Evening star., 1922-03-05
Reviews of New Books
Of Wisconsin. New York: The Cen
tury Company.

Of Wisconsin. New York: The Gen.
tury Company.
From Fashoda to Serajevo-1SsS tc
1914-stands as an important period
OF French colonial expansion, and BY
reason Of this expansion 1t stands
also as q critical period in the gen
countries Of Europe. 1t was around
the first of these two dates that there
began the common European scram'
BILE for points Of advantage in Chihs
"a fruitful source Of friction In Eu'
rope. The Fashoda incident. too
stood as a threat between Englane
many and Austria. was an uncomfort.
able neighbor. The activities o.
France in Morocco became the target
for German suspicion and activity
leading to the Algeciras conference
practically forced by the kaiser, ane
later to the dispatch Of the Panthe,
against France by Germany. This
roughly, Is the field through which
this authority presents the foreigr
policy of France. The outstanding
feature Of this policy Is the ultimate
friendship formed between Franc.
and England. The outstanding mar
Of this achievement is M. Delcasse, te
whom throughout this friendship
stood as the end and aim Of his fint
craftsmanship and genuine patriot
ism. Other important ends were
gained-commercial intsrco1rse will J
standing OF of Germany-but. fai
above all these, was the renewed
friendship with England. an accom-.
plishment that was greatly advanced
by the wisdom of Edward VII. Tht
study forms an authoritative and op'
- Narfoir YnhQ ~
of French expansion with its particu'
lar political implications and facts
1t gives also q bird's-eye view OF the
political aims and standing Of othel
European countries in their foreign
relations. 1t is, besides. an intensel,
reader. since 1t is big in its outlooi
and perfectly simple and unstilted II
its manner.
ERNEST RENAN. By Lewis Freeman
Mott, professor of English in the
College of the City of New York
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
In an evenly balanced spirit Of crit
ical appraisal Dr. Mott here makes
study o. the work and influence o'
Ernest. h an. He begins with thu
boy in the 5reton village Of Treguiel
hood. since all the men here ar'
priests or fishermen. He follows or
to the time when the boy, grown old
er and away at. school, renounces thi!
vocation. drifting here and there ir
pursuit of his own life. He leads ont
to the later thinkings and writing:
of this young mana new order o.
thinking, a new quality of writing
work that finally made each Of hi:
literary productions an event In the
French world of letters. subject Of
discussion and contention. Through
4 hi Evap Wiz ura
of France-glimpses OF the revolu.
ton of '4S. Of the second empire. Of
the Franco-Prussian war. OF all tina,
pertains to the Intellectual life OF
his time. Out of 1t all there emerges
a great personality. Here is a wide.
phase Of life and thought. Within
it's own hospitab;e recesses thi.
spirit transmutes the current lines oi
theological and political and philo'
sophical thought. humanizing thu
whole. undermining it. touching y
own personality. 1t is the man him.
self here that counts. since it is the
man who has produced this flexible
and influential body of essentially
modern thought. The work is fair.
minded setting down Of the salient
AS often as this is possible Remains
own work becomes a part of this
body of evidence. The whole Is OF
great value-an illuminating and in
teresting study Of a famous and no.
BILE subject.
THE GATELESS BARRIER. By Lucas
Malet, author Of "Sir Richard Cal
mady,'' etc. Ne-v York: Dodd
Mead & Co.
This is a ghost story. The ghost is
a lovely lady of the eighteenth cen
place where disembodied souls are
supposed to- feregather. this resolute
lady betook herself back to her old
home, Stoke Rivers. In England
where in a remote part Of the ancient
house she resumed some OF the be-
loved associations Of bodily life. How
long she had been going this no one
knows. She might never have been
discovered had not Laurence Rivers
been summoned from America to
wait upon the death of the old man
who stood between him and the pos
session of Stokes Rivers. In the
tedium Of waiting for a dead mans
shoes Laurence ransacked long un-
used corners of the great house. I,
was he who came upon the lady
More than that. he fell in love with
her-fell deep in love with q ghost
And months Of romance went by be.
good and all, from further mundane
fittings. And these turn out to be
ideal months, despite the unseizable
the elusive character of the object OF
the young mans passion. Its enect
is that Of seeing ones ideal, ones
dream, sufficiently embodied to salts.
of ones self. 1t Is well done, well
carried out to meet just this purpose
THE DEVIL DRIVES. BY E. W. Saw
author of Banked Fires" etc
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Every British post in India appears
to support at least one hard-Workine
English administrator possessed OF u
pretty and foolish wife who raises the
devil generally, while the good nus.
band Is buried in official tasks. u
is q lady of this stripe who. out OF
tions, high and deep, in the way OF
a youthful romance Just setting out
on its unsteady way, in the fashion
of all romances. It is only fair to
say right here that the wicked lady
repented in ample time to convince
life's devotion had been his unfail'
ingly. Such avowal came only, how.
ever, after she had played her last
card in the game Of shutting OF the
romance. This card was evidence
of the written and testamentary sort
that insanity was IN tne Dloeo u
the young lover, and with the evi.
dence was coupled command against
marriage and its fateful legacy to
posterity. All wrong, as 1t turned
out. The point. however, takes one
back to the very long prologue tc
this story tragic little drama en-
bodying madness as the most disas'
trous Of legacies. This prologue
serves ultimately to turn the climax
Of the romance the right way, giving
the sort Of rounding of that most
peopie exact in their reading of nov.
els. Just q hint of overstrain. q touch
Of meiodrama, lies in the situation
out Of which the romance develops
Once out Of England and over int