Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-19

tutes an invaluable record OF what this
state has already accomplished In an
experiment Of progressive democracy
MAGNETIC PARIS. BY Adelaide
Mack. illustrated by George De-
sains and Charlotte Schaller. In
dianapolis. The Bobbs- Merrill Com
pany.
What one particularly likes about this
wholly ENJOYABLE study of the open air
life of Paris is the authors intimacy
with it and her own absorption in it. By
virtue of the first of these qualities she
is q BILE to drain off those things that con-
stitute the individuality and atmosphere
of the city, the personal habits, the gar
ments the manners-so to speak-that set
it apart from London, or New York. or
Vienna The traveller passing through can
not write like this He lacks the sleeping
and absorbing processes that enable this
writer to exhibit both the characteristic
peccadillos and the splendors of Paris.
Miss Mack's own JOY in her subject is,
happily, of the highly communicable sort.
She easily puts her readers Immediately
next to the things in which she herself
finds the peculiar flavor and bloom of the
city. Here some of the greatnesses of
Paris-Versailles, the Luxembourg Gar
dens. Napoleon everywhere-stand cheek
by jowl with all sorts of street comedies.
fetes and festivals, Saturday afternoon
in the gay procession of the Bots. the
shops, housekeeping, artist life. even the
dogs Of the town. in an orderly motley
of things as they go on there. big and
little together. A spirited and delightful
moving picture with never dull or false
turn in it.
THE FLIRT. BY Booth Harrington,
author OF Monsieur Beaucaire,' -
etc. Illustrated by Clarence Under
wood. New York. Doubleday Page
& Co. Washington: Woodward &
Lothrop.
Mr.. Harrington makes stable novel
of what in better artistry would not
have exceeded the limits Of the short
story. The existence Of The Flirt to
book length is somewhat vicariously sus-
tanned Another Peck's bad boy is i'm
pressed to the service of it's expansion,
in addition to the employment of a
swindling game so transparent in char
acter as clearly to place it's victims in
the defective list. Besides, the author
makes over use of the mimeograph in
portraying the flirt at work Whatever.
though, may be said against the sub
mer-hour story, one can have only
praise for Mr.. Tarkington's skill in
portraiture. Each of the several peo-
pie engaged here is distinct. complete
and individual In h1mSeif. Cora Maol-
son, the f1irt herself, Is most life-like
picture whose original is found in her es-
sential characteristics wherever there is
a male to be flattered. Ones regret is
that there is 80 little for these folks to
do The monotone Of the f1irt's opera
lions, her lack of invention. the primitive
quality of her pursuit, make both the
hunter and the quarry objects of early
neglect on the part Of the reader. Mr.
Harrington might, on the contrary, have
used this theme for realistic short story
of good substance and literary distinc-
ton.
VANISHING POINTS. BY Alice Brown,
author of 1.-The SECRET of the Clan"
etc. New York: The Macmillan
Company.
Alice Brown writes with vigor. as men
are said to write and as they sometimes
do. She writes also with the skill of an
expert workman. The stories making up
this volume are of wide range, including
subjects not often chosen by women