The sun., 1919-10-12

next door neighbcr is Robert RIDLEY, a
home town acquaintance. Ridley left his
native town under cloud, a proved
gambler: Ansoii and Sarah even saw him
coming out Of raided gambling place
but day or two before they discovered
his nearness! 1t is not long before RIDLEY
has proved himself not so bad as he has
been painted. His gambling days are
over; he is working upon an invention, a
motor for airplanes that will snpersede
all others. Betwsen Ridley and Sarah
there arises an affection that is more
visible to the carefully observing Arson
than to the couple.
But this budding affair is abruptly
shattered by an apparently compromising
discovery. Laura Sherrck, Sarah's
friend and an admitted Individualist, is
seen entering Rudley's rooms. So RIDLEY
goes to France, unconscious of the
estrangernent between himself and Sarah.
His roommate Zorn is left to act as
prophet for Arson.
Meanwhile the crippled writer has been
studying mankind. He has been taken
by Laura Sherrick to poets "at-home,"
where he has met the poet, Lawrence Pine,
and a number Of queer individuals, many
of anarchist inclinations and redolent of
Greenwich Village radicalism. All of
these people, writers, radicals, hangers-on,
have great desires; but they are conflict
ing desires. Indeed, none of the many
characters that Arson comes in contact
with seem to coordinate at all. .g--
~. -. - - III. =.
This is brought out beautifully in the
young writer's argument with Socialist
orator, to jump a generous distance ahead
through the book. Rising up at meeting
that he has attended, Arson cries that
Humanity is sick. "No question about
that" he says. "His temperature is away
above normal Though that's one of the
foolishest words in the dictionary, you
hear him raving lot, and he is in bad
way altogether. Around him are bunch
of doctors-the old-school Autocracy doc
tor, the newer-school Democracy doctor,
the Anarchist doctor, the 1. W. w. doctor,
the Socialist doctor, the Single Tax doctor,
and God knows how many more, and each
of them is saying, I can cure him-if
haze complete charge of the case Poor
Humanity is too sick to make decision.
He thinks he wants to be left alone. And
the only chance for any of the doctors to
prove his theory is for all the others
voluntarily to go away-which they
won't do"
1t is shortly after this that the terrific
spectre Of Anarchism is met by Arson.
He is taken to see and talk with Anna
Jassard, great agitator, and through
his mouth the author succeeds in Kidding
the idea of a nation untrammelled by
laws. That is not the method by which
the world may realize its great desire;
happiness will not come that way. Annals
retort, ".The utterly essential and impera-
tive desire of humanity is not happiness;
it is self-erpression," fascinates the young
thinker. New roads of thought are
opened; tremendous vistas appear and
Arson is aware of a profound disturbance
But his search lies yet ahead. The ques-
tion has not been answered.
There comes an outburst on his part at
an open-air meeting He.is. run over by
an auto and landed in the hospital with
an injured foot But, lin the hospital
there is a clearing up of perplexities.
Laura Sherrick appears again and re-
veals herself as Rudley's sister. She is
an individualist still, but not with a
capital 81" any more. By this time Amer
lea has declared war and a new spirit is
in the air. There are Illuminating dis
cussions on the varying aspects of the
struggle and chief among them the talks
with Zorn after Arson has left the hos
pital.