Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-28

THE LANDS OF THE tanned TURK:
or. The Balkan states Of To-day. BY
Blair jacket. Boston: L. c. Page q
co. Washington: Woodward d
Lothrop.
A BOOK built to the measure OF
~ the general travel-readers need
~ fitted out with first-rate map
handily placed, and an album
dance of excellent pictures TO
point the text The term Balkan
States commonly brings to mind
tumble of names. standing for a snarl of
petty principalities, whose office Is that of
makeweights in. the politics of south
eastern Europe. Since in the course of re-
cent events. however, these little states
are disentangling and emerging as dis
tinctly separate personalities. 1t comes In
good time that the author selects these
as the subject of this vivacious account
Descriptive. anecdotA and exclusive, the
book is a Swimming record of swift jour-
neys and shifting scenes. Servia. Bulgaria,
Montenegro and the other RaliGn states
are pictured from the STANDPOINT OF the
present, with only enough of their his
tory to set foundations and define their
lines of growth. How the people look
and dress and act: what their work is,
and their play: and how they front upon
sketch and incident. The assassination of
Alexander and Draga of Servia is retold,
perhaps at dfSproportionate length, with
wandering into the psychic forecasting
of this tragedy, in far-away London. Upon
leaving this virgin touring land of re-
markable scenery, primitive types. me-
dieval mold of mind and tempestuous eX-
istence. the author expresses his feelings
IN the words of another traveller: After
having walked eleven hours without trac-
ing the print of a human foot to my great
comfort and delight, / man hang
ing upon gibbet; my pleasure at the
cheering prospect was ineXpreSSible, for
u convinced me that l was in civilized
country"
WE OF THE NEVER-NEvER. BY
Mrs Aeneas Gum. author of 1.-The
Little Black Princess. Illustrated
New York: The Macmillan Company.
A general and loud-speaking protest
took hold of the Elsey cattle station when
word came in that the new boss. already
due. had In his company a wife whom
Observation-Disclosures recently taken to
himself. The mere thought of having
woman at this Australian station, away
behind the back Of the beyond" was hate
full, and means Of blocking her. took
shape at once in a furry OF obstructive
telegrams: 1. Would advise leaving wife
behind till homestead can be repaired. An
swer: wife coming: secure buggy" ..
ride; secure suitable mount" 3. mo side
saddle obtainable: stock horses all FASH
A. wife determined: coming Tuesdays
train" And so the "missus'' made her
unwelcome entrance into the land OF
the Never-never-"So called, the Maluka
loved to say, because those who live in
IL and love 1t never. never voluntarily
leave It." There follows the most delight
full story imaginable of Australian bush
life, record Of the year 1902, where one
woman in the midst of a group of white
and native men took her share of the
hardships played her full part of the
game, won the lasting friendship of those
early reluctant men and tested the full
ness of the uninvo1ved life. The pages
fill with the daily doings of this COM
munity of cattlemen set down hundreds
Of miles ''inside," where supply wagons
20 ''in" but once a year. after the wet"
and where in consequence life news to
the bone. With no set purpose to be such,
this Is a poetic record. epic with the spir-
it of the vast lonely places. lyric with
friendship and love-a charming thing
and revealing as we'll
RULERS OF THE SURF. A story OF
the Mysteries and Perils Of the Sea.
BY j. w. Muller. Illustrated. New
York: d. Appleton & Co.
The handicapped efforts of mere man
- meet and understand and entice to
his own uses that most monstrous of
these stories OF the life-saver's work,
facing this thing in it's anger and
snatching from ii some measure of it's
toll to death. Vivid. stirring stories of
stress and storm and danger, of rescue
and defeat AS one reads them his
sense of danger thickens curiously. and
lie feels to the full the native dread
,nd foor apd ia ffon Of THE ire.