davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1935-08-11

for the party by the Intourist OFF,
cials. They were sent to prisons, boot
factories and creches. Not for worlds,
she remarks, would she have set foot
in any such place In her own land
If she could have avoided it. Yet,
travelling ostensibly for pleasure, she
was marched day after day from
prison to factory 70 creche-or to
something of the sort. All the while
her fellow thinkers manfully retained
their enthusiasm. But she remarks
that the inhabitants of the prisons
were the happiest-looking people she
saw In Russia, and that the creches,
by capitalistic standards at least,
were not clean.
Russia, as she saw it, was an in
ordinately funny country if your
physical stamina was high. Only in
the theaters, she says, could she find
anything like a normal attitude to-
ward normal phenomena. And from
this she arrives at the conclusion
(perhaps a little neaD that the whole
race, loving theatricals, has been in
duced to act part, that. without
their innate histrionic. sense. the
hungry, cold, gray-faced protagonists
of the great experiment could not
possibly stick it out.
Likewise she concludes that with
out their innate love of religion they
could not so readily have defied
GodlessneSs.
Neither conclusion is perhaps en-
tirely original. but then 1t would seem
that everything possible had been said
about Russia long ago, and to ask
for originality on the subject would
be to exceed reason The quality
which makes this book readable. after
its humor, is its hearty unbiased
humanity. One feels that the Rus
slams have been inspected and wor-
SHIPPED and cursed so much that a
little humanity is not out of place
concerning them. And yet one Is
forced to the conclusion too, that
If Miss Travers' book ever comes to
the border the heroic Muscovites will
cry Of it: 1T shall not pass" Too
bad. They seem to have little that
any one would want to take from
them. One wonders that they are Sc
incorruptible about taking anything
from ANYBODY else
Evening star., 1935-08-11

IAN to Mary. I communicated in few
words the state of Jane. I brought
her to Mary. The ccnvulsions grad
ually ceased. She slept. At day
break we examined her apartment
and found her pillow on the chair"
A MOTHER night Shelly, Lord Byron
= and Monk Lewis, popular au-
thor of horror stories Of the day, sat
up after midnight telling ghost stories.
Neither Byron nor Lewis seem to
believe in them," wrote Shelly in his
diary. They both agree in the very
face Of reason that none could be-
lieve in ghosts without also believing
in God. I do not think all persons
who profess to discredit these mani
festations really discredit them-or If
they do in daylight are not admon-
ished by the approach of loneliness
and midnight to think more respect
fully of the world of shadows"
He wrote down, for future use, the
ghost tales of his friends. One was
about German woman who had
been exceedingly attached to her hus-
band and they had made a vow that
the one who died first should return
Evening star., 1935-08-11

merce and industry in their gloomy
world, where their only light is phos-
phorous and where there are spiders
(yes) as large as tigers (yes) that
are given to galloping about through
| the underbrush and snarling out loud
(quiteD. But chiefly they have built
state, and the state itself has
turned spider and devoured them.
1t has destroyed its men and women.
There are no individuals in it. Every
one is a cog, to use well-tried word,
and no one is more.
This is to be taken in awful literal
ness. Remember that the author is
an Irishman gone purgatoriaD There
are-really-no individuals. The heads
of the state have found out that men
in darkness go mad and that madness
is death, so. very practically, they
have eliminated men. Children at an
early age are subjected to hypnotic
processes which atrophy all the brain
except the parts needed for the per-
formance of duty-the duties being
duly prescribed for each at birth. Out
side the performance of the tasks they
have no mentality whatsoever. They
walk about as automatons. They are
not unhappy because they are an
eSthetiZed.
Here of course is the Fascist satire,
If you wish to see that in the book
and certainly the inference is there.
1t is the exaltation of the community
carried to its logical and idiotic con-
clusion-as all logic beyond point
Is idiotic.
Viewed as satire, however, 1t
would seem that the book has seri-
Gus omission, to-wit: 1t makes no pro-
vision for a dictator In the Subter-
ranean state, the directing heads, al
though retaining mentality sufficient
to govern all activities, are as emo
tionless as their subjects. They, too,
are anesthetized. although the reader
is not told who has administered the
sedative to them.
The system, of course, is superior
to the one with which we are at pres
ent familiar. In Mr.. ONeill's little
hell there are no parades. There is no
"heiling" nor exchanging of salutes.
There are no uniforms. And, although
he does not expressly say so. one is
distinctly of the impression that there
is no graft either. In other words. no
body has any, fun. Perhaps this Is
what the publishers mean in calling it
an answer to Nietzsche. There are no
CrInnrnnnfa @v1lrr
minds.
All this is done in such a mood of
black realism that the reader must be
anesthetized himself who does not feel
and believe it. Given the materials,
that is real writing. There seems to
be nothing to say beyond this, unless
one advance the tentative hope that.
in his next work, Joseph O'Neill, who
plainly fears nothing. will attempt to
give us picture of Heaven. But per-
haps that is delicate suggestion.
He could. one feels, If he chose. ruin
the places reputation.
ASYLUM. BY. William Seabrook. New
York; Harcourt Brace g. Co.
THE first part of this book is as
strange and amusing narrative
as one has come on for good while.
In it MIR. Seabrook who, in his day,
has feasted with cannibals on their
most famous dish and passed the
initiation rites Of the Voodoo cult of
Haiti, tells of his reception and initia-
tom into the society of a modern
insane asylum.
He was not brought to the latter
place by the same desire for strange
knowledge which made him seek out
Evening star., 1935-08-11
A ROMANCE OF ZIMIAMVIA
Err Eddison New Novel nvades New Literary Dimensions
Fascist Satire by an Irish Author-Mary Pickford's
Second Attempt.

The cannibal kingdom, to be sure, for
ne entered the asylum as q patient
He went voluntarily. seeking to be
cured of alcoholism. Consequently. at
the beginning, his urbane tolerance
sometimes deserted him. But after
a time he grew accustomed to his new
world and he tells us-and we mus:
believe it-that he has never met q
group of people whom he liked better
than his fellow patients, or whose
society he enjoyed more.
He was cured. After six months,
they discharged him. The latter part
of his book suffers by comparison to
the first in that, instead of relating
The simple d9surface of life (the
best formula in or out of asylums)
he undertakes to probe himself and
discover why he should have become
all alcoholic in the first place. This
reads too like a case history of con-
ventional sort. 1t may be true, but
It is not very interesting.
The book ought to have consider
able value, apart from its entertain
lng qualities. People in general either
have all the old medieval horror Of
Evening star., 1935-08-11

severest artistic economy, with a mini
mum of gesture and total absence
Of exclamation points. 1t Is done as
if artlessly, done conversationally,
done almost negligently. one would
say, if one did not know better. The
effect is of such cumulative ghastli-
ness as brings to mind Poe's Maria
tive of A. Gordon Pym" for the most
likely comparison. BY no means can
this work be compared to the type of
modern book which passes as a horror
story" 1t has nothing whatsoever in
common with that genre
With this advance admission of
ineptness one may attempt to give the
reader an idea of the substance. Land
Under England" is the tale of young
mans adventures in an imaginary
world. subterranean land inhabited
by the descendants of a group of
Romans who, centuries before, after
the withdrawal of the legions from
Britain, took refuge underground from
the revengeful barbarians.
These twentieth century Romans
have become appalling fellows. They
have built cities and developed COM
Evening star., 1935-08-11

of Shelly have had access to it. The
letters and diaries. filling four vol
umes, were privately issued by the
wife of Sir Percy Shelly, son of the
poet, in 1882 and one copy went to
the Ashley Library in London, from
which the Modern Language Associa-
ton secured the photostat for the Lii
brary of Congress.
The atmosphere of the supernatural
seems continually to have hovered
about Shelly and his wife and they
made copious notes on the experiences
told by others.
THEIR own supernatural experiences
started shortly after their elope-
ment when they had been joined by
Jane Clairmont, relative and after
ward favorite of Lord Byron Shelly
recorded it himself, writing in the
third person
"At l o'clock Shelly observes that
it is the witching time of night He
enquiries soon afterward If it is not
horrible to feel the silence of night
tingling in our ears. A half-hour
later he repeated this in different
form. At they retired, awestruck
and hardly daring to breathe Shelly
says to Jane Goodnight. His hand
Is leaning on the table He Is con-
scious of something in his counte-
nance he cannot express. Jane still
hesitates.
How horrible you look. Take your
eyes of me- she says.
Then she ran to her rocm Shelly,
unable to sleep. kissed Mary and pre-
pared to sit beside her and read until
morning. Suddenly rapid footsteps
were heard on the stairs. Jane was
there. Her countenance was distorted
most unnaturally by horrible dismay.
1t beamed with a whiteness that
seemed almost like light. Her lips
and cheeks were of one deadly hue.
The skin Of her face and forehead
was drawn into innumerable wrinkles
the Hneaments of terror that could
not be contained. Her hair stood
erect. Her eyes were wide and staring,
drawn almost from their sockets by
CONFUSION of the muscles. The eye
lids were forced in and the eyeballs,
without any relief, seemed as If they
had been newly inserted, in ghastly
sport, in the sockets of ifeless head.
The frightful spectacle endured
Tor but a few moments. It was dis
placed by terror and confusion-vio-
lent indeed and full of dismay, but
human. She asked If Shelly had
touched her pillow. Her tone was that
of dreadful alarm. Shelly said no. He
told her Mary was i'll. This seemed
to check her violence She said that
pillow placed on her bed had been
removed at the moment when she took
her eyes away to chair at some dis
lance and evidently by no human
power. She was positive as to the
fact of her self-possession and calm
ness. Her manner convinced me that
she was not deceived.
I'VE; continued to sit by the fire, at
intervals engaging in aweful CONVEX
sation relative to the nature of these
mysteries. Our candles burned low.
We feared they would not last until
daylight. Just as dawn was. strug-
Cling with moonlight Jane remarked
in me that unutterable expression that
had affected her with so much horror
before She described it as expressing
mixture of deep sadness and con-
scious power over her.
IT covered my face with my hands.
spoke to her with most studied gen.
tleness. 1t was Intellectual. Her hor-
ror and agony increased. even to the
most dreadful convulsions. She
shr1eled and writhed On the door.
Evening star., 1935-08-11

this may do something to dispel both
types of mist. II In any degree 1t
relieves society of the amateur psy-
chologist, whose conversation Is COM
posed of references to delusions, 1t
ought to be gratefully received on
that account alone. And If it gives
other poor devils courage to seek
treatment, why there Is no harm in
that either.
Mr.. Seabrook is more than COM
petent writer. He is never dull. While
appreciative of this book. one hopes
that he will soon start for the New
Atlantis, or some other uncharted
spot, and produce another work such
as he did in former days.
MOSCOW EXCURSION. BY P. L.
Travers. New York: Reynal &
Hitchcock, Inc.
THIS is one of the most readable
books on the great Russian ex-
pertinent which has come out for
some time. 1t may not please the
SOIIlIiluIlISlS, WIZ Scciu W N 90
devoid of humor where their own
foibles are concerned as are their
capitalistic enemies. But it will GER
tainly please any unbiased reader who
enjoys good writing and an unfogged
point of view. For it is not about
whether Russia is retrograding or
progressing, or whether the five-year
plan was a success or whether the
people love Stain or any of those
too wen worn questions. It is about
the authors very human and good
natured reactions to her experiences
as an Intourist traveller And the
author is young Irish woman with
a style.
She set out for Russia as q men,
Der of a tour party composed entirely
of serious thinkers. They talked of
Russia-holy Russia-all the way
One of them, a school teacher, in
formed her that the whole glorious
secret of communism was to learn to
merge. Passing the ship galley. she
remarks that she observed that the
stewards and stewardesses had al
ready learned the merging art, but
that was because she came on them
very Unexpectedly. .-,-.. ...
Landed, the whole tour was laid out
Evening star., 1935-08-11
By Thomas r. Henry.

= PECTERS, strange fancies woven
Of moonlight and disordered
minds, flashes of prose poems
and vignettes Of nature, roman
tic adventures. eccentricities and FAM
lily gossip parade through the letters
and diaries of one of the most re-
markable groups Of men and women
ever assembled on earth as they are
gathered together In the strange
Book of Shelly and Mary" now
available in America for the first time
in a single photostat copy obtained
by the Library of Congress.
1t is the story of the life together Of
Percy Bysshe Shelly and Mary Wolls-
toncraft Shelly from their elopement
in England to the poets tragic death
in the Bay Of Spezia few years
later. Moreover, it is a shirt-sleeve
picture not only OF the couple them
selves, but of their intimates during
their exile in Italy-Lord Byron, John
Keats. Leigh Hunt, John Edward Ire
lawny and 3 dozen others.
Most of this material never has
been published, although biographers
Evening star., 1935-08-11

mental illness or a smart smattering
of psychiatric tag-ends which they
apply ad libitum to everything which
disagrees with their own world limits
A plain and matter of fact account
of diagnosis and treatment such as
Evening star., 1935-12-18
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Miss December,

NIlSS OcCcIHDeIs
Howdy, Miss December! I hopes you's
feelin' fine.
You allus seemed to be a mos partic lar
friend o. mine.
When you steps along de roadway in de
sunshine or de snow
You calls attention to de place where
Christmas trees done grow.
You walks into de parlor an de white
folks wears a smile
An learns to say, "Jes keep de change"
wifi an engagin' smile.
You walks into de kitchen an de t1re
begins to roar
An forty kinds o. perfume hangs around
de oven door.
So, howdy, Miss December! You is lookin'
mighty gay.
We's allus glad to meet you when you
travels roun' dis way.
You doesn bring much sunshine, like
some months dat we has known,
But you shows us how to manufacture
sunshine Of our own.
Evening star., 1935-12-18
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
The Big Quartet.
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton

Well, boys, here we're together again
After all these years, the big quartet
At least all save one. tried in vain
The latest address Of our basSo to get.
Fill the glasses, Dick. Tom, start the song.
But hold on-the quartet's not complete.
I feel somehow we'd sing all wrong
Without the deep boom Of poor old
Pete.
He wasn't much good except to sing
Never bound for halls of fame-or
wealth;
Might have hit high in the fighting ring
Or shuf1iing cards. Yet here's to his
health!
Here's to his luck, somewhere on the
earth!-
Or maybe under its sod ten feet
Just a great big vagabond fron birth =.
Who opened the door? -. lin jiggered!
...Petel
Heard I was looking you up2 Come In.
Sort Of reunion-the big quartet.
Peter, you look like you'd staked to win.
Roamed all over the world, bet.
Played high stakes In the money ring?
Pretty well known along Wall Street,
Take glass, old chap Well cut the sing.
Tell Us the tale Of your eltmb-up. Pete.
Evening star., 1935-12-18
Pleas i'm ExtenuatiOn.

Alibi week in Europe set in on Tues
day with Premier Lavals plea before the
Chamber of Deputies in extenuation Of
the sinister Anglo-French plan to reward
MuSSolini for his aggression against
Ethiopia. The Shrewd and Shifty states
man at the Quai d'Orsay helm secured
an initial vote of support, but his major
ity was the smallest obtained by any
French government in recent years on
a matter of foreign policy. The 252
votes cast against M. Laval constituted
unmiStakable warning that huge Sec
ton of Parliament and of public opin-
ion disapproves of the scheme to buy
of Italy at the cost of ruthless sacrifice
of Ethiopia and abject betrayal of the
League.
NJ Laval pleaded with the Chamber
to remember that the project Matched by
himself and Sir Samuel Hoare is purely
a "basiS of discussion" and that if it is
rejected by Italy, Ethiopia or the League
it automatically collapseS. Apparently
only that assurance saved the premier
from an adverse vote that would have
toppled him from power. The Chamber
was in belligerent mood. Any indication
that the government was prepared to
stand by the Laval-Hoare scheme, come
what may, would have provoked storm
that the cabinet could hardly have
weathered. NJ. Herriot and his Radical
Socialists, on whose support the pre-
mier's position mainly depends, revealed
only lukewarm approval of the proposal
to hand over two-thirds of Ethiopia to
Italy despite the Leagues condemnation
of her campaign of conquest.
AS expected, Laval's defense consisted
of the explanation that the suggested set
tlement strikes Britain and France as the
only way of preventing a general con-
flagration in Europe. The premier, con-
veying the impression that he had mere
" followed Britain's lead, intimated that
the two governments feared the impo-
sition of further sanctions would lmpel
MusSolini to make war, the brunt OF
which would be borne by the British and
the French. It was to avoid that greater
calamity and its incalculable conSe-
uuences that London and Paris ventured
to put forward plan which, they hoped,
would be acceptable to Rome, Adds
Ababa and Geneva alike, and thus bring
peace on satisfactory and honorable"
terms.
No proof has yet been produced that
Mussolini could or would carry out the
dire threats which conveyed such sud-
den and terrifying conviction to the
British and French governments. 1t
must be presumed that they are in pos
session of facts that justified the amaz-
ing abandonment Of their previous be-
lief in the efficacy of collective action to
curb II Duce. If there was real substance
for their fears the League is entitled to
know exactly what it was. II it is not
disclosed the world will be inclined to
conclude that Mussolini, in pretending
to defy the united forces Of civilization,
sprang a gigantic bluff-and got away
with it.
Mr.. Baldwin in the House of Commons
tomorrow may lift the veil. One thing
is certain-if the Roman dictator ac-
complishes his purposes in Africa on
lines now proposed international aggres-
sion will be Sanctified and security for
small nations will be thing of the past.
Evening star., 1935-12-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

It was a pigeon, but the latest
traffic victim, Just the same, run over
on Eleventh street as IL was preparing
to take flight.
Even wings didn't save it.
Dogs succumb, active squirrels are
found crushed, but it is not often that
a pigeon gets caught.
An automobile struck him at the height
of the morning rush.
A pedestrian, risking his life to pick
up the bird, found it alive, but unable
to fly.
He placed it in a nook between two
store fronts.
Another animal lover went into q res
taurant, where he purchased biscuit,
which he crumbled in front of the pigeon.
Gingerly the bird wobbled over, smelled
the food, refused to eat.
Something seemed wrong with his
wings near the tail.
What is it?" asked passerby.
"a pigeon was struck by a car"
"Hm-m-nl-"
Interest died.
Just a pigeon, fancyl But the same
car that ran over bird might have run
over human.
The mills of the gods, 1t has been said,
grind slowly, but they grind exceeding
fine.
Fortunate is any living creature who,
having been struck, escapes with life.
If wings won't save a bird, what hope
has man, except by the use of great
personal caution, in walking, and the
needing of traffic regulations in driving
safe walking, safe driving, in short?
4
1t is becoming more apparent to the
person afoot that if he is to be saved, in
traf1c, he must save himself.
This he may do, God willing, by a
superabundant use Of personal caution.
The first two things he must keep in
mind are as follows:
l. Always look to the left.
q Wait for lights.
The first caution is especially applicable
to those who use the public busses and
street cars, which even car owners tend
to do more and more, as the parking
problem becomes more acute.
In crossing street to get to the other
side, in order to catch public vehicle, the
main concern Is, strange as it may seem,
not to get aboard the vehicles, but to
avoid being run over before arriving
there.
In stepping of curb, the inclination is,
with most persons, to look to the right, in
order to see whether the car or bus is
going to stop.
What should be done is look to the left,
from which danger threatens in the form
Of swiftly moving motor vehicles.
This elementary caution is violated so
many times, and often by the same peo-
pie without exception, that many do not
realize this danger.
Yet the man behind the wheel almost
always suppoSeS that the man on the curb
is going to look to the left before he steps
of into the street.
Any pedestrian who is honest with
himself will be able to recall number of
occasions when he almost lost his life
by failing to observe this elemental pro-
cedure. A miss is as good as mile, it is
said, and it is when 1t inStills caution
into the walking heart
1t is easy to forget this rule, especially
when one is some way up the street. and
is running to catch bus. The 1nclina-
ton is to look toward the vehicle but one
ought to look persistently toward the left,
Evening star., 1935-12-18
Mr.. HOOVer's Analysis.

Herbert Hoover'S analysis of the Roose-
velt administrations relief expenditures,
in his recent st. Louis speech, is food for
thought. The former President pointed
out that for the year which ended last
October the cost-Federal, State and local
-totaled $500, 900, 900. A huge army Of
workers on the Federal pay roll, dealing
with these relief expenditures, gave an
other side to the picture. Mr.. Hoover
estimated this army at 100000, drawing
from the Federal Treasury $3OO,OOO,O 900
annually. In the last year of the Hoover
administration, when, it is claimed by
the Roosevelt New Dealers, the depres-
sion was at its height, these total expendi-
lures for relief amounted to 81 100 ,O00, 900.
Furthermore, the overhead of the Federal
Government in its administration of relief
was only $3.50, 900 and the number of Fed
eral employees attached to this work was
fewer than two hundred.
In the face of the Roosevelt promises,
during the campaign of 1882, to curtail
Government expenditures, to reduce the
number of Federal employees and to do
away with Commissions" and other
governmental agencies, the record made
will require some explaining during the
campaign of 1886. The cumulative effect
of less than three years spending by the
Roosevelt administration has shot the
public debt-which must be paid by the
people of the United States-to new all
time heights. The suggestion of Presi-
dent Roosevelt that his expenditures of
public funds have been mild compared
to the estimates of great bankers" Of
what the country could spend and for
which it could 60 in debt sounds like an
alibi, rather than reason.
Mr.. Hoover commented upon political
results Of Federal bureaucracy carried
to present proportions. The driving pur-