Evening star., 1936-01-12
BY Mary.Carter Roberts.

year, one CurIlS TeSlSIleQ COul1tc.
nance toward a long shelf of books
In the corner of the Office which
one has been trying wantonly for
horrid number Of weeks to forget.
They are the books which one should
have reviewed and did not.
Now, with the turn of the season.
the convening of Congress-one ad-
mits the possibility of entering on
better life Away with these old sins!
Armed with the dust cloth one moves
toward that dark, cobwebby corner.
Oh, shame-some OF these books
really are quite excellent works. One
cannot look at their jacket blurbs,
written with what hopes by what
bright spirits in those realms of ra-
diant human faith wherein blurb
writer's forever dwell, without plan
ming severe self-castigation. That
all these appealingly trustful fancies
should come to this!
The busting done, the task of clas-
sification must needs be performed,
and the long neglected books duly ar
ranged in neat heaps. 1t makes quite
a little library. Biography leads of
with six volumes. Science and the
World War come next with four each.
Current world affairs shows three and
there is scattering of poetry, his
tory, fiction and a small welter of
pamphlets. Up then, and have at
them.
First, there is Edward M. Barrows'
t,;ooronhu Of orIora Derry ssrTho
Great Commodore" 1t is published
by Bobbs-Merrill. 1t is vigorously, if
also somewhat artlessly, written tale
of adventures on the seven seas in
days when naval procedures were
enormously different from those OBJ
tanning today. The pursuit of slave
catchers, the end of piracy in Ameri-
can waters, the founding of Liberia
and the momentous negotiations with
Japan, are all covered in this COM
prehensive volume. The material has
been drawn largely from Government
records. The author is managing ed
itor of the National Municipal Re-
view. His story of Perry is absorbing,
in a sweeping, hero-worshipping way.
"a SECOND volume of American
biography is Carl Brent Swishers
life of Roger B. Taney, published by
the Macmillan Co. Taney, was sue
cessively Attorney General of the
United States, Secretary of the Treas
ury and Chief Justice, but his fame
has rested mainly on the decision in
the Dred Scott case, which, in his
last-named capacity, he handed down.
Mr.. Swisher's volume, however, nat
urally covers his whole career. 1t
concerns itself with interpreting the
man and his official acts in the light
of his personal background as men,
ber of a landed aristocracy. Although
the work by no means concurs with
Charles Summers opinion that "the
name of Taney is to be hooted down
the page of history" it shows clearly
that its subject, at all times in his
career, fought for the maintenance
of aristocratic privilege and against
State interference with property. The
story of his leadership in President
Jackson's fight against the Bank of
the United States is an important
part of the book Material has been
taken from both public and private
records. The author is lecturer on
government in the department of
public law and jurisprudence of Co.
lumbia University.
Still third valuable work of Amer
lean biography (waiting on the shelf
ic I,ro G
Hewitt With Some Account of Peter
Cooper" by Allan Nevins. This book
covers more years than the span OF
its subjects life, for SO closely asso-
ciated was Hewitt with the career of
his father-in-law, Cooper, that the
latter's story has to be told for ade-
quate understanding of the formers.
Taken together the two careers make
q saga of New York. Cooper was
born in the city in 1871; in 1845
Hewitt took charge of his great iron
mills and managed them until 1883,
when Cooper died. In 1886, by dint
of defeating Theodore Roosevelt,
Hewitt was elected mayor of the city,
serving an administration that was
He died in 1900.
THE book is, however, more than
record of city or even State
affairs, for its most dramatic chapter
Is the one which describes the part
Hewitt played in the contested Hayes
Tnden election of 1876. He was
Democratic national chairman and
Democratic leader in the House at
the time. The account of the part
which he took in securing peaceful
settlement that permitted a Repub-
lican victory, but also satisfied the de-
mands of the South is taken from
hitherto unpublished private papers,
and throws interesting, even sensa-
tional light on that bitter struggle.
The book contains illustrations taken
from periodicals Of its day. An un-
usually comprehensive and entertain
ing work, it is published by Harper
& Bros.
The story of an artist who has
lived widely in public affairs COM
pletes the list of American lives which
have lain SO long neglected on our
shelves. This is the Autobiography"
Of John Cournos, an exceptionally good
book of its kind. Cournos was born in
Kieff, his real name being Johann
Korshoon. He was 10 when his par
ents emigrated to America; he there
fore has been able to remember con-
siderable of his life in his native land,
and the passages descriptive of these
years are sensitive and fine. In Phila-
delphia, where his family settled, he
worked as q newsboy, as bobbin boy
in o cloth mill and as an Office boy
on the Record, from which last-named
post he rose to be associate editor. He
writes of his sordid early surroundings |
in considerable detail, using a vision |
that reaches beyond the actual event. |
At the age of 81 he went to London |
to try his luck there as writer.
I.