Evening star., 1919-11-30
THE YOUTH OF JAMES wHITCoMB

The 1ol HI oF IA MES W NHlTCOMH
RiLEN. BY Marcus Dickey. Illus
trations by Will Vawter. Indian
apolis. The Bobbs Merrill Com
pany.
r was like Eiley-to laugh good
natured denial of Marcus Dick
ey's assertion that the day would
come when the name of James
Whitcomb Riley would stand for
a recognized American poet and for
well beloved compatriot. Kind
Heartedly indulgent. however, to the
wishes of this admirinS and enthusi-
astic friend. Riley came to talk with
great freedom of the early days--of
his father and mother. of his birth
place. of the first scant schooling. OF
the many Settos with a niggardly
fortune in the prosaic business OF
earning living. And he talked. too
of the Vision and the Voice that
changed his course and set him on
the way of his ultimate career. Out
of this much talking-riCh. mellow
genial. big-hearted ;alking-Marcus
Dickey gathered the store of experl l.
\ence and anecdote. of outlook and at
|Jitudc. that reproduce in this incom-
parable portrayal the very spirit OF
James Whitcomb Riley himself. The
story leaves Riley at the age OF
twenty eight-and what an inspired
thing it was for this friend to do.-to
leave this ever-youthful man when
his years and his spirit were at n
perfect union. Those who love this
American poet-and the number in
Increases b. leaps and bounds from
wear to year-wiI find here an open
avenue to the heart of the man ny ny
way of the sympathetic Work OF ms
friend. Marcus Dickey.
THE HONORABLE GENTLEMAN;
And Others. BY Achmed Abdul
lah. New York: G. p. Putnam
Creepy matters. these. that shiver
up and down the spine as one at
soodly' distance. follows one or an
other of these Peu street celestials IN
his , smiling and innocent-seemlns
transit of the underworld of New
York's Chinatown. In each case there
is murder at the end of the passage:
And the taking off is so silent, SO
adroit so composed, as to point 10
times and places when and Where
murder lifted to the category OF the
arts To complete the artistry there
is here after each Of the Pell street
crimes the perfect allbL lhere Is
the suave oriental unconcern over the
nine-day excitement, over the clumsy
;rdors of the Hibernian sleuths. over
Ahe pattering horror of the female So
Cial welfarers. To emphasize the hlSn
points of the matter in hand this au-
thor now and then makes gesture
toward the whole clattering to-do Oh
the ultra modern life of New York.
But his real business is to create a bit
of oriental Sm-muSty with the age
old years, eilded, embroidered, aloe
spiced. green-bronZed with time-and
to IIc.
tieth-century bedlam of business. The
tales capture one. They fri2hten him
and enthraIl him. They convince him
AS well of the youthfulness of the
west and of the unreasonable sophis
tication of these eastern folks just
around the corner of New York
thoroughfare.
MADELEINE; An Autobiography. In
PRODUCTION by Judge Ben B. Lind
sey. New York: Harper G. Bros.
One must possess both honesty and
courage to go along with Madeleine
in this story of her own life. If one
has spent his life lying about GER
tain essential things in order to spare
his own delicate Sensibilities Made
leine" will not reform him to any
honesty of thought or purpose. If.
again. he does not own enough cour-
dSc " StIlhc Out dSdiHSl tI1e stHCFdi
hypocrisy of society. against the
common inhumanity of man, then this
bitter story will leave him a coward
still. Madeleine" is the autobiogra.
ply of prostitute, the unf1inchine
story of a girl gone wrong. So. with
out honesty and courage the reading
of this book would be no more than
shameful Indulgence of unclean Gu
riosity. Following along the tortuous
way so fearlessly set here by the
writer, what one gathers up by Incl
dence about the essential character
of Madeleine is that here is girl
who Is Intelligent. refined. attractive.
fearless and fair-deaiing. Splendid
a qualities. these. to put into one of
'any number of honorable occupations
and callings. This is splendid human
material that should have contributed
richly to the general sum of happi-
ness and well being. Why did Made
leine resort to this ancient trade in
self? Obviously, from the record,
there was no irresistible inherent
cosn1ic urge to achieve her undoing.
Clearly. therefore. the sinister infiu-
ence came from the outside. What is
there in society that can work this
fatal course? One asks this page by
page through the heart breaking
story. What are men and women do
ing-so-called decent men and women
to drive the Madeleines on? There
came a time, in this unfolding, when
Madeleine set about il to save her
own soul-and nobody wanted to come
near so bedra aggled a soul as that. The
Average welfare worker would not
Soucb il with ten-foot pole-not
she! And as for the others they dared
not speak Of that noxious scum OF
soul-s;uff What did Madeleine do
hen? Dri.t back" No Madeleine is
stiIl at the glorious business of resaV-
ing her own soul. 1t may be that you
would better read this book. Some
thing is wrong. somewhere. Judge Zen
Lindsey gives an appreciatlVe ana
manly Introduction to this true, story
of one woman's life.
THE OUTBOUND ROAD. BY Arnold
Mulder. author of Bran of the
Five Corners" etc. Boston: Hough-
ton Miff1in Company.
Dutch settlement on the shore OF
Lake Michigan gives background 10
khe romance in hand. The author s
teelin: lor this foreign fieck of local
color is however. so keen, so appre-
ciative that frequently the setting it
srlf moves into the center of interest.
puShino aside for ;ht moment those