Evening star., 1937-06-05

HUMAN TRAITS IN BASIC LAW
Delightful Literary Style Applied Story Of Origin and Develop
of Constitution in Course of Government.
Medici Book Has Rare Quality

/ Allesandro. another illegitimate son,
but one descended from 4 Tartar slave.
In all this the action Is carried out
With body-the scenes are full Of char
acters; there are bAnquets, entertain
ments. mobs, armies and routs. There
are popes. great lords, cardinals, poets.
The development Of the patient wisdom
Of the mother against all this hurly-
burly, her unprotesting submission to
circumstances, her bitterly true COM
ments on the vanity Of human wishes
all this makes . story Of satisfy
Ing proportions. AZ has been said. the
book u recommended, though not per-
haps to those who like Just . good,
interesting story" Such readers might
very conceivably find 1t deeper water
than they cared to negotiate.
IT'S A FAR CRY. BY Robert W.
Winston. New York: Henry Holt
& Co.
THIS Is the autobiography OF Judge
Winston Of South Carolina, who
has in his memories the invasion OF
his native State by Sherrnan's troops
during the Civil War, the struggles Of
the Reconstruction period and the
emergence OF the new industrial South,
and who holds for the South OF the
future energetic views as to what 1t
must do. His book, however, Is the
story OF his own adventures in life,
and only deals with these surrounding
public Affairs Is he has taken part
IN them. It Is an anecdotal work,
full OF rich, genuine humor. Indeed,
Its earlier chapters might well be put
beside some OF the work OF Mark
Twain, as exemplifying the homely
American irony Of an earlier period.
The book tells Of boyhood In rural
South Carolina Immediately after war.
OF friendly relations with Negroes, OF
associations with youngsters who, in
later years, were to make names for
themselves before the State and Ma
ton. It tells Of attendance ut Chapel
Hill. OF early law practice In a COM
munity still bitter with memory of
"brigadier rule" Of a district judge
ship. Of practice in Raleigh. It Il
richly readable through all these chap
ters, the narrative being carried along
by q constant flow OF excellent anec-
dotes.
In the latter chapters Judge Winston
tells OF his retirement and residence
IN Washington, where, during the
Harding administration, he enjoyed
the city with apparently as much gusto
as youth. Its society, its sights, its
monuments and Its art galleries AZ
forded him, from his narrative, q
tremendous pleasure After some time
spent IN this leisurely manner, how
ever, he decided that he needed to
refresh his education, and returned
to Chapel Hill to matriculate once
more, this time at the age Of 80.
Prom that time on, he studied what
he considered to be the most pro-
gressive movements OF the day, some
times getting into very strange COM
pany, but persevering manfully. He
had long since set his mind against
the worshiping spirit of the
South. and had witnessed, with sor-
row, the false doctrines which had
grown out Of that spirit; he set
about now striving to find the key
to his countrys future without, ap-
parently. realixing that the South by
no means had the monopoly on queer
notions, but that they are to be found
everywhere. Thus, for time, he was
occupied with some Of our fairly
famous parlor radicals and profes-
sional idealists-that Is, those who
make paid occupation Of their con-
victions. But he continued on his
search for the answer to the south's
riddle-the solution Of sectionalism
past -worshiping. Negro oppression,
Yankee hating, and the like-and
finally delivered his opinions on the
subject in . speech to the State Bar
Association, declaring that for the
South to progress the following pro-
gram must be adopted: "O) That
white immigration be invited; (2) that
the black man be encouraged to dis
perse; 90 that mob-hw and sectional
bitterness be eradicated: % that Civil
War societies, North and South, be
requested to disband."
The repercussions OF this revolu-
tionary proposal were great, and Judge
winston mentions, with characteristic
humor, that the last item seemed to
arouse the most feeling, the Civil War
societies being so indignant that they
put his life Of Lee on the index. But
he stood by his guns and closes his
LIE history on q note in harmony
with his proposal
The work Is highly readable. Whether
the reader finds his interest In the
early chapters, given over to hardy
realistic rural living, Or in the later
ones, In which the author describes
his patriotic quest. will depend on
individual taste. The reviewer votes
Tor the former They seem to her
TO have more substance, In that they
are the record Of things which have
been and are not purely problematical
hopes for the future.
THE ROAD. BY Nathan Asch. New
York: w. w. Norton Co.
THIS Is another book by . young
man who went out to interpret
America. The reviewer has lost count
OF the number Of such works to date
(some Of them have been by young
women, too) but when 2he last re-
members 1t, It was 5.478,o34. America
is getting to be like . comic opera
army, In which one private soldier is
divided up between 20 officers; it won't
be long now before interpreters out
number the patient interpreted. But
anyway, Mr.. Nathan Asch, who had
hardly been out Of New York City in
his life, bought = bus ticket and
started, note book in hand, to do .
real Job Of getting America onto paper.
and did not quit until he had been
clear out TO the Pacific Coast and
back again.
He arrived in Richmond, and walked
around IN the streets for = day or so,
and discovered that 1t looks like . city.
and not the way he thought 1t would