davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1945-12-30

to the best schools, where he
learned much of ssS Latin and
some of the Greek ck~.Nes." At IA
he rose in the world-to the top of
a long-legged stool in his fathers
counting house. At 18 he was super
cargo and owners agent on one of
his fathers Europe-bound ships, and
another long-legged stool was wait
ing for him in the London Office.
But Sam had ideas of his own. He
turned his clerkish assignment into
a four-year grand tour of Europe
and came home a full partner in
his fathers business.
Maryland's First Battalion.
Two years later Sam Smith was
captain of company in the first
battalion of regular troops that
Maryland sent to the Revolution.
At the battle of Long Island, while
the Army of the United States was
only a frantic mob fighting for room
to escape on the narrow dam of a
tide mill, the 1st Maryland slaugh-
tered itself in five desperate charges
that gained IAN hour more precious
to American liberty than any other
in history" The hour saved the
Army.
Sam Smith was one of those who
emerged alive. He commanded the
rear guard that covered the evacu-
alton of Long Island, and left in
the last boat to go.
He was in the rearguard at
Harlem, he was hit in the. last stand
at White Plains, he fought with the
rearguard again in the retreat
through Jersey and the 1st Mary
land had only 80 men left of all
the 684 who had marched from
Baltimore six months before. He
was promoted to lieutenant colonel
Washington picked him to hold Fort
Mifflin and block the British ad-
vance up the Delaware River, he
held out for months. until a can
nonball crippled him; Congress gave
him sword.
Elected to Congress.
But his pay was 81 month. War
had swept away his fathers fortune
Desperate, he resigned his commits
sion, became colonel of Baltimore
militia, and set himself to propping
up the tottering house of Smith.
He prospered.
He helped to found a bank. He
invested in ironworks. He had ships
at sea, and the ships were for
tunate ships. He was wealthy, re-
Evening star., 1945-12-30

beam. This wasn't the first time
he had been used to prop up fail
ing cause.
Sam was born on July 27, 1852. in
Carlisle, in the same Pennsylvania
valley that was the birthplace OF
James Smith-no relation--who lee
Americas first armed uprising
against British troops 10 years be-
fore Lexington and Concord.
Sans father John was a pros
porous small-town merchant. When
he moved to Baltimore town in
l760 he brought with him a capital
of $4,000, no trifling sum for that
day. The capital grew. Sam went
Evening star., 1945-12-30
Challenge at Chongsho
By Paul Hughes. (The
milan Co.; $2.50.)
Reviewed by
MARY COGDELL.

Another author gives us a picture
of the Chinese stand against the
japanese invaders. It is by way of
an interesting novel, contrasting the
old and the new in China and point
ing out the resistance each makes
to the superior military forces in
it's own way. The Chinese and
American characters, however, ex-
cept for the blind boy San and his
sister Ian, are the stock characters
one has come to expect in books of
this type.
But, Mr.. Hughes considers the
enemy as individuals, and some of
the best lions are those
of the homesick private who COM
pares the brilliant burning of Chang
sha to remembered childhood cele-
brations in Japan, the brutal colonel
who wants to kill all the Chinese SO
he can go home and paint seascapes
and the fanatical corporal who
boasts he had his funeral before
he left home.
The story is built around the
Evening star., 1945-12-30
Book Reviews in Brief

Stuart. Farrar and Rinehart.j
Fifth columnists in America getting
caught by brave young detective
aided by pretty girl. Lively.
The Devil in the Bush, by Mat
thew Head. (Simon and Schuster }
Murders in the Congo in little
white settlement with desperate
atmosphere. Lively.
Ed. r.
Roosevelt Album, edited by A. J.
Ezichson. CKnickerbocker.) A vol
ume of over 200 photographs of the
late President.
FICTION.
Dog Of the Desert, by Ion l.
Idriess and j. B. Moody. (Bobbs
Merrill) Story of a dog adopted by
an Australian fighting unit in the
Egyptian desert and how he made
good as soldier.
The Friendly Persuasion, by
Jessamyn West. (Harcourt, Brace }
A collection of stories about a fam
lily of Indiana Quakers at the time
of the Civil War. FOlksy.
Evening star., 1945-12-30

published these little things" says
Mr.. Lothar, Vienna was still en-
chanting, the name of Hitler had
not yet disgraced mankind. And,
Agathe, my older daughter, was still
alive" There are 20 lightly sketched
episodes, including such red-letter
events as the Examination, the
Dancing Lesson, Christmas Presents,
and First Communion. =.
There is much tenderness and
much charm in "The Door Opens,
marked, for example, by such per-
ception as: "Children's tears are
nothing. But to hear a child sigh
makes you Immediately feel like cry
ing" But Mr.. Lothar also employs
Viennese type of whimsy, and
sometimes perhaps shade too
heavily. The sketch I liked best
was the one describing the chill
dren at their first ballet, inswhich
the Englishmen were misers, the
Americans spendthrifts, "a Russian
danced crouching the Chinese
tripped along with tiny steps y
and, in a word, "the whole world be-
haved as was expected"
In his description of the fraulein
whose life had been spent taking
care of other peoples children, of
the death of Hans, the canary. and
in various other ways, Mr. Lothar
betrays a weakness for pathos His
attitude toward social injustice
manifested in the episode Charity" /"
which is about play given by the
Vienna Deaf and Dumb Institution
for children, and in THE Child From
the Basement" is indisputably sim
cere. But where Katharine Mans
fields master trick Of understate.
Evening star., 1945-12-30

tall, cloaked figure. The very his
tory he helped to make has had no
room for Sam Smith.
In August, 1914, three powerful
enemy task forces were converging
upon the United States to split 1t,
overwhelm it and impose a con-
queror's terms. The terms, already
drawn, would have shorn from the
young republic most of the vast
region north and west of the Ohio
River. They would have set up,
there a buffer state designed to
block forever the growth of the
United States.
Washington Invaded.
One of the three invading armies
landed in Southern Maryland. Six
days later-and almost at leisure-it
had swept away the American
militia in the disastrous battle of
Bladensburg and had occupied
Washington. The President of the
United States was a fugitive, wan
dering the country roads on horse
back. Behind him, the Capital was
burning. Fire was licking through
the windows of the presidential pal
ace. The halls of Congress were In
flames. The new warships in the
Navy Yard, the Treasury, the Wal
Department and the arsenal were
burning.
In Baltimore, 40 miles away, a few
sober faced men gathered in s
sticky Office. The small, sweating
group wasn't the legally elected gov.
ernment of Baltimore. It was "the
citizens in town meeting" an i'm.
promptu, extra-legal committee Of
vigilance and safety.
Baltimore Was Next.
There was no doubt in any mans
mind that Baltimore would be the
next objective of the invading army
Long before that army swarmec
ashore in Maryland the Londor
papers had announced it's coming
and its purpose. "Chastise the say.
ages!" they cried. THE truculent
inhabitants of Baltimore must be
tanned" If any American cities
were to suffer. they declared, the
first two should be Washington anc
Baltimore-the one in order to wipe
out the meeting place of Congress
the other to wipe out the large
body of privateer shipping" Half o1
that purpose had been realized.
The Citizens in town meeting
wasted no time on the choice between
surrender and resistance. The deci-
sion: Fight. The question: Leader.
ship. The Committee of Vigilance
and Safety sent three members or
an errand: To ask a man named
Sam Smith, g. years old, to take
command.
A "Stout Oak Beam"
Sam Smith was as different from
Andrew jackson as one strong mar
can possibly be from another. HI
was rich, polished, widely travelled
but if Jackson was the tough "Olc
Hickory" Smith was a stout oal
Evening star., 1945-12-30

actual military campaign as it was
reported in news dispatches and the
chapters represent the various days
Of the third battle for Changsha.
Mr.. Hughes gives enough Of the de-
tense strategy used by the Chinese
in repelling the attack to fasten the
readers interest on the military
problem.
The author was formerly an Okla
homa newspaperman who gained
recognition two years ago when he
wrote Retreat From Rostov," )"
and since then has devoted his time
to writing. Still living in Oklahoma,
he says he secured much of the in
formation about Changsha and its
people from DR.. w. w. Pettus of
Yale-in-C China.
Evening star., 1945-12-30
By AlDin F. Hdrlo1D. (CredtiDe
A0p. S3 50

By AlUin F. Hdrlo1D. (CredtiUe
Age; $780,
Two currently popular historical
themes are united in this excellent
work-the regional history and the
history of transportation.
New England, the author points
out, did not play great part in
the canal building movement which
swept the Nation in the early 10Th
century. While New York and Penn
sylvania were planning waterways
for cheap transportation, she Jagged
behind and fought out her inter-
state feuds in terms of commercial
rivalry which did no good to any
one. Massachusetts was eyed with
jealousy by all the other States, but
Massachusetts, was also falling be-
hind New York and Philadelphia in
the race for trade. In the .1820s,
about the time the States were
waking up to the fact that some
thing was wrong, there appeared on
the scene a bright young man
named Gridley Bryant wanting to
| build railroad.
| 1t was to be an entirely private
railroad intended to carry stone
from Mr.. Bryant's quarry to the
sea-a distance of three miles. 1t
took the hopeful pioneer a long
time and lot of legality to get
the needed authorization, and the
process directed the eyes of his
fellow citizens on railroading as a
coming idea. The road finally began
operation in 1926 with horse-drawn
cars running on wooden ties and
stone rails; it continued in opera
ton until 1870. 1t was not the first
one in the United States, says Alvin
F. Harlow, but it was the most
influential
For, in Mr. Harlow's interpreta-
ton, it was out of the Bryant
scheme that New England's interest
in railroad transportation grew and,
4a1 hi c&1 ix,t
Evening star., 1945-12-30
Neglected Chapters of New EngIonds
Role in American Railroad History
STEELWAYS OF OLD NEW ENGLAND

was peculiarly intense. New England
became a railroading community; it
sprouted rails in profusion and,
frequently, confusion. From the
beginning, it had some sound
thinkers on the subject and 1t bred
a race of railroad pioneers who had
the true native ingenuity. But at
the same time it had it's crackpots
and fanatics and its railroading bore
the marks of much eccentricity. The
record adds up to chapter of
history which is of genuine i'm
portance in the story of our trans
portation for the errors which were
committed as well as for the lasting
achievements.
Private Enterprise.
1t is, in way, a vind1cation OF
private enterprise as fosterer of a
new industry. AS Mr.. Harlow re-
ports, there was an early effort to get
the States to assume responsibility
for railroad building. But as the
knowledge of the new transporta-
ton at the time all lay in the minds
of a few inventive engineers and
mechanics, the politicians declined
wisely to handle something so
strange to them They left it to
the men who knew 1t was inevitable
that men who did not know-or did
not know enough-should also enter
the competition and that the even
tual test should be the pragmatic
one of use. Mr.. Harlow makes the
point that the New England school
of trial and error produced railroad
ing geniuses who, later, had hand
in building the lasting roads of the
West.
He tells his story with due atten-
ton to the picturesque, but without
neglect of the soberer matters of
company organization and, when it
came about, legislation. He does not
gild the lily or idealize. On the
whole he has done well-balanced
oyI corio,,c unrE
Evening star., 1945-12-30

ment in ''The, Dolls House" succeeds
in arousing the moral indignation of
the reader, Mr.. Lothar's little thrusts
Of sarcasm fail to do more than pain
one.
The colors of the book as a whole
are half-toned. A vein of sadness
descends at times to an almost
mawkish sentimentality. And over
all, the infectious breath of the ap-
preaching storm-the second World
War.
Evening star., 1945-12-30
Among
the Authors
BY Carolyn Coeeins

A rather dainty person with plati-
mum hair and very blue eyes, found
herself embarrassed recently by
having become publicity manager
of a publishing house which had
several months earlier, accepted the
manuscript for her first novel. Now
the book is out and Ruth Peabody
Harnden is practically in hiding fol
fear some one will think she is trying
to push her book to the front. 1t is
Bright Star or Dark" and there is
no question about whether or not
Miss Harnden can write. She can
exquisitely. Ruth is Bostonian tc
her fingertips; every word she
speaks gives her away on that. HeI
novel is set in Dublin where she
went to study philosophy at Trinity
College.
Although she is now an author
also doing publicity for other au-
thors-she has in her past thor
ough-going association with books
aside from reading them. She has
sold books. edited them, and even
dabbled in publishing. She even
wrote scenario synopSeS before
doing this book of her own. She
has never married, is a career wom-
an by preference and inclination
and is very good company.
Rosita Forbes, whose autobiog.
raphy will be completed in the sec.
ond book on the subject of Rosits
Forbes. to be published in April
breezed through New York recently
pausing only for a few hours oi
shopping. The reason for this Eng.
lish woman's haste was that she anc
Col. Arthur McGrath, her hus.
band. were eager to get to theil
island home in the Bahamas. Shit
bought an entire island for her owr
near the Island of New Providence
which most people know as Nassau
since the only town on it bears tha
name. The april book will be "Ap'
pointment With Destiny"
The kind OF mental bricks which 6
thoughtful citizen might use to built
up his own intelligence are indicated
by one sentence in Ralph BartOl
Perry's book, "One World in tn,
Making" He says, War is every
body's fault and peace Is every
body's business. ." The autho
is professor of philosophy at Har
ward University.
Evening star., 1945-12-30
Best Sellers
.NATTON-WIDE-

(Accordinr to Publishers Weekly
FICTION.
1st-The Black Rose, Thomas B. Co.'S
2d-The white Tower. James Ramsey
Ullman,
3d-Cass Timberlane, Sinclair Lewis.
4th-The Peacock Sheds His Tail.
Alice Tisdale- Hobart.
5th-Foreyer Amber, Kathleen VIM
sor. "
NONFICTION.
1st-Up Front, Bill Mauldin.
2d-The ZEE and /, Betty Macdonald.
3d-Pleasant Valley, Louis Bromfield
4th-Gen. Marshalls Report, George
C. Marshall.
5th-Brave Men, Ernie Pyle.
In WASHINGTON
FICTION.
1st-The River Road, Francis Park
inson Keyes.
2d-The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand.
3d-Forever Amber, Kathleen Winsor.
4th-The Peacock Sheds His Tail,
Alice Tisdale Hobart.
bth-The white Tower, James RAM
seS 'iiNaN NoNrIcrIoN.
1stIThs pon.Ids EEs and l. Betty Mac
2d-The Age Of Jackson. Arthur M
Schlesinger, jr.
3d-Soidier of Democracy, Kenneth
4thSTh. Cherokee Strip. MARQUIS
bthDfiessa;nt Valley. Louis Bromfeld
Evening star., 1945-12-30
BY Neil II. SaeanSon,
ErecutiDe Editor. the Baltimore
Sunp1perS.


BALTIMORE, Dec. 20 (P.-This
is the story of Americas really for
gotten man.
His name was Sam Smith, of all
the men who have given the United
States distinguished and successful
leadership in time of deadly
danger, he is probably the least
known.
Andrew Jackson, major general
of militia, saved city from capture
by a foreign army. His battle at
New Orleans-fought weeks after
peace had been signed-made him
national hero.
Sam Smith, major general of
militia, saved a city from capture
by foreign army His battle at
Baltimore - fought five months
earlier than Jackson's-helped to
avert national disaster that might
have changed the physical shape
and the whole future of the United
States-and has been almost for
gotten.
| Nor is that all. Smith, an old
soldier who never before had won a
battle, made it possible for Francis
Scott Key to write the words of
The Star Spangled Banner"
| Supported by Mass of Evidence.
A great mass of evidence, neglected
for 1870 years, supports those state
ments.
Even in Baltimore, the town he
saved. Smiths name is little known
He has a statue in park, but few
who pass it know what name is
chiseled on the pedestal below the
Evening star., 1945-12-30
New Books

Brideshead Revisited. Evelyn Waugh,
January 2.
Secrets Can't Be Kept, E. r. Punshon,
January 2.
Night work, Fletcher Pratt. January g.
The Kings General Daphne du Maurier,
January 3.
The Treasure Chest, edited by j. DON
The House That Berry Built, Dornford
Yates, January 4.
=, I Saw the New Poland. Anna Louise
Strong, January 3.
= Men without Guns, Do Witt Mackenzie
December Al
Evening star., 1945-12-30
The Jesse James
OF the Java Sea
.Fdrrar &
By Carl GARNER.
Rhine ohnrf. cf 50 J

&1GbftSft" y, p4'VU"
Carl GARNER has written here a
book very like w. L. Whites They
Were Expendable." Mr.. White treat
ed of PIT boats and their crews in
the early days of the Philippine war
and his book was a grand job be-
cause 1t told us in unmistakable
terms that, no matter how the for
tunes of war were going, the Amer
lean spirit was alive. Mr.. GARNER
writes about the submarines of the
same time and place and in some
ways does even better jobNt than Mr..
White-for instance, he does not
mar his battle narrative by inter-
polating a tasteless love interest.
The fact remains, however, that his
book will not strike the same re-
sponse with the public. The reason
is too obvious-the hour is past.
Future generations, however, will
find the little volume full of World
War lis peculiar color. 1t is the
story of the submarine, Sturgeon
and her sister ships through the first
months of the war. The skipper Of
the Sturgeon was 1t. Comdr. VIII
liam Leslie Wright, Annapolis '25,
and the sister subs were captained
by 1t. Comdr. Wright's classmates.
They scattered from Manila on the
bombing and ranged the Pacific
from Japan to Australia. Mr..
GARNER gives us the record of the
Sturgeon directly and adds those
of the other subs by the device of
reporting talkfests which took place
when the various shippers happened
to meet in port. 1t is high adven-
ture, all of it, in the legitimate tradi-
tion of all the great sea captains.
1T is part of our immeasurable luck
as Americans that, for the time be-
ing, this is just another war book.
Historians so years from now will be
able to judge it with proper objec-
tivity.
Evening star., 1945-12-30

Paul A. Walker, by Walter b.
Emory. Lancaster Press.) Sketch
OF the career of Paul A. Walker OF
the Federal Communications Com
mission.
Evening star., 1945-12-30
Russia and the
Western World

By M1r NJ. LaserSon. Mac.
milan; $780,
WE CAN DO BUSINESS
WITH RUSSIA
By Hans Heymann. (Zif-Dauis
S2.50.)
I SAW THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
BIZ Ella winter. (Littie
Bro1Dn, S3.)
Evening star., 1945-12-30
RENA LEVANDER.

How "the door into the world
opens for his children, Agathe and
Hanni, is the matter of Ernst
Lothar'S latest book. when I first
Evening star., 1945-12-30
History Had Overlooked Sam Smith, the Man Who Defended
BoLtmore in 1914 but He Is Now New American Hero

Neil Fl. Swanson, erecntipe
editor OF the Baltimore Sunpa-
perS, recently t0rote a netD book,
"The Perilous Fight" in Which
he diScouerS a nei1 American
hero, Sam Smith, hero OF the
defense OF Baltimore in 1914.
This story, 1Dritten for the ASso-
ciated Press, is SlUanson'S ap-
praisal of Smiths CLAIM, to
tdme.)
Evening star., 1945-12-30
The Door Opens

By Ernst Lothar. Translated
by Marion A. Werner. Illus
trated By Garth William S.
Doubleday, Doran;; $2J
Reviewed by
The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-02-16
Michison Mayors Promised
Tax Aid Through Governor

which they would study and
recognize state needs and COM
pare them with their own.
He said this is "basic" ap-
proac h to solving financial
troubles of government general
ly, and that once the legislature
gets started on this, he will re-
call il to a special session II the
Job Is not finished when it COM
pletes the work of its regular
session this Spring. But he also
emphasized that he wants united
front backing from the mayors,
with no holding back for some
special interest of their own.
VIGOROUS REACTION
Jeffries drew vigorous reac-
ton from Kelly with conten-
tons that the state has more
money than il knows what to
do with" Battle Creeks Mayor
Bernard E. Godde also express
sed this belief, and got just as
tart a reply from Kelly-that
while the Treasury holds more
money than has been appropri-
ated, it has no more than is
needed for state government.
Jeffries commended that the
states surplus over and above
the postwar reserve fund will
The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-02-16
By G. MILTON KELLY

LANSING, Feb. 16-(R-The
mayors of Michigan have Gov
ernor Kelly's promise to help
them obtain relief of their fin
ancial troubles, but he made it
clear that he will require them
to justly the assistance they re-
ceive and set their own finan-
cial houses in order.
A delegation of mayors and
city managers visited h m
Thursday, and in a sometimes
stormy meeting demanded in
vain a particularized statement
of what Kelly has in mind for
helping them. He gave them
some clues, agreed to talk again
on the subject at a conference
of city officials from many Sec
tons of the state today, but de-
clined to name any sum for aid
to cities.
SEEK COOPERATION
Kelly told the mayors he
would insist that the only way
to approach the subject of re-
form tax and finance laws is
through consideration of needs
Of both the state and its local
governmental units, with allo-
cation of each tax dollar on the
priority basis of which needs it
most, and that local units must
turn more to self-help than to
the state for handouts.
IF we work comparatively
together we can get the an
swers," he told the group, but
encountered rebelliouS spirit at
times from mayors jealousy
eying and demanding a share
of the states rapidly mounting
surplus and $50,000,000 postwar
reserve fund.
Participating in the meeting
were mayors of Detroit, Lans-
ing, Battle Creek, and Jackson
and city managers of Jackson,
Ferndale, Saginaw and Flint.
POSTWAR CURBS
Repeatedly Kelly told them
the postwar fund will be held
intact until after the war, and
that they will have to prove
their need is greater than the
states if they are to receive any
portion of the surplus existing
over and above that amount.
Kelly and Mayor Edward J..
Jeffries of Detroit clashed fire.
quently, at times shouting i'm
patiently, as Jeffries accused
Kelly of attempting to thrust his
responsibilities on the maryors'
shoulders, and Kelly retorting
that this statement was mot
fair"
Kelly invited the mayors to
get together, point by point, on
a program of tax reform, in
The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-02-16
Urge Crack Down
on Spain, Argentina
Worlds Trode Unions
Voice Sentiments

LONDON, Feb. 16 - (P -
The governments of more than
40 nations were urged today by
the World Trades Union Con-
gress to crack down economical
ly on Spain and Argentina and
"all other Fascist countries
which under the pretense of
neutrality are rendering aid and
assistance to our enemies"
The appeal was contained in
a report submitted to the con-
gress by special committee
made up of representatives from
the United States, Britain, Rus
STA, France and China.
It's recommendations were
formally accepted by labor dele
gates from more than 40 coun-
tries.
After hitting directly at Spain
and Argentina, the report add
ed:
I'VE further call upon our
governments to take prompt
and vigorous steps to prevent
any neutral nations such 4 as
Sweden and Switzerland from
supplying Hitler Germany with
food and war materials and to
exact upon them guarantees
against granting asylum to war
criminals"