Evening star., 1934-03-24
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G.. BOWERMAN.

Railroads. BY Martin D. Stevers.
Illustrated. New York: Minton,
Balch & Co.
The railroad, when compared with
the automobile and the airplane,
seems as old fashioned as a Victorian
matron sitting beside her grand
daughter; yet the railroad has had a
past as romantic and adventurous as
the present of the airplane. Mr..
Stevers has recognized the epic quail
ity of that past and the important
part Of the railroad in the general
epic Of the Nation. After the first,
or covered wagon, stage of pioneering
was past, the railroad was the leader
of the pioneers of the second stage.
1t blazed its trail of iron and steel
ultimately from ocean to ocean. After
the invention and development OF the
locomotive by Stephenson the prob
| lem of England with its short dis
| tances was easy, but that of the
| United States was vastly difficult. The
overcoming of the wilderness was the
! first but not the last hazard. The
! country was poor, without manufac-
| lures, with little business, with few
| travellers who ever expected to 60
more than so miles from their birth
places. The railroad had to create
the need for itself, and meanwhile
| how were those endless miles of track
| to be financed? The financing was,
| of necessity, attended by daring spec
| ulation, and by notorious scandals.
The physical building involved many
dangers and much loss of life.
| Mr.. Stevers does not confine his
book to the history of railroads. He
gives a wealth of explanatory mate
rial about construction and manage
ment, past and present. He describes
a modern terminal and how it works,
freight yard and its operation, sig
| mailing and safety devices, the various
kinds of locomotives and the reasons
for their differences. He tells the
story of dining cars and of Pullmans
He discusses the battle of freight rates
| and the long and short haul and ex-
| plains how railroads make money and
why they often do not. He answers
the specific questions of how the
Twentieth Century gets to Chicago
why you see a Rock Island box car
on the Santa Fe and what it is doing
| there, what are the comparative
speeds of fast trains. He explains the
| problem of railroad location and gives
his opinions about the future of the
railroads. The book is packed with
! information, Interestingly handled.
PAINTING A PORTRAIT. BY De
Laszlo. Recorded by A L. Baldry
| How to Do 1t" Series. New York
| The Studio Publications.
In the How to Do 1t" series sew
eral books by well-known artists have
already appeared. two of them by
Americans, Making an Etching" by
Levon West, and Making a Water
Colour" by George Pearse Ennis.
Now comes this one on Painting a
Portrait" by Philip De Laszlo, espe-
| cially well known in Washington
| through many exhibitions and COM
missions, than whom among portrait
painters none holds a higher place.
The book begins with the painter
palette, the range of colors and types
of brushes used, then progresses to
the difficult question Of posing the
sitter and making the first sketch.
The portrait is shown growing under
our eyes. with the developing of like
ness tsome artists are never able to
develop it,. the evolution of detail
| and the securing of unity of effect
! In the latter part of the book some
great portraits by masters OF the past
are reproduced and discussed. Some
| of these are Holbein's Duchess OF
Milan, Tftian's Philip II of Spain, a
self-portrait of Rembrandt, Reynold' s
| Duchess of Devonshire and her
daughter and John S. Sargent's H. G
Marquand.
GARDENERS HANDBOOK. Success
sor to The Gardener" By L. H
Bailey. New York: The Macmil-
Ian Co.
Whether vegetables, fruits or fow-
ers, or all of them. be the goal of the
gardener, this reference book by a
leading botanical authority is one
which will make any other almost
super1uouS. In alphabetical arrange
ment, it gives brief practical notes on
the raising of everything the amateur
home gardener could possibly think OF
for his or her garden. Both botanical
and common names are indicated, as
well as the family connections, struc-
ture and appearance of all the plants
There is special advice on ANIMALS
perennials (the refuge of the lazy
gardener, vines. borders, rock gar
dens, lawns, window gardens. glass
houses and hot beds. plant pests and
diseases and their control. 1t begins
with abutIon, woody plant of the
mallow family, useful in the house
and for planting out in Summer, anc
ends with the popular zinnia, of COM
poslte pedigree, so considerate in its
soil demands and so decorative in GEN.
terpieces. In between the two are al
sorts and conditions of plants-aza-
leas and avocados, callas and cab
bages, gerarinums and grapes. holly.
hooks and horseradish, pansies anc
parsnips, roses and rhubarb. tulips ano
turnips, water lilies and weeds. DR.
Bailey was formerly dean of the Col.
lege of Agriculture at Cornell Uni
versity.
SOME RECENT BOOKS.
! Non-Fiction.
WITNESSES IN COURT. With Some
Criticisms of Court Procedure. By
Henry w. Taft. New York: The
Macmillan Co.