Evening star., 1921-06-19
Reviews of New Books

work of Ibanez. but the most perfect
after all. of any of his novels.
A CHAIR ON THE BOULEVARD. BY
Leonard Merrick. author of Con
rad in Quest of His Youth. etc.
New York: e. p. Dutton 4 Co.
Twenty episodes drift by the boule-
ward chair. Out of them Leonard Mer-
rick makes twenty short stories. Not
all by himself does he make them. for
he never in the world could have done
il without the happy collaboration OF
that group of lmpecunious geniuses,
Tricotrin, Pitou. de FronSac. Gou1aud
and another or so of the tribe. A 1T
tie something, a bit or notnins,
passes by. There is a stir around the
boulevard chair. Tricotrin dashes off.
or maybe it is Pitou, or possibly Gou-
jaud. dartins back in a minute with
delicious scrap OF amusing expert
ence in his grasp. Each little story
is a joy. made up of laughter ana
gayety and a sure hold on human ma
ture. acting up under one inciterlent
or another. All of them prove that
life itself is something of a joke in
most of its aspects. and all OF them
suggest the wisdom OF trying TO see
the joke. even when it strikes close
by. Where another kind of writer
would turn on his stock of pessimism.
Merrick just plays and laughs. Ana
we laugh. too. which is one of the
best of things to do. How Tricotrin
Saw London" Is delight. The Trag-
edy of Comic Song" while not per-
haps the .fuDniest story of the cen
tury." as Neil Lyon In his introduc-
tion to this issue declares it to be.
is. nevertheless, quite funny enough
to hold its own as fine humor. Why
select. though. from the twenty, since
all of them are thoroughly enjoyable.
MAYFAIR TO MOSCOW, Glare sheri-
dams Diary. New York: Boni &
Lireright.
A lady of Mayfair went to Moscow
after the heads of Lenin and Trotsky.
What is more, she got them, bringing
them back. nailed. safe. in their
wooden coffins. Thesdiary in hand is
at the point where Mrs. Sheridan
makes the acquaintance of kamenev
and Krassin. emissaries of Lenin to
London. 1t closes with New York. it's
author. along with the rest of liter
AIRY England. setting out on lecture
tour of the United States. In between
is the account of what Clare Sheridan
was up against in Moscow while
waiting for the fulfillment of her
scheme. as artist, to secure modelinGs
reds. One expects a hectic narrative
from so mad a project. He finds. in
stead. a businesslike description of
means fitted neatly to desired results.
In the periods of waiting-and there
is a lot Of waiting in Russia-the
and goes cold and unwashed. like the
rest Of the folks in that quarter.
Every day. however. yields an expert
ence or two that keeps the diary to
dan is, Of herself. kecnly alive. so all
sorts of live things come her way.
No sooner do they appear than she
claps them into this record. Under
a bit Of external f1utter she is a seri-
GUS and thoughtful person. These
ing it personality and substance quite
it's own. Then she is without doubt
an artist, as photographs of her work
Trotsky. krassin. Zinoviev
and Dsirjinsky-abundantly make
plain. Altogether. both the author
and her book are calculated to inter-
est readers generally.
LOAFING DOWN LONG ISLAND. BY
Charles Hanson Towne. author OF
Autumn Loiterers." etc. Draw
ings by Thomas Fogarty. New
York: The Century Company.
While few of US make-believe
loafers dream of doing thing, the
real loafer goes and does it. Charles
Towne is the right sortof loafer. No
brush. comb-bossibly one next-to-
the-skin garment-and that is all
there is about it. Then. skirting away
from the high road. he tramps where
beckons. And. under this treatment,
Long Island blossoms with new cor
ners. and odd little settlements. and
glamorous taverns by the way and
cial sea smells-to say nothing of the
birth OF new expansions in the be-
ing of Mr.. Towne himself And then
Thomas Fogarty comes along. He
knows how to fade a sketch away
to a regular French vintage of bou-
odors and sayors
one reads this vagrant Charles Towne
with joy and smudge of envy. Reads
with self-accusation. too, for the
many times that he himself has plan
valley. either up or down
where night befalls, eat
ing anywhere. anything, and he him
SELF equipped as sparsely as this good
loafer on Long !sland-comb. tooth
orush. ana one single undie. maybe.
for he reads in sheer enjoyment this
fine book of vagabonding along the road.
THE ROOF TREE. By Charles New
lille; Buck. author of 1.-The Clan
Call etc. Illustrations by Lee F.
Conrey. New York: Doubleday,
Page & Co.
Certain novelists have, definitely.
sta ked their claims among the Cum
berland mou1tains as. for them, the
chosen field Of romance Charles New
lille Buck Is one of these. as his sizable
list Of novels about this region proves.
The one in hand takes the Kentucky
fued as the heart of it's movement.
And, certainly. no one has outstripped
this writer in a dramatic and intimate
hold on the hidden sources of clan ac-
ton, as it has appeared in this quar-
ter. The story itself goes back a few
generations. giving a primitive vigor
and ferocity. to the feud depicted. It's
chief characters are Dorothy Parrish
and Kenneth Thornton. whose ances-
tors long before had planted the roof
tree that. throughout the tale, stands
as the symbol of their highest hopes
and surest beliefs. This later Ken
meth Thornton is fugitive from Vir-
ginia. Against him the leader of
clan organizes warfare. a warfare made
more bitter by virture of the rivalry
existing between its leader and the
successful wooer of Dorothy Parrish.