Evening star., 1938-03-13
SCENES FROM COURT FIGHT
Two Trained Observers Who Were Inside Action
Developed Tell Political Story-Experences of Newspaper
Woman-Heen Keller Diary.

| It's title indicates but 1t Is told In
rubber stamp terms. Nobody reading
II can doubt that its author was a
good scout. She Is probably a good
writer, too. for column lengths. Even
SO, the reviewer expects her book to
sell we'll There is a large section of
the public which will find 1t refresh
ing and delightful.
THESE FOREIGNERS. BY William
Seabrook. New York: Harcourt
Brace 6z Co.
MR.. WILLIAM SEABROOK, having
~ diverted the reading public with
his unembarrassed account of life as
an inmate Of a lunatic asylum, now
writes for us story Of life on the
outside. It is the story of the foreign
settlements which lie within our ma
tional borders, the story of the Scandi-
navians OF the Northwest; the various
Italian populations. from New York
City and New England to the Cali
fornia wine country; the Germans Of
Pennsylvania and the Middle West;
the Poles of the Lake cities and the
various farming districts; and of as
sorted levels of Russians, from peasant
farmers to royal eXiles. 1t is a good
subject and Mr.. Seabrook likes it. But
somehow he seems to be forcing his
theme little. His book protests too
much.
He takes up the manner in which
the various nationalities have reacted
to America, their opinions on political
changes in their own homelands. their
ways of treating their divided loyalty
and so on, and he seems pretty thor
ough. But it occurs to the reviewer
that when you approach any human
being as a member of classification,
be it racial. national, social, religious,
or any other, you have eliminated
much of his humanity. You cannot
truly know a man except as a man.
If you look upon him as a trans
planted European, for example, you
are Understanding him, and your
account Of him. no matter how accu-
rate it may be for the sociologist's pur-
poses. suffers in humanity. And there.
OF course, is the great fallacy of So
clology-it is science designed to
eliminate the humanity of human
beings.
The attitude is not open in Mr.. Sea-
brooks work, but it is strongly there
in the background. and so his work
is not as lively as it ought to be. But,
as far as it goes. it is interesting.
The reviewer, however, finds it the
least Of his accomplishments to date.
HELEN KELLER'S JOURNAL New
York: Doubleday Doran.
THIS is Miss Keller's diary for the
year which followed the death of
her beloved teacher" Anne Sullivan
Macy, which occurred in 1886. The
theme of the volume can best be
understood from passage in the fore
word. Says that passage:
In Midstream,' published when
they had been together AZ years, Miss
Keller wrote: I have frequently been
asked what I should do without her.
I smile and answer cheerfully, God
sent her, and if He takes her, His love
will fill the void" but 1t terrifies me
to face the thought that this question
brings to my mind. I peer with
heavy heart into the years to come.
Hopes face is veiled. troubling fears
awake and bruise me as they wing
through the dark. I lift a tremulous
prayer to God. for I should be blind
and deaf in very truth If she were gone
away
Anne Sullivan Macy died on Octo-
ber 20, 1896, leaving Miss Keller alone
to answer the dread question. Yet not
alone. She had Miss Polly Thomson
OF Glasgow. Scotland, who for % years
had been a devoted companion to her
and her teacher. Miss Thomson i'm
mediately applied for American citi-
zenship, and few days later the two
women sailed for Scotland to find
quiet time in which to readjust their
lives"
The present volume is the story of
the year in which the readjustment
TOOK place. The wonder of the work
lies equally in the strength with which
the miraculous author made her life
anew, and the constant evidence of
her sensitiveness to all kinds of beauty
and to fine shades of feeling and
meaning. She travelled In England and
france during the fall and winter of
the year, she returned to America
later. crossed the continent and set
sail for Japan. Throughout her crowd
ing experiences she refers often to her
teacher, but the courage and alertness
with which she met her life seem in
nowise dimmed by her loss. She reacts
Vividly to all experiences and people.
The reviewer has seldom read a more
moving passage than the description
of her visit to the Rodin Museum.
with its expression of her vivid UNDER
standing of the great sculptor's work.