Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-14

DID, LII d. New York: Funk g.
Wagnalls Co.
Little Stories Of Germany" by
Maude Barrows Dutton, gives con-
nected history Of the German people,
from the Cimbri and Teutons down to
the present Kaiser Wilhelm. Each OF
the great events is, In proper success
sion, presented in the form Of a short
sketch. The subjects selected show the
influence which the German people
have had on the culture and progress
of the world.
Little Stories of Germany. BY
Maude Barrows Dutton. New York:
American Book company.
Running Waters" by A. e. w. Ma
son, is a strong and interesting love
story which grows in power and in
tensity to the end It tells Of q fine
English girl who loathing the life she
leads on the continent with her un-
congenial, pleasure-loving mother de-
cides to join her father i'm London
a shadowy person whom she hardly
remembers and with whom her mother
has not lived for years. The mystery
Of her fathers home and the revela-
tions Of a strange, subterranean life
that quickly follow, develop an alb
sorbing story of love, intrigue and ad-
venture. No novel has pictured more
sympathetically and compellingly the
fascination of the Alpine peaks and OF
Alpine climbing, with which the story
begins. The scenes shift to London
and to the English country; but change
again to the Alps, whose power Is the
dominant note in the book There is
rare character delineation as the story
moves to its conclusion with interest
ever keener. The pure. innocent infiu-
ence of Sylvia, with her dreams of
running water, sweetens and uplifts
the tale.
Running Waters. By A. f. w. Ma
son. New York The Century COM
pany.
With the plot laid in the far north.
where the scenes bespeak mercury at
the lower vanishing point, Jack Lon
don once more gets on familiar ground.
and in his three-act story entitled
"Scorn of Women" shows some of the
flashes of genius the world first knew
through the "Odessy of the North"
The drama points no deep moral: it
proves nothing. Interest is steadily
maintained throughout, for the reader
is constantly in search of the authors
interpretations Of the emotions Of his
character. Floyd Vanderlip may be a
true type of the Ell Dorado king One
is forced to wonder from time to time
If Ell Dorado kings are all of the "easy"
style depicted here. Possibly the au-
thor aimed to make his Freda Moloof
so seductive that Vanderlips weakness
is pardonable The story is cleverly
woven about the efforts of women who
love Vanderlip so much that they form
various plots to prevent the Alaska
made millionaire from running away
with an adventures, who has a ten
dency to "get fat" and to save him
for certain blonde "Flossie," who is
coming in across the ice to marry her
sweetheart of former days. The plots
all succeed, and after uneasy situa-
tions and a really excellent scene and
dialogue in the cabin of Freda Moloof
the climax comes when the fainting
"F'lossie" staggers in "well frosted up"
with nose strap across her nose and al
though bewildered by the lights and
people makes a weak little lame run
and falls into Vanderlip's arms. The
Ell Dorado king perforce kisses her up
turned face. The reader is left to figure
out the future of Vanderlip and Flos-
sic, but that will probably not be diff
cult, remembering the ease with which
other women handled the overgrown
youth with much Drawn and faltering
brain. The book is clever and will
please a certain wing of London's ad-
mirers, but will prove to the more seri-
Gus class another disappointment.
These impatient ones still cling to the
hope that the Glen Ellen man may yet
write "the great book
Scorn of Women. BY Jack London.
New York: The Macmillan company.