Evening star., 1938-03-27

story. indeed. Of the sobriquet In
America. told in specific terms, and it
shows US to be . people Of lively speech
habits and considerable Imagination.
We find, for example, that we began
nicknaming our Presidents as soon as
we had Presidents to nickname. The
early ones were somewhat grandilo-
quent terms, however. George WASH
ington, for example, was called "the
American Fabius, the Atlas Of America,
the Cincinnatus OF the West. the De-
liverer Of America the Father Of
His Country. the Father Of Pittsburgh
the Sage Of Mount Vernon, the
Saviour Of His Country, the Surveyor
President and the Sword of the Revo-
luton" 1t is unlikely that any Chief
Executive today, no matter how popu-
lar, would be given such rolling pseu-
donyms. Yet the taste Of the 18th
century was not wholly disassoci-
ated from the modern, either, for in
the omissions indicated above the book
quotes THE Farmer President" THE
Old Fox" and the disrespectful title
THE Stepfather of His Country" the
last beng. needless to say, an appella-
tion bestowed by Washington's political
enemies.
Through the years the American
public continued its familiar practice
of nicknaming the Executive, as the
book reveals. John Quincy Adams,
for example. was called "the Acct
dental President" Grover Cleveland
was called. among other things,
Uncle Jumbo" "Old Veto" and The
Dumb Prophet" Theodore Roosevelt,
it appears, and not AL Smith, was the
original Happy Warrior" in this
country. Calvin Coolidge, we find
somewhat surprisingly. was once called
Red" but this was In his youth
when his hair was "a bright red
color" President Hoover was called
THE Friend of Helpless Children"
There is, however, no listed nickname
for President Roosevelt. For some
reason the people have not yet in
cluded him in their historic practice.
The present cabinet. however, has
It's share Of sobriquets and some of
them are amusing. Mr.. Ickes is called
Synthetic Harold" due to the fact
that Mr.. Ickes was assisted in the
writing Of his book, entitled Back to
Work by two employees of the De-
partment OF the Interior; namely.
Michael Ross and Jonathan Latimer."
Mr.. Roper is called THE Chief
Executioner" because "he is frequently
called upon to put into operation the
plans of the President of the United
States and other members of his ad-
ministrative staff" Miss Perkins does
not seem to have a nickname. but
Secretary Swanson is called Big
Navy Claude" and Secretary Wallace
is "Plow En- Under"
Washington itself has had various
nicknames at various times in its
history. The book lists them as fol-
lows: THE Capital City, the City
OF Houses Without Streets, the CITY
OF Magnificent Distances. the CITY Of
Receptions, the City of Streets With
out Houses, the Executive CITY. the
Federal City. the Great Dismal and
the Wilderness City" 1t was Daniel
Webster, by the way, who called it
the Great Dismal"
And so on the book goes. Almost
every kind Of nickname is included
and the reviewer found herself fasci-
mated into several hours of examina-
ton OF the volume. The author is a
teacher in Virginia State Teachers
College. He tells the reviewer that
he is already receiving considerable
mail from people who want him to
prepare a new edition including
something or other not in this one
1t looks as If that might be an endless
Job.
HEAD IN GREEN BRONZE Nv
Hugh Walpole. New York: Dou-
bleday Doran & Co.
IT IS too bad to dismiss a volume
by Wa1pole with the two words
pot boiler" Yet such the present
volume seems. Not that some of the
snort stories contained therein do
not hold some better quality. But
on the whole they seem but exercises
IN imagination and lacking in insight.
Perhaps this unfortunate fact is
emphasized and made more apparent
by the middle section of the book
which is entitled Let the Bores
Tremble" and is in the nature of
pseudo serial. It concerns the ad-
ventures of a trio of impecunious
young men who undertake to eliminate
bores from the lives of their ac-
quaintances, for a price, of course.
Their adventures are so much of a
muchness, so blatantly optimistic and
Polly Annaish, their deeds so virtuous
and so entirely lacking in the swash-
buckling charms one expects from ad-
venturers. that they cast a dense
shadow on all the other stories in
the volume.
To be sure, THE Haircut" "The
Irain,' THE Honeybox," THE
Exile and maybe one or two others
90 show perspicacity, do have that
touch of nature which makes reading
a pleasure. Waipole is particularly
fortunate in his delineation of chill
dren. Even in the aforementioned
pseudo-serial, that tale which deals
with a child is the most successful
VI tre series. r. r. T.
MOONS, MYTHS AND MEN. By II
s. Bellamy. New York: Harper
81 Bros.
MYTHS, the world over, have cer-
tain elements in common.
One such element is the story Of a
great Hood which mandates the whole
world and destroys all life except that
OF single pair of culture heroes who
escape to start things all over again.
Another such element Is the concept
OF an evil spirit, often in the form
OF q serpent.
One explanation of the flood story.
OF course. is that most parts of the
earth have been inundated at one