Evening star., 1938-01-02

grandmother. Both stories are written
by young women of the present gen.
GRAFTON, and both are extremely frank
and highly readable.
And yet another pair of self-written
histories comes to us from two wom-
en- so distinguished as exhibitionists
that mention OF them Is almost OBJ
ligatory. One is the latest volume
Of Mabel Dodge's memoirs; it is
called The Edge of Taos Desert"
and it deals with Mabels Great Love
Affair with the Pueblo Indian boy,
Tony Luhan. The reviewer finds little
value. The other is Gertrude STEMS
second volume OF autobiography
gable. gable, gabble Beyond that,
words fail for adequate description.
Miss Stein, the sphinx of the sophis-
ticates, reveals herself in this work
as very much the sister under the
skin of the middle-class housewife
OF small education. who, spending the
afternoon at q friends, gossips in q
vein called by psychologists 'un-
controlled association" 1t is a head
ache. But Gertrude Stein wrote it,
and so to many 1t will become q
practically sacred work.
IN THE field Of history the outstand-
ing best seller has been Mr..
Philip Guedalla's delightful THE Hun
dred Years" That was a volume of
running comment on the events which
have taken place since the good Queen
Victoria came to the throne Of Eng
land. It makes no pretense to pro-
fundity, but instead aims to please.
It is light, satirical and irreverent. 1t
has had an immense popularity, too,
but one rather feels, somehow, that
great many of its readers have not
suspected the authors light-minded-
ness but have gone solmenly through
the pages convinced that they were
improving their minds and delighted
to find a book which made that de-
sirable end possible with so few pangs
But, of course, this suspicion may be
entirely unjust. 1t may even be down.
right cruel
The enterprising M. Andre Maurois
likewise published during the past H.
month; he chose. with innocent time
illness, the subject of England's past. at
just the time when her present and
future we're occupying the attention
of the whole world. His Miracle of
England" was no more than common
text on English history; yet, such is
the charm of this Frenchman's name,
it leaped into the best-selling lists and
stayed there long time.
The reviewer, for her own part, en-
loved very greatly a singular work Of
history called "Tsushima." As the
name implies, it deals with the terrible
battle in which the navy of the Gear
of Russia was destroyed by the JAP
anese during the course Of the Russo
Japanese War. The work was written
by one A. Novikof Pribov, who was
sailor on one Of the Russian ships. He
composed his account Of the battle
shortly after he returned home from
the war, but, as it contained interpre-
tations of the defeat which were highly
unCOWQluueuGd1y W VIC AAAPcA1d4 6oN-
ernment, he made no effort at publ
cation at the time. After the revolu-
ton his manuscript was found and the
story published. It Is an utterly fas-
cinating tale, gloomy, fateful and Of
epic proportions. 1t seems to the re-
viewer one of the best bits Of history
| Of the entire year.
DOCKS on the Constitution, OF
- course, have poured out Of the
presses In torrents. OF these there
] vere many excellent works, but they