A Review-and Addenda
(By G.D. E) But the sad fact must be told. Bjlrk- the senile Brander Matthews who said ought to heave Bjrkman's novel into
seldom that any writer has man is neither Englishman nor Amer- that Ludwig Lewisohn was refused a the gutter with Lewisohn's book and
ael stortof an oy' ife ican. He was born in Sweden and job at Columbia not because he was a the works of Joseph Conrad.
Sa real story of a boys fifelived there for twenty-five years. . Jew but because he had not learned '-
to Edwin Bjlrkman's "The It is in Sweden, in fact, that the English at his mother's knee, and so, Last week I offered criticism
a Child" (Knopf) no writerin story is located, but I see no essential I suppose, when all is said and done, I (Continued on Page 8)
a has done a decent job of it. difference between a Swedish boy and
.r Lee Master in "Mitch Miller" an American boy from what I read of
ly has come nearer to it than Bj6rkman's book. Indeed, his book is
her and his book is almost ad- the only one I have read with the A litl farther
ly an attempted improvement of power of setting my own younger days
Twain's "Huckleberry Finn." sharply before me with all my secret perhasG but the
ss. While "Huckleberry Finn" the ague and wondering notions and e x t r a serlice
Tom Sawyer" are admittedly conjectures of boyhood. Jens Peter makes it worth
id books, especially in giving us Jacobsen, another Scandinavian, o Y I B.
Lor, tang and taste of mid-west- started to do this feat with his -"Niels o h
e of several decades ago, still it Lyhne" but before the job was more
be recognized that they do not than well on the way the boy grew
tell more than half of a boy's up.
id it must be recognized fudther BjirkmasI covers the life of a boy
rhile giving a dealistic pictude from the age of five to the age of fi-
as he went, Mark Twain built teen. A tremendous undertaking, but
eries o improbable adventures he does it with the utmost artistry andtate
,pped them with the convention- truthatelling. Starting from the time
et ending. It is too bad that he when the boy, Keith Wellander, knew Mrain at Washington
not tell the story as he might the world as a cheap and shoddy
for Mark Twain was, at bottom, apartment with a glimpse now and
ist. But he had to live and thus then of men rolling kegs from a brew-
ame more or less of a popular ery across the street, he brings him _
his irony peeped from between up through various stages to the time
of humor written to please the of leaving school and going to work. Fa-Simile Display of a Famous Diamond
and professors. It "was not But the history of the lad is not so
after his death that "Whatnis important. The real accomplishment THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY
was published, a terrific and is in exposing the reactions of the
rful book, a volume that little boy, his constant store of surprises, OWNED BY CHARLES THE BOLD
of electrified the, boobery, a vol- his feelings as he confronts each prob- a Milan Soldier,
hat made evident that Twain's lem. How Bjorkman did this is en- Loot in a Battle at Milan and Fod by i
it weapon was a tremendously tirely beyond me. All the old im- - Later the Property of Pope Julis It.
sword rather than a puffed blad- pulses, hidden in memory cells and WEIGHT 139l% CARATS
I lament that he never had the long forgotten, came back to me in .
e to use the sword while he poignant fashion as I read the story. WATCH OUR WINDOWS NIGHTLY FOR
Avid and consuming curiosities, lit- OTHER HISTORICAL DISPLAYS OF FAMOUS DIAMONDS
urnng to the boy-theme, I do tle burning animal fires of sex, secret
call any other story in this and forbidden practices, unexpected
ry that approaches the three reproofs, degrees of responsiveness to "--
mentioned, and certainly noth- various older persons, hero-worship of SCHLANDERER & SEYFRIED
the kind really worth while has. other boys, desires and dissatisfac- Diamonds, Watches, Jewelry and
lone in England for a very long tions,-all the things that taunt and Silverware
Thackeray's "Henry-Esmond" please and torture the boyish mind, 113 East Liberty Street
iously a heap of mush and prob- discoveries ithat girls are different,
ie poorest thing that Thackeray That his father is rot the president of
rote in the way of a novel. the bank but the janitor, the reading .C
of a cheap and moralizing sex book ' 5o-rF 5-- - - --.
iing down to present-day Eng- which the parents had hidden behind
'riters, I find but one book con- r;ther books, and the consequent mn-
sg a boy that interests me. It is tal agony over his "vices," undeserved .'a::::a" ""'I'
Walpole's "Jeremy." It is ex- scoldings and sharp words from his .
egly good, but being limited to father, misunderstood apprehensions
ear o a boy's life and to a period of his mother, the winning of a prize hs
rly for the boy to discover the at school, snubbings from youthful BLUEBIRD TEARLS
and hypocrisies of his parents aristocrats, and so on, and so on. It is - for happins
;rown-ups in general, it does not ll tihere, painted in colors that ought
much in the way of puerile evo- to bring back the past, even to a dean. PEARL TAiC LSSEL
1" That the novel is largely biographi- AND
ling has done some fairly good cal, even to details, can scarcely be .
s with boys, but he glosses over doubted. For instance, in the story, ' PEARL BRACELETS
ouch and spoils the rest with the boy's name is Keith. The book ex-
novel plots. "Kim" is without plains that his mother had been in * The Parisian Fad that
; the best boy-creation by Kip- England and had given the boy an is Sweeping the Country
English namoe. Bjlrkman's first name
n comes Bjorkman, and if he does is Edwin. Other little parallels bob25° to 12 0 ° }
ord it over the whole outfit, then up. 2 . t ---2::":.each
I be consigned to the Epworth The book is very well written and pp1 F.
e for the rest of my natural life, probably will be a pain in the side of J O H N B. E I B L E R
5 314 South Main Street
:.< I SCHLANDERER & SEYFREID
113 East Liberty Street
. 9 99 T A X I ANN ARBOR
35 CENTS
999 TAXI