The Detroit times., 1915-09-21
BOOK REVIEWS

habits of the occupant of the hall
bed room In the cheap boarding
house, but, with the help Of her
friends. Billy is. somehow, looked
after. The awakening OF Aunt Nan
to the beauty OF life and the lovely
innocence of Billy begins very soon
and ste finds a place in the country
among the pigs and lambs and grow
ing things where she and Billy can
go for visits and holidays. Nan Is
tho daughter OF q crook and the
rest Of the family have followed suit,
but she is true blue, and her love OF
Billy and loyalty toward Billy's
wretch Of a father almost does for
her. In the end We And her In the
arms of q big Irish policeman, not
u prisoner, but q bride.
There are smiles and tears; the
forghness OF crookdom and the
sweet beauty Of q mother and her
tabe. Billy makes q good woman OF
his mother. and his aunt only need
cd him to show her the way.
Elizabeth Cooper. who wrote that
little idyi. MY Lady Of the Chinese
Courtyard" is at her best in the
slums OF New York. where she can
see the spirit OF goodness among the
most sordid surroundings.
Frederick Stokes, New York;
r.00.
For sale by Macauley Bros, De-
troit.
From. accompanying very con-
ventional. uninteresting. young man
surrounded by the trappings of civil
gloves. etc.. we are fairly hurled out
Of the FIRST chapter into an empty
box cal, where the same young man
has taken refuge to escape being
jailed AZ murderer, In the second.
II Is a little disconcerting, but he
manages to get over four states and
we &c with him. liking him better
and better as he sheds his various
crusts. accumulated by social evolu-
tion, and gets down to himself. THE
named J. Montague In the first chap
ter and plain John the rest Of the
time. Is q hero, without any Of the
self-consciousness or glow OF virtue
which usually accompanies that in
dividial. He does fine things on a
ranch in the west; finds n girl ego.
who IL able to discover his true self
under all the evidence against him
and who. through her wisdom and
pluck, hides him, after he has been
everybody. while she brings the real
culprit to time. II sounds a "bit
thick" as the English say, but II
Isn't. It's downright, good, all
around story. THE Real Man." by
Francis Lynde.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New
York; $1.35.
"Minnie's Bishop, and other
stories" by G.. A. Birmingham,
might better have heen named for
any other story in the book. Minnie
and her bishop being very far fetch
ed and tiresome, we would cut them
out entirely, but Sonny" "Onnie
rever." Saints and Scholars" and
Marty Hyne's Pig" might. with hon.
or. have supplied title. These
stories are OF auld ireland. herself,
with It's slopins banks OF green. With
It's mists and drizzling rains; its
muddy roads and bogs; its wretched
cabjnr with their dirt floors and
fires of peat: It's tarefooted chill
dren: and most OF all the heart.
aches which the mothers Of Ireland
bear In their breasts when their
boy; knd girls leave home and take
passage In the steerage for Amer
lea. II 10 all told so sweetly and
with the sympathy of a man who
must have lived the life himself;
one who knows so well the life OF
the Emerald isle that It just comes
from his lips or OF the point OF his
tongue with no effort at all. at all.
Throughout the stories runs that
strange Celtic strain, with It's un-
der current of the supernatural and
It's deep poetic sense; the strain
which makes the Irish at once the
happiest and the saddest people In
the world and gives to the poorest
peasant the heart and soul of gen.
ueman. All Of these things are
shown in these stories. which will
find their way to the best part Of
every reader. G. A. Birmingham
writes well, but II ia in the tales OF
the poorest. down-trodden. Irish
peasant that he truly finds himself.
George II. Doran. New York;
Sl.20,