Evening star., 1924-11-23
Reviews of New Books

away at metal-working And, finally,
the dream of painting gives way to
the necessity Of setting himself down
in pages and pages of personal strug-
gle whose glimmerings Of success are
almost Immediately overborne by
black and obscure clouds of defeat
Clearly the road to Calvary is set
here in minute detail-the stony path,
the clutching wayside thorns. the
mighty load. the final staggering eff
fort. Splendid realism and terrible
reading, that leaves one bereft Of
confidence in the world, and life, and
ones self. Now, if Arthur Hougham
will face squarely about, put the lid
on his feelings to certain extent
and get his sanity uppermost there is
no doubt in the world that he can
write a novel, quite as triumphant as
this one, and one that is ten thousand
times more hopeful, and therefore
just that much more worth while.
THE MASTER REVENGE. BY H. A.
Cody, author of "The Frontiers
man." etc. New York: George H.
Doran Co.
This is the story of an ex-convict
who, out West somewhere. became. in
the course of time. a beloved and
trusted member of the community.
Now Nathan Strong was guiltless
man, feeding himself upon the hope
of some dav placing where 1t belonged
the crime for which he had paid by
dozen years of Imprisonment. And,
finally, that day came. In the mean
time, however. the situation had grown
less simple. Now, should he make
public the great disclosure it would
involve woman and children, a be-
loved woman at that. And Strong
chose to go on loving in the shadow
of his bitter past, rather than to be-
cloud the future of innocent depend
ents upon the good name of the true
criminal. The author makes a big and
lovable person of Nathan Strong, work.
ing cautiously and modestly toward
his acceptance by a respectable world
which has never been conspicuous for
it's sympathy with jailbirds. He gets
him across in good shape. Moreover.
he provides for him a specially good
setting-made up of fresh. keen,
windswept and rain washed Western
locality. And besides, he grants to
Nathan Strong the good recompense
of a high-spirited romance.
WIDE WATERS. BY Capt. DIngle
New York: Brentano's.
good ship Orontes, with gales high
enough and often enough to sink the
ship a dozen times. with enough of
sailors lingo to sink the reader with
in the first half-doZen pages, and
with fights of a frequency and a fe-
rocity to keep one a-dodge perpetu-
ally from flying missiles and the en-
tanglement of struggling, scuffling,
interlocking legs and feet. A slim lit
tie story goes along with the tre-
mendous sea business of the adven-
ture. This has to do with the lure of
the one lady aboard and the rivalry
Of two enthralled seamen. Ship and
sailors and sea and girl-an inextri-
cable to-do of strife and let-up and
at it again. Oh, yes, racy and salty,
Of course. Brine and pickle from start
to finish.
VIKINGS REST, A Story OF the Land
of Evangeline. BY Frances Fen
wick Williams. New York: The
= Century Co.
The ease Of modern transit has not
yet served to dilute the atmosphere
of romance with which Longfellow
saturated the land of Acadia. 1t is of
this fact that the author Of Vikings
Rest" makes such good use in the
development of her modern romance.
Against the background that served
the great poet himself she sketches
deftly a romance picked out from the
circumstances Of the moment. These
circumstances" include a newspaper
woman, a Southern girl with her old
negro retainer, a shell-shocked SOL
dier and an up-to-the-minute young
doctor. Out Of this material there is
enough, not for one romance, but for
currents than the eternal triangle"
itself. mainstay of the novelist,
could by every possible combination
and Formulation achieve. Light stuff.
but bright with ready invention and
clever terms-never silly, never too
thin to stick together. The excep-
tional points here deal with the coun-
try itself, with the small neighbor-
hood, and with the local folks them
selves.
THE PRICELESS PEARL. BY Alice
Duer Miller, author of MAN
slaughter" etc. New York: Dodd,
Mead & Co.
A light and laughable little love
story conditioned in the masquerade
Of Pearl Leavitt as govemess to three
children In the place of her friend
who had been engaged for this serv-
ice. A plain, sensible, intelligent
young woman" was the description
sent to the mother of these young
sters by her brother as he set out
upon a long business trip after doing
this particular service for his rather
helpless sister. Now Pearl Leavitt
was sensible and she was 'intelli-
gent" There the description ends as
to the facts in the case, for the girl
was a gorgeous beauty-so beautiful.
In fact, that she had lost four office
jobs in as many months. Men simply
toppled and fell when they saw her
coming-men OF all grades from the
boss to the youngest messenger boy.
And what she did to the family group
whose children she had been engaged
to instruct makes up the web of this
gay and diverting story. A fine and
wholesome girl who couldn't help be-
ing beautiful any more than she could
escape the hatred of all the other
women roundabout. At a particu-
larry stressful moment, when this
"priceless pearl was under suspicion
Of theft, the lady's brother came back
to find on the job an altogether diff
ferent girl from the one whom he had
engaged. 1t was all right, though,
for he Immediately fell in love with
her. cleared her of the unjust sus-
picion, married her. And that's the
story-good for half an hour of
amusement.
WAVES OF DESTINY. BY Margaret
Pedler, author Of 1.-THE Lamp of
Fate" etc. New York: George II.
Doran Co.
tn Sepsa these ore Stapdord