Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-05-09
MIR. WI. BY Louise Jordan Min.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes
Company
Company.

MN. WI. by Louise JORDAN Min
New York: Frederick A. Stokes
Company.
A STRONG and fascinating ro-
~ nance reminiscent in it's es-
n sentials of Madame Butter
fly"-a romance that puts into
intense drama the impossible gulf
that separates the east from the
west. Mr.. VIVA high-caste Chinese
10 the master touch Of this inven-
fion. AS little boy and young man
he lives in England. educated ac-
cording to the standards of Eng
1ishmen. This period completed, he
goes back to China. there to take the
place to which his rank assigns him.
great tragedy wipes off the occi-
dental layer that education has given
him. leaving the stark realities of
the oriental mind dominant in their
subtle workings. in their infiexible
purpose, and in their austere achieve
ments. 1t is cruel story. with its
cruelties bred and sustained in an
age-old theory of life. Beauty. haunt
ing and sinister beauty, surrounds
the action. Second only to the mas
ter-touch of Mr.. WI himself is that
Young Basil Gregory. the English
youth who profaned the ancestral
shrine of the great Mr.. WI. Not a
physical retribution at all. but the
more terrifying because OF It's IN
tangible and unacceptable workings.
Mrs. Min built this remarkable story
on the play. mir. WI" written by
T. NJ: Vernon and Harold owen. If
the play approaches the novel in dra-
matte richness it is a triumph in the
art of the drama.
IN PAWN TO A THRONE, BY Demet-
ra Vaka and Kenneth Brown. au-
thors of THE First Secretary
etc. New York: John Lane Com
pany.
A clear love story. this. whose
charm lies chiefly in the sharp con-
trasts of time. and place. and circum-
dacity. the authors use here in a
clever distinction of effect. The hero
of this tale is the young secretary of
the American legation at Athens. The
heroine is Artemis. Greek girl.
great-granddaughter of old Kapetan
Bysas. the last Of those leaders who
harried and fought and worried the
Turk in the cause of New Greece. 1t
is the destiny of Artemis to carry on
the torch of Greek freedom. For this
kapetan Bysas has reared her, pour
ing into the heart and mind of the
girl the hopes. and visions that must
fit her for the great deliyerance. Kap-
etan Bysas overlooked the fact that
Artemis is girl even more than she
can be patriot. And so the old
uTedilS Idue Ill Inc new dHu hd uI al
glorification of the reality of her own
love. Old days and new march side by
side here. Remains of ancient art lend
enchantment to this new land of fresh
outlook and modern ambition. Old
usages give bloom to everyday be-
plant Greece look comp1acently out
upon the field of current politics. And
through this picturesque blend OF OLD
and new. there walks the same pair
that has defied rules and expectations
since that first lawless couple roamed.
oblivious, in the byways of Eden.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE
CHILD. BY DR.. Courtenay Dunn
New York: John Lane Company.
time Of his life making this book
Every page bears the ooze Of his un-
mistakable enjoyment in it, Here the
doctor goes a-baby hunting. Old books
are. to large extent. his hunting
ground-musty. dusty. hidden and
forgotten tones Of baby lore. And If
there is an interesting bit about the
baby-from Cain and Abei-that this
interchangeable student has not dug out
of history and legend and literature
where that particular bit had man
aged to secrete itself. To these re-
searches must be added a wide field
of personal study and investigation OF
Out Of this double line of pursuit
energies an astonishing body of fact
and fancy that the centuries have ac-
cumulated around the captivating
subject in hand. Hundreds of old
bearing upon one or another aspect
of child life have. been brought to
cover here. furnishing the key to
many of the floating fragments of
superstitious notion that still persist
Of onriont arflnak the
life and future of the child. The
charm Of the book lies in the origi-
nality of the author, in his fresh way
of treatment. in his own personal en-
joyment of the matter and in his
gift of communicating that feeling.
even through the stiff mechanism of
print. Here. certainly, is book to
which the term unique may be legiti-
mately applied.
THE SOUL OF IRELAND. BY w. j.
Lockington. S. j. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
For this outlook over Ireland Father
Lexington went up into the high
quest was the soul Of Ireland-that
part which has endured. as Ireland,
through time and change. 1t is, first.
as true lover Of the soil that he
looks on over the island whose face
is. to him. more beautiful than the
Here he is poet, as well as q lover.
Then, in infinite affection for the
sons of Erin and in perfect sympathy
with them. he retraces the highway
of their history. to discover again
that which has sustained them along
the road. and to count. once more.
those things which they have held
steadfast, despite the manifold bur-
dens of their journey. He names their
Gethsemanes-many and deem. He
points to their prolonged Calvary, and
TO their triumphant resurrection The
impassioned and eloquent story is a
song of praise to the Catholic faith.
and it is this faith that stands here
as the soul of Ireland, enduring
through ages Of darkness to its inn
pending rebirth in the image of its
olden splendor and in the promise of
a glorious future. Catholic sons and
daughters. both within Ireland and
without. will rejoice in this vision. An
Introduction by G. X. Chesterton in
dorses. in characteristic vein, the ex-
allied sentiments of this consecrated
son of the church.
THE CONTEMPORARY DRAMA oE
FRANCE. BY Frank Wadleirh
Chandler. Boston: Little. Brown q
90.
This volume forms a part of tho
contemporary drama series. edited by
Richard Burton. 1t stands, in sub
stance. as q comprehensive survey of
the past thirty years of French drama.
The study covers the general dramatic
aims of this period. 1t shows the
broadened and diversified purposes
that have latterly animated this art
and defines the changes in form and
spirit that have arisen to meet these
aims In effect ne 10 n