Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-26
at +

e 5 just aWfui marrow" no
- Judges right: but why the
hell Judge at all? That's
what I'm always axing
him. Judge not at all
says Christ. doan't He? Then why do
these prize Christians want for to De al
ways doing 1t. and casting stone at
tramps and freethinkers and socialists
and everybody else: as don't walk
head to head with 'em? / want my son
to be large-minded. Justice is a good
boss but Mercy's better one. barbara !:
and the older / get find myself tnaf ter
tribe merciful that I'll forgive anybody
snything-if they'll only let me alone ana
mind their own business.
That is Philip Ouldsbroom in a troubled
moment of rare confidence talking aoout
his son Martin, a correct, religious iad,
perfect puzzle to his big-hearted, free
thinking father. And that Is the whole
strange story; the quest Of father Tor
his son, fruitless quest. for Philip mas
no son. Years before. when Unity Crymes
ipassed by her ''tokened lover. broodang.
religious, preaching Henry Birdwood, to
marry the richer Philip. she repented
later sufficiently to bear son to her
discarded lover for her husbands rather
i3ng. That is why Philip never finds MS
lson. That is why he breaks his heart and
Adies miserably over the unguessed riddle.
"A strong story, born and bred ana fui-
Iflled in the gloom Of treachery. In meth
cd and spirit here the relation to Thomas
Hardy is that of literary blood tie. not
one of casual likeness. An equal feeling
for the face and moods OF nature Is here;
Devon's moors and streams and tors wake
up to take part in human emotions and
needs as does Wessex I'm the hands of the
older writer. An equal oneness with the
homely soil-bound folks is here. Here is
the same austere fidelity TO the course
of natural and moral law, reaping rooted
d. -fyrtY. taor
springs OF human action. Here the same
somberness of theme. the same relentless
ness of issue
THE INTRUDING ANGEL. BY Charles
Marriott New York John Lane
Company.
Just past Devon to the west Is
tongue of English soil that laps out into
tbe Atlantic. This Is Cornwall. like
Devon the scene of strong story,
where, too, the sun and sea and soil are
woven. along with human actions. into
the fabric of the tale. Curiously, too,
Mr.. MarriottS novel embraces. but as
more of an incident and a contributory
cause, that which makes the groundwork
of Mr.. Phillpotts' story. the false pa
ternity of a child. This, however. in its
entirety. is the drama of unequal mar
rage and a subsequent compensatory,
unlegaiZed love. Through serious con-
sistent and most interesting development
of human character and action the story
ends here. The wife. a shallow, immoral,
3nsincere. selfish woman, but outwardly
a circumspect and conventional one.
stands pitied by her friends and the
world at large, a divorce in the air taking
on the aspect of a halo above her head.
and a good man at the door, waiting cir
cumspectly for the halo to settle. Out
side of the legal bond, the husband re-
spends 10 the choice of the other woman,
for the author. out of both nature and
logic. permits her to exercise the choice
Throughout this story these two have
stood for right living and high thinking.
These have been the Intellectual refined.
serious, truthful, provisioning people
throughout. Yet the author sees them do
this thing, without molestation. Why?
He, no doubt, is clear about his purpose.
He could easily classify ii as art. or
ethics. or as just life. He could spell it
out In big letters if he would write an
other story, beginning where this one
leaves off. But he will not
THE LOST FACE. BY Jack London,
author of Martin Eden" etc. The
Macmillan Company.
The well known vigor and vernacular
of Mr. Londons literary equipment come
in for good artistic service in these half
dozen pithy tales of reckless men faring
out into a deadly land of danger and dis
appointment Quite as interesting as the
living hard fighting. hard drinking. up in
the northwest country. is the undertow
of almost mystic feeling for the spirit
of this land of lmitless reach, sinister in
Ats snowy, unfretted stretches, in its
rivers of oceanic mold taut to the roots
in the grip of an ice monster. The brace
and thrill of savage strife, the mysterious
ferocity of unconscious nature walk side
by side through these stories.
KINGS IN EXILE. BY Charles G. D.
Roberts. author Of THE Backwoods-
men, etc. New York: The Macmil-
Ian Company.
few years ago the air hurtled with
anathemas against nature takers But
the chief of these. happily. kept on fax
fng, while thousands of delighted people
were permitted through this altogether
charming process to pursue an honorable
acquaintance with the beasts of the field.
And here is another one of the same sort.
First a poet and fine writer. Then
close student and a lover of animals.
These he has elected TO interpret, so far
as their conduct directs him to do this.
on the basis of human motive and action.
About these captive kings he weaves
atmosphere of their native wilds. and
pictures their thoughts homing away to
the woods and wastes. their hnmesick-
ness. their cunning against their captors.
their sagacty, their ceaseless outlook for
escape. All this on the human basis.
Stories that thrill with compassion for
these prisoners of the field. To he sure,