Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-18
BOOK REVIEWS.

which has aught to do with the
desert has been referred and
compared to il. This is inevitable. Mr..
Kitchens caught the spirit of the desert
and painted a picture of the vastness
and the silence which has never been
equaled for dramatic vivdness. In The
Veil the desert does not figure as fac
tor. save for a brief passage at the out
set, but, nevertheless. in this treatment
of the .African-Arabian character the
story has much of the quality that has
entered into Mr.. Hchens work. The
Neir' is not great story, for it lacks
in constructive strength. 1t is, however.
q decidedly entertaining one, and it is
1ull of subtlety and dramatic power, jus
fifying the belief that with more con-
sistent plot the author might produce a
remarkably effective novel. The story
deals with the secret plottingS of a native
leader OF TuniS to throw off the French
authority and the thwarting of his plan
by premature uprising of the people
His schemes to enlist the cooperation of
Sicllian shipping agent and his sue
cessor furnish what little there is of a
narrative sequence. There are two
strongly drawn and interesting charac-
tiers. ST Ismael and Mabrouka. The for
mer is the head of the Islamic move
ment, and the latter his former wife, now
dancing woman, who is used in his
plots in a manner and for a purpose
which is not rendered entirely clear.
OPEN COUNTRY; Comedy with
Sting. BY Maurice Hewlett. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Washington: Woodward & Lothrop.
1t was inevitable that Mr.. Hewlett hav
ing created the character of Senhouse.
the gentleman vagabOnd who figures SO
effectively in Hallway House." should
return to him with later story. Sem
house is worthy of perpetuation. But
MIR. Hewlett might have made him more
impressive and convincing in the second
narrative than he has. 1nasmuch as in
Halfway House he brings Senhouse to
the climax of his romance, it was only
possible. unless he was to be considered
merely as an incidental, to revert to a
prior period of his career and thus the
SenhouSe of this book is the man who
Travelled about England in his cart. plant
ing flowers and shocking his conventional
friends, some four years prior to the time
or the first story.
Mr.. Hewlett is seldom tiresome In
open Country" however. he is occa-
sionally undeniably SO. The greater part
of the book is devoted to series of dia-
tribes by Senhouse on the state of society
and expositions of his peculiar views on
political. moral. economic and artistic
questions. These are in the form of a
series of letters written to Sanchia Perez
val. with whom he is desperately in love.
odnCIiid Herself Is a palllQ creature, VINO
has some supremely fine negative quail
tiles and Is. Of course. a tremendous
beauty. Senhouse realizes his social limi
fations and refrains himself from intrud-
ing his affections upon the young woman
to influence her social career Mr. Hew-
lett dallies with his theme in an at times
trifiing manner, to the end of somewhat
destroying the climatic effect Of his mar
Tative.
GREEN GINGER. BY Arthur Morrison
author of Tales of Mean Streets"
etc. New York: Frederick A. Stokes
Company.
Some Of these sixteen stories have ap-
peared in magazines. chiefly the Strand,
but even those who have read them be-
fore in that form will welcome them in
this volume. For instance, 'Snorkey
Timms. His Marks" is we'll worth re-
reading. while "Dobb's Parrot" never be-
comes tiresome. Some of the others are
1.-The Drinkwater Romance MIR. Bo-
stocks Backsliding.'' THE Rod Street
Revolution" Captain Jollyfax's Cum
and The Seller of Hate" all Of them of
vivid sense Of the English middle class
and rural character. Mr.. Morrison is a
humorist with much of the quality of W.
W. Jacobs in his exquisite tales Of river
front life. But Mr.. Morrison has wider
acquaintance, having studied slum life at
close range. Some of his stories. unfor-
tunately. show a sense of the cramping
of space limitations and are rather un-
duly rushed in their climaxes.
THE PICTURESQUE RIVER SERIES
THE PICTURESQUE HUDSON.
Written and illustrated by Clifton
johnson. New York: The Macmil-
Ian Company.
Attention is now centering upon the
Hudson river In consequence of the cele-
hrof 20 hA hnlI To-
memoration of the discovery and the first
steam navigation Of the stream. Mr..
Johnson's contribution to the "Pictur-
esque River Series deals with the Hud-
son from all points of view, historically
and descriptively. In telling the story Of
the river as 1t appears today from mouth
to source. he incidentally touches upon
the traditions with which the Hudson
valley is richly supplied. The work is of
convenient size for pocket use, and will
De serviceable as guide book as well as
a contribution to the library. The illus
trations are from well executed photo
graphs showing river scenes.
THE BILL-TOPPERs. By Andre Cas-
taigne. Illustrated by the author
Indianapolis: The Bobbs Merrill
Company.
II there is such thing as the dead
line in stage life. Andre Castaigne has
selected his characters from this portion
of the underworld. There Is something
fascinating about the volume that holds
one until the final page OF the tale is
reached The title fs plural. yet the
story. winds and clings itself about the
life OF one "Bnl-topper," a young girl
Lily Clifton. "Bin-topper" is understood
as the later day headliner of q vaude-
willie bill, the main attraction or the
drawing card for the audience. The tale
opens with the trials and tribulations of
an apprentice girl who Is being taught
the art Of trick bicycle riding Her father
Is the tutor and the strap is often resorted
to as means of teaching. The hilltop
per, in company with her parents and
the omnipresent bike. tours the world
from Calcutta to Alaska and Picking to
New York But. dissatisfied with the
life, she runs away from her parents
and is married to an itinerant show
man, Trampy Wheel-Pad. This life proves
to be worse than the former. the wife being
forced again to take up her stage riding
10 support her husband, who Is IA
vor1te among all women of the paint and
powder clan. Jimmie, an electrician,
falls In love with the bill-topper. much
TO the dismay of Trampy. and invents a
.'loop-the-gap' contrivance, becoming
also a bill-topper. With series of hits
in the various music halls throughout the
world Jimmie delves further into the
scientific and produces an 'aerobke." a
vehicle for the bill-topper at the opening