Evening star., 1937-12-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
SOME PLANT OLIVE TREES. BY
Emma Gelders Sterne. New York:
Dodd, Mead l. Co,

| SOME PLANT OLIVE TREES. BY
| Emma Gelders Sterne New York:
| Dodd, Mead l. Co.
In 1917 4 valiant group OF aristocrats,
condemned by France as public enemies
following the defeat OF Napoleon at
Waterloo and granted three days in
which to gather their portable posses
sions and leave the country. came to
America and founded one Of the most
colorful and one of the most pathetic
colonies recorded in the history Of Amer
lean settlements. Acting upon encourag-
ing information received from one Simon
Chaudron Of Philadelphia that they
would flnd in this land Of opportunity
climate very much like that Of the fruit
full olive-growing and vineyard regions Of
France, they came with plans for estab-
fishing Vine and Olive Colony, believing
that here it would be possible to flourish
and to preserve the honored ideals and
traditions Of their cultural heritage.
Oficers and soldiers, their families and
their servants, they arrived in Phila-
delphia and were granted by the United
States Government q division Of land
on the banks of the Tombigbee River in
the Territory OF Alabama. The party
separated for the journey southwark,
some Of them going over land and others
sailing out of Philadelphia for Mobile,
continuing the trip by way OF the Ala
bama and Tombigbee Rivers to q site
on the limestone bluffs upon which they
founded the town of Demopolis. The
Vine and Olive Colony was q noble expert
ment, but one which was doomed to
failure. Climate is not necessarily an in
dicator of the quality of SOIL Two bar
rem olive trees still growing In Alabama
are reminders of the futile attempt OF
the exiles to transplant their trees and to
translate their dreams in the canebrakes
of Alabama.
The novel is based upon facts cleaned
from the diaries and writings Of the
colonists from records Of the Congress
Of the United States, from contemporary
newspaper accounts, from historic papers
in France and in Alabama. The story
has been told from the angle Of the
idealiStic devotion of the exiles to the
principles underlying the French Revolu-
ton and their ambition to convert into
reality the Utopian ideas contained in
the philosophy Of Condorcet. The ro-
mantle interest Is devoted to the ar
ranged marriage of Charles Villars, chief
Of the idealists and Nina LaClerc. It Is
a splendid story. informative, entertain
ing and authentic.
I MET A MAN. BY Michael Blankfort.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co.
This is the story Of q fine and tragic
| frionHShin fn
pursue peaceful and cultural careers
and torn by the conflict between honor
as men and loyalty as servants of their
respective countries. The story is told
by one Of the men and 1t strikes with
force and accuracy into the consciousness
Of a humanity that has learned to shud-
der at the mention of war
Frederick Curtis, young American of
scholarly attainments and interested in
comparative linguiSticS, was in England
in 1915 contemplating a trip to Borneo
He had engaged in numerous occupations
without much success and Borneo ap-
pealed to him at the moment. The war,
however, made such trip impracticable
and he was persuaded by a friend to
offer his linguistic talent to the British
government. He was Immediately ac-
cepted and assigned to the British In
telligence Service, was promptly grounded
in the business of being a German SOL
dier and was ordered to attach himself
to the German Army as an escaped pris-
oner from company that had been an
initiated by death or capture.
On the train carrying reserves through
Brussels to the Ninth Army near Ypres
the newly converted German soldier
known as Kurt Holbach. met Franz Won
| a hn ~ IL
self an ofncer in the service Of Germany,
though he hated war and deplored the
interruption Of his intellectual pursuits.
Unable to establish 4 congenial contact
with his fellow ofncers, Won Lehring at
tempted to satisfy his longing for COM
panionship by talking with the men in
the ranks. He was attracted to Holbach
and the two became devoted friends.
Such circumstances made the business
OF being q spy extremely difhcult, and
Holbach's disguise was bound to be de-
tected. knowledge Of his hypocrisy dur
Ing the months before he was found out
nlled him with distress, yet his first
duty was to the country he was serving.
With discovery Of the deception the two
men faced problem which only humans
OF heroic stature might hope to under
stand. The whole story of this strange
and beautiful friendship and the tragedy
In which it was destined to climax is
told by Mr.. BlAnkfort in q short novel
that compels itself to be read without
interruption.
JOHN. BY Irene Baird. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott Co.
generation ago librarians and Sum
DAY school teachers would have been
recommending such a book as John" to
the girls and boys Of impressionable age
who were supposed to pattern their lives
after the heroes and heroines of sweet
| girl graduate fiction. Unfortunately the
mentors OF that day could not know that
civilization would 50 soon be turned
topsy-turvy and that the make-believe
world of fiction and fireside would vanish.
In the present day John" Is still q good
story for those who prefer their heroes
pedestaled and ticketed.
John Dorsey is a bachelor, living on q
farm in British Columbia as something
OF recluse from the brothers he has
more or less renounced because they do
not fit into his conception of keeping
the family name sound and clean and
true" For all his kindly philosophy and
good neighborliness, John has difficult
ties. A young girl, married and un-
|. happy, cries on his shoulder. bother
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