Evening star., 1952-08-17
How One Man
Soved d own
From Oblivion

80 - - 80 - -
Their Town !.
BY Wilbur Daniel Steele.
Doubleday 4 Co.; $780,
Reviewed BY Robert K. Walsh
ANY story with q dun. plod-
ding hero puts the persevering
reader OF to . discouraging
start. Hube Spooner, the
heavy In this third novel Of
Mr.. Steele. simply Is not as
stupid as he seems. But his
literary creator never quite
makes him the sympathetic sort
Of character essential to a local.
boy-makes-good narrative or the
sharply pointed type required
for effective satire.
Hube's shreWdness and drive,
not always bothered by scruples.
helps him restore an almost de-
serted silver town in Colorado.
He also is helped by the town
belle. Kentucky Holm, the
sweetheart of his college days in
the 1905 and later his enduring
wife. She. too. as the climax
showed. simply could not be as
durable and happy as she
seemed.
Eastern Lochinvor
In and out Of the saga fiits
Cabot Cunningham, q dashing
Lochinvar from the East instead
Of Hube's West. He is a pleas
ant II superficial chap whose
effect on Hube and Tuck is
powerful II not clearly defined.
Mr.. Steele manages something
OF . srnaSh-up ending with q
measure Of irony and reflective
ness. The outcome. however
often 1t can be matched in real
Life. appears to be managed. It
seemed almost as If Mr.. Steele
had tongue in cheek at times.
That, together with occasionally
annoying mannerisms in writ
ing and hard-to-believe dia-
logue. prevents the book from
being better than average
commentary on a familiar as
pect Of the American scene.
The Western Cote
Edited by Joseph Henry
jackson. fFGrrar. Straus 4
Young; $4.75.J
Reviewed by William Hines
This book is subtitled "A
San Francisco Reader" and is
one of the City and Country
Reader series. It is a potpourri
Of history, fantasy, fiction and
poetry about one of the great
cities Of the world. The idea
behind the book assured it some
measure Of success. Then the
publishers called on the most
discerning literary critic on the
West Coast to bring the idea
to fruition. Consequently, "The
Western Gate" Is a natural.
Some mighty figures have
had their say about San Fran
cisco. The city seemed from the
start to bear q charm that Inn
PEELED men to write about it.
From Father Francisco Palou,
who founded Mission Dolores.
on down to the present. people
have contracted the itch to
write after exposure to the fog
and sea breezes there. Mr.. Jack
sons collection includes writ
ings by such literary lights as
Joaquin Miller, Bret Harte,
Richard Henry Dana, Thomas
de Quincy. Ambrose Bierce,
Jack London and Robert Louis
Stevenson. Some of the mate
rial is familiar to Francisco
philes; some is brand new.
Emperor Norton
There Is the essence of pathos
and nostalgia-pity for a pitiful
man, longing for great
hearted city~-in the reading of
ukase Of Emperor Norton in
1859: Nov, therefore, we, Nor
ton ], Del Gratia Emperor of
the United States and protector
OF Mexico. do ORDER and direct
80. that q suspension bridge
be constructed from ..s. Oak
land Point to Yerba Buena !"
The Emperor's order has come
true, in part. There is a bridge
across the bay today. Not as
grandiose as Norton's, Of course
(he wanted 1t to 60 80 miles
sout into the ocean,. nonethe-
less substantial enough to be
the biggest bridge in the world.
Granted the Emperor Norton
was nuts: he was. all the same.
OF the stuff which made San
Francisco great.
Democracy
BY Henry Adams. fFarrar.
Strdus & Young; $780,
MIR. Henry Adams novel Of
manners about Washington.
first published anonymously
IN 1879. Is timely reissue.
since its theme is the durable
one Of corruption in govern
ment. In his Immaculate, epi-
grammatic treatment Of the.