Evening star., 1937-01-23

COnNELlOO WE 1ANA4
Author OF "The Blue Hills"
(Henry Holt.)
people. They show blunt, not-to-in-
spired, but very genuine humor. At
the same time the book treats Of folk
observances and customs amazing in
their number and not less so in the
fact that many of them, while Of
Colonial standing, are not kept today
as pious mementoes of the past but
with hearty, realistic participation.
In other words, Mr.. Weygandt seems
to find in Pennsylvania population
that comes as near to prosperous
peasantry as America can produce
sturdy, thrifty, shrewd. superstitiov
and earth-bound. He makes an agree
able book about them. It ranks well
among current works Of its kind.
PROPHET OF AMERICA. BY New
ton Dillaway. Boston: Little,
Brown & Co.
THIS book is an attempt to inter-
pref the writings of Ralph Waldo
Emerson in terms of Americas de-
velopment since his day-or, as the
title implies, an attempt to demon
strate the rightness Of his thinking by
the subsequent course of human af-
fairs.
1t is done by a man who has given
10 years to preparation, and who,
obviously, admires his subject with
mquestioning veneration. Yet, while
this viewpoint is apparent throughout
the work, it does not intrude upon
the argument. Emerson, In general,
wrote in terms of such broad ap-
plicability that his words are in no
danger of losing their pertinence
through the passing of mere decades.
1t is not astonishing to show that
truths which he propounded are still
true, nor is it particularly arresting
t point out that where the course Of
the country has been the course Of
folly, we have not been in agreement
with the sage's teachings. Yet the
careful and detailed application OF his
words to events is by no means lack
ing in interest.
Mr.. Dillaway takes up the subjects
Of economics, science, education, war
and peace, and politics, as they have
developed in America, and as Emer-
son spoke of them. 1t would perhaps
be hard to find a wider gap in
our common imagination than that
stretching between our concept OF the
New England sage and our impression
of the political scene today-the
scholar immured in his ivory tower
turning out classics for future school
children, and the uproar, confusion
and vulgarity of public life as we wit
ness it. The achievement Of Mr..
Dillaway in relating the two must
commend itself. And his conclusions,
while not brilliantly relevant, must
still demand respect.
BERNARD SHAW, FRANK HARRIS
AND OSCAR WILDE. BY Robert
Marlborough Sherrard. With a pref
ace by Lord Alfred Douglas. New
York: GreyStone Press.
THIS indignant volume revives once
= more the question Of Oscar Wilde's
reputation, centering its assault upon
the biography of Wilde written by
Frank Harris. The whole purpose OF
the present work is to prove that
Harris work was untruthful, that
its supposed confessions" were COM
plete fabrications and that Harris had
no purpose in writing it beyond the
one of turning out vol
ume sensational enough to sell wide
ly, so that he might make money-of
which he was, at the time, badly in
need.
The circumstance that George Ber-
nard Shaw warmly praised the Harris
book draws him into the controversy.
The book presents some unquestion-
ably impressive evidence to support its
charges. However, its tone is ex-
tremely personal and bitter and its
style exaggerated and precious. These
qualities cannot but create a preju-
dice against it in the mind Of read
ers Of taste, though they ought not
to affect its documentary value.
To those to whom Oscar Wilde's
goodness or badness is meaningful to-
day the work will carry interest,
and certainly, II Wilde has been ma
ligned, there Is reason IN exposing the
SANDER. as there would be in the
case Of any man. But to defend the
late Oscar on the ground that he has
exerted an influence on literature
more profound than that of any
other English writer except Shake
speare" is a ludicrous claim. Wilde
was first-rate playwright, a pifiing
poet and a vulgar novelist. Let him
have a fair hearing, by all means.
But, on the basis Of his literary
achievements, the whole question, pro
and con, seems to have been aired
much too widely. It is to be hoped
now that the subject is laid to rest.
MASKS. BY Queen Marie Of Ru-
mania. New York: Z. p. Dut-
ton Co.
As MIGHT be expected, this work
Of fiction from the pen Of Queen
Marie Is romance. As might also be
expected, It Is a romance Of great pur.
ity and what eighteenth century writ
ers used to call "sensibility." It is sim
ply crammed with beauteous sentiment
and 1t ends in q shower Of tears. 1t
would have gone over splendidly, one
feels, in the days when the inmates
of young ladies' boarding schools wore
pompadours.
It Is a story about 3 young Ru-
manian girl whose old guardian, to
protect her innocence, keeps her away
from the world. She lives in q room
where there hangs q row Of masks.
Alas for the kindly old gentleman's
weIl.meant plans! His singing bird"
Is he calls her, falls In love with one