The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-18
aIANET OF THE DUNES

"Janct of the Dunes By Harriet T.
Constock. Little, Brown g. Co. Boston.
This is the authors third book, we are
told In the publishers note, and 1t Is in a
field new TO her, for her two previous
novels were historical romances of the
Elizabethan period. In Janet the
writer. who is a Brooklyn woman, turns
TO Long Island (where she states In a
preface she has spent many for
her material, her avowed purpose being
TO ''enhance the not-too-strong interest in
which the poorly-paid. obscurely enacted
herolsm Of the men in this service UNITED
States life saving s%tationsJ is held by the
general public The resultant tale is a
good character story, witt a love interest
that starts with a touch Of originality,
hut peters dow into the ordinary before
the yarn is half spun.
The scene is laid among the simple,
sturdy. kindly folk Of a stretch of Long
Island conveniently called Quinton-by-the-
Sea, across the bay from Point Quinton
lighthouse. On the dunes near the light is
located the life-saving station. to which
Cam Billy Is attached. Cap'n Billy Is
sJanet's "Daddy''--so she called him. Janet
thought he was her father and loved him
more than anything on earth. But he
wasn't. although he was married to ane
mother. who had died when the child came,
She did not learn secret of her birth till
near tho end of the story and then it was
not a pleasant thing to know. But at the
time the tale opens Janet's thoughts were
turned toward making money In some way
from the city folks, particularly the artists,
who had flocked to the place for the sum-
mer. OF course, Janet would not stoop to
waiting on tables and doing washing, for
she had obtained an education which fitted
her for better things. She determined she
would become an artist, and while she lay
ON the dunes dreaming about 1t, Devant, a
young artist, rapidly sketched her, seeing
In her the spirit Of the place. Whom the
girl saw the sketch her eyes were opened
to the meaning OF good painting and her
dreams were shattered. But DeyaDt in
dueed her to pose as his model in his hut,
so that he could do the sketch in oils and
thus she found employment as well as love.
Janet soon fell under suspicion, for the
,wagginR tongues in the little village con-
sidered a ''nodir' as utterly beyond hope
OF redemption. Events happened which
ended the slttlngs and nipped the romance
in the bud. Janet then turned all her at
teption to Captain David, keeper of the
light, and his sick and troublesome wife,
Susan Jane, with whom she then boarded.
Despite the death of Susan Jane, the dis
grace and death OF Mrs. 10 G.'s Maude
through a city man, the discovery of her
own birth secret and the failing health
Of Cap'n Billy, Janet keeps up her spirit,
and, though in the end she loses Billy. she
wins Devant, who returns to her on a
stormy wintry night while she is finish
Iing the beach patrol for the exhausted
flifs-saYeT.
It Is n fair little story, but could have
been made much stronger If Jonet's prob
lem had been treated more thoroughly. As
1t Is. the story is weakened by too much
Of Susan James complainings over minor
matters and the cloggiug dialect.