Evening star., 1936-10-24
BY Mary.Carfer Roberts


w ss;sss ssss;:i'z State: :ss Senator .:'%ss ''ss
Maryland tells here his
recollections of his youth on a
staunton River plantation, his educa-
ton at the University of Virginia and
his subsequent practice of law in
Baltimore. His book is, in its way, an
American testament, q presentation
of D manner of life and thought SO
commonly romanticized that its grave
realty is all too often forgotten.
Mr.. Bruce does not romanticize. It
would be impossible for man SO evil
dently inbred in his traditions to so do,
even if he wished. Romanticizing
comes usually from extraneous sources
1t Is the detached beholder, one who
belongs to q different system Of cul-
ture, who sees romance in ways of life
that are foreign to him and clothes
them in literary glamour. If it is
true that most Of our popular songs
extolling Southern life have been writ
ten by natives of New York City. it is
equally true that most Of the heavily
romanticized books on the South have
come from the pens of Northern writ
ers, or have been written by Southern
ers Of later day than the period they
have undertaken to depict, a period
about which legend has had time to
accumulate. Southerners writing
about their contemporary life gener-
ally have been sober enough. Yet
50 popular have the romantic works
been through the whole country that
there Is q certain lf-consciousness
attaching to almost any book which
deals with their favorite material
plantation life of a generation ago.
Mr.. Bruce writes, however, with utter
naturalness. In this quality, and in
the scope with which it covers its Pc
riod, his book merits q place in works
Of Americana.
1t is not an attempt at autobiog-
raphy. It does not cover the authors
life, but gives rather the background
against which that life was lived up
until the first decade of the present
century. The chapters which deal
with existence on the isolated planta-
ton are those which held the re-
viewers attention most cloSely-an
existence which allowed Of great phys
ical scope, where horizcus were wide,
where miles might be walked instead
OF city blocks driven where the terrain
was rural and human life was condi-
toned to deal with nature. Mr.. Bruce
says of the sports which he enjoyed
in his youth, Il began to ride on
horseback so early that I cannot re-
member just when I did begin"
And later, OF the same subject, my
first essay at killing flying. quail, or
partridge. as 1t was called in Char
lotte County, on the wing, dates al
most as far back as my first riding
lesson. I trapped rabbits, when little
more than a child, and, later, gun in
hand, tracked them over the snow to
their beds, or shot them running, as
they dashed of in the fields, in ad-
vance of me, when I was shooting
quail. It was not until long after I
had attained my majority that I
hunted them with the aid of beagles,
too . The wild turkey, the wild
goose, the wild duck, the quail, the
woodcock, the snipe, the railbird, the
ortolan, the bullbat and the dove
these different species of birds I bag
ged, during my youth, IN such num-
bers, that, if all my feathered victims
were to rise up against me, in retribu-
tive judgment, now, and hawk at me
with their bills and feet should be
in sorry plight, indeed; and this
plight would be even worse, If the
onset were reinforced by the teeth of
all the squirrels, too, that despatched
in my youth, though with less zest.
The truth is that, except for my keen
love of reading, was, as a boy and
youth, almost as addicted to shooting
in the forests and fields as poor Louis
XVI OF France was to hunting. The
reader will recall that, whenever state,
or other, demands kept Louis from
hunting, he entered in his journal,
under the proper date, simply the rue
full word Nothing Or might COM
pare myself with the old Negro who,
when asked why he preferred Theo-
piled sententiously, Taft amt kill
nuffin'.'"
1t may be Of interest to contempo-
rary hunters to mention, however,
that Mr.. Bruce adds that he never
cared for fox hunting, in which aver
sion he quotes Lord Chesterfield, "who
is said to have asked, on one occasion.
fov
went fox hunting twice"
Neither, he remarks, was 1t the
habit of his people to play games
much, billiards and draughts being
their only recreation of this kind. Aside
from the sports of the field and stream
they amused themselves by reading
and, in his particular family. by
writing.
"The Staunton Hill Bruces." he says,
fare natural scribblers."
Thus preliminary education which,
assisted by tutoring, reached its formal
stage in the University of Virginia,
where in his senior year the writer
engaged in q debating contest with
Woodrow Wilson, winning the De-
bater's Medal and relegating the fu-
ture President to the Orators Medal,
which was regarded as second place.
It would seem to have been type Of
training which bore fruits. It was
typical Of its day and in q few far
places in America Is still practiced.
Doubtless, if these places were dis
covered, they would be visited by So
biologists eager to make money by
writing them up. Heaven forfend, yet
o little while, at least.
One of the delightful chapters Ct
the work is that in which Mr.. Bruce
tells Of his family connections, liven-
ing his narrative with anecdotes Of
excellent pithiness. The Cabells, the
Carriers, the Pages and the Nelson's
are some of the Virginia families to
which he acknowledges ties.
It was not until after he had
A~Atnv>a ~,,nnoec Il, y,rivo "a 1ouv yHro n .