The Washington times., 1920-04-04

oCHt |" Lo I<QU LoCHOOt ~
George Washington University,
is the author Of "T,0o Bubbles"
Rovel, just off the press,
dealing With life in Washington.
Mr.. Graves' father, John Tenn
pie Grdves, Sr., Uelt-k,a0On-
Washington newspaper toyrter
and dfter-dtnner speaker, has
written the following review of
the book.
By JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES, sR.
1t is the publishers well meant
suggestion that I very briefly review
the frst novel Of the son who bears
my name-analyze or criticize the in
tellectuaI first born OF my first born.
The difficulty and delicacy OF the
task are apparent. For, either I
shall be tempted by affection to euo-
logy. or fearing overmuch the charge
of partiality I shall seek too dill
gently the critical spirit which shall
disprove it. The sympathetic reader
Will balance Judgment upon the two
horns of my dilemma
! venture a trite but truthful hrst
comment. One who begins to read
1.-TWO Bubbles" VIII not, for better
or worse. lay 1t down unfinished. It
seizes and holds the attention and the
fancy with a<grip that is sustained
through every shift Of scene. For
youth in mind or body has its own
charm IL 1t be comely and carries
strength with discipline, or better
still IL it's pulses abandon with grace
and decency.
1.-TWO Bubbles" is cutie short-a
bare hundred pages. No reader of
mine will suspect this young author
of heredity in his leaning to brevity.
Yet IL i have not INDUCED l have ever
admired the quality. Forgive me
for writing you at such length" said
Voltaire to a friend. I did not have
time to be brief" The brevity of
1.-TWO Bubbles" is just that to which
Voltaire refers-a brevity which
takes time and which, stripping down
all tho chaff Of compleXity, leaves
only the golden wheat of simplicity
and sincerity.
The War and a Tall Girl-tre-
mcrIcun twin tragedies-come at one
end and at the same time into the
life of John Granville. dreamer, phil
osopher, bubble-blower. They come
to him in the midst of a pulseless
stagger him at first and he stumbles
badly. But the rare qualities in the
experiences as well as the rare quail
itics innate in the Bubble Blower him
self eventually save and remake the
situation. Steadied and vitaliZed in
his final realization of the War and
the Girl as they are and not as his
furious fancy had made them out.
John Granville uncovers tho strength
and -nanliness he needs to acquit
himself creditably in battle and sue
ccssfully in love.
To read the record OF this battle
royal of love and war and youth and
fancy in the melting pot from the
pen of an experienced master of
dramatic narrative would be fasci-
mating. Yet I think that TO many
as to me, it may seem even better to
read il from the fresh pen OF young
man who tells his first story; read
IL as he has written IL, with touches
of crudeness mingled with sparkling
triumphs of charm. with passages of
awl<wardness bespeaking sincerity
and as often followed by inimitable
graces of style and sense; read IL re-
membering that it was written inn
pulsively, in snstches, written hon
estly, upon camp stools in barracks,
on tho rolling decks Of transports.
written with all of youths abandon
and fcarlcssness which humor mel
lows into style and which makes upon
the mind an impression that somc
wide-eyed and dauntlcss young writ
or has taken the reader into his con-
fidcncc and opened the pages OF his
Impressions as no subsequent book
OF his or anyone's can ever do so nat
urally again.
THIS il the point in 1.-TWO Bubbles"
which impresscs me. II il no master
noyel--no mighty work to go ring
Ing down in time. II Is a good, brave,
bright wholesome story, delightfully."-
written. and full OF real promise OF
greater things to come.