Evening star., 1915-10-10
BOOK REVIEWS.

- UPPOSE that. for once. rumoT
had been right in claiming to
have had it straight from Sir
~ Gilbert Parker himself that ne
would never again write novel
about the French habitant- In that
case we should have missed Jean
JACQUES Barbille. miller and money
master of st. Saviour's, and IN that
case, too, Sir Gilbert would have miss
ed the most finished. if not the great
est, of his achievements In hctioh. Inc
surpa ssing charm of TINS Cahauiah
nance lies in the personality of Jean
JACQUES himself vivid and radiaht
figure at the first. and at the last
profoundly pathetic one. But, hrst ana
last alike. "M'sieu' Jean Jacques" holds
the center of his narrow stage in
monopoly of the readers interest and
affection. This hero is a triumph of
loyable personality. For his making
the author has combined some man
and a good deal of boy in quite re-
Inarkable manner. The inside OF Jean
Jacques is a perfect child-an open,
friendly, self-absorbed and expansive
erotist. frank in self-praise, given TO
delicious posturings and swagGerinss'
as all children are. On the outside ne
is "A comely young French-Canadian-
And the story Is merely that OF this
BOWMAN inviting to himself orood OF
fleeting joys and train OF lasting dls-
appointments. One may smile, superior
wise at Jean jacques, but he will love
him. And at the last his grief Will oe
open and spontaneous for the sorrows
of the good Jean Jacques.
A YOUNG MANS YEAR By Anthony
Hone. author of The Prisoner of
Zenda," etc. illustrated by c. H.
Taffs. New York: d. Appleton y
Co.
One commonly thinks of Anthony
Hope in terms OF The Prisoner OF
Zenda." And. so thinking, he expects
each new novel by this writer to bear
the banner of brilliant romantic
comedy 1t comes, therefore. as sharp
surprise to find "a Young Mans Year"
moving circumspectly in step with the
everyday realism employed by the
wells-Bennet-Ca group. In
stead of flying high, this clever novel
walks the ground soberly among such
happenings as might come to any
young man of age and circumstance
equal or comparable to those OF this
hero. The twelve-month, standing as
the groundwork of this development, is
somewhere within that period when
matters of the heart absorb the young
male to the exclusion of all other con-
Germs. Falling in love and scrambling
out again, drifting toward the edge of
this chaos and fleeing from IT, these are
the stages by which the romance moves
to a conclusion that promises pretty
sure cutoff from any possibility of re-
treat. Arthur Lisle is an interesting
hero, as young fellows goa straight,
clean-thinking Englishman of gener-
ally good intent. 1t is to the three
women of the story, however. that one
turns for complete satisfaction and en-
joyment. Clever in three perfectly dis
tinct lines of cleverness. and attractive
according to three separate STANDARDS
of feminine charm. these women testify
in full measure not only to the admir-
able Judgment of thu r common admir-
err but they stano solidly together,
also, in evidence of Mr.. Hopes mastery
OF the means by which the people of
fiction take on reality and personality
and special appeal. The study of Marie
SarraGeI, the least snowy but by far
the subtlest of the three. is both pene-
trating psychology and delicate artls-
try. The whole is brilliant and spirit
ed romance
RED WINE OF ROUsSILLON, q Play
in -Four Acts. BY William Lindsey,
author of THE Severed Mantle"
Boston: Houghton MifHin Com
pany.
The man, the woman, and another
either man or ,woman-brought to-
gether in any one of a thousand situ-
ations have given the devil his long
suit in this world. They have, also.
supplied art literature, painting.
sculpture, music-with it's supremely
triumphant theme. 1t Is out Of this
common stock of dramatic material,
sourced in a human hunger for hap
piness. that Red Wine of Roussillon"
springs. A husband. wife. youth.
The husband absent for a long year.
The two. equally young, left behind.
AS a mere matter of course the latent
drama OF this situation leaps into being
and action. The story Is too common
to attract attention, save as art steps
in TO clothe IL in the colors Of romance
and dream. What this author has done
to give distinction and appeal to so
everyday a theme Is to move IT back
into the twelfth century. a remote and
picturesque period In which the world
was divided between the church and
the feudal lord. An expiatory crusade
against the infdei. imposed by the
omnipotent church, accounts for the
overlong absence OF kaimon, Count OF
Roussillon. The play opens on the eve
of his return-the mischief done, and
the stage set for Raimon's awakening,
for the slow assembling of proof and
for the invention of a punishment TO
lord. Around this tale of love gone
into hate. and into revengeful
cruelty. the tide of medieval life flows
rich and strong. Church pageant and
folk festival. the rivalries of trou-
badours Spanish and Provencal. the an
tics of juggler and tumbler. and the
common talk of gOssiDs at the wayside
inn, lift for moments. now and then,
the black work brewing at the castled
hill of RoussIllon. In this setting Ny
Lindsey has assem- bled the salient fea-
lures of medieval life In such con-
sistency of order and emphasis, in such
a richness and glow of color, In such a
suitability Of poetic phrase and meas
ure, that the drama. in effect and I'M
preston, takes up the period represent
ed by IT and sets II down bodily into
the present. This Is not merely a read
ing play. II is an acting play as we'll
THE PRESENT MILITARY sITUA-
TION IN THE UNITED STATES.
By Francis Vinton Greene. major
general. L. S. ". New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. Washing
ton: Brentano's.
This discussion stands In part as a
auccinct summary of the present mill
tary resources of the United States In
other part IL is both argument and ap-
neal for measures calculated 10 furnish
this country with an adequate system
OF defense. In the development Of this
theme Gen. Greene makes q compact
and graphic review OF the mobile