The Washington herald., 1912-08-11
by A. d. JACOBSON.


THE BARMEC1DE's FEAST. by John Gore. Pub
l!shed " John Lane Company. New York City.
A record OF strange events, in which
an Oxford student plays leading part.
He 10 extremely wealthy, and many per-
sons. including his own father. are in
terested In devising means to put him out
of the way. so that his great fortune may
be divided among them, He Is impris-
oned In what seems 10 be "a moated
grange. and is greatly kurprised to find
another prisoner there already, a beauti-
full young girl
They fall In love and eiope. and are
followed In hot pursuit by their enemies,
which. OF course, Is narrated in a man.
ner to make 1t a very thrilling episode.
The author has a pleasing and sometimes
caustic wit, and very ingenious fancy.
His grave recital Of the burlesques and
extraraeances Of Barmecide's career are
particularly pleasing to those who are
familiar with the mannerisms of the SEN
sational novel or the novelette, of FASH
ionable society
THE LURE OF THE PURPLE STAR. by.M.e.
cowan Greenlee. MacDaniel Publishing Company,
Washington. ID. O.
The publishers advertise this book as
being ''the most remarkable book of ad-
american press" H.
1t is-but not in the sense the publish
ers would have the reader see 1t. II Is
puzzling to find out what It was that the
arthor was aiming at. The entire first
chapter he devotes to impress upon the
reader that his hero tor heb is a Prince
ton graduate and that his father is not
proud OF this fact. because he got his
diploma by the closest Margin" There
IL altogether too much 81" The second
chapter takes us on board the 'unsink-
able" Titanic. Then there is a conversa-
ton, and lastly a dying man of letters
reveals strange tale OF the East. There
also is a manuscript found In a bottle
picked up on Brighton Beach in England.
And these written pages are made the
foundation Of the plot TO The Summons
cf Toth-Ra-Sen."
The author possesses the widest
stretch Of imagination. and he is right
new in fiction" II is: II certainly is
But II is not the kind Of device that the
American literature ot the day needs or
would welcome. As an idle hours enter
tatnment of the sort spoken of in Con-
tnental. especially in French novels the
book might fulfill mission, but II the
author has intended II for home reading
and bespeaks for II place on the family
library table he sadly mistakes the taste
and the palate of the American of to-
day.
To begin with. the book is full OF slang
and even vulga, lty. Il get YOU IT take
you now" TN he damned" 1T is up 70
YOU" and scores OF similar expressions
may be quite chic for certain classes
or clubs or readers. but all this is quite
unnecessary. and It is absolutely tabooed
for family reading.
The chapter describing the Temple Of
the Purple Star is worse than vulgar
II is profsne, Would this author care
to have his sisters read the explanation
Of the duties of the girl priestesses who
become the sport OF every Babylonian."
or the authors sdmonition TO the He
brew patriarch to speak palmer;
don't get you yet" or the nauseating de-
tails of the meaning of Ashtaroth
CVenus> as the plaything OF the sensual
Babylonians.
plot. but so interviewer that II is quite
difficult to follow the author in his zig
gag method of the sudden transplanting
of himself 10 the land and Court of
his impossible adven-
lures there during four weeks to seek
the ingredients OF an ancient Egyptian
powder. which had been discovered by
Toth-Ra-Sen, ana which could annihilate
time itself This, II was said. had been
placed in a vase which was stolen by a
Hebrew priest when the Israelites fed
from Egypt The hair-raising tortures
OF Jedekiah and the Hebrew princes are
quite realistic
Regarding the Hebrew maid. the Rose
of Sharon" whose beauty of face and
form. utterly battles description. a dream
of the Orient, never seen in this matter
of fact. everyday world OF ours" the
very flower Of the Orient &C. an