Evening star., 1934-07-01

to select significant happenings which were
Disgusting personalities from courtesy and dis
creticn has successfully conveyed to us his own
feeling of magic and remoteness from the mod
ern world. He tells tales Of the days of La Fitte,
the pirate; of the Ku Klux Klan of feuds and
shootings in court house squares, of river bap-
tiSms black rituals and the sesames of Negro
conjure women, of corn liquor and mint juleps,
of dances among the -billies, Of alligator
hunts. of all-day singngs of foot washings and
political rallies. The personnel of the tales in
cludes descendants of the Spanish conquistadors
and of early Scotch colonists, creoles from the
French occupation, planters, poor whites, Ca
jams. about whose origin no two people agree;
remnants of Indian tribes and Negroes not
many generations from the jungle.
At the end of the parts of the book
Tuscaloosa Nights, In the Red Hills Black
Belt Conjure Country, Mobile and the Bayou
Country and Cajan-are a number of yellow
sheets from the authors notebook" They give
lists of fidders' tunes quilt patterns, mountain
superstitions and Negro superstititions. The
mountaineers have two interesting remedies:
'Whooping cough can be prevented by swaI-
lowing three small, living minnows," and
Measles may be avoided by swallowing three
buckshot each day until nine have been taken"
Also, To keep dog at home cut off the tip
of his tail and put it under the doorstep"
Negro remedies are equally rational: ITO cure
rheumatism tie dried rattlesnake skin about
the affected part" and If you roll three times
toward the call of the first dove you hear your
back ache will be cured Mr. GARNER while
member of the faculty of the University of
Alabama, at Tuscaloosa, gathered for this VOL
ume some valuable local history and folklore.
which he has put into form both entertain
ing and impressive. Mr.. Baldridges illustra-
tons, realistic sketches on blue and yellow.
1U anha
THE BERLIN DIARIES. May 80, 1e32-Jan-
uary 80, 1888 Edited by Dr. Helmut Klotz.
New York: William Morrow & Co.
THE author of these diaries, which reveal
the secret intrigues and political chicanery
leading to the assumption of the German chan
cellorship by Hitler, called General X" is like
Homer OF the "Illiad" a composite personality.
The dominating part of the personality, we
told by the editor, himself former lieutenant
commander in the German Navy, was a Ger
man war office general. His own personal ex-
periences related in the diaries are supple
mented by the evidence of reliable witnesses,
presumably men in military and official life
before the Nazi regime. The American, English
and French publishers do not know who Gen
eral x' is, but say that the leading statements
of fact in the book have been substantiated.
One guess as to the identity of the chief of
the General x" clique is Gen. Hans Won
Seeckt, Mackensen's chief of staff. Edgar Ansel
Mowrer, who writes the foreword, is as ignorant
of the identity of the writers as are the pub
fishers, but says: This volume purports to be
the true story of the betrayal of the German
Republic by its chosen leaders"
The record begins: May 80 1932-Bruning
dismissed today without warning" and
ends January 80, 1933-Its all over! Hitler
has been appointed chancellor" Between the
two entries is tale of weakness and corrup-
tion, cowardice and unscrupulousness, inde-
ciSon and conspiracy. The patriarchal Hinden-
burg, casting aside his garb of war and be-
coming the benevolent, peaceful President of
the German people, does not appear to ad
vantage in this narrative. He delivered the
whole German people to the knives of the
Brown butchers For the sake of the Father
land? Not by long chalk! But to save his face
over the Neudeck swindle. To keep his nimbus
intact. And above ALL his country estate!"
Nazi plans for the next war are frankly dis
closed, including the 10000 Steel Helmets al
ready trained, the so 900 more in training, the
aviation courses in dropping mail bags" the
recently invented poison gas called Red Cross"
and method of archaeological offensive" So
much, says Mr.. Mowrer, for "the legend of
'disarmed and helpless Germany" 1t is shown
that Gen. Kurt Won Schleicher could, as min
lister of war, have prevented the Hitler die
tatorshp if he had, on a charge of treason,
arrested Hitler and Won Papen on some of the
occasions when they gave ample excuse. The
footnote biographies and Identification COM
n1ents furnished by General x" covering all
prominent persons mentioned, are very useful.
"The Berlin Diaries" confirm and emphasize
much that is already known to students of in
ternational affairs and will help to strengthen
agreement with Edgar Ansel Mowrer that "a
great nation is for the second time in half q
century going astray." f...tt..ff.s 81