New-York tribune., 1919-08-22
Books
By Haywood Broun

complete. There are some surprising brea "a
Curiousiy enough, the discrepancy is broad
est in regard TO popular authors A war
correspondent attached to the British arrnv
undertook an investigation to ascertain which
author was most popular with the Tommies
and he found that Nat Gould had no rival
Probably only a few thousand persons have
ever heard Of Gould in this country. Two or
three of his books have been published here.
but their sales have been small, while in
England more than eleven million copies ~
his novels have been sold. His death. few
weeks ago, attracted no more than para
graph or so in the American newspapers.
Goulds specially. was racetrack fiction and
while there is not the same racing tradition
in this country as in England the subject
has always been popular on our stage, 50 u "a
hard to account for the lack of interes. =,
Gould. We have 10 idea whether Gould
writes well or i'll, but ttat is beside +se
point. However, we have a COPY OF his ~r.o
Rider in Khaki" in an edition published h.
the "A. l.. Burt Company, and we Will report
on him shortly. So far we have not had
time to progress beyond the heading of tbs
first chapter, which is "Will He Marry Herr
We think he will, but perhaps prediction is
unsafe.
Probably no American author sells as
widely as Harold Bell Wright, whose books
are far beyond the million mark in his
country, but as yet his English public =
small. Occasionally. an American author
will come into popularity IN England. or vics
versa, long after he has been successful IN
his own land. Even after 0. Henry's fame
had been well established IN America Fnq-
ish publishers refused to bring out his books.
They complained that much Of the slang was
meaningless to them. And yet, when the
English public finally got its chance at O.
Henry it was enthusiastic and his stories
sold prodigiously and are still selling.
Don Marquis comments shrewdly or the Har-
old Bell Wright school in 'Prefaces" APPLE
tom. He decided to get rich quick bv vri.-
ing book, preferably a poor book because
good books take much time and thought.
Accordingly, he read one Of Wright's novels.
But after reading the BOOK he .gfaies we
decided that couldn't 90 t. " can write
just as poorly as Harold Bell-wc can write
just as poorly as any one that ever lived
but we can't write the same kind OF poor stuff
that Harold Bell can" And later he finds what
is perhaps the secret Of Wright's success. the
factor which defies the imitation Of men Who
write much better. "We don't have that
kind of Moral Earnestness." SAYS MARQUIS.
"and it can't be faxed"
"Your comment the tennis game in
Joan and Peter" writes Edward Covle. "re
calls to mind the tennis game in Marriage
IN which Wells gives account of a tennis
double, Mr.. Pope and his wife VS.. their TWO
daughters, Marjorie and Dafy We ind
mention Of the soft return and of service
with twist that Mr.. Pope regarded as IN
English Marjorie had learned it from q
boy friend.) Mr.. Pope, who had character
in excess also remarked that one didn't get
everything out of a game by playing merely
to win. The match broke up after two games,
the irate father exclaining 'Tennis. See
pages 27 and % for fdll account
"One winter at Nice I frequently PLAYED
tennis with an English chap who had lust
graduated from Cambridge He used the
cut stroke continuously. Every time be cut
ball he would say Beg pardon told him
i'e'N 'iO i4SilO W COlllpldln as lNe stroke was
permitted by the rules He could not UNDER
stand my American attitude
"'The stroke is somewhat unfair he said.
so l always warn my opponent"
We feel quite certain that Margaret Deand
has conscience since she could hardly write
so charmingly about as she does in The
Promises of Alice" (Harper's) from mere
hearsay. The book is in the best manner Of
Mrs. Deland. We have no patience With
some Of the persons of whom she writes. but
we are willing to grant that they exist and
that she portrays them with rare skill.
Some taxicab driver in New York is richer
three books through our patronage We left
for him, inadvertently, Harold Bell Wrghts
"The Recreation of Brian Kent James
O'Neill's "The Moon of the Caribbees.y and
P. G. Woodhouse's "Their Mutual Child" We
want ONsill's plays back We don't know
about the novels because we haven't read
them yet, but if the taxi man will do the
reviews he can keep the books.
W. ". Jacobs. who has been rather silent
of late, will be with US again on August %
when Scribners is to publish a new volume
Of his short stories called Deep Waters
These will be in characteristic vein, we trust,
but all that we know yet is that one of them
begins "A sailorman-said the night watch
man, musingly-is like fish, he is safest
when e is at sea. When fish comes ashore
it is in for trouble, and so is a sailorman.
One poor chap I Anew