Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-10-20
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
HEYDAY IN A VANISHED WORLD.
BY Stephen Bonsal. New York: w.

HEYDAY IN A VANISHED WORLD.
BY Stephen Bonsal New York: w.
w. Norton 81 Co., Inc.
Stephen BOnSal, author, world traveller,
diplomat and, above all, newspaper
reporter, began the serious business OF
earning living back in the days when
political upheavals, revolutions and wars
never ceased. The world frequently was
rocked to its foundations by the impact
of history making events during the
latter part of the nineteenth and the
early part of the twentieth centuries,
but with all the violence and turmoil
which accompanied the march OF time
through that particular era, the whole
pattern of civilization and of life re-
manned colorful and spectacular.
A four-legged animal at Sheepshead
Bay on which the young Baltimorean
had pinned his faith and placed his
money somehow failed to get the idea
that 1t was time to run and run fast.
No money and no job Both items being
fundamentally important if life was to
be maintained, Mr.. BonSal decided to
peddle his wares He had been educated
at St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., and
had studied in Heidelberg, Bonn and
Vienna. He believed that with his knowl-
edge Of languages he would be welcomed
and given job by the New York Herald.
Surprised at being rebuffed, he wrote
some articles on the political situation
In Southeastern Europe, offered them
to the New York World and exulted in
the thrill of having them accepted.
But low pay and infrequent publication
made it necessary to seek permanent
employment, and he wanted job with
the Herald. Persistence resulted in sue
cess.
Weeks OF good reporting registered to
good effect in the editorial Office. which
meant that James Gordon Bennett
would not long remain unaware OF the
identity of the young reporter. Within
very short time the Commodore"
cabled: Send Bonsal to London. l
think I can use him and his languages
over here" So it happened that for
six months he covered" London when
the Parnell affair was advancing toward
its climax and when followers of Karl
Marx were just beginning secretly to
talk and plan for the world revolution.
Travelling from one place Of turmoil
to another throughout long and color
full career, Mr.. Bonsal has been one OF
the busiest men in the world. For one
thing, if it has so happened that he was
not on the scene when the shooting or
the fireworks began, he was one of the
first to arrive after hearing the alarm.
He served the New York Herald as
special correspondent in the Bulgarian
Servian War of 1885, in Morocco in
1889, in the Macedonian uprising Of
1890 and in the Chino-Japanese War of
1895. He travelled through Siberia in
1896 and was on hand in the Cuban
instruction of 1897. In 1900 he was
q member of the relief expedition to
China and in 1901 was in attendance
at the campaigns in Samar. Batangas
and Mindanao. When the Matos revo-
luton broke out in Venezuela in 1903 he
arrived promptly on the scene OF action,
and when Russia and Japan went to war
in 1904 Mr.. BonSal was commissioned by
the Herald to spend six months in the
Balkans, Macedonia, Albania, Monte
negro and other neighboring countries.
He was in Russia in 1907, when that
country was rife with revolution. and
three years later covered the Madero
revolution in Mexico for the New York
Times During the interval between
these two turbulent outbreaks he toured
all of the West Indies and visited parts
of South America.
Other interests commanded his serv-
ices for q while and he entered the
diplomatic service as Secretary of the
Legation and Charge d'Affaires in Pc
king, Madrid, Toxic and Korea He
became secretary to the Governor Cen
eral of the Philippines and was ap-
pointed commissioner of public utilities
of the islands in 1914. Trouble in Mex
leo in 1915 found him on special mis-
sion to that country and later in the
same year he was with Won Hinden-
burgs army on the east front in the
great war. He was named adviser to
the American Mexican joint commission
in 1861.
1t was inevitable that a man who had
managed to be in the thick of every
political and military fight that his
generation had witnessed should be
drawn also into the devastating conflict
in which this Nation participated in
1917 and 1913 Mr.. Bonsal was. COM
missioned as q major and was on duty
at the War College in this city before
joining the American Expeditionary
Forces in France. In the era of peace
negotiations he represented the United
States at the Congress of Oppressed Ma
tionalities in Paris and served as lieu
tenant colonel of Infantry attached to
this countrys mission to the Peace Con-
ference following the armistice. He was
q member of the Inter-Allied Mission
to Austro-H Hungary and the Balkan
states under General SHUTS and was also
q member of the special mission to
Germany and Bohemia in 1919. When
1881 rolled around it found Mr.. Bonsal
travelling ten Thousand miles through
Soviet Russia and In 1884 he was taking
in the sights and the political situations
in North China and Manchukuo.
The logical question that presents it.
self after noting these strenuous activi-
ties is: What did he do in his spare
time?" Well, he seems to have used it
to good advantage in writing this and
other books. His own experiences, plus
his recollections Of men and women who
made the "heyday" OF the vanished
world about which he writes in this
latest of his publications mount to stag
gering proportions when it comes to
recording them in the form of an H.
Illuminating and intensely interesting
narrative.
1t has not, Of course been possible to
include the whole range of adventures
in this one volume, which leaves the
very pleasing prospect of more to come.
The present narrative begins with the