Detours (Passable but Unsafe)

by Philip Sanford Marden '94. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York.

After divagations in more remote regions such as Greece, Spain and Egypt, Mr. Marden returns to scenes nearer home. The selection of these essays, which were originally written for newspaper publication, was determined, as Mr. Marden himself tells us in the Introduction, "by the remembrance of which ones were the most fun to write." We wander le'surely from a discussion of the trials of the automobilist to the works of those estimable scribes, Ibid and Anon. There is a pleasant tribute to Noah Webster and to the manifold uses to which his magnum opus may be put. In "Manners Makyth Man" is a well deserved thrust at the etiquette books of our day. There are hints on shaving, reading, and on the care and feeding of furnaces. It is clear that Mr. Marden enjoys writing and that he writes easily with a studio fallente laborem." And aside from the facility of his style there is a sanity and healthy spirit through all of the essays, an avoidance of extremes, a clinging to the "golden mean" between the Scylla of one vice and the Charybdis of another. It is a relief in the days of propaganda to find a book that was written for the sheer joy of the writing and intended merely for the delectation of the reader without thought for his social or moral amelioration. But I should be the most invertebrate of critics were I to pass by with words of praise only. To preserve his individuality and sense of personal worth the critic must say, " I differ here and here." Otherwise he becomes, or is likely to become, an echo and no critic. It is in the essay "On Commencing Poet'" that I disagree with Mr. Marden. When I first received the book and was glancing through it rapidly I noticed a few short lines quoted from H. D. and I felt again something of the feeling akin to ecstasy that I experienced when I first read "The Islands." But when I came actually to read' the essay, I discovered that Mr. Marden was making fun of the lines he quotes. Referring to H. D. he says, "she is evidently a palpitant young lady." Now this is not intended as a compliment but, as for me, I hope she is palpitant. I certainly palpitate, or at least my heart does!—whenever I read poetry that is worthy of the name. And one of the few things that is likely to cause my heart to palpitate beyond its allotted seventy-two times a minute, is the poetry of H. D. Somehow the poetry quoted from Wordsworth and Tennyson which appears later in the essay does not appreciably stimulate my heart action! I suppose there is a sort of excess in the poems of H. D., a characteristic of poets noticed by Plato and by him who wrote of "the poet's eye in fine frenzy rolling," but I cannot make myself be sorry for this. Is there not altogether too little ecstasy in the world ?

R. C. N.

The March number of the National Geographic Magazine contains an article by J. Theodore Marriner '14 entitled "Transylvania, its Seven Castles."

The March 1926 number of the Journal ofReligion contains an article "A Quarter Century of American Preaching" by Reverend Ozora S. Davis '89.

Frederick K. Brown '10 is the author of "Playtime Guide-Book, graded recreation for the Church School." This book of 165 pages is published by the Judson Press of Philadelphia.

Edward Duffy '26 is the author of an article in the March Intercollegiate World "Survey of Dartmouth Senior Report."

A new technical book by Professor Frank E. Austin '95 has just been issued. The title is "Fundamental Principles of Generators and Motors; Examples." The book is designed for the use of electrical engineers and students. Many important and typical problems are carefully worked out to show the mathematical processes step by step. One of Professor Austin's stories for boys entitled "Billy and Bobby at the Seashore," appears in the new LincolnVIII Reader, published by the Laurel Publishing Company of Chicago. The story tells how the boys, helped by "Uncle Gene," made a seconds pendulum and used it as a stop watch and as a tape measure. "Uncle Gene" is a new character in boys' stories created by Professor Austin.

The Rational Life Publishing Co., Ithaca, N. Y., have recently brought out a second edition of Sex and Life. What the Experienced Should Teach and What the Inexperienced Should Learn by Dr. W. F. Robie '89. This new edition contains forewords by F. H. Hankins of Smith, William F. Ogburn of Columbia. Walter F. Wilcox of Cornell, and Wilford Lay.

"The Autobiography of John Ball," Dartmouth 1820, compiled by his daughters and published by the Dean-Hicks Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, should be of interest to Dartmouth men. The manuscript of this book was written when the author was 80 years old. It was written from diaries kept for various periods of his career and from old letters as well as from memory. Mr. Ball was born in Hebron, New Hampshire in 1794 and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1820. One chapter of the autobiography relates to his college experiences. .Especially interesting is an account of the trip made by several students to the White Mountains. Mr. Ball studied law and finally went across the plains to Oregon in 1832. In the winter of 1832-33 he taught school there and was the first teacher in the present state of Oregon. He was very fond of travel, going to the Hawaiian Islands and around the Cape. Finally' he settled in Michigan where he resided 48 years.

Thorndyke Saville 'l4 and Thayer School 'IS, now professor of Hydraulic and Sanitary Engineering at the University of North Carolina, recently published a paper on. the "Cause and Correction of Red Water Troubles," in which he discussed the Chemistry of Pipe Corrosion, Hydrogen lon Concentration and Water Treatment.

A recent issue of the Water Works Magazine, Engineering and Contracting, containing a summary of a report presented to the New England Water Works Association by G. A. Sampson '01, Thayer School '03, on. "The Improvement of the Water Supply of Keene, N. H."