The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-10

implicated. The conviction to which thi
young woman finally comes is that it i
women themselves who are chiefly re
sponshle for large measure of the vic
and sin of the world. This central cnar
acter is handled very we'll and, reticen
and battling though she is about herself
she yet leaves upon the readers min'
the distinct impression of an interesting
individuality.
! THEY SHALL NOT PASS"
i BY Frank II. Simonds Doubleday
Page & Co, publishers, Garden City
New York.
III the early days of the battle of Yer.
dun. General Petrain, the defender OF
that place, is accredited with utterine
! the words:
| They shall not pass"
| This sentence, terse and vital, which
sums up the spirit of the French troops
| has given Frank H. Smonds a splen-
did title for his book which he has
! used with cleverness and discernment
Selling upon the already historic
| words. Mr.. Simonds has made a book
out of his war correspondence to one
| of the New York dailies, many of the
papers being written at Verdun itself
| The Gettysburg of the European
war" Mr.. Simonds calls Verdun, and
] he proceeds to elaborate the parallel
between the two battles:
Our own Gettysburg was the final
4 bid for decision of south which had
| long been victorious on the battlefield
| which still possessed the armies that
seemed the better organized and the
generals whose campaigns had been
wonderfully successful. But it was the
| bid for decision of Confederacy
which was outnumbered in men, in re-
| sources, in the ultimate powers of en-
| durance, and was already beginning to
| feel the growing pinch both in num-
| bers and credit. 1t is not too much
| to say that the victory has been the
Most imm ediately inspiring thing in
| French national life since the disast
| at Sedan and that 1t has reused nation
al confidence, hope, faith. as nothing
| else since the present conflict began.
In this sense rather than in the
military sense Verdun was decis-
| i've battle and it's consequences of
| farreaching character.
, Verdun, Mr.. Simonds points out, ha $
been battle with a psychological, not
a strategical, purpose. Joffre was ready
to abandon the fortress because 1t was
of no military Importance to his plans or
| those of the allies, but political consider
ations decided him to make the stand A
retreat might have brought about the fall
of the BRAND ministry. Some there
be who even hold that it would have
resulted in a panicky appointment of a
committee of public safety And undoubt-
eddy the seeming defeat would have had
a depressing influence on the French peo-
ple even as a seeming victory, properly
celebrated and inflated, would have had
an incalculable heartening effect in Ger
many.
The book is well written, of tremendous
historical value and at the same time
gives an insight into politics involved in
tlA
sight into the soul of France.
THE DOOR OF DREAD"
BY Arthur Stringer. illustrated by M
Loene Breaker. The Bobbs- Merrill
Co, publishers, Indianapolis
The opening words of the slangy
| heroine of Arthur Stringer's THE Door
of Dread" gives an insight into her
type when she (Sadie WimpeD ex-
claims:
"Admirl Fletcher roped out navy re-
port shown how and why foreign
fleet could land in the United States
Sen'tor Lodge s'bmitted that report to
the Senate. But before doin' 1t he told
en- the report ought to be printed in
confidence, as they put it, and the mo-
ton was carried. Secretly Daniels,
yuh see, didn't want any foreign guy
gettin' next to the data in that report.
Well, a certain foreign guy got
hold o that report-a capper for Keu-
dell. The same capper got hold OF
our signal code book from the destroy
err Hull"
This shows the timeliness and perth
! hence of the new novel by Arthur
Stringer, but 1t gives no idea of the alb :
sorbng and thrilling schemes and es-
capes, foilings and counter foilings,
sEadowings and maneuverings, between
Kestner. Willsnach and Sadie Wimpel,
acting for the federal secret service,
and the gang of tricky foreigners, steal
Ing and deciphering every government
secret valuable to foreign power in as
Shrewd and complete a system of es-
pionage ever written about in clever
mystery story.
Moreover. the characters are real and
appealing. especially Sadie Wimpel.
She pursues line of conversation that
would be the envy of any vaudeville
star. And she has a heart, especially
| for Willsnach, her confederate in the
secret service. She has, also, an APP
probation of the seductive and danger
Gus thrill in the risk Of the work and
q bitter knowledge that the work is
sometimes rough and not always clean.
WHAT is COMING? ?"
"a EUROPEAN FORECAST BY II. G.
Wells. The Macmillan company pub
| fishers, New York.
| Mr. H. G. Wells in his What is Com
| ing? An European Forecast" appears
| in the guise of prophet which he de-
| clares that he Is "by use and by won't
| and that he is more interested in to-
morrow than he is in today, hence his
! volume on the interesting subject of
! what will come after the great Euro
pean struggle.
Mr.. Wells calls attention to his pre-
vfous forecasting endeavors and to the
number of them that have since come
true. He holds that there is no great
difficulty in foreseeing developments
along lines depending upon mechanical
matters, and that men of adequate
knowledge and sound reasoning power
can see clearly into the years ahead
in all such matters of material devel-
opment" But he confesses to its be-
inc IL much more difficult proceeding to
attempt to forecast, as he does in this
book, the trend of events during the
next decade or so, because in this case
it is necessary to deal with the mys-
terry of individual conduct, with "the
secrel Of the jumping cat within the
human skull" He thinks that new me-
chanical inventions will play very
small part in the developments of those
approa ching years because the world
wide war means general arrest OF
all or nearly all advance In the furni-
ture OF life. For many years TO come
the whole world will have to devote
the money, the brains. and the energy
i Tr1t a