The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-08
mrHE lHoUsE OF LANDELL'

THE HOUSE OF LANDELL"
 By Gertrude Capen Whitney. The R. F.
 Fenne Publishing company publishers,
 New York city.
 One of the most unusual and gripping books of the year is The House of Lam dell' by Gertrude Capen Whitney.
 Mrs. Whitney has written several spir- ited works, among them being Roses from My Garden. Above the Shame of Circumstances q Choose" "Yet Speak eth He'' etc. All deal with the fine de- velopment of spiritual mentality In her latest, The House of Landell" the reader will be plunged, so to speak, in the Nalxury of beautiful English and re- ssahrkable fecundity of equally beautiful ~hought finely expressed. To those of als who are vitally interested in the social and economic problems of the day, the !. book makes a strong appeal. The mar ratiye is finely constructed and wonder fully connected all the way through. It Is indeed the story of soul development through psychic and individualistic eff forts. The heroine, Agnes Landell, a pure lovely girl, is nervous, high strung, phychic young woman. In fact, she possesses in a remarkable degree the sixth sense, or what Nietchze calls the overflow of man" Agnes had the power of acute analyzation from the tender age q the rare power to feel vibrations of thought in wonderful intensity. She suf- fers mental and physical torture in the chaotism of self lf-development-some call 1t nerves, others emotionalism, others would say it was an abnormal mental vision which kept her keyed to pitch of nerve tension that reached the breaking point. Modern religion, philanthropic methods and systems of self-sacrifice seem to her to be built on colossal selfish ness. Agnes is depressed and heartbroken over the foibles of her contemporaries. She suffers keenly for others-willing to sacrifice life itself that those about her may be happy. Her hyper-sensitiveness andAartistic temperament are augmented to a great degree by her eloquent re- ligious ferver.
 Tom Landell, the brother of Agnes. Is q direct contrast to his sister in many ways Tom loves life; life to him is teeming in wonders; he loves It's prob lems and perplexities. He understands the fneness and bigness. so to speak, of the spiritual ambitions of Agnes. He 1t is who comforts her in her moments of physical and mental torture. He tells her she does not know how comfortable 1t Is to be cornmonplace-tells her that she is treadng on dangerous ground in her effort to grasp so much of truth In deed Tom is the happy, wholesome phil osopher of the family; he is radiant.
 Tom accidentally finds an old rhetoric on whose fly-leaf the name of Mattee Sue Romaine is pencilled. Tom writes to Mat tee Sue in the spirit of fun and adven- ture. It results in visit to Mattee Sue lovely southern home Gustaga, Ga.-and what is more natural than that these two charming people should fall in love Mattee Sue is perfect little monster of feminine loveliness, an ideal south ern type. She Is not one bit overdrawn; hnrx nftl0sOD1y IS fragrant as the beautiful south itself
 Mevin, who loves Agnes, is to tho reader at first a strange composite or weakness and strength. He loves Ag- nes dearly. yet there are moments when he has feeling of repulsion to- ward her; then again he Is swayed by 2 his own great love of her exquisite iridescent spirituality. Her crystalline pureness of mentality is an inspira- &tion to him to endeavor to achieve. It is the awakening of her love Tor Mevin that opens the House Beauti- ful to Agnes. wherein she finds her self and peace.
 One of the strongest of the charac- ters is Philip Herman, preacher whose desire to die Is thwarted by Agnes and her telepathicN mind. He Is sombre, . morose, sad and never till almost at the end of the story does he find It in his heart to forgive Agnes for bringing him back to life and It's trag- ! edies. However, he develops along the most wonderful religious thought; he, too. believes in universal unity, uni versal brotherhood of mankind. Per- haps the most vital point in the book Is the evening when Herman is con ducted in as the new minister of the church. The graphic description of the erstwhile prayer meeting Is painfully z truthful. Agnes exploded a bombshell Z among the saintly group when she < suggests plan to enlighten and make E more cheerful the environment of fac tory girls in the town-to make prac- tical use of the church as a social center of uplift rather than cold s storage for religious ceremonials. In fact, Agnes speaks fine truths, truths which everyone who comes in con- tact with the various ways and ( means" committees of modern religious fraternities will recognize. To quote: 'sThe church is not our salvation. We sare it's salvation. and in preserving its Integrity we save to the world and to ourselves concerted expression of the ultimate idea"
 The characters throughout the book are finely individualized. The message Is clearly defined-that of finding Truth and Peace within our own