Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-02
THE TORTOISE. BY E. F. Benson, au-
thor Of Michael" etc. New York:
George H Doran Company.

THE TOHfOtSE. BY E. +. Benson, au-
thor Of Michael" etc New York;
George H Doran Company
49, HIS Is quiet Benson story of
English country life. The
tortoise" its hero-if so
placid a movement may be
said to support a hero-wakes
~ mere. on the first page, to the dis
Quietfnx fact that this is the morning
OF his fortieth year. An involuntary
retrospect discloses do-nothing ex-,
iStence-years of self-promisings. of
many beginnings. of no competitions, of
talent gone into sterile potterings-a
retrospect SO uncomPromising and, in
deed, SO broadly applicable that one
finds it the hardest kind of reading. be-
cause. you see. it is in a sense every
body's retrospect Once past this in
itial point, however, the personal appli-
cation dims a bit. leaving the reader
comfortably free to follow the fulfill
ties Of the other person. 1t is story
OF waste-a man wastes his life in de-
votion to the tyranny of motherhood.
Kidding around with drives, and teas,
and garden trifling. all in the name Of
dlial devotion The book looks up
trifle when a youth and a maid appear.
both bent to the supreme business of
youth To make II comport with life,
the bachelor of forty must needs cast
an eye of longing upon the girl. who
might have been his daughter in years
but SO busy are the young pair that
they do not even suspect the young love
Of their friendly elder. The book closes
sleep;ly in the elimination of a half
hearted romance of years before. A
little dull throughout. and almost I'M
readable in places, so calmly descrip-
so drr ffyra tif.aT Il INV
out TO be. Certain characters flash out
IN substantial reality now and then
the Querulous. mother. the patient and
devoted son. the strong-minded and un-
conventional writer, but the general
vehicle for these is a pretty jog-trot
affair One could not justly accuse Mr..
Benson himself of dullness, not with
certain of his own novels to his 40
setting. dull aspect of life. must shut
the realistic writer off from any such
improperly as brilliance.
NEWS OF SPRING: And Other Nature
stsdies. BY Maurice Maeterlinck.
Translated by Alexander Teixeira
De Mattos. Illustrations by Edward
]. Detmold. New York: Dodd, Mead
& Go.
HiJaseif poet, Mr.. Maeterlinck sees
meanings and feels relationships where
plain folks see and feel nothing at all
30, I'M these nature studies the poet has
interested himself in the feelings. the
behaviors the attitudes and the aspira-
tons Of plant and animal life. just
as the man of prosaic mind might
concern himself about these aspects
Of h imam life. Here is the fascinat-
ing story of plants that under the urge
OF GENERALIZATION push out through
the logging soil into the expanding
sunlight and shower, of plants that
adori: themselves for marriage. of
Circei plants that seduce the unwary
bee W make of il the instrument of
stori,!s Of the bee. in their super-wis-
dom .of organization and community
life. 1.-THE stories embody beautifully
sfmpsf and single outlook upon life,
as or urge toward realization. whether
the life be expressed by man, or ami
NAL. or plant. The studies are as
stmpte and poetic and beautiful as the
VISION 10 big. The book itself. as such,
gcpd to look at. a real spring herald
adorAed with warm pictures Of blossom
and Grid and bee.
sTOJ1ES WONDER BOOK OF FAIRY
TALES. Edited by Edith Vernon
c3inn- Illustrations by Florence
C3oate and Elizabeth Curtis. New
YFk: Frederick A. Stokes Company
10y book for old and young alike
To ~ sure. fairy tales are addressed
Directly to children. but. happily. there
are chose who forget to grow away
fronssthe lure of them-no matter how
mans are the years that tend to lead
eva into the barren region Of small