Evening star., 1919-10-12

today, is an inspiring and
familiar figure to US. But, Georges
Clemenceau, novelist. is a complete
stranger to the majority Of us over
here. Yet, once within this novel
1.-The Strongest" it takes no time al
all to discover the single identity OF
the statesman and the romancer
Serious of purpose. single Of vision
direct In attack-these qualities, lat
ones, also, that dominate and give
character to the novel in hand. Two
men of sharply defined differences
embody here the contrasting ideals
that give movement and setting to
the romance itself. The action itself
is struggle for the soul of young
girl Which shall she be-the sue
cessful, ambitious, self-centered child
of the forceful, INSCRIPTIONS, ma
terialistic man whose child she is
supposed to be? Or, shall she be the
finely simple, unselfish, useful daugh-
ter of the real father of broadly hu-
manitarian outlook, of truly demo-
cratic ideal? The story ends as it
must end. Youth is ever enamored
of the glitter of life's externals. But
1t leaves one with the promise that
the years with their mistakes and
suffering will bring out the essential
ly fine spirit of the girl to a clear
and to valiant championship of it's
best aims. By way of this absorbing
romance Clemenceau interprets France
in one phase of it's development to-
ward a higher level of spiritual ex-
istence.
THE LITTLE MOMENT OF HAPPI-
NESS. BY Clarence Burlington
Kelland. author of THE Hidden
Spring." etc. New York: Harper &
Bros
Paris in war time forms the back
ground of this romance. An American
soldier and young French girl en-
little moment of happiness" Rather
idyilic does the author make this Incl
dent, this natural social by-product of
the war The boy is a clean young
American. with streaks of a Puritan
mother about him. The girl is beauti-
of innocency. Leisure. a touch of home
sickness. the enamoring twilights of
France, the boulevards and parks Of
Paris. the cool lovelness of the girl,
her calm acceptances, her severe re-
ticencies-irresistible. these. little
domestic drama without benefit of
clergy comes. as buds burst under
under spring sun and showers. A very
touching episode this turns out to be.
Everything contributes to its joyous
ness. Its permanence is something
else. For. there are two standards of
life In unsuspected hostility under the
happy exterior here. And one of these
takes into no account the purity and
the depth and the beauty of the young
French girls self-forgetting devotion.
Then, by-and-by. the boy goes home
to America, goes back to his own coun-
try leaving behind him promises, and
carrying with him a quiver full of
straight intentions for the lasting hap
piness of Andree. the little Parisienne.
And that is the end of the matter
Just a bundle of intentions that almost
Immediately fall apart under the IA
miliar rectitudes of life in Detroit. A
charming story. charming in it's deli
cacy of feeling, in its deft seizure of
in its poetry.
THE NEW MAP OF ASIA. BY Her
bert Adams Gibbons, author of
The New Map of Europe" ETC.
New York: The Century Company.
Heading the first chapter of Mr.. Glib
bons' The New Map of Asia" is this
Quotation: IF it is true in America
that people must be left to govern
themselves irrespective of their capac-
fly for the task. then it is also true in
Europe, Asia and Africa. The world
Is not large enough to contain two
moralities on subject like this" The
quotation sets the keynote of Mr..
Gibbons study of the imperial en-
croachment of Europe upon the con-
tinent of Asia. In effect. therefore.
the work is a rebuke to the imperial
istfc ambition of Europe, criticism
OF its method and warning of the
logical sequence of its overreaching
hut II fc oSf1
moral disquisition. It's bulk is an i'm
portant, up-to-date. discriminating
and well ordered body of fact cover
ing the present and the immediate
past Of Asia under the working out of
European eminent domain upon that
continent. The live qualities that
gave distinction and made so prompt
appeal in Mr.. Gibbons New Map Of
Europe" and New Map Of Africa" are
here in full force-the scholarship, the
signifcancies, the craftsmanship and
the literary personality of the man
himself The discussion comes up to
the immediate moment of the Yer
sailles treaty. and takes into account
the attitude of the peace conference
toward Asiatic settlements. 1t is. as
one fully expects it to be, an admira-
BILE historical survey. 1t is besides a
moralties. such as an American is
proud to claim as a stripe of pure
FROM THE LIFE. BY Harvey O'Hig-
gins. author of Adventures of De-
tective Barney" etc. New York
Harper & Bros.
Mr.. O'Higgins says of these life
sketches that they are imaginary"
:. portraits Of some distinguished Amer
icans-of an author, an actress, a
Ne0vfpp nicfnra ca1ohrjf1- CT i.f
attorney of reforming brand, a pro-
moter. a politician of the old pattern.
an agricultural miracle man, creating
white black berries and turning
pumpkins into peaches. The most of
these people the author sends off
under the sponsorship of a neat block
Of the Who's Who" pattern. The
others are headed for this distinction.
This device stresses the illusion of
reality and sets the reader on a hunt
Tor the actual parsonage cloaked by
the thin disguise of the portrait it,
self. AS a matter of fact, the stories
themselves lose bit of their edge
under the readers zeal to discover j
p. Morgan or Judge Gary, Douglass
Fairbanks or Wallace Reid. Julia
Marlowe or Elsie Ferguson, or some
Tammany tiger. or other what-not of
distinction on the inside Of these re-
yealing appearances. But the tales
themselves are eminently worth ones
while. In the first place, they are
drawn Off from ones own contacts
with current life. They put into COM
pact drama the loose and scattered
ENDS of the attitudes and behaviors of
our immediate surroundings. Then.
again. they deal with some critical
point in the career of each of these
folks-and the point is not too far
out OF the reach of the common. They
t~k,