Evening star., 1935-12-11
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Germond.

Howard Hartman. New York: Dodd,
Mead & Co.
Here Is one of the most fascinating
autobiographies that has been published
in many months, written by man whose
life has been one continuous and color
full chain of adventures in career that
has been as fantastic as the still en-
thralling experiences Of the heroes of
1.-THE Seven League Boots, "The Magic
Carpet" and other creations of the i'm
agination in which fanciful worlds are
conquered, hidden treasure Is discovered
and enchanting dreams become mag
nificent realities.
Until he was sixteen years old the call
of the great, wide world beyond the
horizon of small town in Pennsylvania
sounded in vain. And then the time
came when the thirst for romance and
adventure in far places could no longer
be denied. Captain Hartman was born
in Allentown and earned his first money
as a printers devil. Out of his small
wages he managed to save enough money
for transportation to New York IN 1884,
where he promptly signed up on the
steamship Ozama and went to sea to
engage in lifetime of unceasing ad-
venture. His life as a seaman began in
the galley peeling potatoes. BY an ad-
Vantageous as well as tragic combination
OF circumstances fate led him to ac-
quaintance with General Sir Godfrey
Howard, an adventure loving English
man, who adopted him.
The title of Captain Hartmans book
is sufficiently intriguing to attract the
eye, and casual glance through its
pages, picking up fragments Of expert
ences here and there, has the effect OF
q magnet. Reader and book will not be
separated until the full flavor Of its salt
has been tasted and its amazing record
of events absorbed. Here is but brief
outline of some of the things that hap
pened to him during the first twenty
five years of his career on the seas:
Like most men who go down to the sea
in ships, the horrors of Shipwreck and
of fire at sea were experienced in the
early days of his seamanShip. He en-
gagged in whale hunting, sought hidden
treasure, was twice Shanghaied, command
ed many ships, had experiences with pi-
rates, gun-runnerS and cannibalS- ran con-
traband and witnessed the great Samoan
hurricane of March, 1889 He knew
Joseph Conrad as sailor, visited Robert
Louis Stevenson at his home in Samoa,
met Queen Victoria, passed jokes with
King Edward VII in a London tavern,
was the guest of Cecil Rhodes in Africa,
was given a lesson in art by James
Whistler was hoSpitaled with Joseph
Conrad in Singapore and won the friend
ship of many men whose names are
synonymous with achievement through
out the civilized world.
He became interested in the traditions
surrounding Columbus and made an in
tereSting research into the legend. He
took part in the Boer War, delved into
the mysterious cults of India, studied
and became verSed in the esoteric phi
loSophy of the East, gathered f1rst-hand
knowledge in the opium dens of China,
studied and mastered the intricacies of
Oriental commerce, and escaped from
Port Arthur in disguise during a jap
aneSe bombardment of the Russians in
the war of 1904 AS the adopted son
of General Sir Godfrey Howard he
learned more concerning the political
secrets of the whole Eastern Hemisphere
than perhaps any other American has
ever acquired.
Captain HartmanS book though writ
ten entirely by himself, has been edited
and reduced to normal size by George
S. Hellman, who describes the Captain
as man of vivid and attractive person.
ality who writes verse and plays, draws
and carveS and who in the earliest days
of the flying machine worked on the in
vention of box kites and became one of
the first military observers in warfare.
The volume is generously illustrated with
photographs from Captain Hartmans
collection, and as a whole makes
chronicle difficult to adjust to the belief
that so many experiences could be
crowded into one human life. And yet
only one-half of the story of Captain
Hartman has been told. Another quar-
ter of a century still remains to be re-
corded, and it is genuinely hoped that
a second book will soon be written for
those who want to know the whole career
of this remarkable man.