Evening star., 1920-03-14

I'VE are wholly unaware anu 'ow al
which we are commonly skeptlcal.
There is no question of sincerity here.
No one is deliberately trying 10 put
! something over on anybody Inc
| question lies. largely. in the capacity
of the individual mind either to de :
| ceive itself on the one hano. or. IN
Icertain conditions, to be open to truths
| that are as yet. outside the domain
of general realization. vastly IN i.
| tarestinc matter from either point of
| view.
! THE; TALL VILLA. BY Lucas Balet.
| author of History of Sir Richard
C,almady," etc New York: George
H. Doran Company.
| pure invention this, bit fantastic
| as we'll. One takes it for granted that
| ina einative writer's try to sec what they
can do now and then in the way of pure
! invention with a hit-or-niss bundle OF
| unbelievable stuff AS if. for example.
Lucas Malet had said to herself. III
huild novel around this pressing ana
popular urgency of Spirituahsm IL
use the findings and the claims OF Sir
| Oliver Lodge and Sir Conan Doyle with
| their thousands of supporters Tor the
| foundation of readable story And
that is what she does. First. FOR ma
| terial. she secures a haunted mouse
the tall villa" Then she creates
woman to fit the ghost belonging to this
point in the story. That is, in the WON.
an that she has produced. AS bit OF
artistry that woman is triumph she
would have to be. if the tale is to carry
to any length at all. dlaphanous
ira nsparent lady. this, delicate and sensi-
tive-but not sick and not queer.
Beautiful, cultured. rich, modern. HaV-
ing made this truly remarkable bit OF
receptive femininity, the writer actual
ly dares to have her fall in love with
the ghost of the man who nifty years
earlier had made away with himself in
the tall villa that the lady owns and
occupies. Nonsense do you say: TO
be sure il is nonsense. The only con
sideration here is that the writer could
have made so much out of so clear an
act of sheer Intellectual violence.
ALLEGRA. BY l.. Allen Harker. au-
thor of MIR. Wycherlys Wards
etc. New York: Charles Scribners
Sons.
Everybody, secretly, believes him
self to be much better actor than
even the best Of those who profess
sionally walk the boards. Everybody,
privately. is looking about for some
sort of stage. Stories of the theater.
therefore. start off with an advantage
! over those of other theme and pattern.
| The career of Allegra. actress fits
pleasantly into this general hospi-
tality toward an engaging subject.
Allegra is young and charming. She
! is above all ambitious and calculating
| toward the object Of her supreme de-
sire. AS matter of fact. "Allegra
| is rather more the study of an am
| bilious woman of talent than the
story Of young stage girls romance.
AS a girl of correct views and ordered
life, who accepts, rather cold -blooded-
ly. every kind of help toward her own
! a rtistic fulfillment Allegra is sue
cess. just as the man of business is a
success who. at every turn. gathers
| in the rewards of business shrewdness
and industry. AS young girl to
whom a capable and promising play
wright devoteS himself in enthusiastic
service. she is not admirable. How
ever, she is honest about it. at tie
last And that point is. at least a
refreshment. Moreover, Allegra is
alive very much alive. One counts
the story logically sincere to its or
| iginal conception of the heroine. SO
one must count it credtable literary
to look upon Allegro as among the
most engaging Of his book ac-
IQuaintances.
Family Life. By Stuart Henry
New York: f. P. Dutton & Co.
Mr.. Henry is an American who has
lived in Germany, among German
families, for many years. Upon this
foundation Of fact he has built story
whose object is to portray the every
day life and outlook of the average
German. The hero. student enor-
mously impressed with the brand OF
IGerman kultur that fiourished sc
abundantly before the war. takes VI
his bed and board in German famil!
in order to absorb as much as possible
of this German product. The socia
life. the manners, the recreations, tht
business. the religion. the love for the
Ifatherland. the Intellectual passion
the spiritual meagerness-these arr
the matters that are dealt with in thi:
record of infinite detail and circum
stance. It is not pleasant story. NJ
lrecord Of shattered illusions can b'
pheasant. Indeed. the story is so one
sided that one instinctively goes bacl
to his fundamental notion that human
nature is pretty much the same th'
world over. At any rate. that is tho
prime lesson Of history. So. he won
ders little if this tale has not
Through the stressful war manifesto
tions. lost a degree of the balance tina
must be an element in any portraya
to make it carry through to its de
Isired destination. However. it may b,
that since this is novel il does no
hold itself to a strict scientific ac
lcounting. If it does, the German fam
lily life is a gross and naked affair O
ioathy externals and implications.
DAYS AND EVENTS: 1S8O-1s88. B,
Thomas l.. Livermore. Boston
Houghton- Miff1in Company.
Thomas L. Livermore came. finally
to be q colonel in the Union Army
Immediately upon the close of thu
war he wrote this account Of his owl
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