New-York tribune., 1919-11-17
Books
By fieywood Broun

by Haywood broun
TN NONE Of the recent lists Of boos
for children which we have ob-
served has Horstio Alger jr. bee
represented. We don't know that wa
sh ould recommend Alger 10 the young,
but we must confess that from nine -
twelve he was our fsvorits sutho'
Alger presented 3 Standardized booh.
We suppose we have read some afty
or sixty Of his works. and looking bse
we can't for the life Of Us differentlato
Strive and Succeed" from "Slow an
Sure" or remember in just what VA
"Adrift in New York" varied frors
struggling Upward" And vet "
think we could give the plot Of an
one Of these books moderately seeu.
ratcly. Alger's heroes lived IN an o.
derby universe. Success and happiars
came invariably 20 the poor bos ~fo
worked hard and just as certainly mis-
fortune fell upon the rich boy who
shirked. All Alger's villains were rich
and his heroes began poor but rose
TaViuiy LIOfn go ~ WtFe 70 q ADFANT&
Among the recent output OF novs1s
Arnold Mulder's "The Outbound
Road" (Houghton Miffiin) seems 10 us
to deserve a high place. The story ,s
commonplace enough in its essentials.
II deals with the efforts Of bgosst
family TO restrict the artistic impuiHe.
of child. This story Is written a.
east six times every year. but dsidsf
Who Is young Middle Western new
paper man, has furnished convincinc
background and has drawn his chsrac-
ters with such sympathy and skill thA.
1is story holds the interest through
out.
The home, by the way. seems 20 ,.
under terrific fire from rs per cent a.
The fiction writers of the season. Tie
'ess radical ones would amend the SO
gan of Home, Sweet Home" b. lesv-
ing out the "sweet." Our more thor
ough- going ones would also leave Ell.
the "homc."
James Branch Cabell writes gorgeous
English and "Jurgen" Mcbride has
ONE delightful moments But 70 ouf
mind the book is not completely sue
cessful. Mr.. Cabell has not e sutfi
GENTLY free and rich Imagination T.
animate his fantastic talc Throughout.
That is one of the reasons why there
IRE times when 1t is all TOO eviden-
hat he realizes he is being far
.astic- One can imagine him sayinr
I'm going TO be fantastic all throush
his chapter II it kills me" In no r..
pect does Cabell's lack Of imaginatior
how moe clearly than when h.
strives TO attain Rabelaisian favor
We confess fondness for broad Joke
but when Cabcl makes the same broad
wtticsm for the fifth or sixth time /.
crows little dun Nor is the navoi
full enough. In the hands of Cabei1
he joke becomes a barroom story re
furnished for the boudoir In such o.
refining process il becomes q lt1e
nasty.
w. II. Hudson. author Of the engag-
ing THE Book of Naturalist" wa
.warc that he would open himself 10
much criticism when he wrote slight
ingly of the dog, and be has furnishef
a footnote IN which he has called A.
drew Lang to his defense. L. one of
Is newspaper articles (laier repriniec
IN the book Lost Leaders, Ian,
wrote:
The plain dealing dog must be dis
tlnctly bored by the ever growing obi
CATION to live up 70 the anecdotes o
I'm IN the philosonhic journals Thesa
anecdotes are not told for his SAX.
hey are told to save the solf-respect
OF people who want an idol. and wiz
are distorting him into figure o.
pure convention for their domest
affairs He now IS expected to d.
criminato between relations and mera
trends o. the house; TO wag his ia
at God Save the Queen. TO count u.
to nve IN chips of frewood and seS.-
m mutton bones; 70 howl FOR SD
deaths in the family above the degr.
of second cousin, to post l.tsurs. a
refuse them when they have been
sufiiciently stamped: and, last g.
most intoierabie. to show tend,
sollciiude when the tabby is out
sorts He will do these things whsa
they are required of him, for he is an.
most good-natured and oh iginr fello..
in the world. but It ought never TO o.
forgotten that he hates to do them
and that ali he really cares for - his
daily dinner, his run, his rat and n,
occasional caress"
rev writers seem a. acutelv asv.,.
OF the white paper shortage a. Ma,
who leaves out most Of the
verbs when she comes to describe a
scene minutcly
In Mary Olivier" we hnd
She knew the house tho faaeea
passage from the from, door. the din
'ng-room on the rgh', 'he drawing
room on the left: In here the chsiss
Aad tables drew together. 20 comriaa