Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-08

titled "a Poetsin India" the vicomte d'Hu-
mieres testifies to his appreeition of Kip
lings force and yirfsity. Further he finds
in him an esthetic response. which speaks
well for his own breadth and range.
Although the treatment is nowhere an
alytical, a penetrating intelligence is felt
throughout. He writes of the English:
''They take only in moderation the wine of
general ideas with which Germany intox-
icates herself SELF, - They are race OF
(the army ofieer} onlprinciple, because you
must be proud of something when you're
an Englishman Again he says of the
race. with some wit. Love represents to 1t
distraction which can be lodged by means
of sport and work AS Kipling puts it,
There are few things more interesting
I than to see ones country from without.
The descriptions of India are fun of poetic
beauty. The writer Is especially sensitive
cestral tongue, more delicious than the
fruit of the mango tree, - he quotes from
young Hindoo poet. "for in the mango
| there is stone, and Sanskrit is all sweet
ness
THE HOUSE OF THE BLACK RING.
BY Fred Lewis Pattee. New York:
Henry Holt & Co. Washington: Will
liam Ballantyne & Sons.
Here is an unusual combination of the
weird and the humorous in a tale of life
in the Pennsylvania mountains where the
Dutch do chiefly abide. 1t shows the
conditions of life in the Seven Mountains,
where for many years a Hartswick has
squirrel it over the farmer folk until they
have become wholly subservient to the in
| f1uence of the reigning member of the fam
| lily. In the remote past feud was born
| between the Hartswicks and the Hellers
| because Hartswick caused the eviction of
the original Heller from the land he claim
ed under a valid grant. This tale relates
to the elimination of the feud, after many
years. in a series of tragedies and the solu-~
ton of mystery that had long centered
about the original log hut of the first of
the Hellers. Mr.. Pattee reproduces the
peculiar dialect of these Pennsylvania
Dutch farmers skillfully and with a subtle
appreciation of their idioms. He weaves
into his absorbing and often thrilling tale
several threads of matter of a more or less
extraneous character as when he describes
a moonlight race between fast horses over
a snow-covered mountain road, butch
erin,' " "fiittin' or farm moving, and a
forest fire. This last is a dramatic cpl
sode which does Mr.. Pattee exceptional
credit in the restraint of his treatment and
the effectiveness of his climaXes.
THE FIRST wARDENs; and Other
Poems. By William J. Neidig. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
Washington: Brentanos.
These hundred pages present a number of
serious themes intelligently handled and
expressed in verse of considerable fullness,
but the style is self-conscious and lacking
in spontaneity. "a Woman's Ring" is a
sonnet sequence in which the method of
Mrs Browning is somewhat closely fol-
lowed. In the poem from which the volume
derives it's name there is a reflection of
Milton. At times Keats is suggested. The
writer. is a student of good poetry, but
lacks the Individual note.
AN AMERICAN GIRL IN MUNICH; I'm
pressions of a Music Student. BY
Mabel w. Daniels. Boston: Little,
Brown & Co.
Is it national vanity and only that, or is
there a breezy significance in the phrase,
American girl2" Surely at home and
abroad she stands for a kind Of contagious
enthusiasm. an attractive vitality. Here,
she is the music student describing her life
in Munich to an American friend. The let
| ters or sketches, are brightly written and
full of unaffected good humor. The follow
ing Is characteristic:
I'D give every pfennig in my possession
to walk into your study today and take you
by surprise. In fact I have stopped in the
very midst of my orchestraton lesson TO
tell you so. My chord of the seventh is I'M
resolved, my flutes and oboes are hanging
in midair. and my horns are blowing away
on the fifth, all because a wave Of the in
describable swept over me, and l simply
had to throw down my pencil and talk to
your!
An Interesting professional atmosphere is
suggested throughout, and the musical
comments are racy and well worth reading.
The fascination of character-study asserts
itself despite the absorbing technicalities of
fugue and sonata, and the observations are
frank and amusing, with touches of seri-
BUSINESS now and then, and frequent appre-
ciative illusions to personalities prominent
in the world of music
THE CANDIDATE; Political Romance.
By Joseph A. AltSheler. New York:
Harper & Brothers.
1t is difficult to know just what Mr.. Alt
sheler intended to offer in this story of
American politics. a description of things
as they are, or of things as they may be
some day. 1t is not difficult to reach the
conclusion that if the former was his pur-
pose he has failed to accomplish it, for
there was never political campaign in
this country like that which forms
the basis for "The Candidate Per-
haps that of 1896 did offer the one
resemblance that the candidate then,
as in this story, toured the coun-
try from end to end in a speechmaking
venture. But that man was beaten, where
as Mr.. Altsheler's candidate is elected. And
elected, too, by combination which in
cluded in his column the votes of Alabama,
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania! And on
the strength of the candidates anti-tarif
policies! 1t is a genuine puzzle that the
author has offered. It is worth reading
for that alone And there are other de-
tails in the puzzle than those suggested that
make it interesting. For instance, why
did Mr.. Heathcote. member of the ma
tional committee of the candidates party !
remain out west at the candidates home
on election day, when he should have been
in his own state rounding up the voters
and casting his ballot? And why did not
some kind telegraph company give the cam
didate the use of special wire for the re-
ceipt of bulletins, instead of forcing him
to depend upon two interminable lines of
messenger boys, who in their goings and
comings election night, trod trails in the
candidates carpet
But If it was extraordinary campaign, |
wi hea rd- ending it