Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 173

1-AKT 4 PAGE A CHICAGO SUNDAY 25. K17 BOOK hnsty Pages in American Chronicles i "OUR. LUSTY FOREFATHERS by Fairfax Downey. Seriitner, $.50. Reviewed by Kelsey Guilfoil Below the title of this book appears the legend, Being Diverse Chronicles of the Hartzell Spence, A B.

Guthrie Honored for Their Nctv Books By Harry Hanien New York AUTHORS arriving in New York to enjoy the thrill of seeing their hooks In all the store windows are IlartzeH Sfwnee, author of "Vain Shadow," the romantic biografy of Orellana, discoverer of the Amazon river, and A. It. Guthrie, author of "The Big Sky," a novel about hunters in the upper Missouri valley a century ago. Mr. Spence comes from Virginia, and will be here most of this week, the guest of his publishers, Whittlesey House.

Mr. Guthrie comes from Lexington, where he has been a newspaper man. He gave up his job In February to complete The Big Sky," and the exceptional welcome given the book by critics everywhere has reinforced his determination to slug it cut at the writing desk. He will write a new novel and complete some ehort storied. On Wednesday William Sloan Associates gave him a luncheon.

Another author who is receiving the congratulations of friends is Robert Mclaughlin, whose book, "The Side of the Angels," will be published tomorrow by Knopf. He was a guest at an afternoon cocktail party at Mrs. Blanche Knopf's apartment on Friday. Mr. McLaughlin is not a stranger, since he was managing editor of McCall's magazine before he One of the many illustrations by John C.

Wonsetter in Fairfa Downey's "Our Lusty Forefathers" (Scribner). Entertaining A Lively Study of Salt Lake by Fervors, Frolics, Fights, Festivities, and Failings of Our American Ancestors." a king allowance for the iiins of alliteration, one could call that a pretty fair description of the melange that Fairfax Downey has put together. Dale L. Morgan s. High Court "THE GREAT SALT LAKE," by Dale L.

Morgan. The American Ixtkes Series, edited by MUo M. Quaife. Bobbs-Merrill, tS.75.1 Reviewed by Don Russell In extending the Lakes Series beyond the five Great Lakes, the edi- "THE NINE YOUNG MEN," by Wesley McCune. Warper's, SS.50.1 Reviewed by Walter Trohan In the lusty days of the republic, the supreme court young of the tors would cer- I tainly give early consideration to United States once disciplined itself by ruling that there should be no drinking in conferences on decisions except on rainy days.

Not long the ruling, which was a remnrk-able one in days of two and three bottle men. Chief Justice Marshall that unique body of water that is the principal feature of the geog-rafy of Utah. Most of us know something of its 1 i a ritios: That Great Salt Ink is so dense it is impossible to sink in it yet Li I Morgan Wtslrj Mt(M have been nave ucen He has taken gleaningr from scores of historical sources, made narrative sketches of them, and given us a book that Is a jewel of jocularity, a paean of pride, and a saga of sorrow, to use his own alliterative mode of description. Would you like to know how the Indian boys and girls behaved in Eleazar Wheelock's charity school for Indians the one he ran before founding Dartmouth college and abandoning the co-educational idea? An English army officer's reaction to the early American custom of bundling? How Jim Bridger, after telling his favorite tales of the "peetrified forest with peetrified birds singing peetrified songs" and the mountain of clear glass, suspected Baron Munchausen of being jest a derned liar? How the New England Puritans had not one scarlet letter for miscreants, but half an alphabet of them, and ah old woman kept busy cutting them out? Or in a more sober vein funny how significant that word sober becomes in connection with these tales you may read of the tragic fate of the Donner party of gold seekers in the high Sierras. Or of the gentlemanly but ugly practice of dueling, which, you will learn, was oftener inspired by politics than by women.

Banditry in the roaring days of the west, you will discover, at one time threatened to muke mining operations impossible. The intimate, human side of a nation's history has seldom been so artfully told. Mr. Downey has chosen just the right attitude toward his material in moulding it into fictional form. He is scrupulous with the facts of his source material, but has not hesitated to give them the life of his own imagination.

Tills method has made a gem r.f one of the sketches. In it Benjamin Franklin is presented as giving sage advice and what advice! to a young man who called upon him. The young man was not satisfied with St. Paul's advice on marriage, and sought Franklin's more worldly wisdom. This tale is founded on a letter written by Franklin and other incidents In his life.

If you don't many urownea in is so shallow as to hamper navigation, yet it brews great storms that are also a menace to navigation. Unlike the Dead sea, it is very much alive; it expands and contracts in some not quite accountable cycle. When its inlet rivers were first robbed for irrigation it was freely predicted that the lake would gradually lower its level; perhaps disappear. Instead it rose in its wrath, endangering the transcontinental rail viaductthe Lucin cut-off with which it had been bound. Principally its valley has been notable as the renter of the Mormon empire, unique in Anuiican pioneering.

Yet the lake itself has been subject of little literature. There have been a few technical studies, but this is the first well rounded account. And Dale Morgan has covered some of the most romantic aspects of Western history of the search for the fabled Buenaventura river by Spanish explorers and fur traders, with some original contributions on Mile Goodyear, the first settler; of Brigham Young and the miracle of the gulls, of the building of the Union Pacific, of the surveyors and scientists, of ships, summer resorts and mines, and even of the Great Salt Lake's sea serpent. This is a book that goes far to justify the value of the production of such series. opened a conference by asking whether his colleagues had noted any signs of rain.

A glance at the sky found it without the wisp of a cloud. When this report was brought to the chief justice he shook his head in disappointment, not at the stale of the weather but at the lack of breadth in the approach of his colleagues to the problem at hand. Are you not aware," he asked, "that the jurisdiction of this court is nation-wide and somewhere in this vust country it must be raining? Let's have a drink." It may be that too much of the Marshall style of reasoning still persists on the high court, since the reasoning of the various justices on cases before them is confusing. The court is not satisfied with an opinion and a dissent, but there is a welter of concurring opinions and concurring dissents. It would seem to be the theory of the justices that their legal reasoning is good law somewhere.

And court opinions have become as variable as weather. At times the court rules one way and the next time an identical case is brought before it, the court executes a legal about face without benefit of any change in personnel. Mr. McCune, law student and magazine correspondent, examines the workings of the court and analyzes its membership in a highly entertaining and able manner in an effort to explain it to the vast body of laymen in the country. Lawyers will find the book instructive as well.

In the presentation he offers a super judicial sandwich, running profiles of the eleven justices in between chapters studying opinions, dissents, trends and criticisms of the tribunal. went into the army, and he has written Etories for the New Yorker. He was born in Chicago and attended the University of Illinois and now lives With his family in Newburysport, known also 'as the seat of John P. Maxquand. Crown Publishers were hosts on Wednesday for Frances Toor, author of "A Treasury of Mexican Folkways." She is a member of the faculty of the University of Mexico.

Bools from Gresham Press The Gresham Press made its bow on Monday when the American Association for the United Nations gave a reception for the press and the contributing authors of its first two volumes, "American Thought, 1947," introduced by Philip Wylie, and British Thought, 1047," introduced by Ivor Brown. The books are intended for the general reader who wishes to be well informed. During the war the armed services editions gave many thousands of soldiers and sailors access to books in a handy pocket format. The publishers of America cooperated to make this possible, forming the Council on Books in War Time for this and other activities. The final annual luncheon cf the editions for armed services was arranged for Wednesday in the Trianon room of the Ambassador hotel.

Richard I- Simon is president, H. Spencer Scott, vice chairman and treasurer, and Marshall Best, secretary C'f the body, and II. Stanley Thompson has been manager of production for the last year. Books are still being printed for the services but in much smaller quantities than during the war. Christopher Morley was the guest at a party given by his publishers, Harcourt, Brace at the Ritz on Monday, the day of publication of The Old Mandarin." Actually this was an excuse for the gathering of many well known personalities of New York's book world.

Mitchell Ken-uerly, who first published Joseph Conrad; Edna St. Vincent Millay, Joseph Ilergeshclnier, Arthur FIcke, and many other topnotchers were there; I Also had a chat with William Mel ee, William IUikc Ik-net, Frank Morley, ('4trl Itose, John Gourno, and many others. Publications of N. Y. Library Three new publications of the New Yoik public library, in pamphlet form, direct attention to the continuing noncommercial activities this institution.

One of the pamphlets appeals to research; the other two affect readers with wider interests. The first is "Little Magazines," a list compiled by Carolyn F. Flrich and Eugenia Fatterson, who took as a guide the list in the book of that tubject published last year by Frinccton University Press. The other two pamphlets are Bibliopegia Fantastica," by Lawrenc S. Thompson, and Book Clubs," by Dorothy Canftcld Fisher.

The latter is the text of the 11th of the R. R. Bowker memorial lectures on the history and practice of publishing, given at the library May 13. Dr. Thompson has been investigating the lanes off the main highway of books, and one of bis essays, "Notes en Bibliokleptomania," or the theft cf books, appears In Carrousel for Bibliophiles," edited by William Targ.

"Bibliopegia Fantastica" has to tlo with odd bindings. Plea for Tolerance An appeal to publishers to encourage the writing of books combatting religious and racial intolerance was made at a large luncheon at Hotel Biltmore, arranged by Cass Canfiell of Harper Brothers in cooperation with the National Conference of Christians and Jews. About 100 representatives of publishing houses were present. Speakers besides Mr. Can-field were Benjamin Cohen, assistant secretary general for public information of the United Nations; Everett Clinchy, president of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and Mm.

Wendell Willkle. Mr. Canfield said he wanted to get the publishers together the project, for while they are in the main a liberal group they are likely to become smug. They do not dictate what authors are to write, but they can be helpful in directing authors to suitable themes. "This matter of tolerance is one of constant vigil and care on our part," said Mr.

Canfield. As examples of desirable books he mentioned "Earth and High Heaven," by Gwethalyn Graham; "Gentleman's Agreement," by Laura Z. Holwon Some of My Best Friends Are Soldiers" and "Color Blind," by Margaret Halsey, and "The Chequer Board," by Nevil Shute, and Sinclair Lewis Kingsblood Royal." He said the reviewers were also useful to the cause; they had assured the success of Gunnar Myrdal's two volume study, The American Dilemma," and made Richard Wright a national figure. Present at the speakers' table and sponsoring the luncheon with Mr. Canfield were John Farrar of Farrar, Straus; Meredith Wood of the Book ef the Month club, John O'Connor cf Grosset Dunlap, Donald Klopfer of Random House.

Guests of honor were Laura Z. Hobson and Margaret Halsey. Among other executives present were John Macrae and Elliott Maera cf Dutton, William learned of Whittlesey House, Frank MacGregor of Harpers, Kohert M. McBride, Edward Mills of Longmans, Green, Kenneth Mc-Cormick of Doubleday, AdHaise Sherr of Rinehart, Lois Cole of Whittlesey. Editors of children's books had been specifically invited, and included Elizabeth Hamilton of Morrow, Bertha Gunterman of Longman's, Lucile Ogle of Whitman, Ilelene Fry of Whittlesey, Elizabeth Morton of Win- ton, Muriel Fuller of Nelson, Doris Tate of Macmillan, May, Masse of Viking, and Marcrret Lcer Doubleday.

laugh over this one, you should consult a doctor you are in an advanced stage of melancholia. Books from Denmark A collection of 250 books, printed In both Danish and English, will be on display from 4 to 9:30 p. m. Tuesday in the Woodrow Wilson room at the International Relations center, 84 E. Randolph St.

At 8 p. m. Jens Nyholm, librarian of Northwestern university, will speak on Danish literature. The exhibit is sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the American-Scandinavian Study Aptitudes for Man Hunting a Job -UOW TO GET THE JOB YOU FIT," by Ernst F. IFranklin Watts, When a book begins with the question, "Are you a misfit?" you may be tempted to say, "Heck, no!" and toss it aside.

When one-third of a book is devoted to discussions of aptitudes and aptitude testing, you might wonder whether there aren't other subjects that are also important in determining whether a person is using proper methods in finding a job. When another substantial section is used for a complex chart, you probably will feel that the author has a few pet ideas in regard to job hunting, but too few to do you much good. Mr. Curtz uses a questionable device when he over-simplifies psychological testing and is on the misleading side because he doesn't tell the whole story of the job hunt from choosing a job field to advancing a job after you land it. Willard Abraham Mr.

McCune is kindly and fair in his profiles, but at the same time he is quite penetrating. One might disagree with some of his statements and conclusions, as for ex-amp his insistence that Catholic Justice Murphy has defended the right of other churches to destroy his own in Jehovah's Witnesses litigation. It might be argued quite as easily that Murphy was defending his fellow Catholics in calling for greater religious freedom. "The Nine Young Men" looks behind the scenes of the supreme court not to give keyhole gossip, but to bring an informative story of the feud which has torn the court into opposing factions. Incidentally, Mr.

McCune is not too pleased with his title, "The Nine Young Men" as the justices like the rest of us are aging every minute. II 8 Jd.