Evening star., 1924-08-31
Reviews of New Books

girl Joan does do. And, along the
way of this discovery, it is safe to
promise you q true adventure into
the real heart of a girl of the Joan
kind who is involved in the particular
problem that confronts her.
ADVISORY BEN. A story. BY E. V.
Lucas. author of Rose and Rose"
etc. New York: George H. Doran
Co.
light and laughing little story,
drawn out of the modern girls desire
for independence and one particular
girls method of achieving this. The
experiment in independence culmi-
mates in the dependence of matri-
mony. just as it does in life. But this
fact does not take from the enter
tainment provided through this round
about road to marriage. In the first
place. it gives Mr.. Lucas the joy of
fathering a fine and wholesome girl
pretty enough. not too pretty. with a
laugh of her own that breeds laugh
ter all around her, with good sense
that turns into many kinds Of practi-
cal helpfulness. 1t is in the attempt
to put these gifts to the business of
earning independence and a living
that the story takes on the ingenious
turns of invention which one expects
from Mr.. Lucas. Looking around
upon a world of helpless women, Miss
Bonita Stavely decided that her road
to competence lay in the way of Civ
ing advice. for pay. along the thou
sand paths of bewilderment where
women do so congregate. Whereupon
Miss Ben set up her shop Of universal
information, the Beck and Call"
From jams and salad oils to old mas
ters this advisory council of one pro-
claimed her competency as mentor.
guide and friend-all for pay. The
whole is a smiling picture of the
thousands of like enterprises that
within the past half dozen years have
declared the entrance of the gentle
sex into the rough business that the
ungentle sex pursues. Upon it an
older generation, in lifelike manner,
casts the wet blanket of its displeas-
ure. Within it sense and nonsense
get hopelessly mixed. But, no mat
ter, the experiment is only another
way of bringing the right girl and
the right man together and -pouf.
Away goes the Beck and CALI as
Miss Bonita follows the irresistible
beck of the only man in the world.
PORTS AND HAPPY PLACES BY
Cornelia Stratton Parker, author
of "An American Idyll." etc. Illus
trated from photographs. New
York: Boni G. Liveright.
yesterday, Sunday, 1 lay fat on the
green grass under an apple tree be-
side the Rhine, reading 'Messer Marco
Polo Now. this is the kind of
travel tale that one likes to read. That
start-off is just right. No hurry. All
the time in the world. Sunday is made
for rest in one form or another. Time
to see that the grass is green and to
he of he
apple tree was in blossom. 1t must
have been. And the Rhine was Groom
ing old things out of its wondrous past.
The croWning touch to this lovely
morning is the "Messer Marco" out of
the magic hand of Don Byrne. This
morning in the sunlight on the grass
strikes the key to this whole joyous
forth -faring on the part of this traveller
and her children. Here and there for
four years through Germany and Italy.
into northern Africa and across back
into Spain and France, gathering up
with free and leisured hands the great
points of history. the face and moods
of each country as they entered it and
fingered with it, living with the peo-
pie themSelyeS-all in the fulfillment
of a desire for an acquaintance and
friendship rather than for a hasty and
confusing survey. The avowed pur
pose Of this mother is to educate her
children by way OF this travel and so
journ. That is question for argu-
ment and no small amount of dispute.
Cnwise to raise the Question-to per-
nit il to be raised for her. Since
little Of her good time has here gone
into discussion of the value of this
method of education. Rather, let US
go along with her and the boys as
they. in common mood of enthuSi-
asm, gather up in SO real and COM
municable a fashion so much of the
intimacy of Europe for our enjoyment.
Before beginning to read you may as
sumo this to be a book written down
to children Of the age Of this woman's
sons Nothing OF the kind. 1t is a
book of companionship in the adventure
of traveling-the mother. in the main,
just the age of the boys, the boys for
the most part as old as the mother.
The result is travel book that for
actual life and go in a most interest
ing field would be hard TO equal
THE DOUBLE HOUSE. BY Elizabeth
Dejeans author of "Nobodys
Child" etc New York: Doubleday
Page & Co.
This is the story of John Dascome'S
pursuit OF the murderer of his wife.
Dascome had himself been accused of
this crime, had been imprisoned for
it and then released. A lawyer of
standing and ability, he at once set
about laying plans for the uncover
ing of the mystery and his own vindi
cation. An involved action follows,
one that presents one after another
some new aspect of the matter. some
new clue to be followed, some further
to be laid straight. The
source of the crime goes back finally
to small matter of resentment, out
of which a slight revenge grows to
a big crime committed for the pur-
poses of concealment. Years go by
in quest and pursuit on the part of
John Dascome and his friends. The
outcome is so unusual startling,
so unbelievable when measured by
the probabilities of actual life mat
one is constrained to set the story
over into the field of pure invention,
where it serves the purpose of ex-
citing melodrama for those who like
to follow fairly set trails for the dis
covery of practically impossible