Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-20

thor Of .First II was Ordained"
etc. New York: Sturgis & Walton
Company.
@OR prologue, murderer's cell in
North London prison. Within It.
upon the eve Of his execution.
~ Is Hancock. the Hackney muir
derer. With him is DR.. Morton
Sims. the great English authority on in
ebriety.
so that's how It began. doctor. First
one with one. then one with another. You
known mo one was more re-
spectacle than / was in Hackney till the
drink came along and took me-"
Il wasn't born legitimate. My father
was . gentleman. That's where I got
my love Of drink My father was a
drunkaYd. He never was sober-what
YOU might rightly call sober-fcr years,
I've heard" I'm a drink child.
that's what am. Son Of old Mr.. Lothian.
the gentleman -drunkard: brother OF his
son. who's a gentleman somewhere.
don't doubt. Pr'aps g mops 1t up i'm
self-shouldnt wonder-this brother o
mine" Then the frenzied attack upon
the doctor. Then. the anodyne. And next
morning the execution.
The epilogue scenes the voluntary con-
fession Of the brilliant poet, Gilbert
Lothian. TO a small and exclusive audi
ence Of London temperance men and
women. Gilbert Lothian is wholly UNI
suspected. Il am a murderer. l killed
and murdered with cunning. long-contin-
ued thought, the most sweet and sanity
woman that l have ever known She
was my wife. Why I did this / need
not say. You can all make in your minds
and formulate the picture of poisoned
man lusting after strange woman. But
1 did this. You shall hear this, and 1T
Aoh To IN NrnrrV min
II quite calmly. waiting for the inevitable
result. tell you that alcohol. and that
alcohol alone. has made me what | am;
These two are half-brothers. Their
crimes are identical. Between this pro-
logue and this epilogue is an amazing
portrayal of the progress OF the disease
Of inebriety.
This is q great story-the tragedy of
alcoholism. lurking in the blood, waiting
its time, and then asserting its dominion
and creating In its own image an ego
before whose tyranny the victim is
helpless child. The first mark Of Mr..
Of the subject Of inebriety. The diary of
Gilbert Lothian-brilliant and lovable per-
sonality. christian poet" and gentleman
b marvel Of the s
tude and actions Of every character in
the story is one of its conspicuous fea-
lures. Though 1t stands as novel, Its
mastery economies Of picture and situa-
the straight sweep Of these, give 1t the
effect Of drama itself. 1t is a poignant
story, but not a hopeless one. Its reme-
dies are plain, scientific, humaniStic, and
within the will of the people. A great
story Of purposeful intent but wrought
with brilliancy and an absorbing appeal.
THE SENTENCE OF SILENCE. BY
Reginald Wright Kaufman. author
Of 1.-THE House Of Bondage" etc. |
New York: Moffat Yard & Co.
II one, nowadays, takes up a current
novel with the notion that through 1t he
gets diversion, amusement. beautiful
pictures Of life and hopeful vistas there
upon. he would better put the book down
unopened, for such is not the mission Of
the modern story. The large majority of
these are merely novelized investigations. !
transcriptive in form and serious OF mo-
tive Mr.. Kauffman's new novel Is a
case in point. Its backing is the uni |
vcrsaf custom, one amounting to a tacit |
conspiracy Of the whole adult world
parets. teachers. preachers, and re-
foruseFs-to hold youth, male and female,
in cnmplete ignorance of itself and of
the world through which 1t, blindfold.
is making its zigzag way. The story
itself spreads pages of Photographic
plain printing to portray the instructive.
cropping, secretive life of its hero-the
average boy and youth-surrounded from
babyhood by q perfect ritual of conceal
ment concerning sex. love, marriage.
birth. paternity. Taught by this famil-
lar system to be ashamed of his common
instincts. and not knowing that these are
able finally to turn and rend one, the boy
comes to sin habitually against his body,
and mind. and spirit The casual drink,
gaining in frequency and amount. lib
ertism with its entail Of disease, fear,
distrust. debt and gradual decline of
idealism. ultimate dishonesty and impend-
ing disgrace are the familiar phases Of
this descent Closest sins. all of these.
10 be one day shouted from the house
tops In sapless and weakened children.
The story. because IL Is SO terribly true
both In arraignment and portrayal, is an
1mportunate one, put out unnfnchingly
without great regard either for the form
of its telling or for the superf1ne feel
ings Of readers the most Of whom are
unspeakably ashamed of anything bear
ing upon the supreme function of man.
kind.
MY ACTOR-HUSBAND. New York:
John Lane Company.
Anonymous-as is most fitting. The
girl should have gone back to the coun-
try without saying anything about it.
The stage. a world In itself. offers, II is
safe to assume. about the same assert
ment Of human motive and action as that
which expresses itself on the near side
Of the scenery.
AS. In the present economy Of things.
there are grades Of society, upheld by the
orders of angels and the ranks Of devils
OF an earlier administration. SO there
are classes Of stage folk-the good the
bad and the multitudinous Indifferent
dwelling in that large limbo of neither the
one thing nor the other. This Is the
story OF poor human beings whether
these are hating across the stage or
Just limping around on plain sod. No one
questions its truth. It's design upon ones
good time is the charge The monstrous
vanity of the matinee idol is naked and
unashamed in the light of day The
commercialism Of the unendowed stage
aepirant Is a matter of record. The ex-
istence of angels is as believable as