Evening star., 1921-04-03
Reviews of New Books

PEOPLE OF DESTINY. BY Philip
Gibbs, author of Now 1t Can Be
Told" etc. New York: Harper. &
Bros
MUCH friendly book. this. where
in Sir Philip Gibbs records his
impressions of Americans as he
has come to know them. The
first of the book is an account of the
authors going about in America.
meeting people of all sorts folks
who work and folks who play-the
rich, the poor. the well-to-do. Every
body is of interest to this quiet man.
The rest of the book is made at a
little longer range. at sufficient dis
tance to gather America up with the
rest of the world, to place it in re-
lation, to balance it in potentiality.
There is a chapter, too. on What
England Thinks of Americas good
cNHter for every one to read. par
arly thoseReoPpie who HI dns,h are tryinS ;,i,S
ir imaginings of what England is
finally going to do to US. Friendli-
ness-genuine and unpretentious-is
the keynote of this book. Sir Philip
lIkCS US anu tHJOHS us Ilt Fl" anus Us
to like him. That is. he wants Amer
lea to like England and England to
like America. To this desire he
brings his own keen observations.
his own sane conclusions. Seeing
things as they are is the business of
this man. Sizing up situations. seiz-
ing drifts of opinion, projecting
measures to their outcome is his job.
Therefore this book of Impressions
SO obviously sincere and friendly-is
true book from this English stand
point, as il is SO undiSputably an in
teresting and gratifying one from
the American point of view.
Maugham. author of THE Moon
SiXpence." etc. New York: George
Fl. Doran Company.
Mr.. Vaughan here achieves a story
of mystery and shivery effects by
way of certain mans endeavor to
create life out of arts that. scientific
in gesture, are wholly occult in eS-
sence. Oliver Haddo. magician. gro
tesque and huge. takes full charge Of
the adventure. The others are merely
foils, on the one hand. material on
the other. a group of artists in a
atmosphere the Vaughan atmos-
phere. No matter that the story does
violence to reason and plauSibility.
Oliver Haddo is as irresistible as he
is obnoxious, and one follows him in
an eager excitement to see if, after
all. the fellow really can pull it off.
A perfectly normal romance lies in
bits, all smashed to pieces under the
Vaccinations of this monstrous man.
A tragedy is evolved. And then. the
mess all cleared away, Mr.. Vaughan
innocently hands out the material for
a perfectly quiet and orderly romance
to begin to shape itself out of the
wreckage. Reading the book is an
from which one wakes and then turns
over for "a relieved and refreshing
nap.
Buren, author of "Pippin.'' Indi-
annapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill Com
pany.
NO. 1 am not going to read that
book. / dislike the title. 1t sounds
foolish. And that other title 'Pippin'
j shall not read it Then she did read
il, finding herself thereby, in the COM
charming a piece of fiction as she had
come across in many a day. A girl
tells the story-Zizi- herself-and tells
it like a girl. That is. she tells it
frankly. innocently. honestly: 1t is. in
the main. about a mother-that beauti-
>ful, absent mother who has always to
be away in some vague somewhere from
which she sends money, plenty OF
money. for the two little girls. Zizi and
her sister. living at grandmother's
Zizi, who is finally to go upon the stage
to be great actress. like Sarah Bern
hardt" The mother constantly urging,
Zizi as constantly trying to meet the
urge of a great career. A sacred OBJ
legation, this, to Zizi. So the story
goes on in a sincerity of spirit and a
youthful grace Of avowal that are sheer
captivation to the reader. That the
stage il not, after all, Zizi's career Is
merely a; part OF the fresh enjoyment
of the story asoAswhsit. Hos3
1HE sANuDb9 ,,DStToRee DiSO1tTSoiRI Bg, Arnold
ro Mulder, author of The. Outbound
. Road,' ETC.. Boston Houghton
Mifnin Company.
Among the sand dunes of Lake
Michigan this author places the young
, doctor whose career shapes this
American romance. In the hands OF
Mr. MuIder the dunes themselves COM
pete with the human character in in
dividuality and significance. A new
setting, this. one that emerges alive
out of the authors intimate and ap-
preciatfve hold upon it, The case OF
/. The doctor is sufficiently common
one to give the story wide appeal.
Here is man who is essentially an
Invests gator. prying into the secrets
: OF human weil-being and ili-being.
The business of being a doctor-the
bids for popularity. the glad-handing.
the pretended interest. the whole
make-believe of getting along-is
Quite out of his line. Others out
Strip him. A foolish wife despises
him. The people look upon him with
an amused superiority. His set of
. Values, you see. is quite apart from
!, those of the average. He becomes
absorbed in a case 81 double per-
sonality-a nervous arrangement. And
80 the story goes on through the
career that is called failure to all
except the one making it. At the
last, to be sure. there is a turn toward
the beaten path, toward a waking up
on the part of the wife-but this is
unimportant. 1t is the remarkable
devotion of the writer to the essen
: tials of the young mans character
that gives the work its uncommon
, value. 1t is his simplicity, his insight.
his disregard of the usual trimmings,
= and false appeals in novel making.
! that stand here for the discriminating
: reader's delight.
> PURITAN AND PAGAN. By Eliza
Co. beth E. Corbett, author of ''Cecily
- and the Wide World" etc. New
York: Henry Holt & Co.
This novel has earned for its author
of superior workmanship. Here is a
romance that is consistently plausible
throughout. Its action. besides, runs
along an attractive highway Of human
interest The people supporting it are
alive. More than that, they are worth
knowing, as is the occasional person
that one meets in life. 1t is Il story of
New York, of group of artist folks
in the big city. The particular con-
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