Evening star., 1937-12-26

Lyman Beecher, one of the
rugged characters Who por-
tray their o1Dn Yankee life in
Eve We're NeW England"
edited BY BarroUs MuSSev
(Stdckpole Sons).
our eyes. It makes series of
beautifully polished, poignant essays.
II Is fit to take its place with Somer-
set Maugham's Don Fernando" of q
few seasons back.
She knows Spain with an intimacy
which speaks for a deep tempera-
mental understanding. She writes
not so much Of the country as out
OF it-out Of its soul and out Of
sensitive appreciation of It's visible
semblance. Take, for example, the
following brief passage, to show how
she demonstrates that:
Spain had her share of ruins.
But Madrid was poor in them poor
in ancientry, though capital of
CASTLE. Rich in sun, children and
acacia trees, and in fine, new and
vulgar buildings. Rich in her sense
OF fun and rightness of life; rich
in friendliness, bullfghts and good
pictures. All, again to see Lalanda
take his bull, once. twice, and almost
three times, across the Ventas ring
on his own invented mariposa. Mari
posa means butterfly and Lalanda,
holding his cape behind him as if
II were wings, would draw the bull
where he pleased. the horn almost
resting on his silk, with hicks of
the right wing and then Of the left.
OF grace and bravery and the control
OF each by the other there can be
nothing more exemplary under the
SUM- Is that not fine?
The book probably will not please
those rigid minds. which are hope
lessly warped by the modern ia
naticism for making men robots, but
Tor those who passionately hold that
men should be men, and also for
those who love good writing Fare.
well Spain" can be unreservedly
recommended.
PLOT AND CoUNTER.pLoT IN
CENTRAL EUROPE. BY M. w. Fo-
dor. With an introduction by John
Gunther. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Co.
THE picturesque thing about this
book, apparently, is the author. He
Is described as journalist who has
played the part in Central Europe
which Walter Duranty played in Rus.
sia; he is put down, in the introduc-
tion by John Gunther, as the man who
educated Dorothy Thompson and me
practically from the cradle" and Mr..
Gunther further writes, Half the
good work that has come out of the
Danube countries since 1920 or there
abouts has been Fodor's, not only his
direct correspondence, but-indirectly
the work of other people whom he
educates and influences. can scarcely
recall visitor to Vienna for 10 years
who didn't profit from Fodor."
Naturally, book from the pen of
a man so nominated authority on its
subject must command interest. And
here the book is, careful following
OF the torturous maze of plots and
counter-plotS which seems constantly
to be woven over that unhappy portion
of the globe which lies to the east
and south of Europe. We can accept
Mr.. Gunther's estimate OF the au-
thor's fitness to speak. We can accept,
too, what the author Says But alas,
1t seems unlikely that any plain Amer
lean can ever understand the tangled
mass of races, ambitions, hatreds, his
toric grudges and future desires which
overlies the territory in question. To
avoid just such Improbable complica-
tions must have been the purpose that
led our country early to adopt its
isolationist policy. And, reading Mr..
Fodor's book, 1t is very hard to see that
isolation has been 50 bad a policy after
all
But here 1t all is in so far, we may
assume, as the covers Of one volume
and the mind Of one man can contain
it. The book consists of study of each
of the southeastern European coun-
tries-Austria, Hungary, Czechoslo-
vakia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey. Ru-
mania and Albania-their histories,
their resources and their futures. That
sounds simple enough, but as most Of
these futures issue in the same direc-
ton and badly overlap, it becomes
plain, as one reads, that some Of them
must be lost in coming shufle; and,
as the leaders of the countries are
themselves only too well aware Of the
fact, the narrative runs very shortly
into "plot and counter-plot," even Is
the title implies. It is a depressing
picture. to put it very mildly.
AS Mr.. Fodor sees 1t, the great fea-
ture of the past decade has been the
rise of the agriculturists-or peasants
at the expense Of the old feudal
landowners. The feature Of the fu-
ture is, however, the problematical
part which may be played by Germany
and Italy in the destinies Of their
smaller and weaker neighbors. These
powers. he says, may plot to divide
the whole Of the Balkans between
them. In this connection, he devotes
chapters to analyzing the rise of
Naziism and Fascism and the mean
ings which may lie behind the confer
ences and gestures Of anity exchanged
by Hitler and Mussolini.
1t is q saddening thing that book
devoted factually to a discussion of the
future of millions Of human beings.
and perhaps to the future Of the entire
western world, should be so unre-
lievedly given over to accounts of
treachery, waste, inhumanity and
greedy. ambition. But not surprising.
or, for that matter. even peculiar to
this particular work. Those wretched
traits and habits have filled the pages
Of recent history in . more exclusive
manner than they have In perhaps any
other period, and habitual readers on
public affairs must needs become &C.
customed to them. Here in this book,