The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-19
THE DRAMA OF THREE HUNDRE
 AND SIXTY FIVE"

AND SIXTY-FIVE.''
 By Hall Caine. J. B. Lippincott Co.,, pub
 fishers, Philadelphia.
 It had been asked: Where is the nov elist with the vision to see within. around, above and below the meaning, the soul, the unsee forces, the human drama of the epic of all ages? It was Tolstoi who un d with the hand of genius the risf the Russian peo- pie against Napole the magnificent War and Peace" 'Le Debacle" Zola cheWed at the cor { the Prussian hu- initiation of Franc will be Hall Caine to whom we must turn for the revela- tion of the multitudinous shadows and human spirits engaged in the stupendous war of liberation.
 This is no novel, it is no play, we are as yet to close the scene of action, but in accents of fire, in sentences as vivid as forked lightning, in paragraphs as hu- man as the hate in the heart of the Bel gium peasant dispossessed of wife and home, the author pours forth in high in- dignation. but with great spiritual hope, the drama as he experienced it of the year of years.
 It is not too much to say that this is not only the most forcible but at the same time the most intimate study of the meaning of the characters and the thunderbolts engaged. We find pen scketches of King Edward upon a holiday in Germany, of the Kaiser with "the gilt tering eyes, the withered arm, the fea lures that gave signs of frightful De- riodical pain, the immense energy. the gigantic egotism, the ravenous vanity the fanaticism amounting to frenzy" the misjudged crown prince, "a young man without a particle of natural distinction, whether physical, moral or mental. Francis Joseph, 'one of the oldest, fec DieSt and least capable of men, LoN1 Roberts, conversation with him. Kine Leopold the real old Adam and his glo- rious son. King Albert. Each one is presented to us with a few strokes of the pen either in a conversation or a striking analysis in a way that startles our concept of reality
 And the noble spiritual under currents that swept all England upon hearing the news of the differen crises: Redmond's speech in the House of Commons in which to no applause he pledged Ireland to the union jack in words that will la st whilst the English flag flies over an acre the ultimatum, the Marne the Heroes of Belgium, France, La Courageeuse, Rus sia, the spiritual land of mysticism and humble love rising in its might to meet the invader the neutrals part, America S part, it is indeed a book in which is crammed the soul of things, the huma n uSuIt ol HdEutLlIlSS.
 .DRINK AND BE SOBER" By Vance Thompson. Moffat Yard &
 CO, publishers, New York.
 Drink and Be Sober" is great book, first because it handles courage ously, tolerantly and with charm the greatest issue facing society today, second, because it is absolutely un- biased; third. because it possesses that rare and precious thing which is callad style.
 Here MT. Thompson sets down with scrupulous eXactness, without rancor and with infinite tenderness, sponta- neity and zest, the gains and losses of indulgence in liquors
 If he praises the joys of wine-tasting too generously the temperance enthus- fast must needs forgive him because of the courage with which he faces the dangers lurking within the cup.
 If he offends his conviviai friends (and they are legion) by his warm