Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-07

wheels they run along for q time much
as other stories do. Then. all Of a sud-
den with a quick turn Of the wrist, Mr..
Leonard switches a new light on. They
Immediately become Original" that
''something different" which gives zest to
not trickery. What it means Is that Mr..
Merrick adds to his fine artistry and
manner a keen edge for the infinite pos
sibilities OF human beings as they move
circumstances. Delightful stories Of good
range and genuine human interest.
HER SOUL AND HER BODY. BY
Monfat, Yard & Co.
It Is an allegory that Mrs Hale-or Miss
Closer, as she is known to stageland-
has written in this wholly beautiful
chronicle of the life of q country-town
girl, whose fate takes her to BOst n and
sets her down amid surroundings that
to say the least, are unconventional and
bohemian to the uttermost extreme. Vir-
tue. vice, pleasure, pain-all the allegor-
ical personiications of human strength
and human frailty-appear in the various
characters Of the story. and the moral
that must always form the point OF such
tales runs throughout the book, unootru-
sive as a single thread of gold through
the dull warp and woof that represents
life. Melissa Robinson-"Missy," as she is
known Of every one in the village where
she was born and where she was LETT an
orphan. to be reared by the town council
''Everygirl, If the "Every" something
characters had not been overdone. The
provincialism Of the little town Is pictured
as an etcher might show 1.-THE stoad
cOuncilmen, the heavy-w1tted son or the
man who owned the biggest hardware
store in the place. and the girls. driving
down to the o'clock train to see the
drummers. and then driving. with much
laughter and many backward looks. past
the hotel. 50 that the drummers might
see them-but always scandalized If.
perchance they met one Of the drum
mers on the sidewalk. Then the trans
planting to Boston, where the foundations
for a career are to be laid. and the
constant. insidious efforts of gilded, SEN
suous vice to batter down the walls and
enter the citadel of clear-eyed virtue.
There is a climax that does not rant-a
climax that is heartbreaking. and that
leaves virtue triumphant and laughing In
the face Of baffied vice. And one arrives
at the conclusion of the tale with an OIL
yer Twistian demand for more-whtch is.
really, the only true test Of story &
goodness. Mrs. Hale, In this story, has
perhaps builded better than she knew, be-
cause she mas StTuCk a lOSc, d
chord of universal appeal. and has done
it in q manner that has all the charm OF
workmanly work done in an original
fashion.
THE YATES PRIDE: A Romance. BY
. Mary E. wilkins Freeman. Illus
trated. New York: Harper &
Bros.
OF course, when the women across the
street saw Miss Eudora Yates begin to
trundle a baby carriage down the street
they came to the conclusion that this
dignified spinster had adopted an orphan.
But in point of fact she had net, as
Harry Lawton. the lover of her youth.
now returned to the village in portly mid
die age. eventually discovered. Mrs.
Freeman tells the story of Miss Eudora 8
supposed baby adoption and its outcome
with her charming delicacy of delineatiOn
and adds to the seasons series of little
story books most acceptably.
THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS. BY
Stewart Edward White. illustrated
from photographs by the author
and two drawings by Philip r.
Goodwin. New York: Doubleday.
Page & Co. Washington: Wood
ward & Lothrop.
Judging by the literary output, every
sportsman who hunts big game possesses
the ability to put his adventures in print.
The present author notes that such books
fall In two classes-of the first type
Is the book that is written to impress the
awe-stricken reader with a full sense of
the danger and hardships the writer has
undergone; q type that Is directly re-
sponsible for the second sort in which
the author is deadly afraid Of being
thought to brag Of his adventures"
Of
avoids them in straightforward accounts
of his experiences which at times are
exciting and always interesting: To the
text charm Of the book are added many
Photographic views OF the lions, and more
lions, buffaloes. hippOpotami and other
mammoths of jungle and plain, together
with pictures Of scenic beauty depicting
the uacklesS spaces, mountains. forests
and cascades of Africa-"The Land
of Footprints.
THE VALIANTS OF VIRGINIA. By
Halle Erminie Rives (Mrs. Post
Wheeler). illustrated by Andre
Castaigne. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Company.
A young millionaire Of New York gives
his fortune to save a corporation found
ed by his father. long dead. Practically
penniless, he receives from his lawyer the
deed to a plantation in Virginia which
had been his fathers early home and
that OF his ancestors for three centuries.
but of which the son has had no knowl-
edge. The hero goes to Damory Court
and finds 1t "a noble old house''-with
family portraits, crystal-knobbed ma
hogany. books, Chippendale. chests of
linen. a secret closet filled with old sill
silver-just the home for a hero fortunate
enough to be created by Halle Erminie
Rives. A colored couple Of the old slave
type give the last ideal touch. and for
a first glimpse of neighbors there is a
fOx-hunting party that dashes up to the
court-"a galloping melee of khaki and
scarlet behind a spotted swirl of