The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-01

Latin America, the United States in the Pacific. the United States and China. and the United States and Japan. Superior book is Mr Collldges "The United States as a World Power
 'Furze the Cruel" by John Trevena.
 (Moffat, Yard & Co.)
 One of the most interesting, one of the strongest books that has come in a long time to this department is "Furze. the Cruel The London Academy in dis cussing it, when issued in England, said that Tt is always difficult to define what constitutes greatness in any form of art; but when greatness exists, it is easy to discover .Furze, the Cruel is undoubtedly great book-almost a mas terpiece."
 That is what "Furze, the Cruel" is
 You take an honest reviewer who does his work, as it should be- reading through a certain number of books a week, which he must do to honestly pass upon and discuss a book, and then let him grow en- thusiastic over one-it means something you be sure. But the trouble is that the flood of mediocre books which taken in the best ways, to deal as gently, as fairly as possibe-for instance as , such h-and-such-a book Twill not bore you it will kill a lot of time and some trouble" more or less-and you see when a book like "Furze, the Cruel" hits us, and such book does deliver a pleas ing strong blow right between the eyes, too, most of the good, high sounding words, from the goodness of the review CTS heart have been used up and when he begins to praise such a book, the reader will say, "Oh, well-he said that about The Man From Brodpey s''- which this reviewer did rot.
 Anyhow here is a book to delight you. It is strong 1t is well-written, in any rxIa ..,fTf al.1a hxr. .Ir that within the same number of pages will give you more genuine pleasure than will HFurze, the Cruel'-speaking, of course, of the latter-day books.
 MT. Trevena tells us that almost ev- cry where Dartmoor are Furze, heather and granite. The furze seems to suggest cruelty, the heather endurance and the granite strength. The furze is destroyed by fire but grows Up again; the granite is worn away imperceptibly by rain, and the heather is torn by winds but blossoms again. This work is the first of a proposed triology which the author hopes to continue and complete with 'Heather" and "GIanite.'
 The scene is on Dartmoor, along the Tavy river. MT. Trevena takes a little settlement along Tavy, and begins first his discussion of Mary and Peter Tavy, brother and sister, who live together on Dartmoor Brightly" the poor. mser- able creature, half blind, always msun- derstood, a victim of the cruelty of all his neighbors-when the reader takes up that portion of the book dealing with Brightly Well, this callous, old review CT simply had to lay the book aside the picture is too real-it brings home to us. so strongly, how nature or God, we should say fits out better the flowers and plants of the fields-sometimes to re- sist the cruelty of natures laws than some poor humans We see all around us lots of "Brightlys'' thoroughly un- fitted to cope with the world, not from any lack of struggling, but simply un- fitness The author of this great book then shows us 8 plant i'll the field, help less it is true. to be, crushed beaten down under foot, the tops eaten off by cattle-but-to grow up quickly again but there some poor people in this world who simply cant grow up again." Why?
 Some of this book reads like blank verse. Tn MT. Trevenas description of ''Boodles-oddle," the dear little girl who didn't know who her parents were-and her love affair with 'Aubery Belamie" --it is simply one of the prettiest love stories you can find any place.
 And Farmer Chegwidden, the master teacher, old fool that he was, MT. Pen doggat and his two women, Annie and Thomasine-the whole lot of them simply
 
 review. If you wish a delightful book, then don't miss "Furze, the Cruel'i There has not been anything better pub lished in many long day.
 Light on Dark Places at Panama" by
 Mary E. Chatfeld, Broadway Pub
 fishing company.
 This book will please any one who thinks we are making a mess out of our attempts to build the Panama ca nal. Miss Chatfield went down to the tsthmus to take position with the construction party as stenographer, but she didn't like it down there for some reason or other, so she got mad and quit-coming home to write a book about 1t, in which she gives fits to tn ose bosses down there. Pretty hot book. too, it Is. No doubt if Colonels Gorgas, Sibert and Goethals had sus- pected that Miss Chatfield would get even with them like this, they would have raised her salary as she de- manded. For 1t looks to a man up a tree that that was the reason that Miss Chatfeld declined to further assist in the work on Panama, but not getting a raise in salary, at any work, is sure ly not sufficient reason to write a book-good gracious no--there ought to be something more than that, al though many books are issued on far less good reason than Miss Chatfield had. It will be hard on the Panama bosses when they read this book and see what a terribly mess they are mak- ing down there. how everything is done wrong, how no justice is dealt out and around, and all that sort of thing But maybe they won't read it-Iet us hope for the best; look on the bright side of things as it were
 With her facts, as she saw them, Miss Chatfeld has piled on argument after argument, so that if one cares to see that dark, gloomy side of the Panama canal, if there is such side, Miss Chatfeld is backing that side up not withstanding, why this book is what that reader should take up. But. if those bosses down there do read this book, you can be sure that the next time a lady stenographer wants a raise in salary she is likely to get it. Books are awful things, sometimes-many times-and while this is not warning on the contrary it certainly wouldn't be amiss for gentlemen employing stenographers when raise in salary is requested to recall how Miss Chatfield put it on Panama, and beware. "The Tree of Knowledge" A Document
 by Woman, tThe Stuyvesant Press).
 The publishers of this book admit that there could be no excuse for gfy- ing to the world this pitiful diary of disillusion and despair but for the fact that 1t is record of actual experience.
 "Her delight in the color and fexi-