Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-11-05

there tn we We're view few ="
schools except
for children of Harnett Kane.
the wealthy. His will provided
that there was to be no dis
elimination among the children
by reason of race, creed or color
Today the McDonogh Farm
School near Baltimore perpetu-
ates his memory there, but in
New Orleans the whole educa-
tional system acknowledges its
debt to him. &
People of the Era.
Mr.. Kane, proceeding from a
facMlal base and using a number
of other actual characters OF the
era. has made McDonogh an ap-
pealing, credible figure. McDonogh
went to New Orleans as a youth
In 1900, carrying line Of goods
put out by Baltimore firm. An
abstemious. strictly reared boy,
he was shocked at the colorful
sins of New Orleans. He never
intended to stay. But he did.
Gradually he accepted, if he never
fully approved. the ways OF the
Creoles. He saw great oppor-
tunities in land, and he began
acquiring more and more with
profits from merchandising. He
did not believe in slavery, but he
found slaves thrust on him with
land. When he finally took over
a large number with a big planta-
ton on the river, where he went
to live, he devised plan for
gradually giving them all their
freedom.
In Mr.. Kanc's romantic version,
McDonogh kcd tUo unhappy
love affairs. The last one, Gull
minating in a broken engagement,
left an indelible mark and he
never married.
The people of New Orleans
didn't understand McDonogh. He
seemed austere and he was re-
puted to be parsimonious. And
yet he did many kind things that
were never known. He educated
destitute children thrown in, his
path and he helped friends. He
found the hardest person to get
along with was-himself. Often
he collldn't unbend. couldn't make
the gesture he wanted to and it
cost him friends, even love. as
he we'll knew in the loneliness of
his last years. There was, besides,
more than a little tragedy in his
life which he could not have
stopped. When his will was made
public, it caused a sensation and
required a new appraisal of his
character.
Mr.. Kane's account is sympa-
thetic and sometimes frankly SEN
timental, but it never becomes
sirupy. The writing is crisp and
effective. The growth and the
changing aspect of New Orleans
between 1900 and 1850 are
sketched sharply and such his
toric events as the Battle of New
Orleans are brought in. The
author is a practiced hand at
distilling romance and adventure
out of history in the Deep South
Pathway to the Stars" probably
Is his best book.
X
SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT
BY George Orwell. (Harcourt,
Brace; $2.75.)
These essays and sketches are
part Of collection of Mr.. Orwell
short pieces which he was gather
ing at the time of his death early
this year. Here the lamented
author Of Ninety Eighty-four"
described and reflected on a di-
versity of subjects. The first two,
Shooting an Elephant" and "A
Hanging" are "reminiscences of
Burma. Each touches with rare
conciseness on a different angle of
the same theme-why men are
forced against their will to be
cruel. BY reading these simple
sketches you can find more than
a hint of why Mr.. Orwell was a
consummate craftsman. For more
specific information on how he
felt about writing, see Politics
and the English Language" He
sees a mixture of vagueness and
sheer incompetence" as "tile most
marked characteristic of modern
English prose. - Deploring
the tendency to think only in
hackneyed speech, he adds: &C. i.
prose consists less and less of
words chosen for the sake of
their meaning and more and more
of phrases tackled together like
the sections of a prefabricated
henhouse." The discussions of
books and writer's in other chap
tiers are stimulating. In a critical
article on James Burnham, Mr..
Orwell stirs some of the seeds
that Sprouted into his stunning
novel, Nineteen Eighty-four."
X X X
ANGER AT INNOCENCE
BY William Gardner Smith.
(FdrrGr, Strauss. 49,
Last year the youthful author
published his first novel. Last of
the Conquerors. 1t focused light
on phase Of the war no one
touched-the Negro troops who
went into the army of occupation
in Germany and found that for
the first time in their lives they
were not looked down on because
of their color; that they were on
their own. just like anybody else.
Some Of them didn't want to re-
turn to America. In his second
novel. Mr.. Smith has turned aside
from his race to describe some
people living in a tenement in
South Philadelphia. Only one, a
Mexican, is held down because of
his racial strain. The others are