Evening star., 1926-06-20

4
of Herbraic righteousness. This
background and the girl herself shape
| the incidents and focus the local
| feeling against the intruder. A dra.
matte affair throughout depending for
! its interest upon the ultimate triumph
of the girl, n triumph that rests in
part on her own sturdy growth in
! this robust atmosphere, and in other
! part upon her growth in the conf
dence of the mountaineers. There is
| a hero to this story, one who finally
steps ont into the admiration and
/ liking of the reader The story itself
| is deeply interesting Its background
| is of specially convincing character.
x x x y
| CLOUD CUCKOO LAND. BY Naomi
| Mitchison, author of "the Con
| quered," etc. New York: Harcourt.
| Brace and Co.
ODDLY contemporaneous. in Its
" effect, this beautifully written his
| torical novel. Such effect is due, III
! part. to the fact that its theme par
allels the modern political situation
| OF small States aspiring to self
government. II is the spirit of self
| determination rising In opposition to
| determination through the domina-
ton of greater powers. This is the
STORY ol hlnellS ana sparta -oi
/ Athens turning toward It's down
| And between them is the smaller
state hating both OF these powers,
and secretly dreaming of its own
| bright future of independence. The
| thread of history takes effect in the
story of young islander, a youthful
| soldier of fortune, moving from point
| TO point in a restless pursuit Of ad-
venture These points of locality
| give the author opportunity to build
in flowing outline the historic features
| Of this region-the land itself, the sea,
the pagan gods controlling both, the
warriors, the people of the fields, the
women, the slaves. Where so much
presents itself for portrayal this au-
thor holds to a fine simplicity Of
| selection. And out of this there
grows a vivid picture of human
| life reacting TO its surroundings as
human life reacts through every age.
1t is, however, a time and a place of
great beauty and great significance as
well, that Mrs. Mitchison offers here
IN a simplicity and grace that alb
sorb and charm the reader while it
brings that far past into the inn
mediate present.
THE SHIP OF ISHTAR. BY A. Mer-
ritt, author of THE Moon Pool"
New York G. p. Putnam's Sons.
A FANTASY, a dream that at
\ points becomes nightmare-such
is this tale of old Babylon. Suppose
an chaologist-Arthur Weigall. for
instance-were to SEND you a block
of marble from his Egyptian exca-
vations. And then suppose on night
. l. to ertf 90 fon o,~f ND f~af
1t there were to issue a perfect ship
Of rich construction, whose period Of
active life was 5000 years ago when
Sargon reigned in Akkad. And sup
pose the ship were to come to life
and motion, manned and equipped for
its own far sailings. By that time
you would of a certainty be in some
thing like the state of mind of the
young man of this story. More than
| likely, however, you would not be able
| to sustain the illusion as he has done
to the making Of q. gorgeous Eastern
| drama wherein strange things hap
pen, and beautiful women inspire
| loves of exotic flavors, and where
human hates and loves and sus-
picions and Jealousies comport them
selves in alien ways of triumph and
consummation. Lucky for you that
you are not so charged with a mis-
proves to be deadly business to him
who dared the old gods of destiny
and undoing. A very sumptuous bit
of pure invention worked out from
the fancies that arise over the
modern unearthing of old and buried
cities of the East.
THE SEVENTH PASSENGER. BY
Alice MacGowan and Perry New
berry, authors of THE Mystery
Woman" etc. New York: Fred
erick A. Stokes Co.
ITO Sherlock Holmes has been
born a hundred sons. each pos
sessed Of the fathers passion for clear
ing UP the mystery that SO many
times permits crime to walk in Sc
curity A few of these have walked
not far behind the father. The most
of them have followed him far to the
rear. They are all, however, super
ficially engaging fellows-like their
sire in this respect. Among them Is
Jerry Boyne, who before now has
turned a couple of clever tricks of
detection. These are his warrant for
an acceptable performance in the case
in hand. Rather familiar, the situa-
ton, both in fact and in fiction. A
fighting district attorney bent upon
cleaning house Is always overloaded
with enemies. A campaign for his
reelection brings these into hectic
activity. Such is the foundation OF
this story. The disappearance of the
candidate opens up the matter, and
gives ground for the duel Of wits be
tween Jerry Boyne on the one hand
and the foes of the young lawyer on
the other. A decided resemblance
between the sleuth and the man
sought serves to complicate the mys-
terry even for those who believe they
have their man secure. A brisk story,
with some acceptable points of fresh
device in a theme that has by exces-
sive use become pretty we'll formu-
lated to routine and monotony. How
ever, the detective story has with
| thousands of readers the inside track
of appeal. Mystery of any sort is
irresistible to the mos, Of us. Because
of this security the writer of these
tales is going to run slack and grow
stale on himself unless he watches
out. But he is safe for a while re-
gardless even of his own short
comings, since everybody loves the
| unfolding of crime mysteries. -
ROCKS RECEIVED