Evening star., 1934-06-24

But he by no means lives in the past his pres
ent is as exciting to himself and the town as
II he were in his prime. He courts the girl
Cornelia, an illiterate peasant, none too clean,
who would look with favor him In prefer
ence to her two peasant suffers only because
of his wealth, but considers even that not suf-
ficient inducement. He buys up all the sheep
in the district, with the money from q success
ful lottery ticket to show the stupid. puttering
farmers how to make money by large-scaie pas
turing. He directs the building of the road up
the mountain TO the country residence built by
Consul Gordon Tidemand who Is not content
with Segelfoss Manor, bought by Theodore
Jensen from the mil-owning Holmsens when
they lost their money and importance and had
to ship all their fine furnishings south to sell.
Gordon Tidemand, the town magnate. shares
with August, the town promoter, the Dictator
ship of both Segelfoss and this story
The events of THE Road Leads On" are as
erratic and sporadic as life itself and yet have
the loose relationship usual in smal-town me-
The much-sought Cornelia, exploited by her
greedy peasant father. is killed by the kick OF
vicious mare. Theordore Jensens wife OF wan
dering tastes remains as she is to the threshold
of old age and as We leave her she has just
married Druggist Holm. The climax OF the
story both tragic and ludicrous, is the death
of August under the bodies of his thousands OF
sheep, they stampede over q precipice Inc
title of the book, taken from the road to Cor
deeper meaning, is surely intended to suggest
Hamsun's philosophy. that as the road Of life
Is followed in spite Of all the sordidness
through which it winds it Is worth the travel
ing Knut Hamsun has never equaled his great
epic novel, Growth of the Soil" but his Sc
gelfoss series is a fine and significant piece OF
work He is now in his seventh-f1fth year.
RIVER SUPREME BY Alice Tfsdale Hobart.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co.
ORIGINALLY published in small edition
~ under the title "Pidgin Cargo" this novel
is logically the first in a series of which ~Oil
for the Lamps of China" is the second. 1t
shows the march of the machine in China
like juggernaut to the teeming natives de-
stroying their livelihood and their lives. The
machine is part Of what the West has done to
the East Eben Hawley. solid American OF 40,
skipper of freghter in the China trade for
many years. makes the venture of extending
shipping beyond Hankow. up the Yangtse, the
"River Supreme" His friends advise against
It: his wife tearfully leaves the house In
Shanghai her father has given her, one OF
the finest on Bubbling Well road; but Eben Is
determined He must do something to bring
back success to Danish the sense OF humili-
alton which has been with him ever since his
employers refused to take him on again after
the paralysis caused Dy lIe DIOW IIOHh d ldAAAS
mast in typhoon. So he and the unwilling
Margaret sail up the muddy river, from its
mouth at the Yellow Sea tc that most violent
part where the only foreigners are missionaries.
He will bring his conception Of progress to the
Chinese peasants, as unwilling to accept 1t as
his wife is to accompany him.
Conflict meets Eben Hawley from the start.
He has experiences with Chinese mobs also
with a missionary, who asks, why should you
spend your time putting steamboats, on the
river when these people are facing eternal
damnation?" He fights the torrents Of the
upper river and infection from the bite OF
vicious dog at the same time. After seven
years he has partly conquered. He has built
a house at Ichang, other foreigners are coming
to the backwater he has chosen to develop. and
Margaret's resistance has been broken. But
the struggle is not over-is never over for
Eben-and his son. the young Eben, has to fly
from Chinese mob. The story is full OF
intense action and the details are such as are
possible for narrator who has lived for many
years in the interior of China. THE River
The Big River. The Long River. The Gold
Dust River. The Yangtse. In 1000 years no
one has been able to find wholly adequate
name for this unconquerable river which, DASH
ing wildly forth from the remote peaks OF the
Himalayas, cuts her way through the heart of
Asia 1000 miles to the sea. Strangely
like The River, the yellow race who dwell upon
her shores. Deep and secret flows the life Of
the yellow race. Unmixable, proud, aloof. A
separate and exclusive people"
TO THE vANQUISHED. By l. A. R. wyhe.
Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
THROUGH the medium of story Of poign-
antly real human beings, I. A. r. wylie
gives q study of the devastating effects Of fear
and its companion, hatred, on personality.
Knowing Germany well, Is she received part Of
her education there, and loving the best quail
itias of its neonla she has with the utmost