The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-09-01
TIE YOUNGER SET. BY Robert w.
Chambers. u. Appleton Il Co., OF
New York, publishers. PIP. 513.

pleasurablc gift to the American pub
lie. with whom, as II man of letters.
this writer is distinctly n favorite.
His present book Is n story OF mod
ern society life In New York City, bril- Il
lantly and cleverly told in the authors
usual style, which never Falls to win
with his readers.
Philip Selwyn, the man around whom
his latest book interest revolyes. is an
excellent American type. honorable.
consistent and brave, IL man whose
Ideals Of duty and uprightness domi
nate his life to the exclusion Of mere
money-making and other more sordid
considerations.
His return from the Philippine Is
lands, and his Introduction to the chill
drcn OF his sisters household In the
beginning OF the book. give rise to one
of It's most entertaining, chapters In
which scandalized footnan, an ava
1anche tof youngsters and dogs, and
Il rumpled and bored black cat par
ticIpate to produce a picture OF an
indoor foN-hunt that Is diyerting alike
to the unlocking soldicrly uncle and
to those who appreciate realism in de-
scription. The children OF the Gerard
household continue to hold their nat
ural happy sway throughout the en-
tire course OF the book Drina, the cid
est member of the nursery and school,
room, proving especially an indi-
vldual OF much acumen in her very
open and Innocent coquctry toward her
uncle's soldier friend, Boots Lansing"
Philip Selwyn's attitude toward his
former wife. who first forsook and
then divorced him. IS so unusual that
1T may be incomprchensible to many.
Probably his lcnlency Is due to the fact
that he suspects from the first the
latent tendency toward hereditary in
sanity, which afterwhrd developed in
her. and Is proportionately compass
sionate.
One realizes with somewhat OF a
shock what modern fashionable life
means when man who lives in II is
liable to meet his divorced wife and
the other man who has become her
second husband at dinner party or
a ball, riding in the park or anywhere,
in the thousand and one centres of
life and gaiety. where people of the
smart set congregate.
The relationship which Mr. Chamber.
pictures as springing up almost at first
sight between Philip Selwyn and his
sisters ward, Eileen E,rrall, should
have been an instantaneous revelation
to him Of himself, for in the end it
teaches him the difference between inn
pulse and the steady growth of great
and well-founded love, such as comes
but once in any life.
The book title means what 1t says.
It is named for 1.-THE Younger Set
of American social life, whom the
author considers to be better, purer
more manly and more womanly than
the generation ahead of them. and
being so. n power for the future up
lifting and purifying OF American So
cfal and domestic life.
The evils of the present. the lack OF
moral tone, the lowered standards, the
fast living, the drawIng-room gambling
tables-all these are touched. upon In
a way that puts the naked and ugly
side of them very plainly before a
readers eyes. The tragedy that finally
engulfs Philip Selwyn's divorced wife
and Jack Ruthyen. who caused her un-
happiness, nppalis the imagination. and
yet seems like-retribution.
Last year The Fighting Chance
held a prominent place In the books
that received marked approval. This
year "The Younger Set will take rank
as a worthy successor to that excel
lent piece of American fiction. The
chances would indicate it's widespread
hold upon the attention of all who
consider the problems and the drift
of modernity.
A LOST LEADER. BY E. Phillips OPP
penhcim. Little, Brown & Co. OF
Boston, publishers. PIP. 2o5. $3.50.
Into the arena Of English political
and social life of to-day MIR. Open
helm Transports the reader of his just
published romance. "A Lost Leader"
Just who sat for the original of the
character he has drawn and called by
the name OF Mannering is as yet un-
known to his public on this side of
the Atlantic. And the same might be
said of Leslie Borrowdean, who paves
the way for what follows by appearing
In the first chapter of the book, TO beg
Mannerng to come back to London, as
the leader OF the opposition party. with
the certain prospect of a premiership
as an incentive for his resuming the
control he formerly possessed in Eng
fish politics.
AS he two men DISCUSS the matter
they are standing near Mannering's
home, on Il hill overlooking the North
Sea. "a lark has risen almost from
their feet, and. clrcling its way up
wards. is breaking into song And,
below, the full spring tide is filing
the pools and creeks with the softly
flowing, glimmering sea-water. The
fishing boats, high and dry an hour
ago, are passing now seaward along
the silvery way. All these things Man
nering is watching with rapt eyes, even
whilst he listens to his companion.
l1edi AIleiiu, iS say ,, Lie WITH
can get on very well without me, and
I have no need of the world. The bat
tie that you speak oft--well, I have been
In the fray, as you know. The mem
Dry of it is still nightmare to me-"
Notwithstanding all this, however. he
goes back to the world, not at the call
of ambition, but at that of what he
understands to be duty, and OF what
is in reality quixotlsm.
For upon this mans private life the
power of two influences have rested.
one emanating from a worthy woman
and the other from her unworthy pro-
totype, to whom Mannering feels he
+, owes everything in the way Of repara :
ton and atonament,
Finally, when the last sacrifice pos
sfhle has been made, the real nature
which was capable of demanding all
and giving nothing In return becomes
apparent, and hcadlong impulses, al
ways In ascendency bring about deliV-
erance for Mannering from bitter
and seemingly lifelong thraldom.
With his release comes comprehen-
ctr Of cole To RI IL, f,,