The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-20
sErRopE AFTER s:1s.


 ry F. L Mercken, George Jean Nathan,
 Willard Huntington Wright With
 Decorations by Thomas II. Benton. The
 John Lane CO, Publishers, New York.
 The special characteristics of night life in the five most prominent cities of Europe are vividly depicted in this de. lightfuI volume entitled "Europe After S:l5." The writers have peaet1ated .o haunts unfrequented by the average tour ist and raise the curtain so that their readers may hear and see what takes place in the hidden corners of the great capitals-Vienna, Berlin, Minich, London, paris-while the vast majority of the populace is asleep. We catch the spirit of tuoyancy, of romantic evanescence, Of midnight abandon, even in staid old Lon don, and in Paris we feel the wander lust in the spirit soul of the Seine-not the Paris of the American, but the Paris of Villon, Munger and Du Maurier. Wo get a peep at the world of amours and intrigues, subdued lights and dances, cabarets and all-night-oches stras-a world Indreamed-of-evenb by the pleasure-seeller most thoroughly inoculated with the mod ern rage for the unusual and the bizarre.
 THE DEVILS DISCHARGE.''
 By Willard French. The Neale Publishing
 Co.,, Publishers, New York.
 While the ghosts of the past are evapo- rating in their own Inists, science Is giv- ing birth to others by far more weird. In this story Colonel Preach discharges the Devil and his spirits; out he is trained scientist as well as a trained sol- | H 4rrit of 1 z a great war correspondent In the placa of Satan and his imps he gives us new | but real spirits-all made by real science. | A story of adventure, a story of love | The Devils Discharge" also possesses the mysticism of the east. Colonel French studied both medicine l and the art of writing under Oliver Wen- l dell Holmes. One day he took the skele- | ton of this story to his old master, who l said: My boy, wait % years, when we l shall know more of the brain, and when | science generally shall have advanced l further, and then publish your story" This advice was followed. Here is the story. THE DEMOCRATIC RHINE MAID" l By Franklin Kent Clifford. The Deviu- Adar Co.,, Publishers, No. 437 Fifth Avenue New York.
 The Democratic Rhine Maid" by |
 
 that is different. A German girl is it's heroine and the American war cores londent who is the hero Is something entirely new in the line of war cor respondents in fiction. The author has discovered also some new possibilities for the wars of Cupid in the rivalry between his German Rhine Maid" and charming American girl. The frau lein ie a baroness who owns a fine old castle on the Rhine. but she has taken up with democratic ideas and is try ilg E to put them into practice in her own life. to the horror of all her high born relatives and the general scandal of the community. She has a sense of kumor, a high spirit and more Mother Eve witchery than it is quite fair for an yone woman to possess. When Al fred. the war correspondent, meets her walking along the Rhineway, like any peasant maid. it does not take many II inutes for him to know that he has met his fate. The fair one to whom s10 years before he had carried his trophy of flowers after the class day ti ee battle at Harvard, of which the first chapter tells. is still unwed and is visiting in the nearby castle which has been bought by an American mill lionaire. She too is a girl of spirit and not at all inclined to give up the heart of her old admirer to another woman. and particularly not to a Ger man baroness with democratic eonvic- tons. And there is a German count who is determined to rescue the Rhine maid from all the horrors of democracy and an American lover. no matter how many duels it may take. Among them they tangle up the course of true love beyond the readers guessing as to how ii will end until he comes to the very last page It is a delightful love story, fresh and unconventional, and just as charming in the manner of its telling as in the tale itself. For 1t is pure com- edy. crisp and sparkling, with a touch of the farcical now and then in its sit nations and full of delicious whim- sicalities of speech and character. Those who look for them can doubtless find some crumbs of serious philosophy un- derneath all the gayety and cleverness with which the story is told. But, whether not one looks for such crumbs. it would be hard to find a more entertaining novel for a summer day than "rhe Democratic Rhine-Maid." NOVEL WAYS OF ENTERTAINING" By Florence Hall Winterburn. Harper
 Brothers publishers, New York
 To fulfil the spirit of modern hos ritality something more is needed than a knowledge of etiquette and desire | to give plea sure A certain degree Of | originality is rot only desirable, 1t is almost requisite for good form. "To enertain friends at dinner or