Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-07
NEW PUBLICATIONS
THE EPIC OF THE wHEaT-THE PIT; Story
Of Chicago. By Frank Norris. New York
Doubleday. Page Go. Washington: VIM. Bal
y LIANT Som L 81. = l :


Doubleday. Page & Co. Washington: VIM. Bal
lantyne Sons. . l.
Frank Norris death last autumn closed
a career of exceptional promise. After the
production Of some comparatively unim-
portant fiction he had entered upon an en-
terprise Of magnitude, no less than the
writing of a great American prose epic.
1t was an attractive theme, worthy of a
high ambition, and Norris first story in
the series of three, of which 1t was to be
composed, was greeted as distinct
achievement in American letters. Aside
from the economic interest which 1t awak-
ened as the story of the growing of the
wheat and an exposition of the methods OF
the combinations affecting the farmers well
fare, 1t had positive literary merit. Then.
in scheduled order, came the second novel,
THE Pit" which. after serial produc-
ton, has just been Issued in book form.
1t tells of the marketing of the wheat, of
the great machine of finance which Is in
yolved in the distribution Of the grain.
Naturally 1t Is story Of Chicago, and 1t
deals with characteristic brokers and spec
ulators of that great wheat-dealing center.
It shows how corners" are manipulated
and how they are broken; how he men who
attempt them invariably fail because they
must sooner or later sell the wheat they
have bought and thus bring down the price
The man in whose fortunes the story deals
is one of these. and his portrait Is drawn
There Is perhaps too much love story in the
novel; too obvious an attempt to make the
wheat-cornering phases of the scheme ap-
pear as incidentals of a romance. But the
love story is nevertheless anrinteresting one,
and it might be greeted as well worth the
books single effort. Some Of the parts of
the story seem hurriedly done.
The third number of the trifogy will never
be produced, unless some one is willing to
take up the work interrupted by Death and
finish it. That third story was to be called
''The Wolf as descriptive of the hunger
of the hordes in Europe dependent for their
bread upon the American grains. Its dra-
matte possibilities seem even more intense
than those of 1.-THE Octopus and 1.-The
PITT
author Of Gods Prisoner etc. New York:
A. Vessels Company. Washington: Vim. Bal
lantyne Sons.
Second in intensity of action to the Revo-
luton of 1790, the experience Of Paris dur
ing the Franco-Prussian war affords an
exceptional setting for a novel which deals
in the rather anatomical facts Of life and
death. FLOWERS Of the Dust Is not classed
by it's author as an historical novel. That
is to say. it does not include an historical
episode as leading feature Of the .construc-
ton and involve the participation Of per-
sonages known to fame. But 1t does take
all its color-which is chiefly the color Of
moils of the commune. Its plot is laid in
church intrigue and murderous assaults,
and involves a remarkable series of disas-
tiers and tragedies, until the reader is left
to wonder when the end of the shocks will
be reached. That end finds its happy ex-
preston in three marriages and the reunion
Of a couple long separated. While 1t cannot
be called great literary success. FLOWERS
Of the Dust must be counted as one of
the most thrilling novels Of the period.
Illustrations by Reginald B. Birch. New York:
Dodd, Mead Co.
This story is founded upon the following
sentiment, which occupies one Of the fly
leaves: "In youth we dream that life is a
straight line; later we know it to be a
circle in which the present presses on the
future, the future on the past" 1t is new
and interesting working out of the theory
of compensations and reactions and retri-
buttons and rewards. 1t reveals the po-
tencies possessed by trif1es when those
A young girl in London, daughter Of a
Russian Jew curio dealer, rescues mis-
shapen lad from rowdy pursuers, who have
robbed and then beat ten him. Through him
as medium she finds her greatest happi-
ness and meets her greatest trials, suffers
her greatest griefs and finally wins her
rich reward. An unusual character Is in
troduced In Mrs. aMaxstead, a promoter,
genius, and, persuading her by threats
against the young fugitive, who fears pros
ecution for the loss of jewels which had
been given in his charge; for delivery, Sc
cures her as charge and develops her as
a great stage star. The story's abrupt end
leaves open wide field for speculation.
CALVERT OF STRATHORE. By Carter Goodloe.
Frontispiece by Howard Chandler Christy New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Washington
VIM. Ballantyne & Sons.
The bonnet rouge" which surmounts
the cover design on this novels binding
stamps it as story of the revolution-rid-
den France of eleven decades ago. A sin
gle red star in the design suggests a pos
sfble American complication. The story
within the covers bears out these POSSIBLE
tiles. 1t is the tale of young American
diplomatic officer stationed in Paris during
the Terror. He falls In love with naughty
daughter of the nobility, the quickly wild
owed bride Of an elderly marquis, and later
an attendant upon Queen Marie Antoinette.
The story turns chiefly upon Lafayettes
final abortive effort to secure the escape of
the king and the queen from Paris, in the
forwarding Of which young Calvert plays