The Washington herald., 1912-11-17


Who Bucsed Up" Doubleday. Page o., New
York.
mayor Of a town of 1900 people, tells his
own story. Used to wealth and luxury,
spending thousands OF dollars a year in
fashionable New York restaurants, a
| waster, disowned by his father, he at
last pulled himself up by the bootstraps.
In his story he gives real names and
real places and real facts. This prodigal
who went out and got his own fatted
calf is Arthur Howard. and he Is mayor
of Salem, Mass. That is a far cry to the
disowned bankrupt. You may not believe
1t in novel. but you will believe II in
Howard's own story.
THE MOONLIGHT SONATA: BY Julian Nordlins.
sturgis & Walton Co, New York.
Lovers of Beethoven will be glad to
read this Romance OF the master who
dedicated his Quasi una Fantasia to
the Countess Julia Guiccardi as reve-
lation OF his passion for her-a passion
renounced because OF the growing cloud
of total deafness that embittered his
later life. The author has interpreted
the character of the great composer most
skillfully, and the book conveys the spirit
OF the time as well as that OF the mas
ter whose music belongs to all time.
1t has passed through many editions IN
Sweden, and has been translated into
all the Continental languages, TO the de-
light of music lovers, and will be en-
joyed by all to whom the Moonlight
Sonata is dear.
THE UNKNOWN oUANTITY-A Book Of Ro-
nance and Some Hatfield Tales. By Henry Van
J.. DYKE. Charles Scribne-'s Sons, New York
The Unknown Quantity" is character
istic of Mr.. Van Dyke as his readers
have come to know him. The book
brings to the reader a sense of familiar
ity as Of an old friend; one finds there
stories in nearly every vein that Mr..
Van Dyke has attempted in the past
The first group of three tales is French
Canadian in setting. filled with the wild
beauty Of the Northern woods and sea-
coasts and touched with the Celtic mys-
ticism which these contemporary voy-
ayers have inherited from their Breton
forbears. THE Music Lover" and The
Enectual Fervent Prayer are studies in
psychology. Others are simply stories
of to-day told for their own intrinsic
interest.
Interspersed between the longer stories
are groups of shorter sketches which
Mr.. Van Dyke calls "Half-told Tales"
because more is suggested than is in
the pictures" These tales are really
brief allegories. sometimes fanciful.
sometimes satirical, and sometimes
underlying meaning, a lesson limited at.
OF all the stories, The Sad Shepherd"
is the most finely conceived and the most
finely written. 1t Is the gem Of the col
lection, the tale that will outlast the
others and take its place as a companion
classic with The Other Wise Man" 1t
has the same brilliant Eastern coloring,
ka NJ Inns ha
same underlying symbolism, beautiful for
itself and beautiful for the larger truth
for which 1t stands. 1t is rich in the
poetry of thought and language.
THE Sad Shepherd" a cast-off cour-
tier of King Herod. a man who has
tried successfully pleasure, power, love,
and at last. by a strange freak OF fate,
finds himself stripped of his goods and
a sherder of sheep in his tattered silk
court trappings, follows the other shep-
herds to gaze on Mary and the infant
Jesus, and TO learn that there is stil
love and self-sacrifice in the world. The
bare story is simple enough; it is the
way in which It is handled and devel-
oped that makes the little masterpiece.
Next in point of excellence is Mes |
sengers at the Window" one Of the
group Of French-Canadian stories,' which |
Is woven about an old Breton legend and
relates what happened to lighthouse
keeper one wild night after he had |
stolen a ring from the hand of a dead
man whom he found floating at sea.
All in all, The Unknown Quantity" is |
a most attractive volume.
CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS: By Edward |
n. Clipper. The Macmillan Company. New York. |
THE free rein at present given the |
child labor in our city streets is pro-
iuctive of nothing but harmful results"
Mr.. Chopper says, and II is high time /
that a determined stand was taken for
the rights of children so exposed" The
truth of these statements Is amply DEM
onstrated by the facts which the author
gives from the lives OF newsboys, boot
blacks, peddlers, messengers, and other
Juvenile street workers.
The book is appalling In its revelations
"a plea not for feeble regulation, such
Is has been attempted in the past, but
Tor the prohibition Of a hitherto almost
gnored form Of child labor.
Poems: BY Hyde FOwIkes BurkeriIle. Va. The
Cosmopolitan Press. New YORK.
These poems are for ones thoughtful
the moments Of wistfulness,
when one longs for he knows not what
At such times we seek companionship.
companionship so seldom found among
mes associates may be had in these
ooems. Love Is exquisitely interpreted
n Those Eyes" "The Lady OF the
CASTLE THE Last Letter" and "A
Kiss" These haunt and linger, searching
mes innermost soul, they are SO tender
md so appealing
Already familiar with some OF the no.
able poems of Hyde Fowlkes, am glad
o say. now they are in book form, that
he quality Of the authors work we'll
ustifies its publication. Poetical vigor,
piritpal realnesss and intensity entitle
hem to a wide audience. ANY writer
Who can produce such work as Lone
less" appearing in the book, is worthy
4 serious consideration. OF the poem
The Venus OF Milo." Judge W. r,