Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-29
BOOK REVIEWS.

FATE KNOCKS At THE DOOR: 4
Novel. BY Will Lexington Comfort,
author of "Routledge Rides Alone,
etc. Frontispiece by NJ. Leone
Bracker. Philadelphia: J. b. Lip
pincott Company.
-HREE big stories in as many
years make their author the
subject of pretty general in
terest. \ significant point in
the matter is that the three
have marched from strength to strength.
This the latest. is far and away the best.
The second. too. is bigger than the first.
though not quite so perfect in build.
Moreover, Mr.. Comfort is very young.
Taken all in all. the public has right to
he both enthusiastic and eXpectant over
this writer. In substance, the new story
is the exaltation of womanhoOd. Rather,
the glorificatiOn of motherhood, whose
celestial flame of life and love is the real
heart of the worlds hope. Mind, this is
not a gospel. not message, not an up
lift-not any of these merely as such. 1t
is story pure and simple Romance and
adventure color 1t in something close to
splendor. 1t has a hero believably built
upon the pattern of mankind, though one
admits him to be an improvement upon
the average Andrew Bedient is a hero
to cherish, a fine and lovable man. The
story is one of long ranges. Mr.. Comfort
for the orient, India in particular. So,
India, New York and an island of the
Caribbean triangulate this spacious move
ment. Each region is as distinct and
clean in it's native airs as the whole story
is momentous and lifelike in its process
sion. Mr.. Comfort is master of descrip-
ton, and the east gives him chance.
One does not often a finer thing than
his description of storm in the China
sea. And so it is throughout. With the
soldiers in the Philippines, where Andrew
Bedient is the camp cook; across in China
and India, and in New York, even, LIS
artistry of description is amazing. The
east, too, gives free play for another pro-
nounced feature of this story. That is
the life beneath the surface. the life of
those uncharted tides and currents with
which the oriental is more in touch than
are the people of the west. The book as
whole is piece of high idealism. the
work of a keen-seeing. deep-feeling, think
ing man. who is, withal, both poet and
an artist.
Leonard Merrick, author of Con
rad in Quest of his Youth. etc.
New York: Mitchell kennerley.
This is close to the perfection of short
story telling. Something nearer to the
clean constructive art of Maupassant
than one recalls seeing elsewhere. The
whole set of thirteen stories could be
used TO great advantage as a text book
on short story structure. 1t would be a
pity, IL not a sin, however. to put such
warm and living bodies into the clinic of
examination and analysis. There is an
essence here that is delightful, a SAVIOR
as much part of these stories as the
bloom is part of the grape. or as the
bouquet is part of the vintage. In these
episodes each in itself a matter of no
account. Mr.. Merrick whispers knowingly
and genially about women Toward the
end of these condolences there is, COM
monty, little whimsical. laughable slant
that points an indugent, but an untrust-
full. attitude toward the kind. The best
substance of these stories, the one to
carry about in enjoyable remembrance.
is nothing at all about women. 1t is
rather about the incompatible two-Pitou
and Tricotrin, poet and composer David
and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias,
Orestes and Pylades, may be more classic.
more serious. more stately, but for the
pure artistry of friendship let us have
Pitou and Tricotrin.
CHRIST AMONG THE CATTLE: a Ser
mon. Preached in the First Congre-
gational Church. Portland. Oregon.
BY Frederick Rowland Marvin. au-
thor of Love and Letters, etc.
Boston: Sherman. French & Co.
Upon the first appea rance of this SER
mon, at least twenty years ago.. John
Greenleaf Whittier was among those who
granted 1t an enthusiastic welcome.
pioneer then, it stood pretty much alone.
But times have changed. The little vol
ume now is part of a great popular move
ment toward more kindly treatment of
dependent animals. Many Of it's sugges-
lions have become objectified in all sorts
of measures for their care and protec-
ton. Reading pointed spiritual mean
ing in the fact that Christ was born
among the stabbed kline. the author makes
ii the center of this message. To he
brings the gold and myrrh of information.
imagination. poetry, scientific fact. SYM
patty. suggestion advice With astonish-
ing resource and vigor the author pic
lures our modern life springing. as a
stream from its fountain. out of the spirit
of this lowly birth and slowly shaping to
the seifiessness of it's great original. Re-
peated editions prove the vitality of the
sermon. In the scheme of public educa-
ton concerning the rights Of animals. this
volume stands as one of the best of
texts.
CHRIST IN ITALY; Being the Adven-
lures Of q Maverick Among Master
pieces. BY Mary Austin, author Of
Land of Little Rain" etc. New
York: Duffield & Co.
Independent and original thinking makes
up the refreshment of these essays on
Christ in Italian painting. With uncom-
mon courage and charming success the
author has resisted tradition in this free
study of art. In brilliance and a kind of
daring the work approaches Israel Gang
Wills Incompatible Italian Fantasies. -
Here. unfortunately the likeness to Fang
will ends. Where he stands keen. incfsive
sonorous. and deeply poetic in vision and
phrase, Miss Austin goes off on Henry
James trail of sentence structure. Here
are long, meandering paths of speech to
which innumera BILE odds and ends along
the way adhere in provoking confusion
No amount of fine thinking can quite con-
done the sin of a Struggling habit of hand.
Readers revolt against the need of sleuth-
ing even the rarest quarry of thought
through catching, scratching, impeding
tangles OF verbal underbrush.
THE BURGUNDIAN; A Tale of Old
France. BY Marion Polk Angel
Iotti. Illustrated by b. ]. Rosen-
meyer. New York: The Century
Company.
1t all happened half thousand years