Evening star., 1924-07-06
Reviews of New Books

exotic in favor, that extravaganza be
| 1t never so slight on the part of the
narrator would land the reader
instantly in some No Mans Land
Of complete unbelieyabilityy But But
writer appears to know nothing
about. Rather does the story have the
effect of many reserves, quite as II
the author knew the danger of let
ting herself go. So, out of an expert
ence of more than a dozen years among
the Bantu tribes of West Africa, Miss
Mackenzie hands over to us story of
delicate colorS, of vanishing effects,
of soft interludes-about the natives
of the big country And as one slips
from scene to scene in the company of
this woman he soon begins to realize
that he is not on the trail of Scien-
tific finding about these people to
along with poet whose evaluationS
are those of a strange land bathed
in the moonlight, or waking to the
dawn, or expressing itself as the
great poetic land would. And with
the people. too, there are soundings
of the simple native heart, filled with
curious beliefs and hopes and fears.
To be sure there is much about GUS
toms and habits here, but these are
sourced. invariably. in the deep and
primitive thoughts of the people. 4
poetic and beautiful picture, whose
beauty does not take away from the
fact that it is, also, a true and use
full picture.
PANDORA LA CROIX. BY Gene
Wright. Philadelphia: ]. B. Lip
pincott Company.
Mr.. Wright has courage. Any writer
has who, since THE Cruise of the
kawa," dares to anchor romance to
the South Sea islands. A majority
of current fiction readers will, it is
pretty certain. too, declare him to
be justified in his self-confidence by
the outcome. This is what might be
called smashing story. 1t battles its
way through the sequences and
plauSibilities that instructors set up
in respect to the making of literature
1t SCOTS at them and asks, jerringly,
Who's maxim literature? I'm writ
ing story And he does it, too. He
puts an eXiled Englshman on one
of those islands, off down there. He
makes kind of king of him. Then
the native girl takes her immemorial
place beside the white man, for bet
ter or worse. Always worse. 1t was
in this case but not the usual brand
of worse" For out of this alliance
the author makes, finally, something
of an idyl of a love story, certainly
a most pathetic example OF the pas
sion OF the native girl for the white
man. \ hopeless case, from the be-
ginning. For this white man is ONLY
rescuing a waif from her plain des-
tiny. He has no other thought A
decent fellow, he holds to his origin
al intent. The end of the story is
Just what 1t would have to be, with
the material that Gene Wright
choose for the elements of it. The
point that stands out is the authors
steadfastness in holding to the es-
sential character of each of these two
He might have prettified the whole
and spoiled 1T. Instead. he held it
native, even when this led to rather
shocking manifestations.
THE BARBARIAN LOVER. BY Mar
garet Pedler, author of THE Wis
ion of Desire" etc. New York.
George II. Doran Company.
If being embittered and selfish con-
stltutes barbarism then this is truly
barbarian lover" Wrongly ac
cused. to be sure. self-exiled on that
account, 1t is hard still to conceive
why these wrongs should make a
man so hopelesSly Self-centered as to
behaVe as this one did. However.
that is the business of the author
Inc next problem that stands out for
soiutlon Is nice girls choice of this
mlsanthrope when perfectly nice
man was standing ready to make her
nappy and untormented wife But
the ways of love, it appears, are
past finding out. Certainly it is so in
this case. The romance. family fore.
shadowed in India, moves over 70
england, where. in both places.
very lntelligently managed hack
ground helps to reconcile one to the
generally unsatisfactory behavior of
the parbar1an. The conclusion OF