Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-05
EASY READING
FOR HOT WEATHER
NoUels by Miss White, c. ".
Buck, Miss Pedlar, F. S.
ISham and Miss OLnistead

Grace Miller White. whose "Tess of
the storm Country" has had success as
novel. play and movie, has followed 1t
with sequel at least so far as locale
and natives are concerned. "Storm
Country Polly" is, however. an entirely
new story, sc. far as plot and principals
are concerned. The heroine Is a lily
rising out of the muck of her environ. =.
ment, crude as far as social routines and
society polish go, but with all the
essential fragrance of the flower. She
ls not .blooded, but cool minded. What
she did for the squatters of her "settle-
ment. of which her father was
mayor how. she fought the oppres-
slve tyranny of the plutocrat and poll
tician who sought to evict them, how
she wreaked a revenge for the treat
ment OF her father and her sweetheart,
are an told in story Of tensity, move
ment and legitimate emotion.
The Hermit of Far End" is the
story OF how a recluse is restored to in :
terest in life. He Is the "legend" Of
the community in which he has sought
his seclusion. Love drives q way into
his walled-up life and spirit. And hap
ply, and swiftly It emerges from the
broken barriers of seclusion, bearing
with 1t the voluntary eremite. An ar
resting tale, this is, and one that grips
the interest continuously.
Charles Neville Buck has written his
best book in ''The Tempering," and this
Is praise when one remembers the value
OF The Call of the Cumberland" and
The Battle Cry" He has set his
scenes in the locality he knows so well
and has put its people belevably into
type, The hero is lad who is unaf-
fected by the heritage of two generations
OF stalwart and strong ancestry. He
plugs his own way. At the moment Of
success he finds that, instead Of gain
ing all he is losing all, for he is losing
love. The struggle Of love to win him
Is freshly and trenchantly told, in
worthwhile novel.
Florence Olmstead, who gave proof Of
her capacity for writing novels that
gained and retained attention without
resort to feverish physical activity by
the sheer. quality Of her projection Of
haracter in unsensational circumstances.
has written another novel of this type
in "Stafford's Island" 1t is of differ
ent style from "A Clustered Romance,
the writer's earlier success, but of equal
value. The heroine's destiny is affected
and nodded by an olden escapade or
scandal of her family, her grand
mother s elopement from home and hus-
band with another man. But this motif
is not unpleasantly stressed. Nor is the
suggestion Of the occult mysteries Of
beyond the veil which Miss Olmstead
utilizes. The story is delicately fash
ioned, but with climaxes of high pas
sion. And it is touched with quiet,
pervasive humor.
Frederic Isham, who once wrote melo-
dramatic romances, is now proving an
adept at farce comedy in fictional guise.
The Nutcracker" is the jovial story
of how man for whom ali the breaks
OF life are uneven transmutes his un-
lucky self into different and really
successful personality. From a mem
Der of the nonunionized "white collar"
brigade he becomes a really important
figure in big deals. There is some
shrewdly observed satire in the book
but it is al good natured.
STORM COUNTRY POLLY. Ry Grace Mil.
Ter White; Boston: Little. Brown & Co
THE TEMPERING. BY Charles Neville
Buck. New York; Doubleday, Page Co
THE HERMIT OF FAR END. BY Margaret
Pedlar; New York: George H, Doran Co.
Isham; Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merriii Co.
CTRhFF'ORD'S ISLAND. BY Florence Ohm
stead. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons