Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-14

THE MASKS OF LOVE. BY Margarita
Spalding Gerry, author of Ihe Toy
Shop" etc. Illustrated. New YORK
Harper 4 Bros.
rr is at least plausible to conjecture
that the Burne-Jones 'Masque OF
Cupid fired the train of invention
u that produced Margarita Spaidins
Gerry's THE Masks of Love,
,.,v novel whose fresh conception and
worl<manly handling, added to us me-
1ikatv human concerns, assure keen
and sustained interest throughout Hs
course. Upon its bright and moving sur
face 1.-The Masks OF Love is romance
Of the stage. Animating and directing
it is the full panoply of the craft-actors,
managers playmakers, critics and audi
ences-a little world of human nature,
pulled and pushed by the imperlous need
10 live stressed by riyalries. faWed by
petty personalities and blessed with &C.
,asional big kindnesses. At its center Is
the hero, masterful manager ana play
wright Upon the outskirts is the heroine,
q young girl who, rather as an expert
ment in independence than as the adVen-
turo upon a serious life job, temporarily
sets aside a competence and casts IN her
lot with the uncertain fortunes OF the
chance TO cavil, the atmosphere OK Inc
stage that peryades this story, the hkely
incidents that advance ii, the human IN
terests that complete and enrlch II. But
under this coherent and focused sur
face movement the real story leS-the
new sto~y of men and women IN their
changed and changing relations 10 one
another. story wherein the parts pass
TO and fro in a hewildering denial OF roles
that are either exclusively feminine OF
Exclusively masculine. Mrs. Gerrys new
novel itself wears the mask OF deilsnt-
ful stage romance to cover the new mean
ugs OF love. the wider issues OF me- that
are trooping out from the cover OF the
modern day.
THE PRECIpICE; Novel; BY Ella
" Peattie. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company
This fine story is something of cat
aud-inouse adventure. But infinitely
more formidable to encounter, 1ncalcuia-
Oily more difficult to elude is the feline
mat controls it. than the one that energies
laum Holloway jail to recapture paroled
!-lffragettcs None other than nature her
self is the fsteful creature that mere
t,t;lvs FAST and loose with the new notions
o. life and destiny that beset the moo-
yru woman. The great cat lies tor the
t,st part with lids a-doze and claws en-
ushiontd faSt-sound asleep it would APP
RANCHES of It's womankind And then. at
one or another point of their 1ar-farlnS,
an indolent, unsheathed claw reaches out
and draws the fugitive back WITHIN inc
fold of primal instinct and manifest des-
Tiny.
Chicago. that center of much that IS
original and interesting. gives the settins
of this romance. Three university Woin-
en- embody types of the newly emancl-
pated sex one of these. the heroine of
the story, has dedicated herself 10 the
succor of hapless women and chlioren'
much after the fashion of Huit House;
one has mummified her body ana
atrophied her soul in the quest OF a
PHI D. degree. And one. having consented
10 marry, sustains her husband in a
vestal atmosphere, in the belief mat tlls
regimen iustifies her claim TO equahtS
in the marriage relation. Set off against
these three women are two others, these
of the frankly natural order one OIL the
two, at the very threshold Oh j prom
ising musical career abandons ~ upon
the first word of love from nice aV-
erage fellow and goes with him gladly
INTO the obscurity of domestic NE Inc
other one, the perfect essence OF a SINH
ing floating femininity. takes the nus
band already referred 10, out of the IN
tellecsual atmosphere i'll which he is
lauguishing, leaving the wife TO me-
long regret that she allowed the ART OF
misunderstanding to be superseded by tne
feeble bond of spiritual companlohshlp
apostle of the free and independent he,
narries q man upon his own man-made
terms. which are such as take no stoth
of her own prepossessions ON the SUP
iect The woman III quest OF learning
~ pressed in the. terms of university
degree becomes a wTthered. resentfui,
turtiye alien to life and its warm issues
This author has made wonderfully life
likely. Well-balanced story ont OF a pronll-
mont phase of current social life. The
long and the short of this admirable
drama is that in the new order of things,
while women are eNtoling the delights
II their new freedom, they must not for
..rt to count the menace To their fullest
.s.ppiness that lies also within this free
dom.
,t.XoIR: and the Making of Modern
Italy: iSIO-Is8I. BY Pietro Orsi of
the University of Padua. deputy of
the Italian parliament. New YORK.
e. +. FutuaIn's Sons
About ten years ago Pietro Orsi pub
lished a scholarly and brilliantly dra-
matte story of the rise of modern Italy
out of the vicissitudes of French en-
,,roachrneut, Austrian domination. papal
oppression and the rivalries of petty
kings and dukes of the numerous little
states into which Italy was divided at the
beginning Of the last century. Orsis new
bOoE "CavoUr.' covers pretty much the
same grouud as does the one written a
decade earlier. The distinct advantage,
however al the later over the carrier
work is that tNis more recent study faces.
throughout Gpou Camille Cavour as the
supreme constructive force III the deVei-
opneut and organization of the modern
Italian state. In this reconsldered view
the outlook and aims ana activities OF
the great Cavour are exalted above those
Of less Stdtcsmanly though equally pa
triotic Italians-as. for example. above
the flaming qualities Of the apostle Maz-
yiui and above the popular appeal OF the
Zero Garioaldi II is this reorientation OF
;bc former. story. this facing il upon the
most significant figure of the revival of
Italy that gives this study its iinc CO.
Eeroncc and point. its admirable proper
ttous its cumulative effect, its sense OF
.1l,,1lrent Pietro Orsi's 'Cayour' is a
distinguished addition TO the series OF
raphical studies. Heroes OF the Ma
tons" now being edited by Mr.. IL. W
I. Davis and put out by u. i. PUTNAM .