Evening star., 1938-06-05

/ b4IISLt. SUOkeS.
FIFTY YEARS A COUNTRY
DOCTOR. Mccartney. Dutton.
GLASS HOUSES. Beals. Lippin-
colt.
seneralities; 1t is maudlin in its at
tempts at sententiousnesS and In gem
eral reads like hysterical womans
account of what she takes to have
been = profound religious revelation.
The reviewer has seldom had to strug-
gle with such 4 mass Of vagueness,
loose expressions Of exaltation, non
sequiturs, dim prophecies and general
low-grade twaddle. 1t is positively
incredible. Since Herr Ludwig has
amply demonstrated in the past that
he Is no fool, one can only conclude
from this amazing performance that
he could not find enough bona hde
material about the President to make
. real book and has simply blown up
his facts with whatever gas was handy
to expand them to the required num-
ber Of pages. And that, having done
20, he has had faith in the gullibility
OF the American public to make him
believe that 1t would not notice the
difference. No other conclusion Is
honestly possible.
or COURSE, this cynicism on the
part of the author has one great
bulwark 10 justify it. That Is the
Presidents popularity. The public
thinks 20 highly Of Mr.. Roosevelt
that 1t probably will read anything
about him with eagerness. Curiously.
it would demand = reasonably honest
piece Of work from an author writing
the life Of \ dead hero. but may be
counted upon to swallow any sort Of
inflated nonsense about the living
man whose activities are OF such
burning present importance. Herr
Ludwig has probably counted on this
attitude. too, in blowing his windy
opus up to the requisite size. His
opportunism. therefore, would seem
to be complete.
The reviewer could not, On her life,
recommend this book. 1t is not per-
tinent to any set Of conditions; even
If you agree with it, it is not revelatory
OF anything about the President which
is not common knowledge; 1t is not
good reading. It Is simply q tome of
indiscriminate and maudlin praise.
One wonders how far the President
has gone In giving 1t his approval.
For all Of our sakes, one must hope
that it Is little distance.
PASTORAL ADVENTURE. BY Clar-
ence H. Reese. New York: Fleming
H. Revell Co.
WAsHINGTONIANS will find this
book to have particular interest
for them. since its author has been
a resident Of the city and was at one
time acting minister at old Trinity
and later assistant to the rector Of st.
Thomas Episcopal Church. He writes
here the story OF his life As = minister,
with some account Of his youth, which
had all the hardships OF the legend.
He began life as = poor farm boy,
worked to educate himself, began With
. $4-a-week job and moved toward
his goal-the ministry-Against SEEM
ingly insuperable obstacles. But he
had . true vocation and persevered.
His frst appointment was Is assistant
to the rector Of Trinity and, almost
immediately, his chief fell Ill and he,
young and untried divine, was left,
As he puts it, AL alone In q parish
that claimed 2.2oo communicates.
From Trinity he went to st. Thomas
wnere he was . winner In 4 contest
held to select the most popular Clergy
man IN the city. The award was q
three months trip to the Holy Land.
but Mr.. Reese did not accept the sift
he had been appointed to . parish In
Iexas where he saw an opportunity
70 DO missionary work. and he pre-
1erred to 90 on with his labors there.
When the World War broke out, he
enlisted and went As chaplain With
the A. E. r. to France, seeins the
bloody fields Of st. Mihiel and the
Arsonne. Later he went with DIR
Army OF Occupation into Germany
After the war he took up his pastoral
iaoors at st. Matthews In Phila-
delphiA.
HIS book Is written with effective
simplicity and does much to make
clear the nature Of the weekly labors
OF clergyman to those Of us who
are apt to limit our acquaintance with
ministers to Sunday. 1t tells of visit.
ing the sick, adjusting domestic trou-
Dies, playing the advocate in court
ana host OF other duties. It IA A
book which must be read with resnect
ana the reviewer can easily recon-
mend 1t.
D'ANNUNzIO. BY Tom Antonsint
Translated from the Italian. Doe-
ton: Little. Brown d Co.
The author Of this biography was
Tor many years Gabrielle Dan.
nunzio's secretary and wa perhans a
close . companion - the eccentric
poet had. In writing the life Of his
former employer he has therefore yerv
naturally used his own memories ~
his chief source Of material. The re-
suit is book Of unusual vividness. so
close is 1t to its subject, indeed, that
Its publishers claim that it can bear
comparison to Boswells great work
Is quite tenable. signor Antoneini
has, to Be sure, used his own opinion
in interpreting his memories: Dan
nunzio clearly Is his hero and, In spite
OF an evident determination to be dis
passionate in drawing the portrait.
he cannot bring himself to deal other
than worshipfully with the man whom,
significantly, he called always .'the
Poet" But this cloud Of incense in no
way prevents D'Annunxio from livinx
in the pages. On the contrary, 1t adds
to the humanness Of the fantastic
genius, making it plain BY indirectior,. ).
that, irresponsible, cruel, and flckle
as he was, he still could command 4
great loyalty. He did not read the
manuscript, which was prepared dur
ing his lifetime and with his knowl.
edge. But, If he had edited It care
fully, he could hardly have made II
49, A.