The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-11

The people are pleasant IL a trine
~voluble. but there is little story and
there is little excuse for dragging in
the San Francisco earthquake.
In The Trail of the Hawk" (Har-
pers) Sinclair Lewis starts promis-
ingly with the youthful career of a
Minnesota Norseman with an Unborn
craving for adventure. This leads him
In time to stand up for a heterodox
college professor and to be cast out OF
the community. The transition period
as a tramp, though unnecessary, may
be passed over because he becomes
an aviator, and for a while the pecu-
iiarities of the aviator's life are dwelt
upon, which is a novelty in fiction. All
this goes by the board. however, in
the second part OF the story, when the
hero has given up aviation and is in
New York in pursuit Of a girl who at
tracts him. Any enterprislng young
man with no ~bashfulness might act
as he does in the improbable but
amusing adventure he in.
That the affair continues and pros
, pers Is u to the more than uncon
ventional behavior OF the young
woman. but there are freshness and
dash In the lovemaklng. in the roam
ing n In the subsequent matr monial
difficulties. Both parts of the story
are hampered by the authors desire
to unburden himself Of al he knows
descriptions OF places. particularly OF
the byways OF New York and vicinity,
opinions on books and authors. on art
n furnishings, even on woman's
dress, on socialism and other topics OF
the day. dragged in with no real con-
nection with the stories he has to
tell, but hampering the reader at every
step. A little of this may do for orna-
ment: the excess reminds one Of a
curiosity shop. The spirit OF adven-
ture. too, is all right in present day
fiction. but young women who follow
II, as The heroine does, even with
exemplary young men. are pretty sure
to get into trouble. in New York at
any rate.
In continuing her conversations with
her aggressive and absurd British
matron in MARIA Again" (John Lane
Company Mrs. John Lane feels called
upon to apologize for being funny in
war times. Only two Of the sketches
deal with the wal and no fault a
be found with them in the matter OF
taste. The rest are as amusing as the
first outpourlngs of Maria and as re-
markab.e in that the author never be-
trays her American origin.
Though she ascribes her keeping
straight to the little boy she loves, the
| girl who writes the letters in Elizabeth
Cooper's Living Up to Billy Grcd-
erick A. Stokes Company has charac-
ter enough TO fight the world by her.
self. She is a dancer in low resorts
in New York. the child and the asso-
ciate of criminals, and her letters are
to her sister. Billy's mother, who Is
a thief in jai.. Fault may he found
with her language and the slang m
ployed, but the girls experiences and
troubles are real enough; We wish the
good fortune that the author bcstows
on her were as real. The book will
hold the readers interest.
II il a very delightful and capri
cious young person that has her own
way through various pleasing but
not strikingly original experiences in
"Peggy-Mary," by Kay Clcaver Stra-
han (Duffield and Company. She
has the redeeming feature Of not be-
ing ostentatiously glad but we