The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-26

tlne Onuef G1OONes Dy Aiei DtiH6CA'
 (The Mcclure Co)
 MT. Arthur Stringer wrote some years
 ago book called "The Silver Poppy. An
 advance copy of that book was sent to a
 friend of this book department by a
 charming young woman of New I ork city
 ambassador said in part: really do
 who was in the know as they speak Of
 it up there, regarding literary ana other
 things This book, "The Silver Poppy,
 created a great deal of a sensation for
 in it MT. Stringer took for his heroine
 a young woman who had written suc-
 cessful books, or she was supposed to
 have written stories under her name
 The descriptions of this young wamon
 given by MT. Stringer were so plain
 that almost every well informed reader
 settled in his own mind who this
 young woman was, namely Miss Halle
 Ermine Rives. Mr. Stringer promptly denied the soft impeachment, but his books sold and so did Miss Rives Since the publication of "The Silver Poppy MT. Stringer has been devoting himself presumably to showing through fiction how successful wire-tapping (see The Wire Tappers0 and house , breaking (see "The Under Groove9 could be carried on.
 In "The Under Groove" consisting of eight Adventures" MT. Stringer goes into minute details as to house break ing, how it should and could or has | been done, by one "Dorgan," the hero i of his stories-this collection and that regarding the wire tappers. The eight adventures are all exciting, and very , thrilling" and for one who cares for vicarious participation in house break ing, passing of counterfeit money, and
 forged checks MT Stringer offers much
 pleasure in his latest book. Many of , his points, at the ends of chapters par
 ticularly-are emphasized by italics on
 the order. of the "continued in our
 next" stories. The adventures will hold
 the interest just in the same way that , "Deadwood Dick, the Hero of the
 Plains" or "The Mystery of the Kitch-
 en or Who Sat in the Pie" will or did
 in our salad days, before we lost our ambition to be either a locomotive en- gineer, house. breaker or baseball
 pitcher.
 But for a writer who can do the
 work both in poesy and prose that MT. Stringer can, why does he waste the
 gifts Che undoubtedly has) on dime
 novel tommy rot? MT. Stringer says
 he does it to please the readers who like to read of things done which they fear to do themselves.
 The Fair Moon of Bath. By Eliza
 beth Ellis. Oodd, Mead 6 Co.)
 It is just as well to let readers know right at the start what "The Fair Moon of Bath was. The Fair Moon was very charming, very beautiful | young woman who went around cast {, ing spells over all sorts and conditions 1 of men-when she ought not to have
 done so. There was {. glorious Sun of Bath too-a rival of the Fair Moon. | The Fair Moon was Miss Celia Win
 nington-a very delightful young wom-
 an. Her rival, the Sun, was Miss Dor | othy Smallshaw, another delightful | fema1e-there simply cannot be too many in books, or life. Timothy Cur | tis.'' young gentleman of pleasure in
 the 18th century, had been informed
 by his uncle and guardian that as 1 Timothy was very poor in worldly | goods, he would have to marry a rich l woman, Miss Dorothy Smallshaw was 1 selected by his uncle. Curtis did as I.does every other young man when in- structed as to his love affairs, namely, he took a dislike to even the name of
 Miss Smallshaw and declined to go to see her. Then he meets "The Fair
 Moon of Bath" under romantic condi- tions and everybody can see the an- swer immediately. For Curtis fell in love with Miss Celia Wilmington and
 wished to marry her willy nilly, and he was getting along first-class with his wooing, until he was brought under | was a spy, thief and so on-for King George. At this time most of Curtis | friends at Bath were all engaged in a conspiracy to bring back the Stuart
 King to England. Curtis was loyal to King George and while he had been offered a bribe to spy upon his friends
 and his friends knew of the offer only. Curtis had spurned this proposition, but | his friends did not know that So aff1 a of brfe story. It is quite interesting in it's l way, which Is a good way of the light | love stories with duels, disappoint- ments, and love business ad inflnitum. l Of it's kind, which is mighty pleasing to most readers, 1t is winner. There | is nothing heavy about it. but the book is unusually well written and
 the pictures of social life in the 18th century at Bath and whereabouts are splendid, witness
 "A monotonous splash of a fountain,
 rustic of silk and a never ceasing
 babble of talk; a sea of rainbow colored silks, forest of nodding curls, a
 bevy of fair womens faces; add music, sunshine and laughter and you have a picture of the Pump Room at Bath on a bright July morning in the year of
 grace 1745."
 Timothy Curtis remains under his
 cloud of disgrace in the eyes of the woman he loves and society in general
 for a long time in the book. But truth and virtue not only being it's own re- ward, sometimes its "only' recom-
 pense, will sometimes prevail. It did with Curtis and he won tThe Fair Moon of Bath," he was vindcated from the stain of spy, thief etc. The book
 leaves a nice taste in ones mouth, if
 a reader cares for something light and bright, for this book is that and will give a great deal of pleasure to lovers of the bright things in life and liter ature.
 The Virgin Widow by Randall Charlton. G. w. Dillingham; & Co.,
 It Is very evident that MT. Randall Charlton is foreigner. If he lived in this country he would fear to write a book like '"rhe Virgin Widow not be- cause the book is not good, strong and most interesting, but because in it he talks about things we are not accustomed to read of in fiction-we only daily over such things in the yellow press" The foreign writers-Mr. Charlton no doubt Is an Englshman (his people, scenes and situations are English)-evidently have as- sumed that 1t is their right to display for the public situations and people that occur and are in life. On that basis, then, 'The Virgin Widow" is a splendid produc- tion. It is like some of Victoria Cross' books, true to life, but 1t would not he a good idea to incorporate such books under Every Child Should Know Series' Such books are not intended for, nor should they be placed In the hands of the ''young person" but to a grown man or woman. or ordinary stability ton of