Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13

ever in the publication of the great volume
of works, periodical and occasional which
today are causing a general enlightenment
II not acute refinement of taste.
ries BY Leo Tolstoy. A new translation from
the Russian by Constance Garnett New York:
Mcclure, Phillips Co. Washington; Wood
ward Il Lothrop.
Count Tolstoys shorter stories are in the
same strain as his longer works. They are
tinged with the gloom which characterizes
his later years. The title story in this col
lection is a tragedy of domestic life in Rus
STA, painful tale of wrangling, wrongs and
death. 1t and the other stories are valuable
as describing the lives of contemporary peo-
pie. They are based upon a grim devotion
to realism. But they are not uplifting. Nor
are they instructive, beyond the disclosure
OF how a strange people live. Yet they are
unquestionably powerful variations. Their
simplicity of style gives them a direct force
which carries conviction. The trans alton
in this instance is excellent.
THE RIVER !,;, Novel. BY Eden Philpotts; author
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company
Washington: Brentano's
Mr.. Phipotts is considered as among the
first few of the English novelists of today,
is styled by some critics as a true successor
to Blackmore in the sense in which that
writer is regarded in the light of his great
est work, and is hailed preserver of the
! elements in literature which Thomas Hardy
established in his earlier works. He has de-
voted himself to many themes, but none he
himself loves well those which per
tain to the region of the river Dart. That
stream is dominating note of this novel OF
the moorlands 1t inspires fear and rever-
ence and hatred and finally takes life. An
interesting character is presented in Sorrow
Scobhull who, born in the dark of his
mothers grief over the drowning of her
husband, is throughout life possessed by a
mania which causes him to haunt the
stream and to croak of disaster to come.
The story deals with the love affairs OF
Nicholas Edgecomb, a strong man, physi-
cally and morally, who lives a life of STAY
ing, being a warrener or keeper of rabbit
warren. He is tender and gentle withal and
believes in killing, when necessity de-
mands, humanely. The plot is complex, but
never burdensome. and the dialect
smoothed to a readable point. THE River
is refreshment. despite its insistent de-
mands upon the sympathies.
THE NEEI LES EYE. by Florence Morse Kings
ley, author of The TRANSPORTATION of Miss
Philura,' etc. Illustrated. New York: Funk
x Wagnalis Company.
This novel illustrates the truth of the say
ing that certain writers are qualified only
to write short stories, while others cannot
construct the shorter tales. Mrs. Kingsley
is exception in her construction of the
briefer bits of fiction Her "Transigura-
ton of Miss Philura" is excellent in con-
ception and construction But her Needles
Eye" falters In the pace. For a few chap
tiers it holds the interest, and then loses its
grasp. The theme is the duty of the rich
to the poor, but it requires a long discourse
to develop the situation from the finding
of a waif in his mothers arms in barn to
the final evolution of the man.