The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-24

In tho main Guy F1eming's The
P~Ioy.acftn0 Woman CLongmans, Green
4 Company Is the biography Of .
Scottish youth who works his way
up from the gutter to n university
education and the bar. Amid all temp
tRtions his native canniness never
fOrgalxes him; 1t helps him out Of the
scrApes he gets into, and when II Is
shown unobtrusively at critical no
ments II gives him a peculiar charm.
Apart from this he is inspired with
u boyish alteration for an actress
much older than he is who happens
to be In his village and likes him. He
sees her only at rare intervals In after
life. but always worships her. while
she loves him, but keeps Il to herself.
She too was a child Of the gutter,
matched from It by her genius and
guarded by a romantic Scottish spin
sesr. Some part OF the story l. told
BY sharp tongued village gossips. some
By the dweller in a slum. and these
aro the most natural and artistic por-
ton0 Of the book. The author brings
IN Death rather recklessly: he cuts
s6est With II . young girls romance.
0no piece Of forcible writing: no re-
m0vs0 the hero's closest friend arbi-
00z1yj he employs II to give a proper
sndlng to his story. His characters
Are clear cut and attractive. he has a
strong sense Of dramatic situation and
h1o story Is powerful. 1t Is weakened
by his following the prevailing fashion
in making It biographical.
Ia the Young Pretender's Days.
Il h a lne tale Of adventure that
John Foster tells In The Bright Eyes
Of Danger Nv. and r. Chambers; j. B.
Ldppincott Company in spite of its
threatening to be a historical novel.
Tho boyish hero sets out for Edin-
burgh in the As and gets there while
charles Edward Is upsetting things.
The author cannot refrain from de-
scribing conditions and some noted
people and from making too much use
Of the Young Chevalier. but he soon
gets his hero entangled in such dan
gerous and exciting adventures. In
order to save and win a fair damsel
and TO rescue a stolen treasure from
a determined villain. that the fate of
Scotland and of the Stuarts seems Of
slight consequence. The young man
has a decidedly strenuous existence
for a few weeks. even cutting his
honeymoon very short. but the adven-
ture seems to be worth 1t. We care
less for his scruples regarding his duty
As an Englishman, and the nnal en-
counter with the defeated Pretender
with its ultimate consequences seems
needless. The spirit of adventure
would have been enough 10 send him
wandering again without an oversen-
sitive conscience. 1t Is a thoroughly
enjoyable tale.
NJ. PhiIIpOtts's S~choolboyA
The school tales that Eden Phil
potts relates in The Human Boz me
the War (Macmillans) are amusing
~Id the dozen boys or so who tel
et>0 and figure in them are natura'
and differentiated from each other
They are good types OF English school
boys and preserve the traditional atti-
'tude toward their teachers. their schoo
and one another. The introduction oi
the war does not seem in the best OF
taste. The impression is strong amons
many people that Englishmen are no,
y0t awake to what this war mean for
them: an impression that seems justi.
tied In the case Of Mr.. Phillpotts and
his boys. Some of them are little fel.
lows that can hardly understand why
their life should not go on as usual
int others are 16 or II years of age
on the eve of being called by theiI
country. and they seem as unawar
Of their country's peril and of tho
ncarness of the conflict ms the LITTLE
ones. The change Of spirit that ha!
come over France has not touched
England. il We can judge from hel
writer's of fiction.
AnatOle France.
Even in the original form Anatol'
Frances Pierre Nosi6rc. which =.
Lewis May has translated in the edition
Of his collected works (John Ian,
Company. was A sort of miscellany
The first part may he autobiographica
with It's charming recollections o
childhood and youth and of queer an
picturesque people. told with delightful
humor hat is not wholly lost in trans