Evening star., 1923-04-22

! StlluIe OF ATCnltectS. 6OSIOn. Mar
! shall Jones Company.
HIS book embodies the alto
gether worthy object OF
bringing the fine arts with
| in the reach and comprehen-
| sion Of the common run Of people
! Specifically it is designed for the
| use Of students, a textbook. At the
+! same time, however, it Is so selected
and arranged as to make it book
! suited to the need of the average
reader Who has a bent in it's direc-
| tion. Recognized authority alone has
| combined to produce these studies
which center on the subject Of ar
! chitecture. Beyond this subject there
are studies of the allied arts-sculp-
ture. painting. landscape design. city
| planning, the Industrial arts ana mu-
| sic. In the consideration of architec-
| ture itself the work falls into four
! parts-the classic architecture, that
! of the middle ages, the Renaissance
and modern architecture. The last,
naturally, makes the most direct and
| immediate appeal. Indeed. if d keen
interest is the first point in this
| study, the place to begin is with
modern architecture. The school men
| Will say NO" to this. They have
| sacrosanct notions about foundations
| if one were to take this book into
! the streets of any city and begin
! with the architecture of certain OF
| its buildings. working back as op-
| portunity offered TO the sources OF
| this surrounding art, there would
be live interest in the subject tha'
! no primal beginnings could possibly
! achieve. And. by this immediate
! touch. the Significance of art" would
. promptly step. alive and smlllng. INTO
! the ready minds OF the students. Ihere
! is much that is interesting here In
F.; deed. all Of il is interesting, since
/ the authors deal informally with the
! causes Of this form and of that. Ihey
| carry life along with the art. show
| ing how life has modified buildings
| through material surroundings, use
| easy accessibility of all parts of the
| world and all forms of art--a thou
| sand points of contact and lllumlna-
| tion upon the subject Of art. Many
works of high authority lack interest
This one combines the two IN an
| equal high measure.
/ WEST OF THE WATER TOWER.
! New York: Harper d Bros.
| Here is a novel-a very exceptiona al
n6vel--that is both gratifying and
! exasperatiug in the same breath. The
! pleasure Of the book comes from the
| quality OF its characters. The annoy
ance rises out of the authors s refusal
| to round them into drama, out of his
persi stenCe i'll letting them alone 70
! go the way that their natures ana
! their surroundings dictate. He is right.
! We are wrong. But We have become
50 schooled in having novels slide
| out of every manner of storm into
| havens Of happiness that. like chill
dren. we resist the innovation of this
; CONF lete artistry. West of the Wa
| ter Tower" is merely neighborhood
| in larger town. 1t is the small COM
munity everywhere. with its few out
| standing figures-the preacher. the
/ banker. the merchant, the woman
folks and the young folks. The story
centers on Guy Plummer. the minis
ter's son. and Bee Chew. the rich
mans daughter. The minister is a
saint with fanatical leanings-and
this blend plays upon the boy. The
rich man is broad as the world in a
! kind of loose unbelief. So the girl
comes into this kind Of outlook.
Young Plummer has dreams, such as
every boy has. and he has gifts be-
sides. What happens? Just life hap
pens. And il pounds that boy and
/! that girl - we'll just as life does
pound. The only thing that makes s
rible life surge is the little atom Of
character that the boy reveals while
! he is being sent here and there by
the stresses of youth and desire and
E; lack Of any substantial support. a
thief? Yes a seducer? Yes. a phi
: landerer, leaving one girl almost on
! the wedding day? Yet he sticks.
+; right there in the midst Of his fail
, ures. just because deep in him is the
| spark that finally brings him out, Tot
! to anything very brilliant. but to the
/, best that real situation of this kind
| could supply. No one tells the truth,
! IN a novel-that is. almost no one
! The novelist dramatizes the truth.
ana TINS leaves it a no truth. Not
mere. This is the truest kind OF work,
the most coura geous. and d very re-
markable product IT is. too.
! PONJOLA. BY Cynthia Stockley. au-
! thor OF Poppy" etc. New York
| q. =. Putnam's Sons.
! one expects a South African story
/ from Cynthia Stockley. And here it
! IS, another one. Ponjola? No. not
the exotic name Of Il person. Rather.
! potent force of that region. More
| potent even than the spell of the gold
| and diamond mines, or the lure of
gambling, for it is the force that per-
mits the miner and the gambler to
| forget the tension of hazard or the
| bludgeoning of an adverse fate.
| PonJola is the name of the drinl,
that, morning. noon and night. cheers
| the South African adventurer along
! MS uncertain way. And this is the
! acceptance of one young man. who
out of great promise, fell into COM
paratlNe failure along one certain
/ line of his desire. Just what the
creature could do to a man comes
out here in striking incident and
tense situation. 1t is the story. too,
Of friendship. For. in young Desmond
! Lundi Druro. the ponjola king
| found friend to whom good or i'll
| report meant nothing at all so long
desperate affairs of the reckless
| Druro. And the story gets along by
way of the vicissitudes in the life OF
the ponjola king and the meeting Of
these by the unfailing and ready
| Desmond. Fine affair. this. One to
read over again, We say, easily. it is
full of the atmosphere of South
| Africa, which does not mean so much
| as II might since we do not know
south Africa. except as We have gain.
ed II through reading and talk and
pictures. But that is a great deal
and into this second hand knowledge
of the place the. author pours the
| vitalizing fluid of her own personal
acquaintance with it, Of her own in
timacy with its wonders and delights
| Yes, this is a love. story, too-one as
delightful as it is surprising and
unusual. Admirable throughout.
SCISSORS; A Novel of Youth. BY Ce-
! ell Roberts. New York: Frederick
! A. Stokes Company.
! Within the last handful Of years
| the novel of English youth, the pub
lie school boy, has so multiplied as tc
make one wonder about the causes
for this. Certainly the novelists did
not get together to create a literary
movement around this theme. And
yet 1T is. in effect. movement. One
wonders if back of it there may no,
have lain a common instinct which
| within the past five years. has become
unitedly conscious and purposeful in
| a patriotic desire to keep alive those