Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-17


Edited by Sidney Colvin. New YORK:
Charles Scribners Sons.
-HE best that publishers can do
for readers OF Robert Louis
Stevenson $50 far as this IS
possble-to keep the book as
such. from standing in between
the reader and the man himself. The
present volumes are. in this quality OF
seIf-efracement. models or book propriety
Small and easy to the hand and clear 10
the eve. they offer no surface friction TO
fray the edges of enjoyment. Many let
;ers hitherto unpublished-a hundred and
Atty. to be exact-together with hitter
Arrangement OF correspondence and pl-
ographv. make full warrant for this new
EDITION OF the letters OF Robert Louis ste
vsnson The epistolary pilgrimage with
This beloved man is compound of equal
Measure and sadness. Having in con-
seriousness the issue OF these far farings
after health. one reads with gloomy pre-
science through this intimacy OF gayety
and happy fancy, of high thought and
unbroken spirit Despite the shadows
that gather along the way. however. this
: the precious record Of traveller
iourneying our own road. and sending
pack to our, What OF the nlght?' and,
What OF the morning." full gallant
~atchwords OF faith and unfear.
In editorial capacity Mr.. Colvin here
devotes a ripe experience to the service
OF this correspondence. Standing IN
time sequence, the letters fall into nat
tInct stage in the career OF Stevenson.
Rare Geographic chapters by MT. Gown
preface these groups and sum the essence
of their content. Markedly good Is tns
use of explanatory notes. Iness. r pia's IN
at the head Of certain letters, serve, IN
their largest office, 10 bring TINS CORE
spondence into compact coherency Win
the more formal writings or stevenson
One warns throughout In the GOV y,
this editors love for author. in the hdei.
inv and grace with which obvious Iac'
takes on an inner radiance through COM
plete comprehension
JACK AND THE CHECK BOOK. BY
John Kendrick Bangs. IIlustrateo
by Albert Lowering. New 1orA'
Harper & Bros, publishers.
A few years ago there re-issued from
the press book Of delicious nonsense,
.Phoenixiana." by name, written nearly
fifty years prior to this particular appear
ance by Capt. George Horatio DERBY
alias John Phoenix. Very properly. TINS
edition was introduced by John KendricR
Rangs. an unmistakable lineal literary de-
scendant of the author OF this incomparaois
playfulness. Jack and the Check BOOK
"A fairy story, whose turns OF magic are
Of the financial sort. modern and unpe,
NeyabIe save in a fairy story and wall
ptreet-is an excellent sample OF the gen
tie quality Of the Bangs satire and fair
addition to what may , very p Imiist,on OF
this authors plain prototype. What Jonn
KendT1ck Bangs says OF John Phoenix in
Inc introduction to 'Phoenixiana. Bangs
might ~ OF the present sum OF ms own WI
Wuy1 Smother remarkable feature OF the
IifGrnry nonsense (of John Phoenix Is It's
axfyaordinary range. All forms OF !itera.
4ssS are 70 BE- found here The tales ne .S OF
tT11oSePt the diversions Of the Journalist;
~ r06eot4vs passages Of the essayist; the
&9&A1f10 senOe Of the purveyor or PIC
TV1o0t ne dramatic instinct OF the con-
~ ~ the periods OF the philosopher
- ere here, In one form or another Less
NJ ana less wisdom may be found IN
wA08U library shelves than Phoenix mas
rs1nnned into his lamentably few pages
r. Nnriss1ue and sketches: no more hon
est fun can be found anywhere IN 80 Dflei
O compass.
KLAUS HINRICH BAAs. The Story Of
. Self.Made Man. BY Gustav Frens-
sen. author Of "Jorn Chl," etc.
translated from the German by
Esther Everett Lape and Enzaoetn
Fisher Read. New York: The Mac
milan Company.
To gather out of this long Geographic
account Of German peasant boy its over
flowing measure of vitality and beauty
one needs the comfortable expansive sense
OF full reading leisure. Boy. youth and
man, mark the slowly unfolding. success
sive SUBMITS of this record Of growth.
80 Oh, hslf0
predecessor marking the boys modest
march of triumph. pays tribute, by I'M
phcation. to the power OF personality over
the accidents Of both birth and surround
ines. Joining these lifted waymarks OF
life are gentle slopes or sharp declines.
crowded with an infinity OF details, such
as spring naturally out OF each day
humble aspect and design. Bit by bit
this orderly and muititudfnous aIray
builds itself into this boy. the instruments
OF his destiny. Out Of these. too. the
author fashions a marvellous realism OF
common German life. The seasonal
rhythm OF this story. It's fidelity. Its sim
pfcity. add poetry to the concrete actual
fly OF its theme. Acknowledged to be
among the leaders in modern German
literature. Gustav Frenssen is not IA
miliar writer to American readers. Yet,
this novel-given out in such fine SYM
rathy Of spirit and form by its gifted
transiators-places him beside the Ameri-
can writer's. chiefly young men, who are
at present demonstrating the poetry OF
life. as we'll as It's power. through the
medium of mastery literary realism.
RvST; A Play In Four Acts. BY AL
gernon Tassin. New York: Broad
way Publishing Company.
To this piaymaker's credit 1t must be
counted that his play is about something.
A phenomenon. general and modern, Is
here trimmed to dramatic compass Of
time, place and circumstance. This theme.
in the words OF one of the players. is
1.-The busy-ness OF women"-that amazing
modern activity of going thither and COM
ing hfther. that up-and-down and round
about stir, with which all out-of-doors is
arutter in the feminine pursuit of some
thing to do. now that housekeeping and
childbearing no longer I'LL the vocational
vision OF the gentle sex.
Fashionable town houses and smart
country club. between which hummins
motors shuttle TO and fro, define the stage
ana set the scenes OF this drama. All
rorts Of modern diversions move II viva
ciously to its close. Types OF modern
women unfold in this development. Here
n the woman of clear business instinct
and aptitude: here II one who In a thou
sand years or so. will be a politician. and
here-older and passins-is the Mrs. Jelly
by sort, concerned about petticoats for
arctic women and expansion for piddling
oriental feet. Here, too. is the girl frank
" bent on marriage. One wishes that
this bright little play had at the end
turned up the corners OF its mouth in
them down over an unnecessarily sorry
ufrtuYe Since he fharna 1anpral whv