davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-04-20

ANNOUNCE MESSAGE CIRCLE.
The Christian Spiritual church
will give a message circle and social
Wednesday night az the home of
Mrs. NJ. Knisei. 1447 :. Michigan ST.
Rev. NJ. A. G. Howe viii be ln
charge OF the meeting.
South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-04-20

Try NEWS-TIlfES Want Ids
South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-04-20

Here is opening Thursday and continuing Friday
and Saturday did not start in this store but in the
wholesalers and manufacturers anxious to
CLOSE OUT big quantity of goods greatly reduced
pricewe took them up, and offering to you for three
days only the greatest saving in years. BE HERE
EARLY-SALE STARTS THURSDAY.
The New York herald., 1921-05-08
But he cannot escape himself

matist. Such an outline sounds melo-
dramatic but the reality OF the book
iS not so. To handle such material
without extravaganza requires fine ar
tistic ability.
One trouble with any such rresenta-
ton of the abnormal genius is that
the reader must accept the superlative
quality of his work as a primary post
ulate and ~ offset TO his eccentricity.
But Miss Neheyne succeeds very well
in creating that impression one ac-
cepts Bulver a. all she claims. Some
times one believes In him just be-
cause he Is incredble-but one does
believe.
Among the minor characters are some
bitingly realistic portraits, drawn, one
feels sure, from the living model--for
instance. the vicious critic showily
whiskered and malicious, a vegetarian
and mountebank, whose first name re-
mains Bernard. The women of the
book are exceedingly we'll done-vivid
types. And whatever one may think
Of the hero he Is unquestionably very
much alive in Miss Veheyne's por-
trayal
The New York herald., 1921-05-08

cheap and dubious cafe in Ajaccio, and
her life is of a piece with the character
of that resort. Through the agency
of the novelist she meets the British
Consul who falls in love with her,
partly because her blindness pre-
vents her from being repulsed by the
sight of his withered hand. With an
eve to the chance of being rescued
from her workaday life Mabel Cain
agrees to marry the Consul. And then
the secretary tells the Consul that she
has knowledge Mabel Gains sight can
be restored by an operation.
AT the Consul's expense Mabel goes
to Paris, her sight is restored, and with
that gift comes revulsion against the
Consul. She runs away with his uncle.
introduced into the plot apparently for
no other purpose. In his turn the
Consul loses his sight and with blind
ness comes understanding Of the real
worth of his secretary. And the tale
closes with her return and their recon-
ciliation. The story is a curious COM
bination of Latinesque realism and
emphasis upon the moralities.
The New York herald., 1921-05-08
We're t'other dear
charmer away

THE KNIGHT OF LONELY LAND.
By Evelyn Campbell Little. Brown
4 Co.
TN many respects this is the typical
Western story The scene OF
4 course is region of mountains
and primitive desolation; the hero is a
man Of the rough and ready" type.
unpolished externally but actually the
very soul OF chivalry; the situations
have to do with riding. with "ruStling'
cattle. with shooting. with adventure,
and with narrow escapes from death; /;
and as if this were not sufficient, we
occasionally get an increased thrill by
glimpse of real blood.
But, as one might know without
even being told. the terror and adj
venture are subservient to the love
theme. In some respects the love
story is built along conventional lines.
and in some respects ii Is unique; we
have something like the old triangle. :
the respective points Of which are oc-
cupied by man and two women. but
the ultimate solution of the situation
is anything but what we might have
expected. One Of the women is re-
cent arrival from England, who falsely
believes the hero to be In the employ
of her uncle. and unceremonously
throws herself upon his hospitality: I:
the other. niclxnamed "Brtches." is a
native OF the West. an adept In the
art Of the gun and Of the saddle.
Through most OF tho book the mans
incli Nltions lean toward tho English
woman. whose inclinations also lean
toward him. "Britches" endoavors by
craft 10 rid herself of her rival but
ultimately rodeems herself by rlsklng
her life for the man she loves; and
after this event there Is nothing for
the man TO do but chivalrously find
that the love is mutual AS for the
Englishwoman, She Is disposed OF CON
veniently by the opportune arrival OF
lover from across the sea.
From this summary one may divine
that the chief merit Of the book Is it's
ability to entertain The plot on the
whole is well worked out. and the story
is interesting; but II IS marred hv a
TOO liberal sprinkling Of tho melodra-
matte, and is not always convincing.
II is exactly tho tyne Of tale that one
might expect to see as a motion pic
ture thriller"
The New York herald., 1921-05-08
Her mother was
too good looking

BLIND NICE. BY G. kay Scott George
IL. Doran Company
T HE mother-in-law joke usually
assumes maternal interference
4 in a family through affection
for the married son or daughter
and criticism Of the others spouse.
Mr.. Scott has reversed this formula
and shown a woman 50 vain and
pretty that she breaks up happy
home by turning her sin-in-law
against the daughter. Mrs. Merwent
was the spoiled child or a South
crn family Her irrtability and peev-
ishness caused her husband 10 leave
her. and when her daughter married
John Winter her criticism was very
bitter. Therefore her announced visit
was dreaded by both. When she en-
tered the household she al once began
TO flattor and pet John until he felt
that his wife had been unjust TO her
own mother. She broke up the friend
ship John had for Jim Sprague and
caused the family to indulge IN need
less extravaganza. Worry made the
daughter III. a conspiracy Of friends
caused tho mother to return 10 the
sunny South, but tho damage that her
visit had caused was irreparabie
The author realizes that buck was
right in saying What fools these
mortals be-" and he has shown the
tragic side OF human folly. Mrs. Mcr-
went is a character 50 well portrayed
IN her semi-unconscious malignity
that she seems TO step out OF Balzac,
The New York herald., 1921-05-08
Irrigation makes
romance blossom
Reviewed by MARTHA McCUL.
LOCH-WILLIAMS.
THE DESERT FIDDLER. BY William
II. Handy. Doubleday. Page & CO.
.THE Desert Fiddler has .

s.THE Desert Fiddler has
trace of novelty notwith-
standing it lives up to the
Handy hallmark by being of the
West, Western. Its scene is the Won
derful Imperial Valley just where the
international boundary separates Ari-
zona and Mexico. Irrigation makes
the Imperial outrival the Nile Valley.
Also and further. cotton culture makes
it outrival the richest bonanza The
YaZoo Delta even cannot stand beside
il in yield, provided, of course. it gets
water enough. and at the right time.
r In this proviso lies a gamble of hui
man interests almost as hazardous as
the gamble of the seasons or the floods.
Irrigation means water companies; in
dividual effort is hopeless. Whose con-
trolls water holds the cotton planters
III the hollow of his hand If addi-
tionally the holder Is leagued with
capitalists who have made advances to
actual growers. the plot thicSens with
out the least trouble TO its recorder in
romance
Bob Rogeen, the desert fiddler, learns
Of death. at the end of incredible hard
ships Cotton profits seduce him into
quitting his job as motor salesman 10
take over Canch. at great bargain
to be sure. but with the disadvantage
of making the venture upon borrowed
money. Follow wonderful pictures Of
life and work. and human nature-a
kaleidoscope indeed of humanity i'm the
raw. There is ,irl of course what
book can survive going without one.
unless it is signed by q Conrad or a
Stevenson? She is the adventurous
daughter Of a mild college professor,
whom she has induced TO exchange
genteel starvation spiritual acd physi-
cal. in fresh water college town for
the alluring freedom Of this strange
new West. She is coveted. the paternal
ranch likewise. by Reedy Jenkins, the
villain of the tale. who. failing to win
her, plots to ruin her and the poor
young rival, whose success is grit in
his teeth.
If jenkins Is unscrupulous and
lcagued with craftier Mexican officials.
Rogeen has wit and pluck. and friends
I'm need and deed. To tell categorically
the tale of this struggle would be un-
fair alike to writer and prospective
readers Bob gets the girl-that goes
without saying And Jenkins gets his
come e-uppance--in q manner neat, hui
morous and splendidly efficient. The
only character left with a reasonable
grievance is the fiddle. Notwithstand-
Ing it stands godfather. IS Il were, 10
the volume, IL Is hardly even second
fiddle throughout the telling. Which Is
manifestly unfair. Let US hope that
the lucklcss Instrument takes its re-
venge by soundngs dirgelke when II
should be gay~
The New York herald., 1921-05-08

ring discords that Williams inexorable
pursuit and attack OF the wicked
brought down upon them II should
have been proud of him and satisfied"
she writes, since for SO many years !
had craved easement from the sterner
doctrines of salvation. But / was not
proud of him. I was terribly uneasy
about him and his water and sand
gospel"
Her son mounts upward, despite her
concern, and goes each year to a bet
ter church and is finally made preach
er in the most important church in
the jurisdiction Of the Conference The
old woman cinGs to the church's past
glory and secs in Peters philosophical
sermons a retrogression. She con-
fesses that she is old fashioned and
tal<ative. and we WHO read are in
clined to nod and agree. Nevertheless,
she gives utterance to many just criti-
cisms Of the modern church and some
splendid interpretations and charac-
terizations of the people in the pews.
She stands where the church to-day
stands and her quandary is the
church's quandary. She stands be-
tween her husband the ascetic, for
ever wrestling with his soul, and her
son. the glib pulpit entertainer. or the
latter type she says: Their hearts do
not burn their lips have not been
touched with holy fire. They lack
some awful quality of spirit which the
old preachers had and which they
have not" Her loyalty is with the old,
and with her aid the son returns to
the way of his father.
She has many opinions and she ex-
presses them They range over the
field of politics, the press, the war,
opinions strained through the cloth of
goodness. which, despite the fact that
she is a sweet old woman with the
courage to sit>beside the bed of dying
harlot. is a severe blue law type Of
goodness. The expression of these
opinions. together with her broodings
over her son, sands the tracks of the
narrative and for a time il drags. In
the end Peter finds his soul, wrestles
with ii, enierges victor and almost i'm
mediately afterward falls in love with
4 girl withNa verse Of goodness" face.
The beginning of the story promises
beautifully, but. like many precocious
things. it disappoints. The middle says
and the ending is forced. 1t is to be
regretted that Mrs. Harris abandoned
the personal element as set forth In
the early portion Of the book for the |
business of propaganda. There she
deals sympatletically and simply with |
the situation in which the old mother
tired of the ricors of a circuit riders
life. longs TO escape. Her acceptance
OF her fate and her solictude for her
son. who is more wrapped up in pleas
ing than in saving his congregation, Is
also well wrought. We are, however,
inclined to doubt that the old woman /
would have accepted her sons choice
Of the ministry without a peep Of pro-
test or at least an attempt at dis
suasion or discussion. The explana- |
ton IL sufficiently convincing for the
purposes Of the story. Once Peter Is
under way in the ministry the propa-
ganda commences and the Remainder
Of the book might have been written
~ an interested religious publicity de7
partment
The New York herald., 1921-05-08
Eyes have they
but they see not
THE CURTAIN by Alexander Mac
farian. Dodd Mead & Co.

THE CURTATN.s by Alexander Mac
farlan Dodd. Mead 4 Co.
~ L1NDNEss, we take it, Is the
. curtain" Of Alexander Mac
farlan's novel Of exotic. pas
sonate life on the island Of Corsica
that he sets down in a staccato style
which Is not without certain~amount
of force His tale concerns a manned
undulv sensitive and fairly worthless
British Consul: q British spinster who
acts as the Consul's secretary for lit
tie money and a great love; and one
Mabel. Cain, one OF the immortal type
OF women whom IL has become the
fashion to call immoral; a novelist
acting as chorus and character IN the
concerned quartet
Mabel Cain is a blind violinist in a
The New York herald., 1921-05-08

but to a certain point. Thus Anderson
and Dell. by the very keenness Of their
inward eye. miss that shade of uni
versatility which in great part We learn
To. look for, and which in "Zell" we
find
For instance, more poignant than
the main struggle of the citizen and
artist in Avery Zell is the brother
and sister relation of Avery and Wini-
fred. 1t grows, through self sacrifice,
from the miserable friction of early
years into a calm bond of affection.
Significant also for this point of
view. that instructive father love
which keeps Avery from breaking up
his life TO follow art. a letter from
Inez, the girl who would have shared
his musical career, elicits a whispered
Damn" Then, says the book, Avery
abruptly folded the letter and stuffed
it into his pocket" This is quite all
we know of his thoughts until, at the
opera. bearing Inez sing "Connais-
tn lie pays" from Mignon he wonders:
"1nez Copeland has found complete
self f-expression. And how would it
be with me if I had gomez"
This is for him moment of aware
ness: he is "on the threshold Of one
of those rare intervals when one
really sees oneself" Yet in Avery
the American citizen, there is no
despair IF some one could only
have done for me what shall do for
my SON" he thought. "Self-expres-
sion is the deepest of human neces
stiles. yet no one shows us how to
achieve 1t. Either we never find it
at all or else we stumble upon it
after years of wastage-too late. !.
Still! he felt strangely at peace. He
would never have to worry about
money again and he had found
himself somewhat in his work.
Thus. it is characteristic of us
Americans that we realize. without
emotional agony, our situation.
The New York herald., 1921-05-08
Reviewed by
ELIZABETH HOUGHTON.
TIME old question, What is Anne,

T HE old question, What is Amer
icanism?" would seem to be.
for thoughtful people. better
answered by the modern novelist than
by the National Security League or the
Intelligent weeklies." Sectional and
class specialists such as Mary +. Will
kins Freeman for New England,or for
the country club layer of society, f.
Scott Fitzgerald. may light up their
own corners of 1t. They are perhaps not
so near the centre of the controversy
as Sherwood Anderson, Floyd Dell or
that typographical artist Mr.. Sinclair
Lewis. since in the middle West the
fusion of peoples makes for a more
general approach to literature. Henry
G. Aikman in "Zell" is warmest of all
| in the search
Eel" strikes first as a good story
put together by faithful craftsman.
1t is not a nervous book. In the scene
where Agatha and the children visit
the faithless husband there an, climax
and restraint; very nearly air of the
situations chosen have dramatic value.
Even stronger rings out the sureness
of tone--a tone which might be called
the un-intensity with which the Ameri-
can goes to meet life experiences, ex-
cepting only the much advertised stock
exchange game.
As rule the American business man
who finds that his wife prefers an ar
tist hesitates--be il vanity or fear that
prevents action He breads sympathy
as much as the garishness of public
print. He keeps silence. The excess
in feeling of the Slav is foreign to
us because we have not that limpid
mind which for the Slav reflects clear
ly all his emotional tremors. With
us analysis, of the mental sort, goes
The New York herald., 1921-05-08

THE TRAGIC BRIDE. BY FRANCIS
Brett Young. f, p. Dutton & Co.
A LTHOUGH a vein of tragedy
II runs through this novel the
title is trifle misleading For
the story does not deal primarily with
the tragedy of great emotions leading
TO an Overwhelming catastrophe;
rather it is the tragedy OF slow decay,
the tragedy Of maladaptation, of a
square peg i'm a round hole and of the
resulting friction. In the beginning
we have an atmosphere of rustic
beauty and simplicity as the scene of
glamorous love affair; then with
iolting suddenness occurs the one un-
questionable tragedy of the book--a
tragedy Of accident rather than the
more dramatic tragedy Of character
the lovers are strolling through the
hills the man stumbles and the gun
he is carrying Is discharged and blows
out his brains
This hideous conclusion to a pictur-
esque romance constitutes the begin
ming rather than the end Of the story.
The girl. Gabrielle Hewish is stunned
by the blow; she is forced, under cir
cumstances which are not entirely
convincing, TO marry a man many
years her senior; and the rest of the
book Is devoted to the difficulties aris-
ing from the incompatibility of tenn
peraments. In most respects these
difficulties are rather shadowy, indi-
Gated rather than described: i'm only
one regard does the author dwell on
them In detail. That is in relation to
Arthur Payne. boy who comes to
Gabrielle's husband as a student and
who ultimately falls in love with the
wife. The love is returned, although
the husband does not seem even To
suspect IL, but it is discovered by the
boys mother who sets a trap for the
pair and definitely succeeds In part
ing them. The last we hear of Gabri-
ellie is that she has been exonerated
by jury for the death Of her husband,
who was killed by q mysterious but
presumably accidental shot when out
hunting.
The ending of the book is rather
disappointing. 1t Is too indefinite, too
noncommittal; il Is as if the author
was content merely to outline what Il
was his duty to portray in detail He
concludes the book with the abrupt
ness with which one might end Il
play; but while. with a drama the
method might be effective Il is dis
appointingly sudden In the case of a
novel which aims TO trace the entire
career OF the characters instead OF
merely to afford us flashes of the
most intense scenes.
But the book on the whole is well
done. the characters are clearly drawn.
the situations are interesting and vi
tai In spite of its pathos the ,cory
IS interfused with beauty; in spite Of
the sense It gives us Of a disappoint-
ment and futility In life there il much
III Il that tells of youthful enthusiasm
and happiness and hope. And more
important II leaves one with the sense
that what II has depicted are real hu-
man experiences.
The New York herald., 1921-05-08

ested in the matter to believe that
the truth goes considerably deeper.
The various persons who make up the
family which gives this book its title
are Americans, sure enough, but
rooted in the soil as they are it is
strange to find how little essence of il
clings to them. What is the diff
culty?~
The story proceeds along simple,
realistic lines, and so far 50 good. Its
personnel is easily recognizable from
old farmer Dixon, shrewd buyer, re-
storer and seller (at profit) of aban-
doned farms, down to his great-grand-
son, who becomes after his war ex-
perience "over there" q student of
socialism, yet true as the individuals
are to type they arouse but a languid
interest Perhaps the trouble lies in.
the author herself. who seans unable
to do more than scratch the soil.
Surely Americanism is not a trait an
tagonistic to great ideals, to passion
and enthusiasm These qualities are
absent, and so is that admittedly ma
tional trait, our humor.
With ample fiecks Of color 10 choose
from the author has used too much
white in her brush with a resulting
tameness. If she had thrown her
brush recklessly now and then into
the red and yellow and green her
style Of story telling might have suf-
fered, but her story would have
pleased more readers. Without the
sharp burin of Jane Austen to
scratch up high light here and there
on-a. pallid page no novelist OF her
genre can hope to equal the success
of that ancient spinster.
The New York herald., 1921-05-08


\ 6R. FORD has established re-
Nj putation as a humorist. His
writings abound with that
fflppant give and take which is styled
american humor" This hero, Shorty
McCabe. might well do a turn in
vaudeville. He appeals to our
democratic desire to see the rough
put one over on the highbrow. The
first episode in this volume shows
Shorty having 4 run-in/with one of
his classiest friends. Lionel Pinck-
1ey Ogden Bruce. We suspect that in
writing his account Of the conversa-
ton shorty put in some Of the things
which he felt he ought to have said.
Honest now, Pinckney.' says /,
"can you remember ever havin done
anything useful in your life?"
Lets see" says he rubbing his chin
with the crook end Of his walking
stick thoughtful Wouldn't you count
being best man at some twenty odd
weddings.
Ruled out say /. "You may think
that's your steady job. but 1t amt;
it's Just a habit. One more guess"
Well" says he. II don't know that
/ can recall--oh. say. thought
Surely ] can. Didn't | invent a new
cocktail once? Why the fellows still
talk about"
Disqualified" says |. Besides you'd
better forget that you ever had crimi-
nal instincts like that. In year OF
two more q confession Of that sort
would send YOU to jail"
You mean" said Pinckney. that
cocktail mixing will be regarded MS
compounding a felony? Oh | say
Shorty, but that's rather good, you
know"
You're welcome to the serial rights
say !.
Two things should be said about
this book 1t was written by Sewell
Ford. not the sage Of Detroit. For
them as likes II, that's the sort of
thing they like.