Evening star., 1939-02-19

against the case of any one who is,
for the moment, in disgrace with
fortune and mems eyes.
A second letter in the reviewers
mail will make these hints clearer
than much explanation. That letter
comes from Miss Claudia Cranston,
travel writer and novelist. 1t does
not say a great deal; it is Just q
friendly little note, kindly express
ing agreement with some of the re-
viewers opinions-particularly with
her standing out against the
canonization of Edna Ferber," of
whom Miss Cranston continues:
She Is swell as a commercial
writer, as you say, and doubtless as
a person, but so far as 1 know she
has never attempted literature" But
it is not for the sake of that agree
ment that Miss Cranston is quoted
here. No, the matter goes back in
time a good deal farther.
1t goes back, instead, to the spring
of 1888. that year which was the
bleak bottom of the depression
period. The reviewer was not hitch
hiking them. She was not going
anywhere, and was terribly aware
Of the condition. She was just max
ing the rounds of the employment
agencies and answering all possible
kinds of ads in the Help Wanted"
columns. And counting her pennies.
They were not growing in number,
either, as the jobless days went by.
Reviewer Sought Job.
Some one in those times gave her
the name of an author who had
manuscript to type This author,
it was said, might hire the reviewer
to do the typing. Might-you see,
although the reviewer was stranger
and had no distinguished record as
a typist to offer for credentials, and,
indeed, never typed professionally
in her entire life. She just needed
the job. That was her only justi-
f1cation for asking for it.
Well, she went to the author and
put up her case, and the author
gave her the script-yes. and paid
her somewhat in advance, too. on
the spot. THAT settled the rent for
a couple of weeks) And Miss Grams
ton was that author-she who writes
now, providentially as it were, while
the reviewer is in process of making
it clear to her friendly and solicitious
readers why it is that she finds it
hard to pass an unfortunate.
Is it clear? She might very we'll
have bungled Miss Cranston's script,
you see. She might have made an
absolute mess of it. She might
even have run off with it and with
that advance payment She might
have done number of things
which would have been, at least,
inconvenient to Miss Cranston. And
Miss Cranston knew that. But she
trusted her just the same.
Defends Position.
The reviewer hopes that her kindly
readers will see her point. She
would add too, that Miss Cranston
was not the only Washingtonian
who smoothed her way in those de-
preston times when an "unem-
ployed writer" was simply unem-
ployed and not a writer at all un-
less he could get some writing of
bona fide kind to do. And those
are the memories which make it
hard for the reviewer to suppress
her tiresome invisible visitor after
she has passed a wistful thumb
along the road. She doubts that
any hitch-hiking journey is longer
or more wearying that the one which
leads a seeker, week after week,
from one employment agency to
another and follows the fading
trail of nonresident jobs in and
out of ante-rooms where the air
is stiff with hostility toward the
unannounced.
And so it is that the hailing arm,
lifted from the roadside bitches,
reaches out beyond its natural span
and touches her in a vulnerable
place. But for the grace of God"
some one said, there go l." There
must be plenty of young college,
bred Americans today who know
what that means. After all, we did
have (genteel term) an "unemploy-
ment crisis, didn't we? What merits
1t (since everything merits some
thing) If it did not leave its lesson of
humanity behind?
Promises Mr.. Ambrose.
Notwithstanding, the reviewer is
certain that Mr.. Ambrose, and those
who wrote in his vein, have some
thing on their side, too. So she will
promise them this-she will not have
any rider in her car except in broad
daylight henceforth. And she will
assure them too, that the State cops
down on the Eastern Shore with
whom she has f1ourishing acquain-