Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-02
THE Heart of the Desert. !"

You never may be sure of a maids
| fitting in the selection of a mate, mol
of the kind of Influences and circum-
| stances that are likely to snare hei
| choice. Even when she settles to the
one in her range of pick and choose
fidelity to the preference unless you
are a game loser in any game. Hon
| ore Willsie gives a fascinating illus
| tration Of degree Of truth in the
| foregoing remarks about girls in her
| novel, The Heart of the Desert,
| from the presses of Frederick A.
| Stokes Company. We make haste to
say that the heroine, RhOda futile,
didn't mean to change her mind when
she promised to wed John Dewitt.
but Of course. she didn't know that
cutie another kind of courtship might
tend to a stronger responsive love
until another man taught her the
difference" in Wooing and winning.
Rhoda has lost all interest In life
before the author introduces us to
| her: the loss of her parents by death
had left her with nothing but money
of course, we may presume that
Rhoda didn't know what life means
without cash to settle the cost Of ma :
terial things Certainly there's John
DeWitt's devotion: but a mans de-
votioD is an ordinary elemental right
of possession in a girls mere breath
ing existence. So Rhoda's brain goes
dismal and her physical vigor goes
limp-shes going to die. In order 10
try change of climate and scenery,
as an incentive to stay on earth a
little longer Rhoda goes to her dear
est friend, Katherine, wife of a young
rancho in Arizona.
'Kut-le," an Indian and Yale man
as well, is in the employ of the young
ranchman as an engineer in a great
irrigation plant: the white man and
the red man have been friends for
years and the wife of the white man
esteems the red man highly. So
Rhoda comes into association with
"Kut-le." Forthwith "Kut-le" falls in
love with Rhoda; he isn't a bit back
ward in letting her know this, al
though John Dewitt is at the ranch
lowering round the physically van
ishing girl.
"Kut- tiles" wooing is desperate and
savage; rather melted by Rhoda's ap-
peal to the racial instincts of the red
people. He carries her away to the
heart of the desert; there's a thrill
ing conflict Of emotions, and the girl
calls into fierce action all the preiu-
dices and aversions of the racial diff
ference" However. "Kut-le" gives
Rhoda all the protection that a civ
ilized white man could bestow; she
is safe rs a woman who has the privi-
lege of selection, although he holds
her in bondage after the manner Of
his race in primitive savagery.
Wen not say much about Rhoda's
recovery of health in the heart of the
desert; it's a rough edged recovery,
but she is saved from the yawning
grave. She learns what passion of
the soul means; she is obsessed with
the difference" And the Arizona
desert! 1t grips her very life in its
limitless reach on human life The
great barenness with its vital infiu-
ence Is beautifully depicted in this
novel. The tragedies OF the desert
woQing are exciting, even shudderful
But Rhoda learns "the difference"
The novel is finely and forcefuIly
accompllshed-but it doesn't carry
conviction that the marriage of a
white girl and an Indian but one re-
move from the wild and unhampered
life, with brutal accessories, has real
possibilities Of mutual happiness ever
after.