Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-06

Youth. BY Harvey ]. OHiggins. au-
thor of The Smoke Eaters we"
York: The Century Company
e, No one who reads Don Abrams can
fall to think of Sentimental Tommy. In
Barrie's hands, with ell its charm and I'M
failing humor, the presentation OF the ma
ture OF the artist leaves something to be
desired. Tommys sentimentalism includes
much of an authors egotism. of his con-
seriousness of technique and his double
mindedness Lest the impression grow
that such a type is the whole artist, Dom
Abrams, sweet sincere. impractical IDEAL
ist comes as an antidote. Donald Gregg,
unlike Tommy who laughs at every one,
is that type of poet whose dreaming fancy
quite units him for the realities OF lie,
and he is, therefore, the butt for the
laughter of every one. But In the end
while Tommy desecrates our dreams. Don
awakens us to new Ideals. He is the niener
type of artist; for Tommys characterlstics
lead him always self consciously to watch
the objective effects Of his pretending,
while unconscious Don. making believe,
is carried away by the reality or ms SUD
jectve vision and utterly lost In MS "or-
ship of beauty.
From III. establishment of lost fairies
and belief in Santa Claus. the boy Don
finds all the certainties OF MS visions cen
tering about the child Margaret. whom
chance meetings present as source OF
ever increasing wonderment and inspira-
ton From her all his spiritual nature
during the apparently barren years of his
boyhood Is constantly fed and ripened, and
ali his ideas of beauty receive definition
and purpose.
Don is through his outward life progress
fyely a failure, and in all emergencies COM
pletely ineffective Aloof from the sports
of his brothers and not understood, he Tails
as a child in the family, and is source
Of har ra ant
college. Deciding to leave college just as
unanimously when he decided to 60,
Don compels himself to face the realities
of the city, where. without any practical
equipment he proposes to make the for
tune which he needs to call to him the
Margaret of his ideals. Here, Of course.
in the sorddness of life. he is again a
failure until the suggestion OF loving ana
discriminating woman makes his Kingdom
of dreams available asset.
Apart from the subtle dilineation of his
ideal and pure temperament. Mr.. oHlg-
gins has been marvelously successful in
preventing the delicate impulses and per-
feet limpidness of boy and girl love. II
in no other respect. in this virgin and poetic
treatment of the first springtime of passion
the book is sgnally great.
RING IN THE NEW. BY Richard White
ing author of The Island" mo )
John Street The Yellow Van" New
York: The Century Company.
! In purpose and subject-matter an En-
glish counterpart to The Long Day."
while in Incidents and in message to hui
manity Ii marks a distinct departure
Ring in the New" Mr.. Richard White
,ings latest contribution will find a wait
! Ing audience. Like No 5 John Street.
by the same author, the book deals with
: the attempt of gently reared being to
find livelihood among the great throng
OF London unskilled laborers. That, III
this later story. the struggler Is a, young
girl and forced by her own determination
1actually to sink or swim by her own I'M
aided efforts. adds poignancy to the deep
interest which Mr.. Whiteing's sociology
cal studies always excite.
Prudence Meryon. by too common
chance finds herself. before she has been
able to get her professional equipment at
Girton, left an orphan with but thirteen
pounds between herself and restitution.
How am l to get my toys for Girton
with sum like that?" she demands,
when the first shock of grief is over
How arc you to get to Girton at all?"
replies cousin with true British frank
ness And this sums up the attitude Of
her relatives.
There Is. it is true. at her command a
life OF genteel dependence with an aunt
but Pruc belongs to the newer element of
high school and college young woman
hood, and she makes the plunge into iso-
courage OF entire ignOranee.-In the black
interval before rescue comes she discov-
ers the hOpelessness of her position Had
a kindly hand not been held out to her
the reade" is forced to the conclusion that
she must inevitably have failed Mr..
Whlteing makes no attempt to solve the
problem by any practical suggestions as
to means of livelihood for his attractive
and impractical heroine. Instead of that
the deus ex machna is in a form much
more lifting youth and romance. The sor-
did and painful experiences through
which she has passed fit Prue To enter
into the life held out to her with sympa-
thetic intelligence. In all of which Mr.
Whitelng proves the uncomfortable op-
timism which pervades his very practical
acquaintance with the terrifying condi-
lions among the other half"
1t is Just this point which marks the
individual note in Mr., Whiteng's mes
sage to the sociological student of the
time. 1t Is from above and through the
diffusion of the doctrines Of Christian So
cialtsm among all classes that help must
come to the toiling masses. The young
practical. who effects Prue's happiness is
the exponent of his authors theories In
The Long Day the working girl herself,
out OF her own long and painful expert
ence. evolves her own timid suggestion
of technical training and economical liy-
ing among the masses of the workers
While the opportunity for Industrial
training must be furnished by capital the
stress upon the attitude of the toiler 1t
is interesting to see how these two mod
ern treatises on theproblem with which
all classes are beginning to be, concerned
approach the matter from opposite stand
points ard from opposite Compartments
1T is certain that both elements are es-
sential 10 the solution of social difficult
ties.
THE PASS. BY Stewart Edward White.
author of The Blazed Trail The
Forest" The Mountains" Frontis-
piece III color by Fernand Lungren,
and many other illustrations from
photographs. New York: The Outing
Publishing Company.
Mr.. Stewart Edward White has come to
stand high among the prophets of the
cult OF the out-of- doors. THE Pass" can
hardly be praised too highly. whether 1t
Is considered as a record OF courage and
endurance. or as a canvas painted by the
trained observer. To the mass of the
world. who must satisfy their love of ad-
venture and the craving for wild beauty
chiefly through the eyes of the more
fortunate pioneer. the book will prove L
real boon.
The story is the report OF a journey