The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-26

tdilSiu dIQ OcCdolOildi ldiluiC oi oStiOii are faults natural to a story teller who is engaged rather in showing the bravery, beauty, and cleverness of his beloved thoroughbreds than in producing a fin ished tale. Not the least value of the book is the neat way in which it is got ten np. The typography is exceptional and it is simply and attractively bound. CAT THE SIGN OF THE OLDEST
 HOUSE." By Juliet Wilber Tompkins. Illus
 trated by Edward L. Chase. The
 Bobbs Merrill company, publishers,
 Indianapolis.
 Not war story, but story full of charm and wholesomeness Is Juliet Wilbor Tompkins' book entitled "At the Sign of the Oldest House."
 Antique and quaint environments make the atmosphere redolent of the oldest house." which the author pie lures with delicious charm.
 Poor old Mrs. Sparks. droning her tale to curious tourists, is the care taker of the Oldest House in Amer ica," at St. Augustine, Fla. She dreads the coming of her granddaughter Pansy, who wants to "see life" Mir Angus. an old young man, deals in who opens the door on an apparation who turns out to be Pansy. herself And--Pansy. dear little girl, with her love of romance, bound all around by common sense, scatters youth and hap piness broadcast. How Pansy. in her Elizabethan frocS, saw life in the old es. house; her brides and grooms: the maimed soldier who wasn't a soldier; her day of boredom as an adopted daughter; her lovers and the lover; all are woven into a delightful tap estry for those who will-to read.
 Pansy is an utterly satisfactory per son--would there were more Pansys! Mir. Angus fine in his idealism, is quite the one man good enough for her. Old Granny Sparks reminds us of the pro- verbal chestnut burr, very prickly on the outside. but oh. so sweet within. In fact, "At the Sign of the Oldest House" is delightful reading and one of the most charming books of the day.
 "A DAUGHTER OF THE MORNING." By Zone Gale Illustrated by W. B.
 King. The Bobbs Merrill company,
 publishers, Indianapolis.
 After the many studies of the prob. lem of the modern girl there would seem no new factors to add. Yet the present story stands out from the null furthermore. possibly. from the fresh- ness of treatment than because of any new angle of approach. Even one of our most distinguished novelists in her last book can only offer the time- honored panamea of marriage, while innumerable novels shave proposed al- truistic work in and outside of mar riage. as the road to happiness. This story concludes with both clements, but Cosma Wakely varies from some of her predecessors in shrinking from marriage lest domestic details should "get her" What the author calls "this new. nameless relation of man the worker and the 'out-family woman who is his helper" has been shown before. but wherein this story differs is in the handling, in the individual ity. so subtle and so marked.
 Vulgarity of environment. rusticity of speech are here indicated without that almost Inintelligible expression which in many stories of this type cause the reader to recoil Even in tho family pickering. the girls struggling ideals palliate all eise. The inarticu- late yearnings of nature meant for the best in life are rendered in small space, vet with exact verisimiltude. Tn the account of Cosma's spiritual and mental and social growth. no reader will pause fzH lack of interest. How she is spiritually born again, how she meets the temptations of fashion and wealth when her great beauty brings her recognition and good offer of marriage. how she throws in her sym pathies with the factory girls and feels as if she had been sitting on the edge of things all her life and had just Jumped over in, how she wins her way through the university. serves as John Ember's private secretary, how she goes back home to find common interests in her brothers labor prob- lems. and promises to marry the man who has awakened her soul. constitute the story-one of unflagging interest GUS THE BUS AND EVELYN THE EXQUISITE CHECKER" By Jack Lait. Doubleday Page & Co.,, publishers. Garden City. New York. Jack Lait who Is one of the fore most newspaper men in the country when 1t comes to writing good news- paper stories, presents his book Gus the Bus and Evelyn the Exquisite Checker" in concise form. the original having appeared in newspaper form. | The sketches are all clever and diff ! ferent; they are human and vital and 1 like the authors very clever play. Help Wanted" they occupy a unique position in the literary world.
 The stories concern an assistant waiter or 'bus" and young woman whose duty it was to check off the