The Washington times., 1922-09-10


the good ship "Narcissus." The
trouble begins early in the book
when Cappy, in the capacity OF
president emeritus of the Blue
Star Navigation Company, sends
these two Irishmen to sea on the
same ship in spite of his misgiv-
ings that they ought to be kept at
least a thousand miles apart. But
as the author says, IF there was
one thing about Cappy You could
depend upon absolutely, 1t was the
consistency Of his Inconsistency"
And II he hadn't put them on the
same ship in this instance, one Of
the most excruciatingly thrilling
knock down -and-drag-ou fights to
be found anywhere in recent fic-
ton would have been lost to the
world! That, however, Is only one
of several riotous battles that are
waged between the covers of the
book, and, collectively, they force
the conclusion that as the narrator
Of a ripping good fight story. Peter
b. Kyne can have few peers
There are several love affairs in
the book, of course-Cappy seems
to enjoy selecting rare species Of
secretaries and then marrying
them off to those rarer young men
who prove capable of standing his
strenuous character tests. An old
friend consults him about a son
who is industrious in nothing but
the sowing Of. wild oats.
"Booze?" asks Cappy.
mo-" Joe Gurney sadly replies.
well then, where did he first
meet this woman?"
In the end old Cappy makes a
man of this boy and loses the best
secretary he had ever found, and
the romance that's packed in be-
tween is rich with that indefinable
quality known as human inter
est" And with Cappy's homely
philosophy, where there's a will,
there's a lawsuit or a heartache-
particularly IL the estate makes It
worth while" The distracted faith.
er had confessed to the accumu.
lation of a fortune.
Most of the successful novels OF
the present time are first tried out
In magazines. In "Cappy Kicks
Retires" Mr.. Kyne has proved HIM
self adroit in weaving together
some of the best materials which
he had earlier used in the form of
short stories; to these he has added
new material and blended the whole
into a book Of generous length. Of
442 pages to be exact, that takes
famous old Cappy through the
most exciting years Of his life and
that is likely to take the reader
himself back through some of the
recent years of his own life. War
years, some of them, but not war
experiences as the average reader
ever knew them. The book Is H.
Illustrated by T. d Skidmore, and,
because Of the fame of its central
character as well as it's intense
narrative interest, II deserves a
permanent place on the book
shelves of the home-it's the kind
of book that friends and children
will still be enjoying in years to
come.
"THE Shadow of the East"
(Small, Maynard & CO... E. NJ.
Hulls successor to The Sheik,"
reached a fourth large printing
within a week of publication.
"TIE Best Plays Of 1921.1922,"
the yearbook of the drama in
America, Nedited by Burns Mantle,
will be issued by Small. Maynard
& Co. late this month.
GILBERT CANNON, Hugh
walpole, ana Brett Young are
English authors scheduled to l-c.
ture in this country in the near
future.
REGINNING this fall, the Mod.
ern Library, instead of pub.
fishing new titles in a group once
each season, will issue a new
volume the 10th of each month.