Evening star., 1937-12-15
NEW BOOKS
4. AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
THIS MAGIC DUST. BY Constance
Cassidy. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-

THIS MAGIC DUST. BY Constance
Cassidy. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Co.
The only really interesting thing about
this book Is its title, which leads to the
hope that the author has been able to
grasp some Of the magic and mystery
that constitutes life upon this planet.
Unfortunately 1t is a hope that is soon
dispelled, for the story turns out to be
nothing more than an account of the
evolution of girls concept of human
values-and the girl herself is only mildly
interesting.
Katherine Morling Immediately wins
sympathetic interest in the first chap
ters OF the book She is small child
with sensitive nature and a rebellious
spirit and is suffering from the very
uncomfortable af1liction OF being a poor
relation. The product of a worthless
father and mostly unsuccessful actress
mother, she has been battered about a
bit by poverty but at least she has en-
Joyed some OF the freedom of companion
snip and OF pleasure that are the
lot OF the average child. Now she is nine
years old and life with Aunt Isabel ia
proving to be difficult experience in
unhappiness Isabel Ogburn is obcessed
with the nice people" complex, and it
Is her ambition to iron out of her for
lorn little niece every trait of character
that might have been inherited from the
woman whose marriage into the family
mad been an unforgivable offense.
Living IN an atmosphere of this sort
ana attending schools to which "onIy
the incest people" send their children
hatnerlne slowly develops the habit of
oolng all the right things, thinking the
rlght thoughts and conducting herself
generally IN the manner approved bv
nice people, In other words, she con-
forms faithfully to the pattern of the
typical Snob. She falls in love the usual
NUMBER OF times with the stereotyped
males who appeal to the emotions of all
young girls, and as often convinces her
sell that she Is through with men when
these youthful affairs dissolve into
>nothingness.
eventually school is over and she
braves the world on her own. Society
proves too empty to satisfy the yearnine
1or something more substantial than
the admiration of men and the occuna-
tlon OF fishing for brilliant marriage.
she turns to art and becomes a profess
Slonal illustrator, but finds little comfort
IN the ability to maintain herself. What
She really wants is, of course, to be one
nan OF great love. Anything less is
not enough, so she adopts the cut-and-
orieo mental formula of modern liberal.
Ism, and then seeks refuge from the
woes and ills of humanity by attemnt-
ing TO hold herself aloof from the very
liberalism which she processes to sane
tion. She fails to be either convincing
ality. p'i 'oi'-
There is nothing startling in the story
1t is just one of those harmless tales
that fails to get anywhere.
H* X X
sTORMALONG. BY Alan villiers. New
York: Charles Scribners Sons
Stormalong Goodchild and Jim Fuller
were two British lads who lonped to pct
away from the sameness of life in their
nome town OF Ipswich, England. They
wanted to go to sea, but opportunities
Tor embarking on such an adventure
were rare for lads who were only fo,Ir-
teen years old. Fortune sometimes
smiles, however, on youngsters who have
little hope of fulfilling their ambitions
and 1t smiled on these two lads one Sen
tember evening while they were sailing
their own small boat in the Orwell
River. "'A
A huge old square rigger, something
never before seen by the bows. came in
from the sea and almost before thew
realized what they were doing both bows
signed up as members of the crew. They
had been saving for long time some
OF their small earnings for a trip around
the world. The appearance of the
Joseph Conrad on that calm Septem-
Der evening turned only half-formed
dreams into stern reality.
This story of Stormalons and Hard
case Is written by the captain of the
Joseph Conrad and tells of the adven-
lures OF these two youngsters as cadets
on the long sea journey which carried
them over the North Atlantic, through
the indian Ocean, around Cape Home
ana Cape Horn, completing nearly sixty
Thousand miles and requiring more than
Two years. 1t is story based upon the
true experiences of genuinely fine lads
on real ship, and though it is not a
nteral account of life at sea, the related
incidents originate in fact. It is H.
!ustrated with drawings by one of the
Doys and photographs by Captain Viii
Hers. 1t Is an attractive volume, with
Jacket cover picturing a sketch in
water color of the Conrad by Hard
case, who also kept log of the VOYAGE
Inc story is one that will particularly
appeal to boys, but grown-ups also will
enjoy the thrilling adventures and the
salt tang of the sea-
MURDER IN BLUE. BY Clifford Whit
ting. New York: Charles Scribner,s
Sons
John Rutherford, owner of a small
book shop and circulating library in the
village OF Paulsfield, is the hero of this
tale OF murder on a lonely English road
side on dark and rainy evening. Ruth
erford is one of those chaps who is always
taking a walk, no matter what the
weather may be. On this particular
evening his journey along the Hazeloak
road comes to an abrupt halt when he
finds the body of Police Constable john
son lying partly In ditch.
The community and its adjacent ter
ritory Is not thickly populated, so the
hunt for the criminal is confined mostly
to the neighborhood, but the case is
suf11ciently mysterious to require the
services of Inspector Charlton who hap
pens to be the uncle of girl whose ac-
quaintance with Rutherford began in a
dense fog: Romance and mystery do not
fny~ ~1