The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-16
MISS VILLA s. GATHER
AuThOR OF .
THE SONG OF LARK"
MOUGHIOW ~H/E|Zw

loves her. The depletion of the child's
qualities, good n bad, is clever, but
there is an inordinate amount of
that she must contend
against.
The somewhat cumbersome device Is
employed by Mrs. George de Horne
Valley, to onnect her short stories in
What Man Wills CO. +. Putnam's
Sons). OF making n house party at
Christmas explain what the real am
bition of each is. The stories show
how each attained his or her object.
some are humorous. and these are the
pest: some are tragic. The ending IL
ever more artificial than the begin
ming. The stories are pleasant to read;
their quality is that of the average
American magazine story.
Wherever his disrcputable hero APP
pears in Pierre Miles ''Barnavaux"
John Lane Company the stories are
capital, and the satire is blended with
humor Nos of the tales have moth
ing to dc with the Gallo Mulvany.
however. ms are pretty grim and hor-
rible. The first story Is pretty long:
II describes the life of white men in
Madagascar with some semb.ance OF
on effort to enter into n Pierre Lott
mood. We should be sorry to have
the author follow other literary models.
for he can certainly tell q story well
in his own way. The colored illustra-
tons by Helen McKie are fully as
French and as brilliant at Barnavaux
himself.
Though the hero INDUCES in much
theatrical rhetoric in n pompous vo-
cabulary in Arthur A.. Nelson's
wings OF Danger" &C. T.. Putnam's
Sons) the story opens prom!singly
with Its mining ventures in the
T%ransvaal and the chances for expe-
ditions into the African wilds. Many
Of the characters have individuality.
Unfortunately a sort Of Rider Hag-
gard obsession takes hold OF the au-
thor: with the aid of two rapid fire
guns and an apparently inexhaustible
supply OF ammunition, he sheds blood
lavishly. he discovers a race of lost
VIKINGS in the heart of the continent
only to slaughter them. anF when the
guns are insufficient he turns on a
volcano. BY that time all interest IN
the people with whom he started natu-
rally becomes weak.
In "The Island of SURPRISE "a. G
McClurg and Company Cyrus Town
send Brady take a good deal of
trouble to get a young man and two
young women into n Robinson Crusoe
situation. a knock on the head I'M
pairs the youths memory, he forgets
that he has married one in haste and
has made low to the other. The young
women. however. have not forgotten
and neither intends to yield to the
other. They nave the same Christian
name. which helps to bewilder the
youth and does not add To the grace of
the narrative. With Mr.. Brady a solu-
ton like bigamy II not to be expected.
though II seems to occur to the youth.
! whom the author uses as a sort of
dummy. The girls are left to contend
in words and in actions till another
knock on the head restores the young
I mans senses All three seem deficient
in elementary morality.
In Happy Hollow Farm" George
H.. Doran Company William II.
Lighton takes a whole volume to boast
OF his success in farming and of his
superiority Ia his neighbors and, we
should say. to nearly every one else
who has farmed. With his leaving
a newspaper job in Kansas to pick out
a farm in Arkansas all can sympa-
thize. though the locality may he sur
prising II Is a pretty general Crav-
ing, which helps on the back To the
land" enthusiasts. But beyond a few
general statements such as the man
ner of %ploughing, the use he made of
sorghum and COW peas and some other
Sllch matters and "a great deal nf