Evening star., 1924-11-16

Ward. Like the true hosts that they
are, each offers us of his best as we
move from room to room of this
House Of GlAdness-one, two, three
stories from each, enough to make
for us a safe and roomy retreat out
of the sobernesses of life into place
of gayety and forgetfulness. You
have read these stories. But you
have not, before, had them in one
piece, SO to speak, for choice and
comparison and the zest of their con-
facts one with another. Good service,
this. We are in debt for 1t to the
good selection and the fine welding
and the easy introduction of Joseph
Lewis French.
THE LITERARY SPOTLIGHT. Pref
ace by John Farrar. New York:
George II. Doran Co.
Under the pillow slip and she citing
masks of anonymity group of
famous American critics" have by
way of this volume spoken out their
minds freely about certain of the
outstanding writer's of the moment.
Harrington, Hergesheimer. Cabell,
Dell, Mencken. Don Marquis, Mary
Austin and twenty or more others.
Amusing stuff. uneven in quality,
equally uneven in value. John Farrar
in his preface calls them, I think.
character studies''-which they some-
times are. more often, are not. Char
acter sketch, literary appraisal. and
personal gossip combine here with
the burden of attention placed on the
last of these. Here and there a shaft
of genuinely discerning criticism
shines through the prodigious and
consuming interest in the shape of
a writer's nose and the angle at
which 1t Is set upon his face, or in
the way he wears the wrinkles on
his face and his trousers. too. or in
the brand of breakfaSe fx,S1 ItssATt he
advocates or the breed of pups that he
affects. or in one or another of the
innumerable idiosyncrasies that cir
cumstance has given him. Caricature
portraits by William Gropper accent
the cartoonish effect of the word
photographs. People will love the
book, for this is the kind of thing
that they eat up alive. Clever stuff
of it's kind too.
THE WAY OF THE BUFFALO. By
Charles Alden Seltzer. author Of
The Trail Horde" etc. New York:
The Century Co.
Pure adventure, clear fiction
though. at bottom and in it's larger
aspects. this is a true story. For it
projects the passing of the wild West
under the advance of industry. the
exit of the pioneer and the entrance
of the modern efficiency man. Young
James Cameron from the East against
old cattle-man Ballantine in the West.
The animosity bred out of this situa-
tion, however, is wholly on the side
of the old man, embittered and hostile
in the face of the inevitable. The
story deals. on the one hand, with
the marvels of accomplishment that
Jim Cameron is able to put over for
the opening up Of valuable copper
mines, and, on the other hand, with
the antiquated and futile measures
instituted by Ballantine to obstruct
and delay progress. These immediate
objects are of a nature to electrify
the whole adventure to speed and
variety of action that leave the read
er with not a minute to himself for
conjecture or forecas sting. A thrill
in this story, a good. legitimate thrill
indicating that this scene of action
lies beyond the middle West, which,
at present, deals chiefly with the dry
as-dust concerns of that region What
shall We do for this kind of tale when
the middle West again goes West?
ONE-WAY STREET. BY Beale pa-
Wis. New York: Brentano's.
London. Madrid, Monte Carlo, Lon
don again-a whirl, and in the yery
middle of it. Bobby Austin, tho toy
or a Circe of London high life. Al
most a victim. too, Bobby-would
have been quite one, but for the
succoring hands of three women of
different stripe from the fatal Lady
Sylvia. One of the three has, finally,
the nerve to marry Bobby. right into
fathers fortune and high family
standing. Nice young woman, too
How, in the name of sanity, do girls
get that way? Now, handsome
Bobby's official registering is that
Of secretary of legation. You can
see at once. therefore, that this story
must be counted as sheer invention,
though Its authors personal expert
ence In the ranks Of diplomacy leads
one to suspect some truth about it,
An ungrounded suspicion this in fat,
else handsome young diplomats Of
the Bobby stripe would summarily be
summoned back to the U. S. A. and
set to making figures at desk where
their devastating pulchritude could
in no way contribute toward turning
the currents of international bust
ness into mere stagnant pools of
personal diversion. A blithe adven-
ture of reckless gambling at tables
and on the turf, in a generally gay
dalfiance, also, with the high spots
Of the Ten Commandments.
SUNRISE. BY Mario Van Worst au-
thor of big Tremaine." etc. New
York: Dodd, Mead G. Co.
Another budding diplomat. Oliver
his name. instead of Bobby. Like
Bobby, hailing from Chicago, here is
another play-boy out of the Middle
West Rome his playground, rather
than London. In place of an English
Lady Sylvia for the undoing Of Oil
Yer there is an Italian enchantress,
the Principessa della Brenta, infinite
ly more subtle, thousand times
more certainly fatal. And the de-
spelling of oliver makes It's way here
through the intricacies of the Ro-
man social setting. to whose classic
background the author does full JUS
tice-that is, as full Justice as an
author can whose chief preoccupa-
tion is with a clearly love-crazed boy,
trying to give the external perform
ance expected from a young diplo-
mat. 1t is distinct relief when OIL
yer finally turns his back upon Rome
and faces toward Blazeville, bearing
a thin book of passionate verse as
sign and symbol of his service in the
cause of friendly and productive in
ternational relationships.
aUINNEY's ADVENTURES. By Hor-
ace Annesley Vachell, author Of
"Quinneys," etc. New York:
George H. Doran Co.