Evening star., 1936-07-18


She has been connected with the plac-
ing Of 5000 babies. She takes up here
the questions which seem to her the
chief ones In the f1eld-what the
adaptive parents ought to know about
the situation. heredity, environment,
the use of intelligence tests. the prac-
tices of adoption nurseries, what
adopted children should be told Of
their origins, the illegitimate baby and
so on. In an appendix she gives
summary Of the legal adoption pro-
cedure in various States and bibliog-
raphy Of literature on the subject
For any one with either an academic
or q practical interest in the subject,
this work would seem to have a dis
tinct value.
ASTRONOMY FOR THE LAYMAN.
BY Frank Reh. New York: q.
Appleton Century Co.
THIS readable and untechnical book
might well be called Astronomy
for the Beginner" for 1t proceeds on
the kindly assumption that most of us
who rank as "laymen" know nothing
about the skies above our heads and
begins by telling in simple language
the names and legends of the visible
stars and consultations. One will not
need a telescope or gift for mathe-
mates to understand Mr.. Reh's de-
scriptions. On the contrary. his book
Is for people who like to do their as
tronomizng from their front porches.
BY the aid of his simple diagrams
such humble students will be able to
avoid the embarrassment of mistaking
Mars for Jupiter or the Great Dipper
for the Swan. And that will be step
forward for many Of us In even this
twentieth century.
Also for the benefit of those who
like to mingle their accomplishments,
Mr.. Reh includes in his book many
of the famous poetic references to the
stars and consultations. So that, rls-
ing from your bridge games some sui
try evening you can point aloft and
edify your guests by remarking. why,
there is Ursa Major, Of which John
Milton wrote those immortal lines,
ct may oft outwatch the bear 1t
ought to make you the life OF the
party.
BEYOND THE GAME. BY Helen
Hull Jacobs. J. B. Lippincott
Co.
HELEN HULL JACOBS has been
- national women's tennis cham
pion of the United States four times,
won innumerable club tournaments
here and abroad, shared mixed dou-
bles and womens doubles titles with
other players. Yet the most dramatic
chapter in her court career was writ
ten after the publication of Beyond
the Game" Nippincott), in which
the lady wizard of the racquet re-
counts rather prosaically her rise to
fame.
The missing episode was her VIC
tory in the aIl-England women's finals
at Wimbledon this July. Four times
before Miss Jacobs had reached the
Wimbledon finals, to be turned back
twice by Helen Wills Moody. twice
by England's Dorothy Round. This
year she fought through three-set
match with Frau Hilda Sperfng OF
Germany, outstayed brilliant op-
ponent in long rallies, refused to be
baked by a sequence Of bad-luck
shots and poor line decisions, won SO
magnificiently the crowd OF $4,000
whooped and cheered long after she
had left the court.
It is probably as well that Miss
Jacobs did not have that match
tucked away in her scrap book before
she began writing Beyond the
Game" Her fiat, colorless style OF
retelling the tale might well have
killed it for those who remember the
picture drawn by the sports writer's.
and the Jacobean account surely
would not have nlumined the readers
mind on anything either within or
without the game of tennis.
At rare intervals In this volume
the suspicion arises that Miss Jacobs
is an intelligent, ambitious, rather
gay person who has weathered the
wars of championship sport keeping
her own counsel, enjoying friends and
competitors, forming profound pref
udices for and against people and
systems, seeking to prevent her whole
life from being absorbed in a game.
There are, however, mere hints OF
these qualities. Personal animosdties
are suppressed, portraits of her COM
petitors and friends in the game are
sketchily drawn, the detailed tech
nique of her development from a run
of-the-mine club player to a cham
pion is skipped almost entirely. In
fact. her life and hard times on the
courts seem to have made much less
impression upon Miss Jacobs than
"The Night the Bed Fell on Father"
did ON James Thurber. The best of
all our feminine racqueters is a
splendid example of sportswoman,
friend and earnest competitor. As
an authoress she needs frst-string
ghost writer with a sense Of drama,
news, names and characteristic
r. B. p, Jr.