The Washington herald., 1907-03-17

ever VIII guy, anu TIE Houits bii 10 NiiS
greatest buyer Of the modern novel. That
this is bound 10 have its effect on our
manners and our civilization no one can
doubt. and although we are proud OF
boasting that the American girl or youth
may be trusted to choose the good from
the evil, IL is doubtful whether even the
most sanguine or the most patriotic
would extend the fallaCy 10 current lit
erature.
THE Efficient Life" is book, not on
physical training. written by Luther II.
Gulick. director of physical training in
the New York public schools. 1t is a
book designed to show how to work with
health and happiness. accepting the fact
that we are here to do things, that most
Of Us must live in cities and under in
tense strain. The volume has a double
page frOntispiece showing eight pictures
of President Roosevelt IN action, and the
book is dedicated to him, of whom il Is
said that he lives the efficient life. The
authors idea Is that to be strenuous is
no end in itself. 1t is only when being
strenuous is an aid to efficiency that it
is worth while. and sometimes the quiet
life is more efficient than the strenuous
one. The authors chapters show that a
man should so live as always TO be fit
for his work, whatever that may be. He
says: THE degree Of JOY that a man
finds in his work is due to two things
the intensity or fullness of his vitality
and the cOngenial character of the work
itself When one is thoroughly well and
vigorous. the mere joy of living, of mere
ly being alive, is very great. At such
time the nature OF the work does not mat
ter to a large extent. When one is
full Of life. the mere feel OF fresh wa
ter or air on the skin. the taste of the
piainest food, the eXertiOn of muscular
effort. the keenness Of ones vision the
sight OF color in the sky, or the sound Of
the wind or the waves-it takes nothing
beyond these to make one jubilant. en-
thusiastic"
And so the book discourses Of the effect
on the body OF states of mind on the
value and the use Of exercise; the busi-
ness of digestion; fatigue, sleep, stimu-
lants. vitality-the armor Of offense and
of growth In rest. It.is sane. sensible, and
helpful talk and Will put the reader in
the way of living right, of living that
so he may use his energies 10 the fullest,
and use them right. CNew York: DOu-
bleday, Page & Coz
THE First Claim" by N. Hamilton,
author of ''Cut Laurels.' IS novel that
has the distinction Of being different from
most. Il is a novel that in all probabil-
ity will never be popular. for it has little
or no adventurous action, nor has Il what
is usually termed plot-in the sense of a
well-defned scheme for the ordering of
events. 1t is a tale of love-of the love
Of a happily welded pair; mutually help
full to each other; each with strong pos
sibilities for good, and each Of whom
do wrong hoping that right may come OF
it.
The heroine is Valerie Palmer, the young
wife of Sir James Palmer. a ponderOUs
old beau of fifty. The household IS ruled
by Lady Palmer the elder who has no
sympathy with Valerie or the child-wife's
enthusiasm and eagerness over her little
daughter, Gwendolin. who is handed over
10 the care OF a nurse. X sounds per-
fectly childish in a synopsis. but the
author with rare art, has made plain
how unbearable the conditions are
there IS no love for Valerie. no sympathy
with her and il ends in her running
away with Charley Osbourne, a hand
some young soldier Of about her own
age
There is no scandal. The divorce is pri-
vate, OsboUrne and Valerie are married
and happy, and old Sir James marries
again. Miss Faulkner Stubs. a terma-
CANT Of a woman, as cruel as can be 10
dogs and horses; d remOrseless, vindictiye,
hateful woman.
Gwendolin is seven years old. and Va
leTie hears that the child is ill-used by
her stepmOtheT The child has been
taught to lie, to swear. 10 cringe, TO take
unusual and horrid punishments, and Va
lerie, always reproaching herself that
she, by her act Of running away with
Charley, has submitted her little daugh-
ter to this. steals the child away and
runs TO France.
The child has become impossible. She
does not love her mother. Kindness has
no effect on her. She seems TO emanate
evil. and she makes a chasm in the hap
piness of Valerie and Osbourne. and the
worst of il is there seems no chance of
an end Of il. Once the child tries 10 run
away with an emissary of Lady Palm
ct. who has been sent after her. but
Osbourne brings her back. 4 second time
he catches her going; his wife, tired out
with the child's unkindness. is sleeping
Osbourne lets the child go
Valerie is disconsolate. The days pass.
There comes a telegram: "Gwendoln died
suddenly this morning" From the woman
that stole her. Osbourne gets the whole
wretched story, Of how the child was
punished; locked up IN a dark room
threatened with beatings: tortured In
the morning the child was nearly crazed.
The door of the dark room open. she
dashed out, past her stepmOther, UP the
stairs. and headlong from an upstairs
window dashed herself to death on the
stones below.
This truth Osbourne keeps from Va
lerie. She suspected something Of the
truth and asked Charley. but he lied to
her bravely; telling her the child died
happily. and the two leave England to
begin a new life in India
But he knew the happiness Of their lives must
rest on a bundle Of lies, insecurity AZ the best
He knew that 70 him the unmade confession would
always be an unfcrgotten thing holding them apart
Through sin they come TO happiness.
these young people And yet, as a whole.
the novel IS a sane and healthy one 1t
speaks OF the fruitlessness OF barking
back over ones past sins; Of the happi-
ness that lies in straightforwardness and
honesty. A passage from Shelley seems
to interpret 1t adequately:
The past is deaths. the future IS thine own Take
it while it is stin yours. and tx your mind, not
on what you may have done long ago 20 hurt, but
on what you can do nov 20 help.
It is novel that no thoughtful man
wlll read without interest-it is essential
ly human. (New York: Doubleday, Page
& Coz
Edward NobeTs novel. The Issue,
is by the way of being big story, but
containing. as it does, a lot of the sea
faring dialect, peculiar TO the river
Thames. which is not easy reading nor
easy to understand, will possibly deter
many readers. In its main aspect the