Evening star., 1937-04-24

Ellen Spencer Muey Known Many Washngtonas Entered
Upon Career Through Necessity Bographer Says-Itaian
Surgeon Writes 'Iife and Death"

tne poorest and most depraVed sections
OF the city. He tells of his military
life, when he sometimes performed 20
operations in day. But chiefly he
tells, between the lines, of his attitude
toward his work, the dedicated atti-
tude that is utterly without cant, pre-
tense or self-interest, the attitude that
has more than once caused the phySi-
clan to be likened to the priest.
His book is plain but full Of this
manner OF personality. When, for ex-
ample, he writes Of "villainous cere-
bral tumor," one feels that he is speak
ing without the slightest facetiousness.
Tumors are villains to him. It is his
mission to destroy such evils 1t takes
him into grim places, but he goes
carrying cleanness and knowledge
A book written In such spirit is
more than life history. 1t becomes
a part Of the literature Of science.
A BOOK OF HOURS. BY Donald
CulroSs Peatte Decorations by
Lynd Ward. New York: G. P. Put
MANS Sons.
IT SEEMS absurd that in collection
| of "a essays one should be unable
to pick favorite. Yet not MANY COL
lections of "a essays are all good, and
| that on level of written goodness
which seems likely to meet all tastes,
whether one is seeking beauty OF Ian
guage, subtle perfection of the essay
form, sententiousness Of expression,
compactness of thought or whatever
virtue. Miraculous as it seems, this is
true Of the present collection. If the
reviewer were to make any suggestion
at all OF change in it, it would be SIM
ply that the group should be bound
separately, for each separate piece of
the two dozen is so fine as to be, of it.
self, a little masterpiece. This is a
rarely lovely book.
Its "a essays are ranged around the
CLOCK, beginning with Three, Ante
Meridian" and ending with 1.-TWO, Ante
Meridian" In the rounding of the
cycle Mr. Peattie treats of nature.
man. religion, philosophy and any
other matters that might come into a
naturalIst'S mind in such an under
taking. There is disarming quality Of
spontanelty about the work. but it
Will hardly deceive any one. 1t is only
the seeming spontaneity of the perfect
performance. Mr.. Peattie may be a
naturalist, but prose such as his is not
product OF nature. It does not grow
on any mental bush. It is the result
OF sitting, grinding, polishing and
planning, down to the last syllable.
30, IL would seem, as an artist this
essaylst has emulated his science well
his prose flowers, its tendrils take hold
upon the mind, its outline has the svn-
metry and balance of natural growth
His book ought to go into the shelvas
OF every reader who values these at-
tributes in writing.
nature column written bv Mr.
eeattie ran in The Star for MANY wears
ana ne mas, as a consequence, nuner.
GUS local friends and admirers.
FORIY YEARS ON MAIN STREET
by William Allen White. Com
piled by Russell H. Fitzgibbon from
the columns of the Ernporia Co
zette. Forward by Frank e
Ciough. New York: Farrar a.
Rhinehart.
N THIS book are collected the edito-
rails OF the famous Kansas writer
on leading questions as he has seen
them from 1897 to the present. The
WORK Is divided into chapters covering
Ihe various subjects. There is
chapter on Kansas politics, one on
national politics, one on the 1895 cam
paign' one on the World War, one on
international questions and one de-
signed to show Mr.. Whites personal
development from the reactionary Re-
puollcanism which he professed in the
nlneties to his position as a liberal
today.
There are also chapters on his Der
sonal background, on Emporia as he
saw 1t, and samples of his humor and
his miscellaneous writings. The IA
nous editorial, Whats the Matter
With Kansas" is included, as is the
almost equally famous one which he
wrote after the death Of his daughter
Mary.
1t makes really a rather wonderful
book. 1t reflects with almost un-
believable versimilitude the growth of
middle class American thought. To
read it was for the reviewer (at least
after she came to the parts which are
within her memery) to live over recol-
Actions Of almost every political con-
versation which she has heard between
intelligently conservative people. There
has been great overproduction of
works lately on interpreting" Ameri-
can change throughout the century,
and, while many of these works are
futile performances in themselves,
their number would indicate genuine
interest in our drift. Mr.. Whites
book, then, taken as it is out of the
actual time under examination, and
not from the vantage point Of some
individuals desirous thinking, would
seem to give the clearest picture yet
as to where we have come from where
For his opinions can be accepted
as mean. They are neither re-
dictionary nor radical They incline
no more to lonely intellectualism than
to rabble rousing, which Is not at all.
They show with uncanny precision
the views Of the average middle class
American, the business man Of intelli-
gence and keen political interest, the
man who believes in the American
ideal Of individual liberty and private
ownership Of property, and is not
without humanity toward the in
evitable mass of mankind which has
to be assisted if it is to live. The
problem Of how to carry this mass
without wrecking the system-since
the mass, he feels, will be there what
ever the system-is the central pre-
occupation Of Mr.. Whites political
thinking.
In 1895 he was outspoken against
the doctrine that "the users are para
mount tn tho ovners" Rv 1QnR he