Evening star., 1936-03-11
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
FATHER STRUCK TT RICH. BY Eva
lyn Walsh Mclean. With Boyden
Sparkes. New York: Little, Brown
Margaret Cermond.


Sparkes. New York: Little, Brown
& Co.
Washington has often been accused of
being an unresponsive and skeptical
community. The charge has never been
altogether justified, for the people of
this city are generous and warm-hearted
In their appreciation of that which is
good. But Washington has been fooled
so many times by those who have en-
joyed natural claim upon its affections
as well as by outsiders who have sought
fame and fortune within its gates that
1t feels it has a right to be little
doubtful about the genuineness of peo-
pie and of things until their worth has
been proved. When worthiness Is DEM
onstrated there is no lack of apprecia-
tion and response.
And it is with warm affection in their
hearts that the people of this community
are now enjoying the very comfortable
sensation of pride in the achievement of
one Of its most beloved women. She
has written a book which supersedes.
from every viewpoint of judgment, all
others of its kind that have come out
Of the Nations Capital, q book that
richly merits the enthusiasm with which
it is being received.S
The country at large and Washington
In particular has been reading with keen
interest the serial publication of excerpts
from the autobiography of Evalyn Walsh
Mclean. II some of us were bit guilty
Of skepticism about how the material
would hold together in book form it
was because the articles were only SAM
Piles that failed to prepare the reader
for the breadth and depth OF the whole
pattern. Few books possess the power
to keep this reviewer reading all night.
Having read the aforementioned maga-
zine articles. there was no reason to
expect that casual glance through the
volume to note the mechanical set-up
would lead to the burning of the mid
night oil until merciless alarm clock
announced the arrival of another work.
ing day.
The triumphs and tragedies, the Joys
and sorrows of the Mclean family are
old stories to Washington. Mysteries that
never existed have flourished and become
traditions And now, Evalyn Walsh Nc
Lean. daughter, wife and mother, reveals
to all who are interested the true story
of her life.
1t is to be doubted whether any other
woman in the world has experienced
life so crowded with kaleidoscope events.
Yet in the telling Of these erratic and
sensational spins of the wheels of fate
there is no dramatizing of self or of great
happenings. no softening Of the causes of
bitter suffering or no condemnation of
the shortcomings and sins Of others. Hon.
esty has guided the writing of every SEN
tence, and every sentence is directed
toward definite goal.
The dominating theme in the book, as
1t has been in her life, Is the devotion and
admiration OF its author for her father.
Actually the lives of two people are re-
corded in this one volume, as, in addi-
tion to its photographed character, it
also is history of the life of Thomas F.
Walsh, who rose to fame and fortune in
career that began in the role Of small
builder IN frontier country. 1t is the
story Of how he became interested in the
earth and what it might contain; of his
struggle through study and determina-
ton to master metallurgy; of his life in
mining towns and of his courtship and
marriage to the girl with whom he fell
in love as she sang in the small COM
munity church; Of their humble life
together in mining shacks and Of house.
keeping in a box-car home, and Of the
eventual strike" which brought riches
beyond the comprehension Of the eight
year-old daughter, who now tells his story
as well as her own.
There were many happy days for the
Walsh family back in those days Of
unpainted frame houses in the rough
mining country, with genial, kindly. gen.
erous Tom Walsh as the center of the
universe for his two small children. It
was from her father that Evalyn learned
the keynote that has guided her own
eventful life. Two rules he taught her
to live by: Think of the other fellow
first and "Give part of yourself" If
there has been any mystery concerning
the motives that have led her into diff
f1culties with unscrupulous moneyseek-
ers, the answer lies in those two maxins.
X X
Perhaps these two rules did not give
her all she need to know about the
quickly changing world about her, but
surely without their influence the Evalyn
Walsh Mclean of today might never
have existed. She loves people, as
did her father, Of all kinds and
classes. so her recording of the ex-
periences which life has crowded upon
her includes contacts with the lowly as
well as the great.
From childhood in Western mining
town the story tells of the railroad wreck
that marked her first long journey by
train; of the plunge into Washington's
social set; of her rebellion against the
process of being remolded to fit the
cramped decorum of the new order of
life; of her thrills over the things that
money could buy; Of life in the mansion
on Massachusetts, avenue; Of Kings and
paupers, Presidents and crooks, society's
elite and plain citizens; of how she used
up a $4,000 letter of credit on her first
trip to Europe: of her courtship, mar
riage and devotion to the husband whose
extremes of virtue and waywardness
wrecked both his business and his
health; of incidents touching her
life which were of national and in
ternational consequence; Of a honey
moon abroad that cost over 5000 900 and
arrival in Paris without enough money
to pay hotel bills; of how Lord Balfour
happened to take home with him q
souvenir cut from fine tablecloth; of
her longing to give to her children the
finest qualities Of both families; of her
friendship with the Hardings, the Cool
idges President Taft, Theodore Roosevelt,
Admiral Dewey. Henry Cabot Lodge,
King Leopold Countess Cassini, Cardinal
Merry del Val, Col. Lindbergh and count
less other notables; also the story of her
association with the bonus marchers, in
whom she saw only suffering, hungry
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