Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-02-06
A SHORT LIFE OF MARK TWAIN.
BY Albert Bigelow Paine. author of
Mark Twain; A Biography" etc.
New York: Harper & Bros.


By Albert Bigelow Paine. author of
Mark Twain; A, Biography" etc.
New York: Harper & Bros.
IH n the afternoon of 2 spring
day in the year 1853 there
appeared in the little viii
lage of Florida, Mo-,
family Of six persons, arriving after
long journey from that dim region
known as the Knobs of East Ten
nessee." Starts off like a story, you
see. And so it continues to the end.
Mr.. Paine, out of his intimate COM
radeship with Mark Twain. out of
his much writing on this subject
as we'll. has been able to extract
from the life of his friend just those
vital and revealing points that build
this handy and generally available
volume. 1t is all here in high lights
that pick out-the humble BIRTH
place. the old fashioned school. the
the writer. the entertainer, the
tramp. the traveler-with the rest of
the variety, the activity and the
charm that contributed to the per-
sonality of Mark Twain. A delight
full and useful book, ready to the
hand of everybody.
TOLD IN THE EAST. BY Talbot Mum
dy, author of 1.-The Ivory Trail"
etc. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Mer-
rill Company.
From the word "Gow everything
huns in a Talbot Mundy story of the
orient. Action plunges ahead in what
looks like a mere helter-skelter.
Scenes, richly exotic. flash by. Incl
dents. novel and usually sinister dart
out by the way. Mysterious hostilities
pile up in disconcerting barricades.
Tortuous intrigues entangle the
course. Then-in a triumphant sweep
these diverse elements blend to an
astonishing climax of picturesque
event. To exciting adventure here are
added both the spirit and the atmos-
phere of one or another of the Sc
cret corners of British-ruled India.
The tables of this volume serve to
re-emphasize the fact that Talbot
Mundy is 4 capital story teller in the
oriental field. Two of these adven-
lures go back to the Indian mutiny,
in 1857. The remaining one is an
Arabian tale with slant Of eastern
humor in it's unfolding. The first and
longest story covers the imperial
service of Sergt. William Brown
Bill Brown-with his squad of twelve
men at a certain Indian crossroads,
and. later. devotes itself to Browns
part in the rescue of a handful of
white women from the already sacked
and looted city of Jailpore. Bill
Brown is a little CROMWELL senti-
mental. psalm singing fighter. who
has not yet reached the high station
where, like Cromwell, he has to lie
and pretend more than is good for
any man to do. You will delight in
Bill Brown and the whole story that
surrounds him. You will like, almost
as we'll, the remaining two adven-
lures of this volume.
BLACK GOLD. By L. Elwyn Elliott,
author of Brazil. Today and To-
morrow etc. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
Mr.. Elliott is quite under the spell
judgment and his Imagination pay
tribute to it. Under the former, he
has made more than one serious and
considerable discussion of the region
from the standpoint Of its industrial
potentiality. Under the latter, he
projects the novel in hand. And, in
reality. this novel is romance of the
Amazon country itself. An English
opera company, come across to pick
up South American gold. is the sur
face medium of this adventure. It's
slow passage up the Amazon serves to
bring out, in very sympathetic
artistry, the impressive personality of
the great river. 1t defines, as we'll, in
friendly intimacy of detail. the daily
moods that possess the river, in it's
shifting contacts with the impene-
trable depth and mystery of the wood
ed shores that stand beside it. Ar
rived. far upstream. at the city of
Manaos, the members of the company
the ladies of the company-serve to
fire the infiammable Latins to ardors
of love-making. political intrigue. and
a fierce jealousy of the inroads of the
competent men who have come over
to promote the rubber industry. The 4
rubber is the black gold" over
whose quest much Of the excitement
of the love story that moves along
here is created. Two women and a
single Englishman serve as make
weight against the temperamental