Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-15

means of expanding the text The author
cordially dislikes to leave anything to the
readers imagination Thus-to cite slight,
but Illustrative instance-on page - she
says, of her hero: Ten years. however, had
passed since John Walden had bought the
living, and of these ten years three hao
been occupied in the restoration of the
church. so that seven had elapsed since II
had been consecrated." John Walden is IN
charge of the parish of st. Rest. and is
greatly disturbed when he finds that MISS
Vaneourt is coming to take possession Vi
the manor mouse, of which she Is mistress.
Then the reader gets his cue that Mr.. wal
den, despite his forty years and his serious
celibacy. is going to love Miss Fancouft-
1t is inevitable. Miss CorelH generously
grants this foreiSnowledge in the case or
her heroes and heroines. OF villains there
are several, Oliver Leach, the wicked agent
of the VancOurt estate, who tries to murder
the heroine; Lord RoXmouth who wants TO
marry Miss Vancourt for her aunts money,
and who finally has to marry the aunt her
self Sir Morton Pippett, an spstart knight,
who aids and abets the Roxmouth con-
spiracy: a fat clergyman, who SANDERS the
young woman, and some crudely drawn
types of women of the London smart set,
who are also in the great Roxmouth plot.
1t is, taken altogether, a characteristic Co
reli story. of the sort that gives good
measure and running over of dialect and
plot, character and scenery, incidental mis-
cry and eventual happiness
Greene. author of Vesty Of the Basins &c.
New York; The Baker & Taylor Company.
Washington: William Ballantyne Sons.
Deacon Lysander Morse and his good wife
Candace come down to Washington from
their New Hampshire farm in search of
gaiety and happiness. They select the
capital city for these reasons, as expressed
by Candace:
Everybody knows that Boston is sad
thoughtful G
home. ] want real trip. New York is too
wicked to have any real joy. Paris, of
course, is the gayest place in the world,
but we shouldn't think of going there. But
I've always heard that Washington, ID. c.,
is the most like Paris of any city in Amer
ica only more innocent and Puritan in its
pleasures
So they choose Washington and find lodge
ment in the spacious house which serves
the Misses Dove as the home of a fashion,
able boarding school for girls. They have
only three pupils and plenty of ROOM and
there the MorseS are taken in, figuratively
as well as literally for the Doves are no
less than dead-beatS and their school
tragic pretense 1t is to be hoped that Mrs.
Greene does not regard her picture OF
boarding-school life in Washington as
type or her characters as representatives.
There are some internal evidences that she
does not know Washington in the fuIIness
of it's routine of life. She more than once
tells about the impatient calls of the gas
man. for his money, apparently ignorant
of the fact that no Washington gas bill
ever runs beyond the final day of colec-
ton. Other little slips of geography, such
the location at Chevy Chase of a great
race track patroniZed by the betting pub
lie. suggest a lack of acquaintance with
such affairs or a desire to conceal the real
traces of the elderly Morses in their peri
CARNATIONS in search of gafety and happf-
ness. But the story itself is interesting
and touching. The yelling generosity and
kindness of the old man and his wife are
unmistakable and need local color to
heighten their impressivenesS.
pEBoENAIRE By William FarquEar Payson. IL
Illustrated by Thomas Fogarty New York: Ne
Clurc. Phillips & Co. Washington: Woodward
& Lothrop.
Mr.. Payson has very evidently written
this story with the stage in view and has
tried to render easy the task of the
dramatist who undertakes it's transfer to
the boards. He divides his plot sharply
into what may be styled four acts and six
scenes. The curtains rise upon well-set in
teriors, save in one instance, where it is
plainly the purpose of the author that the
action shall occur in what is technically, in
stage parlance, known as number one,'
showing the exterior of the gates of New
Amsterdam in the old Dutch days. In con-
sequence of this dramatic setting the tale
moves forward mechanically, with the stage
devices creaking loudly now and then to
distract the reader Louis de Cadillac
otherwise known Debonnaire, loves a
miniature, thinking 1t to be the portrait of
a woman long dead. He learns that it is
in fact the face of the niece of the French
agent at New Amsterdam, and, being then
in Quebec. vows that he will win her by
Christmas, and wagers heavily with the
governor that he will present himself with
his afflanced at dinner on that day OF
course he does it, or there would be no
story-and no play. Just how he does it
rests with Mr.. Payson to tell 1t is a
sometimes thrilling tale, and would be such
throughout if the reader could lose the per-
ststent impression of footlghts and painted
backgrounds.
COMPROMISES ddl By Agnes Repplier, Litt.D. Bos-
William Baantyne d Sons.
Miss Agnes Repplier is always sure of an
appreciatfve audience whenever she sets
OF facts and fances before the world in
the form of volume of essays. She is to-
day one of the few writers distinctly recog-
nized for the production of that difficult
form of expression, now so seldom invoked.
Such essays as she produces require wide
reading in lines little affected today by the
crowd, discriminating memory and a
rare power of utilization. But above all is
needed a sense of humor. to turn the mir
ror mercury side out and show thereon the
true inwarduess of a situation a foble.
In these her latest writings she deals in a
delightful and Characteristic manner with