The Washington herald., 1921-05-28
THE PASSIONATE SPECTATOR,
by Jane Burr. (Thomas Seltzer.
Incl
REVIEWS

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by Jane Burr. (Thomas seltzer,
1nc.)
l"HIS book has been widely ad-
vertised as shocking, but II
Il can shock you only IL you
manage to believe II. We can easily
imagine that President Eliot, who
has recently bemoaned the coarsen-
ed fiber of this generation, would
be more than shocked; he would be
so repelied that he could not read
tiff he ever tried. And certainly
there is nothing very pleasant
about Miss Burr's tale, which leads
her heroine blindly from an unhap-
py, impossible marriage to the arms
of a series Of sordid or very worldly
men. But anyone who has listened
to the outgiyings Of Greenwich
Village and its environs will recog-
nize this as old stuff laid on, per-
haps, q shade too thick, laid on in
deed so thick as to look at times
like a caricature. Miss Burr is too
insistent and too sure. Her conclu-
sion. put into the mouth Of the row.
ing lady's old Aunt Caroline, is that
all happily married folk have lovers
as well as husbands, and are happy
in that way only. But We cannot
believe that the solution of the So
called marriage problem Is SO sim
pie as all that. Somehow no rule
Of thumb ever fits the marriage re-
lation. and we have a feeling that
Miss Burr, for all her daring, is
Just as far away from the true
answer as were the even more
naive writer's of earlier "shockers'
| who proclaimed that a gold band
upon the left ring-finger was the
end OF every woman's problems. She
is just as uncompromising as they
and just as insistent upon her for
mula.
THE MAGICIAN. BY Somerset
Vaughan. George H. Doran
Company.)
One is bound to be disappointed
in this book IL he has read and en-
joyed "The Exporer." "of Human
bondage" or The Moon and Six
pence II one is sufficiently inter-
ested in the abnormal-the very un-
pleasantly abnormal-he may hnd
in the character of the obese and
repulsive Oliver Haddo, the magi-
clan, remarkable specimen. But
unless one has a special prediction
for the mysterious of slchemists
and workers of the black arts he
will find much of this story that is
exceedingly dull reading. As in his
other books. Mr.. Maugham writes
knowingly and brilliantly of the
Latin Quarter OF Paris and its &c
CENTRES. Perhaps the best reason
for disappointment in this book is
that since the time OF its first ap-
pearance-in 1soS--our interest in
the occult has taken form and
direction far removed from the kind
of mysteries practiced by oliver
Haddo. His medieval parsphernalia.
his tncantations and signs would
never get far with the Society for
Psychical Research.
THE GUARDED HEIGHTS. BY
wadsworth Camps. doubleday,
Page & Coz
George Morton started as a groom
and ended ID the heart Of Wall
street. But II was not so simple as
all that. Far from IT. He had foot
ball games to win at Princeton, be-
sides battles In the world war and
the heart Of the proudest daughter
Of the wealthy. In fact, there Is
some kind Of a struggle on every
other page and before the end
George becomes SO indomitabie, SO
typically q he-man, that the only
time he appears human is In a mo-
ment Of weakness in the trenches
when ambition ceases to gnaw at
him and he cares for very little but
the plain truth. The guarded
heights are almost too well guarded
but the story IL carefully sustained
and Dride. enobbishnooa and money