Evening star., 1925-08-02
IDA GILBERT MYERS.
FRANKLIN WINSLOW KANE.

FRANKLIN WiNSLOW NAME. by
- Anne Douglas Sedgwick, author of
THE Little French Girl" etc.
NJ Boston: Houghton Mitfiin Company.
ssT N novels quite as it is in life.
Not once in a blue moon does
one in either come upon man or
. L woman who stops in the mem
ory for even an overnight. Then
upon some rare red-letter day there
steps out, perhaps from fiction. per
haps in actual fact, a person of quail
ity-one adequate to his hour of life.
composed in the face of its uncer-
tainties, steady IN outlook, compe-
tent in action. In its grip on the
emotions of admiration and friend
ship there is no other adventure COM
parable to that of encounterlng TINS
man. or woman, of quality. Such
one is Franklin Winslow Kane. A
thread of a man without a single
external appeal to the common con-
cept of the hero, the central figure,
the commanding and directing force.
4 dun little man, all dull Grays and
browns so modest and reluctant
about bringing himself forward that
this story is well along its way be
. fore more than scant alluslons TO
Mr. Kane" or Franklin are offered
to satisfy ones growing curiosity
names the book. Neither self-effacing
is Franklin Kane, nor, like the good
Snowman, is he preparing a whetted
appetite to serve the uses of spec
taCular appearance Just busy man,
instead, intensely preoccupied with
work and friendships, quietly alb
Sorbed in many things of substance,
A dangerous chance TO take, this
may SEEM to select for the purposes
iortrr CO nI1f nf
line with the heroic convention. a
chance much like the one taken by
the architect who to serve very
special purpose designs a building in
defiance of rule and practice. Each
has added inspiration to training,
thereby securing not only the per
feet medium but projecting as we'll a.
striking work of art whose proof is
the emotions that rise to meet II
out of the stirred heart of the reader,
or the onlooker. Among the writer's
of current fiction here is one who
stands conspicuous for good work
manship-for the exact fitting of
means TO ends in an adroit handling
that accepts no makeshifts of mate
rial. no loose Jennings, no instabilities
of effect. Franklin Winslow Kane"
is no act of daring bent to the win
ming of approval in the face OF su-
preme handicap. From the first page
of the story Anne Douglas Sedgwick
moves serenely forward in the COM
pany of a most unheroic little man,
nerfectIy certain that she is going
10 make not only a good story but
that she is, in the making of 1t, go
ing to give to readers the clear joy
of new friendship. And that is
lust what she does do. For Kane
steps out of the story and walks of
with the reader in companionship
of which this reader is tremendously
proud and to which he holds as he
has not clung to friendship with man
or woman in many blue moon.
A background of sophistication-
English gentle folks and Bostonese
cuIture-Worked out in every detail
as artfully as is the central figure
itself, serves, indirectly, to explain
the power of Kane. Here Is man
who has real things to do and is
doing them, set off against a. group
who have nothing to do and who with
many a polite and charming gesture
are doing just that nothing. Kane's
kindly and helpful philosophy comes
in the. main from work. The lack
of fiber in all the others, save one,
comes from idle minds and the empty
outlook.
Yes, even better than THE Little
French Girl" in the substance of its
groundwork and the clear point of
its objective.
DESTINY. BY Rupert Hughes, au-
thor of THE Golden Ladder" etc.
New York: Harper and Brothers.
WE'VE wondered about it, too
w about how mans job down here.
looks TO the angels. Not to the saved
souls but to the heavenly host that
has had no experience with earth. 1t
looks easy to them, no doubt--as
everything looks to the eye of mex
perience. More than likely we seem
TO them to be making a terrible mess
of things-as we indubitably are. And
it is quite possible that some sprightly
angel thinks he, or it, could do deal
better at the job. A vagrant wonder
ing that obviously has come to Rupert
Hughes, too. Everything is grist that
comes to the mill of the writer, so
this one seizes the matter just at
point when God had given His con-
sent that couple of angels should
try themselves out on the lives of two
earth -dwellerS. SO, at an opportune
moment one of them slips into the
body of beautiful Niobe Fem and the