Evening star., 1936-04-18
BOOK A STUDY OF ECSTASY
Work Peculiarly Designed Produce Powerful Emotional Reac
ton-Story of Caesars Successors Told Anew With Compel
ling Force-Other Recent Volumes Reviewed.

tanning, under circumstances OF great
the respect and regard OF
all who were associated with him up
to the hour of his death; and even at
the period Of our visit Adams, IN
speaking of him, never omitted to say
Mr. Christian"
The implication persists from these
bits of evidence that Christian had
more on his soul than bitterness
against Bligh's brutality. 1t suggests
itself that he had seen, in Tahiti.
better-not merely pleasanter-way
of life, and that certain vital virtues
in him had responded to it too genu-
inely for him to turn back happily to
his Britannia majesty's navy for
substitute. Such speculation becomes
pertinent when one reflects that ne
did found a community that lived Tor
generations away from the world that
used him so i'll, even though that COM
munity never had for him the aspect
Of an idyll.
Today his name is common one
among Pitcairn's inhabitants, and his
great-great- grandson still lives. But
perhaps it is as well that the fiery
young masters mate did not foresee
the future too clearly. For there are
certain aspects of Pitcairn today
which, one feels, would have dismayed
him. But what those are will be left
to subtler readers discrimination.
OLD SOLDIER SAHIB. BY Pvt.
Frank Richards, D. G. M, M. M.
With an introduction by Robert
Graves. New York: Harrison
Smith and Robert Haas.
THIS book, by the author of "Old
Soldiers Never Die" is detailed
description of the life of single men
in barracks" which Kipling immor-
tally romanticized. Pvt. Richards is
Welshman-"tall, tough. resource
full" He enlisted for service in the
Boer War at the age of IT, and he
fought over most of the "alf Of crea-
tion," which appertained WindSor's
famous widow. ending up in the World
War, but not ending until that war
was finished.
Robert Graves, in his introduction,
tells how, after the battle of Loos. he
was censoring mail from enlisted men
and came suddenly on letter which
gave a full account of the engage
ment which had just taken place, an
engagement, incidentally, in which
British troops had suffered badly. He
says that letter was detailed, accu-
rate and grimly joking account Of
what really happened" and it i'm
pressed him so deeply with its realism
that he not only let it pass, but hunted
up the writer.
He says, of the acquaintance which
followed, that he was as friendly with
Richards "as very young officer was
permitted to be with a very old SOL
dier-indeed, the burden of keeping
up the social conventions fell chiefly
on Richards" And so, after the war,
when Richards. unable to return to
mining (Which was the only work he
understood outside Of fghting), began
writing as second best, it was to his
former officer that he turned for help
in finding a publisher His "Old Sol
diers Never Die" was so successful as
a book of World War experiences that
he was urged to go further back into
mis- memory and tell of his earlier days
as fighting man.
"Old Soldier Sahib" Is the result.
and a queer, admirable book it is. 1t
displays not the slightest tendency to
romanticize and equally avoids sensa-
tionallsm over what was clearly at
times a grim life. 1t combines, one
might say, franknesS of narrative with
dignity of mind. Pvt. Richards writes
apparently out Of vividly keen photo
graphic memory. He tells what he
has seen. But he remains a private
soldier and leaves much interpreting
to those whose business it may be.
Still it is clear that he never con-
sidered soldering as anything but
proper life for a man, and his reti-
cences have their flavor as something
more characteristic than mere omis-
sions.
One does not know how our present
war-loathing trend of mind will react
to this book, but it might seem that
peace workers could learn something
from it. For it makes plain that there
are men who will always fight; not
degraded brutes. but men of intelli-
gence and honesty. That is factor
in our war hatred which We some
times forget to take into account.
COSMIC RAYS THUS FAR. BY
Harvey Brace Lemon. New York:
". w. Norton Co.
STRATOSPHERE balloon flights and
mountain expeditions, alive with
the elements of drama even when de-