The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-11-19
arHE WORLD FOR sALr."

THE WORLD FOR SALE
 By Sir Gilbert Parker, Illustrated by
 Arthur I. Keliar. iJarper Brothers, pub
 fishers, New York
 Tn Sir Gilbert Parker admirable story, "The World For sale" we have once his best is the Canadian northwest, wh!ch only his wonderful craftsmansnlp depicts with the beauty and splendid mag influence which belongs to ir.
 Nobody writes IEG Sir Gilbert Parker; his tremendous insight into human na- lure. his marveuo IS word painting, and his fine talent for Iclnea ting character, make him a past grdId master in the art of the novel
 In The World For Sale the scene IS laid in the raw, new lands of the Cauad- ian northwest, golden with miles of ripe wheat and green with forests of pine, but still wax in the hands of its makers. One of these makers is the hero of the story, Max Ingolby, the sort of young man who sees far thinks in terms Of action, and yearns through every fore of his being to take up any present sitdd- ton, small or large, a town, a province, a continent, in his own hands, and mold 1t into stronger, better shape. A 'drea1- naught of industry and organization" the author calls him. A passion for planning and achieving possesses him. That type of man has had a fascination for many noyelsts, and readers of fiction are familiar with him But Sir Gilbert s Ingolby stands out among them by reason of his humanness, his close hnship with other men, and certain qualities of nat uralness and simplicity that make him a more lovable creature than is the usual captain of industry In fiction. The soul and heart of him are rich and deep, and the things that amuse or interest or please him are so many that ''the big men from the east whom he is able to get behind his schemes sometimes cavil at him and his ways. "He was never" goes on the author, diverted from his course by such men, and while he was loyal to those who had backed him, he vowed that he would be independent of these wooden souls in the end. They and the great bankers he- hind them were for monopoly; he was for organization and economic prudence, So far they were necessary to all he did, but it was his intention to shake himself free of all monopoly in good time"
 Much of the story Is concerned with the big schemes of Tngolby, the busy life of new region putting on the harness ut civilization, the rivalry and enmity be- tween two towns on opposite sides of a river whose mutual hatred Ingolby seeks to overcome by wedding them with a bridge. But across all this active and energetic life, so wholly western and American, Sir Gilbert has drawn broad band of life and color just as thoroughly eastern and alien. It was a daring thing to set down in the midst of this new world hustle and rush of passion 10 con quer nature the king of the Romany folk, and to inject a whispering lure in her heart shoots the dangerous rapids of Carillan. In that first chapter the author makes the reader -edLlize the dominant wildness of th< girls spirit, the power over her of come heritage that made her sib to the forces of nature, and realize also her essential fineness and kinshIp to civli- zation. She feels no love, but strong revuIsi>n n, toward Jethro Fave. who comes to claim the bride his father had bought for aim II years before, but there is that in him and about him, the bond or Rbmany birth between them, that now and then sways Her soul against it's will. And Jethro, seeing that she loves Ingolby, thrusts a hand deep-dyed in Romany cum ming into the life and affairs of the mas terful young builder of plans and or ganizer of industry.
 The love story is treated with delicacy and charm and Is notable for it's effect of freshness and beauty. Its place in the narrative Is not prominent so many other threads of interest are interwoven with il. But the reader feels it's vitality and the strength of it's relation with the other themes.
 In not other novels that Sir Gilbert Parker has ever written has he ever shown more fineness, more exquisite charm, or more appealing beauty in the use of his imagination and gifted pen then in 'The World For Sale.'
 sMR BATTLING SEES IT THROUGH" By H. c. Wells. The Macmillan com
 pany, publishers, New York.
 It could hardly be doubted that some novelist would write a great war story. And what is more logical than that it should be H. G. Wells? MT. Britling Sees It Through is work of profound interest and appeal which seeks to show what the gigantic conflict means to those who are in the midst of it. It is not a tale of terrible conditions at the front of the horrors of actual warfare, but is something deeper in its analysis of life