The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-03

II taken as fragment OF autUDioB-
raphy Eden Phillpotts's From the
Angle of Seventeen" little, Brown and
Company will be found interesting. for
people like to hear of even trivial oc-
currences to popular authors. IL In
tended as purely imaginary psychology
or humor the book Is puzzling. like GER
tain other ventures into humor by clever
l.ns sh writer's. II describes the com
monplace experiences Of boy just out
Of school during his first year in bust
moss in London. matters that would he
amusing enough II the author could
really put himself into the skin of his
seventeen year-old hero. The simple
events are natural enough and some
times funny. only they are not related
as the boy saw them, but as the much
older philosopher regards them now. ana
he puts these ideas into his hero's
mouth There IL plenty of irony, there
fore, and sometimes bright cpigram;
many portraits and comments on things
IN general. which are those OF Mr.. PHIL
potts and not OF his good hearted nice
boy. The reader is led from one incon-
sequential incident to another. his at
iention Is directed to one passerby after
another. but nothing comes of II after
all. It is the realism of the common
place carried to extremes.
The somewhat hysterical craving to
render service to the world which affects
q good many young women in society
IS the main theme of Rose Cullen Bry-
ants Ruth Anne" 81 b. Lippincott
Company. Her heorine, having weak
ness for doctors. starts in to become
trained nurse. which procures us an
almost technical account OF hospital
work. with instances of some wrong
things and hints that there are many
more. \ question Of ethics turns her
away from this career and she takes
up settlement work instead. The author
shows strong feeling on various sub
jects. the bureaucratic system of
hospitals. the hardsh.ps of organized
charity. the social evil the needless
management of real estate, the corrup-
ton of politicians. the lack of morals Of
men, hut she restraints herself and
leaves them aside. She IL carried away
by another popularity of the heroine,
her eagernesS 10 attract men to her be-
cause she is "A woman: after expert
menting on Il house doctor and "A some
what unprincip,ed politician she finds
the man she wants in physician. Sew
eral other women in the tale love men
other than their husbands but while
the author states their cases wildly
and sympathetically she permits no m-
propriety.
With little conference in his plot
and some hint of purpose in the viii
lainy Arthur +. Wallis would have pro-
vided the readers of "ldonia' little,
Brown and Company with fine
swashbuckling romance of the old
fashioned kind. with an improbable adj
venture and hairbreadth escape in
every chapter. He has a complete and
masterful villain, with others truculent
or humorous to keep things going,
rattlebrained hero with talent for
getting into trouble, Ia lovely maiden
who pops up ineXplicably In unexpected
places, and a ramshackle building fun of
traps through which all these and
others keep chasing each other. He
also has fragments of an Elizabethan
vocabulary and of antiquarian lore that
help TO confuse MS narrative, ine
reader may derive queer impressions If
Queen Bess's England from this book,
but he will he kept continuously in
motion and in excitement and will feel
that he Is ridden by nightmare.
With the minuteness of the Dutch
painters ID. II. Lawrence in Sons and
Lovers mitchell kennerley, New
York; describes the uncongenial life of
coal miner and his determined wife
and the career of their offspring. The
man on the whole seems to do his duty
and can hardly be blamed for taking to
drink. None Of the womans grievances
are passed over: she keeps "A watchful
eye on her favorte son, and we are
treated to every detail of her last illness.
The pictures OF British middle class and
low life are interesting in their way,
hut the hero unfortunately becomes a
painter and intiicts on us all the
vdgaries of the artistic temperament in
the proper adjustment Of his love
affairs. We have found this book
tedious. notwithstanding the meticulous
care the author has taken in registering
the emotions and conversation OF the
Characters