Evening star., 1917-10-28
Reviews of New Books

present literary juncture, hopes to build
generally acceptable novel around 4
heroine whose single prepossession in
life appears to be the humdrUm one of
being right, of doing right. Mr.. Basil
King not only makes this venture. but
he carries it across. For The High
Heart" is as vigorous in action, as dra-
matte in incident, as ready in appeal.
as If its heroine were of the latest
wrinkle of feminine outlawry. More
over. the general effect here of 4 su-
perior system of spiritual hygiene and
sanitation gives the book a refreshing
advantage over the majority of novels
of the social problem class The hero
inc is Canadian girl whose only
dover is a sturdy working belief that
the fair and square mode of action is.
after all, the only dependable solvent
of life's perplexities. The setting for
this embodied idea OF fair-dealing is
one that reeks of sudden and unsea-
soned success-money. place, influence.
raw pride-the social life of a rich
group. with Newport and New York as
their stopping places. The conflict of
ideals, for this social drama sums to
that, is carried on between the girl
from Canada and J. Howard Broken
shire, remarkable embodying of those
ideas that imply the self-made man of
the United tates. Indeed, j. Howard
reaches the top notch Of Mr.. Kings
creations and 1t is only by sheer man
agement on the part Of the writer that
he does not put the heroine herself
into an eclipse that somewhat obscures
her thesis of Righteousness. He. how
ever. by good foresight, brings her out
triumphant, though J. Howard Broken
shire remains the overtopping person
of the story To say that Mr.. King has
not done anything better than The
High Heart" is a fair estimate of the
book and one that is calculated to turn
a great number of readers toward IL.
DAY AND NIGHT STORIES. BY Al
gernon Blackwood, author of "The
Wave" etc. New York: Z. P. Dut-
ton Il Co.
Mr.. Blackwood is likely to go to
fresh sources, often to strange sources
for the matter of his stories. This
likelihood gives him distinction of
his own in the art of literature and
makes an appeal to those readers who
are on the lookout for the unusual in
their excursions into fiction. The di-
Niding line between life and death
between the present and the past, be-
tween new worlds and old, is a faint
and easily disregarded line by this writ
err His short stories, therefore par
take OF that quality which. for want
of more definite name, we call mystic.
Around common happenings there are
immanencies, vague and unseizable-
suggestions of far places, and remote
thingS-that hover at the door of ones
mind in d tantalizing importantly
Curious stories. and alluring ones.
Sometimes. reading. one catches the
Sagrant picture as something back in
his own childhood, but more often it
eludes him. because, no doubt, it
touches upon things of the world from
which he came-too far away for more
than a subtle haunting of the mind, a
fugitive touch upon his heart. There
Is one clear and definite aspect of
these irresistible stories, and that is a
fine and slSillful workmanship. The
book in hand contains dozen or more
examples of this writer's best work,
tales that repay their reading over and
over again
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH; A
Romance. By Harold MacGrath.
New York: Harper & Bros.
Adventure. racing around the world
at the heels of William Grogan, Irish
man. is the call to the MacGrath read
ers of MacGrath's latest novel. 1t is
large order. Around the world Is a
big place for choice of action. and an
Irishman. of all the kinds of man, is
the hardest of management. 1t is just
the neatness of Mr. MacGrath's choice.
just the insight with which he fits the
Kaleidoscope adventure to the powers
and potentialities of William Grogan
that makes this a novel of keen enjoy
ment from the moment when William.
the plumbers apprentice. saw a pair
OF twinkling feet pass the cellar win
dow where he was learning to plumb.
to that last moment when. tho world