Evening star., 1933-11-04
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.
DOLLY GANN's BOOK. BY Dolly
Gam. Garden City,. Doubleday,

The official hostess and sister Of for
mer Vice President Curtis here tells
the story Of her famous four years in q
style as If she were talking to an init
mate friend. The informality and good
nature which made her SO popular In
| Washington are here in her book. The
Vice President Is Charles" or brother
and her husband is Billy" The book
begins with her childhood In Kansas
and the revelation that her real name is
Permelia. a name of which she has
never made any use. She first came to
Washington in 1893. when her brother
was young Congressman, and found
1t a city of loneliness She must have
remembered that and marked the con-
trast when, during the Hoover admin
istration, her engagement book was al
ways overflowing. The "reminiscences
of the Harding and Coolidge admins
trations are interesting. but naturally
the chief interest is in the years 1929-33
The war of precedence" or the TEN
pest in a teapot" as she calls 1t, is
goven a whole chapter. Her comment
on the letter of Secretary Kellogg say
ing that she might sit at the head OF
the Vice Presidents own table Is that
i. was "a privilege which 1 certainly
would have granted to myself without
his permission Secretary Stimson she
characterizes as "a jolly good diplO-
mat" If such a classification were
permissible in democracy, Mrs. Gann's s
book might be called court memoirs.
ARGONAUT. BY Honore Morrow
New York: William Morrow & Co.
The Mary Redfield of Mrs. Morrow S
story is, we are told. living American
woman, pioneer and humanitarian, re-
cipient Of the decoration Of the Legion
dHonneur. Her home is now in Wash
ington. The tale is also substantially
true. Mary Redfeld's life was divided
Alaska. Mason Redfield. native Of Con-
necticut and practicing as a lawyer on
the Pacific Coast, came home to his ma
tive town and married Mary Belknap
They went back to Tecumseh. in the
State of Washington, to live. 'Tecum-
sch" Is a fictitious name for a real city.
There Mary had her son Henry and
lost her husband. For time she was
stunned. Then her sturdy New Eng
land character took control and she
went to Alaska to seek fortune among
the hordes Of Klondike gold hunters.
"Argonaut" Is the story of her Alaska
life, entered upon in the face Of oppo-
sition from all her relatives, some of
whom even mentioned the insane asy-
lum as the proper place for her. There
is abundant episode in the recital of
much hardship and scant success, but
her long trail ended in a second. mid
6le-aged romance, with happiness and
prosperity. Mrs. Morrow has estab-
lished her reputation in connection
with pioneering romanceS. with hiStorl-
ca. backgrounds. This one is slighter
than many Of her others. such as Still
Jim" I'VE Must March Forever
Free" and Beyond the Blue Sierra.
but 1t shares their general character
istics.
PRIEST OR PAGAN BY John Rath-
bone Oliver. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf.
In his autobiography, "Foursquare, "
John Rathbone Oliver reveals himself
as man Of four professions and many
additional interests. He is priest, psy-
chiatrist, teacher, writer. He holds posi-
tions at present as associate at the In
stitute Of the History of Medicine at
the Johns Hopkins Medical School and
as professor of medical history at the
Medical School of the University of
Maryland. His novel, Victim and Vic
tor" which was rumored to be Pulit-
zer Prize winner. is the story Of an
unfrocked Anglican priest who became
a psychiatrist. 1t is supposed to be
more or less photographed. His
slighter novel, Fear" Is a succession
of episodes in the life Of a psychiatrist,
which show his efforts to eliminate fear
from the minds of his mentally affected
patients. Problems of the mind and its
abnormalities naturally interest DR.. OIL
yer, and appear in all his writings. Prob
lens of religion. of good and evil,
equally interest him.
In Priest or Pagan" there is con-
fiict for the soul Of a man, between a
priest. Father Minot. and a queer SYM
bolical character called He'll Fire. The
symbolism is as obvious as that in Bun
yan's Pilgrims Progress" The boy:
Marion Merriman, illegitimate son Of
Father MinotS secretary, whom the
priest has aided in her trouble at the
cost Of suspicion against himself. Is
adopted by two benevolent maiden
ladies, who make every effort to bring
him up in the way he should go. But
the ways of the spinster household and
of the small town do not suit him and
he runs away with tramp and takes
amazingly to tramp life. He meets He'll
Fire. probably a madman. who Is a
practitioner of diabolism and attempts
to use Marion as his medium. The
identity Of He'll Fire, unsupported at
first by himself or the boy. is tour de
force. so easy to produce in fiction. so
unlikely in real life. Marion escapes
from him and. by another accident.
meets Father Minot. of whose influence
in his early life he knows nothing. The
two become friends. Marion enters the
Anglican priesthood. but lacks the honor
and loyalty necessary in his calling
When he again meets He'll Fire, under
a new name, he falls completely under
his influence and together they practice
magic. with the object of finding the
universal source of evil energy. Father
Minot opposes to their efforts the power
of universal good. in the attempt to save
Marion's soul. The story is written
with delicacy and distinction of style
and the theme of the eternal struggle
between good and evil is vital. what
ever the form In whlch ~ Is cas-, cas-, po' o
the practice of magic seems rather re-
mote from the present and arouses only
mild interest.
LOVE THAT NEVER FAILED. Memo
ries Of the World War. BY John
Van Schaick. jr. Boston: The Uni
versalist Publishing House.
DR.. Van Schaick. formerly a resident
of Washington, now editor OF the
Christian Leader, was In Belgium In
1915 with the Rockefeller Foundation
War Relief Commission and the Com
mission for Relief in Belgium. of which
former President Hoover was ch1e1-
FROM 1917 to 1919 he held commits
sion as lieutenant colonel and was with
the American Red Cross, first as deputy
commissioner, then commissioner to
Belgium. In an earlier book The
Little Corner Never Conquered" Dr.
Van Schaick told Of his experiences IN
war relief work; in this recent one he
indulges in "reminiscences of people he
knew during his war experience. The
book is dedicated to Col. Ernest P.
Bicknell. vice chairman of the Ameri-