Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-09
BOOK REVIEWS.

Mr.. London is always interesting ana
alive, and the present book is no excep-
ton to the rule. Belonging as 1t does TO
his series of social studies, it succeeds
in making very real a future state OF So
ciety which, in the authors opinion. may
be the outgrowth of modern political.
economic and social conditions. The text
of the story is supposed TO have been
manuscript. discovered some centuries
after it had been written and hidden. and
describing the events of years of struggle
between the classes dating from 1872 TO
1882. During those years the leaders OF
the trusts have become transformed into
Oligarchs; the middle classes have been
destroyed. and there remain below the
Oligarchs. besides the socialists only the
toiling slaves of capital, the people or
the Abyss
Avis Everhard. the writer Of the manu-
script, is woman of refinement, the
daughter of a university profeS sor. VINO,
by reason of her love for young soclallst
leader and her conversion to his doc
trines, becomes identified with the party
and ultimately gives up her lite In its
service. The rapid course of world-de-
velOpment. which changes the world
known to the readers of Mr.. Londons ro-
nance to the frightful scene of suffering
and violence described in its pages, is de-
tailed with such realism and force as TO
be thoroughly convincing. The book is a
stirring narrative and also an essay IN
socialism calculated to make the Thought
full pause.
THE TENANTS; an Episode of the sos.
By Mary S. Watts. New York: The
Mcclure Company. Washington:
Woodward IL Lothrop.
The scene of Mrs. Watts novel of char
acter is small city of the middle west
The Tenants are the tenants of the
old Gwynne mansion. built by Gov
Gwynne and imbued with all his ideas of
greatness as inherited by less prosperous
and important generations. The house
finally becomes the home of one Col. Will
liam Pathfinder. southerner of undoubted
courage. illmita BILE hospitality but I'M
fortunately shady ways of coming by the
money he spends so lavishly. The col
onel, who transforms the old mansion In
to veritable castle of surprises for the
more exclusive society of the quiet neigh
borhoOd, is broker.
The main characters in the story are
this colonel, whose genial qualities are
not to be denied in spite of his rascality:
his charming wife, his curiously fascinat-
ing and domineering daughter, his coarse
old mother-in-law, the real key to the
fraudulent characteristics of the whole
establishment; Muriel. an English girl
and friend of Miss Pallinder: old DIR.
Vardaman, the local sage; Huddesley.
his supposedly English valet, and Gwynne
Peters the present head of the Gwynne
sons stand out as distinct individual.
with Mrs. Botlisch. the old mother-in-law,
as the crude comedy element, but various
minor persons are outlined with equal
deltcacy and finish.
Strangely and unexpectedly enough. the
real plot" If puch it may be called.
which develops h the latter half of the
book is desssss a Ito9y at The the e end
that Of the turmoil and wild confusion
in the early morning hours-when dis
agreeable revelations take place and the
game Of the Pallinders is finally up.
The story is told with quietude and fin
ish and with sort of modest humor
which is altogether delightful. The Ten
ants Is a book with flavor of the Eng
fish school of the early nineteenth CEN
tury, Although the movement is more
rapid one than was characteristic OF
those romanceE There is an admirable
certainty and eonvincingness about the
portraiture.
GET-RICH-QUICk WALLINGFORD; a
Cheerful Account of the Rise and
Fall of an American Business Buc-
cancer. By George Randolph Chester.
Philadelphia: Henry Altemus Com
pany.
If you are interested in that type of
your fellow -countryman who loves
money devotedly, but loves the adven-
ture of getting money far more de-
votedly who has SO many hundreds OF
original schemes in his head that any
thing that has ever been tried before
has not the least attraction for him,
then you must make the acquaintance
of J. Rufus Wallingford
There can be no doubt that the au-
thor has crystallZed in his account of
the various episodes of Wallingfords
career not only a characteristic Ameri-
can type, but the prevailing disease of
the modern business world. 1t is in it's
10 Ia N IA hat "a
sketch is noteworthy one as we'll as in
the fictional vitality of the central char
acter. Through the various vicissitudeS
of his extraordinary career Wallingford
is unerringly consistent. There is not a
line that is out of character, not word
that does not ring true. The result is a
creation that looms as impressively as
does Wallingford's own physical bulk.
creation that is at once rich with
humor and caustic in it's implied COM
ment on the times.
Wallingford starts his sky-rocket ca
reer with a capital of one hundred dol
lars in cash and one million dollars in
brains-all paid in. His assets consist
of that nest-egg, a good suit OF clothes.
the impressiveness of Edward VII and
the nerve of the Sultan of Turkey. The
only thing he lacks at the outset to
make him a typical corporation is a
bundle of liabilities. and these he
wastes neither time nor expense In &C
Quiring.
TT always helps some he says, ito
remember that people have been saving
up money for years" And he adds:
Just waiting for me to come and get
it,"
In nothing is the authors power
shown more clearly than in the manner
he has managed the denouement There
the ingredients of indulgent humOr.
moral Judgment and sense OF proportion
are so blended as to make the culmlna-
ton at once inevitable and dramatic.
WaIlingford and his methods must meet
with disaster, but neither can be de-
voted to tragic gloom. For Walllngford
is but as the times have made him. In
the necessarily minor character of Mrs.
WallinRford the author has presented
personality that is just as truly Amer
lean as Is that of the man, and as in
evttably feminine as he is masculine.
The suggestion of tenderness, OF pathos,
which is her final note, is admirably
restrained.
THE FOOTPRINT; and Other stories.
By Gouverneur Morris. New YORK
Charles ScribnerS Sons. Washing
ton: Woodward & Lothrop.
This collection of short stories SHOWS
the extremes that can be reached in the
search for the bizarre. The opening tale.
The Footprint. which gives the volume
it's name. marks the height of the fan
tastic and carries no meaning to justify
its crowding horrors The same criticism
suggests itself in relation to paradise
There is undOIIbtod power and