The San Francisco call., 1909-12-12
FThe Veil"

uC VII
erick A. Stokes company, New York. Price,
S1.5o.
Ethel Stefana stevens is a new name
TO American readers of fiction and one
which will be added TO lists of favor
ties. She offers a book entitled rne
Veil" romance cf T'ints, which merits
all nraise The Moorish troubles with
Spain. which have crept into The papers
a little of late. show the world again
what an impossible gulf lies betWeeh
the eastern and western civilizations.
These two peoples, after having lived
side by side for generations, are scarce
ly better friends now than at nrst-
Miss stevens, with an insight when
amounts to an intuition. portrays THIS
diff erence in '"rhe Veii,' and something
of the reasons is suggested, too. her
picture Of Arab life In northern AFRICA
is fully as vivid as Robert Hichen's In
"The Garden of Ala h." though the loV-
ers of that story Will grudge the praise.
The only Europeans in this book are
Sicilians and the heroine is a beautiful
Arab dancing woman and political spy,
VINO longs for free and independeht
life and likes Partisan luxuries, but
remains at heart always an Arab. The
story is full of love. intrigue. race
hatred and is, besides, vivid picture
of the east as 1t appears to European
eyes, as we'll of the east as 1t really is.
crafty Mohammedan prophet, who
has had much European education and
experience, Is the big character OF the
book He is man OF great learning
and personal charm, and only occasion
ally do we catch glimpses OF his UNDER
living cruelty and eastern btgotry.
Speaking to Riceardo, the young Sicil-
ian hero, on the subject of progress,
he says:
Progress? Are you sure? There are
two points OF view, you know. West
erners invent electric trains and nne
system of drainage and town councils.
They study the laws of nature as ants
study the patch of ground they live
on--lahoriously and carefully; without
reverence, without imagination. Well,
what do they achieve? You can get
quickly from one place to another, per-
form in one day what once took two,l
says the westerner. The oriental re-
plies. What matter whether today or
tomorrow? Work is doubled IL you
can perform twice as much Drainage
well. he suffers from an occasional epi-
Ademic which wipes out the unfittest
but he has no nerve failures, none OF
the hypochondriacs or degenefates
which result from modern life. Science,
which prolongs the life of weaklings
better dead, he knows little of. But
sthings-the things that westerners
need. too, beneath all their mass of
acquired necessities-his food and his
women and his children and his god.
His wants are naked and unashamed.
He satisfies all his appetites-carnal,
mental and spiritual-with the same
temperance and dignity
Mabrouka, the dancer, persuades
young Frenchman to take her away
from the harem of this interesting Mo-
hammedan but when he wished to
make love to her she murdered him and
took his diamonds. Her religion, or a
certain hypnotic influence exerted by
her former master, takes her back to
the harem, and 20 years after this epi-
sode the real story OF the book opens.
She has been allowed to resume her old
occupation-a dancer-but always ap-
pears yeiled Late in the story we find
she has been branded on both cheeks
as punishment for running. away, but
for long the, reader is as tantalized as
Is the adoring and foolish Ricardo.
The tale concludes with a description
of gMoslem uprising against the Eu-
ropeans and 1t is difficult to believe
that a woman penned it. One can fairly
smell the blood, and the scene is in
delibly stamped upon the memory.
The author is a daughter of the rec
tor of ST. Lawrence, southampton.
When child she was interested in
gipsies in the New forest, and picked up
a great deal of their language She is
today known to some of the gipsies
as Ocean Lee" having lived in a cara
van and been adopted into gypsy tribe
one summer. Her intimate knowledge
OF eastern conditions is derived from
visits to Tunis and Algeria.
,.Chatterbox'' for 1909 is ready and
those who know the publication will
as a matter of course. buy it at once
Those who do not know it are be-
nighted beings deserving OF the deep
est pity. "chatterhox' is 32 years
old and has not changed its form in all
that time. This number contains 4l6
large pages with ESQ original iilustra-
tions and six colored plates. There are
about 40 short stories, anecdotes, nat
ural history papers, poetry and articles
of general information too numerous
to mention 1t is the best book for the
money in America today, and no home
with children should be without one
fI,apa E,steS e IN ROStOn. 81 oEl