Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-24

THE LIFE OF GEORGE CABOT
LODGE. BY Henry Adams. Boston:
HOughton Mifflin Company.
- HE full bulk of George Cabot
Lodges poetry lies in these
two small volumes. The cap
sheaf of this work, the
golden goal of the young
poet's lifelong and ineluctable ur-
gency. stands revealed in the heroic
dramas, Cain and "Herakles. The
road to these two crowning acmeve-
ments is a long series of sonnets. pas
sionately beautiful things, enVisaglng,
as one reads, some ranging thing,
Gagged Some defiant, rebellious crea-
ture unconquerable, though Tor the
moment held in chain. Nature In lts
physical force and beauty Is IN these
sonnets. youth in it's tides ana stress
is here an importunate soul stranded
somewhere between this solid earth'
and the impinging but elusive mystery
Of its source is here. And the music
of these sonnets is a thlns andes then,
ably noble and perfect. One reads .heni
aloud. always aloud to himself IN
an amazed and president mooo.
one feels that by these MI. Lodge
will be best known anu ions'
held. rather than by the less personal
though more consummate dramas. IN
stinctively, one casts ABOUT LOT lhe
American prototype of this poet, one
of like mold upon whom the SUM-
airs Of influence pressed No one save
Walt Whitman answers. and ne only
in spread of vision, in kinship OF pro.
test. Whitman is warmer. more Oh
the homely life of man ana mature
than Lodge. Whitman's egoism is diff
fusive, Lodges concentrate. For the
music of Mr. Lodges verse there Is
here no pattern. The poetry of Amer
lea gains a peculiar shade OF quality
an added distinction. something that
it had not before, through these two
little volumes And George Cabot
Lodge adds another sheaf to high
youths unfinished songs, along with
Shelly. and Byron. and Keats
Mr. Adams uses. in ihe main. the
home letters and other friendly letters
of George Cabot Lodge as the me
dunn through which to view the Ike
and character of the poet. To these
lie himself adds commentary of con-
nective matter and. what Is OF great
value to the reader of Lodges poetry
q critical analysis of his work This
analysis is based. in good part. upon
his own literary insight and critical
Judgment And. in even better part,
is it based on an intimacy or acqualnt-
ance community of feeling. full
ness of comprehension. The supreme
quality of Mr.. Adams work here, that
which warns its intellectually and
wings the whole to ones heart. is
sympathy with the feelings. and the
urgings, the ambitions. the despairs, OF
the boy, and the man, and the poet.
TANTE. BY Anne Douglas Sedgwick.
author of Franklin Winslow Kane,
etc New York: The Century Com
pany.
Seeing on every hand how even the
briefest authority and the least summit
of exaltation turn the average head. one
lp+ 4 CT Il n n
man or woman to live continuously in
the air Of public homase-as for instance,
do the Nordicas and Melbas. the Bern
hardts. the Irvings. and. III another field,
the Carnegies and Morgans. Anne Sedg-
wick in "Tante" demonstrates in master
iy manner what! this sort of existence
did to one woman. Mme Okraska.
Tante. was Il piano player of genius.
woman of great physical loneliness and |
compelling personality, the idol of the
public and center of an intimate. adoring
band. Tante moves triumphantly through
this story in aura of selfishness. in |
satiate vanity, petty jealousy and shrewd j
hypocrisy. But. 10y the hocus-pocus of
to her adorers she walks the |
heights an invinciblc queen of beauty and
goodness. There is a story of fine Struc-
lure and absorbing quality spread out !
here. but its office clearly subordinate,
that of furnishing background
upon which TO trace the ins and outs OF
character tnaJ ueIlnC JnfS SpS'it-WedNlHS
heroine With most amazing penetration
and refinement of method does the author
turn one light after another on the char
acter of Tante. One Of the fine points OF
consonance between reality and fiction
made here is that Tante herself is often
as we'll as deceiving Miss
Sedgwick works with quite Meissonier
effect of detail and finish. \ novel of I'M
common distinction.
THE LUCK OF RATHCOOLE. Fly
jeanne Gould Lincoln author of "A
Pretty Tory" etc. Boston: Hough-
ton Miffiin Company.
This romanceful and captivating tale
unravels from the maZes of wild old
irish prophecy. The curse-for such in
effect the prophecy is-has, in the mild
climate of the eighteenth century, slipped
! measure of its first malignity. and has.
besides. sustained falling off of mus
the opener and simpler life of the new
world. Nevertheless. IL serves abun-
1antly, with cunning plot and counterpart,
20 insnare pair of youthful lovers in
he traditional handicaps without which
the emotion of love seems unable in this
,ontrarious world to make any Roadway
at all. This is Il romance of cd New
York, when English colOnials-both WING
and tory-and French patriots, and sturdy
Dutch Vers and Vans spread a varie-
gated pattern of Manhattan life. Open
.ng in gala dress with the inaugural pa
cade of George Washington. 1t. through
put its exciting course. maintains col
orful pageant of high society in the
young United States. Stately manners,
dress. an artificial speech or
the Nay and Stay" and Il bid thee
aold.'' order, on the one hand. and on
the other the coffee house. the play,
tootpads thieves and abductors. lend an
air of old Londontown to this moving
ale. After well-nigh unbelievable misad-
ventures, true love-and SO on, and so
on The chief quality of this sparkling
little story is a certain general harmony
Of effect that passes it straight into the
readers acceptance. With uncommon
care and skill the author mOsaics plot
and circumstance. picture and personality
into the spirited and graceful pattern of
this romantic adventure.
DANNY'S OWN STORY. BY Don
Marquis. Illustrated by T.. ". KEN
bic. New York: Doubleday, Page &
90. Washington: Woodward &
Lothrop.
If you chance to take up Danny's story
In a high browed mood and see it's absurd
pictures and it's dialect-that most tire
some of literary idiosy will
doubtless put it down for some grayer,
more burning subject such as the new
nebular hypothesis, eugenics, or the
bacillus bulgarius. If. however, on the
other hand, in some commonplace mood
of pure fun-quest it is your turn to fur
nish the fun, read Danny's own story to
the company. II is made for this kind
of reading. The habit of solitary laugh
ter is an offense against nature. Mirth
is made for sharing. Danny set out as
waif. q basket-baby left at the door of
nobody family. He finished as one kind