Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-21
TIE SPUR; or. TIL,

u
erne. BY G.. B. Lancaster author OF
Sons o. Men" New York: Doubleday,
Page & Co. Washington: Woodward
& Lothrop.
&c. b. Lancaster" is one OF the Ihys-
teries Of the literary world today. lie OF
she-there is doubt even OF the seX-per-
sists In an emphatic refusal to furnish tife
public with any facts of q biographical OF
personal nature. Such thing as por-
trait has been refused the publishers. u
y. Lancaster" prefers to remain in Sc
clusion. But the books turned out from
the pen of this retiring Individual are good
enough to justify any amount OF selt-aS-
sertion It seems a pity that one who can
produce so powerful a novel as The Spur
should decline TO meet the public. There
Is "a Kipllngesque quality to it, a genuine
suggestion OF the same force and dramatic
genius which may be discerned in all or the
works by the author of kim
'"The SPUR is a combination of Austria
lis. New Zealand and Samoa IL saVors
of the rough lands. II smells of the sheep
sheariug sheds. Il rcCRs of the Tankly Tich
forests of the Pacific islands The atmos-
pnerc vbrates from the first page. Inc
moment Kin Severne steps into view ana
begins the talk with Hadd!ngton, dealer IN
al things from COCoanuts TO human beings,
the reader feels that powerful factors are
ct work 10 make a thrilling story Nm
Severnc binds himself to Haddington TOT
a term of years. HaddingtCn Is TO educate
the Young man and develop his literary
talents and is 10 divide the prohts from
the work he may DO later IT SeFeThe
falls TO make good at the end OF spec
flied time he is to belong TO Haddington,
body and soul. for another stretch Of years.
The tale is too complex to sketch. Brlehy
tod. 10 leads up 10 this situation; SeVerne
IS set down on samoa as manager of HAD
dinetUu's plantation with his young wife,
ff.rs mas d a
isheS a brutal ovcrsecr, who is especially
favored by the owner for whipping native
women. 10 rct8iiate. Haddington assigns
SeVerue to duty on a leper island in the
group. lie faces his duty to his pledge
and goes. although il is practically TO MS
death SIM the wife hopes for his re-
turn-for she does not know.
1t is "a story to grip the heart. to make
the breath come faster, to cause shudders
10 course along the spine. It is powerful.
Weir Mitchell. MD. LID. New York;
The Century Company.
Who can resist a man who says; Il like
her looks" and 10 his friend who protests
that he had never seen her. replies: No,
but the most beautiful woman is always
the one ] never saw" He will make his
way anywhere. even TO the heart of the
most obdurate reader of fiction. This man
Merton led his friend Greville, attac-le of
the American legation at Paris during the
civil war, a lively pace in his effort to meet
and help the woman he had never seen.
She had stumbled upon vastly important
documents relating to the intrigue to cause
France to recognize the cOnfederacy. Her
loyalty, she being an American, caused her
10 secrete the papers. In the search for
them by the French government GreViHe
and Merton were involved and finally par
ticipated in a bit of patriotic burglary, with
ar amusing duel episode on the side. Dr.
Mitchell Is i'm his best vein in this short Bit
of fiction. which gives a glimpse of the
complications of diplomacy in the dark
days of the early sixties, when the northern
cause seemed 10 be desperate. There Is
suggestion of scientific anachronism on
page o., where Merton declares: The mos
quitoes illustrate the proverb; only the fe-
males bite" Had the entomologists dis
covered this truth in 1862?
THE GHOSTS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.
BY Weymer Jay Mills. author of Car
oliue of Courtlandt Street Illustrat-
ed by John Rae New York; Fox, Duff
field q Co.
Pulled with family pride and assured So
claI and financial position. Jonathan Knick-
erbocker disdained the suit OF a young mu-
sician for the hand OF his youngest daugh-
ter. His sisters scorned the youth. The
girl was in danger of being disowned, as
had been an earlier beauty OF the knicker-
booker family Then appeared the ghost
OF that unhappy reat-great-gra ndnother
and led the whole family, trembling lovers
and naughty father and frowning aunts
and scoruful sisters, into the long disused
state dining room of the old New York
mansion, and there presented a whole troop
OF Shades. They were the ancestors OF
the Knlckerbockers. They were a keen dis
appointment. Rihald anu ragged some
Of them We're a positive disgrace to the
name. They danced and yelled in derision
Of the pretenses Of their descendants. They
exploded the pet family theories and shat
tered the carefully built-up regulations of
bellies and beauN Of the past. Smash went
the Knickerbocker pride And as the echoes
OF the Easter bells died away there seemed
to sound in the air he first suggestion of
wedding bells. Mr.. Mills has managed to
maze this ghost party very entertaining.
CREATURES THAT ONCE WE'RE MEN.
BY Maxim Gorky. Translated from
the Russian by J. X. NJ. Shirazi, with
introduction by 6. K. Chesterton. New
York. Funk * Wagnalls Company.
It was Inevitable that coincidental with
the visit of Gorky 20 the United States
should come a reissue OF his works This
short story IS a typical example of his
sryie. vivid. dramatic, coarse and shock
lap He tells the tale Of Russian degrade
lion with the same degree Of direct de
z.rlptiou regardless OF the nicet!es Of taste
winch ChaFacterizcs Zola's stories. He
shocks his reader continually, and some
times his point is lost in the fifth he ex-
poses to render the atmosphere Of his mar
fative stronger. It is all rOughness. some
times with degree OF reckiessness that
cannot zoe compreheuded BY western read
ers.
VIE ELECTORAL SYSTEM OF THE
UNITED STATES It's History. To-
gether with "a study Of the Perils That
Have Attended Its Operations, an
Analysis Of the Several Efforts by
Legislation to Avert These Perils and
a Proposed Remedy by Amendment OF
the Constitution. By J. Hampden
Dougberty. New York: @. =. Putnam's
Sons Washington. Woodward * Lo-
thr0p
Mr. Dougherty has undertaken a most
important work which calls for serious
consideration by American statesmen. The
fact that no actual crisis has occurred in
this country in consequence OF the made
quacies OF the electoral system, which has
long since outgrQwn its original limitations
and has been dangerously adjusted by stat
ute and common understanding TO meet
evolving conditions. does not lessen the
vital need Of a pernaaueut change which