Evening star., 1915-09-12

n the moment when Mr.. Gals
"a worthy puts down the pen
"a his news novel, The Free
lands" finished - kirsteen
Freeland is saying to her
brother-in-law, THE world is chang
ing, Felix-changing." And here kir-
steen gives the keynote to the story
itself. For. from the innumeraoie
signs of startling Worldwide cnahse
that now stand sharply out against the
horizon of events. Mr.. Galsworthy mas
chosen as the theme of his new novel,
the special agitation and unrest that
are taking active and ominous hold Oh
the English common people in respect
to the institution of English landlord
ism To bring out the daily behavior
of this social revolutionary current
pressing through the still waters OF
lmmemorial custom, Mr.. Galsworthy
makes use of the Freelands. This is
middle class English family, with ca
pacity and leisure and interest enough
to feel concern for this, the fGndament-
al problem of their native iano- ana
the big family-four sons and their
mother with their wives and their
children-represents fairly the sum OF
opinion and counter-oplnlon heiu
throughout England today on the sub
ject of land monopoly and the Eng
lish oligarchy. Since the world has
been good to the Freelands, the ma
jority of them stand, naturally, with
the rest of well-fed and prosperous
England, on the side of settled custom.
Set resolutely off against this majority,
however. is Kristen. the Celtic wife of
Tod Freeland, and their children. Derek
and Sheila. kirsteen Freeland is a
seer. a sweetly auStere woman, walk
ing in the radiance of her vision OF the
new day Derek her boy, is fire
fla NINA BILE peasantry around him And
Derek's unreasoning zeal loads him
with a debt of remorse that finally
takes him out of England and over to
New Zealand, where he will be only one
among many innovators and reform
ers A very charming love story goes
along with this complex of English po-
litical life. Not in many day will one
come across a more beautiful romance,
a romance more in touch with the fine
flower of young love, than is this one
between Derek Freeland and Ned
da, the lovely daughter of Felix Free
land The Freelands" is a big story
whose theme not only overlaps all
England. but presses down hard upon
it today as we'll This theme, for the
purpose of the novel, Mr.. Galsworthy
has. in conSummate artistry, reduced
to the drama of single English fam
lily which he carries forward in vivid
and realistic web of incident and char
acter to the open climax where kir-
steen, the seer, stands looking into the
new England for which the present is
preparing.
BLOOD AND IRON. By John Hubert
Greusel New York: The Shakes
peare Press.
In manner Mr.. Greusers study of
Bismarck bears much more than a
passing likeness to the manner of
Carlyle's French Revolution. Here, as
there. vivid flashing pictures crowd and
jostle one another for place. Here, as
there, the meat of language-its verbs,
and nouns and adjectives, cut loose
from intervening particles-evoke from
q vanished past the physical presence
OF men and events. Che effect of this
II that of stupendous strength and ir-
resistible appeal The theme is Bis
marck as the founder of the German
empire. From the nature of the sub
5ect. biography passes into history, the
story of the man becomes the story of
q nation in the making. To get at the
human essence of the man of blood and
iron. the writer goes back to the early
days of this young giant of hard head
ed ancestry. A prodigious fellow. this
captain of the dyke, eating and drink
ing like Gargantua himself, and smok-
ing between whites like a newly fred
engine. fighter. too. with a score
and half of duels to his account
q,
Bismarck spots at once the craZy-quilt
pattern of Germany, a motley Of petty
principalities, each with its king and
Liiiputian army, each shut in by it's
own Chinese wall of special trade toll
and custom dues. 1t was for this as
tute dyke captain to seize the necessity
Tor German unity and to pounce upon
the further fact that his own Prussia
must stand as the head of this new
national body. So, invoking the divine
nj nh nj
which later he admits to be no more
than mere politico- military make
shift, Bismarck commenced to fight
and to hatter. to intrigue and cajole
and terroriZe the little German states
driving them by sheer brute force and
bulldog tenacity into a united country
This in big and unselfish feaity he
handed over TO his HohenZollern king,
for the glory of Prussia Many days
later. when Bismarck had been driven
away from this feast of his own
spreading. he was to inquire haughtily
no are these Hohenzolierns 1t is
presumption to pity Otto Won Bis
marck, even in his age and solitude
ana defeat So one fingers upon the
outpourlng OF love from the people of
Germany for him, upon the rlessa ges
and visits and other tokens of gratitude
that a king forgot to give but that
lnt people themselves remembered Mr.
Greusels work here is accomplished in
a splendid manner Intimate, sympa-
thetic. fair dealing, he presents the
great chancellor in mis- blend of great
ness and weakness one OF the ma
tion makers of the world
THE MODERNIST. BY Francis Dem
Ing Hoyt, author of The Coming
Storm, etc Lakewood: The Lake.
wood Press.
This Is story of one of the younger
smart sets of New York Its purpose
is to paint the dangers that lie in wait
Tor the great number of emancipated
young folks, who. nowadays, have, in
large measure, taken their upbringing
into their own hands. The picture
drawn here has TWO sides. At one hand
are the children Of free household
an asy-mannered, free-speaking
flirting. smoking, dancing boy and
girl. At the other hand is a girl
OF different training and taste, a quiet
refined young woman, deferring han
PLY to the Judgment and experience of
her father and mother. The story ad-
vances by way of the usual occupa-
tions and diversions of young people to
show the logical outcome OF these two
ways of looking after youth There
are no surprises, no points of suspense
in this very obvious handling OF the
situation. The writer carefully sets up
the road, so that the reader need make
no mistake about the course that has
been laid down. The level OF the story
Is that OF primary instruction. Its fla
yor is that of Sunday school literature
Mr.. Hoyt is an experienced writer. AL
ready several books of Roman Cath
Ollie bent stand to mis- credit. This one