davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Haitian Natives Say
The Pencil of God
Has No Eraser
THE PENCIL OF GOD

THE PENCIL OF GOD
BY Pierre Marcelin and Philippe
Thoby Marcelin. (Houghton =
Mi61in Co..
This story by two Haitian BROTH
ers. is also an exercise in
atmosphere. 1t tells, with decep-
tive simplicity, of a lecherous
small-business man, who through
an affair with a beautiful young
Negress is lured into the practice
of black magic. Thereafter Dio-
gene, caught between the pious
superstition of the townspeople
and the Christian-favored VOC
doc, is a marked man. His
fanatically religious mother-in-
law fosters the tales of his con-
.nivance with the powers of
darkness and his suggeStible wife
is soon ready to believe he is in
league with Satan. Diogene's di-
lemma is a perfect illustration of
Edmund Wilson's predatory re-
marks that "in Haiti, the imme-
diate thing (is) the supernatural. !"
In that charged air. with priests
working exorcism and witches
calling on the saints, such things
seem inevitable.
The authors are leaders in the
current Haitian literary renais-
sance. Philippe Thoby- -Marcelin,
incidentally, is in Washington
now, working as a translator at
the Pan American Union.
Leonard Thomas translation is
excellent.
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Louis BromfieId Comes Back
lnio the Fiction Fold

After 10 years more or less be-
hind the plow, famous Farmer
Louis Bromflelo has come back to
fiction. The author of such best
selling novels as The Rains
Came" has had two farmer ranch
ers marry into the family, and
trusting that they will look after
Malabar. his Ohio farm, in the
style to which he has accustomed
it, he has come in from the fields
to write novel and a musical
play.
While in town this week to be
honored by the Ohio State So
ciety. Mr.. Bromfield revealed that
Mr.. Smith," the story of a man
who realizes that two cars in the
garage is not enough, will be pub
llshed next fall Helen in Mem
phis.' an opera bouffe about Helen
OF Troy. with music by Walter
Kent, will be ready for the boards
about the same time. Despite it's
NEUROLOGICAL setting, it is a con-
temporary political satire, and pic
lures Helen as "the Evita Peron of
Egypt"
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Kothleen Norris Poys a Visit
To the Senote GoIIery

Another prominent visitor was
Kathleen Norris, author of some
30 Woman's magazine serials and
8 more serious novels" who came
to see her sister. Mrs. C. c. Harti-
gan of Georgetown. Now in her
70s, Mrs. Norris still writes week.
ly newspaper column and has also
turned out play She'll see about
production possibilities when she
goes on to New York.
During her stay here, Mrs. Nor
ris spent several happy hours in
the Senate gallery, taking particu-
lar pride in Senator Nixon, for
whom she campaigned vigorously
during the recent election. Al
though she had been active in
pacifist circles for Is years and
took part in America First efforts,
this was her first taste of the po-
litical life. She loved it.
If were so years younger, I'd
be running for something" she
says.
Y X X X
DR.. Joseph M. Dawson, executive
director of the Public Affairs Com
mittee of the Baptists of the
United States and author of "The
Liberation of Life" collected SER
mons on religious freedom, has
just dispatched to a New York
publisher the manuscript of his
first novel, the story of the prod
igal Sam Houston. DR.. Dawson is
also the author of "The Light That
Grows" Christ and Social
Change" and Separate Church
and State Now
X x X X
The Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto,
hero of John Hersey's "Hiro-
shima," will address a public
meeting at the First Congrega-
tional Church. Tenth and G
streets NV, at 8::15 tomorrow
evening. His subject will be 1.-THE
Faith Bombs Cannot Kill" The
meeting will be sponsored by the
Washington fellowship.
X X
In connection with the 26th
annual observance of Negro His
tory Week, which will begin on
February IL, the Association for
the Study of Negro Life and His
tory has prepared a booklet con-
tanning selections from Negro
poets and brief biographies of
outstanding Negro writer's and
leaders. Copies may be obtained
from R. w. Logan, 1888 Ninth
street NV.
Evening star., 1951-02-04
New Books
FICTION.

FICTION.
THE ANGRY MOUNTAIN By Hammond
bap;Sd lnnes; lba Harper 1snu story Of adventure
RENO CRESCENT. BY zola Ross aobbs-
Merrill. Nevada in Civil War Days. 50
THE CHRYSALIS. BY Louise H. Howell,
Exposition. A story of the 1905. 81
TO CONQUER THE EARTH. By Stephen
peiTosso: eiIess ,,. Exposition. Account OF a
PROUD CASTLE. By Eleanor Mereetn
ReLy. Bobhs-Merriil. Author of the
Basaues stories writes romance with a
Hungarian background. 81.
POOR COUSIN EVELYN. By James yare.
new writer. So.
THE FORM DIVINE: By Hildesarde DOL
varaa Whsa wfs sesssy sseye;y sSo1 had herself reno
OFFICER AND GENTLEMAN. By J.
DelVes-Brouehton; McGraw-HiIl. Brit
Isl lsh Army life in the early 18th century.
THE EXPLORATIONS OF GEORGE RuR.
TON. BY John F. Wharton Simon L.
Scnuster. A story of mental adventure.
NON-FICTION.
THE PACIFIC ISLANDS. By Douglas l..
Oliver Harvard University Press The
sIUIs daas Marcb Gt the people; So. Publication
OF SOCIETIES AND MEN. BY Caryl p.
HasEins. Norton. Trends in the for
nation, growth and duration of socie-
ties. 81 so.
A GUIDE TO MEDICINE. By Two Geike-
Definitions of technical words for pro
fessional and home use. So
THE MARRIAGE GUIDE. BY Samuel G.
niscrts;dh nnd Esther r. B. King T., Prentice-Hall;
answer form. S2.95.
THE UNITED NATIONS ACTION FOR
Ratsef; FaacE RY aymsn Ma5 s5s and Logs y z1esa
HEAVEN ON EARTH. BY Janet Mabie.
held. Mass. S2.75.
BASEBALL TECHNIQUES. BY Ethan Allen
and Tyler Micoleau. For the beginners
snd nt55I inexperienced coaches Illustrated
GENERALS AND POLITICIANS. By Jere
Clemens King. University of California
Conflict between Frances high command.
PaaIIiiament and government. 1914
THE BoLsHEvIK REVOLUTION. 1917
n1,i,sn ngEs By Edward Esis Hallett Carr. Mac
Der revolution and its aftermath. So.
FRENCH IN 20 LESSONS. SPANISH IN 20
bo1bieday Garden de- sf cfty oe Il flustratea Serated
S1.9S each.
THE PARIS WE LOVE. Edited by Dore
Ogrizek Guidebook illustrated in color,
$3.50.
WORLD ALMANAC: 1881. New York
World-Telegram. Edited by Harry Han
sen. SLID.
HOW TO GROW VEGETABLES. By Lloyd
C. Cosper and Harry B. Logan. Duell,
Sloan 81 Pearce. A complete garden
guide to planning, growing and pre-
serving. $3.50.
THE U. S. MARINES AND AMPHIBIOUs
WAR BY Jeter A. Isely and Philip A.
Crowl. Princeton University. Theory
and practice in the Pacific. $3.50.
JEW HATE AS A SOCIOLOGICAL PROB-
LEM. BY Peretz Bernstein. Philosophi-
cal Library. An analysis by the presi-
dent of the General Zionist Organiza-
tion in Israel. S3.75.
THE EDUCATION OF MAN Philosophical
Library. Aphorisms by Heinrich Postal
ozzi. with an introduction by william H.
fitzpatrick. S2.75.
Evening star., 1951-02-04

Of the Federal prison reforms of
the '30s. He gives some telling
reasons for the impenitence of
prisoners, the most important of
Which-in view of Kefauver Com
mittee crime investigations-is,
1T is not reasonable to expect the
reformation of small time crimi-
mails while gangSters operate with
political and police protection. :"
He does not appreciate the pro-
nouncements of j. Edgar Hoover
about "the cream-puff school of
criminology," deplores our use of
stool pigeons and our tolerance of
"white-collar criminals.
DR.. Wilson's book. engagingly
written, makes excellent off the
path reading. He is a man of
science-with apparently little
time for religion-and sometimes
falls into the jargon of his trade.
But these lapses are so infrequent
as not to mar the generally buoy
ant, sometimes. hilarious, tone of
his book.
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Crime and
Mystery
By Miriom Ottenberq
Mr.. Blessington's Imperialist Plot.
RU Inhn SherMnnd (DOllhledaV

Wr. bleSSlnS ton lmpcrlallSt flOt.
BY John Sherwood. doubleday
& Co.; $2.50)
Crime Club
The meek British Treasury Of
fetal who always manages to get
himself into a pack of trouble
stumbles into a nest of Balkan
intrigue in his latest adventure.
Among assorted plotters are a
hunted Nazi war criminal, two
guerrilla leaders, Communist pre-
mier and his would-be SUCCESSOR
all opposing each other. On Mr..
Blessington's team is a trio of
audacious foreign correspondents,
who succeed in stealing the Soviet
Ambassadors limousine. AS a
satire on the party line as it op-
crates in the satellite states, this
one is guaranteed to annoy the
Communists and give everybody
else good laugh.
You Can't Live Forever. BY Harold
@. Masur (Simon & Schuster,
Inc; $2.50D
Inner Sanctum
All Scott Jordan had to do was
serve a summons in connection
with the ownership of a hit play
That's what he thought till terri
fled brunette opened the door and
he found corpse in the bathtub.
Since Jordan is one of those Who
dunit lawyer -sleuths always at war
with the DA. he fits naturally
into frame-up. The pace is
hectic as Jordan extricates himself
from that one, explains away an
other corpse in his car. makes
minor love and solves sundry mur-
ders involving a fatal double cross
in the world of the theater.
X X 4 x
Duenna to a Murder. BY Rufus
King. Doubleday & Co., Inc; :;
$250D
Crime Club
Sudden wealth brings nothing
but misery to Southern lady, her
dagger-throwing spouse and their
emotionally overcharged daugh-
ter. A girl detective, hired to cope
with vague threats and to find out
what's worrying the daughter,
isn't quite efficient enough to pre-
vent couple murders. The char
acters are all straight off the shelf
but the puzzle has new pieces.
Skytip by Eliot Reed. Doubleday
& Co.: S2.50J
Crime Club
Skytips - great white rubble
dumps from the clay pits of Corn
wall-figure Importantly in the
adventures of a man who went
away for rest. 1t wouldn't be a
Whodunit if the rest-seeker got
any, but there are some variations
on the formula-including atmos-
phere from the skytips, plotting by
a new movement called the Ma
tional League of Patriots and a
Falstaffian character with asthma
for the villain. The climax is a
chiller.
Evening star., 1951-02-04

with the zeal OF the FBI. Through
their remarkable intelligence serv-
ice they found out just how he
got to LeavenWorth. They had his
house, car and garage completely
cased. His staff OF six convicts
laughed at locksmiths. and every
morning when he came to work,
the files were open, the vault doors
were ajar and his papers were laid
on his desk.
Yet when they had accepted
him, and he made it plain to
them that he must have some one
place where he could keep con-
f1dential papers. they presented
him with two ordinary cardboard
cartons, which were never rif1ed
as far as he knew. His six men
included safe-cracker, a white
SLAYER, a counterfeiter, a car
thief, an innocent Southern knight
and a dope addict who had been
a superb engineer until imprison-
ment under a sadistic guard de-
moralized him. The therapy of
doing constructive work and func-
tioning as a team didn't exactly
make new men of them. But it
did give them new insights into
their own problems. 1t also made
q wiser man of DR.. Wilson.
A Gentle Scientist.
They even bore the invasion of
women sent out by the United
States Public Health Service with
eouanimity. Their favorite was
not the patronizing glamour girl
but a gentle scientist who did re-
search on animals. AS Connie.
DR.. Wilson's chief of staff and q
character right out of Damon
Runyon. said anybody a rat
can trust, I can trust"
The prisoners did not take
kindly to the absence of civilian
pleasures and showed considerable
ingenuity in making them avail
able behind bars. For one hectic
spring they had marijuana grow
ing in the flower beds. They had
holiday binges on some devilish
brew concocted in the kitchen
For a while they even smuggled
girls in. but this episode ended
tragically.
MY Six Convicts" is not en-
tirely devoted to smiling recollec-
tons of hi-jinks and adventures.
DR.. Wilson has some bracing
things to say about penology in
general, although he regards
Leavenworth with its emphasis on
rehabilitation rather than revenge
as a model of the achievements
Evening star., 1951-02-04
The Public Relations
Racket Is Laid Bare
'Huckster-Fushion'
THE BUILDUP BOYS

THE BUILDUP BOYS
BY Jeremy Kirk. (Scribner's; s3.)
This novel is supposed to be an
expose of the public relations
business-or racket. if you prefer,
and the author does. 1t evidently
started out to do for this branch
of merchandising or exploiting
what The Hucksters" did for ad-
vertising.
Clint Lorimer is a four -engined,
stratospheric job in his line, which
is building up a product or an
individual or what have you. His
New York boss realizes that Clint
is about to steal the firms biggest
client and set up on his own. The
boss beats Clint to the punch.
They have a showdown and part
company in Washington. Clint
then strolls into a one-cylindered
public relations outfit here which
is about to fall apart. 1t is run
by a young woman. Clint shows
her how they can develop a dairy
into a profitable account. They
do this and build up the ineffec-
tual president into q national
figure.
The Buildup Boys" is a slick,
glib story-as synthetic as cotton
candy and quite as tasteless.
There are two seductions, both
achieved by Clint as easily as pull
ing a new account into the black.
for women simply can't resist him.
The scene in which he tells a
woman he has just met to throw
away the horse blanket she is
wearing and get some snappy
clothes and she obeys deserves
some sort of prize for incredibility.
The author, who says he has
written other books under his own
name, has written this one under
a pen name because, he explains
on the back cover, he didn't want
to be embarrassed by having peo-
pie guess at the identity of certain
characters. He need not have
bothered. No one could possibly
mistake any of his characters for
any human being.
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Corner
nCoins
By Ted Hammer

tibrorion, American Numismatie Association
This writer's mail indicates that
many readers find it difficult to
understand why some coins are
worth several times face value
while others of the same type
bring no premiums.
A coins value. if any, is deter
mined by that old law of supply
and demand, plus the condition Of
the specimen. In cases where
only few thousand coins of a
given denomination and year were
struck, copies will probably be
valuable within a short time.
Chances are their value will in
crease with the years.
A good example of this is the
standing Liberty quarter of 1916.
This new type" is not to be con-
fused with the old Liberty head
quarter issued from 1892 to 1916.
While more than 100000 of the
old type quarters were minted in
1916, only $4,000 of the standing
Liberty quarters were struck.
Collectors probably realized
early in 1917 that this would be a
rarity and many in new or fine
condition were boarded. Today
dealers charge $50 to $50 for fine
to 'lncirculated 1916 standing Lib
erty quarters. The date on this
coin was high and it wore off
after a few years The chance Of
finding one in circulation is re-
mote, yet collectors do come
across them occasionally. Dealers
charge $2.75 for a 1916 Denver
Mint quarter of the old Liberty
head type.
The Washington Numismatic
Society will meet tomorrow at the
National Museum, Tenth street
and Constitution avenue NV.
The meeting will be an informal
one. with short talks and exhibits
by members of their particular
speciality or phase of numismatics.
Visitors are invited.
Evening star., 1951-02-04

putting . period to the intermit-
tent 10-year labors of Thomas L.
Stokes, prominent syndicated
columnist.
He was signed up to do the book
about the river which runs
through his native Georgia by the
late Stephen Vincent Benet, who
decided Stokes was the man for
the job after reading Chip Off
My Shoulder" which was pub
llshed in 1910.
Quite carried away by his SUBJ
ject. once he turned up a mass
of pre-Colonial history about
Georgia, Mr.. Stokes wrote 100000
words, which he had to cut ex-
actly in half. Didn't bother him
at all. Like cutting out your
own heart" is how he describes
it.
Among the interesting items he
turned up in his research was the
fact that the Library of Congress
during the war packed off some of
its most precious regional manu-
scripts to Fort Knox-along with
the gold.
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Bruce Cotton Enters the Field
With Mr.. lincoIn's Army

Newest local author in this
field is Bruce Cation. previously
best known in these parts as
director of information for t'oe
War Production Board. His "Mr.
Linco,n's Army" a history of the
Grand Army of the Potomac dur
ing the command of Gen. McClel-
land based on regimental histories,
will be published this week.
Mr.. Cation was nurtured on the
Civil War tales of the old gaffers
who hung around the general
store of his native backwoods
Michigan town. He is a graduate
of Oberlin College, which was a
station on the underground rail-
way.
He appreciates the irony of
having spent half his life as a
newspaperman and a Government
official to retire into the study of
a war that happened 80 years ago
Its fun, though" he adds.
Mr.: Cation is definitely not re-
acting like an old firehorse to the
sound of the alarms on the home
front. He wrote his personal
history of the battle on the home
front in the last war in "War
Lords in Washington" a highly
critical survey. which incorpo-
rated the thesis that "the people
were took by the military and big
business boys"
He intends to go on with his
study Of Mr.. Lincoln's Army in a
subsequent volume. He is finding
parallels to the present situation.
For instance, loyalty was a word
heavily borne down on in those
days. and the Committee on the
Conduct of the War was apt to
look upon any unsuccessful gen.
eral as candidate for disloyalty
charges.
There was just as much suspi-
cion floating around and just as
much witch-hunting," says Mr..
Cation ruefully. although he ad-
mits that for sheer confusion per-
haps today's situation has a slight
edge.
Evening star., 1951-02-04

oeah aoiAih. LNdt LNefe are
too many unrewarding authors
being printed today. The craft of
writing, he says in short, comes
from the art of self-management.
1T is not the subject that a man
writes; it is himself"
AS a writer of short stories.
himself, Mr.. O'Faolain appreciates
the techniques of the masters.
and much of his book is taken
up with fine-grained analyses of
the work of Chekov. Maupassant.
Henry James and Elizabeth Bow
en-. This is shop-talk of the
highest order, although not al
ways within the range of the
non professional. Eight represen-
tative short stories by cutstand-
ing practitioners are included.
x
ANGEL OF GAIETY
BY Joseph Hitrec. (Harper G.
Bros; So
Mr.. Hitrec's novel traces racial
tensions against the background
of the decline of the English rule
in India. His heroine is Stella,
beautiful Eurasian faint-heart-
edly rushing between two worlds.
Widow of a Eurasian. she is being
clumsily pursued by an aging and
Unfortunate British huckster,
Basil Cousins. In his courtship.
Cousins enlists the aid of his
stooge, Bert Wheeler, and an ad-
man named Larry Easterbrook,
who is anxious to maintain his
precarious detachment from the
lure of India. Larry's wife, "se-
cure in the automatic virtue of
being a white woman" is con-
temptuous of Stella. Larry is not
so sure. Mr.. Hitrec's story, which
is bathed in atmosphere, compel
lingly suggests the dry rot of the
white mans society in India. 1t
would be more powerful if Stella
did not seem merely tickle,
neurotic woman instead of a true
victim of insupportable tensions.
MARY McGRORY.
Evening star., 1951-02-04

by and patterned on the famous
Chicago Civil War Round Table,
is a native OF the border State of
Missouri. He is 1t. Bert Sheldon,
a police officer, who came, rather
reluctantly, to study the conflict
through his interest in Lincoln.
1t. Sheldon, having watched
Washingtonians make the long
trip to attend the Chicago Round
table, decided that it was high
time the mountain came to
Mahomet. He considers the Cap
itol. with its proximity to war
battle sites, the Library of Con-
gress and Archives, and its
plethora of experts, the logical
spot for such a group, and ap-
parently the right people agree
with him.
At any rate such notables as
George Fort Milton, author of
'The Age of Hate; Virgil Car
rington Jones. author of Ranger
Moseby";; Col. Robert S. Henry
author of THE Story of the Con-
federacy," and DR.. Frank Maloy
Anderson. author of THE Secret
of A Public Man." all turned out
for the enthusiastic inaugural
meeting and joined in making
plans for projects and study trips
Evening star., 1951-02-04

uldu 10 QlS-
pense so ready
to-wear plots or
10 shortcuts to
sure-nre tech
nique. He is,
as any one
knows who has
read either his
fiction or non-
fiction, an artist
of uncompro-
missing stand
ards. He thinks,
a S do many
book reviewers,
Evening star., 1951-02-04
and Writing
Prominent Authors Attend First Meeting
Of Washington Civil War RoundtubIe
ZAP Wirephoto.
By Mory McGroN

They have begun to rehgh the Civil War in earnest Wash
ngton Boodesy of but with tremendous
Some 80 addc of meeting
the newly founded Washington Civil Monday
at Dewitt School,
Appropriately enough, the prime Of
Evening star., 1951-02-04

plagued by remotely administered
absolutism for several thousand
years; probably it helped put over
the radical program of democratic
Zation.
Evening star., 1951-02-04
"a Psychologist Tells the Story
|OfHis 8 Years up the River
MY SIX CONVICTS

BY Donald Powell Wilson. (Rinehart G. Co.. $500
Donald Powell Wilson, professor of psychology United
States Public Health Service assigned
good
to wonder just who charge there.
The convcts be both
of bug"
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Books in Review
This Is the Real Douglas Macarthur
John Gunther Found Inside q Leqend
Reviewed by Carter Brooke Jones
OF MACARTHUR

RIDDLE MacARTHUR
BY John Gunther. (Harper; S275J
Gen. Macarthur Mr. Gunther points compared
to Caesar There the journalist adds anaog
the two worth making "even they bit
These prolonged absences country
subordnates his class
ciSSiSm; acute interest history military
Evening star., 1951-02-04
|WouId-Be Authors
We'll May Horken
To Sean O>FooIujn
THE SHORT STORY

BY Sean O'Faolain. (The DeUin-
Adair Co.; s325.)
Anybody hoping to pick up the
knoW-how to crash the Saturday
Evening Post had better look else
where. Mr.. O'Faolain is not the
Evening star., 1951-02-04
Tom Stokes Says It's Like
Cutting Out Your Own Heort'

"The Savannah" latest in the
Rivers of America Series, will be
published on February 81, thereby
The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-09-13
Grin HaIes Make AIaska Hobby Trip

Mr.wand Mrs. Orrin Hale of Se- attle. with their son Jay, left Ju- neaus by Pan American for Seattle Tuesday after a trip through the Territory. They work together making a business of their hobby and hobby of their business.
 They are owners of the Seattle Printing and Publishing Company and editors and publishers of North west Gardens and Homes.
 Their monthly magazine is the official organ of the Washington and Oregon Federations of Garden Clubs
 The family were northbound pas sengers aboard the Denali two weeks ago and, in Ketchikan the Halesz talked before the First City garden club. On the way to An chorage they visited Alaska Nellie Lawing, whose book their firm pub lished several years ago. They vis- tied Matanuska = too late for the lar diiu louiiu oii PAAoeo VI 'AAN project of interest.
 In Juneau, garden club members Mrs. o. F. Benecke. Mrs. Ray Ren- shaw, Mrs. Henry Green, Mrs. Max cine Williams and Mrs. R. H. Will Hams drove the visitors about town to show them Juneau's gardens They were impressed with the flower pictures made by Mrs. Maxcine Will Hams.
 Mrs. Hale, secretary of the fam ily's company, was for many years secretary for I. M. Jensen of the Gateway Printing Company, Seattle, a former partner of John w. Troy in the newspaper business in Skag- way.