Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-28

Xurther, Till Jane runs pack e8aAu-
not able, you see. to run away really
from what il 30 plainly her job. Such
Is the general drift Of the story abou
girl. Maybe the story is too long.
Maybe Harry Leon Wilson gets 80
taken UP with that big house that ht
packs too many pages with descr1p-
tons Of 1t. Nobody reads long word
pictures any more. There isn't time,
II q book, nowadays. doesn't Jog along
at q pretty sharp clip It Is due fol
many skippings. And here one does
skip a lot. running along ahead to see
what Jane is doing. II the author had
kept up with Jane, instead of lag
ging behind, this would have been 1
corking story. And It is that-all but
Certainly Jane is Of the right stuff
and so are some Of the folks arount
her-made Of the Harry Leon Wilson
Blend Of genial wit and gentle under
standing. But 1t is too long, too
much Of a job to put upon even SO
capable and winning a child as Cousin
Jane.
TWENTY MILES OUT: 1ndiscretions
Of q Commuters Wife. BY Her
self. Sketches by Beatrice Stevens.
Boston: Little, Brown and Com
pany.
NATURALLY II committing were
: quite all that it is cracked up
to be- there would have been no
record Of the experience here. 1t is
that difference between the theory and
the fact that creates the atmosphere
of gayety and laughter IN which the
episode thrives. All of the experience
a 20 fv1er o. nf
1.-THE neighbours dog, or cat, or
horse, or all Of these together. There
are the familiar feast days and play
days Of the suburban community.
There Is skating too. when II missed
stroke and got out Of step and man.
aged with magicianly adroitness to
hitch the buckle of my skate over
the point of Gregory's. / slithered
unexpectedlySand ran the tip of my
skate neatly under his heel. / tried.
as the modern psychologists advise.
to think thoughts of success. I tried
to fancy myself Lady Aston skating
on a lake in Switzerland, or Hans
Brinker on silver skates. The pond
was full of experts" This is the
way she does II. the way she turns
everything into amusement and
laughter by the virtue Of a good wit
anu IIlC BlIl VI DCiiIG dDtO W laugh
herself. A half hour of hilarity and
fresh fun waits for the reader here.
THE KEEPER OF THE BEES. BY
Gene Stratton-Porter, author of
"Freckles." etc. Decorations by
Lee Thayer. Illustrations by Cor
don Grant. New York: Double
day, Page and Company.
A MILE or so of meadow and field,
"A a stretch of woods, by choice a
stream. a patch of sky, all the winds
that blow, such sunlight and storm
as the good God saw fit to send
these were the domain of Gene STRAIT.
comforter, whose neighbors were the
birds and plants and bugs and furry
little live things of the open country.
Out of this material she has made
many beloved stories for readers who
are generally Young and hopeful and
believing. Fresh stories of youth at
it's best. At least this is true of all
the earlier stories and partly true of
the latest ones. This means that the
closer this writer kept to nature and
the people who. like her, were in
close touch with nature, the better
were the stories that she made.
Whenever one of her romances. how
ever, left this environment to take
up the purely social setting, it failed
to achieve the beautiful consistency
of the other sort of romance
In so far as THE Keeper of the
Bees" projects the California Valley
in its natural beauty. in so far as it
deals with the idyIlic life of the man
working among the bees humming in
the sunlight, just so far does the
story rise to this authors best. In so
far as it deals. pitifully yet hopefully
with the broken soldier wooing life out
in the sunlight of the valley busy
with the life of the swarms, just so
far the story is also of this writer
best. The romance. however the
man-and-woman part of the story,
takes on the touch of the fantastic.
of the purely intentional that this
writer, somehow. seemed not able to
escape when she ventured into the
domain of pure romance expressed in
the emotion of love between two
young people with nothing. except
love. to engage their thoughts and
behaviors.
SPANISH ACRES. BY Hal G..
Evarts,, author of "Tumbleweeds. y
etc. Boston: Little. Brown and
Company.
A ROMANCE of the Southwest. a
setting that this author treats
with consistent realism whose effect
Is pure drama. The Indian and the
white man are at first set off against
each other here, to the disadvantage
of the Indian, soaked in superstitions
and to the gain of the white man
free from such handicap. Later, the
struggle is between cattlemen and
sheepmen. In both cases the conflict
Is over an area abandoned by the
Indians since it was under a curse
and annexed by the white man. Then
1t becomes the bone of contention be
tween the ranchmen and a lone sheer
raiser in the valley. Nothing but sur
prises and raids and reprisals. all OF
which are projected in the daring and
dash of the plainsmen as we have
been taught to know them by the
writer's Of Western stories. Nothine
but fighting. save one strain of ro
nance that goes along with the resi-
of the thrills that rise out of the gal
liant hazards which make up the sub
stance of this active and exciting