Evening star., 1913-11-22


States" etc With illustrations by
f A. Richards. F. r. 1. B. A New
York: George H. Doran Company
- - ERE are not only nights in
Paris, but days in London,
too. with both days and nights
1 together in Italy, on the
Riviera, in Switzerland, in
France outside of Paris, in England out
side of London. Taken all in all, a
more captivating travel book cannot be
IMAGINED than Paris Nights" Mr.. Ben
nett. for the most part. goes a-piaylnS
over Europe through these days and
nights. Though. when occasion requires
he becomes as austerely bus1nesshhe DIS
a Raedeker itself. Then his pages snap
and crackle with rapid lire OF precise
fact and crisp direction. Happily, how
ever these occasions are rare Ano the
journeys are infinitely more interesting
than any mere serious-nindeo tourins
could possibly be- These are easy saun-
terings that gather a thousand lnolViouai
impressions. investing the worn features
Of place and people with new meanings
and refreshed appearance one' "hohs
asserting and happy, follows this joyous
wayfarer along old roads that sudoehiy
and magically become new. Ihen OIL
into odd corners after some bit of HE
that has hitherto been overlooked or
reckoned inconsiderable. These are ex-
cursions into the common world-lnto the
world OF streets and shops. of clubs ana
cafes of homes and gardens. into every
nlace where people are assembled once
in a while, too there is a buoyant sally
of easy unconcern into the land Oh MS
tory. into galleries. churcnes, palaces
nf r..
Mr.. Bennett is above all else abound
ingly alive, young, cotemporaneous. He
is tremendously interested in people
And in an astonishing degree or me-
likeness is he able to present THESE peoa
pie. Just as a matter of course, one
tries to determine why Mr.. Bennett
is so prodigiously entertaining. MOI SO
much comes to the surface OF tnis IN
vestigation. except that he Is SIMPLY
natural, even aggressively natural. He
looks at people and things without pre-
conceived notions of what he ought 10
see In them. What he does see, and
what he thinks, he says For instance
if a grand opera singer appears TO nm
to sing like the dickens that is what
he says about it, instead of playing that
he rs in a melodious and harmonic &c
stasy over it. This as habit brushes
away a lot of make-beleve, and makes
for a tonic intellectual honesty tnat Is
positively moral. though Mr.. Bennett is
not, by set intent, moral in his effects
Balzac says about Minoret-Levrault. one
of his Nemours characters, that he was
original by sheer force of being COM
mon" and in a way, this attitude ac
counts for the fine originality of Mr..
Bennett. This book soaks so completely
into every corner of ones enjoyment
that. reading. he says to himself. Why
go to Europe at all?" why not read
Arnold Bennett instead?"
OUR SOUTHERN HIGHLANDERS. By
Horace Kephart- author of The
Book of Camping and Woodcraft.
etc. Illustrated. New York: Out
ing Publishing Company.
About all we know of the strangely
marooned life of the southern Appala-
chan mountains We have gathered from
The stories of Charles Egbert Grad
dock. John Fox. jr., and Alice Mac
Gowan. From vague and unamplified
statements of one and another source
We have heard that in the lower reaches
OF Appalachia there is a curious noun
tain-foik still living the life of the mid
ole eighteenth centufy-as the colonists
quarrel with England and the approach
of the revolution. We have heard, only
half believing, that these people are still
thinking and doing about as their ances-
tors did in the pioneer days of Daniel
Boone and that they were practically
undiscovered until, at the time of the
civil war, they amazed the country by
sending 10000 of their rifemen into
the Union army. Hardly any imaginable
study of a people could meet with a
warmer welcome than Mr.. kephart's
study of these southern highlanders" is
sure to do. This is a subject to which
the majority of readers will prove keen
The book itself is made at first hand
and close range. For about ten years its
author lived In Appalachia, on friendly
and intimate terms with these strange,
shut-in communities. And this absorbing
all-around view is a product of these
years of association. The answer 10
Who Are the Mountaineers'' is an inter
esting story of clean, Scotch-1rish strain.
Why Are the Mountaineers'' is a lesson
in geography-illimitable ranges equally
forbidding to approach and escape, isola-
ton, close horizons, small needs, inertia,
in-breeding, unchastened passions-a
proud fierce, self-satisfied people.
Sketches and anecdotes innumerable set
out the form feature of these mountain
eers. Strains OF far history converge
upon them in explanation and illustra-
ton. The whole is an absorbing story
that comes in direct response to a wide