Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-19

parting from the scene of her best achieve
ments. There areoho' specially plain traces
Oh actual biography In these tales, althoush
uouptless they are based upon actuai nap
penings ana the characters can wthout
question be recognized types OF the pussy
world behind the footlights.
THE UNDERcURREET.f By Robert Grant, =, Illus. |
scrisner oy sons C. YShn New Woodward
Lothrop.
Mr.. Grants presentation Of the divorce |
problem puts another phase OF the case
than that which a few months ago was
given form in the novel, HE That Eateth
Bread with Me-" In the latter work was
shown the evil of a. too easy system OF
separations. to the exclusion OF the rights
of wholly innocent people. In TINS mover
is offered the proposition that divorce
is sometimes the only release possible 1or
the innocent from wrongs inflicted by
others. A. contrast is afforded between the
divorce question as it affects the middle
classes and the higher ranges of society.
A typical Newport matrimonial mix-up,
such as is unfortunately not altogether I'M
Usual, throws into sharp relief the pllsht OF
a young woman whose husband has shame
fully deserted her to fight her own oattie
after stripping her of all her means. she
finds rich friends who put her in the
way of earning her own living. Her en-
make her his wife. She refuses on the
score that her marriage is indissolupie
save by the death of her husband: Ills
arguments are as naught against the in
fiuence of her clergyman and some OF ner
friends. The unhappy woman at last ylelos
to her love and agrees to take the steps
which will legally separate her from !ne
recreant husband. Mr.. Grant tells MS
story somewhat haltingly, fault perhaps
due to its preparation as serial, put there
is no lack of compelling interest IN lts Gil
max. Whether 1t will serve more than IL
purpose of entertainment rests with It's
readers. If their views of divorce coinclae
with those given dominant emphasis IN the
book it will perhaps supply them with Iresh
arguments.
BITS OF GOSSIP. By Rebecca Harding Davis au-
thor of ''Silhouettes of American Life. &c
Boston: Houghton, Mfiin & Co. washington:
William Ballantyne & Sons
Mrs. Davis store of "reminiscences Is well
filed, for she has led an active, obserVant
life, covering a span CT over seventy-three
years. AS a girl she lived on the border
between the slave and free states and saw
many exciting episodes of the great strug-
gle between the sections. Her personal &C
ouaintance with the men and women of
mark in the nation has been unusually ex-
tensive, and in this book she tells, without
any attempt at consecutive effect other
than the natural association of IDEAS, some
the stories she has heard about them. That
she could write a much larger book of this
kind without exhausting her fund is evil
dent from a reading of the pages. She
has sketched her anecdotes briefly ana
leaves her readers ready for more. In one
of the chapters she tells of a visit she PAID
to Oliver Wendell Holmes. and her de-
scription of him is one of the most me-
like word portraits ever drawn. she also
tells of Hawthorne, the Alcotts, Blame, roe,
J.vr.:A- mt a
other celebrities in a chatty style that
throws clear side light upon the person.
alties. A chapter on the shipWreckeo
crew. deals with the fotsam and jetsam OF
humanity encountered by Mrs. Davis. the
rogues, adventures and beggars. One OF
the most interesting of these characters was
the notorious Evangeline GaSpare, who fol-
lowed Moody and Sankey over the country
and attracted international attention by
her exploits
NANCY's COUNTRY CHRISTMAS; and Other sto-
res. By Eleanor Hoyt author of The Msde-
meaners of Nancy; FrontisPiece by Anna W he
Washington: William Ballantyne Sons.
When Nancy made mistake and got off
at the wrong station in a snow storm and
was driven to the wrong house and kissed
by the wrong man. who thought he was
kissing his sister of course Situation
created. Just how it eventuated the
gentle reader is allowed to guess in his own
ing this cryptic story about Nancy, come
nine others all cheerful, all provocative of
good humor all tending to persuade those
who have the good fortune to read them
that all's well with the world, even if there
are few bumps and delays. This delecta-
Bile collection of short stories. some of which
have already appeared in print, is given an
exquisite setting, with cover that is alone
an attraction.
CAPTAINS OF THE WORLD. BY Gwendolyn
Overton. author of Anne CARMEL &c. New
York: The Macmillan Company. Washington:
Brentanos.
The daughter of the president of a
looking at the fiery scene in one of her
fathers mills, and saw workman draw
his opened shirt across his barred chest
He, alone, of all those in that great place
of heated activity, knew her personally.
They had been playmateS in the days when
her father was himself a worker in the
mills, before he had won his fortune and
risen to a commanding position in the in
dustral world. That opens the story. 1t
ends with the engagement of these two to
marry. Between the beginning and the
end stretches a long course of Incidents,
tragic and thrilling. That workman was
of a big type He had in him the captain
like quality. 1t expressed itself finally in
the form of a leadership over workingmen,
a leadership making for good. Miss Over
ton has finely contrasted the two classes
of labor leaders, the firebrand- corruption
list, who talks violence while his pocket
holds the pribe of the employer and the
honest worker for good ends, seeking al
ways to find the common plane of mutual
understanding and interest upon which the