Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-06

feeling for place. that Selling hold OF and
portraying concretely the spirit and intent
OF locality. Again IL Is Egypt, this time
not so much the desert as the Nile. whose
significance he projects in second ser
pent Of old Nilus" as sinister. ruthless
deadly, as her great exemplar. An Eng
lish woman. too-a fact to strain credulity
here and there: she Is. one must admit. a
shade bizarre. Human nature, however
is ugly. i'm spots, even English human ma
ture. and the author shrewdly trays this
woman to her raggedest qualities before
transporting her with her confiding young
husband to the Nile. Immediately thral
to the insidious spirit of the east she
proves her ready adaptabilfty by a vicious
intrigue and a plan to escape the boredom
of her good young husband by the gentle
means OF poison. quality which the
whole story designedly exudes. The char
acter of the husband is much too simple
for the subtleties about him: he might
easily be more complex without changing
the issue. and with an artistic gain. The
doctor is conceived in far truer vein: the
most artistically perfect one however
built in closest harmony with his origin
and life and outlook, is BarOudi, a second
airy character. Despite its wonderful
jewel-like glowing and cleaning, this is
an unpleasing book. bitter in the mouth,
stencil in the nostrils. poison In the
veins.
THE GREATER POWER. BY Harold
Bindloss, author of ALTON of So
masco," etc. New York: Frederick A.
Stokes Company.
As its title partially suggests, this
story, taken in substance, Is intended to
show the power OF love aud nature over
tho artif1cialities Of life. In view thereof
II is set in the great northwest, that land
of Titanic fashioning. with industrial de-
velopment and commercialism as the an
tagonists Of elemental forces. The re-
manning fundamental factor IN TINS COIL
ception is the task, assumed by woman,
an old, old task. Of putting new heart
into the man who has fruitlessly used up
the one he had. The hero Is young.
high-class Englishman. Having counted
himself zero in his own country. he. like
many another. comes over to this size.
After failure or so to his credit here
also, he is brought by the chance Of ply
steal accident to a ranch, the home or a
girl and her father, people or gentle
strain: the father hiding, in eject, from
the consequences Of earlier lawlessnesS.
In Ills weeks of recovery this interesting
young man. with no hopes, no plans. no
spirit for the future, gradually gathers all
of these from the composed. sincere, 1ar-
seeing girl who has watched beside MN.
The story moves on through ms Iemain-
ing among the ranchmen OF the nelghbOr-
hood, to become later the leader or them.
His struggles under the conflicting claims
of the old life and the new, and ms maj
choice of the latter. continue and close
the account The story is not at all times
convincing. The hero is too often tone
less, drifting, inconsequent This gigan.
tic land Is too often reached for-and
missed The feeling for it y too often
false or inadequate, giving an obviously
handmade effect to it's building.
YOUR CHILD AND NINE. BY Anne
Warner. author of The ReJuvena-
ton of Aunt Mary" etc. Boston:
Little. Brown & Co.
The preface to this group of stories Is
q confidential letter from the author to
the children, by means Of which. In open
good fellowship, she turns the book over
to them as theirs. Suppose one were to
gather from all sources the best OF chill
dren's stories-those tales that prove as
fascinating to grandchildren as they did
to the youth of their grandparents-to
seek to discover the common qualities
from which they have drawn their dura-
bility and perennial freshness Certain
1t is that whatever miracle or invention
be found there. whatever marvel or IN
stinct or intuition. there will not appear
any analysis OF states Of mind, or any at
tention to mental processes. so. these
stories, fresh and true as they undoubted-
ly are, belong, in the main, to grown
folks. Their sympathy with childhood.
their fine intuition. their clear interpreta-
ton, furnish most enjoyable means or
understanding and approaching and liv-
ing up to ones own children. aid
ITALIAN vIGNETTEs. BY. Mary w
Arms. New York: Mitchell Kenner-
ley. -
Eternal magic Of Italy!-in whose light
the very peasants appear as gods. and
the homeliest scene gives out thousand
graces Of poetic suggestion Fer
T.. ORC ayhi ha anfhnr hA q
transferred to her book and which the
reader shares. So happily has Miss
Arms caught the spirit that literature and
art know as atmosphere that her words
take shape and coloring and portray, In
turn each custom, type, incident and
scene as her pen describes ii. To de-
scriptive charm Is added the authority OF
a student who knows Italy from Romulus
to Plus X and a generous Judgment
the dignity of the Church Of Rome while
maintaining loyalty to her own.
With holy week In the Eternal City
for a climax, the author starts from Ma
Piles and winds her way through coun-
try that grows more wildly beautiful at
every turn till your eyes and mind are
alike almost overetrained with the gran
deur the color, the harmony, the poetic
and dreamlIke enchantment OF 1t all.
There are pilgrimages to ruins that
were the glory of pagan Rome, stay
at Capri embodied in a really wonderful
chapter: Into the Golden Age; Tivoli.
up into the cool Businesses Of those Sa-
bine mountains which have been at once
the witnesses and the prolongation of the
mighty legend OF Rome" and through
dim cloistered cOnvents-wtth farewell
glimpse at the Venetian convent. when,
'as we watched San Lazxaro fading into
the sunlit distance, I seemed still to see
the black figure of our monkish guide
standing amidst the garden green, SYM
Dol OF the large simplicity and gracious