The sun., 1917-07-28

less girl IL told In Helen of -Four
Gates (E. P. Dutton a Coz, an essay
In English agricultural realism by "an
sx-nili girl" q designation that ap-
plies to at least two well known novel;
lists. The drama takes place on Q
farm and the country Around. which
accounts for the inability OF the peo-
pie to break away from their sur
roundings. The farmer hates the girl
on account OF his dead wife's faith
lessness. He tries to break her spirit
without success: he keeps the amiable
but rather weak youth she loves from
her by persuading him that hereditary
insanity threatens, a suggestion which
her eccentric, II poetical, conduct en-
courages. The old man takes In q
tramp as inhuman as himself with the
object OF getting the mastery over her.
When her lover goes away the girl is
married to the tramp, but she re-
mains mistress of her soul and thereby
enrages her two torturers. Her lover
returns broken In health; she aids
him and when her husband 10 killed
after q murderous attack on her and
the old farmer dies miserably the two
marry and are happy In running the
farm. 1t is highly dramatic tale and
the dialect is not out Of place.
RANNY. (Harpers1 By Howard
BrubaLer. tsI.40.)
The fidelity with which American
youth must be portrayed Is observed
strictly by Howard Brubaker in Ranny
(Harpers). so that other grown up
people win recall their own expert
ences when reading Of the young mans
mishaps. His age, eight years going
on nine. precludes much of the devil
try and mischief that four more years
would bring with them, as Judge Shute,
Mr.. Harrington and others have shown,
as we'll as the absurdities Of the years
bordering on manhood. Though the
fun may not be so uproarious, the
small boy episodes are very delightful;
they come homo to nearly every Amer
lean. especially those who were boys
in some country town, and they all
have the flavor OF home, for father
and mother are nearly as important
at that age as the other small boys
who hang around the gate. The su-
thor has stuck to the truth and his
small boys experiences are wholly en-
joyable.
GREATER THAN THE GREATEST.
&c. p. Dutton a Col ny HamiI-
ton Drummond. (sI.So.,
It Is something like a masquerade
OF modern people in antique costumes
that Hamilton Drummond presents as
a historical romance in Greater Than
the Gredtest (E. p. Dutton & Coz. Tho
scene is Rome and the time that OF the
conflict between the Pope and the last
great Hohenstaufen. The author brings
them together in a rather undignified
quarrel The main story. however. de-
scribes the progress of the love of a
young woman who Is extremely mod
ern in her conduct and her mode Of
thought, though she is supposed to
antedate Dante. Her admirer and the
other loving pair are also OF the pres
ent century, while the wickedness OF
Papal Rome seems that of the Renais-
sance and the Reformation. The story
is readable IL the historical portions
are taken for granted.
RED ROSES. (Henry AItemus
Company BY Joyce Thomas.
ts1.5OD
Though the authors continuous face
tiousness Is rather trying and proba-
bilities are mercilessly strained, Red
Roses, by Joyce Thomas Henry Al
temus Company. Philadelphia), is a
straightforward tale OF love at first
sight that lets nothing stand in the
way, and the war serves merely to
expedite and to simplify matters in the
end. A young miner in an English
factory town is hurt In saving a child's
life. The Mayor has him taken to the
hospital, where the Mayors daughter.
a capable young woman of we'll nigh
American independence, visits him and
the two fall In love. The girl helps
her father to run the town and is in
terested In the housing problem; she
gets the youth to help her, but he soon
decides to emigrate to Canada and
make home for her. The author de-
scrtbes In detail the benevolent manner
in which British immigrants are as
sisted In Canada. The youth not only