Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-12
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

RAISES, etc. Boston, Little,
Brown & Co.
n n OTHER love In its depth and
NH enduring provides surpass-
IVY ing theme for moralist and
4 poet alike. Maternal affec-
ton. regardless of the quail
ity of the offspring-indeed, In direct
ratio to it's worthlessness-is uni
vesaaI1y held up as the browning glory
u womanhood. the redeeming hope of
the world itself Every sacrifice that
4 mother makes for her children adds
10 her worth. Does she slave for
them? She should. That is being q
mother. Does she deny herself every
comfort that they may be supplied? She
should. What can g. mother want be-
side her children? DO they go wrong?
Never mind, mother. 1t is up to you
TO make them go right. The more she
endures for her children the better
does she stand in the opinion of her
neighbors and friends "A good
MOTHER
Larry Barretto in walls of Glass"
has created a mother who deserves
we'll, suppose you decide about that.
If YOU haven't read the story you
would better do so. I'm not going to
tell II, except in a most general way
to let you know that here is a mother
who was left suddenly with very
young son, Just little more than q
baby. OF course, he was to be the
great doctor that his young father had
hoped to be. There was no money
only little Joel and his mother. Just
as she would do in q small town the
mother tried to get living by making
jams and jellies. You know how that
would turn out after the first village
fair of sympathy and patronage.
Then she tried-well, she tried every
thing that the little place offered as
suggestion and false hope. Then,
finally, she did hit upon a plan that
promised the little Joel just what
every good mother should seek to Sc
cure for the advantage of her child.
Time went ONO years Of time.
and kept away. He had had pretty
good advantages and seemed in a fair
way TO follow and outstrip the am
bilious young father whit had died.
Every dollar that the mother could
get, every present that came her way,
every halfinch Of advantage that she
could gather in--all of these went to
the training of Joel. What a good
mother. A beautiful one, too. A
lady of quiet manners and composed
bearing. Twenty years of this. just
about. Then-nobody else so quick to
repudiate his mother as Joel himself.
No others so prompt to deal her out
go years Of contempt and ostracism as
those hometown advocates of mothers
who looked after their children. You
read this story to find out for your
selves what was the matter with
Sophy Deming, Joels mother. In all
those 30 years there came to her but
one single word of support. That was
where a helpless and dying man said,
You've been a damn fine woman,
Eophy" Tragic Sophy Deming
who wouldn't like to write such a
story as Larry Barretto has written
here? Such understanding Of
situation that might so easily exist
outside of a book. Such restraint
where excess is nudging at the elbow.
Such straight course right to the
end through matters calculated to
make one writing for Il nice public re-
tire into some prettier corner than
the truth presents. Such kindness
and good sense where there Is around
the case only brutality and hypocrisy.
Such a determination to picture Sophy
Deming in truth, not in the shocked
Judgment of the community. l like
both the man and the artist in this
writer. I envy him, a little. I predict
for nothing. I will hope for him, in
stead. the recognition which honest
art, such art and such honesty as he
has shown in Walls of Glass so
richly deserves. There is no way of
hiding such promising work as this,
and there should be no such way.
THE RED COMPRESSOR BY Nathan
Gallizier author of 1.-The Lotus
Woman" etc. FTontispiece by
Eric Pape. Boston: l.. G. Page &
Go.
"A PRODIGY of sheer labor lies back
4 of this historic novel. Here spread
out is the Rome of 400 years ago. in a
complete. painstaking Of street and
way and quarter. of church and pal
ace. of structures even then in impos
ing ruin. of ancient hills Enclosing the
active and tumultuous life of the city
itself. Labor. too, as vivid in effect
as II is impressive in bulk. For as
one walks these streets of old Rome
ore has the sense of actually. of be-
ing there. of partaklng In this ancient
and urgent way Of life. When now
and then one draws out OF the book
he wakens to all that has gone into 1t
that such immediacy of effect may be
produced. Against this sumptuous
background there goes the story of
struggle and warfare. The church on
the one hand. the emperor from the
north on the other And within this
historic and seemingly amending strife
there are lesser ambitions and In
trigues. 1t is with these that the
RED Confessor' directly deals. leav-
ing the great contest as gorgeous
Background for the adventures of
Guido. Lord of Fiorana, who, with his
friend and patron. Benvenuto Callint
fought even the church itself. which
had despoiled the young Guido OF his
inheritance OF Fiorano. with its hun
sired towers" The power OF Paul III
stands here against the secular power
OF rehellious young noblelnen resist
ing encroachmentS upon their rights
for the sake of gratifying the favor
ties Of the Pope. The lost wife of
Guido lends strength to this passion
Of pursuit in many other directions,
the villainy of Pier Luigi. Duke of
Parma dominates the whole adven-
ture. More than a single plot weaves
tts intricate way through this picture
OF Roman life. More than one great
figure passes here---Michel Angelo
himself, the self satisfied. the bonn
bastic and very human Cellini, too.
and many another. The whole Is
big and involved story, thrown against
a gorgeous background of history. A
completely fascinating romance into
whose reading will go more than one
night. for It is book of slow prog
ress and a multitude of places for ac-
tual pause, or even for a going back
ward. A truly remarkable work.
whose clear charm lifts out of an enor-
NOUS mass Of important detail in the
portrayal of old Rome.
x X
THE OLD HOME TOWN. BY Rupert
Hughes. author of The Golden
Ladder" etc. New York: Harper
& Bros.
THIS particular old home town