Evening star., 1917-03-04


pears to enjoy SO prodigiously here. Lit
eral-minded people call Drake an eyre
gious liar, whereas he is merely man
with luxuriant imagination and the rest
of him all egotism. good fellow, so
harmless and lovable, so amazingly in
genious in his inventions that one for the
moment lays aside whatever he may pos
sess of Puritan rectitude in the matter of
truth telling and simply gives himself
over to the charm of this winning Ana
MAS. Everybody likes this kind of liar
All the folks roundabout .'Windward
House" ("Captain Francis Drake, Mas
terD came in schools and shoals. 'fasci-
mated by the riot and color of this per-
sonality. all the time knowing that he
was mostly fakir Just another bit of
evidence that we like to be fooled pro-
vided the one who is doing this does it
with the right sort of fling. Other char
acters support the captain nobly-the
rose and set with the uprising and the
downlying of the captain: the nephew
who worked like a dog trying to keep
clear of real job of any kind, and
others whose work was to bring out
the ineXhaustible flow of the great
brakes imagination. Clever and en-
Joyable, indeed, Mr.. Trevena proves
himself to be in this extravagant play
of his inventive fancy.
GULLIBLE'S TRAVELS. Etc. By Ring
w. Lardner author of You Know
Me-" etc. Illustrations by May Will
son Preston. Indianapolis: Bobbs-
Merrill Company.
Using material that is commonly
counted serious and even weighty. Mr..
Lardner turns out a group of anus
ing short stories. Few things are more
solemn than grand opera. none more
eXacting and strenuous than marrying
off sister-in-law, and scarcely one
n
of Palm Beach from long distance re-
ports appear to be. Imagine what Ger
aidine Farrar's Carmen" looks like to
one who has only his eyes and an
everyday sort of American mind to de-
pend on for its Interpretation. Mr..
Lardner makes an irresistibly lauhable
account of this episode through his ef-
forts to place the incidents of this OPP
they would belong if they were to be
literally moved over into their paral-
lels of American life. And with each
Of these anecdotes he laughs his way
down through their superficial preten-
sions to the rank absurdity of their
every case is good enough to carry
across without the touch of extrava-
gance to which Mr.. Lardner treats
himself in the use of dialect. This
edge of eNaggeration stops one. or him
ders him, in the enjoyment of these
aStute comments on the make-believes
OF society and on the queernesses of
human nature generally.
IN CANADA.s WONDERFUL NORTH
LAND. BY w. Tees Curran and H.
\. Calkns. B. Sc. Illustrated. New
York: q. =. Putnam's Sons.
This is a story of travel in an un-
tracked region. For eight months these
authors explored the New Quebec coast
h.,
rivers by canoe and motor boat, and
going overland with dog teams. 1t is
plain account of an eventful expedition.
The character of the trip the new scenes
opened up. the climate. the expedients
of travel made use of, all these consti-
tute this an adventure that not even the
most conservative would count
plain" whatever the reserve of the mar
rators themselves may be. The story.
in its first effect. make one revise his
acquired geographic knowledge of this
region east of Hudson bay-and of Hud-
son bay itself, for that matter, which
we are asked to believe to be twenty
times as large as Lake SUPERIOR
region whose resources are here shown
to be enormous it's mere miles of
extent surpass the areas of which the
books so confidently tell one
In addition to the information contained
in this wonder book of travel and eX-
ploration. is the spirit of adventure that
animateS it. This is a communicable
spirit. too-one that makes the reader
partake in great measure of the happy
and unhappy ups and downs of the trail
THE FIGHT FOR THE PEPUBLIC.
BY Rossiter Johnson. author of "A
History of the War of Secession
etc. Illustrated. New York: G.. p
Putnam's Sons.
This is a review of the notable bat
ties of the war of secession. of those
battles that serve. together. to give
an outline of the great conflict. The
opens with an account of
the inauguration of President Lincoln.
this are studies of the bat
ties of Bull run and the conquest of
the coast, of the Maryland and Vir-
ginia campaign and the peninsular
Special reviews are made
Of the battles of Gettysburg, Vicks-
burg, Chickamauga and Chattanooga.
Grant campaign and Sherman's march
to the sea are given in such detail
as the scope of this oit'!oe .,ermiis \
.-...!!..i.s.r' 49, -er.' - the nnole