The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-03

Tower of Ivory" by Gertrude Atherton' (The Mcmillan Col
 There are 46s pages in the novel, Tower
 of Ivory" Mrs. Atherton's latest effort
 and it is such a pityl
 When one has been looking forward to
 the appearance of book stimulated by
 the publishers announcements and ones
 own opinion of what certain author can
 up against, and worse, have to wade
 through. something such as the Tower
 of Ivory" in the springtime of that tired I feeling, Is not very pleasant-on the con trary. Mrs. Atherton is a former Cali fornian of great talent and ability; going I too, to the east from that state, Cali fornia the only rival Indiana ever has l had in the production of authors for ex- port or otherwise, she stands way up in 'G, as the saying is, in literary matters and with the literary push. She is likely to break loose, in card or a piece in the papers" on this or that subject when ever the opportunity presents itself, or doesn't. But we are given to understand
 now that Tower Of Ivory Is to be Mrs.
 Atherton's last novel, which in one way
 Is a pity, because she should not be re-
 membered as the author of 1t. While,
 on the other hand, If Flower of Ivory"
 Is not a novel of divorce politics, finance, muclt-raking, International marriages
 tsave incidentally, New York society, the
 Tenderloin, California. New England, the
 south, Alaska, Bohemia, a new Balkan
 estate, the negro, mysticism, symbolism
 or any sort of sermon. Well, may you
 ask, goodness gracious. then, what else
 is left in the possibilities for novel writ ing, except the boll weevil hookworm, how-fear-we-came-to whipping Uncle-Joe c. but didn't, or the Governor Brown Commander Peary debate7
 So anxious was this reviewer to find in
 Tower of Ivory" a real good reason
 for its printing, such an admirer really is
 he of Mrs. Athertons previous literary
 work, such as '"rhe Conqueror," An
 cestors, ' Senator North" and so on, that
 carefully through every page of the afore- said 46S went your humble servant and the result was very dissatisfying, very Fdisappointing. First
 Because the story itself deals with young Englishman, John Ordham, the possessor of an enormous amount of gray
 matter Che never employed on any page of the 466), the second son of the noble Bridgminster fanily-dodgast these sec ond sons," anyway. Don't you tire of
 reading about them and the sons No. r.
 who always die in such lady-iilSe man. to fHdke way TOT NO. ~ InlS leV1eKer
 does all right enough.
 Well, John Ordham, aged 24 with in- numerable brothers, younger than he and the inevitable brother No. had, through the influence of his mother, been sent
 abroad to study diplomacy" about which he knew at the beginning as much as does a jack rabbit John ''had been in Munich several months before he met Marguerite Styr;' you know Immediately ic rto tf, get there by the way she smells her name eh? Marguerite was on the stage, oper- atic, by a large majority, and the returns
 not all in. The black belt Is always so slow at election times
 John Ordham, mentally wonderful, &C., cordlng to Mrs. Atherton, ''chose to fancy himself in love with her and although
 both too dignified and too shy (quit thatD ito applaud with the vehemence of the Germans, he never failed to attend performance at the .Hof when the greatest hochdramatisch the new music had developed sang 1seult or Brynhildr." Tn day when sarah Bernhardt was the fashion in tragediennes she tMargarethe) had still method ali her own, manner of appearing quiet I ly on the stage, seemingly as imper- sonal as part of its setting; then gradually dominating 1t, not only by | the magic of her great golden voice
 and imposing height and presence, but by force which the critics after long and acrimonious controversy agreed to l be an emanation from the brain l Whether she possessed also that phy-
 sical magnetism commonly indspeh- l sable to stage people was a question l still agitated when Ordham arrived in
 Munich, although she had been royal I Bavarian court singer for six years, but that she had cultivated a mental I lr- t-1. l the great artist she was, the most violent partisans of other prime dome, lyric and dramatic, frankly conceded. The insane King Ludwig had made | Margarethe Maggie, after thisD Countess Tam and her only friend in Munich among the men or women was
 the Princess Nachmeister, the Mrs.
 Astor of Munich
 Now, when John Ordham came to
 Munich to study diplomacy and a few easy things like that Princess Nach-
 meister. age about 65. and Maggie Styr,
 age S7, Johnnie, age "A, such a sweet lovely boy, was taken in charge by this
 skillful pair, the leader of Munich's smart set and the great singer. | Mrs. Atherton would not care for any
 of us to think that in Ordham she I mad given us pen picture not par ticularly pleasing of what we would call down in this part of the country l a sissy boy. One for whom, in Bir- | mingham, Atlanta, or New Orleans, we would quickly make up a purse with which to purchase a railroad ticket to
 the farthest point away. It has been | done. He wa- a perfumed youngster, I owing 1S4 neckties, a like number of
 socks, handkerchiefs and shirts l And scent" She almost choked. I tJohn's German teacher.) T have noticed
 it before, but was too polite to make
 remarkc. Today 1 relieve my mind.
 Scent is obnoxious, demoralizing, in- tended only for idle fine ladies and
 those others whom we never mention. Why do you use scent?
 1 He sank into posture almost reclin- I ing; he half closed his eyes and half opened his mouth. He looked very | naughty indeed" tOh, for a good sized | orickD
 "Why?" he murmured dreamily. Be
 cause I find m perfumes one of the exquisite sensations of life. I should like to lie in bed all day while some
 one sprinkled the crude air with dis
 titled odors-and-dreaifi I've a mind to box your ears." she cried furiously and with a very red
 face. If she had, nothing would have been too good for the frau, but she I was fascinated by Johnnies lovely
 complexion too, you seci
 l Marsarcthe Styr, "an ivory statue | waiting for the night of public per formance to come to life at the bidding I ,f The Master, in time consummated she and John Ordham "a nentaI mar l riage you'll have to work out what | that sort of arrangement was In your