Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-14
BOOK REVIEWS.

SONNICt. BY Vincente Blasco Ibanez
Translated from the Spanish by
Frances Douglas. New York: Duff
field * Co.
- o far as any reality of conception
goes. twenty-five centuries is al
unimaginable stretch Of time
~ Thrown into the future. it reaches
the year of the Lord, 4112-reaches
it. that is. if our present reckoning prove
able to stand the strain of il. Cast back
ward. it passes our Christian beginnings
and rests in pagan Rome. just at the
time when Hannibal was bowling against
1t from Carthage across the sea. Sup
pose that in that far future day of AL:
some antiquary were to reproduce one or
another phase of our life of 1912. What
an astonishment-to say nothing Of re-
proach and condemnation-we should be
TO those remote inheritors of this day OF
ours! And just so. by way OF this re-
markable rehabilitation by Senior Ibanez
We are permitted to sit in austere judg-
ment against the lewd splendor of that
bygOne heather age. This amazing tran
script centers in tiny republic of old
Iberia. where Greek and Roman and Gel
uberian gather in a daily life that flow
ers exoticaIly around the courtesan. Son
MICA. From the outside the power of
Hannibal threatens. In this web of pO-
1iticai and social life the story advances
In an indeScribable detail of pagan mag
nificence. So vivid is this transcript of
manners and customs that it IS like the
resurrection of some suddenly arrested
Herculaneum or Pompeii, caught and held
In the midst of its glowing life. One may
shudder over the reading of this brutal
and barbaric tale, but the more he knows
about the times in which this compact
and brilliant drama is set the surer he
becomes that the story is a marvel of
historic realism.
PALMERS GREEN. BY Stewart Caven.
New York; G. p. Putnam's Sons.
Upon reading book of this quality
ones first business is to pay his dues of
respect TO the writer, whose fidelity to
the matter in hand does not once slacken
into strange wandering away from
it, And since this matter is man,
acted upon by not uncommon and power
ful influences. the story turns out to be
more than simple diversion for the reader
In addition. ii is the adroit and delicate
process of turning the man inside out, in
effect. so that his mind and feelings act
concretely before ones eyes, openly ami
mating his every act by its commonly
hidden motive. In superficial and some
what vulgar description this is the story
Of a married mans Irritation with a nice
girl In reality it is not that at all.
Fundamentally, it illustrates the Incl
dental character of love and marriage
10 most men, Furthermore, it portrays the
woman as the sutton, the pursuer, and not
the man such. Matthew Higg had no
leaning toward matrimOny, nor, initially,
toward making love to Kitty Dempster.
But Matthews wife would have the we'd
ding, and Kitty would have the Wooing
long train of acute situations, cumula-
tive situations, naturally evolves from
this double coil of circumstances. Nor
was Matthew the limp creature nor the
wicked one. that this outline suggests
Rather. was he Indifferent to the whole
matter. at least sufficiently Indifferent to
make him complaisant. He was, more
over, sood-natured, lazy and masculinely
ignorant of the feminine ardOrs and
enSuishes involved in the other side of
the question. Out of this social and
PSYCHOLOGICAL complex Mr.. Caven builds a
remarkably penetrating and absorbing
story.
rHE AUTOBIOGRAPHY Of AN IN
DIVIDUALIST. BY James O. Pagan
author of Labor and the Rail-
roads" etc Boston: Houghton
Mifiiin Company
The specific and personal character of
Mr.. Fagan's recital is what makes it so
abundantly worth while Himself
workingman. the story of his life has
much to do, as a matter of course, with
the conditions and problems Of labor.
The novelty Of the situation here is that
this particular workingman has a mind
sufficiently roomy and open for both
sides OF the perp.exing question. Employ
ed, for the most part, by the railroads.
his most intimate and authoritative
knowledge deals with the aims and man
agement of these in their relations to the
pubic. to one another and to their work.
men. The whole is an illuminating state
ment Of the labor question objectifed by
the personal experience and knowledge
of the author himself. The problem,
moreover. is expanded and analysed. to
show that the present industrial chaos
contains in itself the seed of an ultimate
orderly and united progress. Writing
with vigor and finish, Mr.. Pagan makes
a stimulating story out of his own at
titude and action in the industrial world,
supplemented by a broad outlook upon its
future tendencies and achievements.
A HISTORY OF FRANCE. By H. E..
Marshall. author of Our Empire
by a. c. Michael. New York: George
II. Doran Company.
This is book of kings-of those who,
through the braveries and battles of al
most twenty-five hundred years wrought
opt the Kingdom of France Built for
boys and girls. this history moves forward
after their own fashion-in long swift
flights, Swimming off in the passage only
the mountain tops of heroic event. Grown
folks, too. half forgetful of their France.
may quickly refresh themselves from this
bird's-eye view of its growth into mod
ern unity. In appearance also-in size
and color and picturing-this is a royal
volume whose possession any book-loving
boy or girl viii covet irresistibly.
THE FOUR MEN: Farraxo By
Hilaire Belloc. author of This and
That and the Other" etc. Indianap-
oils: The Bobbs- Merrill Company
Many times have We. every one, been
I'm the hands of the mood that inspired
this mellow book. That is the ground
work of its delight for us. In the midst
Of endless things to do. our homesick
spirits have inquired OF us, just as Mr.
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