The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-29

iant IS pleasantly remembered as the Au- thor of some half a dozen romanees, all of which have achieved phenomenal sue cess and popularity. Her latest book is just from the press and bears the im- print of le0e. It is entitled 'rhe Wheel Of Life" and may very justly be regarded as her very best piece of work, for 1t records the full ripening Of her art and Is a new revelation of her unusual powers, It is not d story to race through for the sake of absorbing plot or incident. On the contrary, ' presents to ths render Q lumber of characters such as any reader might number azaong his or her personal friends, and through these characters the various phases of life sze portrayed which are not inaptly termed in the title, ''rhe Wheel of Life'
 There are no problems to be solved, but a presentmant of character delinea- ton that demands thoughtful and consid- crate attention. 1t is a book that needs to be read slowly in order that the sig
 nificance of the authors conception may be fully recognized. Heretofore tho scenes of Miss Glasgows stories have been laid in Virginia, but the scene of the present
 
 plex phases of life in the great metropo- lls and the brilliant frivolity of society are wonderfully portrayed. Her canvass is d broad one, and yet each character delineation is a masterpiece. It Is only short O. the marvellous that so young writer as Miss Glasgow could portray l with so much truthfulness and skill such diverse characters as Laura and Gerty | Bridewel, or Roger Adams and Arnold 1 Kemper. The hero is a magazine editor and q man of rare qualities and striking l Individuality. The heroine is poet, and | between them is involved a drama of vital and moving interest.
 "The Wheel of Iife'' Is a story In which
 the metaphysical is strongly dominant, 1 though developed, of course, most deli- ] cately and subtly. Possibly the dominant thought of the whole book may be found 1 in this paragraph Again he thought l of Laura, still under the troubled radi- ] ance of her illusion, and his heart dis i solved in sympathy, not for her only, but for all manl1ind-for Kemper, whom she 1 loved, for Gerty, for Connie, for Perry l Bridewell. They seek for happiness, but l it Is mine,' he thought; and because they seek 1t first it will keep away from them
 forever. It is not to be found in pleas ure nor in the desire of any object, nor
 in the fulfllment of any 1ove--for l. who
 have none of these things, am happier 1 than they
 "A Maker of History by E. Philips Op- 1 penheim.
 Published by Little, Brown & Go.
 At the other extreme from the styN,
 of work done by Miss Glasgow is MT. l Oppenheim' latest book, "A Maker of 1 History" And 1t must be a matter of
 taste and preference between the two !, methods of work. MT. Oppenheims story l is an intensely absorbing and fascinating
 enc of mystery and baftiing incidents. ] The reader is held spellbound with the l entanglirg march of events, even though 1 afterwards he may feel rebellious that ] such vagaries have absorbed him so com I pletely. The story is written with SC 1 swift a movement that it is difficult to
 lay 1t aside until 1t is finished.
 Mir. Oppenheim has taken few con
 spicuous, well-known political facts in
 the diplomatic and official life of Eng i land, France, Germany and Russia and
 has woven about them a really ingenious 1 and remarkable story. A complicated se- l rles of events follows upon two accidental 1 happenings that involve the secret police l of three countries in a maze of events 1 that is most bewildering in the plots and 1 counterplots. In fact the author seems l in at least two incidents to be so com ] pletely carried away by the possibilities that presented themselves to his fertile | imagination that he did not later quite I explain their raison detre satisfactorily. l However, all in all, 1t Is good, clever story, and will divert the world-weary reader and leave 8 pleasant memory with I him. and this is all that the majority of
 readers demand of their fiction.
 The news of William Sharps death in
 Sicily reached this country just as his | article on 'The Portraits of Keats" was l going to press in the February Century. | Quickly following the report of his death l came the announcement that the dead | essayist editor aud man of letters was the writer of the many notable contribu-
 tions to Celtic literature which have been l published under the name of Fiona Mac
 leod whose identity few had ever asso-
 ciated with William Sharp. In ''The Por- l traits of Keats" special attention Is given | to the portrait of Severn. After men, 1 tioning that the last words in Severn s
 diary were, "Fine weather at last" MT
 Sharp concluded his article by saying ] For the aged painter and the young
 poet, both long at rest together near the pyramid of Caius Cestius in the old Protestant cemtery in Rome, Fine wealth
 CT at last
 With the bicentennial of the birth of | Benjamin Franklin comes the announce l ment from Houghton, Miffhn & Co. lh1' l they have in preparation notable limit
 ed edition of Franklins autobiography, to
 be printed with the greatest care under
 the direction of MT. Bruce Rogers, and illustrated with famous portraits in pho { togravure. Tn style and excellence oi l topography and manufacture the volume
 vii lresempie "The Life of Cardinal Vol | seyj' by Cavendlsh, recently issued by this house. In this anniversary year 1 there could be no more fitting memorial to the many-sided Franklin than tnis | sumptuous edition of his autobiography
 which in itself is classic ranking witt three or four of the greatest achieve 1 ments in that form of literature. The
 eulogy which Franklin Is now receiving
 he well deserved, for he may justly bt
 called the first of American printers journalists, publishers; the first of Amer
 ican authors, humorlsts. philanthropists the first of American inventors, seien
 lists, philosophers the first of American
 politicians, diplomatists, statesmen.
 George Ade, who writes his publsheri
 that before long there'll be another bool
 to follow "In Babel" has had geogrsph
 cal honors conferred upon him. A town
 a railroad station and postoGf1ce have beer
 named after him. Future maps of New
 ton county, Indiana will show the nan'
 of "Ade." six miles north of Kentland
 on the Indian Harbor railroad George
 Ade has been putting the fortune his wi
 has earned him Into good, solid American
 hand, and near the location of this new
 town owns a large and fourishing farm