Evening star., 1938-06-12

cracking q part.
The merit of this bit OF synthesis
lies in the employment of the line
mems patter in Its telling. The wag-
gish fellow writes tn the first person
and interprets the world and life and
love as these phenomena appear to
lineman's eyes. There seems to be
verisimilitude in the language and 4
great neatness in the style. You can
read High Tension" without any
trouble. either as to boredom or in
tellectual exercise.
And-well-that is the crop. Not
that it is the sum of all the novels
waiting the reviewers attention. It
simply seems to be q representative
group. AS noted. all, except one.
High Tension" are intensely serious.
Three out Of i've deal with the prob
lem Of earning living in q not al
ways hospitable world.
THE BEST STORIES OF 1898. Edited
by Edward j. O'Brien. Boston:
Houghton Miffiin Co.
THE old faithful Is here again, and
once more the reviewer has been
holding her head in her hands, won-
dering If there was something wrong
with her eyes or brain, or If, maybe
Edward j. O'Brien really does like
that sort OF story. For the volume is
the usual hodge-podge of fine work
and dismal tripe, assembled without
any comprehensive standards.
The volume contains 30 stories taken
from IA sources-Story, Time and
Tide, Atlantic Monthly, Scribners',
Esquire, The Yale Review, Short Story
Manuscripts of 1887, the American
Mercury. the New Masses, the Virginia
Quarterly Review, Harper's Bazaar.
Harper's Magazine, Contemporary and
the Prairie Schooner. As usual the
selections from Story and Esquire pre-
dominate in numbers.
The reviewers own choice of the
group would be short fantastic piece
called Black Wind and Lightning"
written by Michael Fessier and taken
from Esquire. This Is entirely a per-
sonal choice. The reviewer liked Mr..
Fessier's piece because it, alone of the
lot. has quality of awareness Of
strangeness. Other good tales, however
are Elizabeth Madox Roberts "The
Haunted Palace" PRO Arte," by Allan
Seager, and THE Chrysanthemums," !"
by John Steinbeck.
And If you care for the worst, they
are, to this writer's mind anyhow,
Blind Mans Buff" by Libby Bene-
dict; Dear Mr.. F1essheimer," by
Whitfield Cook; Christ in Concrete" :"
by Pietro Donate Ito whom the volume
is dedicated, by the way: "The Girl"
by Meridel lie Sueur, and "She Always
Wanted Shoes" by Don Ludlow. Al
though here. being Of destructive and
carping tendency, the reviewer might
really go on bit longer.
Well, as said, here is the old blum
derbuss. You have to make Of it what
you will.
DINNER IS SERVED. Published and
compiled by Elizabeth e. Weber.
THIS book is collection of recipes
taken from various teahouses,
inns, hotels and restaurants all over
the country. For example, if you have
| tender memories of some special dish
you have enjoyed on q long motor
tour the chances that you will find
the recipe for it in this volume are
excellent. Many suggestions for de-
licious and appetizing meals may be
found in this handy little cookbook.
BIC.
CLAUDE BERNARD, Physiologist. J.
M. D. Olmstead.,
THERE is a drug. long used as an
arrow poison by South Ameri-
can Indians. which paralyzes all the
| motor nerves. A man or animal,
when little Of this gets into the
blood stream, lies as If dead without
any change in facial expression, the
f1icker OF an eyelid, the twitch Of a
nerve to indicate that life still re-
mains.
The mind and consciousness re-
main unaffected in q dead body.
Eventually death comes with paralysis
OF the breathing muscle. It can be
prevented by pumping air into the
lungs with bellows. Sooner or later
the effects Of the poison die away.
Claude Bernard KILLED" and brought
back to life three times a mule given
dose of this weird curare
This is only one of the fascinating
narratives in Mr.. Olmstead's biog-
raphy Of the father of modern pf1ysiol-
ogy. the man whose life work did
more than that of any jother individ-
ual to explain the mechanisms of
life. There have been few biographies
OF this great Frenchman. His name
has been familiar to everyone ac-
quainted with medical and physic-
logical text books-but only as a name.
This biographer has yesurrected him
as living figure. He has made a
notable addition to the recent flood
OF biographies Of the really great men
who have lived on earth.
1t is sincerely to be hoped that peo-
pie are reading these biographies.
Ine writer's may be building better
than they know. They may be effect
ing a transfer of mans idolatry to
the builders rather than the wreck
ers-an essential transfer If the race
is to be cured of the strange psychosis
which has driven it to war suicide for
10000 years. T.R.H
MOST FOR YOUR MONEY COOK
BOOK. BY Cora, Rose and Bob
Brown New York: Modern Age
Books, Inc.
HIS amusingly written volume
should prevent the shedding of
many OF those tears caused by the TAX
ing on Of the new and awful profession
OF housekeeping. The veriest novice
WIN find herself. able to out-argue the
butcher and the baker: she will have
the tricks Of the culinary trade at her
finger tips.
There Is no reason, with this guide at
hand, to wreck the budget right OH
the bat. for directions for shopping,
amounts to buy, and conditions to