Evening star., 1921-07-10
Reviews of New Books
AT THE SUPREME WAR COUNCIL.
BY Capt. Peter e. Wright. New
York: G. 2. Putnam,s Sons.


By Capt. Peter e. Wright. New
e., York: 6. P. Putnam,s Sons.
~APT. PETER WRIGHT Of the
British army. was, during the
existence of the supreme war
council, both assistant Sec
rotary and interpreter to that or
ganization. This, double ofice not
only opened all the records OF that
body to him, but 1t caused him, as
we'll. to be present at the conferences
that took place within 1t. This very
unusual war book 10 the direct re-
suit of Peter Wrisht's experience
with the war council. The big out
staading fact here is that war cannot
be an improvisation. 1t must be a
preparation. a training. long. ar
duous. Of single purpose. The Ger
mans were trained and ready. The
allies. unready. The allied armies
were throughout the. war period
powers, vet the latter held out for
four years, and almost won. 1t comes
as news to the average reader that
We did really outnumber the Ger
mans. There is other news In this
1CdElcS6 blOEy-Hc"B VI JcdlOubicCp VI
military disobedience. of ineflciency
in high places. of criminal self-seek-
ing. of temporizing and shuffling that
disposed, haphazard of all those
brilliant young generations that were
being moved in swaths by the Ger
brought low here. Popular idols are
overthrown. Conspiracies to block
a single command are brought into
the open. Gen. Coughs lone tight
when he was abandoned instead OF
being supported shines out here. The
book. not big one. is freehung ac-
cusation. and challenge to the &C
cused. It's value lies. chiefly, in the
future, in the possibility Of other
wars. and in preparing for them. Ger
tainly unique and revealing war book
Of great significance.
BEAUTY. BY Rupert Hughes. author
Of Whats the World Coming Toy
etc. Illustrations by w. T. Benda.
New York: Harper & Bros.
The heroine Of this story is dead al
most at its beginning. That is why
the epilogue comes hrst, covering the
tragic drowning Of Clelia Blakeney,
mates and directs the subsequent
lines Of the action. A singularly
beautiful epilogue this. setting up a
memorial. so to speak. to the pity
Of beauty and its laughing rush from
oblivion to oblivion. Here was but
lions Of young girls alive. and tril-
lions dead and gone unseen. unsung,
unpictured. And this one girl was
material TOR galleries Of art and IL
braries Of poetry and prose" From
this lift of pity and poetry the story
moves cut into q romance whose sub
stance draws continually on the in
fiuence left by the young Clelia. It
is the story of a beautiful and social
fy sophisticate woman in her wooing
Of the real man from the west. the
man who set out by loving the girl
Clelia. The setting Of a modern city
gives Mr.. Hughes his chance to deal,
In passing. with current things
with prohibition. woman suffrage. Ia
Dor. supercivilization and subciviliza-
the shoulder. passing on to give the
next one a clip. In reading Rupert
Hughes one gets the impression.
much as he does with Bernard Shaw.
that here is a man who, in his keen
and wide interest. in his alert and
darting mind. is much more interest
ing than any one thing that he may
write.
INVISIBLE TIDES. BY Beatrice Kean
Seymour. New York: Thomas Self
ger.
'1mpeIled Of invisible tides and full
filled Of unspeakable things" is Swim
burne's line that gave Mrs. Seymour
the title to her fine first novel. 1t is
the invisible tide of circumstance
\ that floats the young woman Of this
story out OF her husbands home into
that of the young artist. The way
takes both husband and lover. The
husband comes back. The lover does
not. The end of the matter takes
Helena back into her husbands house.
That is the story in bare and repel-
lent outline. 1t is the filling of this
outline that produces a novel of great
beauty and power. 1t is the kind Of peo-
pie with whom this author deals SO un-
derstandingly that lifts the whole to