Evening star., 1926-10-31
REVIEWS OF AUTUMN BOOKS
Otto Kahn Writes Of Many Things and Gives the Reading
Public an Original Book-Novels by Canheld
Chambers Kyne and Merwin In Fall

isolation almost complete, and Wild
life partaken of by few-in q word.
here is the sheer romance OF a Peter
Kyne story--but the girl herself has
innumerable c0llnterparts in the sane
and sensible and outstanding young
woman of the present. And 1t is a
tribute to this author that he has
seized upon such a heroine for the
wild life of the Forest Service. a
heroine who will appeal to her own
kind in a genuine kinship of outlook
and behavior.
THE ENTERTAINING ANGEL. BY
Samuel Merwin. Illustrations by
Lansing G. Holden. New York:
]. II. Sears & Co.
AWAY out In California. where
"A Harun- al Raschid still lives In
the midst of marvels and wonders.
this blithe story makes its way. Here
YOU have the coaStwise odyssey OF
a theatrical caravan. Two gorgeous
vans in red and yellow cover the
portable Stage and It's properties.
besides providing house and home
for the gay band of hiStoriOnic hope
fuls. You are warmly invited to go
along with them in an equal shar-
ing of the occasional ups and the
frequent downs incident to this sort
of existence. An uncertain life. but
a happy one. Not much worry over
the uncertainties of pay day. not
much care over Scant audiences.
Why see trouble under the glamor-
Gus skies of the Golden State? Just
at the moment that pay day Is To
the fore. And just at that moment.
too there appears the most astonisn-
;,,rr 81 .nl,
ramshackle concern as the cara
van was proving to be. Now an
angel should be a most engaging
person and, somehow. one feels that
Mr.. Merwin intended this one to be
some one such as William j.
Locke might have turned out, or
possibly Barrie in certain moods of
his. But the best one can do with
Merwin's angel, in spite of his fine
performance. is to look upon him as
deserving Ed Wynne's other name.
That's too bad. And Samuel Mer-
win could have done better. I'm
sure of that. However. there is q
pretty romance here-that, too, of
the angels making. A young woman
lovely and ambitious, but withou-
the ghost Of a show, provides this
strange youth with one more quixotiP
plan to carry out, he himself being
the party of the second part. The
story as a whole moves over into
the domain Of farce. and here It
doesn't give so bad an accounting OF
itself. Just word in praise of the
really laughing and talking pictures
that ramble through the hit-or- miss
concerns of the caravan in a trulI.
communicable joy.
X X X x
THE VEIL OF GLAMOUR. BY Give
Arden, author of SINNERS H.
Heaven" Indianapolis: The Bobbs
Merrill Co.
THE early pages of this novel are
taken up with deaths and funerals
A gloomy opening, it is true. but &.
highly important one. Without thest,
the story itself would have been Q
wholly different matter. 1t was i'm
perative that the responsible friends
and relatives of Meg Mellor be done
away with, else there might have
been the sad account of an un-
fortunate young woman legally
housed in an institution for the un
balanced and errant of mind. The
authors good management has, how
ever, cleared the road for this hero
ines unchalenged experiment IL
trial-not trial marriage, for there Is
no marriage here, either sanctioned OF
unsanctioned. The two merely de
eide to occupy the same house fo;
year, just about as they would hav!
to do If they We're married. Very
much in love, or so they believed, bun
lacking the courage to make the fina
venture. An impossible situation, yOL
see. But the author is consistent, 70;
having taken this theme he scarcel!
once gives a plausible cast to AM
phase of the matter. He couldn'
except by one of the miracles Of story
telling with which every one is fa
miliar. Too sincere for this make
shift, Give Arden instead envelope
his theme with so dense a glamour
as to exclude truth or consistency or
fidelity to- human nature. If the tale
be intended for q lesson, it is too thin
in projection. If 1t be to point upon
q new future in social relations, that
future is too far away for this ap-
proach to it to reach. A thin theme, q
feeble hold upon it and a forced out
come-that's about the sum Of 1t, or
so it looks from here.