The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-02-05
BOOKS in BRIEF

orath departs from his usual Gus
tom.
Once the incurable romanticist
aid: "It In my business primarily
10 lead the heroine through more
or less exciting episodes to the
altar. II afterward she throws
the dishes at hubby's head that is
no affair of NINE" 'r
But In "The Ragged Edge" Mr..
MacGrath has written far more
than q romance; he has written q
study OF character as 1t is assailed
and nodded by the subtle languors
Of the South Seas. Spurlock, the
young Yale man adrift in Canton
trying to drown a New England
conscience in drink. and Ruth
Enschede. ''the dawn pearl" who
had never owned a doll and had
grown UP on her fathers island
in the South Seas starved for
human affection, met in Canton,
the enchanted city, the man fleeing
from the memory of a crime, the
girl on her way to explore the
world.
When Spurlock, poisoned by
hquor consumed in exploring the
night life of the oriental city and
thwarted in his quixotic effort 10
buy the freedom Of a sing sing girl.
fell dangerously i'll, 1t seemed but
natural to Ruth that she should
put off her journey to nurse him.
To the mans weakened vision
the girl was a talisman which
might save him from himself. In
q moment of weakness he married
her without love. The interplay Of
these two appealing characters
working out the strange purposes
Of life on an island plantation In
the China Sea il a story Of rare
charm and power.
ssPoEMs AND PORTRAITS"
Don Marquis new book
Doubleday Page & Coz, is Of two
parts, fantasies and savage Dor
trait sketches.
The poems are a collection Of
haunting, wistful, tender, cerie
fancies that have sometimes in
trigued the keeper Of the sun
DIAL" and lifted him above the
fever and turmoil Of the crowded
day.
He sings of the lonely ghost
mourning his sweet solid body,
drifting less than the starlight
among the living; Of the towers Of
Manhattan that soar like a lyric in
stone; of Jesus, the wistful vaga-
bond, whose love led men the Hap
pier Way; Of springs Of aching
ecstasy. and of Egyptian prin-
cesses folded In their cases like
mummied lotus flowers.
The latter. half. Savage Por-
traits" Ia a series Of ironic carica-
lures of the personified vices, the
petty WEAKNESSES and poses that
we all recognize in the people
about US and Of which we are
sometimes uneasily conscious In
ourselves.
The book reveals the conductor
of the SUN Dial" in a new guise.
that Of the exquisite, sensitive.
brooding dreamer whom one has
often sensed behind the scintillat-
ing Jest.
MUCH of the puzzling as to the
facts concerning the senti-
ments. condition and policy Of the
European nations today will be set
at rest by Stephen Graham's new
book. Europe Whittier ound%"
%. Appleton q Coz. An example
Of this ID seen in the chapter which
Mr.. Graham devotes to Paris" in
his account Of his tour Of the
capitals to feel the pulse of Eu-
rope.
Frances part in the Washington
conference, and at the meetings at
Cannes, Is made exceedingly under
standable by Mr.. Graham. What
he saw and what he heard in Paris
leads him to point ont the fact that
France today is the dominating
force, second to none, in European
politics. The whip hand is hers
and to her all the flock Of newly
created nations turns for the max.
ing of the first move in any quar-
tar.
Politically and mentally France
stands, says Mr.. Graham, higher
than at any time since the great
Napoleon. or absorbing interest
10 Mr.. Graham's vivid contrast
Of the atmosphere of Paris today
with that Of the other capitals,
and his discussion as to the rea-
sons he discovered for Frances
present attitude are Of great signi-
ficance. And for the other ma
tons this author does what he
Ranks In MemanH