Evening star., 1924-05-11
Reviews of New Books

bore the further legend. European
| correspondent Cowbarn Independent;
But no tide can ebb forever, It's
against nature. To catch 1t when 1t
turns, that's the trick. And Name
Durrance was right on the. spot to
| catch any favors that the incoming
her.. A variety of engaging London
| stuff backs the adventure of this girl
| from the corn country. There Is
robust quality to Mr.. Snaith's fun
| making, a sound reason for the enter
| tainment that it evokes.
THE EYES OF MAX CARRADOs. BY
! Ernest Bramah, author of "kai
Lungs Golden Hours" etc. New
York: George II. Doran Company
The original fronting of Ernest
| Bramah upon the mystery story does
not consist in the invention of any
new variety of mystery itself. Crime,
| fraud, forgery, strange disappear
anceS, curious manifestations counted
as ghosts-the regular round OF mys-
tification. The difference lies in the
quality of his crime investigator for
Max Carrados is blind. AS entertain
ment these tales bear the familiar
Bramah stamp-good substance, ad-
mirable structure, and the peculiar
and arrangement that is so delight
full. But, there is more here. For
the authors point is in these tales to
project certain highly developed pow
ers, other than the power of sight,
that may render a blind person the
most highly sensitized instrument
Imaginable. for the subtle and ire
futable discovery of the facts and
conditions that, underlying motive
and it's sequence of actions, produce
the appearance of mystery. Highly
interesting stories based upon study
of what certain blind persons have
been able to do to overcome so ter
rible a handicap. Forward looking
oil piy hxr INN n
at least, they open up new vision
to the blind through the encouraging
of compensatory powers.
HAZARD. BY Nancy Barr Mavity.
New York: Harper & Bros.
At the very beginning of this story
Tracy Everson, aged fourteen. takes
up confidently the business of being
it's chief figure throughout. No, it Is
not sunshine" story. personally
conducted by preposterously COM
petent little girl, made chiefly OF
laughter and curls, who sets crooked
things straight throughout the entire
neighborhood round about her. This
girl is rebel All children are non
conformists. But this one. in con-
trast to the majority of them pos
sesses the courage of her desire to be
herself. A conventional father and
mother stand agape before this amaz-
ing child wondering where they got
her The girl is no freak. On the
contrary, she is a fine, outstanding
creature with thoughts of her own
the axiom that a straight line is the
shortest distance between any two
points. The author follows along
after Tracy EYerson through school
days and any number of romances
and finally into marriage where, as
sured that she is altogether able to
go her own way without further care,
she takes her leave. A sensible out
look upon girlhood stands back of
this story. \ good sense of story
building goes along with it. An APP
probation of character and personal
ity animateS it. And the incidents
through which these various char
acters manifest themselves are both
fresh and fit A good first story. An
exceptionally good story about the
young girl. Very few of these. Ado
lescent boys are quite the fashion
with authors just now. An adolescent
girl, and on beyond, is a much more
difficult matter, a matter which has
here been handled with exceptional
insight and skill.
VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. BY +. F.
Benson, author of 'Dodo," etc.
New York: George H. Doran Com
pany.
Ghosts, persistent ideas re-embod-
led again in this weird appearance
and that one, vampires-indeed. just
ment and bewitchment are set down
here for the readers grizzly enter
tainment. BY the good art of story
telling. by a respectful Difference to
occult and. mystic possibilities,
coupled with a distinct rejection of
the purely superstitious, Mr.. Benson
provides. in full measure, the means
by which you may on some gloomy
evening scare yourself to the point
of being positively afraid of the dark.
OLD MISERY. BY Hugh Pendexter,
author of Pay Gravel" etc. IL
Illustrated by Remington Schuyler.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs- Merrill
Company.
A romance of the forty miners. And
an author is sure TO make hit with
this theme provided only that he
possesses the knack of story telling,
as Mr. Pendexter does. And provided,
also, that his invention is for the
occasion supplied with brakes that
are in prime working order. For
this is a theme that in its very es-
sence is of picturesque extrava-
gance Restraint in invention-in-
deed a pairing off of the very truth
itself-is necessary to get the story
across. for here is truth that is.
clearly. stranger than fiction. Hugh
Pendexter has. however. trimmed
himself down to believability. So, in
"OId Misery" you will have a racing
hour or so over that amazing trek
across country, which, nearly seventy
five years ago gathered up all sorts
and conditions of men and banded
them together in a quest for gold, in
cidentally setting the pattern OF
good deal of the subsequent history of
the Golden state out on the Pacific
coast.
GREEN TIMBER BY Harold Bind
loss, author of The wilderness
Patrol" etc. New York: Freder-
ick A Stokes Company.
A romance of the familiar Bind
loss make set in the timberlands of
Canada where young Andrew Grier,
its hero, finds himself beset by the
usual sum Of Bindloss demands upon
the pluck and endurance of his par
ticular brand of adventurer. A hard
climate. dishonest partner and,
later, the ruthless unconcern of big
business over the rights of a mere
Observation-Disclosures are some of the
the green timber" of Andrew Grier's
youth into the seasoned stuff of all
around experience. Yes. a romance
goes along with the rest of the ad-
venture. The story begins in Scot
land. with a real Scotch burr upon
fiavors of a hazardous sea voyage in
ramshackle craft before young
Grier comes into the equal hazards
of measuring himself against the hard
country and the hard men of the
| northwest. Lots of go to the story.
There should be for it has the mo-
mentum of forty other novels by Mr.
Bindloss dealing with much the same
| matters in much the same place.
ROLES. By Elizabeth Alexander. IL
| lustrations by Charles D. Mitchell.
Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
Worked to death with nothing at
all to do-this wife who played tru-