The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-19

the author. The Century company, pub
 fishers, New York.
 Was there ever a lovelier or more ap- pealing story than Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs?"
 Yes, Dear Enemy" by the same au- thor, is just as appealing.
 It is perfectly adorable, and those who fail to read it will miss the treat of their lives
 Dear Enemy" is told in the form of letters and is somewhat in the manner of Daddy Long Legs" it's principal char acter, Salie Mcbride, having appeared in the earlier book also. Sal&e, whom ev- erybody regards as merely socia, but terf1y, is asked to take charge of an or phan asylum which has lost it's matron The orphans 113 all told, and the dour young Scotch doctor, Robin MacRae have all of them forgotten what it is to smile, and it is one of Sallies first tasks to teach them how again. But deeper than this and underneath the current of the love story, there is a sub-current of practical comment on the conduct of pulp lie institutions Miss Webster had made study of orphan asylums before she be- gan to write. and Sallie in the story is able to throw a good deal of light on the problem of so treating the waifs and strays of civilization as to develop their best instincts and give them a fair chance
 in life. America is overrun with institu- tions, most of them run as was the John Grier Home before Salie took hold of it. Sallie is a personality behind it. Under her gay, sensible, inventive direction the asylum becomes quite a desirable place to live in. The Dear Enemy" needless to say, is the Scotch doctor
 It may be of interest to this popplar authors large clientele to know that Jean Webster is a daughter of Charles L. Web- ster, Mark Twains partner in the pub- fishing business when they published General Grants Memoirs" She is also grandniece of Mark Twain himself, and was a favorite of his. She is graduate of Vassar, 1901, and made her first suc- cess with her stories of Vasar life, "When Patty Went to College Since then she has published many stories. Her Daddy Long Legs.' published in 1912. has been equally successful as play and novel.
 Miss Webster was married earlier in the autumn, her name now being Mrs Glenn Ford Mckinney.
 THE FORTUNES OF GARIN." By Mary Johnston, Illustrated by Ar
 thur Keller. Houghton, Mifflin com
 pany, Boston.
 Mary Johnston occupies among living American historical novelists a position of unchallenged supremacy. She has dealt with the spacious days of Queen Elizabeth with colonial America, with the early days of the republic and with the civil war, always with rich and authentic historical backgrounds for her absorbing stories. Her latest book takes her into new field which will still further enlarge her reputation.
 In this new book Miss Johnston turns to a new field of Historical romance, the setting being the earliest in time than she has yet undertaken.
 The scene is laid in the romantic back ground e southern France in the time of the Crusades-the time of the trouba- dours and the fullest towering of the ideals of chivalry.
 Garin, the chief figure. scion of a poor but noble family, equally good at song or a fight, wins his spurs in the holy land and comes back to France just in time to bear his part in one of those bitter but glorious civil wars of which the feudal system was prolific. In the course of time he finds that the ugly princess in whose defense and behalf he is fight ing is the very same girl whom, years before, he has rescued in an hour of peril
 The story, unlike many of Miss John- ston's recent tales, has happy and entirely satisfactory ending. It will make strong appeal to all readers who care for a stirring romance of love and adventure. It is rich and vivid pie ture of a past time, while, like Lewis Rand," it is market day by an inspiring sense of the moving spectacle presented by human characters struggling toward the fulfillment of their ideals in a war ring world