Evening star., 1924-09-14
Reviews of New Books

of silk merchants, enmesheCl in the
tradition of close family alliance
and in the practice Of lucrative
trade with its implications of infiu-
ence and power. Around them he
depicts the Germany of more than a
shadows were those cast by Napoleon
Bonaparte, instead Of William IL.
Within the ia amily group the matter
of the romance itself lies in the un-
happy days. of Hetty Geybert.
orphaned niece of the rich merchants,
when in defiance of family tradition
she followed her heart outside the
family boundaries only to be brought
back to the fold by the force of
family dogma and decree. The final
escape of Hetty Geybert is but the
eliminating tragedy in a long day of
complete tragedy for the unconform-
ing spirit of the girl. The story,
throughout, is one where no single
moment of ease let's the author down
from painstaking portraiture. not
only of the family of Geybert in it's
individual characters and combined
effect, but a portraiture as well Of a
thousand details of the smaller Ber-
lin that gave setting and atmosphere
distinction. The story of Hetty Gey-
bert herself is beautiful in its fidelity
to the unhappy life of this girl OF
a hundred years ago, who now lies
in a remote corner of the older Ber-
lin.
THE AVALANCHE. BY Enest Poole.
author of The Harbor." etc. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
IJ,,l
instead of d New York society girl of
the latest model, she would without
doubt have been professional pro-
moter in many fields, launching now
enterprises with whoop- and -hurrah.
reviving old ones with electrified
promises of success. AS it was her
talent in this direction was confined to
charity balls and bazaars, to amateur
theatricals and, during the war, to
drives in great variety and of bril-
liant output. In so far as "Avalanche'"'
goes this gift is expended first in
securing a husband and thereafter in
making good his professional popularity
and financial substance. Dorothea
Farragut is as material as money itself.
LleWellyn Dorr, the young husband. is
a clear mystic, a neurologiSt by profess
sion. His pursuit is always that of the
mind and the spirit, now in its effect
on the body, now in its own nature and
power to persist beyond the limitations
of the body. One is absorbed wholly
in the rewards of the material world.
the other in the possibilities OF a
! nearby spiritual world TO which this
one stands as the approach and en-
trance. The story is, in effect, a study
of these two opposed types in the
most intimate and exacting Of re-
lationships, one that never does, as a
matter of fact. admit of compromise.
Standing in the path of an avalanche
in nature one is overwhelmed and
destroyed. Standing in the way Of this
avalanche of strategy and maneuvering
for material success. Llewellyn Dorr
also is destroyed. The background Of
''Avalanche" is sharply divided. Here
spiritual mysticism. an elusive re-
ceding field of investigation. And ON
this side the glitter Of immediate salts
factions, money and its successes. The
story ends in a cynical triumph Of the
latter. Now and then one questions
its consistencies and plausibilities. One
denies that woman of the Dorothea
Farragut stamp can WELD so complete
a power. For she is, in substance. a
foolish girl, shallow and sef-seeking.
Then one looks around a bit on the
outside. And then he slips back into
the story with an inclination to revise
judgment against it.
THE ROUGHNECK. BY Robert W.
Service. author of THE Spell of
the Yukon" etc. New York: Barse
G. Hopkins.
| You may, take your choice, either
see 'rhe Roughneck" on the screen
or read it under the lamplight. Both
are at the moment available. In either
choice you approach the adventure in
good expectations. You know Rob-
ert Service. the poet. You know that
back of the poetry is a steady fame
of personal adventure. The best of
stuff for novel of action, swift and
high, provided only that the man has
as good a gift of storytelling as he
has of fpoetry-making. And the novel
at once does away with any doubt
whatever on this score. Its hero must.
T of course. be man pitted against
tremendous odds He is. Adversely
is his bedfellow, hard luck his boon
companion, acute moments of decision
and action his next of kin. In strange
and widely separated zones of adven-
ture the action makes it's way, the
t'roughneck" forever the center Of its
most acute disturbances. Along with
this romance of hard lines and swift
changes goes one of softer implica-
tions. when a woman-a very unusual
woman by the way-gives her big
mind and soul to the problem of the
roughneck. A glamorous and absorb
ing romance of man-size quality
comes out to meet the hand and eye
here in this new novel by the poet of
the Yukon.
OUR FAITH IN EDUCATION. BY
Henry Suzzallo, Phi. D., president
University of Washington. Phila-
delphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.
The one essential element in the
success and permanence of demo-
cratic government is an everything
level of general intelligence. the ef-
feet of education and training such
as is projected and embodied in our
national school system. The direct
and vital relation of education to
democratic form of government
discussion. Faith in popular SOW
ereignty is futile without faith in
schools" From this standpoint the
author points to certain facts and in
f1uences whose tendency is to weaken
faith, not in education, but in the
schools the instrument Of it's achieve
ment. Some of these impairing in
fuences are working within the
school body itself. Some come from
without, either by way Of direct at
tack or by the equally destructive
method of perpetual professional
interference. In intent the book is a
rallying cry to the whole personnel
of the educational system of the
country. 1t defines the government
that the fathers fought to establish.
1t demonstrates that the foundation
of this is education, the training of
every individual to a personal par