davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Reading and Writing
Bioeropher Of Florence Nightingale
Used Much New Material in Her Book
By Mary MeGrory

A recent visitor to these
shores was Cecil Woodham-
Smith. English author of that
sterling biography. Florence
Nightingale" The lady is
charming, intensely blue-eyed
and petal-skinned in the best
tradition of her country. She
is. moreover, very offhand about
her accomplishment and still so
diffident about her subject that
she always refers to her as Miss
Nightingale"
Seven years Of the closest
study Of the LADY with the
lamp" did nothing to diminish
Mrs. Woodham-Smith's admira-
ton. Everything she wrote was
infused with this white-hot pas
sion. and written in that DASH
ing hand" Research alone took
something like five years. since
Miss Nightingale's literary relics
ran to 123 parcels of unsorted
letters, not to mention a dozen
wooden packing cases Of nursing
matter.
In fact, Mrs. Woodham- Smith
said gayly in an interview in
New York, her book dragged
on so long it became quite a
joke among family and friends.
They were tremendously sur
prised when it finally appeared.
She is still aglow with the
praise that it has brought her
on both sides of the water. In
England sales have reaced u.s.
900, a record number these days.
A fourth printing has been or
dered here.
Nothing in her background
seems to contribute directly to
the making of her masterpiece.
She never had the slightest in
terest in or knowledge of nurs-
ing, and started out writing
plays and short stories. The
only connection. and it Is a
shadowy one, was a ritual of
childhood. Periodically, it was
required of her grandfather that
he show the children a wound
he suffered while serving in
India during the mutiny. It had
been allowed to heal by itself.
since to enter a hospital in those
days meant certain death. He
always finished the story by say
ing: "Ah, if Miss Nightingale
had been there, I should have
been taken care of properly"
That was all until Mrs. Wood
ham-Smith met a descendant
of Miss Nightingale's colleague
and friend. Lord Verney, who
made available to her masses of
material never before used by
any previous and pious biog-
raphers of "the Angel of the
Crimea."
So circumspect. indeed, were
these chroniclers that they never
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Boyhood in SIums
Yields Fine Book.
A WALKER IN THE CITY

A WALKER IN THE CITY
BY Alfred A. KAHN. (Har-
court, Brace & Co.: S3.)
This is One of the seasons de-
lights. an unabashed piece of
fine writing about a frequently
depressing theme. boyhood in
the slums. Mr.. Kazin's sensuous
account of the sights and sounds
of the teeming neighborhood
of Brownville-the Jewish sec
ton of Brooklyn-is a singing
evocation of "the children Of
the immigrants who had camped
at the city's back door, in New
York's rawest. remotest, cheap
est ghetto"
He was, I suppose, "underpriv-
ileged," and yet you would never
think that from his book. His
father was a house-painter, a
Socialist; his mother sewed all
day on dresses for the women
on the block. But there was
love in that house, the sustain
ing rites of an ancient religion.
and a fierce ambition for the
coming generation which was to
be 1.-The monument of their lib
Grafton from the shame of being
what they were"
Mr.. KAHN brings home as few
writers have what 1t means to
be Jew in America. the terrible
anxiety to belong and to be ac-
cepted He describes his find
ing of common ground through
books and pictures, through his
avid prowling through libraries
and museums. His discovery of
books-of the New Testament,
Of Blake-is related in all its
rapture. Meanwhile the intense
life of the block swirled around
him to the accompaniment of
the trolleys and the ell. 1t was a
rackety existence externally
squalid. but, deep down full of
color and fire.
Mr.. Kazin's lyrical reminisc-
ences add an exquisite chapter
to the literature of first-genera-
-tion Americans.
MARY McGRoRY.
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Early VHginions
Not All of Noble
Cast , Says Writer

BEHOLD VIRGINIA: THE
FIFTH CROWN
BY George F. Wilson. fHar-
court, Brace; $475.J
Reviewed by Francis P. Douglas.
II have never, amongst so few.
seen SO many false-hearted, en-
vious and malicious people"
John Rolfe said OF the founders
of Virginia IL years after the
first settlement.
Mr.. Wilson might have taken
this as the text for his narrative
of Virginia's early days. Were
it not for the records the story
would be incredible, he writes.
He makes most of it quite cred-
ible, even at times startling.
The author appears to have
intended John Smith to be the
chief Of several villains Of the
piece. He asserts there are few
examples of greater follies than
Smiths and that the colony was
fortunate when he was shipped
home in disgrace.
Yet Mr.. Wilson also tells Of
Smiths acting with decision
when decision was necessary.
obtaining food. exploring the
country and pulling no punches
in reporting the bad state of
things to London. In the text.
Mr.. Wilson described Smiths
later writings as fables, but in
a note at the end he comedies
there was a basis of fact in
everything" Smith related.
The story is given in consid-
cradle interesting detail through
1877 and Bacon's Rebellion.
Then the author wraps up the
account of the big plantations
and the "grandees," the French
and Indian War. the quarrels
with Parliament and the Dec
laration of independence in the
two final chapters.
The allusion to the fifth crown
is to the colony's coat of arms
and motto, hailing Virginia as
the fifth crowd of the royal
house. The other four were
England, Scotland, Ireland and
France. the crown of the last
country still being claimed in
those days.
Evening star., 1951-11-25

The book is very different
from others on the National
Capital. While others treat of
the beauty of the city, it's public
buildings and its official set,
here appear the just grievances,
the hopes and aspirations of it's
permanent residents. These
people have no dual allegiance.
They are Americans. and moth
ing else. AS their allegiance is
undivided. it is more intense for
its concentration" Yet they
alone. of all the Americans of
the continental and contiguous
United States, are deprived of
even the least veStige of partici-
patton in the government of
their country. The book is rich
in its presentation Of much local
history known only by the few.
The City's Interest at Heart.
Ones first impression of this
scholarly work is as if looking
through the large end of a tele-
scope. The foreword. the scin-
tillating Bergman cartoons and
the biographical sketch of Mr..
Evening star., 1951-11-25

made any mention of Richard
Monckton-Milnes, Miss Night
ingale's much-loved and finally
rejected fiance. It was thought,
Mrs. Woodham-S Smith said, that
this would be indelicate in view
of the fact that the gentleman
had married-very happily
somebody else.
Mrs. Woodham- Smith, a grad
uate of st. Hilda's College. OK
ford. plunged into the papers
after trying wartime interlude
which she spent in a laborer's
cottage with her daughter and
son who were then 9 and Z, re-
spectively. 1t was close quarters
and she says now with a cheer
full giggle. The only reason my
son isn't dead is because I hadn't
the strength to kill him."
Crimean War Next.
The publication of the book
has brought some changes into
her life. For one thing, in order
to escape giving the British gov
ernment all she earns in royal
ties, she has taken up lecturing.
which entails deductible ex-.
penses. During her recent trip
here with her husband, a coun-
sci for j. Arthur Rank, she made
several speeches.
Also, she says. her life is now
adorned" with nurses, and she
is constantly regaled with anec-
dotes of Miss Nightingale.
" She hears over and over
strong evidence that while her
contemporaries found the lady
crushingly formidable, children
adored her and sought her out
fearlessly. In fact. one little
relative wrote his father a birth
day letter in which he said.
Now I am 6. I shall do what
ever / please, and I shall go to
see Miss Nightingale every day"
The intense preoccupation
with Miss Nightingale has led
Mrs. Woodham- Smith quite nat
urally to her second book, a his
tory of the Crimean War. which
she says is a classic example of
how a war should not be fought.
It will be study from the point
of view of two generals, and is
described by her husband as be-
ing "all duels and adultery"
4 X X
Three prominent local figures
have been named to the board
of judges for the non-fiction Sc
lection in the National Book
Awards. They are Huntington
Cairns of the National Gallery
of Art, Librarian of Congress
Luther M. Evans and Columnist
Marquis Childs. Their choice
will be announced at the NBA
banquet in New York on Janu-
airy 20.
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Novelist Turned Essoyist Comes Out
For Democracy With Some Reservations
70 CHEERS FOR DEMOCRACY

BY E. M. Forster. (Harcourt, B
The author of "A Passage to
India" is one man who has not
been bounded into dogmatism.
A sceptic, a humanist. a liberal.
a lover of art for arts sake, he
says he does not believe in be-
lief," and declares he has '1ost
all faith in positive militant
ideals" His gods are still VOL
taire and Erasmus.
These essays which are half
political, half esthetic. and COW
er the past Is years, are his sar-
donic reflections on world that
seems bent on destroying what
he prizes most: Freedom. cul-
ture, individuality and human
relations. When he pleads at all
it is for tolerance-"not being
huffy. touchy. irritable. revenge
full" Yet he is anything but
bland.
His low-keyed praise of de-
mocracy provides the keynote
of the book. $50 two cheers for
democracy. One because it ad-
mits variety, and two because it
permits criticism. Two cheers
are quite enough" Mr.. Forster
is also impatient with the great
leveling-off process that many
prophets of today so diligently
advocate. He is for aristocracy,"
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Jefferson Shown at
Court of Louis XVI
JEFFERSON AND THE
RIGHTS OF MAN

RIGHTS OF MAN
BY Dumas Malone. little,
Brown;: $6.J
This volume is the second in
what undoubtedly will become.
to use the customary grandil-
oquent term. the definitive life
of Jefferson. 1t takes the author
of the Declaration of Independ-
ence through his exciting years
in France as American Minister
and almost to the end of his
service as Washington's Secre-
tary Of State.
It cannot be said of Mr.. Ma
lone. as it has been said of some
scholarly but pedestrian biogra-
pliers, that he complies but does
not write. The scholarship is
there, to be sure. the most thor
ough and -dimenSional that
has ever been applied to a study
of our most versatile President.
But the urbanity of Mr.. Malone's
style and his subtle humor never
let the interest sag down into
the footnotes.
The story Of Jefferson at the
court of Louis XVI is charm
ing one. no matter who tells it.
Mr.. Malone has added some de-
lightful sketches of the pains the
widowed Virginian took with
rearing and educating his two
daughters in 18th century Paris.
And any belief that Jefferson
was a stuffed shirt and long
faced intellectual is dispelled as
we watch the luscious Maria
Cosway hold him infatuated.
The rights of man are the key
to this period, as. in fact. to the
remaining years of Jefferson's
life. His sincere and unceasing
devotion to the principles of the
American Revolution and the
early philosophy of the French
Revolution lend meaning to his
relations with leaders in French
thought and government and,
later. to the course he followed
in the new American republic.
Mr.. Malone is careful not to
over-dramatiZe the clash with
Hamilton, at least in their ear
lier relationship. Jefferson ap-
parently arrived in New York
with no particular feeling to-
ward his cabinet colleague ex-
cept that he wanted to work as
effectively as possible with all
members of the Washington ad-
miniStration.
Evening star., 1951-11-25

an aristocracy of the sensitive,
the considerate and the plucky,"
and he doesn't want his artists
to be necessarily regular fell
lows"
= In the role of the dissenting
minority, Mr.. Forster is ex-
tremely we'll cast. His rejection
Of Mrs. Minniver, whom many
did not dare find cloying. is
especially felicitous: why do
a few of us stand glum by the
roadside as the gallant little
pageant passes?" He considers
Mr.. Eliot with admirable calm:
1T would seem that when Mr..
Eliot. is wishing to instruct, his
prose remains lucid, considerate
and assured. When, on the other
hand. he is writing for people
who may answer him back, he
becomes wary and leads his
sentences with qualifications
and precautions which make
them heavy?" Any one who has
read Mr.. Eliot's Notes Towards
Definition of Culture" must
surely say, Here, hear"
AS literary critic. Mr.. Forster
is assured. and intransigeant. In
an essay entitled Anonymity:
an Enquiry" he gives as good a
rule-of thumb for distinguishing
the first rate from the second
rate as have ever seen. He says
Lamb and Stevenson were not
great because they never let
down buckets into their under
world" His reminiscence of
Virginia Woolf is excellent, with
a particularly penetrating side
light on the feminist that always
lurked in the novelist. Perhaps
the warmest essay in the book is
an account of a visit to Sidney
and Beatrice Webb, that high
minded partnership which
serenely surveyed all the world
while trying vainly to manage
their disobedient dog.
Many of the essays were first
delivered as lectures or broad
casts and thus lack the infor-
mality that is often the most in
gratiating element of this form.
AS matters have turned out,
Mr.. Forster. now nearing 10,
is a voice in the Wilderness
dry one, a cultivated one and
very worth listening to in these
noisy times.
MARY MCGRoRY
Evening star., 1951-11-25
WE FISHED ALL NIGHT

by wizard Motley. tAppteton
This Chicago writer's first
novel. KNOCK on Any Door,"
published in 1947, had certain
virtues. but it was greatly over
praised. Nick Romano, the boy
from the slums, was depicted as
a victim of society, but he was
never entirely real, and when he
finally went to the electric chair
after many overwritten chap
tiers, I felt that he had gone
there because his creator in
sisted on it, not because he had
lacked chances to go straight.
On the other hand. the book
revealed novelist with a power
to write a driving narrative
filled with suspense.
Mr.. Motley is still writing in
his second novel about the
Evening star., 1951-11-25

pelled to carry the burden OF
building the Nations Capital.
The struggling growth of the
village that was Washington, the
scorn of foreign visitors in the
early days, the rapid physical
development of the city after the
Civil War. changes Of local gov
ernment and the emergence of
the great modern capital are
vividly described.
We learn that with its present
population of 802,178, Washing
ton exceeds the population of
every new State in the Union
at the time of it's admission ex-
cept the State of Oklahoma.
The resounding 85 per cent vote
in favor of national representa-
ton in the 1916 unofficial ref
erendum, of which the reviewer
served as general counsel,
showed clearly the desire to be
Americanized.
Presidential Views.
The chapter on the Presidents
and the National Capital pre-
sents the views on the District
of Columbia expressed by the
presidents in messages to Con-
gress. OF special interest were
those of Monroe. jackson, Will
liam Henry Harrison and john
son, all Of whom were solicitous
for the votelesS residents who
had no representation in the
Government. The gradual de-
velopment Of the presidential
view was climaxed by the decla-
ration of President Truman, in
his Civil Rights Message of Feb
ruary 2. 1948, when he said: In
addition, I believe that the Con-
stitution should be amended to
extend suffrage in presidential
elections to residents of the
District Of Columbia"
The reader learns that the
National Capital community had
more volunteers in relation to
total registrations in World War
I than 43 States; sent more
men proportionately in World
War II than IA States: paid
more national taxes than each
of Is States and now has a
population greater than 13
States and ranks ninth among
American cities. All of this
showing proves the fitness Of
these people for a part in the
government of their country.
Much additional pertinent in
formation which is often sought
but difficult to locate, is carried
in an Appendix of ST pages.
This is of particular value to
statesmen, students. teachers
and speakers. as we'll as for
readers generally. Among these
appendix items is the Senate
Committee report of 1922 ap-
proving a proposed amendment
to the Constitution empowering
Congress to give the District ma
tional representation. AS one
who labored three years in the
Senatorial Vineyard this review
er regards that report as one of
the most comprehensive ever
coming to his notice.
To complete this work as a
valuable book for ready refer
ence. a useful cross-reference
index is included.
Evening star., 1951-11-25

Italian writer's are coming into
increasing prominence in this
country. "Scirocco" introduces a
new one, and this first novel won
1taly's Ernest Hemingway
Award.
"Scirocco" concerns a Sicilian
village in the early part of the
war when the Fascists still con-
trolled Italy and the fighting
was confined to the Mediterra-
mean and Africa and an occa-
sional air raid. But in this SEN
sitive portrait of a secluded
community in the Peloritani
Mountains the war is felt only
dimly in the distance. It is of
little concern to the villagers;
they are intent on trying to
wiring a living out of meager
means and to experience, incl
dentally, what primitive pleas
ures there are. The local doctor
also is regional secretary of the
Fascist Party. but it is only as a
doctor-and he is good one
that he commands attention.
While people sometimes call
him, rather contemptuously. the
Secretary. his political role is of
little consequence, and his at
temptS to enforce party disci-
pline are sporadic and largely
futile. No one is outwardly anti
Fascist; it is simply something
which. like the war, is of small
consequence to them.
The story is told by the young
SchoolmaSter. He knows the
peculiarities and problems of
every one in the village and he
is heartily weary of the whole
place. "It's not easy to live by
boredom alone" he explains. So
he turns to whatever diversion
offers, including the too-ardent
daughter of the innkeeper.
whose love also has come to bore
him. Meanwhile. he is trying
in his room at the inn to do
creative writing.
The sirocco, the fierce, warm,
Evening star., 1951-11-25

moist south wind, begins blow
ing out of the deserts Of Africa.
The men get down their guns
and measure out shot and
powder for their homemade
shells. The sirocco is a time
for hunting; it blows the big
birds northward over the
mountain passes. The school,
master goes hunting at dawn
with the rest. glad to be away
for a day from all the little
farces and tragedies, the filth
and ugliness, the lust and fu-
tility he knows too well. The
sirocco. bending trees, blowing
men almost off their feet, sift-
ing sand into the houses. is like
a great spirit pushing aside the
petty concerns of human beings.
cleansing their squalor. uplift-
ing them from their greed. So
it seems to the young man as he
struggles TO- save his 1deallSm.
1t is not a pretty picture of
these Sicilian peasants which
Mr.. Romano draws. and yet it
is sympathetic and understand
ing. They are oblivious to the
swarms of flies. used to the dirt
which so offend the eSthetic
youth from the city. Their
primitive ways are as natural
to them as their povertyAthe
heritage of countless genera
tions.
Like his protagoniSt. Mr..
Romano is a Sicilian and has
been a schoolteacher. He must
know such a village as he de-
scribes unerringly. In this novel
he has told a lot-and implied
more-in few words. He
writes with tense condensa-
ton lacking in most of the
Italian novelists of the day, who
run to long-winded, garrulous
narratives. His future work will
be awaited with interest.
The publishers have used the italian
spelling "Scirocco" in the title to the
book. while the English spelling, sirocco,
sc ~
Evening star., 1951-11-25
To Give Woshingtonions RightfuI Vote

OUR NATIONAL CAPITAL
AND ITS UN-AMERICANIZED
AMERICANS
BY Theodore w. Noyes. (Press
OF Judd & Det,Deiler, Washing
ington, D. c.; 49,
Reviewed by
Judge james R. KirkIond
This book is the epitome of
the earnest pleas to the Con-
greSs and the American people
by Theodore w. Noyes, late
editor of The Star, for the
granting to the Americans of
the District of Columbia Of the
right to participate in the Gov
eminent of our country. During
the long period from 1883 until
his death in 1916, he was the
leader of this movement. Ex-
tensive research and writings,
supplemented by many addresses
and arguments. resulted in the
accumulation of a large amount
of valuable material.
1t was his desire to preserve
in condensed, convenient form
as much of this as practicable
for the information and use of
Americans everywhere, and par
ticufarly for the use of those
who are to carry on this unfin-
ished task. This book is in
tended as a fulf1llment Of that
desire.
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Reviewed by Peggy Dickey

Julian Green is already recog-
nized as one of the finest con-
temporary novelists, so it should
come as no surprise that
"Moira" is a magnificent book.
Although Mr.. Green writes in
French (the translation is by
Denise Folliot), his subject here
is particularly American and
the locale is a Southern univer-
sity. The author, himself, while
born and raised in France, is
the son of Americans and stud
led here for two years at a
Southern university.
The theme of the book is the
endless struggle between flesh
and spirit in the life of a pas
sionately religious college STU
dent whose very godliness puts
him into the hands of the devil.
We have here a familiar brand
Of American puritanism sown in
world of such subtle evil as
might be found in Baudelaire.
The horror of worldly pleasures
instilled by religion in the hero
makes him recoil even from TAX
ing an English course that has
Romeo and Juliet" as required
reading. That this horror be-
comes an obsession which f.
nally leads him farther into the
depths of iniquity than even his
most licentious contemporaries
is in the finest tradition of Haw-
thorne. .
Mr.. Green's book is more than
just study of morality corrupt
ed. It is a dramatic, deeply NOV
ing account of the unbearable
agony and terror inflexible
fanatical belief may bring to a
passionate man.
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Mother Seton 'sLife
MOTHER SETON: ELIZABETH
BAILEY SETON

BY Annabelle M. Melville.
Charles Seribner's Sons; s4.J
This is a scholarly and highly
readable biography of the found
ress of the Sisters of Charity in
the United States. Mother
Seton was a remarkable woman,
a convert to the faith after the
death of her husband. Although
the mother of five children and
frequently in financial straits,
she perSevered in founding
convent at Emmitsburg, Md. A
less hardy. woman, a less devout
believer, might have found the
double burden of mother and
religious unbearable, but Mother
Seton. who combined in re-
remarkable degree practical en-
ergy and mystical faith, never
failed in either duty.
Bishop Mcnamara of Wash
ington has contributed a fore
word to the volume.
MARY McGRoRY.
Evening star., 1951-11-25

Judge kirkland wos invited by The Stor
to review this book because Of his
eetivity. before he become o Judge,
in the interest Of notionoi represen-
totion for the District Of CoIumbio.
Evening star., 1951-11-25

The publishers have used the italian
spelling "Scirocco" in the title to the
book. while the English spelling, sirocco,
is used throughout the text.
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Books in Review
New Italian Writer Offers Sensitive
Story of SiciIion Village in Wartime

BY Romuado Romano. Translated by William Jay Smith.
(Farrar, Straus & Young: $275J
Reviewed by Corter Brooke Jones
Evening star., 1951-11-25
Dramatic Novel of
Youths S Struggle
AgoinstT emptotion

MORA
BY Julian Green. (MacMilldn
Co.; $3.)
Evening star., 1951-11-25

BY E. M. Forster. fHarcourt, Brace & Co.; 81