Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21

adjust himself to situations. escaping
from a seemingly certain death at the
gates of the Abbaye prison, where the
mob acted as executioners for all who
We're condemned by the court sitting
within; Javogues, leader of the Mar
settles. savage, Unsuitable, fanatically
patriotic; Cramoisin. Jambony and Boud-
goust. the villainous tapidures or spies !;
lie Corbeau and Sans -Chagrin. Desson-
ViIles shadows; Louison. the illegitimate
daughter of the PUBLIC executioner. in
whose blood flows the terrible faint of
blood lust which makes her the most
faithful of the attendants upon the gull
lotlne-these are few of the interest ting
and forbidding figures Mr.. Johnson has
created, giving the story vitality and con-
slant action and variety. He has, as is
usual in the case of young writer deal
ing with such scenes. allowed himself at
times somewhat too much indulgence in
description of the horrors of the terror
but these lapses are not fragrant. The
story appeals to a higher motive than the
desire for sensation. for it offers an abb
sorbing psychological problem growing
directly out of the great overturning of
social conditions
SUNNY SICILY; It's Rustcs and its Ruins Ry
MIS- AiecaIweedie. author of Mexico as | Saw
It." Sc Illustrated New York The Macmillan
Company. Washington Brentanos
Mrs. Tweedie is an interchangeable traveller
and an equally interchangeable writer She
has the faculty of presenting the people of
Nt' lstilNAS SIlS VISITS NlNlUly ana IN sharp
outlines She colors her landscapes with
natural tones and gives her readers clear
impressions of the individuality of each
land she touches. But in Sunny Sicily
she has written much more than her ma
terial warranted. and the book is conse-
quently over-bulky, made so by the in
clusion of much that Is uninteresting and
by a peculiar delight in retracing her steps,
Thus, i'll describing how she and her
Granny went to Sicily in January be-
cause the old lady discovered that she could
travel from Paris to Palermo by train with
out change of cars, the author has world
of difficulty in finally landing her reader in
the metropolis of the sunny island Rut
once there she plunges into the middle of
things and gives confusing because ILL
arranged assortment of facts historical and
sociological. regarding Sicilian life. Com
ndence IN Mrs. TWeedie ) powers of literal
rendering is shaken by her description of a
young woman whom she encounters while
trying to get her luggage ready for a boat
trip. She was born a Sicilian and lived in
that Island until she was seven or eight
years old when her parents moved to
America. After seventeen years they re-
turned to their native land. and their
daughter is presented as a veritabIe Yam
kee. with an extraordinary mixture of Sec
tional dialects, a combination of New En-
gland. southern and western. and without
a trace of the tongue of her childhood But
X.
In her own manner the author shows how
the Slcilians live. how they gamble and
dance. and particularly what they eat She
describes the ruins. tells of the lottery evil
which has gripped the island and treats
entertalningly of the Mafia-which she con-
ctudes Is rather sentiment than an or
ganizauon-and of brigandage which.
though IN large measure suppressed vet
remains an actual reminder of the days of
Sicilian lawlessness. The book is hand
somely and profusely illustrated from ex-
cellent photographs
GREsELDA. By Marian E. Grey Boston: Herbert
b. Turner K Company.
Little Greselda grips the heart as do few
book children. This orphaned girl /,
sent TO the care of a maiden aunt who has
no more conception of how to manage and
comfort and love such charge than OF
the proper handling of a wild creature OF
the woods. But Greselda teaches her aunt
the way to love and tenderness, uncon-
sciously leading her into a fuller life and a
softer disposition. She is strange little
creature, moody and retrospective and her
seIf-study is admirably depicted TIE
author is a newcomer in the book field and
gives rich promise of excellent work Sine
has offered in this dainty little story study
which shows that she possesses rare pow
or Of discrimination and an understanding
OF child nature rarely expressed. The book
is daintity bound and Will make many
friends.
THE STORY OF THE VIOLIN. BY Paul Stoeying
professor of violin Mt the GuiIdhan Schoo
Of Music. London: author of The Art of Vic
lin Bowing.'' Illustrated New York: I'm
ported by Charles Scrfbner's Sons. Washington
woodward * Lothrop.
Only ardent lover of the violin anf
one adept in it's use could have written 81
enthusiastically. so interestingly and so in
structively of the instrument. from ths
point of view of its history, it's meanina
and its possibilities. Prof. Stoeving tell
the story chronologically. tracing the de