Evening star., 1907-11-16
BOOK REVIEWS.
TIL: STOPPING LADY. b

In the use he makes of historical
neriod does Mr.. Maurice Hewlett. as in
no other fashion. show his distinction To
tie mass of the novrlists a picturesque
epoch Of the past is valuable .or much
the same reason as It is to a dramatist OF
costume plays"-it provides certain &c
Centricities Of speech. clothes and man
ners which. of themselves. attract the
readers interest and hide the barren
places of the writer's imagination. Not
so Mr. Hewlett. While he is exhaustively
Informed as TO the minutia of his subject
Informed as a scholar should be, h has
absorbed the soul and spirit Of the epoch
This he represents in its relation to the
evolution, not only Of manners and Gus
toms but of the race itself.
The plot Of The STOPPING Lady" turns
upon the love of the granddaughter of
great whig hous' FOR son of the masses
But the situation, so often employed as 70
be almost banal. offers no suggestion as
to the use Mr. Hewlett has made of 1t.
Tyranny of king. tyranny OF the wing
lords British arrogance and British chlV-
airy local corruption and personal braV-
cry, Cynicism and the extravaganza on
idealism Cobbett's doctrine of the rights
of man" coupled with the older principle
of the rights of nature" are warp and
wOof of the romance.
The three principal characters, Hernia
Mary-Miss Chambre, Vernour and the
"Old eagle'-the Countess of Morfa, are
each. at the same time, British, early
nineteenth century and human. In all
romance 1t is hard to conceive of nobler
scene than the one IN which Hernia
makes the apologies for her family to
Vernour. the tradesman's son. Ihe SIM
plicity of the girl, her self-forgetfulness
the patrican quality in her which makes
her conceive humility essential, compared
with the reticent terse strength Of the
man. makes even the jaded palate thrill
with a new delight. For the very pros
tration of worship held in check by rev
erence and by rigid self-respect that
reaches the height of a stark dignity. the
bearing of young Vernour in the one love
scene of the book is signal And there
is passage which follows strife between
Vernour and one of Hermia's noble suit
ors that grips the emotions. Vernour is
speaking:
-. = But I never hoped to win her,
and I should have continued my courtship
until she asked me to stop, whether she
was to be lost or won. Courtshtp! 1t
was not that in the beginning-it was like
the homage you pay to your king! 1t
was not until l saw that she wore my
fowers-"
What" cried Rodono, staring. 1T
was you-those white violets! By God
man you're a poet, 1 see.
You fiatter me, my lord" said Yer
nour I'm no poet But I had to offer
being had ever dreamed of. She'll have
them till die"
II see that I've been floored by proper
man. said Lord Rodono.
CAMPING AND TRAMPING WITH
ROOSEVELT. By John Burroughs.
With illustrations. New York:
Houghton, Mifffin & Co.
Mr.. Burroughs has wished to record his
observations of President Roosevelt on
the occasion of the Yellowstone trip in
the spring of 1903 His narrative Of the
Journey is full Of incident and reflection,
in which Mr.. Roosevelt appears fully life
size Having safely restored his distin-
guished friend to civilization. Mr.. Bur
roughs also takes up the matter of Pres
klent Roosevelt as a Nature Lover and
Obs ryer." He says: The charge re-
Gently made against him that he is only
q sportsman and has only a sportsman
interest in nature is very wide of the
mark Why, l cannot now recall a man
with a keener and more comprehensive
interest in the wild life about us-an in
terest that is at once scientific and thor
oughly human" Mr. Burroughs cites
enough illustrations drawn from his own
personal association with the President
on the trail, birding" or among the tro-
phies of Sycamore Hill to prove his as
eertion: The President is a born nature
lover, and he has what does not always
OF ohSa rvation." The author also gives
instances in which Mr.. Roosevelt 'beat
him at hts own game of observation" 1t
Is unfortunate that much really interest
ing Information is impaired in a style so
fatally akin to the method of the instruct
I've RollO Books, where every Burroughs
offers himsa If up to the castigation of the
omniscient Rollo.
SADIE. The Story of a Girl. Some
Men, and the Eternal Fitness of
Things. BY Karl Edwin Hartman.
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
The Garter System" had seen fit to
establish an eating house at Bagdad.
Therefore they needed a girl. BagIad was
q city Of the desert, the reason for whose
existence lay IN its nearness TO borax
mines. Sadie, tired of life in Kansas
City-"oUt cast'-became the girl. Out of
the fitness Of the sangy. pretty, honest
creature with her bright common sense
and her warm heart, for the rough life
She finds awaiting her is the story built
Sadie Is a disJiuctiVely American charac-
ter The reader will recognize her proto-
type in many bright-faced working girl
with towering pOmpadour. There threatens
TO be complication between Curly
Rowlcy and Billy Thompson. but Sadie's
sense Of the fitness OF things disposas
Of the suitors in the only possible way.
THE RED FEATHERS. A story of
Remarkable Adventures When the
North Was Young. BY Theodore
Roberts. author of Brothers of Per-
H., etc. Illustrated and decorated
by Charles Livingston Bull Boston:
]" c. Page * Co. Washington:
Brentano.
The affinity between the Roberts clan
and literature can be paralleIed only by
that between ducks and water. There is
rare charm in this latest romance of
Theodore Roberts. The theater is the is
land now known Newfoundland" the
actors, a chiefain OF the Beothic tribe.
his family and two great magtcians-one
good, one evil. The treatment is avowed-
ly fanciful. the story belongs TO the realm
OF folklore, from which ii is separated
only by the warm human spirit which
makes Of the remote tribe brothers of the
men OF today The plot turns on the
struggle for possession of two red feathers
which enable the owner to run on the
air. Mr.. Roberts has written Charming
and sympathetic book. full of the austere
poetry of bleak. wind-swept spaces
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN BANKING
AND CURRENCY. Edited bv Wal
ter Hull With an introduction by
Charles Francis Phillips of New
York New York: The Macmillan
Company. Washington: Woodward
& Lothrop.
A few months ago the author had occa