Evening star., 1916-12-10

wounded on Wednesday at midnight,
and he died on Thursday"
Between these two points there is
that instantaneous photography that
reproduces in an infinty Of lifelike de-
tail a whole lifetime. or a full period
In ones experience Here it is the life
of Little Yeegh Wough." the home
name of Roland. boy of my heart"
pages In an ecstasy of mother-love.
From babyhood to soldierhood one
goes along with this mother, a grow
ing fear at the heart, a protest against
the shadow that begins TO steal over
thls reVerle. 1t is heartbreaking
story. Without doubt it could be
slipped today into the hands of a mil
lion mothers and to each of them be,
IN essence, her own true book. That
is why, despite the depths into which
1t sends one, it should be read by
women and men all over this country.
No protest could be more poignant,
more powerful, than this unaccusing
this unspeakable grief.
THE DARLING: And Other stories.
BY Anton Chekhov From the Rus
sian by Constance Garnett. Intro
duction by Edward Garnett New
York: The Macmillan Company.
The highest honor for the short
story writer is to lillen his work to that
OF Maupassant. Chekhov has more than
that. like Guy de Maupassant. he has a
passion for truth. and that in concen-
tration of movement and in power of
exclusive selections he is a master of
literary economy. These stories stand
in substantial support of this claim.
Here Chekhov. like Maupassant, de-
livers his theme bodily, and as bare as
q newborn baby, over into the hands
OF readers. TWO outstanding features
mark these tales as a whole. The first
Of these is that. almost without ex-
ception. they are built upon one or an
other of the multitudinous disharmo
nies of life-upon the too early arrivals
and too late delays. upon the food of
the spirit here and it's ehb there. upon
mood clashing against mood-upon that
inevitable maze of mischances that
robs life of its fuilness. and condemns
It to a makeshift of second bests. No
two are ever equal. nor can they be
equal in their loves, their friendships,
their intelligenctes, their companion
ship. This is the undercurrent that
chekhov brings to the surface in these
stories of men and women. The other
features that marks these tales is that
as rule. II is the man who is sentf-
mental and idealistic. honorable in his
passions and pure in his standard. 1t
is the woman who has the sophistica-
tiol of all time for the safe-conduct Of
the love game. Upon the surface. this
is revolving notion. If not an alto
gether new one. These women are, in
the main. obnoxious. to women. And
yet beneath the wrappiugs of thou
sands of years of Requirement, may
there not be found the essential ferna Ic
and sometimes the essential woman
that Chekhov depicts here. Whether
Or not one may agree with the common
thesis of Chekhov in regard to this
matter, he cannot deny him the honor
of being great writer of the short
story as exposition OF many phases
of modern life.
LOCAL COLOR. BY Irwin S. Cobb au-
thor of "Fibble, D. d." etc. New
York: George II. Doran Company.
When Irwin Cobb grows serious he
grows gray and grim also. In these
moods he deliberately picks out the
thin spots in human nature. creating
his characters in the likeness thereof.
One enjoys him most when he aims
only to be amusing, but even then
Cobb is not humorist for he works
In acids and not in oils. The short
stories of this volume are. in the main,
on the gray order. Local Color is a
study in the Psychology by which an
honest man becomes a criminal through
the hourly record upon his brain cells
of three years of prison life. It 10 also
horribly realistic picture of life at
Sing Sing. "Blacker Than Sin" IL a
melodramatic tale of ghostly havors.
'"rhe Smart Aleck" is meant to be pure
ly amusing, and 1t is amusing up to
the point when it becomes unnecessar-