The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-04
Among the Books
and Magazines
"a Modern Chronicles,

Winston Churchill. by virtue OF the
of Richard Carvel." the
realism Of "Coniston'' and the modern
ity of MIR. Crewes Career" has come
to be regarded as a brilliant, versatile
and representative figure in the Arneri
can world of letters.
The motif of THE Modern Chronicle"
is somewhat different from that of his
former novels. It's dominant note is
struck by woman, who is certainly the
principal character in the book. This
woman, Honora Leffingwcll, has gem
tic Virginia blood in her veins, her
forbears having come through Ken
lucky in a coach and six to settle In
st. Louis, on the banks OF the Missis-
sippi. and diplomatic position &C.
oupied By her father. Randolph LEFT
fingwell. at Nice, in Southern France.
having fixed her birthplace in foreign
country. Deprived of both parents by
a tragic accident. Honora Leffingwell
las been brought back at an early age
to the home of her uncle, Tom Letting
well in ST. Louis, and grows from IN
Fancy to young womanhood under his
roof and az his adopted daughter.
Tom Leffingwell's household is n
very modest one Its heads destiny,
as a worker in a bank, has been fixed
by his fathers failure and death years
before the story opens. His inability
to accumulate wealth is understood by
the reader TO be connected with his
paving off debts incurred during the
BRIEF briliancy of his brothers diplos
matte career. Whatever the truth may
have been, Tom Leffingwel. accepts
his responsibilities like man and dis
charges them without trace of Bit
terness or resentment. His wife, Aunt
Al lr ~ ~ 81 a n
rendered the nineteenth century South
ern matron and wife the sanest, moral
ist and the truest embodiment of do
mestic virtues in the world. Her
modesty keeps her in the background.
She Is not brought forward aggressive
IL throughout the different phases of
the story. but she stands for the seren-
ity. the mctherliness and the repose OF
generation ago, as eternally opposed
TO the restlessness, the ideas and the
ambitions which Stir women OF to-
day. ideas and ambitions which are
prominent in Henora Leffingwell and
the smart New York set with which
she is associated after a mercenary
marriage that she vainly imagines VIII
| lift her to power and prestige.
Honora's yearnings after wider
sphere In which to exercise her innate
desires for leadership among the so.
ciaIly great is given its first decided
impulse when she is sent to Sutcliffe
| an exclusive and very fashionable
girls school on the banks of the Hud
son. not far from New York. Hel
| friendship for Susan Holt. room
mate at Sutcliffe, leads to her being IN
| yited to visit the Holt country nome
| SiiverdaIe, somewhere in one or the
most beautiful sections of the Empire
|
! portunity of entering into acquafn'
tanceship with the lives of the very
wealthy, the fashionably great of New
! York's millionaire class Mrs. Hol'
| next to Honora and Aunt Mary, is the
| most noticeable OF Mr.. Churchills
| group of women in "a Modern Chroni-
| Gle" The others are mere ad1uncts
and, while they each count as factors
are. collectively. frivolous and unlm
| portanr.
The distinctive qualities which sin
gle out Honora and set her apart from
\ and above the other women of ne
| world are those which come betWee!
her and the attainment OF the happi
ness for which she so vainly longs am
strives. She makes her first great mis-
| take by entering into marriage VII
a man whom she does not love.
| when she believes she has found {
conrenial soul she divorces her frs
husband and, carried away by the I'm
/ natuostty OF her lover, marries he
i secon5; as soon as she Is free. Thu
tragedy Of her life after this bring
its punishment in its wake.
When she has lived to be thirt.
wears of age she awakes to a con
seriousness of her mistakes. That sh
comes into her realization is due t
4 the one man, who after "Uncle Tom
forms background Of stabilit!
against which her virility stands out
Peter Erwin, of st. Louis--a man VIII
took his duty where he found 1t an
was, by so doing. made great. Al
ways. when others failed, he has beel
an elemental influence in Honora'
life. At the last he Is given his re
ward, the right to shield and protec
her.
"a, Modern Chronicle" is interesting
mt it's literary value is not equa
10 that of "Coniston" or "Richar
caryel.,' AS a novel, 1t Is the essenc
or Americanism, but that, in It's pres
emit phase, is too blatant and sordid t
make in its presentation the highes
appeal.
The story of South African Cir
By Cynthia Stockley. G. p. Putnam
sons, New York; sl,30,
South Africa, with its hopjes, il
Basutos. it's Kafftr girls, It's or
wagons and its veldts, is land {
many mysteries. Here its romance
| told once again, are alive with tn
i, smell of the baking hot veldts whe
the rain falls kissing down upon then
with the rustic OF the carly mornin
wind that has wandered across thot
sands of miles of sun-burnt grass an
yelat flowers mad stubby bushes, all
with the rush of its muddy. oozy rcet
ing rivers
Poppy. the South African girl. VII
i lis cynthia Stockley's heroine, CONF
first into observation By the art {
: the author as an ill-treated, hal
!. starved orphan child. an unwelcon
drudge in the home Of hcr aunt, Mr.
Kennedy, at Bloemfontein. From sue
.scant refuge as is given her there, 81
!, finally runs away and, after endurir
!, incredible hardships, is taken care
: by man who finds, In the interest
!. Hooking out for a waif with an III
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