Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-17

touApetitlon IpT the manu- Ol tIic usA ceS
have all the amusing qualities Of Mr.. jack
sons earlier book.
THE ROAD IN TUSCANY; Commentary. BA
Maurice Hewlett illustrated. In two volumes.
New York; The Macmillan Company. Wash
fngton: Brentano's
Mr.. Hewlett remarks in a foot note to his
.'perambulatory remarks" which serve as
preface: ut Is worthy Of remark that
the moment travelling by road ceased, the
writing of good books ceased also. 1 be-
lieve Mr.. Howells wrote the last of them"
Which is certainly not true, for this is it
self present refutation of the charge Mr..
Hewlett has not been spoiled by the trains,
SO that he can no longer take the road in
person or in mind and wander leisurely
through the country and the towns and
meet people on their own ground. He has
not been cramped In his outlook by the
whirl of flying landscape so that he falls
to understand that travel means deliber-
ate progression, from hilltop to hilltop, and
viewpoint to viewpoint, and peasant to
peasant, rather than from city to city, and
country to country. In THE Road in
Tuscany he has demonstrated the art of
expressing the true spirit Of a region, its
history, its literature its art, its people, its
traditions and it's poetic atmosphere, with
out resortng to the methods of the guide
book writer's. He calls his work "a COM
panion of Tuscan travel, q leisurely, SEN
tentiouS commentary upon the country,
and he bases his effort to produce such
work upon the conviction that one does not
get to know a country by seeing the great
towns of it, and that whatever the history,
fine arts, monuments and institutions, the
best product OF a land is always It's people,
who have themselves produced those
other pleasant spectaces."
The work is in two volumes, as BELTS It's
character. A two-volume book Is always
for lelsurely reading, never for the hur-
rted man. 1t is profusely and beautifully
illustrated, as Is also appropriate to any
work on Tuscany, with its pictorial wealth.
1t Is replete with notes and appendices, as
suits book which is certain to stimulate
research and travel. 1t is, finally, written
iii a vein of appreciation for the land and
its story, and its people, and this also is
praiseworthy, for the best guide of all Is he
who is in sympathy with the object of his
discourse, and does not see 1t as a censor or
a severe critic. Viewed as a work Of liter
ature Mr.. Hewletts volumes will take high
rank. Viewed artistically they are entitled
to a front place with the product of the
presses this year.
LITTLE MISS DEE. BY Roswell Field. New York:
Fleming H. Reven Company.
Mr.. Roswell Field has his own way of
telling story, way that leads straight to
the heart of the reader and is just a little
different from any other way. 1t is the
same way in prose that his gifted brother
had in verse. He likes, too, to tell stories
about the same kind Of people, thus in a
fashion playing favorites," as the YER
nacular runs. His characters are usually
gentle folks. gentle of soul If not part of
the great fashionable world which is
prone to misuse the word. His "Ballinger,"
for an instance, was a typical Field crea-
ton. Little Miss Dee Is another. Brave little
woman, stoutly holding to the old family
tradition that a hero would some day ap-
pear among the Dees, and ignorant the
while of the process which was steadily
making a heroine out of herself. True, the
old witch who uttered the prophecy on
which the tradition was based did use the
masculine form. but that may have been for
the sake of the meter in her versified
oracle. It was, of course, hardly fair to
Miss Dee that those around her should have
failed in their duty and thus saddened her
life and vested her with responsibilities
which she should never have borne But 1t
was that neglect and i'll treatment which
forged the heroic metal.
THE CHRISTIAN OPPORTUNITY; being Sermons
and Speeches Delivered in America. BY Randall
Thomas Davidson; Archbishop Of canterbqEy
Company. Washington: Brentanos.
1t is unfortunate that the archbishop of
Canterbury was not persistently followed
throughout his recent tour of the United
States by a stenographer, to permit the re-
production of all of his speeches, sermons
and addresses. AS it Is, he is now enabled.
upon request, to supply his many friends
in this country with only partial report
of his utterances, as souvenir of what
proved to be a wholly delightful and UNI
mistakably profitable and important vista
ton. Utilizing the best of the newspaper
reports of his speeches and sermons he has
compiled the small volume now In hand,
which includes thirteen items, one of which,
it IS gratifying to note, is the "salutatton
delivered by the archbishop in this city
September %.
-Four Feathers Illustrated. New York:
Harper & Brothers
The story of the fortunes of young man
and his wife living with the overbearing
father of the husband. Driven by sense
of dependency and shame to seek his own
fortune abroad, the husband leaves the wife
defenseless against the intrigues of an adj
venturer. but returns in time to save i'm
pending disaster. The fortunes of the hus-
band carry him into many adventures. as
a trawler on the North ga and a soldier of
the French legion in the deserts of Algeria
A DEFECTIVE SANTA CLAUS. By James Whit
comb Riley. Illustrated by c. NJ. Relyea and
WIN yawter. Indians polls: The Bobbs-M er-
rill Company.
A brand-new Riley poem Is always
treat, and here Is one, seasonable well IL
Illustrated, and lacking nothing of the famtl-
lar flavor of his Hoosier folk verses. 1t tells
a Santa Claus story in the language of the
small boy who has often served as Mr..
RiIey's medium of communication, whose
Uncle Sidney has already become a dear,
familiar friend of large circle of people.
gIR BEVILL. By Arthur Christopher Thyme. Il
lustrated New York: John Lane.
A story of life and manners in England in
1900, with a thread of love and adventure
running through 1t.
AMERICAN WIVES AND OTHERS. BY Jerome K
Jerome author of Tile Idle Thoughts of
Idle Fellow &C. Illustrated. New York.
Frederick A. Stokes Company. Washington
Brentanos.
Everybody knows Mr. Jeromes style. He
maintains it at high pitch of cleverness In
this collection of -monologues upon num-
Der of subjects. into which he throws his
stock of humor and satire. The opening
chapter on American Wives a la Mode
| is keen satire upon the American women
who leave their husbands and traipse over
Europe for years at a time. They are more
to be pitied than widows, in Mr. Jerome's
estimation. and the husbands who permit 1t
are held up to Scorn.