Evening star., 1943-09-05
Current Books
The st. Johns
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.
By Branch Cabeu and A. J.

By BTdnch CdOeU ana A. j.
Hanna. (Fdrrnr & RinehGrt.)
This, the most recent addition to
the Rivers of America" series, is
the history of the st. Johns River
of Florida. The name of (James)
Branch Cabell as one of its authors
would indicate that the work has
a character of its own rather than
that of one of a series, and so it
does. The book, despite the facts
that it is No. "a of the Rivers" and
is only in part Mr.. Cabell's work,
still must be definitely classified as
Cabell opus.
The humors with which the vet
eran author once surveyed Poictesme
and Lichf1eld do not change when
he turns his eyes on Florida, past
or modern, nor has he condescended
to alter his characteristic style to
express them. The other volumes
of the series can be described mainly
as journalistic histories. This is
neither history nor journalism, but
an exercise in irony for which the
events and people associated with
the st. Johns River have furnished,
in a markedly incidental fashion,
the material. If the whole series
had been written in such a vein, one
might well wonder at the purpose;
but single volume SO distinguished
in two dozen is a sauce which adds
a helpful piquancy.
The method of the authors has
been to select out of the legends and
truths of st. Johns such tales of
human absurdity as have seemed
best suited for Mr.. Cabell's peculiar
treatment and to arrange these
tales, duly treated, in chronological
order. Thus, from the prediscovery
era to 1910, they parade before the
reader company of men and
women chosen apparently because
their conduct was in some way &c
centric. OF the days of Frances oc-
cupation, they write in terms chiefly
OF the experiences of the poor artist,
Jacques LIE Moyne, and of Britain's
period of possession they find rele-
want the story of Denys Role, who
aspired to found a colony of re-
formed prostitutes and pickpockets
in His Majesty's new domain. They
are entertaining Git goes without
saying) on the contrasts afforded
the investigator, if not the historian,
by the appearances of such diverse
spirits as Harriet Beecher Stowe
and Cora Mcneil; and the political
pulling and hauling which, through
the centuries, subjected the st.
Johns placid banks to more or less
regular drenchings of blood and
virtually destroyed the original in
habitants, move these interpreters to
further leisurely amusement. And
so to the end of the first decade of
this century. To cover the remain
ing 33 years, they offer burlesque
version of a promoters sales talk,
touching on the beauty of the coun-
try, the wonders of its development,
the residence of Mrs. Marjorie
Kinnan Rawlings in its midst, Rol-
Inns College, Yerkes Observatory and
other points Of a natives natural
pride.
1t is all pleasant reading, and if,
when you have finished with it, you
do not know great deal about the
st. Johns, you will have been re-
minded that (James) Branch Cabell
is still among the active American
writer's and, that Notwithstanding,
is likewise still his familiar pure
self, resolutely uncorrupted by
social conscience, collectivism, world
brotherhood or any other of the
prevailing ideologies without defer
ence to which his professional
brothers are, almost to a man, afraid
to sign contract for the hand
soonest kind of ROYALTIES,