The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-28

l MT. 1aQd sent 1OrIn d DOOk ldSl year | called "The Woman Pays" dealing with 1 the fascination that ministers of the gos- l pei have for some women, temperament- | ally fitted, or unfitted, as the case may | be- fur such fascination. The woman in 1 that, as in all cases, paid the price while the maxwell Nemesis seemed to l be busy some other place when needed for the man-the minister-at least. during l the time depicted in the book The Woman Pays" had letters written to the eastern press galore in regard to it adding very much, of course, to the sale , of the volume.
 MT. Ladd has just published another ! book called One Fair Daughter in which 1t is shown that in some cases, at least, men are compelled to get out ! their pocketbooks containing love, honor or money-that element most dear to the 1 party at interest-with which to pay the | price.
 In this case young minister (Mr. Ladd seems to enthuse when writing of the | ministers) came to New York to take | charge of a sem-fashionable church. He was young man of power, some charm | and much learning. He was succeeding very well in his work, assisted by the | different ladies' societies and so on, when he was introduced to "one fair daugh- ter" who, of course, was unhappily mar ried to a cad-a man who did not un- derstand her.; who must have sympathy, | only "friend' was what she wanted, and must have to save herself The min ister came in sthe nick of time-nfck is a good term here-he would be the friend; he would not permit their friendship to become tawdry by designating 1t as ''pla- tonic"-but the idea was to keep the afore- ! said friendship on as close plane to the I ieicle as possible. There is no need to go any further, of course, in the sugges- tion in the review as to what happened The misunderstood wife was beautiful; she had never loved; she had never known anyone who could look Into and understand her soul, as 1t were, as did this handsome preacher Of course there had been no law or the statute books to compel the unhappy wife to marry the man she did. She had preferred the sale of herself to the old brute instead of going to work-but-still that is different has nothing to do with the case-of course l not.
 The minister of the gospel in this case had very high ideas He knew that he could not inveigle the wife of one of his members into even a friendship so long as he wore the garb of the church. So the idea was that he would give up the church, go into business, have the "one fair daughter get divorce-then marry each other.
 All worked well-iots of things-particu- larly one Journey made by the "daugh- ter and later joined by the man, still wearing the cloth of the church, hap pened-(the description of which stay In South Carolina will popularize the book, see If 1t doesn't D-but this review cannot, for obvious reasons, go Into details.
 But when it came time for the "one fair daughter to give up the flesh pots to divorce the brute and marry the man who was giving up all for her-he who had no money, but mad to make his way all over again in the world-the woman declined, after much thought to make the plunge and in this case the man paid, as no doubt most moralists will say he should have done. Served him right, eh? Surely it did.
 In nutshell, then: Ralph Leland clergyman, fell In love with another mans wife and yet retained respect in the community. He went his way judged but undespised. Isabel Handel the other mans wife, very rich, very beautiful dared not separate from her husband hated. when the test came. Otto Handel the husband. who personifies the ma terialism and selfishness that make sc many homes miserable and so many mar riages mockeries.
 "One Fair Daughter is striking book Not Sunday school book-but interesting for all that.
 "The Story of Sir Galahad," by Mary
 Blackwell Sterling. (E. P. Dutton &
 Co)
 | We are told that the StOrV or NIaldndu has been passed over by writers who con- sidered 1t a monkish creation too full of ecclesiasticism and lacking in human in terest That the fact that the story has not been properly presented Is for the req son that it Is not easy for the casual reader to gain true insight into the tangles of Malory's picturesque prose.
 MT Edward F. Allen one of the editors of the Bohemian Magazine, collaborated in the production, a superior one, of "Tales From Mallory reviewed and heartily recommended by this department Here is another story from Mallory in consecutive form, making intelligible some of that writer's vague constructions which has weeded out certain wordy and mystic ones, showing to us the golden thread of a beautiful narrative.
 The story Is one. of course. of religious uplift, but as clearly indicated as the | religious theme are the healthy human interest and the stirring action of knight y deeds. The story typfies the quest for the ideal, and we who are heirs to the spiritual life of the past can look back with interest and perhaps be surprisf< to f11d a message in it for us today.
 The quest for the Grail goes on though we are no longer encouraged by the actual symbol each age is so fed as to uncover some of the wonders the Grail repre- sents and In our own day there Is greater effort than ever by "the seekers to dc away with that materldHSm Wnlcn Keeps us from seeing"
 "The Story of Sir Galahad' is hand somely produced by the publishers. witt Illustrations in black and white; also color
 by William Ernest Chapman.
 Destiny and Desire" Poems. Passiona tt
 and Perverse. by Maryland Watson
 Casino Publishing Co.)
 On that basis of rule or judgment namely that if you can understand from a poem what the poet is trying to say then the product Is very poor poetry Maryland Watson is a mighty poor poet There isn't any doubt contained in any verse of Destiny and Desire" You car understand what the poet means to say all right, all right. And after all, there are lot of ordinary people who really do care to know something of what the poet Is trying to tell us-at least a gim- mering. so to speak.
 Poems. Passionate and Perverse' ex- plain matters right from the shoulder explain all things to all men and a great many women-rather plainly, too; that is they explain, no doubt, the poets view point-which is all we have to struggle with in this case.
 For instance:
 "I am waiting here for you. Every drop of blood
 That pulses in my heart
 Is a flaming torch to light your way Lover Lad, with your Irish eyes, How well know just what you'll do, e..