Evening star., 1935-10-20

army OpllSulSly OIeIeQ 10 COME DdCk
and be measured again, and so 1t
will be seen that every one was
happy. just what he found out
from his measurements, beyond the
fact that they gave him a great deal
of pleasure, Mr.. Coon does not tell
us. One wonders. Anyway, he has
written q very nice book.
THE THEATER OF LIFE. BY Esme
Howard Oord Howard Of Penrith)
Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
T ORD HOWARD, whom Washing
~ tonians remember as former Brit
ish Ambassador to the United States,
writes his memoirs In this book and
expresses a state of mind which seems
in fair way to become claSsic-so
admired is it in our modern day, and
so little practiced. 1t is that state
of mind which we are indolently prone
to sum up in the two words, "typically
English" One of its great stipula-
tions, of course. is that it should never
permit comment to be made on any
thing not perfectly obvious and one
feels Tin noblesse oblige) forced to
emulate it, so it will not be made the
subject of much comment here. But
it gives the life to- Lord Howard's s
book Many men in many countries
might have had the same experiences.
But only an Englishman would have
used quite his staccato nonchalance in
reporting them.
The curious-and Characteristic
thing about this nonchalance is that
it deceiveS nobody. Lord Howard, OBJ
viously, drew the fullest appreciation
from his wonderfully wide experiences.
but in writing about them he limits
himself to a brisk surface manner.
One has to learn to understand his
appreciation through indirection.
A particular example is in his ac-
count Of his conversion to the Roman
Catholic Church. He does not take an
attitude OF real reticence toward an ex-
perience which must have been COM
plete departure from all his previous
thinking; he undertakes to explain,
with apparent openness. the process OF
conversion. He writes several pages
about it, but at the end one under
stands only that he asked his spirit
ual adviser two questions lone Of
which was why sin and suffering ex-
ist and then reread certain spiritual
works in the light of the replies. He
is brisk and plausible about it. and
one suspects a dread of admitting
that anything was involved in the con-
version more than a polite change Of
opinion, based on pure reason.
However, the story Of this life Is
absorbing reading. 1t includes chap
tiers on diplomatic service In Berlin
and Rome, on gold prospecting in
South Africa and service in the Boer
War, of studies of the rubber indus
try made in long journeys up the
Amazon, and of excursions into Mo-
rocco and the West Indies 1t con-
tains many impressions of great per-
sonalities-Bismarck. the Kaiser,
Queen Victoria, Cecil Rhodes and a
host of others. And it has its due
proportion of good anecdotes. although
they are tossed of as dryly as If they
annoyed their teller instead Of anus
ing him. Regrettably. it does not
ard ends his narrative with the year
1905.
JOHN JAY, DEFENDER OF LIB
ERTY. BY Frank Monaghan. In
dianapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill Co.
TO THE casual reader of history it
may sometimes have occurred
that the lack Of an adequate biography
Of John Jay, first Chief Justice Of the
United States, was curious omission
in our records. Jay has been ranked
with Washington and Hamilton for
his part in founding the Republic. But
as compared to either of the other
members of the triumvirate, he has
been sadly neglected. Elementary
histories scarcely mention him and
undergraduate courses seldom give
him more than nominal attention.
Mr.. Monaghan, author of the pres.
ent biography. explains to some degree
how this neglect has come about. 1ne
papers of the Jay family have until
recent years been closed to students.
Earlier biographies were written by
members of the Jay family who were
either too prone to idealize or too
limited in material. Such Jay cor
respondence as has been published has
been far from complete. jays name
has lived but somewhat as a legend.
Actually, there has been a vast COL
lection of documents relating to his
life and work in the possession Of the
Jay and Iselin families. Mr.. Mona
CHAN has had access to these libraries,
and has worked over the papers for
five years. His book Is the result of
his studies in this hitherto unpub-
hshed material.
He has given live, vigorous portrait
Of the SO long-neglected Founding
Father. To read his book is literally
to plunge into Colonial times. The
tangled skeins of the various parties
vastly more tangled than simple
patriotic perspective allows us to be-
heve) the ambitions of the various
leaders, the niceties of negotiations
with three foreign powers, the almost
disastrous affair of the 1894 treaty
all these, duly expounded, make of
this book broad picture Of its day,
even while 1t succeeds very well in
showing Jay as person. II its author
set out, as he says, to rescue great
statesman from neglect, he has done
that and considerably more. He has
given us an excellent picture Of our
political beginnings. His book must
needs be regarded as valuable work,
from both points of view.
WAR: NO PROFIT, NO GLORY, NO
NEED. BY Eorman Thomas. New
York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
TO THE steadily increasing number
of books against war, Mr.. Norman
Thomas adds his protest, writing, one
gathers, more as an individual than
as the leader of his political party.
The ground which he covers Is
familiar. There really Is nothing very