The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-11
Life1ary Lights and Shadobs
BY s. MAYS BALL

you do not after readnng the book, en-
 thuse with this reviewer, he will be very
 much mistaken Gin you)-thats all.
 99fhe Cords of Vanity" by James Branch
 Cabell. Doubleday. Page & Co9
 MT Cabelrs stories are quite familiar
 10 readers of the best magazines. This
 book of his recently from the press is re-
 ally collection of short stories in which figures the one man. the hero who tells the story.
 Mir Robert Ethredge Townsend was young chap with sufficient means to loiter through life Robert couldn't resist the charm of any pretty woman's face in which Robbie showed his good sense. And when he loved one woman, he loved only that one woman-at that time That Is all the law demands or should demand. Robert tells us of his experiences which dealt with eight Queens" who are des- cribed about as follows:
 There were, first:
 Stella, who subsequently, married Peter Blagden and died in time not to break
 her heart finding out
 Annabelle Alys Montmorenci, whom the
 world had accorded nothing save hard
 knocks, yet who regarded the world a pleasant place to live in.
 Gillian Hardress who had previously married inadequately.
 Marion Wnwood. who was merely
 ''copy' for the best book Mir Townsend intended writing. Only she was getting
 copy too, beat Robbie at his own game and published her story first.
 Elena Barry-Smith. whom Robbie first
 met on the roof of the blazing Continen- tai hotel.
 Rosalind Jemmett, with whom he finally
 broke his engagement because he was really fond of her
 Avis Beechinor, who he thought was
 ha Wb thought him the wealthy Peter Blagden when they met in the garden. And always at intervals-bless those intervals-there was Bettie Hamlyn, whose faults (of which there were more than 57) but resting on the firm foundation that to her Robbie had always told the truth which was a great deal in this day and generation.
 MT. Robert Ethredge Townsend was a genius, perhaps aps-certainly genius in his faculty of appreciation for the other sex. And the book about his love escapes as well as escapades is really first class. It is one of the most individual and un-
 usual novels of the year We'll worth reading
 "The Sealed Verdict. or by Whose
 Hand,' by Lawrence J. Lynch. Gaird & Lee)
 This is a mystery story all right. all liSHl. Il SOulc IedueTS, HO uOuDt d great many, the less you can tell about 'how
 1t is going to happen the more the
 thrill, and consequent approval.
 If the thrill is desired. here 1t is in '"rhe Sealed Verdict
 The hero, Preston Frayne, reporter for leading newspaper and incidentally one of those independent won't t-be-denied Herlock Shomeses, falls in love with
 Roma Illion, a young actress new to the stage, who afterwards becomes involved in the "Tremaine House Mystery. In that tragedy Lura Hawtry noted and beautiful actress of the same company with Miss Illion, is killed by falling or being pushed from a sixth-story window of the hotel. The city police authorities following what seem to be convincing
 clues have almost fixed the crime of murder upon Miss Ilion. When Hist
 Ship Ahoyl-Stop. Look, Listen, Who Is Here? Why it is our hero, Preston Frayne, who comes rushing to the rescue of Miss Ilfion, with positive proof of her innocence and places the responsibility for the mysterious death where 1t prop erly belongs.
 There were, of course, much tracing of clues, losing of that witness running down another, but in 1t all-all the dis appointment, love held sway with Pres
 ton Frayne. He must simply must, clear his loved ones good name. | He was Johnny on the spot in doing 1t. The book tells all about 1t. If you are | interested in such tales, "The Sealed Yer l dict" will please you greatly. If you do l not care for such thrillers, you had best l let the book severely alone. l ''The Actress by Louise Closer Hale. (Harper & Brothers.) The author of this bright attractive story has been on the stage herself, may be there now, for all this reviewer knows TO,,k Il, Ot,af s1 hot ia. stage she knows whereof she speaks. Another thing. We have in days gone some days not gone, been deluged with stories of the stage. filled with sordid details, most of which no doubt were and
 are true to life, but not pleasant reading. They tell us, those who try to seductively
 entrap the high-brow editors of maga- zines. that story must have an "uplift' "a good moral without any preaching to get a hearing, or better, a printing. 'The Actress has that-more than that. The heroine of the story felt the "call.' She had genus-she knew it, she said so herself. But the one faithful man who wished to take her to his own home.
 where her genius might be used to better effect, as he saw and explained it, namely,
 in looking after him, didn't thrill over this call of art, with the capital "A" Art is true and Time is fleeting, as somebody said, or words to that effect,
 so this charming girl insisted on trying
 her genius out anyway and did so.
 She had many experiences, all of which are interestingly discussed in the book
 She met many men; some of whom made
 love to her and endeavored to put copper on the stage fascination, but nothing doing.
 The one faithful man sat steady in the
 boat, or as steady as he could under the circumstances, hoping and praying that time would prove to his sweetheart or whom he claimed as his sweetheart-just that one thing that everybody learns sometime during life, namely, that there is nothing in the world that matters where love is.
 Of course, after a while the fascination of the stage life began to and did entirely wane, when the faithful lover made his appearance, ready to make up for lost time.
 ."rhe Actress" is a very pleasing story. As heretofore stated in this review, it is really a great pleasure to read a book dealing with the stage which doesn't de- vote most of it's pages to a discussion of Rector's, the Great White Way, the fzz- stuff, cigarettes and dsreputable men and women
 Here's luck to ''The Actress.H Long may her species wave and give us an op- portunity to hear about her and her kind
 which is & good sort
 ''Fraternity," by John Galsworthy. e. r. .. ~.Putnam's Sons.)
 There are some good books mentioned this week in this department. Sometimes there comes a batch of books, the read