Evening star., 1923-12-09

clutches of what appears To be
teeming population Of sheiks, each
bent to the ncfarious business of alb
ducting the Lady Sarah \ busy man,
DR.. Traprock. \ tremendous enter
prise this. As to its issue-well, you
know Walter f. Traprock. In his
bright lexicon no such word as fail.
Yet. neither this tumult OF the desert
nor the polar rigors Of an earlier eN-
pedition quite iills the measure that
The Cruise Of the kawa" brimmed
to overfiowing. And this through no
default on the part of the impetuouS
explorer. The trouble lies with the
public. One perfervid popular novel,
screened Off into an equally popular
picture, was not enough to wake the
public to receptiyity. For another
reason MY Northern Exposure" faced
an Indifferent public. But--O'Brien
and Safroni-Middl"ton and Vaughan
and Rupert Brooke and goodness
knows how many more had created a
common SatuTation on the subject of
the South Sea islands. II was upon
this full tide that The Cruise of the
kawa" reached Il riotous!y joyous
welcome.
THE 4t ZEN Of FiKRANDALE. By
Clara Louise Burnham. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company
This is Il modern fairy tale-god-
mother and prince and princess all
complete. Susanna Frink. spinster,
successful merchant. masterful wom-
an carrying things with a, high hand
in the little village of Farrandale. is
the godmother. The prince Is Su-
her discarded and forgotten family.
No. he didn't start out by being a
prince. Rather Il poor young fellow
III need of Il job, who could See no
reason why he should not be Il clerk
III Aunt SuSaHna'S store. Fate had
other plans SO she set that particu-
lar young man to the task of saving
SuSanna,s life, in the doing OF which
he himself was injured The rest of
the matter moves in "A straight line to
the happy conclusion OF all fairy sto-
-ries. Susanna has to find out that
the engaging stranger is her
nephew, which pleases her nightly.
Then she has to circumvent the de-
signs OF some rather clever and con-
scienceless people and she has to
provide a princess for the prince. All
of which she turns off in her usual
manner of prompt efficiency. An en-
gaging hour lies in this uneXacting
story.
THE VAGABIES OF TOD AND
PETER. By l.. Allen Harker. au
thor Of THE Really Romantic
Age etc. New York Charles
>ctlDuti sScHS-
Thousands of people think they
know children. Only now and then
one really. does. Many of the sins
against childhood are committed by
those who are certain of knowing all
about them. Mrs. Harker is not one
Hof these. She does know children in
straight and unsenttmental fashion
that must commend itself highly to
the children themselves. Nobody
keener on make-believe than a boy
or girl from about the time of birth
till their perceptions get added by
the foolish and hypocritical behavior
of their elders. So, on a straight
level of good faith and fair dealing.
Mrs. Harker pursues an exciting and
sincere acquaintance with all manner
of children. Her stories are drawn
directly from this source Of personal
companionship. Beside Tod and Peter
there are other children here whose
behaviors are a real joy to those who
know something of the wisdom and
subtlety and originality of this hu-
man tribe that Mrs. Harker calls the
only real and true conservatives in
the world. These stories begin right.
For instance: Tony sat in the gut
ter wondering what would be the
coolest thing to do" And from such