Evening star., 1935-10-13
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

SARATOGA TRUNKS. BY Henry
Collins Brown. New York: E. P.
Dutton g. Co.
IF NEW YORK had not grown
spectacularly older it seems un-
likely that the fact that it once
L was young would have any partic-
ular interest for the rest of America
today If it had not become possessed
of its own envied brand of sophistica-
tion it seems dubious that its former
naivete would amuse us more than
would the like innocence of a dozen
other cities. If it had not become a
sort of world capital we probably
would find nothing remarkable in the
provincial customs which belonged
to it so years and less ago.
But it has done all those things.
And now since, IN many ways, it rep
resents the most advanced point in
our national progress, we view the
stages of its growth as phenomena of
great significance.
In "BroWnstone Fronts and Saratoga
Trunks" Mr.. Brown, founder of the
Museum of the City of New York
and a native New Yorker who has
personal memories of the little Old
period, writes of that naivete and
provinciality with an urbane irony
Which-though it be a paradoX-Seem
to appertain more to that day than
For that day cultivated individuals,
and individualism became an art
within it, misused or improved accord
ing to individual capacity. But the
present day cultivates chiefly hygiene
and class consciousness, and both
commodities can be most conveniently
administered in mob-size doses.
Sophistication and urbanity are two
different things.
So Mr.. Brown writes, with pleasan.
but not spectacular individuality. o.
the lack Of such blessings in his and an
earlier day. Pigs, he tells us did the
work now accomplished bv the street
cleaning department. And motormen
stood all day long. even in freezing
Winter weather on open-air platforms
seemingly without the slightest idea
that they were being abused. Indoor
plumbing was considered immoral ant
telephone operators were envied be-
cause they worked only l0-hour day
Ffre-fghting was done BY gentleman
amateurs, who often appeared at the
scene in evening dress. and owners
opened their stores in person in the
morning Cabbage was practically tnn
Eal> g.
man consumption. And SO on.
Something of the manner of MIR
Browns treatment of his subject can
be cleaned from the following passage,
taken from the chapter called Quaint
Garb of New York:
Bathing suits for the gentler sex. u
he says, were far cry from the pres
ent-day one-piece affair. They were
made of extra heavy blue flannel, in
two VirtuouS pieces, trousers and skirt.
The trousers reached to the ankles, the
skirt below the knee. They were mod
estly but firmly held together at the
waist by belt Stockings and bathing
shoes completed the costume except Tor
the hat, which was a straw, the same
kind and pattern we now put on horses
heads in Summer. The holes designed
as an exit for ears were used to tie on
the bonnet with a wide piece of velvet
braid. In the water the garments must
have weighed ton, and bathers MADE
a deep puddle wherever they stood
chatting after a dip.
The male contingent was similarly
attired, except that he brazenly refused
to wear stockings. Bare feet was the
only difference, but this served to dis
tinguish the male from the female
Beach parties were solemn affairs, and
the menu consisted solely of thick ham
sandwiches and apple pie washed down
with cataracts Of lukewarm coffee. All
was demure, somber and strictly viz
tuous. The two sexes were just begin
ming to rejoice in neW-fcund free
dom-they were now allowed to bathe
in the same ocean together A howl of
indignation, however, went up from the
puristS when this scandalous concession
was followed by one even more indecent
the books of lady and gentleman
authors were now allowed to adjoin
each other in the library!"
With a like gentle irony Mr.. Brown
treats of the great personages of his
city, of its journalism in which Greeley
Dana, Bennett and Pulitzer were the
giants, Of its social register, its the
ater, its transportation methods from
the stage coach to the elevated, lis
hotels. its hymns, autograph albums,
after-dinner speeches and financial
feuds. The material is not particularly
we'll organized, but that may be merit
for it gives the book the informal ram
bling quality of actual conversation
turned to reminiscing. And that, of
course, is what it really is.
1t is plain that Mr. Brown loved
his city in its little old" days, even
with its sad and comic limitations
Closing. he says, 1T is as if we had
raised child from infancy and now
We see it march off to its first day
In school" And he adds, somewhat
wistfully. 1--WE seem to have lost some
thing"
THE UNPREDICTABLE ADvEN-
TURE. BY Claire Myers Spots
wood. Garden City: Doubleday
Doran g. Co.
THE author of this work has used
form made commonly familiar
to the reading public by John Bunyan,
but has employed it to set forth a
spirit more in harmony with Vol
taire. The sum of her borrowings
is not complete here, however, for
one finds. such stout fellows as Homer,
Rabelais and Cervantes, also called
upon to supply her with their humor
and even episodes from their works.
And yet, "The Unpredictabie Adven-
ture" is remarkably original book.
For it is story of Intellectual and
spiritual searchings in which the lead
ing character is q woman. And
further, the heroine proceeds in her
seeking, not in a manner of meek