The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-13
Shaw Forman. crho Gorham Press. R.

this book ought to please. If you are not gifted with more discernment than pos sessed by this reviewer you won't be able to make heads or tails out of any charade of the 101. There is a key in the back of the book which appears as if 1t might be answers to the 101 charades, but after much study now found to be absolutely thrown away, 1t does look as if the key needs key to unravel the mystery.
 For those accustomed to such violent dissipation as tiddlewinks, or even up- jlnks, to say nothing of charades, this book should fill the proverbial long felt (woollen or anything heavy) want If you are going to have a party of people at your house and really don't care what you do to them get Guess Work-101 Cha rades" and offer trading stamps to the winners You will not need many prizes either, for your guests or 'guessers' will be beyond recall soon after beginning a struggle with the 101 charades. But it would be a mighty fine way to ''get even" with some people, that is in compelling them to work out these or any other charades. This reviewer doesn't really know anything worse that you could do to him at least, unless you gave phono- graph party.
 "Quickened," by Anna Chapin Ray. Oit-
 tie, Brown SS Co.,
 To any reader who is familiar with Anna Chapin Rays work there Is no need to tell how fine an artist this author really is, usually. Her "Ackroyd of the Faculty was one of the best books pub lshed last year, and in it the author came nearer to the method of the for eign writers than any American in the de- lineation of character, before discussed in this department "Quickened' is very
 
 point, the decision as to d books worth and interest
 In "Quickened" Thorne Alstrom, a New Yorker, was compelled to flee from his home on account of some criminal act upon his part; just what this indiscretion was is not explained until at the end of the book. Alsrrom is not his name, he has assumed this nom de plume in order to escape from New York and had also made changes in his personal appearance. Alstrom, as he is known to the readers through most of the book, escaped from New York by taking an excursion train from Albany, which was engaged by the Catnonc cnurch to go to the shrine of St. Anne, near Quebec. At Quebec, hav- ing been followed by a blackmailer, AL strom meets and become intimate with members of the Catholic church, and wnne not compromising Professionalism Miss Ray gives an Illuminating example of the wonderful way Catholicism reaches certdIn deepseated needs of the heart. The blackmailer who knew of the crime and was using it for his personal benefit, having been killed in @ street car acci- dent, Alstrom soon begins to make suc- cess in business at Quebec, meets and marries later, after becoming Catholic, a charming young woman who dies with in a year. Afterwards Alstrom falls in love with a Protestant and marries her, but the book as a superior production out side of the great delneation of character by action and speech is the light it throws upon the undeniable hold which the Cath ollie church has upon all of its com municants. To those who would care to gather a fair. unbiased idea of Catholic ism. as practiced in everyday life. par ticularly in Canada, "Quickened' is recommended very highly. As away above the ordinary novel, full of interest and charm, "Quickened' will please.
 When Alstrom wished to marry the pretty Catholic girl, her family declined to give it's consent to the marriage til he became converted. "All right" said Alstrom, 'Tll join your church. easy" thinking but didn't say, of course that he would have joined any church to get his sweetheart. But tho brother of the girl a splendid man, priest in the church saw through Alstrom and told him that the lover would have to honestly become a Catholic before he could win his wife. Just how this change occurred, just the wonderful way in which Catho- licism reached Alstrom's heart-he being in great sorrow and trouble-is admirably handled in the novel, IL Is very pleas. ing story.
 ''The Shoulders of Atlas,' by Mary E.
 Wilkins Freeman, Harper & Brothers.)
 There are some people in this part of the country who are temperamentally un- fitted to appreciate justly and deal fair ly with any book which pictures that before mentioned New England con science" That conscience" judging by the innumerable books we read about it, must be and no doubt is an awful thing and there ought to be some law against it-may be there is-who can tell-locate and apply 1t.
 But if on the other hand one can for get all that sort of thing-that reader can secure a great amount of pleasure out of Mrs. Wilkins Freeman's books if not. this reviewer wouldn't recommend any of her novels-and they are most of them good too. "The Shoulders of Atlas might as well have been named the Shoulders of the New England Con- science, or any old charlottesville title has absolutely no connection with the plot of the story being dragged in at the very last of the book, on the last page, and in an rhetorical way. In the story, a man and wife who had been struggling for years on little money, receive an inheritance and change at once their style of living. Then that awful New England conscience gets busy, and 1t is all off for peace and comfort for these two endowed people. It seems that the wife had discovered will which she thought was dated after the one which gave her and her husband the money tba,, pou, anioved hut the wife kept