The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-07-14

BY ALICE LINDSEY WEBB.
Questions gladly answered. Write
me in care of the editor.)
BOOK CHAT
In StevensOns Familiar Studies of
Men and Books" he says: The most
influential books, and the truest in
their influence, are works of fiction.
True love never runs smooth, says
the old proverb. Though there were
times aplenty when Mans love for
Peter looked anything but true to
the uninitiated, it surely was, for
never was rougher road than that
Margaret Pedlar laid out for the at
tractive little heroine of her latest
novel, "The Moon Out Of Reach. (Do-
ran, $3.50. After all the problems and
sociology and politics, and all the
very earnest things in our fiction
lately, it is rather refreshing to find
novel that frankly gives itself up to
nothing but love and more love; ev-
erybody in love with somebody, and
usually with the wrong person, yet
in the end somebody nice for each OF
the fOrlorn, paired off to live more or
less happily in the end. Even the
wicked artist ends by being sorry for
his sins, and has the immense wealth
of his hOmely wife to fall back upon.
1t is good book for holiday reading,
for it makes no demands on the
reader, yet offers interesting people
to meet. 1t is wholesome in its senti-
ment. too, for it lays great stress on
the sacredness of a promise once CIV
en-, martial duty, the Importance Of
like tastes and interests for those who
choose each other for life compan-
ions. The author is no amateur in
reading life. For instance:
There is somewhat pathetic ele-
ment in the way in which so many
people light-heartedly enter into mar
riage, the man confident in his ability
to mould his wife, the woman never
doubling her power to manage him.
1t all seems quite simple during the
adaptable period of engagement, when
romance spreads veil Of glamOr
over the two people concerned, effectu-
ally concealing for the time being the
wide gulf of temperament that lies
between them. 1t is only after the knot
has been tied that the unlooked-for
difficulties of moulding. and managing
present themselves"
Nan very wisely ends by deciding:
you can't judge people. l shall al
ways believe that everyone has little
patch of goodness somewhere. It's the
bit of God in them"
So
The very name of Carolyn Wells
last book. "Ptomaine Street dip
pincott, $1.25) and the reputation OF
its author for saying witty, original
things, were enough to carry this
parody of Harrison's noted novel In
TO four printings in ten weeks.
If you're all fed up with novels and
you're bored to death with history,
IF Won don't like high-brow essays
| And you can't bear tales OF mystery
If you just hate free verse lingo
And sex problems are no treat,
Go get that funny, sunny book called
Ptomaine Street.
! II you're very, very pious, read
The Lives of Ancient Saints;
II YOUR tastes are more domestic, read
The Child and its Complaints;
! If Won have a classic learning, your
Find Homer quite a treat;
p, Rut If YOU want funny book, read
| Ptomaine Street.
tn he entirely frank when re-
viewer says that it usually means, 70
he not entirely complimentary-the
blythe and sportive Carolyn is some
what uneven, not to say ragged, In her
work. In spots Ptomaine Street Is re-
markably clever and amusing and IN
ether spots the author seems Ito dare
parody ourselves),
Standing with reluctant feet
Where the pun and bubble meet
There is the real Carolynian sem
t,ation in the Interpretation that Dr.
Bill Petticoat gives his unaesthetie
wife of the new poetry and its "influ.
Iences." And there is the Mack Senne'
Marty his wife gives. in her attempt &c