Evening star., 1938-12-25

Behind Book by Men Who World
phy-Anthoogy
Mediocre-Mr. Writes of SmugeH

tor to st. Marys could hardly do bet
ter than take copy of Mr.. Knights
book along as a guide. It Is certain
that much that q traveller would
want to see would be missed without
the work: it is genuinely unique.
Not that the book is any literary
gem. It is written with no pretense
at style. no whimsicality, no inter-
probation. It is almost naive in its
simplicity But if it is to be used
as a guide book. this is certainly to
the good. The meat of the country
is there, and a reader has only to
turn the pages to find it. The re-
viewer, anyhow, if she makes a tour
of st. Marys County, will take a
copy along. She does not know of
any better praise which a critic can
give. a book than that-to purchase
one and make practical use of it.
NEGRO VOICES. An Anthology of
Contemporary Verse. Edited by
Beatrice NJ Murphy. Illustrated
by Clifton Thompson Hill. New
York: Henry Harrison.
The reviewer took this work up
with real interest. Her acquaintance
with our Negro poets has been
:ssts :.sststtssitea The works of the few. who
have gained major fame, such as
Countee Cullen and Langston
Hughes. but, from this, as must be
evident, she has acquired a cordial
feeling toward the Afro American
singer. She therefore expected,
when she opened the present anth-
ology, to find work of a high degree
of merit, of individuality and sweet
ness. Alas, Miss Murphy's collec-
ton is just about on level with the
average anthology of modern verse.
The young Negroes are disappoint-
ingly conventional. They write
much as do any other young poets
who have more earnestness than
inspiration: they describe the pangs
OF life, and of love: they celebrate
the beauties of life and of love; they
mention that man is, after all, NOR
tai and that death awaits us. And
they do this, for the most part, in
vers libre which lacks something of
greatness. 1t was a severe disap-
polntment to the reviewer and she
can only conclude from the expert
ence that genius is not common
among the people of any race. She
already knew it, of course. 1t was,
after ALL her mistake.
The volume contains work of IS
poets. Not great proportion of it
is what might be called race con-
sclous-that is, it is not in the main
book about Negro emotions, but
about emotions Most of the con-
trlbutors have published work else
where. There is, in many of the
poems, a noble kind of feeling, but
the level of poetic art, as said, is
not high. 1t is, summed up, Just an
average anthology. That is the best
the reviewer can say for it.
THE COMPLEAT sMUGGLER. By
Jefferson Farjeon. Indianapolis:
Bobbs Merrill & Co.
This, the reviewer found to her
surprise, is the history of a great
popular movement-the resistance
OF the people to the outrage of un-
just taxation. Most of us will be
far from putting such an interpre-
tatlon on the word smuggling" We
think OF it as meaning the uneasy
concealment of duty likely goods
as we enter the ports of our country.
Or we think of it as a valuable
prop existing for the use of the
authors of thrillers, whose heroes
are intrepid revenue officers and
whose heroines are beautiful inter-
national crooks. According to Mr..
Farjeon, however. these are er-
roneous interpretations. Smuggling,
he tells us, is full-time profession
for many humble, unglamorous folk
who, in the performance of their
dangerous occupation. have often
served as public benefactors. In
18th century England, for example,
he says. the smugglers kept the wool
growers from starving And in the