Evening star., 1937-09-18
MENCKEN MEETS AN ANCESTOR
Johann Mencken Beabored Quacks in the Eighteenth Century
Europe Much as H. L. Does Today-Mabe Dodge Luhan
Writes Much Too Revealing Opus of Her Life.

young nero is man OF more than
usual strength and intelligence. One
cannot help feeling he could have
escaped. Mrs. Simons holds him to
the land because of his love for it, but
she does not make this love great and
compelling enough. His wife is .
much more credible figure and in her
silent. plodding way meets her prob
lens with genuine fortitude.
Mrs. Simon pleads the cause of the
down-trolden tenants and shows their
inability to rise above their low level.
She does not attempt to give the
answer. She shows the futilty Of
that by having union organizers come
into the farm country. They had no
chance because those who Joined were
beaten and driven out Even the
courts were against them, openly and
unjudiciously.
The hero and heroine Of this book,
wanting only to live and make enough
to buy a mule to start a place OF
their town, were denied that small
right Injustice triumphs. And this
over from feudalism known as share
cropping.
This book is written with restraint
despite the obvious inequality OF the
system it describes and the novelist's
natural sympathies for herscharacters.
1t is also written in a simple, admira-
Bile style.-E. T.
THE HOME MANUAL. Over One
Thousand Home Aids. Hartley c.
Calvert, Harrisburg, Pa.
HERE at last is the perfect house.
hold handbook EncompaSsed
within some hundred pages are the
concise answers to the housekeeper's
innumerable problems. Unlike many
other booklets Of this type, this par
ticular edition has arranged the vari-
Gus items with clarity and precision
that make the information easy to
find on q moments notice Every
thing from household measurements
to clothing, footwear and hrst aid Is
covered. The chapter on Household
Pests" is alone worth the cost Of the
entire booklet! Modern in its treat
ment OF domestic problems, this text
book will be welcomed both by brides
and veterans in the housekeeping
field-B. c.
THEY NEVER GET TIRED. BY
Katherine Mscadam, New York.
Frederick A. Stokes Company.
IN THE blurb on the jacket the pub
fishers OF this novel aScribe the
success of the 20-year-old author to
something in the air OF her native
city, Wilmington. Del. That some
thing must be something pretty putrid
to produce such rot in the mind OF
20-year-old girl. Granted the facil-
ity, the cleverness, and even the in
sight with which this maiden with
hard name writes, the story, when
told, is not worth writing. The
characters, though seemingly de-
scribed with the fidelity possible only
to intimate knowledge, are not worth
describing. They are not wicked, they
are not really talented, they are just
feather headed and unprincipled. and
think it smart to be artistic and ir-
regular in all their affairs.
The book is concerned with large
family Of would-be artists and sculp-
tors and their sickening and licentious
affairs. The only sane member of
the family is the l7-year- old daughter,
who has just returned from a convent
school, who is unhappy in the family
atmosphere. and who escapes from it
by marrying boy who promises never
to be painter. This is the sort of
book TO which Greenwich Village
used to owe much of its bad name. 1t
sounds like faint echo Of many pub
lished in the era OF the arty village.
and perhaps heralds the return OF
cycle. r. r t
LIVE WITH A MAN AND LOVE 1T
BY Anne Fisher, illustrated by 0.
Soglow. New York: Dodd, Mead
& Co.
NIIfLE your swelling indignation
! even though that man again" is
here to tell you all about how to con-
ouct yourself in another one OF those
abbreviated things with a title de-
signed to catch the hopeful eye. If
you manage to get over your wonder
at how long this is going to continue
you will, however, CLEAN from this
little jewel of information no end Of
helpful facts. With all the knowI-
| edge then tucked in the back of your
head try to apply it, 1t would be in
teresting TO take a consensus of re-
sulting domesticity
ANY aspirant TO become chief
benevolent for the happy home or
| personal life who tries to help in
book form or almost any form has a
shlfty assignment. Just Ike wars.
people can't seem to be told what to
DO, Maybe it's human nature. At
any rate Miss Fisher attempts to lend
a helping hand to the generally fric-
tional clan of man and wife.
Certainly there are excellent bits of
common sense and reasoning which
theoretically should steady the n1atri-
side. Certainly hints literally abound
about how to maintain self-control
and rationalism through the worst
quarrels-or better still about how to
keep out of them. But as tc general
application value of this mine of CO.
gent advice to the love- -worn-most
people would rather take aspirin.
AS usual, this opus of too estab-
lished type is put forth in banter
ing tone. Soglow stands by with hi,
witty and understanding pen to evoke
chesty chortles. is
THE MARCH OF SCIENCE II. Cor
don CARIBBEAN Covici Friede.
"A POPULAR introduction to the
story of the universe and mans
place on earth" says the jacket ad-
vertisement.
Ihere are many such--some of then
very admirable-and we seq littl. nv