Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-19
Reviews of New Books

HARRIET AND THE PIPER. By
Kathleen Norris. author OF I'm
dertow," etc Illustrations by Ar
thur ! Keller. New York: Dou-
blcday. Page & Co.
Paying the piper is one Of the
automatic businesses of life Every.
body has ii to do. Some pay out OF
all proportion to their dancing. NO
body underpays 1t is this funda-
as the foundation of her new novel.
Long before we meet Harriet Field
in this story she had entered into
fanciful marriage-no marriage at
all, really But the girl was too
young and unsophisticate to know
this. When we first come upon Har-
riet Field she is spinster who is
playing useful and important part
in ono of those rich. illmanaged
households that, except for some saw
ing grace like Harriet Field. are head
cd toward disaster In an opulent
setting of modern life the household
story progresses through an elope-
ment on the part of the wife. through
the Wooing of Harriet Field by the
young son. and the romance of the
daughter by way of the very man
who. years before. had beguiled Har-
rlet Field into the measure for which
she is now expected to pay the piper.
somewhat intricate complex. you
see, but one that Mrs. Norris handles
with a practiced adroitness, so that
one goes on in a pretty keen wish to
follow the interesting and colorful
details of the advance from many
kinds of threatening trouble to
fairly plausible smoothing out of the
ENHANCEMENT. Where all of the
characters are excellent here. two
stand out as clearly superior in con-
ception and finish. These are Har-
riet Field herself and Richard Car
ter, the head of this over-indulged
family.
GERMANY AFTER THE ARMISTICE.
BY Maurice Berger. Translated by
William L. Mcpherson. author of
THE Strategy of the Great War
etc. New York: G.. P. Putnam
Sons. u
During 1919 Maurice Berger, lieu
tenant in the army of Belgium. went
through Germany for the purpose of
gathering up the general conditions
Of that country from representative
Germans. The report of this tour of
personal investigation has appeared.
from time to time. in the French press.
1t is the substance of this report
that is gathered up in the volume in
hand. The distinction Of the book is
formation. NJ. Berger set down just
what was told to him by these repre-
sentatives of general German inter-
ests and opinions. Without any doing
over, without any interjection of him.
self between these reports and the
Question and answer, voluntary ex-
preston of opinion. statement of fact
these are the elements Of this
graphic and valuable account. An in
preface by Baron Beyens, former Bel
gian minister to Berlin. set the pur-
pose and the substantially of this
volume before the reader in precise
and positive terms.
THE QUIRT. By B. NJ. Bower. author
of Lonesome Land" etc. Fronts
piece by Anton Otto Fischer. Bos-
ton: Little, Brown & Co.
Almost twenty novels based on life
In the far west attest to the faith of
the writer in his chosen feld-a faith
that has obviously been well support
ed by both public and publishers. This
particular adventure has to do with
the wan chance of the small rancher
in effect. the story of the little BUSH
ness being absorbed by big business.
For the sake Of the story, the tiny
Quirt ranch refuses to give way to
the tremendous Sawtooth Corporation.
Upon this basis all manner of adven-
lures come 10 paSS-dQVeutuIeS Oh the
lawless kind that one has come to ex-
pect in romances of the far west.
However, the lawlessness here IL of
the restrained kind of invention. Inn
possible things do not happen. A love
story helps out the matters OF war
fare and struggle between the little
ranch and its devouring neighbor. The
story has vigor and rush and color
and excitement. For one Of its kind,
it is clearly high up in it's peculiar
class.
THE SLAYER OF SOULS. BY Robert
w. Chambers. author of I'm Sc
cret." etc. New York: George H.
Doran Company.
For the purpose of one Of his char
acteristic romances. Robert CHAMBERS
assumes that the whole red output OF
the present-bolshevism anarchism.
communism, and even occultism-is
but a sudden Towering of the princi-
pie of evil that through the age-old
centuries has periodically burst into
it's sinister bloomings. The prime
hot-bed Of this culture he sets in an
aloof and inaccessible fastness of
China, where magic and marvel cap
ture and possess the souls of the I'M
wary. From this center the story
moves into the modern world de-
picting, as Mr.. Chambers would de-
pict it, the web of evil intrigue and
fatal Vaccinations of the cult Of the
devil operating in the United States.
A young girl of American birth and
years of living in China is the CEN
ter of this hectic story of lost souls