The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-14

united republic. His appeal was to the
 heart his method the method of the ora | tor. And always he used his oratorical
 powers-his commanding physical pres
 ence, distinction of manner, resonant and
 appealing voice-for the benefit of his
 fellow men, to spread education among
 white and black"
 THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT" By the author of "The Inner Shrine H. lustrated by Orson Lowell. Harper x
 Brothers, New York
 | Possessing unusual excellence as far
 as technique is concerned, remarkably in-
 teresting as far as plot IS concerned, writ
 ten in well chosen English as far as dic-
 tion is concerned, and holding the read
 CTS fancy every moment of the time as far as interest is concerned "The Street Called Straight may be pronounced one
 of the best novels that has been presented
 to the reading public curing the year Of l 1912.
 Far more finished than "The Wild l Olive" and superior in many respects to
 "The Inner Shrine" both novels of which
 were published anonymously, as Is 'rhe Street Called Straight the author (who, 1 by the way is Mir Basil King) has much | to be congratulated for. as he has ad- vanced in every point of authorship to a l degree of perfecton that is at once no- tably clever and different from other con- temporary writers.
 1 From the little passage in the fyleaf of Mir. Kings book, from which he takes it's title
 By the Street Called Straight We l Come to the House Called Beautiful"-
 which is an old New England saying, 1 the readers attention is enlisted in a story the theme of which deals with the l downfall of an aristoeratc and powerful | faD iuin name has been identified for generations | with all that is honest and true and fine 1 in the annals of history. connected with that section of the country.
 The Guions-father and daughter-con- | stitute the main characters around which | the story centers, and the opening chap ter introduces us to these two living in luxury and ease and affluence. all of
 which commodities have been purchased
 with money belonging lowell anybody but themselves.
 The girl, Olivia is about to be married 1 to a captain in the British army. Rupert
 Ashley-is entirely ignorant of the finan- cial state of their affairs, and when her l father makes known to her that circum-
 stances are rather mifavorable as to
 money matters. she Is, of course, sur- 1 prised, but never once does she even sur mise that there Is anything dshonorable 1 connected with his administration in re- gard to the estates and finances of which
 he is sole manager for other people among whom are the Dodmans and the l Clay heirs, the Compton heirs, the Misses
 Brown and old Miss Burnaby. many of l whom are the girls intimate friends. | Upon the scene arrives Peter Davenant.
 a man who has made oodles of money and who nine years before had known and proposed to Olivia Guion and who had
 been ignominiously rejected.
 He hears of MT Guion's financial dffi-
 culties and goes to hi,n with the gener-
 ous offer to lend him half million dol lars.
 MT. Guion wavers and then partially ac-
 cepts and then hesitates again, and finally
 accepts and goes home to tell his daugh- ter
 With her proud New England bearing | and training she is utterly shocked at her fathers idea of accepting the money,
 particularly from such man. whom she thinks has some motive back of it-which is quite natural-as few people are lending such sums of money for mere friendship 3 sake these days.
 The wedding announcement is cancelled between Olivia and Captain Ashley who arrives and is given the opportunity to give up the girl when he finds her money
 is all gone and which he refuses to do, but holds her to her promise and shares with her her repugnance for MT. Davan- l ant, who is treated most unceremoniously 1 by both of them.
 1 It is very fine and splendid to see Cap tain Ashley so much in love, after Olivia l tells him the story of their finances and l her words of wisdom are especially in- l teresting as she discusses these points | with him, when she says, among other | things
 1 Its one of the ways fin which an En- 1 glishman never can understand us. But the truth is that money doesn't mean as much to us as it does to you. l know you | think the contrary. but that's where you l make your primary mistake It's light 1 come and light go with most of us, for l the simple reason that money is outside our real life, whereas with you English it's the warp and wool"
 In the meantime. however, the expe- 1 rienced novel reader will see thav Olivia. l while she treats MT. Peter Davanant
 very badly and oftentimes most unkind- ly, that there Is beneath all this a grow | ing sentiment for him which Is slowly de- 1 veloping Into an affection.
 l MT. Davanant, strong and powerful in l his bearing. good hooking in a big blonde. Scotch or Scandinavian way" the l sort of person one might run against without hurting anybody but themselves, | kept bravely on his way, and finally after | a fist fight with Captain Ashley takes a | | Oivias aunt. who is marquse. and | tells her of the need of the Guions for money. but always praising Nr. Guion as l a fine gentleman and man of honor 1 The aunt crosses the ocean with the money to restore her relatives to the cov- eted position they formerly occupied. and
 their redemption comes about through l her kindly offices.
 "The Street Called Straight Is distinctly 1 one of the most interesting novels of the l day, and has the happy faculty of afford l ing the average novel reader one of the
 best and most agreeable plots that has come to light in many moons
 THE STORY OF A PLOUGHBOY" l By James Bryce. Introduction by Edwin Markham. The John Lane Company,
 New York
 | With a charmingly written introduction | by Edwin Markham, the great poet and
 scholar, MT. James Bryce launches his interesting novel, "The Story of a l Ploughboy," upon the literary sea. | Under such pleasant auspices one nat | urally looks for a good story and one is not disappointed, for "The Story of a 1 PIoughboyv is one of realism-of soul l laid bare In a profound spiritual revela- l ton.
 Better than all this. the story is that of l fiction founded upon fact for 1t is the story of a little peasant boy. being the author himself. and begins with his trials and tribulations. when ne was Harmed out" to relative, where working in con- | function with his fellow men he was hor- riby and biutally treated by them. all of