davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1955-05-15
News and Briefs

A memorial exhibition OF
paintings by John Marin will
open this afternoon at the
Phillips Gallery, to remain to
the end of June. Tomorrow
evening at $50, there will be
a lecture on Marin by Frederick
S. Wight, art critic and direc-
tor of the art galleries, Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles.
Mr.. Wight is also author of
several admirable books on art.
and an experienced and in
teresting lecturer.
The Workshop Center of the
Arts will hold it's spring open
house next Saturday. May 81
from 1890 am. to 6 pm. and
Sunday May % from noon to
$50 pm. 1t will mark the
opening of an exhibition Of
of new works by faculty mem
bers which will remain through
June l8. In addition, there
will be demonstrations and
student displays. The out
standing event will be a panel
discussion next Sunday eve
ming at 7, on THE Status Of
Washington Art" Rowland
Lyon will be moderator, and
participants will be Jack Berk-
man, James Breckenridge.
Kenneth holland. and Helen
O'Brien. The public is invited.
The Arts Club of Washing
ton, Woodward & Lothrop, and
the Interior Department Rec
reation Association, are joint
ly sponsoring an exhibition of
recent works by invited Wash
ington artists, to be held in
the park opposite the Arts
Club, 2017 I street. next FRI
day and Saturday, May 20 and
81 from IL to Z o'clock. Prize
winning works will be exhibi-
ted subsequently in Woodward
& Lothrop's downtown store
A retrospective show Of
paintings by Mary Eta Sharpe
is on view at the Alexandria
Public Library, TIT Queen
street. daily from 9 toN9,
through May 81. Mrs. Sharpe
had an exhibition at the Gar
den Gate on Wisconsin ave-
nue. early this year, followed
by one at the East Orange,
N. j., main public library. Her
competently painted. tradi-
tional water colors are includ-
ed in many local shows. as
she Is a member of the Society
of Washington Artists and the
Washington Water Color Club.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
ONIONS IN THE STEW.

ON1ONS IN lhE STEW. by
Betty Macdonald. Lippin-
colt; $500
Perhaps I am a cynical old
man who should be put to re-
viewing the less cheerful works
of Robinson .Jeffers, but I
cannot work up any interest in
the cute sayings of Miss Mac
Donald's children, the dour
sayings of her husband, or
the phenomenal growth of
plants on an island in Puget
Sound. Those are what this
book is about.
/ cannot remember whether
I read 1.-THE Egg and t.. but
this sequel arouses no merri-
ment, even If the first book
did
I pluckily read every word
of Onions in the Stew" /
counted one funny passage
and two chuckles. Miss Mac
Donald-she was Mrs. Mac
Donald, but has remarked,
and I don't know what her
proper name is, even if Miss"
seems inappropriate to q six
time grandmother-Miss Mac
Donald, then. has an occa-
sional gift for a phrase, and
this leads her to believe she
has 1t all the time. So phrases
crowd the book.
Much Of this onion concerns
her two adolescent daughters,
Evening star., 1955-05-15

and keep the family and 1870
slaves they had escaped with
together until wars end.
Although Kate at first called
Texas "the dark corner of the
Confederacy," she had a gay
time there with other refugee
friends, and admitted later
that the last year of the two
and a half they spent there
had been the most pleasant of
her life. There she met a
Southern officer, 1t. Henry
Bry Holmes, whom she was to
marry four years later.
For the Soldiers
Chided by her mother for
her many wartime flirtations,
she confided to her diary: II
thought she understood the
point Of view of most of the
girls. One must not distress
a soldier by saying NO when
he is on furlough. They have
enough to bear. They may be
going back to sudden death
... it is just a piece of amuse-
ment on both sides"
The Journal has irregular
entries for two postwar years.
describing the struggle to re-
habilitate Brokenburn as q
paying cotton plantation. with
out slaves. But Kate wrote
many years later, II have
never regretted the freeing of
the Negroes. The great load Of
accountability was lifted"
MARY PAINTER.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
The Bees Have q Secret
Language of Their Own

folded that makes the bees
accomplishments so readily
acceptable.
Yet here is what one little
honey bee can tell her COM
patriots after a fight back
from the flowers: The direc-
ton to the best flowers, the
distance. the kind Of flowers.
whether the objective should
be pollen or honey, the guam
tity and even the quality Of
the harvest All this is done
with a few pirouettes and some
dainty fiips of the little lady's
behind.
How Mr.. Won Frisch found
all this out is a fascinating
story of experimental probing
of the bees psyche. Maeter-
linck may have told enough
about the bee to satisfy the
poet, but we had to wait for
Won Frisch to get the full low
down. -R. r.
Evening star., 1955-05-15

first 80 years of GATHERINGS
full life. Transplanted to Russia
to a barbarouS court at Is, she
never looked back on her ma
tive land. She did, however,
grieve at the news of her ia
theirs death in 1747. And from
this we get a glimpse of the
autocratic mind at work.
For a week I was allowed
to cry as much as I wished;
after that Nine. Choglokov
came to tell me that there had
been enough tears and that the
Empress (Elizabeth) ordered
me to stop crying as my father
had not been a king"
When her turn came, Cath
crime was equally autocratic.
But she was also an intellec-
tual, which made her unique
among Russian rulers, and one
of the dominating personalities
of her age.
MARY McGRORY.
Evening star., 1955-05-15

also participates in other
Washington group shows.
Henry Bryan Caldwell, for
merly assistant director of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art. was
recently appointed director Of
the Fort Worth (Tex.) Art AS
sociation and Art Center.
Saint Adams Schools an
nual exhibition of student
painting opened Friday in the
activities building, and will re-
main through next Sunday.
Dean Stambaugh has been
head of the art department
there for some years. HobSon
Pittman, well-known Pennsyl-
vania artist, was judge of the
show.
The Palette Club is hold
ing an art exhibition today at
Adelphi Mill. Md, on Riggs
road. Recent restoration of
the village adds to the inter-
est of a visit.
Paintings and drawings by
Dorothy C. LOOmiS is the May
exhibition at 81. Del's Gallery,
S002 Wisconsin avenue, Be-
thesda.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
Georgetown Show
Of japanese Prints
Closes Tuesday

Japanese printmakers are
such excellent craftsmen that
they seem incapable of turn
ing out sloppy jobs. no matter
how changed their work is,
since the golden age of their
medium in the Great Flowery
Yedo."
The Circulating Gallery,
1910 Wisconsin avenue.
Georgetown, has been showing
color woodblock prints by sew
en- contemporary Japanese ar
fists. Next Tuesday q to 6
p.mD is the last day for this
exhibition. But Helen O'Brien,
= director of the gallery, will
have examples of their work
on hand, which may be seen
by request. None has been
shown previously in the United
States.
Western influence, chiefly
contemporary idioms, is strong
in these prints. The outstand-
ing conservative work, "Por-
trait of a Puppet Player" by
Sekino Junichiro, depicts a
characterful old man as an
Occidental artist would por-
tray him. Sekino also shows a
stylized Girl and Cat" angles
and curves emphasized. yet
not at the sacrifice of subject
matter.
Iagaki Tomo's semi-abstract
"Cat" retains it's felinity.
Shinagawa Takund's wholly
abstract Endless Dance" is a
beautiful print, handsome
and lively in form. beautiful in
color, with a background Of
flowing lines.
A black and white print
"Fuji at Dawn" by Hiratsuka
Unichi is a good example Of
Japanese artists intuitive feel
ing for the value of empty
space. Onchi Koshiro's But
terf1y" is perhaps the most
Japanese" of the collection.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
A New WuIturi

Mika Waltari, author of
"The Egyptian" has written a
fantasy as odd as its title,
"a Nail Merchant at Night
fall" putnam; 3d.
The nail merchan Is Wal
tari himself. somewhat dis
guised, I imagine. This man
abandons his thriving business
to lay the ghosts of some
Egyptians, dead some thou
sands of years but plaguing
him constantly. He must
write a book about them. To
do that he must leave his fam
lily and go into the wilderness
where he can work in solitude.
He records his experiences,
including a strange love af-
fair and conversations with
animals.
The reiterated symbolisms
of this satire become tiresome,
though it is, on the whole, an
amusing allegory. The trans
lation from the Finnish is by
Alan Beesley.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
Silver Spring Show

Jules Eboli's group of draw
ings is the highlight Of the
current exhibition at the Sill
yer Spring Art Gallery, 9216
Flower avenue. Mr.. Eboli's
little grotesqueS are Gothic in
their exaggerations and their
all-over patterned backgrounds
of flowers and foliage recall
mille-f1eurs tapestries.
Liu is showing a group of
drawings competently done,
. some in pen and sepia ink,
crayon and wash, of harbor
and street scenes.
A portrait of an elderly
woman by Rosalie Ritz appears
to be convincing capture of
personality.
Several life-size portraits
heads in sculpture by c. Perry
have individuality. The Silver
Spring Art Gallery will hold
next Saturday, its annual arts
fair. Professional and amateur
artists are invited to partici-
pate. Registration should be
made by telephoning Juniper
9-1793.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
Southern Plantation Life
Before and After the War
BROKENBURN.

BROKENBURN. Edited by
John @. Anderson. Gouisi-
ana State University Press;
$4.95.)
Subtitled "The Journal of
Kate Stone, 186l-8," this
diary, with almost daily en-
tries during the Civil War
years, gives a remarkable pic
ture of gay, social plantation
life in the South, contraSted
later with the fate of war
refugees of an earlier time.
Kate Stone, who was 20
when the war began, could
not believe at first that the
South, with its wise rulers.
brave and successful generals,
valiant and patriotic men.
and a united people" would
not win the war. When the
Yankee forces moved close to
the fanhily's 1,200-acre Broken
burn Plantation, in North
east Louisiana, in 1862, her
optimism turned to fierce
hatred. -Four of her five
brothers served with the Con-
federate forces, and two OF
them did not return: One died
of wounds. the other of fever
during the war.
Wartime Hardships
Forced to flee to Lamar
County, Texas, in 1858, Kate's
widowed mother, with Kate
and two younger children, at
tempted to make a living there
Evening star., 1955-05-15
Catherine the Great
With q Grain of Salt
THE MEMOIRS OF CATH

THE MEMOIRS OF CATH
ERNIE THE GREAT. Edited
by Dominique Maroger. (The
Macmillan Co.; So
In an excellent introduction
to these royal memoirs, G. p.
Gooch, the British historian,
tactfully urges they be taken,
for all their fascination, with a
grain of salt. After all, the
formidable Catherine may
have been making a record
for herself in view of her un-
kind conduct towards her
husband, Peter III. whose
throne she seized and whose
death she may have ordered.
In any case. they make good
reading. Catherine, daughter
of obscure German royalty,
was from the beginning. an
arreSting person. Canny, ar
dent and determined, she
cared not a whit for her young
husband, the Grand Duke, al
though she always cared for
his crown. She depicts him as
both oaflSh and impotent. He
was forever abusing spaniels,
playing soldiers or playing the
violin atrociously. At first she
won his confidence, and she
helped him pick his way
among the intrigues Of the
constantly changing entour-
ages with which the Empress
Elizabeth surrounded them.
But as she began taking the
lovers who became almost le-
gion in her life, and he fixed
his affections on one of her
homeliest ladies in waiting,
they grew apart. She protested
later that if she had been des-
tined as a young woman to get
a husband whom she could
have loved. she would never
have changed towards him."
But she didn't and the rest
is history.
These memoirs cover only the
Evening star., 1955-05-15

themselves. Giving substance
to this belief is the large num-
Der of paintings artists pro-
duce independently, which
seem far removed in theme
and handling. from what the
layman imagines would be in
spring.
But rivers and bays are
doubtless popular favorites,
and the artists have created
a delightful collection. These
paintings may not be pro-
found, they may not symbol
ize some cosmic idea of rivers
and bays, but among them are
many good paintings, and not
a few which the public may
want to take home.
Some of the paintings are
specific and topical: Cherry
Blossoms" by Alice Acheson,
Potomac Bridge" by James
Mclaughlin, Leonard Maurer's
Monument from the River"
more colorful and golden than
it is to most eyes; "Foggy Bot
tom," a vivid part of town, as
seen by Alfred McAdams;
Great Falls" a joyous cap
ture by Harold Giese;; "Poto-
mac Gorge" by Margaret
Gates, and "Fort Washing
ton." by Prentiss Taylor (il-
lustrated), whic is mostly ar
chitectural, but the Potomac's
silver ripples are seen at the
left.
There is a startling, though
fortuitous similarity between
Jacob Kainen's Potomac
Pier%S and John Chapman
Lewis blue Bay" both abb
Stractions. Other surprises
are Sarah Bakers semi
abstract, broad handling of
sunlight on water, very effec-
tive; and Ben Summerford's
Evening star., 1955-05-15
We Counted Two ChuckIes
And One Funny Passage

whose best efforts in the Guess
what my daughter said today"
school of repartee concern
the least attractive functions
of the female body.
This launches her on a re-
view of adolescence. which
turns up little new or inter-
esting, and probably delighted
the readers of a women's
magazine.
Onions in the Stew"
therefore, will sell millions Of
copies, not even counting the
Book of the Month Club,
which will distribute it, too.
I think I'll send my copy back
to Lippincott. They'll need it.
FRANK SARTWELL, JR.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
A BABY's FIRST YEAR. I

A BABY'S FIRST YEAR. BY
Drs. Benjamin Spock and
John Reinhart and Wayne
Miller, photographer. Duell,
Sloan & Pearce, Little,
Brown & Co.; So
There are two schools of
thought about children. First,
there are people like DIR. Spock
who find children have only
the most innocent of motives.
Call his the little dickens
school," Then there are peo-
pie like Charles Addams who
think kids are a lot smarter
and more diabolical than their
parents dare admit. Call this
the little monster school,"
DR.. Spock, Of course, has
dedicated his life to the sub
version of the little monster
school," This reviewer, the
father of three. has always
tended to vacillate between the
two theories. This picture
book hasn't helped him come
to a decision.
Mr.. Miller's 90-odd photo
Evening star., 1955-05-15
FLYING HIGH
'Skyrocket'
Test Pilot
Tells All
THE LONELY sky. Bv vii

THE LONELY SKY. BY Will
liam Bridgeman with Jac-
queline Hazard. (Henry
Holt & Co.; $3.95.)
Despite the title, this is not
one of those standard books
about how-close-one -is-to-the-
meaning - of it-all-when-one-
rides-an-airplane. This book
is strictly busineSs-the busi-
ness of taking an untried
plane and flying it higher and
faster than man has ever flown
before.
Bill Bridgeman is a test
pilot for Douglas Aircraft Co.
He has taken the incredibly
complex Douglas Skyrocket to
almost twice the speed of sound
and higher even than a STRAIT
osphere balloon can go.
The book is exciting and
fascinating. Mr.. Bridgeman's
well-advertised ghost" Jac-
queline Hazard, has written the
story without guff-written it
the way an intelligent. articu-
late test pilot would tell it.
Most impressive thing about
the story is the complexity Of
modern test flying. Bill Bridge
man was never in any lonely
sky" when testing the Sky
rocket. He was carried aloft
slung below a B-29 full of
technicianS, was tailed during
his flight by chase planes and
was always in direct radio con-
tact with a raft of engineers,
flyers and company worriers.
All that added to the safety,
but did not detract from the
excitement.
RICHARD FRYKLUND
Evening star., 1955-05-15

to daily life. They are also
part of the stuff of history"
But Mr.. Handlin, who won
the Pulitzer Prize for The
Uprooted," is too wise a his
torian to argue that such
whims of fate are the whole
answer to the epochal events
affected. And yet he reviews
critically theories of history
which have been prevalent,
among them that an orderly
progress accounts for the rise
of nations and that results
would have been the same re-
gardless of circumstantial
caprice. He considers. too,
the later effort to analyze
history scientifically, placing
it on the, basis of evolution.
In describing the fateful epi-
sodes he has chosen he
sketches in briefly the back
ground and significance of
what was happening. The
book is enlightening and alb
Sorbing.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
THE DANCING BEES. BY
Karl Won Frisch. (Harcourt,

The DANC1NG BEES. by
Karl Won Frisch. (Harcourt,
Brace & Co.; $4.)
AS one reads about the secret
language of the honey bee one
is inclined to say. Yes. that
must be the way it's done.
Quite logical. So simple" But
when one lays down Mr.. Won
Frisch's book and reflects on
what he has said. suddenly 1t
all becomes quite incredible,
so unbelievable.
1t is only the artless, easy
way in which the story is un-
Evening star., 1955-05-15
Role of Chance

If storm hadn't come up
on an october night in 1881,
driving back the boats on
which Lord CORVALLIS had
planned to spirit his army
away from Yorktown and join
Gen. Clinton in New York, the
fate of the f.edgling United
States might have been diff
ferent.
If ice hadn't suddenly
hemmed in the resplendent
feet which Napoleon had
planned to send to Louisiana,
he might not have agreed to
sell the territory to the United
States. The westward march
of Americans might have been
delayed if not thwarted.
If Lees army had not Stun
bled into the main Federal
force in Pennsylvania on
June 80, 1868, England and
France, then wavering. might
have recognized the Confed-
eracy, and the Civil War might
have been lost to the Union.
AS it was, the South lost the
decisive battle of Gettysburg
and the war.
Oscar Handlin, a widely
known historian, offers these
and other examples of the in
fuence of capricious circum-
stances In "Chance or Des-
tiny: Turning Points in Amer
lean History" (Atlantic- Little,
Brown; S3.75.
A further example is the
case of Rezanov, a young
Russian courtier who was sent
to Sitka in 1905 to take charge
of Russia's outpostS in Alaska
and her claims in California.
If he hadn't fallen in love
with the daughter of the
Spanish commandant at
Monterey, Calf. he would not
have swerved from his plans
to expand Russia's overseas
dominions, and it is extremely
doubtful that Alaska would
have been sold to the United
States In 1857.
Mr.. Handlin points out:
"The sudden storm, the chance
encounter, the unexpected
recognition of love and hatred,
supply the elements of drama
Evening star., 1955-05-15
LAND OF UNENDING STRUGGLE
A Villagers View
Of the Real Indio
By CARTER BROOKE JONES

The struggle merely to exist which the peasants India
who live of the land after fair and
told with which hardly challenged
first novel called Nectar in Sieve" John Day. S350D
The authenticity Of the unasaabe because it
native
Evening star., 1955-05-15
ARTISTS AND EXHIBITIONS
Boder GoIIery Show
Has Nearby Theme
By FLORENCE 5. BERGMAN

Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay tand perhaps
painted by % Washington artists
especially theme show these bodies Of water view In
Gallery through May 81 There general
perhaps that works done at outside behe
inspired those which the artists dream all by
Evening star., 1955-05-15

stand ways strange to him.
The author is a young woman,
Kamaia Markandaya. While
she comes from a Brahmin
family In South India, she has
a deeply sympathetic compre-
hension of the life of the
unlettered who amass nothing
and live from crop to crop.
The story is a first-person
narrative told by Rukmani,
the wife of a peasant farmer.
She. unlike most of her class.
has learned to read and write.
It is not a sensational story,
with the ugliest part Of this
hard life played up. 1t is
simply. often lyrically, written.
If it shocks, this is because
we, with our matter-of-course
high standard of living, have
not realized how marginally
millions in India live, how
close to the starvation which
a single crop failure can bring.
Fighting Starvation
Those are honest, self-re-
specting people who wiring
what happiness they can out
of their uncertain life. There
is devotion in the family.
neighborily charity and love
of laughter. These people are
not concerned with politics or
national policy. If they've
ever heard of the struggle of
rival ideologies for Asia. it
means nothing to them. When
the rice crop f1ourishes, they
have an ample amount of the
staple of their diet, and if the
season is favorable, they grow
vegetables and catch fish to
give their food variety. They
are what we call sharecrop-
pers; few of them own land.
When the rains fail to come or
come too abundantly in floods.
and the rice paddles do not
yeild, there is nothing they can
do but try to stave off starva-
ton with roots, herbs. what
ever they can find. They can,
look for no help anywhere.
There is tragedy in Ruk-
mani's story, but there also is
beauty in her love for her
unselfish husband and her
children. Not all the charac-
ters are admirable. There are
grasping merchants in the vii
lage and a malicious gossip on
the land. One foreigner comes
in, British doctor who is de-
voting his life to the commun-
ity and doing all in his power
to help.
Miss Markandaya has writ
ten a moving book, more
deeply felt because of it's
straightforward simplicity.
Nectar in a Sieve" is a Book
of-the-Month Club selection.
Evening star., 1955-05-15
Perkins Cove Theme

Prints in various media by
John Laurent are on view in
the Division of Graphic Arts
print gallery, Smithsonian
Building. through May 40. The
artist, son of the well-known
sculptor, Robert Laurent, who
was at one time guest instruc-
tor at the Corcoran School. is
also an art teacher on the
faculty Of the University of
New Hampshire, and in sum-
mer, assistant director of the
Ogunquit School of Painting
and Sculpture.
Everyone acquainted with
OgunQuit knows Perkins
Cove. Mr.. Laurent finds that
area so fruitful a source of
inspiration that he draws
most Of his subjects from its
vicinity-f1shing boats, ma
rine life and SeacoaSt. AS
Jacob Kainen, curator of the
division expresses it, these
subjects "are treated abstract
ly in designs that retain Wis
ual and emotional associations
Evening star., 1955-05-15

hieh-keyed Marsh Grass"
nearer naturalism than any
thing I have seen by him.
Margaret Appich's River"
with Georgetown University
in the distance) is charming
in its quiet, low-keyed Seren-
ity. Herman Maril's Dock" un-
compromisingly simple. strikes
a universal note. Richard
Miller's River Bridges" is ef-
fective in its counterpart Of
ellyptical and arched lines.
and James Taylor's Squalls"
is successful in conveying mo-
ton.
Evening star., 1955-10-20
The Sooner the Better
The Commissioners have

The Commissioners have a good rea-
son for urging the immediate removal
of the vacant shack from in front Of
the District Building. On October 81
they are to present the "key to the city"
to distinguished visitor from Latin
America, the President of Guatemala.
The scene of such ceremonies too long
has been marred by the presence of the
unsightly temporary office building in
the triangle in front of our "city hall"
There Is not much time to move the
structure before the end Of the month,
1t is true, but extraordinary efforts to
do the job by then are Justified.
1t is good to know that the old
shack will be put to some use by the
District Highway Department. It Is
planned to move the building luntil re-
Gently occupied by the Veterans Service
Center) to the departments Poplar Point
Nursery, near the south end of the South
Capitol street bridge, where it will serve
as an administration office. The much
discussed District Liberty Bell, which has
been something ola white elephant, then
will be placed in the center Of the triangle
and surrounded with 1000 tulip bulbs,
gift Of the people of the Netherlands.
This transformation of the triangle from
an eyesore to an attractive park has been
overdue for years.