Evening star., 1933-02-26
PRESIDENT LINCOLN Vols BY william E.
Barton. Indianapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill Co.


had nearly completed this work
when he died in 1880. 1t was
finished by his friend William H. Townsend,
author Of Abraham Lincoln Defendant" Lin
coin the Ltigant" and Lincoln and His Wife's
Home Town." The history OF this al-tm-
portant climax period of Lncons life is also
the history of one of the most critical periods
in our national life. 1t is so crowded with
detail and so obscured by crOss-cur-ents Of
political and sectional feeling that its record
ing is extremely difficult. Yet DR. Barton who
was a lifelong student Of Lincoln material
has related events to each other and to Lin
coin in such a way as to produce an orderly
and far as is possible fo- any one, a just
narrative. Lincoln is the central figure in
the great drama, one of tragedy which he
entered without any peaceful preceding years
such as Woodrow Wilson had before he was
plunged into the World War.
The story begins with the execution Of John
Brown, significant preliminary to the struggle
that was to come and thus important in its
bearing on Lincoln's presidency The first
intimatiOns that Lincoln might be a presi-
Dental possibility were rapidly followed by the
campaign, the election, and the inauguration.
Then war. In the early stages Lincoln, not
military man, perhaps made the mistake
of too close supervision and direction of his
commanding officers. But it a mistake
easy to make, with opposing armies at the
door OF the National Capital. Later after he
discovered Grant, he left to him the conduct
OF military affairs. Through wise acts and
mistaken acts, political acumen and political
blunders, the qualities which made Lincoln
great appear as we turn the pages. AS Mr..
Townsend says in the preface: Through the
din and smoke of battle, the clash of con-
f1icting ambitions, the plotting of diplomats,
and the chicanery of politicians, see his
infinite patience and shrewd tact, his firmness
when it was time to be firm. his mental and
Growth tremendous
bility, his absolute freedom from selfish i'm
pulse and his answering devotion to the Union
to the very end of the final tragic scene of
martyrdom." DR.. Barton himself has in his
foreword raised a question which he does not
attempt to answer. Whether Lincoln was
a great man when he became President or
whether under the high responsibilities of his
position he grew to greatness need not here
be discussed. The four years of his presidency
are his significant years
THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRISTAN: THE
STORY OF RICHARD WAGNER. BY B. M.
Steigman. New York: The Macmillan Co.
D ICHARD WAGNER died at Venice February
N 13, 1883. This fiftieth anniversary year of
his death has been appropriately made the
occasion for the publication of several biogra-
phies Of the man who was at the same time
a great composer, a romatic genius, a spoiled,
arrogant. but magnetic friend Wagner was
all his life very dependent upon women for
sympathy, love, and coddling This book by
Mr. Steigman, based study of WagnerS
letters places especial emphasis upon the in
f1uence upon Wagner of three women, his
first wife, Minna Planer. whom he married
in his youth but strayed from in his later
years; Mathilde Wesendonck, wife of a COM
poser, and Wagner's muse in his composition
of Tristan und Isolde; and his second wife,
Cosima, daughter of Liszt.
After 13 years of married life. when Minna
still found borrowing and unpaid debts her
LOTT she insisted on her husbands returning to
Paris, where he could find better opportunities
for recognition of his operas. so that they
might become independent and respectable. He
was reluctant to leave her and his home, but
she was Sympathetic but firm 1t was per-
haps the sensible thing for him to do, but
Wagner had temperament and his actions
were always unpredictable. 1T did not occur
to Minna that though Wagner could not do
without woman's love, that love need not
necessarily be hers and though he must have
the refuge from the worlds annoyance that was
to him his home, that refuge might concevably
be tended by some other woman's hands"
Soon Mathilde Wesendonck, beautiful mistress
of one of the most luxurious homes in Zurich,
came upon his stage and was his real audience
when he conducted Beethoven symphony or
played his overture to '"rannhauser"-a woman
20 years younger than his own careworn
wife" The impassioned friendship with Ma
thilde regardless of the jealousy of Minna and
the uneasiness of Otto Wesendonck lasted un-
til it was replaced by the greatest love and
most profound influence of his nfe-Cosima
Won Bulow.
That Cosima, who first became Wagner's
secretary and manager Of his Munich residence
for prosperity had come to the master-should
soon have left her husband, about her own
age, and her children, to 60 to Wagner, many
years older than herself, calls for no explana-
tion since human beings 50 much more fire.
quently act emotionally than reasonably. From
the. beginning Wagner became her mission.
That Won Bulow continued his frienship with
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