Evening star., 1926-02-07
REVIEWS OF MIDWINTER BOOKS
Volume Concerning Annapolis Which Will Interest Many
Washngtonians- Some of the Monuments of Rome
New Novels Are Making Their Appearance

ness of interest largely from the fact
that The Love Rack" is busted in
great measure with a young, upstand-
ing delightful girl who, filed with the
IDEA that she is the one TO choose In
SO moinentous matter as marriage,
does choose, even when the choice
opens up chapter in her fathers
NE that he is more absorbed in hiding
.han ne Is in anything else. The girl
Lere is the story. However, the youth
Is equally worth while, or would be
were ne not in part obscured by this
new independence and prominence Of
the girl herself. The BACKGROUND Of
the romance-London now and then
the shore of the Mediterranean-adds
greatly sympathetic pictures to a
tneme and handling that are already
Oh decidedly picturesque character
Y x x
THE GIFTS DIVINE. BY Ethel
Tompkins Moose
A FIRST novel whose BACKGROUND is
fragment of the old South
Here Is the falling mansion in its
oVefSroWn garden, reminiscent OF the
Gays when OVerlords lived at their
ease. And very well drawn is this
background-simpIe in it's lines and
lfee from any admiXture OF sentiment
ana lament. Despite the f1avors of
another order that mark this setting.
the story itself is a forward-Iookinc
one, It's ideals those Of the present, its
pans faced upon the future. Thai
winch links these tWo-the older dav
| ana the new one-is a young girl who
embodies in herself the gifts divine.
Rather is this a Single gift, that of
personal human kindness. with its
ready insight. its quick sympathy, its
~ m n
young girl living in that old southern
nome OF better days is bent. first upon
| her mother, then upon every Olhe4-
needy thing roundabout y lonely per
son in the neighborhoOd an animal
left to the untender mercies Of the
public-anything ut all beset by need
OF any sort becomes al once her spe-
cial care and charge. This is the line
l'along which the story moves in a web
OF daily activities that are pictured fl
a simple and natural craftsmanship
! The elimination Of the story is ar
achleVement on the part of the girl
| that contributes substantially to the
general life Of which she is a par.
| This is nothing less than the es
| tabllShment of n home for helDlesS
| people, a home that is really this is -
much as so public an institution car
| be a home. At any rate it projects
| the modern outlook upon work THAI
! Is actually of the Welfare brand The
/ outcome Of the story is. also. the de
! velopmcnt Of the girls charactef
along the line Of her own nature set in
a special environment. An engaging
/ love story follows the general action of
/ the whole. This reads like a first
novel It reads. as well. like a good
| novel which, with a little pruning
| here and there. a deliverate cutting
/ back at one point and another. will
! bear the fruit of really excellent
novel next time.
/
THE MARKHAM AFFAIR. BY Stan
/ ley Portal Hyatt, author of "Blact
/ sheep" etc. New York: Edward
j. Clode, Inc.
! 4 CLEARLY mysterious affair thai
is sourced III the iuvolutions Of
| dishonest business aims and methods
| StartlinGly. within a narrow stretch
| of time and a limited range Of local
/ ity there is a group Of strange and
| clearly violent takings off-this prom
! inent man found dead, a strange feI
| low discovered murdered. and so on
! with another. Gradually as is th,
| way of the mystery tale. under the
! adroit management of the super-de
! tective these seemingly unrelated
events begin to point toward a certain
!
! tress. We are used to the method
| And this one does not vary from the
/ rule. A young man becomes the cen
I ter of attention here as he finally he
] comes a subject Of suspicion. And
! indeed the business Indifference or
/ this young man 70 his own really i'm
portant interests invites rogues to par
/ take Of that which he is so obviously
| neglecting. \ good deal of a fool
/ you call the man who deserves all the
! rObbing that he gets. But, by and by
! when 1t is almost too late, a change OF
I heart takes hold of him, whereupon
! he faces right about and becomes not
/ only Il maEnate. but the best sleuth
! of them all in digging up his enemies
1 \ love story? Oh, YES, there is a love
! story Of good quality here
/ The writer Of the mystery tale has
/ an advantage over all other writer's
| of fiction. For the mystery, no mat
| ter how thin of texture nor how in
considerable in character. is a never
| failing lure TO readers of all grades
Maybe. this is because all Of human
! life is so complete a mystery, maybe
I il is because we are always open to
! the mystery hunt. Whatever it is
| this is the kind of story that can he
| implausible even impossible, and vet
get a hearing from almost every one
| Now here is a story that is of the
average of this class. Nothing new
about 1t, either in conception nor IN
development. Just a good story, writ
ten by one who has the story telling
habit. But. it is story of mysterious
crime. SO. almost everybody Will
reach out after II.