Evening star., 1920-01-25
is why he was killed in France after
oil

all.
HANDS OFF. BY Beulah Marie Dix.
author of Mothers Son." ETC. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
We harvest our own sowings, and
we harvest in kind. That is the foun-
dation of this story. Beulan Marie
Dix invariably puts down some gen
eral truth. building upon tnls q
dramatic tale that upon its surface
ton of a law. Here the story IS one
of most unusual adventure on a re
mote Mexican hacienda To TINS piace
a young man is led by the iaee nc
novelists have under their olreCtioM;i. M
1t turns out to be the estate VI ~"
fathers deadliest enemy. Inc retrl-
button that this lonely and empitter
ed American wreaks on the BOY is !,
wonder of dramatic invention. II couiu
not hold true anywhere else. bue .n.o
is Mexico and the slavish poems arc
both servile and cruel. The man mas
left in his hardened nature but one
soft spot-his daughter. secree
love episode develops. And this turns
out to be the medium by which, nnaily:
the two wrong dOers. the 1athers "
this boy and girl. find their own en
mites falling back upon themselves
while the others escape to happiness
by virtue of their own righteoushe@Ss @
AS mere adventure. however, the
story is one of exciting power ana
appeal.
THE MAN WITH THREE NAMES: ~ sy
Harold MacGrath. author OF me me
yellow Typhoon." etc. illustrations
by Ralph Pallen Coleman. New
York Doubleday. Page a 90.
This is one of the romances that the
ready hand of Harold MacGrath stirs
up overnight, so to speak: TOT the
readers entertainment during soine
leisure half hour of the next day one
glimpse of lady. somewhere IN a
/ passing crowd. and the heros pano,
ply of pursuit and capture is donneo
in a tWinkling And the pursuit is
not so much, after all. 1t Is the sltua-
ton to be conquered after fnding her
that brings the youth out at his top
notch of endeavor. Wicked finance
unrighteous expressions. hearts OF
! flint hands of destruction-the entire
program of righting up staggering
| world is carried off in exhilarating
! fashion here. And. of course, there Is
a good deal of mystery about the
Xonnrster himself to be sustained
and. finally. to straighten out with
sleight-of-hand dexterity that helps
matters along prodigiously. Almost
everybody reading for mere entertain
ment likes the MacGrath inventions.
Well, here is another one-of the same
kind.
CHE MOON POOL. By A. Merritt. New
! York: C. p. Putnams Sons.
| A party bent upon scientific in
vestigation of certain evidences OF
an ancient civilization in group OF
Pacific islands gives starting point
to this tale. They reach the place OF
exploration. So far the reader is able
| to follow But beyond this very
meager standing ground he is unable
to go. The writer under the spuI
! of a riotous imagination weaves upon
| this simple foundation tale sc
fantastic that one. in his right mind
| is left far behind within the frs,
dozen pages. 1t may be that he is
trying to vizualize one of the phases
of the great elemental energy--may
be. 1t may be that he is trying tc
resurrect plane of existence In
| which the good and evil impulses
were in a death struggle for separate
1entities and influences-may be. II
may be that he is personifying GER
tain findings of the physicist and his
brotherhood of allied scientists--may J
be. One gets delirium tremens read
ing it, or at least high state of in
Itoxication. 1t may be, after all. tha'
this is it's mission. In that case. Il
completely justifes it's intentions.