The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

moving and dramtic. The quality of the present york is best described in the words of one friend to another: If you re up against 1t, read The Seer "
 "VALSERINE AND OTHER STORIES. .'' By Marguerite Audoux George II. Doran
 Company, New York.
 ''Valserine and Other Stories deals with various intimate phases of feminine French life.
 With the fearless delieacy of sure knowledge, Marguerite Audoux deveals crises of joy and sorrow in the lives of all sorts and conditions of women. Her feminine types vary all the way from Valserine, the smugglers little daughter, to the old peasant woman brought to Paris against her will under stress of poverty. lB
 The same fine distinction of style and terse directuess of storytelling character izes this volume as made Marie Claire famous. Those who read that exquisite biography with pleasure will find no less delight in this volume.
 WITH CARSON AND FREMONT" By Edwin l.. Sabin with illustrations by
 Charles II. Stephens and portraits. J.
 B. Lippinscott Company. Philadelphia.
 Kit Carson, trapper, guide and 1n- uidu llSultIs ana ItDtIdi TeIIiOuL, ledu- CT of three great expeditions. are Ameri- can characters whose adventures need no coloring to add the touch of romance. The reader feels the natural atmosphere ofsthe plains, the savagery of the crafty hostile Indians. the wild animals and constant adventures, and sees what fear lessness. prowess and upright loyalty can accomplish in Edwin l.. Sabins' With Carson and Fremont" The daily life ot t11aca ,,-l,.1 the hostile spirit of the western wilder ness was one filled with adventures and danger. and this chronicle. written tor boys, is almost a first-hand story of the west in the early days MT Sabin holds closely to facts, and while writing an entertaining story has still presented an inspiring episode in American history. ''The Land of Footprints" By Stewart Edward White. Illustrated From Photographs by the Author and Two Drawings by Philip R. Goodwin.
 Doubleday, Page & Co, New York
 How does Africa look?
 What is 1t nearest like-Arizona? Sur rey? Upper New York? Canada? Mex leo? Or is it totally difefrent from any thing, as is the Grand Canon? When you look out from your camp-any one camp how far do you see, and what do you see e?-mountains in the distance, or q screen of vines or bamboo near at hand, or what? When you get up in the morn ing, what is the first thing you do? What does a rhino look like, where he lives. and what did you do the first time one came at you?'
 These questions and thousand others such as would occur to the average in- terested reader unfamiliar with Africa or the tropics, are answered by Stewart Edward White in his latest book, "The Land of Footprints.
 In the first chapter of the book the author points out that there are two dif- ferent kinds of books on Africa each with flaws from the point of view of the average readers of intelligence.
 The first kind of book goes In for pure adventure and gets all the thrills that the country can afford, with a few out Of the authors imagination thrown into the bargain. Of this type of book, MT. White says the reader takes away an inn pression of strange unreality of country impossible to be understood by the ord- nary human mental equipment. Tho