Evening star., 1933-08-20

once thought of himself being a farmer. Then
the World War intervened. 1t was in the Spring
Of 1915 that his Colonel reached Ohio from
Maryland, riding his chestnut mare, Belle. His
wife joined him the following year. On her
way she encountered q caravan Of pioneers Of
German extraction from Maryland, the Van
Essens. The two families became neighbors. To
the Colonels farm came in 1850 Jamie Fer
gasou, Of Scotch descent, from Pennsylvania,
who married one of the Colonel's daughters.
and took over the Farm 1.-The pioneer stage
was past, there was stability, the second gen.
Grafton was carrying on.
Through four generations Mr.. Bromhed ear
ries the family down to the time Of Harding
in Ohio Jamie, who had become "oad Jamie"
by that time, did not live to see the Harding
administration. Mr. Bromfield implies that he
was fortunate. He lived long enough TO know
that his dream, the Colonels dream, the dream
Of the Farm as permanent, could never be
reality. The life of the Farm; its development
from virgin soil to a place Of titled fields, or
chards, vineyards, and gardens; its decay; had
been rapid-only four generations. At "old
Jamies death the land was about to belonJ
to strangers and he was buried, not beside the
Colonel In the little cemetery on the Farm, but
In the town cemetery. He had lived during one
year Of the World War, but not long enough
to see the war factories coming nearer and
nearer to the Farm to hear the window panes
rattle from the laundering Of the mills After
his death his grandson, Johnny, went to
the war, against the bitter opposition Of his
mother, who had, nevertheless, long fought to
drive him from the Farm into the world. In
his closing pages, Mr.. Bromhed appears,
through the thoughts Of old Jamie, to express
his own ideas about our national life Of the
postwar period-the dreariness Of Industrial
ism, the necessity for the restoration Of the
farm, faith tn democracy II It could be freed
from the greed and corruption Of politicians.
longing for q return Of the integrity. sense Of
duty. and simplicity which characterized the
pioneers.
As piece Of social history. a strongly drawn
picture Of the social development Of . section
Of our country, typical Of many sections, dur
ing the nineteenth century. beginning when the
eighteenth century was still living IN the men,
cries Of men. and ending when the nineteenth
died IN the World War, The Farm n perhaps
Mr.. Brom6eld's most distinguished piece Of
work. It Is certainly his most intensely serious
work In its thought, II not his most artistic
in method and style As q story 1t lacks the
concreteness and concentration On individuals
possessed by Early Autumn" and Possession,
probably his best novels, judged merely Is nc
tion Even Twenty -Four Hours" and "A Mod
ern Hero" with their over emphasis on some of
the most sordtd and corrupt Aapects Of modern
LIE and their almost exclusively ,madmirabae
chaxaetexs have better narrative quality than
The Farm" IN which story u subordinated
to idea. The Farm Is both . memorial of tl9e-
vanishing farm life Of America and q erusade
for its restoration. It y also, like james T1us-
low Adams history THE Epic Of America
lament for the lost ideals of our forefathers and
q plea for new integrity and new idealism,
SO that those virtues which were once char
acteristically American may become so again.
It Is a book which should influence as well as
interest.
The FUTURE OF POLITICAL. SCIENCE IN
AMERICA-By Bernard Shaw. New York:
Dodd, Meade & Co.
THE address of Bernard Shaw before the
! Academy Of Political Science at the Metro
politan Opera House, New York April II, 1888,
has been published in booklet. At the time
when the address was given, many comments
Of q sarcastic and speculative nature were
made regarding the probable. large renumera-
ton received by Mr. Shaw from the sponsors
Of the meeting. In the foreward of this book,
the secretary of the Academy Of Political
Science states that neither for the address nor
for it's publication did Mr.. Shaw accept any
direct or indirect emolument. The reason for
this generosity is explained by Mr.. Shaw him
self Early in his life speech Of Henry George
Influenced the whole direction Of his career
and began his interest in social and economic
questions. As that influence was at the begin
ming of Shaw's public life, he thought it ap-
propriate to repay at the end Of that life
some of the impulse which Henry George, an
American gave to him. It Is Shawlke
reason, eccentric perhaps but fine.
In reading the address-now that it is
printed it has surely become an essay-we are
as impressed as we were when heard it
broadcast with the remarkable mental vigor.
the unrivaled cleverness and the privileged
impertinence of Shaw. All Of these character
istics seem to strengthen as he grows older.
He began his address by reference to his II
years and the three generations Of human
beings he has known He remembers reading
the newspapers at the time Of our Civil War.
American character, changed since the Civil
War, and American institutions, social and
political, then come IN for some straight hits
from Mr.. Shaw There is much truth in