The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24

1 for any hook and I have had the con- l stant announcement of Her Majesty, the l Queen Margherita, to whom the book Is dedicated, and who graciously sent her autograph picture for the frontispiece l have also endeavored to present to my compatriots a picture of living modern Italy, and as the men and women who l are making Italy the great nation as 1t Is today are my friends and have helped l me, I hope to have made the picture | clear I have tried to give the setting 1 of the historic past, that in most cases surrounds the families bearing the great names of Italy and often I have had 1 original parchments taken from the H. braries from the old castles placed at my disposal when I have been visiting my friends in one part or another of Italy. The general impression that the villas and gardens of Italy are either ruined or deserted I have tried to dispel. l beg to remain.
 "Yours with much esteem,
 .'TRYPHOSA BATES BATCHELLER.' THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER
 BROWN"
 By Gilbert K. Chesterton. Illustrations by ], will F. Foster. The John Lane Com-
 pany, New York.
 What do you think of MT. Gilbert K. l Chesterton turned detective-rival of Con- an Doyle-on the track of Annie Rather inc Greene-a close second to Edgar Allen Poe?
 l Our temperamental, eccentric, highly sensitive, chemical, electric Mr Chester 1 ton, who has always delved into the I dueerest sort of lore, and in what he mas attempted surpassed verybody else Tn the I brilliance of his manifestations and m | Of hf ,arf0rnancpS. and on par with the very unusual MT. G. Ser 1 nard Shaw at this late day taking upon l himself the burden of unraveling nys- I tery and presenting a hero, who Tor cleN- | erness and craftiness surpasses any that l we have encountered in days. | MT. Chestertons story. The Innocence | Of Father Brown" which he handled wltn high hand, makes the other artists or | this craft retire, forsooth, to the deHeshe l of only the passably good.
 l Father Brown is an unusual charactsr in the detective line, for panoplied In in- nocence and leading the life of the prov | erbial priest it seems almost impossible | for him to have learned anything or art i istry, subtlety or. crime.
 l This however is where MT. Sherlock 1 Holmes "get wise,' for in their confess sons to him, Father Brown learns of the wickedness of criminals and their meth | the most ingenious, the blandest, the most 1 ronchalant. the most ineludible pursuei l that has ever been trained into the ar' l of evasion and escape.
 l For friends, Father Brown has super , human virtuoso in crime, form Paris, Whl being converted and becoming detecuve seems suddenly to lose all his facultle' and furnishes the necessary roll 10 th' priest
 | hot SIlhflV draWr the situations which are original to 1e | gree. and indeed such statement IS uh necessary, for to say that MT. Chestertof is their author is sufficient.
 l The climax of the book is gruesome an' ghostly, and is enveloped by the ar Q evil and invisible forces working throusl the human brain and making remarkk K
 able study in such effects which are al | ways interesting. H
 | Tbroughout the meteoric adventur' there is. of course, mainly to do with Fla ther Brown. but there Is considerable O Nr Chesterton. too, scintillating along .n l way, to the eminent fascination anu pe dazzlement of the reader, who, if he ike 1 MT. Chesterton at all likes him so wei that he never cries Enough. "A PERSON OF SOME IMPoRTANcE-' By Lloyd Osbournes With Illustration by A. IS. w enZell. llc iooo''S -'A~ - Company, Indianapolis.
 | Since the golden days when he wro, with Stevenson Lloyd Osborune has toi'
 rot tale comparable to "A Person or som
 Importance" |,
 Its opening and closing chapters are T | those adventurous South Seas, where the,
 worked together on "The Ebb Tide an'
 "The Wrecker.'
 With the return to the locale or tn
 mutual labor. the brave and gallant sp,rii !
 of Robert Louis" seems to inspire m
 pen. and it does not desert him when th
 scene shifts to New England vliiase'
 where some of the story takes place. It might be called Stevenson cohti1
 button with faint glmmering or II
 Phillips Oppenheim thrown in TOT goo
 measure and withal a good yarn oi e%
 ceptional skill and much interest.
 The opening chapters introduce on
 John Mort about whose identity the stor'
 is concerned although he soon dlsap
 peared.
 He is a mysterious person or uncer.ai
 nationality and apparently bounoies
 wealth, and lives in luxury with peaut' ful woman on South Sea island an governs the peaceful natives.
 The hero falls in with Mort ana aite
 doing service in the way of errands rou,i the coast of the islands in the Pacinc io six years becomes obsessed with a desir to visit his childhood home.
 He leaves his master, pledged to strict