Evening star., 1922-12-03
Reviews of New Books

l. 4NO" DOOhO
| sonal intimacy with this corner OF
purposes Of his own. ne delegates to
the wise and kind old dominic the
telling OF these tales. And the doma-
| ME turns out to he one OF the trf-
| umphs of the book. Just EVERYDAY
things happen-living and loving.
laughing and crying. and. sometimes,
diving. All of these plain things Mr..
| Adams touches with just enough OF
fancy to give reality the glamour that
lifts 1t into romance. Delicate stores
and kindliness and pure human nature
about them.
RITA COVENTRY. BY Julian Street.
author Of Mysterious Japan" etc.
New York: Doubleday. Page & Co.
The disguise of Rita Coventry.
prima donna. Is as thin and revealing
] as is the diaphanous raiment In which
| this young woman habitually arrays
! herself. One could. without any trou-
BILE whatever, walk straight to her
street and number. provided she has
| not moved to another domicile. How
| ever. the story Is the thing. and not
| the identical substance behind one OF
deal of reserve. considering his provo
cation, Julian Street here sets out two
| types of woman-the artist and, in
the speech and its Interpretation OF
| thirty years ago. the true" woman.
AS a matter of fact. one is as true"
| as the other. since both are whole
heartedly living up to themselves.
Between these two is a mana poor
thing. whichever way you take him.
With the nice girl who loves him he
! plays the cad. With the artist he Is
altogether negligible. To be sure.
! the latter uses him instinctively, for
! time. solely in the interest of the
artistic temperament. The man Is no
| sport. When he comes to, only to
see that he has been used. he acts
| thrashes around generally. Then. this
| being a real story about real life, he
returns to the nice girl, innocently. as
/ II he had never strayed. She knows.
| Trust even true" woman for find
/ ing out things. They are married.
| uneventful matter. but one that gets
| hold of character and temperament
iuncommonly we'll. and without the ex-
| travagance that the subject might
| naturally induce.
ROMANTIC DAYS IN OLD BOSTON.
!, by Mary Caroline Crawford, author
| of Social Life in Old New Eng
| land" etc. illustrated. Boston:
| Little. Brown & Co.
| a huHured years ago Boston paSseo
| from a town into city. This book.
| revised and reprinted. stands as
(, feature in the centennial celebration
of that event. In effect, the volume
becomes a moving picture of Boston
in its reactions to the general spirit
! tury. this. for America. The civil
/ war. reconstruction. political discon-
| tent. social experiment. business de-
preston and. finally. the spreading
- ~1- T,f ,1rr-r tt,af fHa
west and fulfilled the physical unity
of the country. Boston. growing
steadily from town 10 city. reflected
| in full the significance of the period
and partook' actually in many Of its
| most important movements After an
| initial chapter on THE Moulding of
a city" this author follows the lead
| of interest rather than that of log
! ical order. Readers gather distinct
| benefit from this plan. The book is
| vivid and appealing throughout an
/ effect resting. in part, on this selec-
ton of topics and. in other part. upon
! the story telling skill of the author.
Here is the story of the famous Brook
are sketches OF Wendell Phillips and
! Theodore Parker. Society is de-
! scribed as it functioned in those days.
| Th" old theaters and their stars are
| pictured. and the oId-time hostelries
| that passed when the stage gave way
; to the steam car. Boston as a liter
! AIRY center presents again tire distin-
, Euishcd and familiar group whose
! glory is perennially bright. The
f! pleasing informality of this book.
coupled with its good substance of
| fact. gives it a high place in general
! interest and predicts for it an in-
! portan: part in the celebration which
! it is designed to celebrate.
| 4 MORE: HONORABLE MAN. BY Ar
| thur Somers Roche. New York:
/ The Macmillan Company
! This romance of modern life, spe-
officially of modern American life,
serves to throw into contrast the two
outstanding ideals that direct the
lives of men. One of these ideals is
success. material success. The other
!onc is service These are embodied
in two men. such men as one may
meet in every community. Tho story
moves forward spiritedly through the
rapid rise of one of the two in busi-
ness. prosperity. in local power. in
social security. The story, on the
other hand, loiters by the way while
the man of service lends a hand to
those in need OF understanding and
sympathy and practical assistance.
Both come to love the same woman.
The prosperous man gets her. Of
course. The purport of the whole
matter is to state the truth rather
than to point moral. 1t sums. there
i lore, 10 d TedlHFIldIlOH Oh tne IACt
that those who have got more, while
those who have not lose even that
which they have" A very serious
novel. though not quite so serious as
it's author is. That is to say, the
story bears evidence that its author
/ feels himself unable to deliver the
whole import of his message by the
medium of this romance. Now and
then he sets it aside. for the moment,
while he himself, with something like
Il. ,v ut 70
! salient feature of the theme. A little