Evening star., 1935-09-15

period called bubble water" with the
virtuous decoction known as catnip
tea. If you like the mixture, then, OF
if you are merely curious, here 1t is
It is a republishing of series OF
articles which Mr.. Flaudrau, in the
vanished days, wrote for the Sat-
urday Evening Post. 1t purports to
be the adventures of two Harvard
sophomores on a vacation trip to
France and England. The Post, ap-
parently, was then, even as now, the
arbiter of what was nice. 1t pub
lished "Sophomores Abroad" one
feels, as humor-possibly as rather
daring humor. But time has cruelty
erased the effects OF the delicate ver-
bal chiseling which brought smiles
to grandfather's face, and left in il
stead an undeniable fiatness. At most
in the manner of the archeologist
one can laboriously detect where the
funniness occurred.
Yet. though "Sophomores Abroad
is valuable chiefly as relic, it is still
recommended. For Mr.. Flandrau, who
has written brilliantly in his time,
has prefaced his journal Of sopho-
moric peregrinations with an Apo
logia," an essay Of SO pages, which Is
sufficiently pleasant to be worth the
price of the whole. In this diSquisi-
ton he contrives. gracefully as well as
plausibly. to bridge the gap made by
the years-the gap between two cul-
lures, as expressed by their mutual
Post.
Such a task might well place q
strain on the sophistication Of any
writer. but Mr. Flaudrau brings 1t of
1t gives perspective to his relic, and
will add considerably to its value
for those who find relics congenial.
QUARRTED CRYSTALS AND OTHEF
POEMS. BY Mary Cumming
Eudy. New York: G. P. Putnam
Sons.
THIS is book OF verse in which
there are to be found some yer,
nice poems and perhaps a low mini
mum of poor ones. In other words
the level of the volume is high. al
though lacking in outstanding peaks
They are verses in the modern man
ner, very brittle and with delicat,
rhyme schemes and rhythms. For tn,
most part the poems are short, seldom
being more than few lines. The.
show talent for versifying that il
plainly above the average and some
times poetic feeling that is arrestingl.
genuine.
The volume is 1S5 pages long, will
a poem on each page-and that Is
Of course, too many poems. No on,
yet has written so many without com
mitting some banality. And banalitie
occur here. But on the whole tn,
book can be recommended.
THE DEMI-WIDCw. BY Mary Pick
ford. indianapolis: Bobbs Mer
rill Co.
EOR the second time, America
sweetheart has taken her pen il
hand. The dainty energy, which mad
an entire Nation sway to the shakin;
Of her golden curls, has now beer
turned to fiction. Miss Pickford, like
many people whose lives have com.
on unexpected crises. has written her
self novel. Is she writer? Th
question can be answered by asking
another. Was she ever an actress
She was not-although probably tn
most famous in the world during he,
hour. And so in her role of Our Mar.
of Letters it would seem that the sam
sort of success might follow her, al
though in lesser degree of course
Worse books than The Demi-Widow
certainly have been published anc
some of them have been successful.
She has given US Cinderella stor,
of the most approved form. A poo
| little girl with cheek bones that ar
almost Slavic') applies for part il
a show, is SO hungry that she faints
gets the part and is Knockout. I
any one but Mary Pickford had writ
ten it. you would call it commercial
trash of certain workmanlike variety
But it is unthinkable that she shoult
do anything with cynicism. One can
not believe that she has even givel
her pen a rougish nibble. Her roug'
ishness, seen in times perspective
seems more likely to have been direc
torial genius than her own anyhow
THE Demi- Widow" is q Hollywood
story. Miss Pickford probably admire
IL.
THE PUBLIC UTILITY QUESTION
BY Henry George Hendricks. Pub
lished by the author.
TT HARDLY seems necessary to poin
out that this volume issues from
the press at a very pat time. Public
utilities" and holding corporations
are phrases which leap out at on,
from the headlines of almost every
journal. But unbiased factual ma.
terial on the subject is not so readily
come by.
Mr.. Hendricks was formerly mem.
ber of the staff of the House Com.
mittee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce investigating the public
utility situation, and was author o.
several parts of the Stairs reports
In his pIesent work he is conten