The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-17

Ing the world with wills as spontane- ous, indefinite, and unsocial as the will of a criminal" Both entirely lack "any definite purpose in life;" she is con sumed with discomfort, he is busy with
 a mere sensual adventure" It is by the way, interesting to compare these two with the young people of St. John Ervine's Changing Winds" Os- Wald, who is to great extent MT.
 Wells mouthpiece, puts the blame for
 the1r shortcomings upon school and uni
 Vers1ty and the absence of order and
 or settled purpose in the world about them He recognizes the deficiencies of the formal teaching they have received, put he does extraordinarily little to ! supplement that teaching, to help them to md their appointed work, or to keep the naturally sensual Peter from slip ping into the bog wherein he is soon floundering and from which Joan pres- ently drags him, saving him from being "distracted by desire" and from further episodes of the Hetty Reinhart type by marrying him.
 The coming of the war, and it's effect upon Oswald and Peter and Joan oc- cupies the latter portion of the book. From internal evidence, it would seem ] that the volume was completed last spring. at the time of the tgreat Ger man offensive; which is perhaps the reason why MT. Wells finds fault with everything and everyone, from Lloyd George and Sir Douglas Haig down. ward. In fact, nothing except the American public schools and the Brit ish Tommy seems to meet with his ap- proyal.
 The immense amount of matter in the book makes it necessary to pass over in silence much upon which one would l like to comment. The natural, alll-to- ! Pathar ho in rrc clr oto1 nf "a fVuo oh l. dren; the incident, itself abundant ma terial for a book, of loans brief asso- citation with Mrs. Pybus, who drenched her innocent childhood in adeluge from l life's foulest sewers; Peters first flight in an airplane; the picture of the con scientious objector, Huntley, who meant to write a play to show "the absurdity of Englishmen fighting Germans just because Germans insisted on fighting Englishmen;' the young men of vari- ous types who were loans friends. and the way each reacted to the war-on these and other of the books incidents one would like to finger.
 ION FURLoUGH"
 By Florence Olmstead. Charles Scrtb- l ner & Sons. publishers, New York city.
 1 The scene of "On Furlough'' Is Q 1 small village somewhere in Georgia. l Thither Lieutenant WreXham of the Irish guards is sent by his physician to l recuperate from the nerve strain and general physical collapse which are the result of his experiences in the first
 battle of the Marne and on the retreat from Mons. In the little village he meets Celia Northrop, cultivated woman somewhere in the thirties while ] for some unexplained reason, has re- turned to her, native region and set tied down there. She introduces him 1 to Molly Hunter, a very pretty, very priggish and very self-satisfied young girl whom the author seems greatly to admire. There is also John Weldon, an old lover of Celia's compact of all the virtues and likewise her aunt, Mrs 1 Hightower. an elderly lady and sharp l tongued female. The young lieutcn- apt, the only likable character in. the book, falls in love with Molly, but hla l life has been spent in irresponsible enjoyment of London gayeties. He is. to put it mildly. very frivolous per- son, and Molly finally decides that his character is not sufficiently noble to mate with hers. and to secure her hap
 piness. Of his she never seems to
 think. However. she is in love with l him-so the author says
 1 Some glimpses of Georgia scenes are cleverly developed while the young | lieutenant is quite hero.
 "on Furlough" is quite readable and
 interesting
 1 "GENTLEMEN AT ARMS" l By centurion" Doubleday. Page X I Co. publishers. Garden City, N. Y ! The name Centurion is well known to English readers as that of a soldier l author who has produced real literature I in his stories of the fighting man at work. The incidents told in this book are of actual events in France. Belgium and England and on the stormy waters of the North sea.
 l Writing with a delft, sure touch, the author gives in bold. unforgetable out l lines, vivid pictAres of the men who are saving civilization. In the 21 tales there is laughter as well as tears. high cour- age and cheerful patience