Evening star., 1922-09-24

THE SUNDAY
resenting Mark Hanna a. dominat-
ing William Mckinley. Mckinley
was Mark Hanna's ideal" and he
goes on in fine ampliacation Of this
fact. The whole book is a delight.
II one were recommending special
points Of interest he would be COM
PEELED to ADVISE taking all Of It, even
the boyish tribute OF Booth Tarking-
ton, who, by way Of Introduction,
tries to say what w. A. Rogers was
Tyler" and "Mr. Stubbs' Brother" OF
course. the illustrations here are q
very large part Of the keen interest
of the whole.
THE CHAIN; A Novel. By Charles
Hanson Towne. New York: G. p.
Putnam's Sons.
A very natural story, quite free
from eXaggeration or artificial sup
port OF any sort. John Darrow. lured
by seeing a couple of his poems In
print. goes from his upstate village
for himself. This is the story Of
John Darrow. 1t goes back only
about thirty years. But New York.
even 50 lately as that, had nothing
of its present high blood pressure,
and one likes immensely the normal
suppleness Of its movement. tho rela.
lively simple drift OF Its great cur
rents. This background is one OF
the enjoyable parts Of the story.
John Darrow, Of course, Is the center
OF interest. And here one finds just
the nataural development of decent
young fellow. little gifted, more
than little ambitious, who finally
becomes part OF an intensely inter
esting group of New York writer's.
And it is the vividness of these peo-
pie thai makes another wholly de-
lightful part of the story. The growth
of young Darrow in these surround
ings Is a wholly believable matter;
success as elusive. as hard to eaten.
with him as with the actual young
man walking the streets looking for
his chance. A natural story of SYM
pathetic and keen insight as well as
a pleasingly realistic picture Of one
Of the many professional groups that
belong to the great city.
THE CONFESSIONS OF A WELL
MEANING WOMAN. By Stephen
McKenna. author of SONIA" etc.
New York: George H. Doran COM
pany.
Lady Ann talks herself out here to
"a friend OF proved discretion" I'm
and discreet listener Mr.. McKenna
leads Lady Ann into q maze OF conf-
dences from which emerges a IA
miliar and amusing type Of woman.
Lady Ann has troubles-speciflcail
two. 'One Is the chronic need of
for her son. who certainly needs all
the support that. by hook or crook.
can be made available. since witain
himself he has no means Of support
whatever. 1t 10 easy to SEQ what Mr..
McKenna can do with a woman OF
these preposssssions. And he does it
all. Not a satire--not enough edge
to it for that. Instead. it is = clever
ard highly diverting bit of character
work. whose subject is so familiar
as to furnish the reader with the
means of critical appraisal as we'll as
with a medium Of sheer enjoyment.
A deliciously foolish woman to whom
tice.
SEA .wRACK. BY We're Hutchinson.
New York: Tho Century Company.
This romance Is Of the seas max
ing. 1t made the sands and rock Of
land. 1t set the coarse sea grass Of
its fields. It made the people. shap-
ing their minds and habits to the
| sullen moods of the sea. Its hero
was. in the beginning, a bit OF sea
wrack washed UP from a broken ship
occasional seconds of subsistence.
Strong passions dominate the charac-
ters. It IL a love story. But that IL
neither hero nor there. For it is
above everything else strong and
thrilling impersonation of the sea
order. One marvels at the mastery
Of this young writer over tools OF
| such comprehension. such feeling.
such power to convert this mon-
strous and fearsome thing into terms
Of human thought and feeling. Get.
this romance. one begins to wonder
what this writer can possibly do
next. Certainly she cannot keep UP
the pitch and tone Of "Sea Wrack."
THE CAVE WOMAN. BY Noryal Rich
ardSon, author Of pagan Fire, -
etc. New York: Charles Scribner'E
Sons.
To desire and to take. That is the
cavo man. The author here trans
fers this formula to the female of
the tribe. For the sake Of his story.
he then projects this cave woman
into the present. The story opens In
southern Italy. where the cave lady
ia out for love-. having already de-
sired and gathered in bundles Of
money away back in California. In
a villa Of Capri lives q young writer
takes but one look at this man to
convince the woman that he 10 her
quarry. Her crusade, II 50 primitive
an assault may be called q crusade,
makes, the story. Mr.. Richardson has
here set himself a stable job. This
is modern incident. The bludgeon.
this lady's natural weapon. is hope
lessly out Of date. Moreover, 1t Is
his obvious intent to make q decent
and appealing fellow out Of the pro-
posed victim And to tho extent that
young Hogarth makes his way with
the reader, to that extent must the
machinations Of the lady be marked
tribe ovsrcivilized. 4 very attrAc-
| tive man, though. A fne study in
contrast evolves these two charac-
ters. There is some excellent work
along the course Of this ROMANCE
Intelligent and perceptlvs character
possible line Of behavior between
these two extremes Of personal mo-
tive and action, q decidedly fresh
theme. The >end is clearly melo-
dramatic. Nevertheless. the story is
interesting in it's vivid boldness.
THE CRUISE OF THE HIPPOCAM-
rus. BY Alfred r. Loomis. New
York: The Century Company.
Since the ''Kawa" one approaches
a "cruise'' with caution. The Hip
pocampus," however, Immediately
establishes herself, an actual bit OF
seacraft. her crew three real adven-
turers down the Atlantic from New
York. across the Caribbean and
through the Panama canal to Balboa.
Here IL the full and ctrcpmstantial
record Of that sailing. The writer.
himself captain OF the crew as we'll,
takes one into his confidence from