Evening star., 1932-12-31
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.

BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.
Entirely different from the ordinary
school geography is Hendrix Van Loon s
volume, Van Looms Geography" and
In spite OF the fantastic illustrations
by the author, 1t is doubtful II many
children will find 1t interesting. Its re-
Elective and satirical appeal Is for adults
In his early chapter, "A Definition Of
Geography" Mr.. Van Loon says:
Generally speaking, have paid more
attention to the purely human side of
geography than to the commercial prob
lens which are held to be of such great
importance in day and age devoted
to mass production" One reason which
he gives for this choice is that no one
remembers figures anyway and that
every one can look them up wher: he
needs or desires them. When he does
look them up he finds that all the dr.
ferent authorities contradict each other
His physical environment and back
ground come next. The rest is given
whatever space remains" BY this time
We have already come to the conclusion
that this is a philosophical geography.
There Is also tinge Of politics and
considerable history. Some Of the chap
ter titles reveal this, as we skim over
the table of contents, before we begin
to read: Spain, Where Africa and
Europe Clashed." France, the Country
That Has Everything 1t Wants" BEL
gium Country Created by Scraps Of
Paper and Rich in Everything Except
Internal Harmony" Germany. the
Nation That Was Founded Too Late, 3"
THE Netherlands (Mr. Van Looms own
country. the Swamp on the Banks of
the North Sea That Became an Empire, %
Great Britain, an Island Of the Dutch
Coast Which Is Responsible for the
Happiness of Fully One-quarter of the
Human Race" Russia. the Country
Which Was Prevented by It's Geographic
cal Location From Ever Finding Out
Whether 1t Was Part of Europe or of
Asia" Poland. the Country That Had
Always Suffered from Being Corridor
and Therefore Now Has Corridor of
It's Own" "CzeschoSloyakia, Product
of the Treaty of Versailles "Rumania,
a Country Which Has Oil and q Royal
Family
In one chapter Mr.. Van Loon tells
"how to use this book" which is with
an atlas. The reader should also, he
says, continually draw his own maps
and pictures. But probably most of us
will think that the way to use the book
is merely to enjoy it as entertainment of
a stimulating kind We are asked to
figure out for ourselves his statement
that If everybody in our world were
6 feet tall, q foot and half wide and
a foot thick, all the human beings in ex-
istence could be packed into box half
a mile in each dimension. He imagineS
this box tilted on the edge of the Grand
Canyon of Arizona, given slight push
with the nose of little dog, and crash.
ing to extinction in the Colorado River
There is a picture illustrating the last
moment of the box, full of the human
race, on its pinnacle. Volcanoes are
compared to "boils on the skin OF the
earth. nasty Affections. but purely local
affairs which never penetrate very deep
into the body OF the patient" The old
fashioned rock of ages" symbol for
permanency is discredited by modern
science, which regards this rock and
all other rocks as something living and
therefore subject to constant change.
Mr.. Van Looms comments on the va
riouS countries Of the world are full OF
selective information. His own interest
usually determines what he selects. In
this respect his book is much like H. g.
Wells Outline History of World. :"
Italy is a country born of volcanic up
heavals and threatened with death from
the mother which gave it birth. Nature
has been both stingy and obstinate with
Spain. SO that men must there either
perform the hardest labor or live as
the average Spaniard lives, who as a
rule can load ell the family posses
sions on the back of one very small doll
key" When Ireland separated from
Great Britain, man improved upon the
handiwork of Nature and turned
geographical unit into two separate
entities" America Is favorite OF Ma
ture From a geographical point of
view. America is almost everything that
possibly could be desired" 1t reaches
from Pole to Pole and from sea to sea.
1t has ell possible climates. 1t has
It has coast line indented by many
deep harbors and north-and-south
length OF the continent. OF the problem
OF the Indian, driven from his habitat
by early white settlers, Mr.. Van Loon
rank of host to that of a guest. will
continue to exist for a few centuries
longer. Then he will be completely
will only survive as a vague historical
memory That is too bad, for the red
man had many very excellent qualities,
both of body and mind. But that is
the way things happen and don't see
what we can do about it,
A good Summer or Winter vacation
book for children is The Year Round:
A Book of the Out of Doors Arranged
According to Season." by Clarence j..
Hylander, A. NJ. Phi. D., illustrated by
the author. The animals and plants
likely to be of interest to children are
all described In the order in which they
The chapter when the Trees Have
Flowers is one Of the best of the Spring
chapters. Tadpoles and frogs, caterpil-
lars, snakes, turtles, all the common in
sectS and birds, ferns, lichens, mush-
rooms and flowers are all made so in
teresting as to stimulate children to de-
mand of parents field trips and both
outdoor and indoor museums.
Three postal clerks in a Norwegian
town finish their days work and start
" lOth up 1QIluo All t4lC oaAC, WILCll tA4Sy
are held up by two masked men and
told to hand over the money. Kvisthus
resistS and Is knocked down, so that he
dies from a fractured skull. Lydersen
is struck on the head and relieved of
his money box. Berger, who has the
largest sum, hands his money over to
the thieves, who escape. The widow Of
Kvisthus struggles along to support her
self and her son on small pension.
Lydersen becomes the permanent hero
of the town. Berger is ever after scorned
by the townfolk as a coward, but he has
remained alive and Is able to support
his wife and child well. Is it better to
be a dead lion or living dog? is the
question which Sigurd Christensen asks
in his novel, Two Living and One
Dead"
eli icl, I,,