Evening star., 1925-10-18

Gus under the gossip of the town un-
il u really mad marriage" is the re-
iult of his mixture OF kindness and
bstinacy. There Is another story
linked with this one, a story that of
ers a much belated rescue TO Peter.
The whole is projected in the atmos
)hcre Of the artists life. an atmos
here that is gmudged only by the
nachinhtions Of "A woman against the
epth and invulnerability Of one mans
innocence.
Woodbury.. Boston: Little, Brown
& co.
TIE irnmemorial exaltatlon OF moth
cr love as the deepest and purest
OF emotions has long served and still
serves, to conceal the fact that many
| mother surpasses in selfishness the
easily accepted traditional ingratitude
| Of children toward their parents. An
observing and courageous writer here
projects situation whose foundation
| Is maternal tyranny imposed in the
name Of mOtherlove-a tyranny whose
source lis personal vanity coupled
with II jealous hatred OF the growing
claims of her young daughter upon
| life. If Helen Woodbury., in this her
first novel, had taken the other of the
two roads Of development offered by
the theme in hand, she would have
produced melodramatic tale Of alb
normal implications. the story OF some
| female monster cast by fatal mis-.
chance in the role of motherhood.
She. however, did not take this path.
Rather, did she choose the way of
| plain and plausible happenings In
| small community where life is open
! anybody's business everybody's busi-
| ness.
| Here is setting IS convincing in
its reality as the familiar old home
| town of everybody. The story itself
! follows as straight trail. An easily
| recognizable family appears here
/ father, mother and daughter. Linda
! Bradley, whose story this is. The basic
and fatal flaw in this family combina-
ton is that mother is so pretty and
so sweet" that mother must be shield
ed-dear mother" That self deception
| in respect to mother is the subtle
! thread of this story. For ii is the
state Of mind in which many a daugh-
! ter suffers demands and makes saCri-
/ fees that in any other relation would
| be promptly repudiated and set aside.
| That is the really artful feature OF this
| family record. Understa and-Helen
! Woodbury. does not assume this to be
| a usual situation. She merely weaves
I
! will, from their personal knowledge,
! gra Mt to be true in substance. The
manner of this first novel is as ex
| ceptional as its theme. The contribu-
| tory material appears to have been
| lifted bodily out of the life of a fam
| lily and community and set down in
| the book itself-incidents episodes,
| scenes, personalities, interviewer in
| the swift changing RESPONSIVENESS OF
! ,.,-;k .i,,tr Z Va
| soft tyranny of dear mother" whose
| hungers of seltshness succeed, finally,
| in eating up the real substance of
| Linda Bradley. A novel of original
| outlook and treatment, courageous
| story. and one Of exceptional vividness
| of effect.
THE GREAT PANDOLFO. BY Will
liam j. Locke, author Of THE Be
loved Vagabond," etc. New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co.
"THE Great Pandolfo" is twin
brother to THE Mountebank"
and both are in a straight line of de-
scent from The Beloved Nagabond.'
! This clear blood tie among the three
! indicates something of the quality OF
| William j. Locke's new novel. Pan
dolfo is another of the Locke heroes
who clear into manhood have pre-
served the spirit of children-dramatic
as children are SO astonishingly and
| competently dramatic. openly pleased
! with themselves and frank in ac-
| Acknowledgement of their own gifts and
powers, staggering bit, showing OF
! shamelessfy. But altogether delight
full, these Locke heroes. saving some
OF the very best things of life out OF
the rich and rapidly vanishing store
| house of childhood. The Great Pan
| dolfo is a lover, as the 'Mountebank
was also. Both love ladies of high de-
gree ladies inaccessible to these bom
! baStic lords of life-that is, so it ap-
pears at the beginning, and so the
| ladies themselves declare right to the
| end of most tempestuous wooings.
But lovely ladies are no different, at
| heart, from readers, from any one
coming into the company of a Locke
hero. So, the ladies from natural re-
serves resist only up to a point long
past the ready capitulation of the
reader, who succumbs in about three
| pages of THE Great Pandolfo," as
| she in earlier years gave in so easily
to THE Beloved Nagabond."
THE RED LAMP. BY Mary Roberts
Rinehart, author of 'The Amazing
Interlude," etc. New York: George
III. DOran Co.
TO spin a tale and to invent an enig-
= ma are two distinct processes,
even hostile ones. The purpose Of the
latter is mystification centered upon
a certain point. This purpose Is met
and sustained by means of many in
| tricate details bound together in subtle
| and not easily discernible relation
| ships. The spirit of the enigma is con-
| centration, a steady driving in of the
| mind upon the central point. The
story. on the other hand. must have
a sweep of movement, steady climb
| ing of action and interest and sus-
| pense toward the more or less distant
| climax of LOGICAL outcome-of explo-
sion, so to speak. One trails the enig-
ma with eyes to the ground. One fol-
lows the story at quite another angle
of observation. Therefore, 1t comes
about that the expert fabricator of
| puzzles is rarely the inspired story
| teller.
THE Red Lamp" is a case in point.
Here is a good mystery, q water proof
invention which, partly through a
deft manipulation Of the material in
hand, and partly through the solid
and unrevealing quality of that ma
terial, holds, secure, its content of
mystification till that last second of
| the last moment, so obviously the
! great goal Of the inventor of mystery
tales. AS an enigma THE Red Lamp"
is, above all. painstaking projection.
| Within a narrow circle one is driven
round and round in search Of clues
to monstrous deeds of crime. a series
of these. One, his very best spectacles
astride his nose, examines with metic-
ulous care shreds Of this and bits of
that, possible clues to the doer of these