Hanover Browsing

A BOOK WHICH should prove of some interest to readers of this column is Uncle Sam Ward and His Circle, by Maude Howe Elliott. (Macmillan Company, 1938, 699 pages.) Some of the research, notably the discovery of Ward's letters to Longfellow, was done by Professor Frank Maloy Anderson, of the Dartmouth faculty. This is an amusing, if somewhat disjointed book, which recreates an age, and depicts the jovial, and at times tragic life of the incomparable Sam Ward, brother of Julia Ward Howe, who in his time knew almost everybody worth knowing in England and the United States.

This month I have rifled the reading secrets as well as I could from certain members of the Administration.

The President was altogether too busy with speaking engagements, his trip to Annapolis, and other college matters to make a report, but I am able to state that he is reading the following books: TheStrumpet Sea, by Ben Ames Williams, Holy Old Mackinaw, by Stewart H. Holbrook, Joseph in Egypt (2 vol.) by Thomas Mann, The Culture of Cities, by Lewis Mumford, Evolution of Physics, by Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld, Old, Williamsburg and Her Neighbors, by W. Stevens, and Man against Himself, by Karl Menninger.

The Registrar, Robert O. Conant, has enjoyed The Citadel, by A. J. Cronin, Cyrano de Bergerac, by Rostand, PoorLittle French Girl, by Anne Douglas Sedgewick, and Clarence Day's Life withFather.

Sidney C. Hayward, Secretary of the College, writes: "Northwest Passage, the latest by Kenneth Roberts and, in my opinion in many ways his best book I have enjoyed, but, nevertheless, Arundel will always be a great favorite. I am interested to hear of many people going back to read Mr. Roberts's earlier books after getting the liberal taste of his historical fiction in Northwest Passage. Hellon Ice, similar in many respects to Kenneth Roberts's stories. Commander Ellsberg tells the story of that horrible, futile, God-awful polar trip of the 'Jeannette' on the basis of historical fact but with great drama and skill. The tragic trip in the 1870's is a matter of fact. There is nothing matter of fact in its telling. Swift, Carl Van Doren. Recommended to me by a Swift scholar and teacher, W. A. Eddy, as a first rate biography, and a very read- able one. This account of Swift's genius and his philosophy of life is practically guaranteed to send you back to Gulliver'sTravels, and that is a good idea, too."

Halsey C. Edgerton, Treasurer of the College, has enjoyed: A Wedding Gift, by John Taintor Foote, Let Me Show YouVermont, by C. E. Crane, and In NewEngland Fields and Woods, by Rowland Evans Robinson.

L. K. Neidlinger, Dean of the College, has written me a most entertaining letter which I quote: "I think my most interesting find has been the rereading of a very old book, Owen Johnson's Stover at Yale, which volume has remained in my library since high-school days; now twenty years ago. In a moment of idleness I picked it off the shelf a month ago and was amazed to find in this old book accurate portraits of every undergraduate type that exists today, and lively discussions of the same fundamental undergraduate problems with which we are at present concerned. It would take very little changing in phraseology and setting to make this old Johnson's masterpiece into a modern college novel. Another book published in 1932 which I only recently discovered while pursuing a cycle of World War biographies is a small volume by Paul Cohen-Portheim entitled Time Stood Still which recounts the experience of this aesthetic personality during his internement in England and is a vivid picture of what happens to a mind which has nothing to do. I have frequently looked with envy upon that blessed state of inactivity but shall no more after reading this delightful book. I believe the book which has had a greater influence on my thinking than any other is one written in 1932 by A. Lawrence Lowell, ex-president of Harvard, called Conflicts of Principle which I reread almost every month and between times when I find myself becoming opinionated and lacking in tolerance. Of the recent books I have confined my reading largely to the cycle of correspondent's autobigraphies including Duranty, Wells, Hunt, and Powell, but have been most interested in Stephen Bonsai's Hey.day in a Vanished World which applies the technique of the recent favorites to this correspondent's experiences as the top-notch reporter of the turn of the century."

Max A. Norton, Bursar, recommends the following, with comments:

Samuel Lane's Journal, 1739-1803, edited by Charles L. Hanson. New Hampshire Historical Society, 1937.

Samuel Lane of Stratham, N. H., a farmer, a tanner, a shoemaker and a surveyor, recorded in his Journal during a period of sixty-five years, an interesting account of New England life in the 18th century showing how a man, even at that time, was faced with problems which are still puzzling us. Today's farmer, business man, doctor and thoughful citizen will find here matters of interest whether it be of distressing droughts; the ever-changing value of the dollar; the scourge of the malignant "throat distemper"; the unemployment situation; the appreciation of cider, rum, and tobacco; the decided effort to keep the government from appropriating unwarranted powers; and the ebbing and flowing of religious life.

The Face of the Man pom Saturn, by Harry S. Keeler. Dutton.

A quick reading and absorbing mystery story by the author of one of the best books I have ever read, The Amazing Web.

The Citadel, by A. J. Cronin. Little, Brown & Co.

This should be particularly interesting to one concerned with the advancement of medical science in his community through the banding together of specialists in the medical profession into group clinics. Fortunate indeed is Hanover, the College and its environs to have seen this theory actually put into practice some ten years ago.

Davis Jackson, College Adviser to Fraternities, has recently read and enjoyed The Citadel, Tristram Shandy, and Charles Morier's Hajji Babba (of Ispahan).

E. Gordon Bill, Dean of the Faculty, always has some interesting recommendations, Some of them follow:

Arctic Adventure, by Peter Freuchen. Undoubtedly the greatest narrative of any single individual's experiences in the Arctic. Should be required reading for all social reformers.

England's Birds, by Richmond. Delightful observations by an expert English bird watcher on the fells, at river mouths, at lakesides, at cetera.

Grey of Fallodon, by Trevelyan. A brilliantly written judicial biography giving a peculiarly happy mixture about the naturalist who didn't want to be a statesman, and the statesman who wanted to be a naturalist.

Atomic Artillery, by Robertson. An exhilarating presentation of some modern theories in Physics and Chemistry written for the lay public.

The Scottish Naturalist, by Smiles. This book published in 1877 was for me a peculiarly thrilling description of what was actually accomplished in the way of natural history by an illiterate Scottish cobbler whose only time for collecting was at night, and who had no way of naming or describing his thousands of specimens because he couldn't read or write until he was fairly old.

Robert C. Strong, Dean of Freshmen, writes: "Here are three of my favorites that I can recommend with enthusiasm to those who are interested in historical accounts of hardship and adventure:

"Lawrence and the Arabs, by Robert Graves, published by Jonathan Cape in 1927. (Doubleday here.) This is an authentic account of the author of SevenPillars of Wisdom by a gifted writer.

"Those who have recently read Commander Ellsberg's Hell on Ice and have a taste for polar exploration will certainly enjoy. Cherry-Garrard's The WorstJourney in the World, published by the Dial Press in 1933. (1923?) This is to my mind the greatest book resulting from the Scott expedition to the South Pole.

(The date of the first edition of this book is 1932, first published in England. H. F. W.)

"South: The Story of! Shackleton's LastExpedition, published by Macmillan in 1920, provides an interesting parallel to Hell on Ice in that it records the drifting of a ship in the ice pack, the ultimate loss of the ship and a hair-raising escape."

Before signing off for the summer I wish to thank the present contributors to this column, and also in the brief space left to recommend one excellent book.

Beyond Dark Hills, by Jesse Stuart. E. P. Dutton. $3.50.

If Abraham Lincoln had become a writer he might have written a story something like this. It is "tops."

"A good summer to you" from the "browser."