Evening star., 1933-12-02
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G.. BOWERMAN,

H. M. STANLEY. BY A. J. A. Symons
Great Lives Series. New York: The
Macmillan Co
The life Of Stanley is considered In
six periods. each with a well chosen
descriptive designation--''The Advent
urer," 1.-THE Outcast," 1.-THE Explorer" I"
THE State Builder" "The White
Pasha" and "Sir Henry Morton Stan
ley" The first plunges into the ad-
venture which in moment made STAN
ley famous, the quest for Livingstone.
In January, 1871, "a short, square
headed, self confident young American,
giving his name as Henry M. Stanley.
disembarked from a small whaling
brigantine at the island of Zanzibar. . &.
The strangers visiting card gave the
information that he represented the
New York Herald, but what his par
ticular business was no one was allowed
to know" No one then knew, either,
Welsh, and that his name was not
Henry Stanley, but John Rollant.
Nevertheless, he did represent the New
York Herald, and he found David Liv-
ingstone, missionary-explorer, most
famed of African travellers, and greeted
him with the salutation which was
quoted around the world: "Dr. Living
stone, I presume?" The chapter 1.-THE
Outcast" goes back from Stanley's great
adventure and recounts the events of
his life before that time-hiS childhood
In the st. Asaph Union Workhouse, his
running away and applications for help
to various repudiating relatives, his
shipping as cabin boy to New Orleans,
his adoption by New Orleans mer-
chant, his service as Confederate dur
inn tha hmorinap civil U1ar hic dacnr-
ton while a prisoner to the Union side,
his service in the American merchant
marine and the United States Navy and
his final stumbling into journalism.
A comparison of the earlier years of
Stanley with what he afterward
achieved and the fame that became his
increases ones puZZlement over the
mysteries of personality and destiny.
The puzzle is the greater in Stanley's
case because there is no rugged, though
humble, heredity, nor a helpful en-
vironment to fall back on. He was the
son, probably illegitimate, of parents
not only poor, but of the lowest class,
and his relatives disclaimed all respon-
sibility for him and consigned him to
workhouse. Yet he made for himself
name, that of his foster-father, which
will be remembered as long as Africa
and the world escape a planetary
cataclysm. His search for Livingstone
was followed by African explorations of
his own in which he traced the course
of the Congo River and revealed the
country which lay along it. He was
still viewed coldly by the English. be-
cause of his undistinguished ante
cedents, though the Royal Geographical
, Society had conferred on him its gold
medal. Leopold II, King of the Bel
| gians. made up by his interest in the
Congo what was lacking in England,
with the result that Stanley was placed
in charge of Belgian commission for
the further investigation of the Congo.
So Stanley became a state builder"
not for England, but for Belgium. In
the next period of his life Stanley went
to the relief Of Emin Pasha. OF the
return trip Mr.. Symons says: 1T is a
tribute to Stanley's wonderful power Of
I leadership that the 1.20O-mile journey
to Zanzibar, much of it through hostile
and unexplored country, was made
without disaster" This exploit, much
less important than his finding of Liv
ingstone, brought Stanley greater recog-
milton in England Probably his repu-
tation was becoming cumulative. The
natives of the Congo had already
christened him Bula Matari, the break
er Of rocks; he now became the white
pasha. In so days. after his return,
he wrote his 400, 0,0oo-word book. In
Darkest Africa, or the Quest, Rescue
and Retreat of Emin Pasha." The he
married the beautiful and socially
prominent Dorothy Tenant. in West
| minister Abbey. went on lecture tour
in the United States, entered Parlia-
ment, and ended his life as Sir Henry
Morton STANLEY One wonders what
some of those relatives thought, if any
of them were living. who had turned
him from their doors, when as boy Of
IS he asked for help This volume
| is one of the best in the Macmillan
! great lives series