Evening star., 1924-06-01
Reviews of New Books

EMPTY HANDS. BY Arthur Stringer,
author of THE Door of Dread"
etc. Illustrated by Herbert NJ.
Stoops. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Company.
This adventure IL of a quality to
excite keen current interest. Out
OF 1t, however, one is even more deep
ly interested in the amount of sub
stantiHl work that went into it's max
ing. A young man and woman-mod-
ern, trained. sophisticated-are lost in
IL remote Canadian region. There Is
no way out Nature is pretty savage
around them. 1t comes to pass that
in the interests of food and shelter
and clothing they gradually slough OFF
the superficialitieS of civilization un-
der the demands OF bare living. As
the situation grows more and more
exacting the struggle comes to be one
of a better and better adaptation to
the meager chances OF existence by
which they are surrounded. One finds
them passing-roughly il Is true, but
in recognizable way through
stages that coz espond to primitive
mans passage from the age Of stone
into the age of iron. 1t Is in this
phase of the adventure that the au-
thor's painstaking care and consider
able knowledge greatly enhance the
excitement and suspense OF the story,
where under less intelligent. or less
consistent treatment, 1T might have
fallen away from deep interest
through the fatal element of absurd
ity. For the one to whom the story's
the thing, il is fair to say that the
pair is finally rescued. To the one
who has satisfaction in really good
work, the adventure will be delight.
mond. author of Tell England"
etc. New York: George II. Doran
Company.
A busy story, in which innumerable
people, all bent upon their own spe-
cial errands, come and go as they do
in any community or neighborhood
outside of stories The striking ef-
feet of the romance is its reality.
One goes in and sits down here in
partaking sense. no more alive than
the folks around him, they quite as
much alive as he. The Story gets its
two Children boy and girl. This
interest holds and increases through
the sympathetic and intelligent pro-
lection of these children into youth
with Is particular problem of love
and marriage. The bond between
these two is of SO unusual a charac-
ter, of so compact a fiber, that this
fact of itself outlines the problem of
the author. The problem. thrown into
drama, sets this clear bondage of the
spirit in which the two are en-
meshed off against all the other
claims of life upon them-claims of
other mates in childhood. of other
friends in later years, of other loves
work throughout. AS pointed and
sustained in its power to interest as
readers have a right to expect from
the author of Tell England"
THE NARROW STREET. BY Edwin
Bateman Morris, author of Mere
Man." etc. Philadelphia: The Penn
Publishing Company.
Wide enough, however, to hold a
real adventure, this street and to
give house room as well to a most de-
lightful hero. Simon Haldane-rem-
incent of the William Locke tradition
in heroes-is here, by virtue of his
very honesty and innocence and good
intent. made to look like a regular
devil OF fellow. a complete Don
finding young woman in his house
most attractive one at that. Think
of her suddenly falling Ill and of
Simon's promptly calling in the doc
tor. who, naturally calls her Mrs.
Haldane"-wtth neither the girl nor
Simon giving a word in refutation of
this most serious Implication. Well,
this is the way 1t starts and while
subsequent events do develop n Sc
rious plot and a sober line of action,
1t is, nevertheless, the lovableness OF
Simon Haldane that wins one most
completely in this delicately conceiv-
ed and delightfully."- projected comedy.
THE GOLDEN COCOON. BY Ruth
Cross. New York: Harper & Bros.
IT hate men, hate marrying, I hate
children" Molly Shannon talking.
Now Molly knew no men. except her
father, Lem Shannon. She had. there
fore, no personal knowledge of
marrying" All she knew about chill
dren was the much that she gathered
from the dozen, more or less, who
pointed upon Lem Shannon's chief job
in life. This story is devoted to
changing the mind of Molly Shannon.
In the university as one of the means
of enlarging her views about things
in general-about men for one thing,
about marrying for another. Molly
falls in love. and is Tilted: She falls
In love again. this time with a better
The governors lady. You wouldn't
believe 1t. But 90 it turns out--a good
troubles begin right here and you will
follow her In obscurity, certainly with
regret, but with an equal certainty
that Providence is going to keep an
eye, on such an all-around winning
girl as Molly Shannon is. No, prob
ably not-this couldn't have happened.
So, 1t is just a made-up story. But,
1t Is q good one. 1t ought to have
happened. You'll enjoy 1t right
straight through.
THE PASSIONATE YEAR. BY James
Hilton. Boston: Little, Brown &
Co.
A familiar situation young love,
carly marriage. speedy repentance. To
this the author adds another element.
A young woman, the friend OF the
l-Af~ Vyith <hia addtfto~, ha ts - Nvv