Evening star., 1933-10-15
10y SARAH @. BOWERMAN
The Life Stmyofa Dog -Galsecothy5Last
Story-A Translation From the Nor
.7uegian, and John BuchanS Thriller:

August 1914, found him ready So it hap
pened that Adams real life Of accomplishment
began when he left prison. Mr. Buchan has
in this novel Of the present equaled in variety
of adventure any of his romances Of past his
torical pericds and in Adam has produced
one Of his most original characters. For four
years Adam was a British spy behind the
German lines in Belgium and in German cities.
In moments Of dependency he often despised
himself for the merging of his own personality
in one unadmirable character after another,
according to the necessities Of his role. At first
he was the feeble minded nephew of the Widow
Raus on her untidy Belgian farm. He worked
on the farm, but was socially inclined and
loafed about the estamnet evenings where,
because of his stupid good nature, he was tol-
Grated He never drank, but smoked a good
deal and often had a cigarette stuck behind
his ear. One of his peculiarities was that he
sometimes disappeared for several days at
time, when his supposed aunt would grumble
to her neighbors about the lazness Of her half
wit nephew. When the chain Of communica-
tions established by stupid Jules was on the
point Of being discovered by the Germans,
Adam changed his impersonation many times
within few weeks, and attracted suspicion to
himself with extreme peril, in order to save
that important section of the British spy
system
From Rhineland cities, where he posed as
German spy he reported the breakup of Ger
man morale, and was recalled to England only
a few days before his chief in the spy service
there faced firing squad His next assign
ment an interpreter, with commits
sion, in a Turkish division Of the combined
German and Turkish armies along the Bag
dad Railway. When the war was over he. had
been restored to his rank in the British Army
and had won many decorations, but he sent
in his papers and waited. His next adventure
was the rescue in the Arctic of the American
explorer Falconet. This is story in itself.
We are impressed with the lavishness Of Mr..
Buchan's use Of plot material His is no fine
spun fiction method by which very few hap
penings turned and twisted and held up
to this light and that for the purpose Of
revealing something some one-and to fill
pages. Through all the hurrying events, to
the highly romantic end, Adam is always the
idealist forcing himself into the role Of the
man Of action
OLD GINIET EYE. The Adventures of Smed-
ley D. Butler. As told to Lowell Thomas.
New York: Farrar & Rinehart.
4 AANY Of Gen. Buffers adventures in recent
wi years, among them those which have made
good headlines, are familiar to all newspaper
readers. Some of his earlier experiences, both
amusing and dangerous are not so familiar.
Lowell Thomas, as ghost-biographer, has told
of the dramatic happenings of Gen. Buffers
life with much verve if they had belonged
to his own. His STYLE that Of with Lawrence
in Arabia" and Count Luckner the Sea Devil
is happily blended with the vigorous style Of
Gen. Butler, which makes him such popular
speaker. The foreword warns every one who
does not know the subject of this biography
that he is not about to read the tale of modest,
reticent hero. There are many heroes of that
type, says Lowell Thomas, who hide their
light under half dozen bushels" but there
are others who have "brandished their lights
aloft casting the brilliant beams as far as they
could possibly reach" Gen. Butler is Of the
latter type. "He has all Of that dash, pepper,
virility and swagger associated with Uncle Sans
soldiers of the sea- And if you wanted to give
a swift summary of his career, you might say
there has been no time in his life when he has
been entirely out of trouble" Paul Brown;
illustrator of the volume, has designed par
ticularly appropriate sketch for the foreword
page-the head of Gen. Butler with officers
cap slightly over one ear, emerging from
boiling cauldren.
Smedley d. Butler second lieutenant in
the United States Marines when he was 16.
That was the year when the Maine was blown
up in Havana Harbor, 1898, so he had his first
taste of action in Cuba. He left Quaker
home and lied about his age to get it.. He
came out of the Spanish American War "vet-
eran.' The Philippine Insurrection was his
next opportunity, and over near Cavite he first
commanded company in action. In Manila
he was disciplined by his superior officer, not
for the last time in his life, and relieved of
his command which was, however, restored to
him in q few months. He has all his life had
the elastic quality and the luck which have en-
abled him to rebound after every difficulty or
disaster. In 1900 he was off to China to fight
the Boxers. In 1902 trouble was brewing
among the explosive population of Panama" and
Butler was there. Then there was revolution
in Honduras after which, on sick leave he took
over the management of West Virginia coal
mine though he had never seen coal mine.
Revolution in Nicaragua, riots in Panama, q
period in Mexico as a spy, and then Archduke