The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-11-29

low of considerable elegance and refine
ment
She writes letters to dream" man,
She thinks about him.
Ida questions her, not knowing or sus-
pecting, however, for a moment that the
dream man of Ora's imagination is her
Qdas) husband.
They get back to Montana called home
by an accident to Ora's husband.
After a short residence in California
Ora comes back to Butte and tells Ida
that she's left her husband and has de-
cided to go out and work her 'mine."
The mine adjoins Gregory's-far out in
the wilds.
She establishes herself there, and then
1t is that she and Gregory have their
wonderful evenings before the log fire in
Ora's little sitting room.
Things go on enthusiastically for Ora,
because she is really very much in love
with Gregory and she sees very little
chance for him ever to belong to her
since he has told her his wife's suing
for divorce.
AT last one day Ora seeks Gregory in
the dark galleries of the mime.
Suddenly he became aware that
he was staring at the rocky floor of his
mine, of it's first level the flickering cam
die flames revealed bits of bright yellow
metal. And below was the second level
with its superb shoot of copper ore 10 feet
wide. And below, on the third level. still
was the vein far more beautiful than vir-
gin gold And down-down--in those vast
unlocked caverns-what mysteries-what
wonder ores might not the earth harbor
for hi malone to find and name"
1t Is hardly necessary to state that
Gresgory does not go to the Mediter-
ranean; whether it should be imputed to
him for righteousness or not Is another
question-one, it may be remarked in
passing, which disturbs Mrs. Atherton
not one jot or TITLE In the last interview
between the two clashing women Ora
sums up the numerals of the book:
Il know when am beaten. will leave.
And don't imagine that you have won
because you are In the right. We have
emerged from the dark ages of supersti-
ton, and we know that the wicked are not
punished If they are strong enough Nor
are the virtuous rewarded for mere virtue
not once in ten thousand times You
have won because you were stronger than
l. That is ALL
Perch of the Devil is intensely inter-
esting from start to finish.
Many clever aphorsms tempt quotation,
as for instance. speaking of Gregory:
Even men of less complicated ego have
been able to love two women at once
and still survive"
And of Ora
''She was on the threshold of one of
the dangerous ages, there are some 10
or Is of them.)"
1t wouldn't be fair not to mention
"Whalen," the little professor who was
Ida's first teacher and who feels very
much in love with that pugilistic young
woman.
The day that he attempts to kiss her
she quietly, but firmly, with the strength
of a female Sandow, takes him by his
collar and the seat of his trousers and
hurls him out OF the window. This gives
an insight into the woman's way Of do
ing things-the western woman's with
brains and muscle and no finesse.
No mercy is shown our little hypocri-
sizes to ourselves, says one Rensuer.
Whalen, miserable cad that he is, trem-
bles for an instant in the searchlight--
like all people of weak passions, more
particularly that type of American that
hasn't any, he took pride in his pow
ers of se1f-control" And the beautiful
Ora as we'll serves as a peg on which
to hang a vigorous text along the same
lines
But while she was (spasmodically) toe
honest to deny even her own sex encum-
brance, she believed. like many another,
particularly American women of narrow
emascuated by the higher civilization
was merely synonymous with poetry
romance. and sentiment. This conven-
tion was imported to the New World by
Englands middle class and became q
convenient national superstition. 1t il
on the wane.