The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-27

SS4A4AAVSAy y0o 4SdAAAC O11dG we don't know we're in 8 war, no matter how hard our pocketbooks, appetites and households have been hit. And you only have to read the chapters on China, India and Burma to get the idea that the Allies were far from being allied when America entered the war; that graft, politics, ineffi- ciency and just plain dumbness cost US Burma, the Burma road, Singapore, and probably rule of the Pacific.
 Apart from anaIyz1ng the cold facts of the war, Stowe does 8 swell job telling of the heroics of the ChineSe-aS well as revealing how they refused to cooperate too well with the British during the Burma debacle, and how their hooli- gans used the Burma road for graft as well as a means to furnish lend lease support to their hard-pressed armies. Particularly touching is his tale of the young Chinese soldier a story typifying the characteristics and strength of race that has withstood the best Japan has had to offer for years. It follows:
 ". His body was terribly emac- lated really nothing more than skin and bones. His legs were so thin they looked like stilts. He had the pole over his shoulder and was try ing to lift two great bundles of hay off the ground. AS we neared I saw him struggling and pulling. His face was ashen-white. With set teeth he tugged and tugged again, his entire body trembling violently from the effort. Once, and twice and then a third time the young soldier with the toothpick legs tried-and failed. Probably he was newly released from a hospital-or perhaps he should have been in hospital many days previously. His breath was com ing in violent gaSps when the ser geant stepped over. The sergeant lifted the pole with its double end- weights off the ground and slid it on the soldiers shoulder as he stood two-thirds erect. The boy staggered under the load, sticking his legs far apart. The soldier staggered forward. <. Looking back, saw that thin human wreck still staggering for ward under his killing burden"
 Of such determination is the Chinese army made - and there is no power like the Japanese that can prevail against it.
 
 ALL THE FACTS
 While on the subject of China, another volume that will prove in- valuable as reference book is China Handbook" (Macmillan: $5). It's a massive tome, but full of information on the six years of struggle that country has had with Japan, dope on its political con- gress. the Kuomintang; dates and data that are handy to have around. There's even good map in large scale that helps to spot towns you have been reading of in recent war news.
 YOU remember Alexandre Du- mas for his Three Musketeers" But equally as good as piece Of descriptive literature is his "The Journal of Madame Giovanni" pub lished in English for the first time by Liveright Publishing Corp: $3.
 Story deals with travels and loves of French woman who, mar ried to a merchant. travels to New Zealand, Australia, San Francesca. Hawaii, Tahiti, and lot of other places. Right off the bat she meets an Englishman who falls madly in love with her and pursues her throughout her travels.
 Love element is secondary to Dumas excellent descriptive back ground on the Antipodes. his, char acterizations. and general good writing.
 LITERATURE'S LITANY
 Have you ever wondered what Gray's Country Churchyard" look ed like, whether there actually was Sherwood Forest, what sort of house Elizabeth Barrett escaped from to marry Robert Browning, where 1t was the Hound of the Bask- ervilles bayed, or speculated on the aspect of Reading Goal. the Wall in l"Puck of Pook's HILL" the Inn to