The Washington herald., 1917-12-23

uEeat Fobbc1biOhbp " DANho
Grayson. illustrated. Garden City:
Doubleday and Page Company.
Price. $40 net
Does the violnist In the orchestra
worry you as he tunes up his instru-
ment or do you follow him as he
thrums and winds or unwinds his ear
in tune with the fiddle he loves.
When he strikes the true note don't
you feel more In harmony with every
things? II you do you ought to read
David Grayson's Great Possessions"
In the Judgment OF this feeble critic
David Grayson Is one Of the decades
greatest benefactors. He has led US
into green pastures, and into the
meadows and the orchards, and
through the roads that lead to content
ment We have scented the breath OF
spring and fingered by the brook. with
David. enjoying his homely philosophy.
only to find that we are again in tune
with life.
Laughing Bill Hyde, by Rex
Beach, author OF The Heart of the
Sunset. New York: Harper & Broth
ers. Price, S1.35.
vigor In presentment and variety
in theme mark the dozen or SO OF
tales by Rex Beach which have Just
been published by The Harpers in
book form under the title Of the
initial story. Laughing Bill Hyde"
This story and the one that follows,
THE North Winds Malice" deal
with life in the frozen North. and
are admirable examples Of the au-
thor's ingenuity and skill in handling
a type of story Of which he has HIM
self set the standard in his earlier
works.
There are vigor and breadth Of
movement in these Alaskan tales,
clean-cut Characterization in the
rough, raw human types exhibited,
and a stir and thrill on every page
of the clost-knit action. Nature her
self takes a leading role in the dra-
matte development Of THE North
Winds Malice" in which the heros
letters home to his wife are inter-
cepted and delayed chiefly by the
inclemencies Of the Northern winter.
50 that the wife misunderstands and
separation results. for the husband
has gone forth on q "now-or-never
quest" at a time Of critical and
strained relations in his home. Skill.
fully evading the pitfalls of melo-
drama, Mr.. Beach here builds a grip
ping but tender romance that makes
an impressive story.
In a wholly different key are the
tales which Immediately follow, no.
tably "His Stock in Trade" and
with Bridges Burned" which are
excellent business stories, distinctly
American genre pieces. which have
become so popular with the public
in recent years.
The Letters and Adventures Of
Richard Harding Davis, by Charles
Belmont Davis. illustrated. New
York: Scribner's. Price, $3.50 net.
This vivid volume Il a self-revela-
ton Of Richard Harding Davis of the
kind that his admirers have been
awaiting for nearly twenty years. It
10 book to read and re-read. II is
Davis at his best and worst; the
riches Of his personality are tossed
on in that carefree manner which
brought the world to his feet.
II you think that pictureque, ro-
mantle tang Of the Davis style was a
pose, a counterfeit thing, read these
joyous, wonderful letters of his and
discover that he was in fact the in
corrigible playboy OF the literary
world that the early '9os believed him
to be. At 50, when he died, he was
still o boy, a swashbuckler. In all the
history Of American journalism there
never has been such q cavalier. oc-
casionally he wrote q drab sentence,
but often "he wrote like q god" as
Gouverneur Morris says.
In this book all the galloping ad-
venture of his career is set forth In
his own "letters home" And such
glorious. brilliant naivete In these let
tiers. His thirst for the romantic, his
love affairs, his self-assurance, his
foibles and peccadilloes, are all ex.
actly as the true Davis yotary would
have them. III.
The most characteristic passage in
the book IL that relating how Davis
got lost In London fog in 'sS in q
hanson cab with Ethel Barrymore,
then a slip Of girl Of II. They roll
ed into the arms Of a middle class
English family somewhere beyond
Ke1sington gardens, and there played
duh and duchess for an hour. Il was
= fecat moment for the young Davis,