Evening star., 1938-04-24

cess. However, that does not make 1t
a novel. The subordination of human
beings to human movements Is his
tory. It is the Interpretation Of move
ments through individuals that is
art-or a part OF art. The present
book comes down between the two
being wholly neither. Its interest
therefore must be chiefly in the cir
cumstance that it completes the work
of sometimes great writer. It will be
valued because Cork wrote 1t and not
for what 1t is itself.
FATHER COLDSTREAM. BY Julian
Duguid. New York: D. Appleton
Century Co.
THIS quite unpretentious novel is
as absorbing an adventure tale
as the reviewer has come on in
good many months. 1t is one more
Of Mr.. Duguid's stories of South
America in the days Of the Spanish
occupation. It's scene is Paraguay in
the eighteenth century, 200 years after
the Jesuit priests had begun their
missionary work among the Indians.
The action is between a priest, a mill
tary man and an outlaw. all of whom
are trying, for their own reasons, to
gain control over the natives. It
is superficial tale, but done very
well. 1t seems unlikely that anybody
who begins the story will put it down
unfinished. Mr.. Duguid is quietly
competent at this sort of thing and
deserves following. His earlier novel,
"a Cloak of Monkey Fur" was also
absorbing and original.
THE PoL1T1Cos. BY Matthew
Josephson. New York: Harcourt-
Brace & Co.
THIS is the story Of American poll
tics from the end of the Civil War
up to the beginning of the twentieth
century. AS we all know, those were
years in which scandals in govern
ment were common. Much of the
disgraceful history has already been
written in the recent past. Mr. Joseph
son, therefore, taking up his unmask-
ing pen, really does not have a great
deal that is new to tell us. What he
does do, however, is to relate the
political maneuvers Of the era to the
accompanying financial booms and de-
pressions and show us how the poll
ticoS" used their power to aid big
business and how big business served
them. 1t is gaudy, tawdry tale
There is merit in keeping the memory
of our past awfulness before us, of
course But beyond that salutary use
1t will be hard for Americans to find
anything satisfactory in a perusal of
this unflattering volume.
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIR
Gle. BY Maud Howe Elliott. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
A N ELEGANT era comes to life in
this volume Of letters and mem
olrs. The protagonist is young Sam
Ward, brother of Julia Ward Howe,
great-grandson and great-great-grand
son Of Governors of Rhode Island,
glass OF fashion hundred years ago,
dilettante of the sciences, business
man and lobbyist, brilliant figure in
New York, Newport and Washington.
His niece has here gathered together
great number of his letters and pieced
these epistles out with fragments
from his projected memoirs and her
own comment. The lively quality Of
the volume is one more piece OF tes-
timony to the imperishable nature of
well-written words We have not only
a vivid picture Of the man, but of his
"circle," )" too, sparkling and amazingly
alive
1t was a distinguished circle, GER
tainly. It included Washington Irv-
ing, Longfellow, Charles Sumner.
Cornelius c. FELTON,, Dickens, President
Garfield, Thomas F.. Bayard. Sans
famous sister, Marion Crawford, and
many others similarly renowned. And
it ranged in location over the fashion,
able parts of the world, as it was then.
Sam studied in Heidelberg. played the
prodigal in Paris, did the tour of Eng
land, set up an Office in Wall Street,
had home in Newport, became the
famous King of the Lobby in WASH
ington and finally went abroad to ends
his days in Italy. The letters cover
so years, from the 1906 to the 8Os.
The picture of the famous lobbyist
In his youth is that of brilliant, i'm
pressionable and incurably romantic
mind, impatient of slow processes and
unimaginative work, and always taken
with ideas for building fame and ben
ef1tlng mankind. In student days this
idea was bound up with science; Sam
wanted to be known as a great mathe-
matician, and planned to collaborate
with school friend on a book-the
friend to do the plodding and Sam
the inspiring. Later, after failures in
business, he found his niche in Wash
ington, where, with his gift for hospi-
tality and his power of persuasion,
he was able to WELD great influence
in Congress. The book shows his
growth through the years. From a
somewhat shallow viewpoint, he de-
veloped mental depth and from fail
ures and disappointments gained the
gifts of a philosopher.
The book, as said, is amazingly alive.
The choice of the letters and the COM
ment are excellently calculated to
bring the essentially living quality for
ward and dispense with the merely
| timely.
:. Il K IL s.