THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, FEB. 21,
SUNDAY, FEB. 21,
IN
THE
WORLD
OF
BOOKS
DUMOND
History Of Thirty-Six
Years Is Pungent
And Pointed
ROOSEVELT TO ROOSEVELT.
By Dwight Lwell Dumond. Henry
Holt & Co. New York $3.50.
By JOHN C. KAVANAGH
BOWEN
Resurrects Love Story
Of Tchaikowsky
From Letters
BELOVED FRIEND, by Cat;harine
Drinker Bowen. Random House.
$2.75.
Ann Arbor Man's First Novel
Features
Standardized Humor
A survey of recent history is infal- By
libly calculated to arouse the interest The str
of mature students. Add to this the ich Tha
pungently phrased liberal philosophy composer,
of Reesevclt To Roosevelt, and we unfolded f
have a formula for the widespread tryiB
success of the book. The consistency tirety i B
and pugnacity of the author's view- CATHARINE DRINKER BOWEN selectiono
point, well supported by an amazing Club. The
array of facts, is a stimulation which author of "Belved Friends." aikowsky
cannot be overlooked by students in
search of well-grounded truth. If he tling picture in his chapter on post-ng been
does not believe this to be the truth, war reaction. Uniquely combining Catharine
it is a challenge to him to find it, and economic and religious fundamental- entire sto
to satisfy his need for it. ism, he shows the subservience of pondencei
A reflection for the moment will politics in the Middle West to these deda's fa
indicate the purely technical problem pressures. He combines them for the von Meck
of dividing the events of the last reason of their locale, their clinginge
reaon f teirloclether cingng ntranslated
thirty-six years into some arrange- to ancient formulae, and the viru-
ment to give them all meaning. A lence of their insistence upon their Thaiko
repetition of either chronology or the predominance. His accumulation Petersburg
exposition and influence of philoso- of facts, especially his material on the point
phies must appear. The author has the teacher's oaths, is a tribute to friend infli
ably chosen between the two, so that his labor and intelligent interpreta- Rubinstein
a maximum amount of intelligibility tion. School. H
results. Following the events in the In his estimate of the political phi- who learns
administrations of Roosevelt, Taft and losophy of Woodrow Wilson, the au- of bread.
Wilson, the social influences which Thor throws into direct relief his own Peter T
determined them are interspersed in belief in the capacity of the people within, da
interesting essay chapters. The same to determine after sufficient study urge to cr
method is followed in outlining the what is best for them. "It is impos- daring ste
remainder of the period. sible to determine just where politics private inc
"Outlining" is a word chosen ad- ends and statemanship begins," he somehow a
visedly, for although the meaning of says, and leaves it for us to deter- given thel
the events and the philosophies which mine whether we shall accept a theory sical theor
brought them about is remarkably of paternal benevolence, of conceal- vatory. Ni
clear, the reasoning by which the ment of issues, or the more honest of the Co
author arrived at many of his con- discussion of issues which represents dejda von
clusions is of necessity left to de- Wilson. Or would Wilson be at a passionatel
velopment in lecture form. For this disadvantage? Must politics really be kowsky ar
reason the lay reader will find the played even by those whose heart and young ma
extensive bibliography invaluable, policiestare statesmanlike? It is an dejda with
and the arresting quality of many of . immediate
his statements guarantees its use. whose future is tending toward public what ecsta
As abacgroud t intllient is-life.
As a background to intelligent dis- In spite of the author's free use of me, and y
cussion of the current problem of epithets for the shams employed in easier and
Roosevelts'soSupremehCmurtmproposal,
Roosevelt's Supreme Court proposal, our recent political history, it remains Life for
'the chapter on "Law Administration to his everlasting credit that he gave a crisis; he
and the Courts" is in present need. a fair view to those who objected as badly as
Parts of his argument are almost pro- to Roosevelt with a "rugged indivi- widow, wh
phetic in their applicability to the dualism of an earlier day; a philos- come to a
problem. An important thesis in this ophy which denied that the govern- now only i
regard is the decadence into which ment could spend the nation into a program
the Congress has drifted in the last prosperity; which saw government nature, nee
thirty years. It is interesting to note budgets unbalanced, government Wy as he ne
servience to the executive, but that debts accumulating, and wondered and the sp
as incetotheexSh tivermanAti-trtwhether it must be paid with a cap- essary for t
aw, Conresshastherman Ant dut oital levy, repudiation, or worse. One letters gr
muw, ongr eshas thonthe dutyeme can no more charge this group with from mere
much of its legislation to the Supreme insincerity than one can pin the friendly co
Court. The Court, by interpretation badge f demagoguery on their crit- love and a
of what was called "reasonable re-ad fd guy their daily
straint of trade," was forced to crys- Readers will agree, will be con-i
tallize a legislative policy which had vinced, or will resist Prof. Dumond's Gossip c
too much political dynamite for Con- bock but they cannot escape being ofstrange
gress to handle. Much of our resist- challenged, and better prepared from servatory.n
ance to the exercise of the right of its reading: to pass judgment on the et ofa
judicial review comes under this headsecret of
only to find now that it is not strictly ofmarry ino
judicial review, and that the blame . 'His choice
fies with an uncourageous Congress. IOR1THCOMING BOOKS ko, prove
One of the few unanswered dilem- BALLET SHOES, by Noel Streat- She was a
mas into which the author throws us field. Random House. grew so re
is the conflict between the spoils sys- A WORLD WITHIN A SCHOOL, him thath
tem and pressure politics. He says, i by Lucy Kinloch. Random House. Nadejda, t
... the purging of political parties TOLD WITH A DRUM, by Edward been a blow
is oftentimes an indispensable prelim- Harris Heth. Houghton, MifflIn astrous en
ainry step to legitimate reform; but and Co. the money
when party discipline weakens, pres- ROMANTIC ADVENTURE, auto- the contine
sure politics flourish." We had hoped biography of Elinor Glyn. Mac- l'ealth. S
that the clear thought evident inillan. divorce.A
throughout the work would find an -
answer to this problem. Indirectly
it was given by his exposition of the - SPECIAL -
unbelievable evils which resulted from
pressure politics. But at other points New U. of M. Carillon S
his remarks are equally derogatory 15 Sheets, 12 Envelopes, cellophane w
of the effects of the spoils system. STUDENTS SUPPLYS
Concerning the evils of pressure 1111 South University Avenue F
politics, the author presents a star-
LILLIAN F. WASSEL
ange romance of Peter Ily-
kowsky, the great Russian
and Nadejda von Meek is
or the first time in its en-
eWoved Friend, the February
of the Book of the Month
relationship between Tcha-.
and Madame von Meek had
a subject of conjecture but
Drinker Bowen reveals the
ry obtained from corres-
in the possession of Na-
vorite grandson, Vladimir
, whose widow, Barbara,!
it into English.
wsky, graduating from the
School of Law, was idle to
of frivolity until a musical
uenced him to enter Anton
's newly opened Music
le was like a man starving'
for the first time the name
Counterpoint was bread.
chaikowsky was torn from
y and night, by a desperate
eate music of his own, a
p for a young man with no
ome. He kept himself alive
and after four years was
post of professor of mu-
'y at the Moscow Conser-
cholas Rubinstein, director
nservatory, persuaded Na-
Meek, a wealthy widow,
ly musical, to give Tchai-
musical commission. The
n's music acted upon Na-
n tremendous force. She
.y wrote him "to tell into
sies your composition sentf
our music makes my life
pleasanter to live."
Tchaikowsky had reached
needed emotional support
he needed money. And the
ose active personal life had
standstill and who lived
n the lives of her children,
totally inadequate to her
ded Tchaikowsky as great-
eded her. Physical presence
oken word was never nec-
this strange alliance. The
%dually changed in tone
musical criticism and
mments to expressions of
advice on every phase of
lives.
irculatea around Moscow
happenings at the Con-
Tchaikowsky, who lived
t fear of exposition of his
homosexuality, decided to
order to stop the rumors.
of a wife, Antonina Miliu-
d a most unfortunate one.
nymphomaniac and soon
pulsive and abhorrent to
he almost lost his mind.
o whom the marriage had
w, was delighted at its dis-
4 and gave Tchaikowsky
to leave Russia and tour
ent while he regained his
he later also financed his
After several years An-
W. H. MACK
tonina had two children whom
Tchaikowsky did not claim, and final-
ly died in an asylum.
On his return to Russia, Nadejda
and Tchaikowsky resumed their
friendship, exchanging numerous
photographs, passing by appointed
places so that one could see the other
without being seen. Tchaikowsky was
a frequent guest in all of Nadejda's
many country houses, but they never
encountered each other.
Abruptly Nadejda envied her ro-
mantic relations with Tchaikowsky'
with a short note telling him she
could no longer give him money and
asking him to always remember her
kindly. Despite his pleas, she never
again acknowledged him any way.
Four years later he died of cholera.
But he had gained what he sought,
perfection of his musical talent.
MR. BIRDSALL BREEZES
THROUGH, a novel by W. H.
Mack. Hillman, Curl, Inc., New
York. 288 pages. $2.00.
By JOSEPH GIES
When an Ann Arbor citizen of solid
respectability suddenly tosses aside
his conventional conservatism to in-
dulge in as frantic a bit of hilarity
of W. H. Mack does in his first novel,
Mr. Birdsall Brezzes Through, about
to blossom in the book stores and
lending libraries, it assumes the pro-
portions of news.
Customarily a review of a first book
consists of saying that the author has
made a fine beginning, shows great
promise, and in spite of a slightly ap-
parent unfamiliarity with the tools of
his craft common to nearly all be-
ginning writers, the book was most
enjoyable and we may safely antici-
pate better things from the same
source in the future.
Mr. Mack, however, is not really
a beginning writer, for although this
is his'first "sustained work" as critics!
say, he has been dabbling in literary
activities for some time now, having
begun as a Daily staff man in the!
days, not too far back, when he was
plugging his studies on this campus.
TYPEWRITING
MIMEOGRAPHING
Promptly and neatly done by experi-
nced operators at moderate prices.
e .n . MORRIL ices
314 South State Street
His first offering to the novel read-
ing public shows a deftness of wit
and ease of style not often found in
writers of humorous fiction who al-
ready have a dozen volumes to their
credit or discredit.
Mr. Freddie Birdsall, the unortho-
dox hero of the piece, is a. fat little
guy with a gaily unabashed outlook
on life whose adventures with his sis-
ter's family lead to such complica-
tions as matrimonial bureaus, police
stations and other conventionali
sources of humor. Amateur detec-
tives, society women, taxi drivers and
the children of the rich come in for
generous shares in the general bur-
lesque.
The style of the yarn belongs to the
p:pular P. G. Wodehouse category,
featuring a swingy and carefree
abandon with accent on situation and
dialogue rather than plot or sequence.
The dialogue is Mr. Mack's particular
achievement; much of it is in a man-
ner that might fill in for Wodehouse
himself.
In one or two spots the author
leans a little too far out in his ef-
forts, resulting in humor slightly ar-
tificial in character and inclined to
be trying on the average reader, while
Mr. Birdsall himself also offends in
places by a tendency to be more lo-
quacious than witty,
SERVICE
...._ .
And now we must remove from our
old home
Where in your service we have aged
with dignity,
And seen so many of you come and go
these 39 odd years.
The friendships past and present we
hold dear,
Delighting in our work that is for
common good of men.
But now when May comes round again
this year,
We leave our home beloved of us
and of our friends,
And setting face to future seek anew
a housing for our work.
For service must go on if men would
live in happiness,
And we whose life is dedicated to service
may not forget to serve.
So bravely, if tiredly, and with honor
fitting,
We say to you, our friends, we will not
cease.
The will, the work, of the community
be done.
LAMP SALE
EVERY LAMP AND SHADE IN THE STORE IS
SPECIALLY PRICED FOR ONE WEEK.
S.-
. c
On Reduction Sale for
one week. All tv es and
k
V11GWyG1. All typt; *
sizes of unusual lamps to
choose from.
Nothing else dresses a#
room up more or gives a
greater amount of satis-
faction and genuine
pleasure than a fine lamp £..
< <ffneQtarq,
Incorporated
JAMES FOSTER
Dial 2-3109
317 S. State St;
"HOUSE OF ART"
213 North State Street
IL
E
an d-
SED
tationery
rapped 34c pk
STORE
Phone 8688
Now lCan Be Had-
THE NEW ABRIDGED EDITION OF
"Michigan's Favorite College Songs"
Adopted by the Student Council as the
OFFICIAL SONGBOOK of THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PRICE $2.00
and STUDENT
SUPPLIES
I
The
College
Bookshop
at
WAHR'S
316 SOUTH STATE STREET
BOOKSTORE
State Street at North University
MAIN STREET opp. COURT HOUSE
I
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