Evening star., 1934-11-03
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.

TO THE NORTH! The Story Of
Arctic Exploration From Earliest
Times to the Present. BY jean
nette Mirsky. New York: The
Viking Press.
When explorers began searching the
Polar regions, it was an indication
| that the world was growing smaller in
| its relation to man. As early as
300 &c. Greek named Pytheas sailed
from MasSilia (Marseilles) on COM
merce bent and returned with tales of
q frozen sea far to the north. From
this beginning Miss Mirsky has, after
an INFINITE amount Of research, gath
cred information about and put into
a spell binding narrative all the i'm
portant efforts to unlock the secrets
| Of the magnetic north-those of the
Vikings, Cabot, Frobisher, Brunei and
Barents, Hudson, Baffin. the Cossacks
Of Peter the Great, Capt. Cook, Ross,
Parry, Franklin, Hall, Nansen, Greely,
De Long. Nordenskiold, Peary, Ras-
mussen, AmundSen. Stefansson, Mac
MILAN, Andree, wilkins and many
others. 1t appears that, in spite Of
various claims, 1t is not actually known
whether any explorer has stood at the
North Pole. Can it be known? Proof
is difficult. Miss Mirsky has had at
her disposal the fine Polar library Of
| Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who writes the
! introduction to her book and COM
mends it for its impartial statement
Of facts, without attempt to ennoble
any nation or individual Her de-
pendence on "first-hand journals" he
] says, makes error of judgment and
/ even of fact possible, for If they were
! wrong, she Is wrong" The book con-
tains many illustrations and valuable
maps.
ARCTIC TRADER. The Account OF
Twenty Years With the Hudson's s
Bay Co. BY Philip H. Godsell
Illustrated New York: G. P. Put
MANS Sons.
Apprentice at 16 in 1906, with the
Hudson's Bay Co.. Philip Godsell was
| sent from post to post, all widely sep
arated, and finally became inspector
over a large territory. His end-paper
maps show his Journeys to have COW
cred almost all OF Canada. Part Of
his experience was along the lower
| Mackenzie River, where he spent much
| time on Arctic islands off the Cana
dian mainland. His story shows that
| life in the Far North was, for him at
| least, not monotonous. His COM
! panions included factors, fur traders.
smugglers, Indians, Northwest Mount
ed Police, Eskimos. polar bears. He
| travelled over sea. river. lake. portage
and through wilderness, by steamer,
i stage and pack train. He was an
excited participant in the trailing by
the Mounted Police Of the medicine
men murderers of a young Indian
| sQuaw and their trial at Norway
House, the Hudson's Bay Co.'S head
| quarters for Keewatin district, in
Manitoba Mr. Godsell's narrative,
ending with the present time. displays
alertness for new experience and
awareness of the significance Of the
| part he and others were playing in
| extending Canadas frozen frontiers.
! 1t makes good reading for stay-at-
homes.
CANDY. BY L. NJ Alexander. Illus
trated by Rockwell Kent. New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
| Like Julia Peterkin, Mrs. Alex
ander, who has just won the third
Dodd, Mead q Co. $4,000 novel
prize. lives in the South and knows
! the Negroes about whom she writes
| SO sympathetically and graphically.
Candy is almost as appealing per-
sonality as Scarlet Sister Mary, lit
tie less primitive. a little more in
| prospective. She is a devoted servant
| on the Mimosa Hill plantation Of
Little King" located on the South
Carolina side OF the Savannah River.
Two enemies threaten and finally de-
stroy the old, indolent and happy
plantation life-economic depression
and successful city Negroes from
Harlem who come down and tell
grandiloquent tales of gayer, swifter
life on the Hudson. The interest in
the story is divided between the
broader theme of the plantation, with
its big house, gardens, avenue Of oaks,
Negro cabins, cotton fields and wood
| lands and all the happenings among
its inhabitants and the more indi-
vidual theme of the loyal Candy,
| whose grief for Little King" when
| he is obliged to give up Mimosa Hill
| to big corporation exceeds that over
the loss of her beloved cabin. Candy
has her loves, fortunate and unfortu-
nate, and knows sagely that washing
| and cooking and sewing for man
will not keep him from deserting to
| another woman. and that promises
can never be relied upon. Her de-
| votion to her child, Georgia Belle,
equals that of Scarlet Sister Mary to
| her numerous brood. Linked with
Candy's life are a number of more or
less well individualized people, old
Uncle Levi. gentle Rose. Haunting
Dick Clay from Harlem and honest
Bob, whom Candy finally consents
with graciousnesS to marry. An eff
| fective, melancholy climax, or per-
haps anti-climax, is provided at the
end, as softly crunching footsteps
sound through the darkness sur
rounding the deserted plantation and
| suddenly the windows of Candy's
! cabin fare with light.
THE TALE OF A SHIPWRECK. BY
James Norman Hall. With Illus
| trationS by w. AliSter Macdonald.
Boston: Houghton Miff1in Co.
One of the authors of "Mutiny on
the Bounty and Men Against the
Sea" became so interested in the au-
thentic story of the mutiny on His
Majesty's armed transport Bounty in
December of 1887. the perilous voy-
age of 3,618 miles in an open boat
made by Capt. Bligh and his crew and
the refuge sought by the mutineers on
! Pitcairn Island. in the South Seas,
where they founded a colony, that he
decided to investigate all the details
further and to do this set out from
his present home in Tahiti to visit Pit
cairn Island. He became involved in
a shipwreck on his own account and
on a black night In September
of 1888. as the two-maSted schooner
Pro Patria pounded on the coral reef
of an uninhabited island. he thought
as he clung to the rail: Il have Capt.
| William Bligh to thank for thjs!" In
| thic tale first printed in the Atlantic