The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-08
..PALS FIRST.

been used with such success as by Fran els P. Elliott in Pals First" It is a pleasure rather rarely enjoyed nowadays to have ones imagination so skilfully tricked as it is in Pals First to be aroused to a feeling of strong partnership over situation too good to be true, and over characters, personally engaging, in deed, but not so closely associated with ones experience or knowledge of life that their trials weigh heavily upon one. For pure entertainment, with a touch Of emo tion, psychologically correct and dramat- cally intense. yet not too harrowingly real Pals First" is to be recommended. Danny and the Dominic are outcasts- escaped convicts both. but both men or originally good antecedents The Dominic is a graduate of an English university and was once the pastor of an English church. Danny. too. has had a college education; he was formerly bank teller, and is now a pickpocket The dominic is old, sour and cynical Danny, on the other hand, is young and full of the Joy of life; hardened. indeed, to his own kind of wickedness. but essentially clean minded and with something of untainted boyishness in him. The older man is wholly dependent upon the younger, and between the two there exists an affection that is genuine and deep. Plodding along a country road in Tennessee, they | find themselves at nightfall in what seems houseess region. Cropping forward through the darkness, they find an Iron fence through which they see moving light and then the dim outlines of large manor. In response to their hall an old negro carrying lantern comes to the closed gate outside of which they are standing. Danny borrows a match of him, and as it's flare lights his counte- nance the negro in joyful surprise greets h m as the long-absent master of the house, who has been given up by some of his friends for dead
 This effective beginning with it's imme- diate appeal to the ader's curiosity, with its suggestion of mystery and it's complete surprise, promises an intriguing story, erd the story that follows fully meets |sa s expectations.
 Ii 'RUGGLES OF RED GAP" \ Harry Leon Wilson. Illustrated by F. # Grager. Doubleday, Page & Co.,, Y iblishers, Garden City, New York. M fancy you'll be even more interested if I lose" were the parting words T the Honorable George as he left that
 aorable night in Paris for his final
 me of drawing uoker with the Amer sp Johnnies, leaving Ruggles to ponder what might be his sinister meaning. II ! The Honorable George lost Ruggles had \ ' nown he would lose. (No man need at empt to humbug his valet) He had lost he said "by the trifiing margin of su- periority that a hand known as club flush bears over another hand consisting of three of the eights-not quite all of them, you understand, only three, and two other quite meaningless cards and he added sadly, You going to America, Ruggles." Ruggles had been the stake for which the Honorable George had played and lost
 So Ruggles was turned over to the Sen. ator. Cousin Egbert and Mrs. Fife from i"somewhere on the west coast-Ohio Omaha. one of those Indian places," leav-
 ing the Honorable George to the tender mercies of his own untutored care. And thus began the meteoric rise of Rusgles in the social world of Red Gap
 It is a splendid bit of fooing this story of the ultra English valet who becomes
 the dictator of social activities in Red Gap The west, its people and it's GUS
 toms as seen through the eyes of Ruggles
 in constant comparison with English so'
 ciety, is too delicious a picture to be
 turned off in a phrase. The desperate
 struggle between the highly polished Mrs
 Bedknap 'hyphen' Jackson of Boston
 and Red Gap and her more successful
 rival. the Klondike woman, and the visit
 of the Earl of Brinstead are events in
 which Ruggles plays the leading role For
 good fun "Ruggles of Red Gap will stand
 beside the authors Bunker Bean" and
 "The Spenders."
 "RIJsSIA's GIFT TO THE WORLD
 By J. w. Macl<ail George H. Doran CO.,
 publishers New York.
 xUhot hoe Russia done for the world
 definitely, specifically? Much vague talk
 pro and con, has gone on regarding
 Kussia's services-or lack of services
 te civilization. But here in Russia
 Gift to the World" MT. Mackail, the
 we'll known English journalist, assisted
 by such famous men as Granville Bar
 ker, Prof. Gilbert Murray, Prof Sir J 2 J. Thompson and others, tells Just what
 specifically Russia has done for the
 world-in art drama, music. science
 history, etc. The role of great Rus
 sian names will amaze most Americans
 and their sum is a revelation.
 FAMOUS DAYS AND DEEDS IN HOL. ~ LAND AND BELGIUM"
 By Charles Morris With 16 illustrations
 J. B. Lippincott company, publishers
 Philadelphia.
 There is no region which provides sucl
 q bounteous field for one who desires tc
 write a DOOR oI HtfoeS tuu HeioiShlS
 does the European Lowland country com.
 erising Belgium and Holland Wher King Albert, in August last. determined
 to ask his people to support him in 2
 death grapple with the invading Germar r
 host he was but carrying out the tradi-
 tion established by long line of heroic
 fighting patriots The famous historian
 Charles Morris. has written in words oi
 flame and account of the great deeds thai
 have made the lea ders and the rank ane
 file of the Netherlanders famous to the
 ends of the world for the undving grit
 and love of national liberty in his "Fa
 nous Days and Deeds in Holland an6
 Belgium
 q The people first proved their ntegr tS
 when they began their battle with th'
 eternal sea--in. an endeavor to maN'
 blooming meadows of the ocean floor
 How well they succeeded we know today
 The author tells US in a fashion tha
 makes our hair stand on end, the bravery
 of their first attempt to use the dykes
 as sources of protection. Ii was in tn'
 time of the Spanish inqu,sition. mos
 fruitful and interesting period for study.
 You know the story of how Charles V
 the greatest monarch In Europe, King oi
 Spain and Emperor of the Holy Roman
 empire. tired of the wear of monarchica
 duties, withdrew into monastery ane
 handed the power over to his bigoted son
 Philip II he who began the inquisiton
 administered by burninss and execution
 under the management in the Netherland.
 Duke of Parma William afterwards
 I.I -1D