New-York tribune., 1910-04-23
SENTIMENT
Some Excursions Into 1t, Sweet
and Wholesome.

THE EDUCATION OF UNCLE PAUL. BY
Algernon Blackwood. 12mo. pp. $40.
Henry Holt & Co.
FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE LOVE STORIES
BY zona Gale. i2mo. pp. s2f. The
Macmillan Company.
THE wIsTFUL YEARS. BY Roy Rolf.
ellison. Illustrated by F. Graham
Cootes. 12mo. pp. 31s The Baker a
Taylor Company.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A BOY. By Jose-
phine Daskam Bacon. With Illusra-
tions by Pose oNeill. 12mo. pp. 322.
Harper e. Bros.
THE Education Of Uncle Paul" is un-
dertaken when he is forty-five by his
sisters children. most Of all by his niece,
tancif. mite who opens for him the
gates 10 the wonderland Of childhood,
with its dim. cool. mystic vistas below
the magic light, the land which, once
left behind. we so imperfectly remember
and must study anew under the guidance
Of infancy, If the poetic faculty be not
killed within us by contact with the re-
alities Of this world. Uncle Paul has
remained a dreamer, he discovers, where
fore his admission 10 the secret rites is
easy. for he takes il all with becoming
seriousness. There is little make be-
lieve" in childhoods life apart, which II
but rarely unfolds to us when proved
worthy, and then only stammeringly.
imperfectly, as If in amazement at its
own visions. Yesterday really begins
just after Midnight when To-day ends.
and To-morrow begins there, too. After
Midnight. Tomorrow jumps away again
a whole day, and is as far off as ever.
That's the nearest you can get to To-
morrow. And Yesterday, which has been
q whole day away. suddenly jumps I'D
close behind again. So that Yesterday
and Tomorrow meet at Midnight for a
single second before flying off TO their
new places" Thus Mike, who hears the
earth breathe and knows the voices of
the wind, and sees the spirits Of the
trees migrating southward with the
birds in autumn. TO return with them
in the spring. Uncle Paul loses his little
guide. but finds his own long slumbering
self awake ar last and waiting for his
call. With Its aid he progresses from
beautiful dreaming 10 loving service by
the side Of the One Woman. Mr. Black
wood has written a delicately. subtly
imaginative and often truly poetic story.
which will appeal 10 all grown-ups who
have been fortunate enough 20 preserve
intact deep within them a gleam Of the
golden hour OF childhood
II may be merely the momentary ef-
feet of an enforced professional over
indulgence in current fiction. but. what
ever the cause. one feels impelled to
thank Miss Gale for a sane passing oh
servation that she makes In Friendship
Village Love Stories" her new volume
Of tales. THE neurotics. do believe"
she says. ARE of us all nearest to the
truth about things. but as | grow older
/ find myself getting To take a sur
passing comfort i'm the normal or
rather. / am always willing To have the
normal thrust upon me. but my neu-
rotics l wish 20 select for myself" She
tempts constantly To quotation here as
In her earlier books. chiefly because she
appears To be In reality only quoting
you at your best and happicst and
wisest, merely expressing the idea more
felicitously than you have ever thought
OF doing IL yourself. This is. OF course
the only right way of writing quota
tlons. but few ever find II. These love
stories are. as the Little Child i'm these
pages suggests. OF llfo's May showing
June how" There are nineteen Of them.
some Of thesl old acquaintance first
encountered in the pages OF periodicals..
but fitting I'm perfectly here with the
new chaptets and their wholesome de-
light. Miss Gale has discovered a little
world Of her own, domain In which
she has as yet fortunately no imils tors.