The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-11-13
CRITICAL REVIEWS
OF THE SEASONS
LATEST Q
Icfery Farnols Charming Romance in ANTIQUE
Phraseo!ogy- Unbalanced Tale by the Castles.
Mysteries. Detectives and Humor in New Fiction
Kiplns's Impressions and Other War Books.
Illustrated Editions Of Treasure island" Bible
Stories and Other Books for Young Readers.

A charming romance, AS old as the
beginnings OF formal fiction, is told
again very delightfully."- in antique
phraseclogy by Jcfery Farnol in BEL
trane the Smith" Little, Brown and
Company. There Is no pretence at
originality. for the very form the au-
,hor has adopted recalls Amadis and
Sir Thomas Mallory and the tales they
drew from. and that form has been
used successfully by other writer's in
very recent years. but Mr.. Farnol
holds closely 10 his story through
nearly Geo pages with the freshness
and the life that marked his earlier
stories and carries his readers with
i'm His hero grows up in the woods
IT from the busy world with no
nowiedge OF evil, warned to beware
Z the wiles Of IN He is strong
md competent and gentle. but when
he is forced TO go out and set right
the wrongs Of his world he uses his
power stcrnly. If the story had been
written "A little later 1t might have
been taken as an answer to the ad-
yocaics Of peace at any price; as 1t
q It might profit those idealists to
rad this tale. He meets strange peo-
PIE in the woods and takes part in
many fights, which have much the
Ameress of the combats in the old
tomduccs. He meets early the fairest
u women and would have pr obably
Lad an 64sier time with her had he
had a less misogynistic training. The
owe scenes are very pretty. In the
md all comes right. the %evildoers are
eyierminated and peace and justice
established in the land. and the hero
earns that women car be true and
owing as well as fair. Mr.. Farnol
Ioes pretty well with his artificial vo-
rdhularN he holds to the thee" form
uobly for a while and when he begins
10 mix this up with you" and to wab-
Ne with his verbs the slips are go
slight that the proofreader can easily
SIT 'utll liEIb III IL IdNtT tulllbU. lIeTe
, he IN his hero and his heroine and
% several of his other characters.
hero is poetry throughout and the
rm.niSccnce of what vas most charm
ng in the old romances.
\ good beginning IL made ny Agnes
Ird l.Serton Castle in The Hope of
he House" ,Appletons), with the
Struggle to preserve the family estate.
he self-Sacrificing brother and the
harm.nE boy and girl. With the
hrne.u. in of the war. however. the
sIthors seem to lose ali sense OF artis-
BE proportion. The frivolous talk and
'houshtiess actions may be realistic
enough but they jar with the painful
iGc.dents. The young girl who loses
h.r lover IS the only person who shows
rc'l feeling or dignity in the whole
business. The Belgian girl who has
seeI all the horrors OF war is wholly
theatrical, while the society talk about
ne Things that happened shows as
much had taste on the part OF the au-
ihors "a in those in whose mouths
hey put It,. 1t might be as well for
llg.,sh ~novelists to leave the war
siono until II Is ended.
The feelings and thoughts of an PIX
snpidry dog n % his parents are the
,hlef concern Of a. J.. Dawson in Jan"
Harpcrs). incidentally the author
Io,ns In the customary praise OF the
Northwestern Mounted Police and in
nd.Gcs IN a fragment of love story. The
mixed breed of the hero must have
made a strange looking object of him
When -. 4, at.,Hta - ' ,,A1n ha 10
fIlel by a villainous trick and learns
- pg. "a sledge in the wilds of the
north land. His dog adventures are
Interesting; they would be better, per-
Haps. II the author had restrained his
ta''rc psychology somewhat.
The use Of a young society girl a.
e detective made by Anna Katharine
''fecr .0 The Golden slipper" (G. =.
Futn1m's sons, eve II IT allows for
m" s'W''.nCe Of "a love story, is no i'm
~}ro'eu"ut in that class Of fiction. Toe
much '!uc IS wasted in explaining her
presence and in her chickering's with
|or employer, and the mystery she
solve usually by intuition, generally
T. hardly worth the trouble. Three OF
TIE Ll.e tales. however, are ingeni-
ol''f complex mysteries, and that, we
.ua-.r.. +, a large proportion as such
'a's rIl.
a woman again is the solver Of the
'-''l'.- in This Way Out" by Anna
Mcclure Sholl IIearst's International
Litrar} Company, and she too Is In
VOWED .u a pe%rfunctory love affair. She
" 'ls. iicI. however, by her discovery
% e... Instance q human. kindly ex-