davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
A Roumaniian Novel
Slavici The Lucky Mill''
Is Sordid But of Great Power

THE LUCKY MILL. BY loan slavici
dranslatec by A Mrcea Emperle. Duff
A sordid but compelling little novel
is "The Lucky Mill" the first book of
loan Slavici to appear In translation
IN this country. Slavici, heralded by
the publishers as Rumania's foremost
living author, Is writer of great
power and keen observer of human
emotions. His present volume tells the
story Of a peasant, Ghitza, and his
wl1e, who move to tavern called "The
Lucky Mill to better their lot.
Thltzas weakness for money brings
him into the power of the sinister Lica.
sort of capitalist swineherd Gradu-
ally GhItza is drawn into Lca's net
work of robbery and murder, and in 4
wild orgy of blood and thunder Otter
ally) Ghitza, his wife and Lica all
meet violent ends. Even the Lucky
Mill perishes in flames.
The tale itself is gloomy potpourri
of crime and punishment, but the char
acter drawing Is masterly throughout
and the depletion of rural life in
Kumania bears the stamp of authen
olcltE. other works from Slavicis pen
should be worth waiting for.
Slavici tells his story simply. with
iittle editorial comment, but the trans
lation IS SO obviously inept that the
reader's interest frequently is diverted
by the prolix phrasing of the adaptor,
Such passages as the following lead
one one to hope that Slavici cannot read
"English"s
LAS many ravines as there are In tha
mountains, they are full of swine
droves; necessarily there must also be
great many swineherds for their sur
veillance."
1t is doubtful also whether Ruma-
mans use expressions like bone
head cook" and "iftg- fifty" Even
the punctuation is consistently incor-
rect. But withal "The Lucky Mill" is
the work of an able craftsman. Let rs
hope that his next work to be published
IN TINS country will be more skilfully
translated.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
Some Recent Novels
Wildness of the West Still
Holds It's Place in Fiction

THE sA0EBRUsHER. BY Emerson
Hough Published by d. Appleton & Co.
Illustrated. s1s pages Price, $3.50,
"Soms folks Is too damn dirty
calculated Wild Gardner. as he looked
over the shanty occupied by Sim Gage,
rancher of Two Forks Valley, and Wild
struck it about right. In fact, Gage
was the last word in dirt. His rude
hovel was an accumulation of fourteen
years mess-dirty dishes, dirty bed
clothing, dirty everything. Sim him
self was squat and shapeless, with
mild blue eyes that peered out from a
scraggly mass of hay-colored hair, un-
kempt, unclean. He had been un-
shaven for weeks, or months, and his
beard, unreaped, showed divers coors,
as of a field partially ripening here
and there. "His neck" so Hough tells
US, "was grimed red and wrinkled as
that of an ancient turtle" and on his
body was strung, by means of rope
suspenders, all the clothing he pos
sessed-cloth thing which never changed,
winter or summer.
Hough juggles with the sensibilities
of his readers In depicting such a hero
for his novel, and then daringly brings
from Cincinnati to mate with Sim q
girl who is essentially fastdious, clean
in her mode of living, stunning dirt or
disorder, and almost abnormally sensi-
tive to anything unwholesome or un-
pleasant.
BY the grace of God and the good
sense of Hough, Mary Warren is
stricken blind the day she arrives in
Two Forks Valley, SO she is spared
the far from possessing appear
ance OF the man who has been adver-
tised in the matrimonial bureau as "a
well-to-do and chivarous farmer of
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
Conrad and His P ublic
Author Reveals His Belief
In the Public at Large

| young warriors Of the Garden City to
| do It will need all your efforts, be-
cause / have an idea that there will be
a good many critics out for my scalp
on account of those pages which can be
so easily misunderstood. I have tried
to avoid all rhetoric, all subtleties and
all defamation in his piece Of work,
working for twenty years before / mus
tered courage enough to put pen to
paper. Now 1t is done and I am not
ashamed of it. l really think that as
far as freshness of feeling, directness
of sensations and honesty of purpose
are concerned the thing is not so bad for
a youngster of sixty! But not line has
been faxed in Difference to prejudice
or from personal fear of consequence.
readers-the old and new friends Of
my writing life. l feel little as If l
were giving myself away, for, indeed,
psychologically it is quite disclosure
of an unusual temperament"
The singular circumstances of Con-
RAIDS wandering sea life and the fact
that he translates his own Slavic soul
into English literature account some
what for his isolation from the cur
rent of contemporary novel-writing.
But it is chiefly accomplished by an
sense of the quality of life. The ship
wrecks, the blind chances, the fantas-
tic barbarism Of the elements he sees,
not as the essential stuff of adventure,
but as the setting for the drama of man
p1tted in desperate attempt to SAL
wage from harsh and immensely in
different universe some sense of mean
ing and continuity in life. In the
spectacular movement of romance he
imbeds search for spiritual realism.
1t IS this duality, making him too
large for either the accepted forms Of
romance or realism to hold, which has
forced him to create his own form for
expression. Sometimes the mechanism
OF his narration Is intricate, as in
Lord Jim," in which the tale is picked
up and revealed in flashes by variety
of men. Or he tells the story back
ward from the end. But, vague in out
lines and intangible in suggestions, it
aptures the finest precision of emotion
The Arrow of Gold" is out of the
key of Conrad's other tales. The dan
gers and intrigues Of band of gun
runners are only the family throb-
bing undercurrent Co the major
theme, which is the love of q Spanish
girl. an adherent to the Spanish legit-
imist cause of the last of the Pre-
tenders, for young English cap
tain. For one thing, it is the most
complete portrait of woman Conrad
has ever done--inanitely and subtly
detailed. For another, it is more
direct narrative than Conrad's novels
usually are. 1t is involved by no back
ward glimpsings and no indrections.
Over all, it is what fine novel should
be, bridge between q profound in
telligence into human nature and hu-
man curiosity.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17

The earliest story is that ''De Grey
in which the reader while becoming
accustomed to a reverberation as from
distant "Mysteries of Udulpho," is
now ard then violently startled by q
flash of Henry James; an author who
reach the clumsy and pallid but un-
mistakably sensitive naturalism Of
'Travelling Companions" Here the
author is found already at his own
great game which remained SO long
and so splendidly his deep preoccupa-
ton; that effort to compose into one
scheme human-made beauty and the
groping trend of human lives; to work
out, amid emotions and sometimes ac-
tual scenes occurring in ruined amphi-
theatres and galleries and cathe edrals
and the color of mystery-drenchedc civ
ilizations. some communication be-
tween mankind and the glories men
have made. This is lost sight of in
Guests Confession" novelette, of the
most sophisticated realism, full of the
Illustrations and baffiements and init
mate atrocities of later days. "Pro-
fessor Fargo" is hideous little mas
terpiece in the same manner. But in
"Adina" and "At Isella" and "The
Sweetheart of M. Brseux" it comes
into its own; these stories, too, are
adventure ltselt-adventure warm and
deep with the glow of tragic back
grounds against which the passage of
their own light and swift brilliance,
their fresh, unwearied faith in roman
tic action, their belief that despite all
the empty nuts we pick up through
life some of US treasure few pearls
shines out as dear and fugitive as
youth. The first two are pure ro-
mances shown us by the loveliest fan
tastic light, but those to whom genius
remains the great adventure will find
in the third all its hardy and astrin-
gent eloquence. Here, moreover, when
as yet no one has "quite too wonder
fully Observed we take the first turn
toward that long since celebrated
phraseology. at must be an eternity
since the thing happened, so very unre-
servedly I've described lt!"
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
Pale Purple Passion
Elinor Glyn's Family
Is a Warmed Up Affair

D. Appleton &c & Go. 5 5Sis pases seasAgi illus s'
trated. Price $3.50.
Then he kissed her neck insolently
and pushed her off his knee"
He kissed her until her lips were
bruised"
THE man again held her in close
until she gave little scream"
He kissed her almost roughly"
"But Verisschenzko, with O fierce
savagery which she adored, crushed
her in his arms"
"She flung herself into his arms and
almost strangled him in her furious
embrace"
"She felt that he was mocking her,
suddenly turned and bit his arm, her
teeth meeting in the cloth of his fur
lined coat"
Elinor Gyms Family" is novel of
passion quite in the spirit of the old
days before eight ounce gloves had
been substituted for bare knuckles, the
toe hold barred or mass plays abolished.
That Is, Family" seems to be a novel
of rough passion, but since Freudian
methods have been introduced to in
terpret the subconscious mind Of au-
thors doubt arises. Mordell has
pointed out that the most pastoral
piece of writing may conceal a hidden
erotic motive. Wordsworth, for in
stance, when he wrote of brooks and
lakes and autumn leaves, was thinking
of other things entirely. Is it not pos
sible that exactly the reverse may be
true of Elinor Glyn? According to our
interpretation, Mrs. Glyn has sup
pressed desire to enter a convent. In
the effort to keep it suppressed she
ft,vn
novels with all their amplitude Of
strenuous love making and their dearth
of anything approaching actual pas
sion.
Even Mrs. Glyn cannot devise enough
strangling and biting episodes to fll
an entire novel, and so she adds senti-
mental and philosophical passages
about love which are somewhat more
tlresome than the various aggressive
incidents described
Loving" writes Elinor Glyn, "throbs
with delight in the flesh; it thrills the
spirit with reverence. 1t glorifes' into
beauty commonplace things 1t draws
nearer in sickness and sorrow, and is
not the sport of change. When a
woman loves truly she has the passion
OF the mistress, the selfish tenderness
Of the mother, the dignity and devo-
tlon OF the wife. She is all fire and
snow, all will and frankness, all pas
sion and reserve, she is authoritative
and obedient-queen and child"
Family" tells the story of Sir John
Ardayre, who fears that he will die
without an heir and accordingly in
Nvites his cousin, Denzil Ardayre, to take
his place briefly unknown to Lady
Ardayre: All this is a bit thick, Of
course, but we did not find it thrilling
The success of Elinor Glyn has always
amazed us. There is large public
TOR tempestuous novels of passion, but
1t does not seem to US that Mrs. Glyn
makes them very purple. H R
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17

Two critics were recently disputing
about young actor; one being dis
agreeably Impressed by the audiences
pleasure in q half developed ability, a
performance only partially equipped.
The council for the defence insisted,
But. at any rate, WHAT'S so interest
ing as just this stage, where you can
still see the wheels learning to go
round; when the actor has as yet no
ready made formula for getting any
where, but builds just another length
of the road at each performance, keep
off places which he must bridge fresh
~ every night by nothing whatever
but his instant personal initiative ?"
"Oh, we'll, of course, if you care to
be as indulgent as that"
If you are as indulgent as that you
will take an added joy in "Travelling
Companions" collection Of those
stories which Henry James contributed
to the magazines between 1874 and
1868, tifty-one years ago. Closed in
one volume you come upon work which
may as we'll be plunkly called perfec-
tion and work as touchingly, as in
nance" Fancy being in a position to
say to Henry James, "My dear child,
do you really believe that any girl
struggling to control her sorrow at
her fathers death ever remarked, "The
common cares and necessities of life
operate strongly to interrupt and dis
spate ones grief" Or again, Good
youth, it is true that when you mar
rate a story in the first person you
are free, theoretically, to assume what
character you will. But take our tip;
do not again assume that of com
mercial traveller; that must ever be
character in which we somehow fail
to see you This is one of the re-
wards for indulgence toward this en-
chanting book
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17

GENTLE CYNIC. Being the Book of
Ecclesiastes BY Norris Jastrow, Jr
$500.
The Book of Ecclesiastes has always
occupied a rather anomalous position
in the Old Testament. 1t was admitted
to the canon Of the sacred writings,
after considerable discussion. chiefly
by reason of the fictitious theory that
Solomon was it's author. In its mel
conviction Of the essential futility of
life, 1t is distinctly opposed to the fun
damental tendencies of Judaic and
Christian theology alike. At the same
time it is characterized by rare deli
cacy of thought and expression, by re-
markable literary art. Renan, one of
the greatest-certainly the most poetic
of Biblical scholars, pronounced in
the most charming book in the Bible
DR.. Jastrow takes this ancient mas
terpicce, points out the notifications
to which it has been subjected. and in
terprets its original spirit with the au-
thority of scholar and the discern
ment of q trained literary critic He
represents Koheleth, the unknown au-
thor of the book, as mocking and
cynical, yet gentle and kindly, spirit
at once a philosopher and a dilletante,
a sort of Heine and Anatole France
rolled into one. He shows how this
Semitic Omar Khayyam has suffered at
the hands of pious commentators who
attempted to disguise his hcterodoxy
by inserting a large number of inter
polations, which pervert and obscure
the authors real meaning. At the close
of the volume he appends translation
of the authentic words of Koheleth,
stripped of all spurious CLOSES and
additions.
Considered purely from the scientific
standpoint DR.. Jastrow's work repre-
sents a notable achievement in the
field of Biblical research. But the ap-
peal of his book is by no means re-
stricted to scholars. On the contrary
his clear, vivid picture of the genesis
and development Of the Book of Ec-
clesiastes sometimes almost attains the
fascination of a historical novel. The
study of koheleth goes far beyond its
professed scope; it becomes veritable
reconstruction of an interesting cross
section of ancient Jewish life and
W H c..
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
three Tremendous Tr;Aes"

THREE TREMENDOUS TRIPLES. Bv
fseiton b. Elkins Published by Duffied
Vaudeville and the folk who produce
one-act plays for the benefit Of indi-
gent animals always are on the alert
for new skits, but they will find little
available material in FELTON, B. Elkins's
three Tremendous Trifles." Mr.. Ell
klns gives complete stage directions
for the production Of q play, but the
play does not always follow. OF the
three trif1es only the first, "The Bel
gian Baby" Is sufficiently tremendous
to merit home on the stage.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
Novel of Bohemia

Novel of Bohemia
THE BOUNDEh. BY Arthur Hodges
published by Houghton Mltflm Co.
The author in what he calls "a vul-
gar tale" draws vivid picture of the
lives and manners of heterogeneous
assortment of characters, the tenants
of cheap New York apartment house.
Dora, the woman with q past, the
Bloomfield sisters, for stage purposes
only, the Bounder himself and the
would-be novelists and poets are real
people and quite a different type from
the Washington Square bohemians one
has grown so tired of IN much of our
recent fiction.
1t Is we'll told story with no dull
spots A little more inventiveness in
naming the characters would be help
full. Kilkenny Court, the name of the
apartment house, hardly savors Of real
ity, nor is Fred Filbert an altogether
happy. choice for the name of a charac-
ter who is presented as an authentic
person.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
Recent Letters of Joseph Conrad Reveal His Real Lite
:. R. Spanked Once,
Says His Biographer

Colonel Roosevelt was spanked just
once, according to his latest biographer,
William Draper Lewis.
1T appears" writes Lewis. ''thaS
Theodore had bitten his elder sisters arm
and had instantly taken refuge, first in
the yard and then under the kitchen
table, from the punishment which ne
knew he deserved. His father followed
him and. discovering his presence under
the table, dropped on all fours and dart
ed for him. The boy fcebly hurled 3
handful of dough at his pursuer and
then ran for the stairs. Half way up
the stairs his father caught him and
administered the punishment which he
afterward acknowledged that he richly
deserved"
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
E.NJOYM EN- T
An Extraordinary
Marriage Experiment
THE. HOLIDAY
HUS BAND
Bv DOLF WYLLARDE

BY DOLF WYLLARDE
.4uhor Of Exile" "Ths Story Of
Edsn." "I'hs Ras Trap" etc.
Cloth, $50 net.
Would 1t be worth while to risk
the happiness of ali future years for
the sake of two weeks of forbidden
pleasure1 This was the question
Vervain asked herself and answered
in the affirmative. When she re-
turned to her everyday duties from
her two weeks holiday she consid-
cred the matter over and done with;
but Dame Destiny had trump card
10 play; she brought forward the
only man Vervain could have mar
ried, and just before the marriage
BECAME a tait aeeompH she brought
back from the Front the all-but-for-
gotten holiday husband, and then
/. Read this story and see what
became of the girl who had to ex-
tricate herself from this barbed-wire
fate ENHANCEMENT.
A Detective Novel
Win Real Thrills
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17

is the text that Mrs. Babcock breaches,
and surely an imaginative writer of
historical romances could ask no better
On it Mrs. Babcock has written a
simple, straight story, but one which
does not quite fulfil its promise of
romance.
From time to time Mrs. Babcock
leaves her search for the soul of Anne
Rutledge and devotes herself to "local
color" Her backwoods characters speak
in strange dialect which we hope
nobody uses. even in Illinois. Lincoln
himself employs it when he talks to
the village ne'er-do-wells, but when he
speaks to Anne his speech is un-
polluted.
The books virtue is its simplicity.
Zine writing" is renounced, and in the
higher moments of the love story this
renunciation has made it possible for
Mrs. Babcock to use her maximum
charm. For this, as for the fact that
the book. ends with the death of the
heroine instead of carrying on into
the later life Of the hero, the reader
will be thankful.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
]
SHRlEKING PIT

By ARTHUR ]. REES
Formerly of Scotland Yard
Co-author Of "Ths Mystery Of the
Dozens" "Ths Hampstead Mystery"
etc. Cloth. $3.50 net.
In addition to a battling mystery,
there is a clever American detective
who solves the murder puzzle,
haunted pit for those who like ghost
stories, a charming heroine and
manly hero suffering from she'll
shock. All-in-all a satisfying and
gripping detective story.
Leacock Solves
the Kaiser Problem
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17

abundant means and large hold
ings." To Mary he Is merely a
bit uncouth, but we held our
breath until she stepped into
Cages shack. We expected she would
share our own horror. We oven feared
she might faint, and wondered what
awful method Gage would take to re-
sight must have gone her sense of smell
and touch That Sims wash pan Was
also the dish pan was the only dis
crepancy Mary apparently noted We
grew suspicious of Mary's sensibili-
ties, and there intrudcd into our enjoy
ment of Hough's unusual romance
sudden sense of missing plumbing
Such personal matters as bathing ia
cilities and the like crowded to our
mind, and we wondered why they didn't
occur to Mary-the fastidious Mary.
But Hough insists that Mary was
completely deceived, and if you are
the story, you'll believe it. At any rate,
Mary achieves clean up in the shanty,
and Sim, the slovenly, unettercd
rancher who found himself possessed
OF lovely woman with whom he hadn't
thought or feeling in common, be-
comes man regenerated Back of the
mald blue eyes and beneath the dirty
shirt is heart as tender as woman's.
"A shy amazement and a great wonder
are born in Sim Gage with the coming
Of Mary Warren. And out of his love
springs mighty tact, that forbids
contact with woman he realizes is out
OF his ken. They marry, and for davs
and weeks Sim protects and worships
/ his wife, without touching her hand or
accepting the kiss she shrinkinplv Of
fers. Finally, few hours before Mary
regains her sight, Sim is killed in saw
ing the great dam from destruction by
Bolshevist laborers
Though Mary is rather lacking in sus-
ceptipiAty, and DR.. Gage is amusingly
lnarticulate in trying to eSnlain n
Mary and the reader why he shonldn,t
restore her sight, and rather lacks color
as lover, Sim Gage is splendid
lgure IN his final regeneration, winning
the readers enthusiastic admiration
Though unique in plot, the story does
not, however, carry the conviction Of
Hough's The Broken Gate" NM.
The Love of Lincoln
TIE SOUL OF ANNE RUTLEDGE. Abra-
ha Ii Ltncoln's romance. BY Bernie Pah
cock j. II: I.ippincott Company phila-
Mrs. Babcock has discovered that
Abraham Lincoln had ii romance and
anno Rutlcdge, his sweetheart, soul.
put she has put little Of either into this
book ''
Lincoln mot Anne at New Salem. nj
where his fatboat. on its way down the
Mississippi to New Orleans, stuck for
lew hours on a dam He came TO
work IN the town and fell in love with
the girl, but after she had been courted
and won she died, leaving her memory,
as the saying goes, to haunt him. This
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
Henry James Moves On
Volume of His Short Stories
Shows Him at Many Stages
By Virginia Tracy

TRAVELLING COMPANIONS BY Henry
James. Published by Boni Ltveright.
pp 3Oo. Price SITE
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17
A Hebrew Omar

Ecclesiastes BY Norris Jastrow, Jr
J: B. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-17

A Detective Novel
Win Real Thrills
Evening star., 1919-12-28
WOn1en's $1,000
Sweaters at $8.B

Special lot of Womcn's Wool
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Women1 Cardixan W0sI jack
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Womens Cardigan Jaekets,
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heavy quality. in % 40
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Evening star., 1919-12-28

Chinese Ironing Wax, best
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Real Hair Nets, cap shape;
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Goldenbazy'-FirstF Floor.
Evening star., 1919-12-28

Steel Thimbles, open and
closed end styles; regu- Ec
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Dressnlakers' Shears; a.
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Women's Sanitary Aprons, full
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Paper Shopping Bags, strongly
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Evening star., 1919-12-28
Helpful List of Savings
Notions and Small Wares

at less than regular prices.
Darning Cotton, black, white
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spool. Three for. AVS
Snap Fasteners, black and
white; regular Sc kinds. e.
Two cards for. "
Bias Seam Tape, 6-yard pieces;
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N1QtltS
Trouser or Skirt Hangers, sub
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kindS .,........... ~
English Pin Books, contain
ing a good assortment of. black
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per A~S
Evening star., 1919-12-28
$500 Satin Messaline, $2.49

35-inch Colored SATIN Messaline, rich satin
face grade, firmly woven in large assortment of
street and evening shades also plenty of navy blue.
Goldenberg s-First Floor.