy goes to sea- Merely on voyage with
q ship captain uncle Goes as company, as
guest when ever fiber and drop of him ache
for the drudgery of beginning" the real busi-
ness of being alive the water. Opportunity
offers and Roger becomes stowaway on another
ship, there to get his start. That's about all,
save for the stranger who shared quarters with
the lad for a little while. An oddly open
man who with his couple of dogs seemed to
be, he and his dogs Roger himself IN curious
oneness of feeling and understanding Like
door, the man was, opening the next stretch
of sea or land And that's the story of Roger
Drayton till he has grown to be man,
seaman. with such other impedimenta as the
human accepts at the demand of his inner SELF
A profound and beautiful deep-sea journey
into life, into the life Of boy who like every
boy, every human, needs plotting through the
high seas of bewilderment, vague out-reach-
ings sudden upheavals, shattered projects and
obscured vision. A parable, do you say? Not
on your life. This man is an artist, poet
a great writer. Fables, parallels, allegories or
any other two-faced device could not be found
within his reach.
No, here is of the finest and most
citing sea adventures that can be found.
marvel of actuality, a wonder of experienced
seamanship. Here. too is a growing boy. all
boy and all growing along natural lines.
fine boy, TO be sure, but fine boys-God bless
'em!-are legitimate models for artists. And
league by league the adventure grows, exciting
in action. amazing in transcriptiye power.
natural and perfect in fulfllment.
iS
this is his journey as well as the adventure
of Roger Drayton. That this is everybody's
way along, the road to deeper feelings, wider
comprehensionS profounder Sympathies, new
choosings. There's none too many of us-we
have to snatch at each other and make bit
of q world together, as we get the chance.
Bddy was one of u.s." The pilot" the under
standing one, talking. "Biddy" was dog.
Why not?
The wise ones say Apache" is important 1t
is. THE Pilot Comes Aboard" is genius itself
dipping deep into the heart and soul OF man.
A Pilgrims Progress for whose depth of beauty
and wisdom viii Lexington Comfort holds,
without question, a deep inner sense of joy,
clear personal gladness Just as We feel
these emotions for him and all of his readers.
REVIEWED BY c. E. NELSON
THE STORE. By T. S. Stribling Doubleday
Doran. Garden City, New York
acters met in THE Forge" Mr.. Stribling's
earlier novel, the reader has another chance
of becoming acquainted with the South and
its affairs after the Civil War. We are given
to understand that the land below the Potomac
expected great things from the election of a
Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, for
President Mtiades Walden. the principal
character of the novel, joined his fellow vet
Grams in predicting boom days for the South
land. But Mr.. Cleveland turned out to be
Northerner, financial disaster fell upon the
whole land, and the South, disappointed. simply
dragged along with the tide.
The authors well knit story details the at
tempts of Miltiades Walden to reconstruct the
Old South. He dreamed of the plantation days
before the war, of the chivalry of the years
before Abraham Lincoln entered the White
House, and he determined to do all in his
power to bring back the almoSt-forgotten plan
tation life. Through bit of sharp practice, he
comes into some money, starts store in the lit
tie town of Florence and proceeds toward gath
ering his acres. His plan, however, disregards
the free Negro, and this proves a most serious
stumbling. block finally and directly smashing
his ideas. Walden seems to have worked alone.
and the somnolent South did not care for his
experiments; in the end. he stands as a lonely
figure, his plans in the dust and his small for
tune gone-visions of the Old South lost in
the modern march of progress.
=. While using characters of THE Forge" in
his novel, Mr.. Stribling does not fasten
the two books closely together that one
must be familiar with the first to enjoy the
second. Each novel is a unit in itself taking
up entirely different periods in the history of
the South. Another novel, it is announced will
form trilogy the last one to show the up
building of the South.
NEW POEMS Eighty Songs at Eighty BY
Edwin Markham New York Doubleday
Doran g. Co.
DOETS are, clearly, of dauntleSs breed For
] despite the current hullabaloo against
them longer holding air spaces for flight
nor ground pause for cadenced rest the poet
goes sturoily upon his way. He denies that
airplanes and automobiles and other ailments
Of a whirligig world completely of its head
have shut out song Song of poet song of