Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-01-08


pie remembered the words of the United States
Senator from Massachusetts, who told his col
leagues: HE Qincoln) had all her love-"
They were also saying that the great shock OF
her husbands assassination, beside her in the
theater, probably accounted for her queerneSs
in recent years Modern medical opinion has
suggested that her sudden tempests and her
troublesome vagaries were written in the tissues
of the brain early in her life" s.
The childhood of Mary Todd in Kentucky
seems normal and pleasant enough. There
were large, airy rooms in the large house,
big yard to play in, fond grandmother next
door, good food, whose cooking and serving
were considered an art, and at least one &C.
casion sheer embroidered pink muslin from
France for a new frock She had her schooling
in a private academy and boarding school.
learned French, music and dancing and mem
orized many lines of classical poetry. All the
social diversions of the well-to-do of the time
and place were hers. Then, when she was 81,
she went to Springfield, Ill, to live with mar
ried sister, and there, in 1840 she met Abraham
Lincoln. The rather sad story of the reluctant
courtShip, with its interruptions is well known.
That it ended in marriage was perhaps unfor-
tunate for both, but who can tell? As girl
Mary had said that she wanted to be great
lady. She became the First Lady of the Land
But she First Lady in tragic period
Some happiness undoubtedly came in her mar
ried life, but more sorrow. The loss of children
preceded the tragedy of her widowhood. An
unhappy woman, cursed by her own tempera-
ment and hardly equal to being the wife Of
great man, who was also moody man-such Is
the final verdict The almost poetic prose OF
Carl Sandburg in which his Lincoln" was
written also adds to the literary value of Mary
Lincoln" Part II of the book consists of let
ters documents and appendix, by Paul M
Angle.
THE BLACK PRINCE. BY Henry Dwight
Sedgwick. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Mer-
rill Co.
THE Black Prince was Edward, eldest son
! of King Edward III of England. In telling
the story and vivifying the personality of the
15-year-old hero of the Battle of Crecy, Mr..
Sedgwick has made use of the contemporary
chronicles of Froissart, Chandos and Cuvelier
and, relying on their substance, has framed
speeches for the Prince. In romance and mar
tial glory the Black Prince holds place In
the imagination of Engishmen only second to
that of Richard Occur de Lion that of Henry
V. One popular theory attributes his title to
his habit of wearing black armor. The French
whom he defeated at Crecy probably thought
of the epithet BLACK" as having a deeper sig
nificance. As a warrior the Prince was neith-
genial nor moderate. He believed in blood
shed, booty and devastation. His life story is
one of battes-Crecy Calais, Poitiers Najera,
Navarette.
Longevity not common in the fourteenth
century especially among fighting men. The
Black Prince died at the age of As, but he had
begun to live early and had passed no empty
days. He suffered greatly in his last Illness
but the chronicler tells us that "he bore it all
so patiently that he was never heard to breathe
a word of complaint against God" His son,
years old at the time of the Princes death,
became king Richard II. The tomb of the
Black Prince, in the Chapel of ST. Thomas In
the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, shows an
effgy of the Prince in life size clad in COM
plete armor. Above the tomb are hung memen-
toes of his heroic deeds-a faded surcoat, with
quarterings of golden lions PEASANT gardant on
a red ground; helmet with gilded leopard as
crest worn scabbard and belt
LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY. BY Walter B. Pit
kin. New York: Whittlesey House.
THE author is professor in journalism in
Columbia University and perhaps has kind
ly written this book to cheer the middle-aged
and to show them that the world is not tor
the young only. OF course, every one knows
that women begin to grow young at 40 and to
apply themselves eagerly to club, civic and
cial activities, to pay more attention to dress
and discreet aids to Identification But Mr..
Pitkin shows that for men also 40 marks the
beginning OF a long period OF pleasant occupa-
tons, to which matured minds may be applied
Perhaps his picture is trifle too optimistic
when he says: For the world is still to be
civilized, and in your day this supreme process
will begin He declares that nobody under II
knows anything ever has clear thought ever
converses Interestingly. little later the
dreary business-for some-of earning a living
begins, and from then until the magic age of
40 is reached life is long, hare pull. At 40
we begin to have time for all the reading,
music, travel, friends, gardens and other fruits
of leisure for which we have been longing A
very heartenng book, if we are able to believe.
ut aln"LiF7f sst ss3s az .fi RIO. vs'lsaC1c ~