Evening star., 1935-07-07
FIRST NOVEL WINS PRAISE
Robert Ryees Deep Dark River New Book Of the Month
Choice for July-Two Volumes Kit Carson and
the West-New Novels.

himself Mr.. Sabin offers one inter-
esting suggestion. That is that his
fame has been due. to some extent
at least, to good luck. He acknowl-
edges the old scouts character and
exploits, but he remarks that there
were other men of the same type,
whose lives were wholly comparable
to Carson's, who yet lived and died
obscure. Somewhat whimsically, he
suggests that Kit Carson was the in
dividual chosen by fate to epitomize
in history the virtues of his class.
For. while Kit himself was modest
as to his career (modesty indeed was
one Of the aforesaid virtues, Fame
with her trumpet seemed to be always
at his elbow. He even had. says Mr..
Sabin, the kind Of name which suits
a popular hero-alliterative, short and
romantic c-sounding.
The book may be too factual to be
recommended to the very young reader,
in spite of its subject. But to the
substantial citizen who cherishes
memory Of afternoons spent in play
ing Indian. it may we'll be suggested
as a means of recapturing that fine
rapture, less actively perhaps, but
none the less imaginatively.
REDDER THAN THE ROSE. BY Ro-
bert Forsythe. New York: Covici
F'riede
T~HE radpeSs of this hook its title
notwithstanding, Is not the tender
hue of the blossom, but the militant
color of Communism. Mr.. Robert
Forsythe, the author. is an aggressive
champion OF the Muscoyite expert
ment and the present work is a collec-
tion of ESSAYS on contemporary sub
jects as seen through Communistic
eyes. Some Of the papers have previ-
ously appeared In The New Masses. to
which journal Mr.. Forsythe Is q
contributor.
Since Mr.. Forsythe himself makes
no critical examination Of the theories
Of his party. nor even explains them,
but lays them fatty down before US.
a wrapped package, as our only plan
Of salvation, like 1t or not, a review Of
his work must necessarily follow
along indicated lines. The purpose
here. therefore. Is not to criticize the
authors doctrines but to see how he
reasons in applying them to our
current problems.
Unhappily one finds oneself thwarted
in this undertaking by the fact that
he so seldom troubles himself to rea-
son at all. His plan of attack on
the capitalistic mentality is much
more strategic. He Is vastly clever
qualities. When he opens fire it is
with no dull remark about the gold
standard or the economic theory Of
history, but with a reference to Miss
Mae West, Mr.. Mencken, Dillinger,
the last world Series or something
similarly attractive to the frivolous
level Of the bourgeois mind.
He next proceeds to write a couple
of pages on this opener. trenchantly
and with considerable wit; one more
than suspects that he has learned
about handling the language from
Mr.. Mencken himself, whom he
patronizes very cruelty. Then, as if
he suddenly saw his word limit loom
ing before him, he drops all that,
steps to the front of the platform
and tells us in breaking voice
reminiscent of little Lord Fauntleroy
pleading with his grandpapa, that
while millions are hungry and un-
employed there are women-yes, there
really are-who go to the theater
wearing jewels, furs and fine dresses.
This makes an extremely sudden
change of mental climates for the
unsuspecting reader. It Is like STEP
ping out OF page Of the old Smart
Set at Its most brilliant into a seri-
ously intended performance Of East
Lynne" To be sure, when one has
read a number of the essays one
begins to expect 1t. But to say that
one is ever quite happy about it would
be an exaggeration. It Is always
startling.
At one second we have Mr.. Forsythe
being the Mr.. Hyde of our current
follies-our theater, our novels, our
gangsters, our sports, press, police
and politicians-and wreaking havoc
all over the lot in a most entertain
ing manner. At the next he is the
DR.. Jeckyll Of communism. pleading
with us to be our better selves and
not to sell our sinful jewels, fur and
fine dresses-to 60 down to the polls
and vote Communist at the next
election. This, he says, will serve,
and this alone.
After reading book with so much
life, wit and shrewdness and such
persistent doughty contradiction one
is tempted to offer the ardent writer
a suggestion or two in kind. 1t Is
good thing to burn with wrath
before injustice to ones fellowmen.
1t has been the function Of the finest
minds the race has produced to do
just this. In this they have served.
But when our young Ithuriel, having
duly burned, tells us that his politi-
cal theory Is the universal cure-all, he
is rningling bad taste with demon
strable falsehood. Human suffering
is q malady that Is a trifie too old.
1t has eluded shrewder practitioners
than Lenin. It seems likely to 60
on doing 30. When one turns over
the bright list Of the names of men
who have grappled the problem
through past centuries the spectacle
Of Mr.. William z. Foster ushering in
the millennium becomes q little hard
to credit.
Mr.. Forsythe is very hard on Re
publicans, Democrats and Socialists
who make promises which they can
not fulfill. Does he really believe
that Communist promises would be
so wholly different? One would not
call his sincerity into question. 1t
is only when he tells us, What
Mae West did is to show =.
the depths to which capitalistic
morality has come" that one must
raise a protesting eyebrow. These
Communications fears that there
| In ahcolutnlv pofhipo that than ooy,