BOOK REVIEWS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 104, 27 January 1943, Page 3

BOOK REVIEWS

Washington During The

Civil War

“Reveille in Washington. 1860-1805,” by Margaret Leech (London: Eyre ami Sjiottiswoode). In these days of small wartime editions "lievcille in Washington” appears a real tome, it contains more than 400 pages of closely written text and is the most sirbsUmtial piece of reading matter to appear for some time. There is evidence ol endless research upon the part of tne author, who with the aid of the new'sjiaper files of the period reconstructs the American Civil War as it appeared in the cujiital city. “Reveille in Washington” begins slightly before the. election of Abraham Lincoln Io the Presidency, and. end,, after liis assassination. In between I hat time the Southern States seceded from the Union and the Civil War was fought Io shepherd them buck again. It was not till the war was well started that the abolition of slavery became one of the aims of the Union armies, and it was not till the war was almost ended that the vast army of the Union under General Grant began to be victorious. I lie long tide that Margaret Leech has to .tell remains a depressing recital of mismanagement in every direction for about 300 jniges. The President is stripped of his legendary glamour and appears as a very unprepossessing man, by no means popular, with a wife unpopular and tactless. Washington began as a country town with ill-paved streets and unfinished publie buildings, but in the five years 1860-1805, it became the true capital of the nation. Thousands ot soldiers assembled in camps there before going forth to fight, and thousands returned .wounded to the many hastily-erected hospitals. Order gradually took the place of the chaotic early days of the war. The Union armies slowly began to roll toward victory leaving a trail of unsuccessful generals behind. All these happenings Margaret Leech traces from day to day with a vast amount of detail. Every development, and every phase of 1 bought is recorded, even the fashions of the women are noticed. There is so much in 1 Reveille in Washington” that it cannot be read hurriedly. This is almost the beginning of Yankee history. Perhaps it teaches more of the 5 ankee we are meeting everywhere today, than the reader realizes. . “Moles Do So Little With Their Privacypoems by “E” (Sydney: Angus and Robertson). This selection of the poemt9 of an Australian woman wno insists on anonymity comes with a preface by Mr. T. Inglis Moore, in which he rightly stresses her kinshijt with the great Emily Dickinson, and says of her, “ ‘E’ is a poet wiiose imagination, Blakelike, stw heaven in a wild flower and holds eternity in flic palm of its hand.’ Her poems, all of them short, some no more than a quatrain, contain a wealth of symbolic imagery with thought, highly compressed and often phrased so strikingly that individual lines or couplets become immediately memorable. Iler obvious faults —monotony of rhythm, imperfect scansion, occasional harshness of expression—<lo not affect the essence ot her poetry, her individual summing up of life in many moods, and her acceptance of and preoceujiatioii with its tragedy and eonietly. An explanatory note to the volume is provided by Mr. Miles Franklin, to whom thanks arc due lor introducing to the general public a notable poet. “Marling Hall,” by Angela Tlurkcll (London: Hamilton). Mrs. Thirkell seems to have an endless stream of light entertainment on tap. Tn “Marling Hall ' s'ho uses general characters who have ajipeared in earlier books, but this in no way interferes with the continuity of this story. It is a pleasant tale of pleasant people who continue to live very much the same lives as before the war. A few wear uniforms and everyone toys with Red Cross activities and the like, and the large homes are run nt great inconvenience fo their owners with four instead of eight servants, but if Mrs. Thirkell knows her county as she apjiears to do, while not wishing these pleasant people any harm, one cannot help feeling that they do little to justify their existence and. if tlie war sweeps away sueh social groups, they will only merit a pne-sing sigh for their decorative qualities.