Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-02-01
Brehm. New York: George H. Do
ran Co.

l makes tho DeSI Oh By"
| folks. Like Penrcd and Tom Sawyer
| it provides an Incompatible means OF
reliving the years embodied in these
| youngsters. It offers in the concrete
| means of arriving with certainty al
| the states of mind, at the centers
| of impulse, at the colors of adVen-
| ture at the cross roads of decision
| at the inns of refreshment-all these
1.-THE real warp and wool of every boy
| Great fun, this particular story. Yet
| the fun wears at every turn that
little border of pathos-for the grown
| folks-over the tremendous serious
| ness of Johnny Custer, of his pro-
| digious faith in the great things that
| he and the other fellows are ben,
upon doing. Boys. real boys out In
| the open, are so absorbed in doing FOR
| themselves the very things set down
| here, that this book would be as un-
| exciting to them as Main Street
| is to their elders. and for the same
reason. But to one looking through
| the perspective of years upon Johnny
| Custer and Tom Sawyer and Penrod
| there is a very dear and somewhat
| wistful delight. ahe unmistakable
Irwin Cobb flavor Of Coin on Four
teen" is at its top notch of pungency
and robust savors, at Its top notch OF
sympathy and understanding for the
| Johnny Custer that is tucked away
| in the heart of every grown-up, man
and woman alike.
THE HOUSE OF THE ARROW. BY
A. E. w. Mason, author of "The
Winding STAIR" etc. New York
George H. Dorsn Co.
surprise at the end OF 1t. Not many
of them are so fortunate. For the
most of them are o: so open-work a
quality as to reveal the familiar out
come from about the second page. In
Dion, France, a certain rich woman.
Mrs. Harlow, died suddenly in the
midst of many plottings and plan
nings of wide source for a share in
the wealth of this woman. Her death
was a natural one, or so 1t was at
first assumed. Then suspicion began
at this point. Finally. when it was
clear that violence mad been done,
some over-suspicious one in the busy
little town pointed = finger of accu-
sation against Betty Harlowe, the
woman's daughter. Clearly an out
rage, this. And in Chivalrous anger
the London solicitors sent over to
Dijon young Jim Frobisher to take
up the cause of Betty Harlowe. This
he did. With him vas associated the
Paris detective. Hafa And in the
person of Hanaud Is Che real triumph
of the whole matter, 1t is long
story and a complicated one. The
complications tie the mystery up
tighter and tighter without in any
degree producing an effect OF muddie
or simply running round and round
for the purpose of mere mystihcaion.
And when the end C ones-well, never
in the world would you have found
the guilty one, had 1t not been for
the smooth astuteness of Hanaud
himself. Jim Frooisher, luckily.
serves another purpose than that OF
pure sleuth. Otherwise he would have
been a complete failure and that
would never have done for he is a
fine fellow deserving of just about
what he gets.
THE GOLDEN BED. By Wallace
Irwin, author Of Lew Tyler
wives" New York: G. P. Put
MANS Sons.
Purely American in it's externals
is this story of universal content
wherein two types of women nave,
since the world began, either utterly
blessed or completely bedeviled the
male portion OF humanity. 1t is, in
substance, the story of Admah Holtz,
plain boy and man who, from small
beginnings, gathered in the success
that appears to wait upon every
American lad of push and ambition
and a hunger for work. Many rungs
above Admar in the social scale are
two sisters, one of whom the boy
comes to love as any lout might love
a lady. This is the one whom the
golden bed" symboliZes, a thing or
beauty, canopied and carved and fla
greed with flowers and spread wings
and restless figures. A restless girl,
too. much absorbed in her own beauty
and her own desires and swift-chang-
ing plans. But, in America, youth
and ambition and daring can achieve
much-and Admah wins the lovely
fitting lady, quite to his own damna-
ton. Then as a story is wont to
make possible, he gets another chance,
this time with the kindly, under
standing, practical far-seeing sister.
And that Is the story, with very
appealing part of it having to do
with the boy years of Admah Holtz
where a plain Am erican brand OF
humor gives very lifelike qualities
to this period of the boys life. A
popular tale it is, for already the pic
lures have 1t for a choice between
seeing the story and reading 1t.
THE LAKE. BY Margaret Ashmun,
author of 1.-THE Heart of Isabel
Carleton" etc. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
The story of household-fathe r
and mother and son-with around 1t
the small neighborhood of a sparse
settlement. A most unlovely house
hold wherein the father and hus-
band is boor of i'll nature, and
sometimes demon of bitter words
and brutal conduct. Near by Is a
neighbor and intimate friend. Alec
Mclean, who brings to this I'M
happy Faraday family about all the
pleasure that it seems able to COM
mand. AS the story grows one dis
covers that the evil spirit so often
in possession of Willard Faraday is
the demon of jealousy. Throughout.
it is this spirit that dominates the
situation, that controls the frequent
brutality Of Faraday toward the little
SON., that gives rise to his sudden
and violent RACES of passion and
hatred. The jealousy Is a perfectly
justifiable one. as the boy, several
years after his fathers death, dis
covers through the exact likeness
between himself and an old picture of
Alec Mclean, friend of the family
Right here the general mantouch
comes in-for the boy Is the first one
to repudiate his mother under the
instructive exaction of the man for
purity in the woman of his own
blood. An interesting. and competent
part of the story is that of the
readjustment that takes place be-
tween mother and son. A story OF
careful workmanship behind which
is an understanding and courageous
approach to a very delicate matter.
BOOKS RECEIVED.